The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 14
Chapter XIV · Vol. III, pp. 1164–1165
1 God's merciful restoration of Israel. 3 Their triumphant insultation over Babel. 24 God's purpose against Assyria. 29 Palestina is threatened.
1 For thea LORD bwill have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and cthe strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.1
a Ps.102.13. ch.13.1-22. Je.50.4-9,17-20,33,34; 51.4-6,34-37.
b Zec.1.17; 2.12. De.30.3-5. Je.24.6; 12.15; 33.26. Ho.1.7. Ro.9.18. ch.27.6,10,13; 49.10.
c ch.44.5; 56.6,8; 60.3,9; 66.20. Ezr.1.2; 6.10; 7.11-28. Est.8.17. Zec.2.11; 8.23. Ep.3.6; 2.19,20.
1 See note * below.
* The restoration of the captive Israelites to their own country is here connected in prophetic vision with the destruction of Babylon; and after describing their deliverance the prophet bursts forth into a song of triumph, as if he himself had already been a witness and partaker in the nation's emancipation.—P.
2 And the people dshall take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in ethe land of the LORD forg servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were;2 and they shall rule over their oppressors.
d Ezr.1.4,6; 7.13-16. ch.18.7; 60.4, &c.; 66.20. Zec.2.11.
e ch.8.8. Le.25.23,38. De.11.12; 32.8,9. Ho.9.3.
g Ezr.2.65. ch.60.10,12,14. Ro.16.12; 15.27. 1 Co.16.15. 2 Co.8.4,5. Ps.4.5. Am.9.11,12. Eze.17.24. 1 Sa.2.5,8. Lu.1.51-53.
2 Heb. that had taken them captives.
3 And it shall come to pass in the day that hthe LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
4 That thou shalt take up this proverb3 against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath thei oppressor ceased! the 4golden city5 ceased!
3 Or, taunting parable, Hab.2.6, with ch.13.19.
i Je.25.9-38; 27.6,7; 50.23. ver.6,16,17. Pr.28.15.
4 Golden sceptre, or exactress of gold, ch.10.27.
5 The roofs and ornaments of several eastern temples and palaces still continue to be gilded, and from a similar custom, it is most probable, Babylon was called 'the golden city.'—C.
5 Thej LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
j ch.13.3-6; 9.4. Ps.129.4.
6 He kwho smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke,6 he that ruled the nations in anger, is lpersecuted,7 and none hindereth.
k ch.33.1. Je.25.9-38; 27.6,7; 50.23. Da.2.37,38.
6 Heb. a stroke without removing.
l ch.xiii.; 21.1-10; 43.14; xlvii. Je.25.26.; l. li. Job 9.13; 40.11,12. Ps.75.7.
7 Pursued and overtaken, and condemned to divine judgment.—C.
8 Yea, the fir-trees8 rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
9 pHell9 from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the 1chief ones2 of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
p Job 3.14. Eze.32.18-30.
9 The word Sheol seldom means the grave, but the place of separate souls, Ge.37.35. Ps.30.3; 16.10.
1 Heb. leaders.
2 Or, great goats.
10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also qbecome weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
11 Thyr pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: sthe worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
r Eze.26.13; 32.19. ch.22.2. Re.18.12.
s Job 17.13,14; 24.20. Mar.9.43-48.
12 Howt art thou fallen from heaven, O 3Lucifer,4 son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, uwhich didst weaken the nations!
A.M. cir. 3274. B.C. cir. 730.
t ch.13.10. Lu.10.15,18. Eze.28.2,13,14.
3 Or, day-star.
4 Lucifer, 'Light-bringer,' morning-star—most probably one of the proud titles assumed by the Babylonian monarch, intimating an assumption of divine origin and honours—for even these pride has often arrogated, and flattery admitted and bestowed.—C.
u ver.4-6. Je.25.9-38; 27.6,7; 51.20-24.
13 For thou hast vsaid in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above xthe stars of God: I will sit also upon ythe mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 Iz will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High.
z Eze.28.2,9. ch.10.10,11; 37.23-25. Da.4.30. 2 Th.2.4.
15 Yeta thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
a ver.9,11. Eze.28.8,9. Mat.11.23. Re.19.20.
16 They that see thee bshall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, cIs this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?5
5 Or, did not let his prisoners loose homeward.
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own 6house:7
6 Grave, Ec.12.5. Job 30.23; 3.14. Ps.88.5. ['Sepulchre.' Boothroyd.]
7 Recent explorations among the great tombs in and around Jerusalem illustrate this verse. The tombs are subterranean mansions of great extent, excavated in the solid rock. Each prince and potentate had generally a large chamber for himself, where his remains were deposited in a marble sarcophagus beautifully sculptured. The tombs of the kings contain some fifteen or twenty chambers connected together by corridors and stairs. The doors were of stone, and many of them so carefully concealed that it is only by minute search they can be discovered.—P.
19 Butd thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch,8 and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the 9pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
d Da.5.30. Je.22.19. 1 Ki.21.23,24. Je.15.3; 7.33; 8.2; 16.3,6, with Re.11.8,9.
8 As a branch on which some criminal had been put to death, and therefore, like the criminal, held accursed by the Jewish law, De.21.23.—C.
9 The bottom of the pit into which stones were cast upon distinguished criminals. See 2 Sa.18.17.—C.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: ethe seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned.
e Job 18.16,19. Ps.21.10; 37.28; 109.13; 137.9. ch.13.15-19.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children gfor the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 Forh I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
h ch.13.5,6; 21.9; 43.14; 47.9,14. Je.50.26,27,30,35-37; 51.3,56,57.
23 Ii will also make it a possession for the bittern,1 and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.
i ch.13.21,22; 21.1; 34.11. Je.51.42,43; 50.39,40; 51.25,26. Zep.2.14. 1 Ki.14.10. 2 Ki.21.13.
1 A large bird frequenting lonely and marshy places, and whose booming, as it is termed, is very doleful by night.—C.
24 Thej LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
25 Thatk I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
k ch.9.4; 10.16-19,25-27; 17.12-14; 30.30-33; 31.8,9; 29.5-8; 37.36. Na.1.13. Da.8.23-25; 11.21-35. Eze.38.8-22; 39.1-21.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the lhand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
l ch.13.11; 5.25. Zep.3.6,8.
27 For the LORD of hosts hath npurposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
n 2 Ch.20.6. Ps.33.10,11. Job 9.12; 23.13. Pr.21.30; 19.21. Da.4.31,32,35. ch.43.13.
28 Ino the year that king Ahaz died was this 2burden.3
A.M. cir. 3274. B.C. cir. 730.
2 Heavy judgment denounced.
3 Ver. 28-32 contain a prophetic curse pronounced upon Philistia. The name Palestina is not to be understood as identical with our Palestine. Etymologically it is so, but geographically it is much more limited. In the time of Isaiah Palestina included only the plain of Philistia, extending from Joppa to Gaza, and from the Mediterranean to the mountains of Judah.—P.
29 Rejoice not thou, pwhole Palestina, because the rod of qhim that smote thee is broken: for rout of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice,4 and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
30 And the sfirst-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and tI will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.
s 2 Ch.28.18,19; 32.23. ch.37.30; xxxii. xxxiii. xxxv.
t 2 Ki.18.8, with ch.9.14; 19.15. Je.xlvii. Eze.25.15-17. Zep.2.4-7. Zec.9.5-7.
Notes
Ver. 1-3 not only predict that the Jews, attended by many Gentile proselytes and Chaldean slaves, should return to their own land from Babylon; but that they, and multitudes of Gentiles, in the apostolic and coming periods, shall coalesce into one gospel church. 4-11. Not only the neighbouring nations, but the very dead and damned, shall, in their respective forms, insult the disgraced and ruined king and princes of Babylon. 12. Proud as a devil, shining as an angel, and possessed of distinguished glory and majesty among the nations, how art thou debased and ruined! Notwithstanding thy ambition and boasts to raise an empire wide as the heavens, and to sit like Jehovah in his temple and heavenly mansions, thou shalt be debased into contempt, death, and damnation. 18, 19. Other kings lie interred in their stately tombs; but thou shalt lie unburied, as a rotten stick or polluted cloth which none cares to touch. 24-27. I have determined, in my infinite purpose, to destroy the Assyrian army before Jerusalem; my almighty power shall, without fail, accomplish it. 29-31. O Philistines, though David and Uzziah, who smote you, be dead, and Ahaz his grandson weakened or dead, Hezekiah his son shall ravage your country: and while God shall take care of the poorest Jews, they, and afterwards the Assyrians or Chaldeans, shall, with great unanimity and fury, destroy your nation. 32. And by their ambassadors the neighbouring nations shall be informed, that to the power and care of God alone the stability and safety of Jerusalem and the church, however poor, is entirely owing.
Ver. 1. Jacob. That is, the people of Israel in exile, as Jacob was.—Israel. That is, the people of Israel restored to their home, their kindred, their possessions, and the service of their God. C.
Ver. 2. If this restoration be synchronous with that predicted ch. 11. 11—and there is no reason to suppose two different restorations—then the restoration ch. xi. being a restoration, not merely to political power, but to godliness (see ch. xii.), the captivity into which Israel will bring their former oppressors must be a spiritual captivity to the yoke of Christ. C.
Ver. 9. Hell. Sheol sometimes signifies the grave, but is more generally applied to the state and region of the dead. Here the kings of conquered nations are represented as rising from the stately couches upon which in several eastern countries it is still the custom to bury the dead, and taunting the monarch of Babylon on his entrance into their dreary abode. C.
Ver. 13. If, in expounding Scripture, the meaning of words and phrases is to be drawn from Scripture, then 'the mount of the congregation,' by comparison with ch. 10. 32, will be Mount Zion in Jerusalem: and 'the sides of the north,' by comparison with Ps. 48. 2, will be the city of Jerusalem, which lay to the north of Mount Zion. The search after exposition from other than Scripture sources, has led some to imagine that the 'sides of the north' meant the north-pole; and 'mount of the congregation,' the imaginary residence of the Chaldean gods: but there is no scriptural ground for such a conjecture. C.
Ver. 22. Son and nephew. 'Son and grandson,' accordingly, Evil-Merodach the son, and Belshazzar the grandson, of Nebuchadnezzar, were both cut off by violent deaths in the flower of their age. C.
Ver. 24. This is no 'fragment of a distinct prophecy;' but is, with the three following verses, a sequel to the prophecy of Syrian or Assyrian invasion (see ch. 9. 12; 10. 5); and from ver. 28 to the end there is still a sequel to the prophecy of the Philistine auxiliaries by whom the Assyrians should be joined, ch. 9. 12, to 'devour Israel with open mouth.' C.
Ver. 26. Upon the whole earth. That is, upon both Jews and Gentiles; the judgments upon the Jews being the emblems or specimens of judgments upon all unfaithful churches; and his judgments upon Assyria and Babylon, emblems or specimens of his judgments upon every cruel and proud nation. C.
Ver. 29. Whole Palestina. Palestine was divided into five states, and the prophecy is addressed to their federal capacity. The judgments of Palestine are the emblems or specimens of the divine judgments upon churches or nations who cherish a spirit of unkindness or unceasing hostility to their neighbours.—Out of the serpent's root shall come, &c. Uzziah had subdued the Philistines, 2 Ch. 26. 6, 7; 28. 18: in the days of Ahaz his son, they threw off the yoke; but Hezekiah, the grandson, again subdued them, 2 Ki. 18. 18, the emblem and specimen of the final victory of original truth, after an age of apparently successful rebellion and hopeless apostasy. C.
Reflections.—How strangely nations rise and fall in the scales of God's providence! But a pleasant aspect, towards the saints, have all the clouds of wrath that hang over their adversaries. And the overthrow of nations directs men to Jesus and his church. Great is the instability of earthly honours, power, or wealth. Such as were masters one day, are often slaves to their slaves the next.—All our salvation must be ascribed to the rich and gracious mercy of God. It is his blessed grace and our free-will, that can bring us to the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled. And ever certain, however slow, is the deliverance of his saints, his church, from all their griefs, fears, and toils. But to what fearful misery and disgrace are proud and powerful oppressors reduced at the last! Neither power nor wealth profit in the day of his wrath. Both God and men take pleasure in humbling and debasing the proud. But if haughty tyrants sink to ruin—to suffering—with such cruel derision—in what fearful forms shall devils and lost heathens welcome to hell the proud despisers of Jesus Christ! Great is the misery which the wickedness of parents entails upon their impenitent posterity, and the marks of wrath which sinners fix upon the spots where they lived. Stable, and infallibly executed, are the purposes of God. And it is vain for his enemies to hope for exemption from ruin; for if one foe be cut off, he can raise up a worse. But, amidst all the commotions on earth, fixed is his church, and safe the poorest of her members. Jehovah is her founder, foundation, protector, and refuge.