Chapter 14
{2021 - 13 closed with what appears to be a "near" prophecy of the defeat of ancient Babylon, but before they come to power in place of the Assyrians. The whole section does sort of intermingle near and far though, to my sense anyway. But the last verse of 13 says that the time is close, and will not be prolonged. If we take that as literally as we can - and we can take it very literally - then we could make a case that all of 13 is about ancient Babylon, and NOT the Babylon of Revelation. I went and looked up the fall of Ancient Babylon in Wikipedia and found this:
"In 539 BCE, Cyrus invaded Babylonia. Historical reconstruction of the fall of Babylon to Persia has been problematic due to the inconsistencies between the various source documents. Both the Babylonian Chronicles and the Cyrus Cylinder describe Babylon being taken "without battle", whereas the Greek historians Herodotus and Xenophon[6] report that the city was besieged. The biblical Book of Daniel notes that the king was killed.
According to Xenophon, Belshazzar was killed in this conflict, but his account is not widely accepted.[7] Nabonidus surrendered and was deported. Gutian guards were placed at the gates of the great temple of Bel, where the services continued without interruption. Cyrus did not arrive until 28/29 October, with Gobryas having acted for him in his absence. Gobryas was then made governor of the province of Babylon.
Babylon, like Assyria, became a colony of Achaemenid Persia in 539 BCE."
So historically, the fall of Babylon wasn't much. Kind of went out in a whimper, and in a single night according to Daniel. So with that in mind, I'm reading 13 again, to see how well it matches up.
Referring back to 13....Look at vs 2:
[Isa 13:2 ESV] On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles. Just give the invaders a wave and have them come on in. Surely Cyrus brought an army with him when he came. There is that story elsewhere about them damming up part of the river, lowering the water level enough to swim into the center of the city through a waterway - or maybe it was so shallow they could walk in. But the invaders very likely had already killed Belshazzar and any loyal to him by the time the sun rose on invasion day. And the gates were just opened and in they came. So that story fits with Wikipedia and with this 2nd vs of 13. Vs 3 could therefore be taken to mean that angels closed the eyes of the guards in the city, struck fear into any that maybe noticed what was afoot, and corralled any resistance to the Persian invasion. God saw to it that all this just changed over peaceably. After all, there were still many Jews living in Babylon at that time, remnants of the captivity, and these would mostly have been killed had there been a siege of any duration. One can even see the Bel worshipers and such blaming any Jews still in the city for the whole thing. God's purpose was to bring down Babylon, as prophesied, and to restore the Jews to their land. A quiet takeover ought to be seen as evidence of His plan working, and makes sense of the conflicting reports Wiki talks about.
Beginning in 13:4 though, we seem to shift to the future. Vs 6 especially indicates this with its reference to "the day of the Lord". I found this discussion of that phrase in my notes on Isaiah 2:
"10-22 are about the Day of the Lord, which ties in to the tribulation and great tribulation. To the vengeance of God on mankind. Per MSB, Day of the Lord, or Day of Reckoning, appears 19 times in the OT and 4 times in the NT . They are all listed in the MSB footnote for Isa 2:12. This would be a good study. There is a lot more in this particular footnote. Much to study. BUT, the thing to note is that Day of the Lord can refer to near or far judgement, it can refer to providential or God-sent judgement. It must be interpreted based on the context, and I am sure there are endless arguments on each usage of the phrase. Per MSB, there are two judgements yet to be fulfilled: One at the end of Daniel's 70th week, and one at the end of the Millennial."
So that means the phrase here does not necessarily signal a shift to a far prophecy of the fall of Babylon, but it might be signalling that. So...context.
Vss 6-8 seem to correspond with Revelation. Here are some verses from that might be the tie-in:
[Rev 18:6 ESV] Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
[Rev 18:9 ESV] And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.
[Rev 18:10 ESV] They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, "Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come."
[Rev 18:11 ESV] And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore,
[Rev 18:14 ESV] "The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!"
The pictures here, and indeed many of the same words, remind me of the verses in Isa 13. 13:6-8 correspond to the fear, the woe that merchants will feel, they will be aghast. Rev 18:14 corresponds pretty well with Isa 13:9, where Babylon will be a desolation, then 13:10 talks about the signs in the heavens that will accompany the destruction. Babylon was not destroyed at all in Ancient times, it just fell. But in Rev 18 you get the situation that the rest of 13 describes. So yes, I think perhaps I finally found that key that unlocks the meaning of Isaiah 13. I am going to cut these notes from 14, where I first put them, and stick them back in 13 where they belong. I didn't see all these yesterday, and that was my own fault.
One other point...I had never noticed the use of "double portion" here in Revelation. I have seen that phrase applied to Jerusalem, and interpreted it to be about 586 BC and 70 AD. But what if, just what if, the Babylon of Revelation and Jerusalem are the same place. What if the beast of Revelation makes his headquarters in Jerusalem, rebuilds a false temple there and then requires the world to worship him there. And since he will be extraordinarily powerful, unlike any kingdom that ever was before - per Daniel - he can distribute untold wealth and power to others. And that system, that corrupt system over which he presides, might be what God destroys in Rev 18. And the double destruction is of Jerusalem in 70 AD, which was truly a complete destruction, and this still future destruction in Great Trib. Heaven will rejoice over this destruction, the martyrs are avenged by this destruction. What if that is referring specifically to the martyrs of t/gt?
All this is interesting, but this thought just occurred to me: Babylon is desolate today, already, now. Perhaps that prophecy of desolation didn't refer to the nation, but actually to the city itself and all that it represented? Maybe the Medo-Persians just continued the status quo when they took over. When did the actual city get destroyed???
This article: "Most of the great walls of Babylon and their foundational structures still stand. They were excavated in the early 20th century by Robert Koldeway along with the rest of the city of Babylon.
In 1983 the leader of Iraq Saddam Hussein began a reconstruction project to restore the Walls of Babylon and recreate the Ishtar Gate. Despite the ongoing military conflict and civil war in Iraq, at some point they hope to recreate this magnificent ancient city in all its splendor." - https://ancientmesopotamia.org/structures/walls-of-babylon.php
So the walls still stand, but no one at all lives there anymore. Sure makes things difficult. Ahh...unless Isa 13 is truly a combined near/far prophecy, with any one phrase impossible to fix in time. Like 16 - infants dashed, houses plundered, wives ravished. There is no indication that Cyrus' army did any of this. But given the way war and conquest was conducted back then, it seems quite possible that to some extent, these things would have happened, even with a relatively quiet conquest. And somehow, over time, that city was just abandoned, gradually falling into disrepair, and gradually abandoned. Look at Isa 13:17 though...The Medes are coming. That has to be a near prophecy because that is what happened!
Ok. Enough of looking at 13 on the day I'm to read 14-16. But I needed to go back and get some kind of clarity on this chapter.]
2023 - Still on 13...I believe Israel - Judah to be specific - was to/is to receive double punishment because their sin became so very deserving of a double portion of punishment. God is very consistent, very fair, very equitable. If Jerusalem received double for her sins, why would the Age of the Gentiles not end the same way? Perhaps these verses in Revelation 18 about Babylon are about the capital of the Gentile world. Think how different are our governments today when compared with the theocracy that was Israel. And yet...also so similar. Capitalism ruled over theology both in Israel and in the world today. It was greed that fed the fires of rebellion against God back then, and it is the love of money today. Power is indeed coupled to money. Both in Isaiah and in Revelation it is the merchants, the shipping magnates, the "commercial businesses", the super wealthy who lived for money and power that mourn the passing of Babylon. If Babylon were Jerusalem, wouldn't it be the faithful Jews who mourned its passing, yet again? This sure has me leaning toward Babylon in Revelation being a commercial center, or a commercial system, and NOT Jerusalem, NOT a religious center of any kind as in Rome or Mecca. At least not as they function today.
2022 - Same thing this year...Hard to know what 13 is really about. In comparing the Babylon of Isaiah 13 with Revelation 18, this year, Revelation seems to be about a very violent fall, brought about not by invaders but by God's power. And that whole idea, in Revelation, where it says "come out of her, my people". That doesn't sound like the fall in the old days. And yet still...starting in 13:9, you have the signs in the heavens. I have no reason - yet - to discount those signs as end times, tgt, 70th week signs, exclusively. So I can make a case that 13:1-8 are about near, 13:9-16 are about end times, and then 13:17 brings us back to the Medes and Cyrus. Going to go with that for now, and read 14.
This chapter starts off looking beyond the destruction of Israel - maybe combining Israel and Judah and looking out to the Millennial? I think this applies at least to the first two verses.
2021 - It could be that vss 1,2 go with Chapter 13. When the Medes took Babylon, Cyrus released the Jews and they went home. But still, it is a stretch to say that they went home with slaves and ruled over their oppressors. Maybe over a few, but mostly not. So mostly, these 1st two verses are far, perhaps referring to the return of the Jews to Jerusalem during the sixth bowl, as we looked at recently in Rev. 16:12 in connection to the highway in the desert that Isaiah talks about.
These verses:
3 When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! [Isa 14:3-4 ESV]
This did not happen in Isaiah's time, or indeed any time since then. Israel was not restored at the time of ancient Babylon's fall, and would not have taunted that nation. This is a Millennial prophecy, and it is not talking about a literal place.
3-21 are a taunt to the King of Babylon after his fall. He is just a man, with a bed of maggots and worms for covers. What a way to describe a buried body!
Next verses close the book on Babylon.
2022 - 3-21 could be about Satan - and his 7 rulers - getting thrown out of heaven in Revelation. He falls to earth and begins the horrendous persecution of the Jews, trying to kill every last one that is still on earth. But he fails. He is defeated at Armageddon, and confined to the pit - a specially prepared, "worse than hell" place within hell, where he is on display to the rest of hell's inhabitants? Can those in hell really "see" what's going on...hmm. In a body specifically designed for eternity in hell, they might experience intense never-ending fire, yet their minds still work just fine. They will know, forever, that they are separated from God, and that their pain will never end. Or perhaps it is the demonic "captains" of previous strategies that are in hell staring at Satan and the current crew as they fall at the end of Armageddon and are all locked up. Also, it could be about the man, the antichrist. Isn't he thrown "alive" into Sheol? Yes, here it is: 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. [Rev 19:20 ESV]. For this to work, Sheol an the Lake of sulfur have to be either the same, or visible to each other. Those in Sheol "see", in Isa 14:16, those thrown into hell. And also in vs 16, the one referred to is a "man". Yet in vs 12 we have to be talking about Satan. Isaiah is kind of wrapping Satan and the MoL together in these verses. Perhaps that is the way to see it. A prophecy about the actors in that time, as a whole, rather than about specific actors. And then 20b-22 seem to fall back to the Babylon of Isaiah's time.
2023 - I don't think vss 3-21 are about Satan at all. I think they are about a thoroughly defeated ruler who claimed this title - Day Star, son of Dawn, which certainly sounds like a pagan title - back in that day. It could be about Belshazzar in Daniel, who died in a night. He was truly arrogant and likely attained to all the things mentioned in this chapter. If we let this be the fallen King of Babylon then the taunts would have been after Cyrus - who was friendly to the Jews - took over. Such taunts might well have pleased Cyrus and his officials. We have seen above that Cyrus' conquest of Babylon might well have been of limited violence. Further, I really don't see any reason at all to try and connect this with Revelation, and I do not see any reason to see the Day Star as Satan. MSB describes what is going on here as addressing the King of Babylon - and the devil who was operating behind him and through him - in the same way that the serpent in Genesis is addressed along with Satan's influence behind him. We see this very same kind of language in Eze 28:12-17 when the King of Tyre - and Satan behind him - are addressed.
2023 - It seems that in the past I was just way too intent on tying all Isaiah's prophecies to the end times. As I read this now, I don't find any real reason to do that, and in fact, trying to do so seems to be reading way too much into a lot of these passages. Some, yes, like 7:14 and 9:6, are about the future, and are easily recognized as such. Look at where this goes from here...Oracles about Assyria, Philistia and so on. Those don't look out to Revelation. Those were prophecies of the reasonably foreseeable future. So the lesson is, don't try to "push" more into these prophesies than is really there in an effort to gain insight into the end times. There are plenty of obvious passages about that already that are hard to put into place without trying to make everything Isaiah says about the end, without trying to make every prophecy ever have both a near and a far fulfilment. They might have that...but I don't think we'll see that until we're looking backward at them!
2021 - Vss 9-11, Are these the kings of the kingdoms that Daniel references? The lion, the leopard, and so on? The last kingdom, under "Anti-Christ"/ the beast is supposed to surpass all its predecessors for fury, destruction, and persecution. So these kings in Sheol that are rising up are saying that, like us, you too have now fallen. Surely this is about the son of perdition. And that rolls right into 12, about Satan himself, who inhabited, who supported, who lent his power to that last "King", is also fallen at this time, as Christ defeats him and sets up the Millennial kingdom. Wow. I really think you can put Isa 13, 14, and maybe more right into the slot with Rev 18 and the end of the power of Satan on earth.
2021 - Vss 12-20 seem to be about the 1000 years that Satan will be locked away in the pit, recognized for who he is, no longer so powerful that he, through the son of perdition, ruled the entire world ruthlessly. This greatest of all the kings who ever were has fallen to the final King. Ok, I'm convinced this is what is going on in 14. This is what it's about - the end of t/gt. Defeat of Satan before the Millennial.
2021 - In vs 24 we switch from Babylon - projected through to the end of tgt, back to the near term and Assyria, which will actually be in play long before Babylon arises. This is just a short 2 vs prophecy about Assyria, and then vss 26, 27 tie it all together - Assyria, Babylon, the end of time - as the will and purpose and determination of God which cannot be opposed.
Third reading, 9/10/20....So many of these verses are about the defeat of Satan. Look at vss 12, 13:
12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13 You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; [Isa 14:12-13 ESV]
Who else can this be about? The taunt is against Babylon, but the symbolic Babylon of Revelation is a system ruled by Satan. He manipulates, he controls, he plots and plans against God in order to advance himself. Through all of history he has planted and watered and advanced his evil plans. He's made progress, he's come near success even, yet always God wins. These verses, this taunt, is about the ultimate defeat of Satan, and the overcoming and total destruction of the evil that Satan has built. This goes on through vs 23.
Later...this also says that Satan was thrown out of heaven long ago to walk to and fro in the earth. Might make a case that he has access to heaven, but is no longer resident.
2023 - Vss 22-23 surely predict in summary form the current state of the Babylon of that day. It just wasted away to nothing, and was abandoned.
THIS IS WHAT I THINK IS GOING ON....
2024 - Reading through these notes this year, it seems I have never made a "final interpretation" of what Isa 14:4-23 are really about. I think the closest I got was in 2023 - just last year - when I decided this taunt, these references - are about the last King of Babylon - Belshazzar in Daniel's time - and his ignominious, non-event of a fall to the invading Medo-Persians. BUT, even though it is about the fall of a man, it is also about the great power behind that man, and t he power he wielded in the world THROUGH that man. It is like the announcements against the King of Tyre, and it is like the power that will be wielded through the SoP. So...Is it also talking about one or both of those? Probably not, but from this passage and the one about the King of Tyre we get an accurate look at how Satan operates in the world. These ambitions of Satan are "embedded" in the ambitions of a very powerful man, likely one who rose to power by abandoning God completely and operating without morality to advance himself and his kingdom. In this way, this King "projects" a sort of Luciferian Kingdom onto the whole region over which he rules. Satan is in charge...but operates entirely through a man.
So these verses, this taunt, is aimed at the dead King of Babylon - I think Belshazzar - who might well have been killed in his bed, and then had his body sort of "disappeared" by the invaders. He got no royal funeral, no mourners in the streets pining for the good ol' days. One morning, he was just gone, and the front gates were opened from the inside by foreign soldiers, and the army massed outside just walked in and took over. And Belshazzar was so unpopular, so "unlike a King", that no one really made a fuss when he was gone. Think of Biden. Think of what Kamala would have been like. That old image of the post turtle comes to mind. They just don't belong up there.
So these verses can be quite confusing when we try to interpret them as near/far, but there seems to be a lot of clarity when we interpret them as a repetition of an historically successful strategy, and we look at them as a battle between God and Satan over one of the seven domains on the earth. The Fall of Babylon, way back when, was in fact a defeat of Satan's forces by the angels of God. God had let Lucifer, through the succession of Babylonian Kings, believe that he had wiped out Israel as a nation forever. This was in fact Satan's strategic aim. God took what was going on in Babylon - it's military might, it's pagan worship, it's "colonialism by unmerciful conquest", and used them to bring about a long overdue "Day of the Lord" to bring down a people so thoroughly in rebellion against him that they just needed to be wiped out and a new start made. This is why all the leadership was killed or taken into slavery. They were terrible leaders, ungodly leaders, and they had to go. When Cyrus sent Israel home, the new leadership was the priesthood - Ezra and Nehemiah.
The King of Tyre, later, is another Satanic (almost) success story. Tyre was spreading the worst characteristics of humanity over the entire word. Wealth, plenty, and a lack of morality, a complete disdain for the Law of God. Vast national wealth was at the heart of both Babylon and Tyre. In the last days, that future Babylon - where ever and what ever it really is - will rule the world, distributing wealth like candy in exchange for the worship, the outright worship, of the SoP. Imagine how corrupt the world will have to be, how absolutely isolated and distant from faith in God, for grown men even to feign worship of a man. I do not believe that could happen today. No one in the US is going to worship some guy in the Middle East. Islam won't worship a mere man - unless they believe him to be Mohammad returned. And that only if they are "bad Muslims" and don't know their Quran, just like the only way "Christians" will agree to it is if they are very bad Christians indeed who do not know their Bibles. I mean...even the French aren't going to worship a man, are nowhere near doing such a thing, despite how far they are today from any sort of real belief in God.
We might see Babylon and Tyre as "practice runs" for the end times. Satan has lost each time....but likely he has learned. He has refined his tactics, dug into the details of what caused the previous failures, and eventually, when the world is corrupt enough, he will break out his last attempt. It will be wildly successful, with the setting up of a world government under a "king" that will be worshiped as a god. Loyalty not only to the wealth and immorality to which the flesh is drawn, but to a god who can grant "miraculous" favors, and demonstrate miraculous powers. What Satan won't see is that God will use that most successful of all implementation of a world dominating strategy to rapture out his church, bring His people home to Zion, and defeat Satan completely before the 1000 years of peace.
And THIS is what I think Isaiah 14:1-23 is really about. I think I might be able to stick with this one for a while!
Then we have a prophecy of Assyria's fall, shifting away from Satan and symbolic Babylon to the near term of Isaiah's own time. Note that this oracle says Assyria will fall "in my land, and on my mountains". Recall that the Assyrian army loses 185,000 men overnight to a disease sent by God as they are encamped outside Jerusalem. That is, "in my land, and on my mountains". Wow.
Then another prophecy, this one about the Philistines. This oracle is time stamped. Isaiah said these things the year Ahaz died. Philistia is told not to be happy about the death of Ahaz. I believe Ahaz had attacked them...didn't we see that in Amos, when he made his specific predictions? It would take some time to look up....But I think the Philistines would have had reason to celebrate the death of Ahaz. Look at the imagery though of the fall of Philistia: From the serpent's root comes an adder. A flying fiery serpent. I checked the internet to see what banner the ancient Assyrians marched under. Didn't really find anything that billed itself as a copy of their war banners. I did find some pictures of very large artifacts depicting Assyrians as four legged with wings. I wouldn't call them dragons really, they look more like lions or horses bodies with men's arms and torsos and faces. Did not really see fire.
2021 - I think vss 28-32 are saying that Assyria, in Isaiah's time, is going to destroy Philistia once and for all. They are on their last legs, and though they think with the death of Ahaz that they are about to rise again, the truth is just the opposite. It isn't Israel they need worry about. They will be helpless before Assyria.
2024 - I think it is possible to see all the upcoming prophecies as "near" and about the serial conquest of this whole area by Assyria. Not sure we need look any deeper than that.