there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be a place for oxen to range freely, and for a sheep walk. XIII. THE BURDEN OF BABYLON, which Isaiah the son of Lift ye up a banner upon a bare mountain, exalt the 2 voice to them [the Medes], wave the hand that they may come into the doorways of the tyrants. I have 3 commanded those consecrated for my purpose; yea, I have called warriors for mine anger, even them that rejoice in mine excellence. There is the noise of a rabble on the mountains, the likeness of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the writer replies, that with industry, there will be food for the cattle. To these few passages, which speak of the condition of those Jews who were left at home when the nobles were carried into captivity, we may add Zeph. iii. 11–13, which describes the captives as haughty transgressors; and the poor who were left behind as doing no wrong, but trusting in Jehovah and feeding and crouching like cattle while none make them afraid. No. 21. [Chap. xiii.-xiv. 23.] BABYLON IS TO BE CONQUERED BY THE MEDES. 1 Which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.] The name of Isaiah has here been very improperly added, probably by an editor. It seems to have been written near the end of the Captivity, by one not living in Jerusalem, perhaps by one who had escaped to the desert. 2 Exalt the voice to them.] The Medes are to be summoned to the destruction of the Babylonian tyrants. This was written some months before Babylon was conquered. The name of Cyrus the Persian, who led the joint armies of Medes and Persians, was not yet known to the Jews. 3 Those consecrated for my purpose.] As Jehovah's instruments. kingdoms of nations gathered together. Jehovah of 5 hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of the heavens, even Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 6 Howl ye; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; it shall 7 come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall 8 melt. And they shall be afraid; pangs and sorrow shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth. They shall be amazed one at another their faces shall be as the faces of flames. 9 Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he 10 will destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. "And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness 12 of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold, and a son of Adam than the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall tremble out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 14 And it [Babylon] shall be as the chased roe, and as sheep that no man gathereth together. They shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his 4 Kingdoms of nations gathered together.] The Elamites had by this time joined in the Median and Persian attack on Babylon; other tribes also may have followed Cyrus. The day of Jehovah is at hand.] These words sometimes mean a day of peace; here they point to a day of slaughter. 14 It shall be as a chased roe.] The king of Babylon, Nabonned, had fled to Borsippa, a town to the south of Babylon. (See Josephus in Apion i. 20.) 16 17 18 own land. Every one that is found shall be thrust 15 through; and every one that is taken shall fall by the sword. Their babes also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who regard not silver; and as for gold, they have no delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall have no pity for children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the 19 beauty of the Chaldees' excellence, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall not be 20 inhabited for the future, neither shall it be dwelt in for generations and generations. Neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie 21 there; and their houses shall be full of yelling creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and satyrs shall skip about there. And the howling beasts shall cry their palaces, and jackals in their pleasant halls; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. in 22 2 For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet 1 choose Israel, and set them at rest in their own land. And strangers shall be joined with them, and shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the peoples shall receive them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for servants and for handmaids. And they shall take 17 Who regard not silver.] The Medes were an unpolished people, with few of the luxuries of wealth. 21 Satyrs shall skip about there.] The belief in these inhabitants of the desert, half man and half goat, may have arisen from the superstitious practice of driving away into the desert the scape-goat, with the nation's sin upon its head, as described in Leviticus xvi. 8-10. XIV. 2 For servants and for handmaids.] Thus the captives hope to be able to return to their former state of proud superiority over the other Canaanites. 3 4 86 for captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their taskmasters. เ And it shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee rest from thy labour, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, [Nabonned,] and say, 'How hath the 'taskmaster ceased! the gold-exacting city ceased! 5 Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre "' of the rulers, which smote the peoples in wrath with 'an unceasing stroke, which ruled the nations in anger, "which persecuted, and none hindered. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into 8 singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, [saying,] Since thou art laid down, 9'no woodcutter is come up against us. Hell from be'neath is moved for thee to meet thy coming. It stirreth 'up the departed spirits for thee, even all the leadergoats of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones 10 all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say to thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art 11thou become like to us? Thy pomp is brought 'down to hell, and the noise of thy psalteries. The 'maggot is spread under thee, and the worms cover 12thee. How art thou fallen from the heavens, O Daystar, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to 13 the ground, thou who didst crush the nations! For 'thou hast said in thy heart, I will go up to heaven, I 'will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will 'sit also upon the mountain of the assembly [of gods], Rule over their taskmasters.] The Babylonians. The king of Babylon.] Nabonned. 9 Hell from beneath.] The mythology of hell was probably learnt in Babylon. 12 O Day-star, son of the morning.] The king of Babylon. He was the most eastern king yet known to the Jews. 13 The mountain of the assembly.] The fabled dwellingplace of the Pagan gods, like mount Olympus of the Greeks. 15 16 in the recesses of the north. I will go up to the 14 'heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the recesses 'of the pit. They that see thee shall gaze upon thee, ' and consider of thee, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made 17 'the world as a desert, and laid waste the cities thereof; 'that released not his prisoners to their home? All the 18 'kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of 19 thy grave like a vile off-shoot, as the raiment of those 'that are slain, that are thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit. Thou art as a carcase trodden under feet. Thou shalt not be joined 20 'with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy 'land, and slain thy people. The seed of evil doers will 'never be renowned.' Prepare slaughter for his children because of the 21 iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I will rise up against them, Jehovah of 22 hosts hath said it; and I will cut off from Babylon the name, and the remnant, both the sons, and the sons' sons, Jehovah hath said it. I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog, and stagnant pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction; Jehovah of hosts hath said it. 23 XXXII. 1 BEHOLD, A KING shall reign in righteousness, and as for rulers they shall rule in justice. And each shall be 2 as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as streams of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them 3 No. 22. [Chap. xxxii.-xxxv.] A RESTORATION OF THE JEWISH MONARCHY IS HOPED Ffor. A king shall reign.] The Jews hoped for the restoration of the monarchy. This writer may have been one of the humbler class, living in Judea, while the captives were yet in Babylon. |