ISAIAH 13:1 TO ISAIAH 14:23. THE UTTER RUIN OF BABYLON AND TRIUMPHAL ODE OVER HER MONARCH'S DEATH. Historical conditions are here presupposed entirely different from those of Isaiah's time. The subject of Isaiah 13 is the overthrow of Babylon by the Medes a century and a half after his age. Since th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DESTRUCTION OF ASSYRIA. This is usually regarded as a genuine fragment by Isaiah, asserting, as in Isaiah 10:5, the approaching destruction of Assyria in Palestine, and uttered probably not long before Sennacherib's invasion in 701. Some take it to be post-exilic, mainly on the ground that, just... [ Continue Reading ]
PHILISTIA'S EXULTATION IS PREMATURE: WORSE CALAMITIES ARE AT HAND. The Philistines are warned not to rejoice that the rod which has oppressed them is broken, for the tyrant's successor will smite them with greater severity. At first sight it might seem, on account of the title, that the breaking of... [ Continue Reading ]