Isaiah 13

(massa) used in Prov. xxx. 1; xxxi. 1. For the latest account of Babylon and its history, see Budge: Babylonian Life and History (1925). “Babylon represents civilisation: she is the brow of the world’s pride and enmity to God” (G. A. Smith).

2 high. Rather, “bare,” so that the signal may be clearly seen. “The banner-staff on the mountain, the voice uplifted, and the waving of the hand denoting a violent beckoning, are all favourite ideas with Isaiah."—Delitzsch.

the gates of the nobles. That is, of Babylon: see note on Job xxi. 28.

3. My sanctified ones. That is, “consecrated ones” (R.V.); My chosen and appointed instruments. The leaders and armies are spoken of as mustering under the command of the Lord.

them that rejoice in My highness. Or, “My proudly exulting ones”

8. Their faces [shall be as] flames. That is, flushed by intense inward agitation.

9. Cruel. That is, in which no mercy can be shown: comp. Jer. vi. 23; l. 42.

10 the constellations thereof. Heb., “its Chesilim” (Orions) (see note on Job ix. 9); i.e., its most brilliant constellations. The extinction of the very sources of light represents complete and irreparable destruction.

12 the golden wedge of Ophir. Rather, “pure gold of Ophir” (R.V.). The terrible slaughter should make men rarer than gold: comp. iv. 1.

14 it shall be as the chased roe. Or, “paxelle which is scared.” The flight of the foreign residents from Babylon is here vividly delineated. Babylon, in the days of its pride, was the mart and meeting-place of nations.

17 the Medes. The Medes are mentioned, according to frequent usage, as being at first more numerous and powerful than their allies, the Persians. In Isaiah’s day, they were already harassing the Assyrians. Their disregard of wealth, which usually attracts invaders, their skilful archery, and their savage cruelty, are particularly noticed by the historians Herodotus, Xenophon, Diodorus Siculus, and Ammianus Marcellinus. At the time when this prophecy was delivered, the Medes, like the Babylonians, were subject to the Assyrians; but they threw off the yoke soon after Sennacherib’s disaster, about 700 years before Christ: see Herod. i. 95, et seq.

20. Neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. In 1853 Layard described the site of Babylon as “a naked and hideous waste” (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 484). In the time of Strabo (born 60 B.C.) Babylon was a complete desert.

22. And the wild beasts of the islands. Rather, “And their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and ostriches shall dwell there, and shaggy [goats] shall gambol there, and wolves shall cry in their palaces, and jackals in [their] halls of pleasure,” etc.: comp. R.V. For the exact fulfilment of the prophecy, see Newton on the Prophecies, Diss. 15; and Keith’s Evidence of Prophecy.