Isaiah 13:9-16

b. PURPOSE OF JUDGMENT

TEXT: Isaiah 13:9-16

9

Behold the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

10

For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine.

11

I will make a man more rare than fine gold, even a man than the pure gold of Ophir.

12

Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

13

And it shall come to pass, that as the chased roe, and as sheep that no man gathereth, they shall turn every man to his own people, and shall flee every man to his own land.

14

Every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one that is taken shall fall by the sword.

15

Their infants also shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be rifled, and their wives ravished.

QUERIES

a.

How would the lights of the heavens cease to shine?

b.

How would the heavens and the earth be shaken?

c.

Why all the slaughter of human beings ?

PARAPHRASE

Behold! The judgment day of Jehovah upon Babylon is coming. It will be a day of terrifying cruelty when God's wrath and anger is poured out. The land of the Babylonians will be made wasteland and its sinful people will be destroyed. The suddenness and completeness of the downfall of this world - encompassing empire will be as if the whole universe of planets were destroyed and obliterated. The slaughter of men will be so great there would not be enough rare gold anywhere to buy a man. The downfall of Babylon will be so great it will shake the very foundations of society all over the earth. Long established structures will crumble and fall. The chaotic and helpless condition of the Babylonians will be as pathetic as the hunted deer and scattered sheep without a shepherd. People will flee Babylon like rats leaving a sinking ship. When their enemies pounce upon them they will slaughter every Babylonian they can find. Their enemies will perform atrocities upon their babies, dashing them to death before their eyes, ransacking their homes and raping their wives.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 13:9-14 ABOLITION OF BABYLON: Jehovah, using the secondary means of the Medo-Persian conquest, is going to lay waste the massive and powerful Babylonian empire. Their societal structures, their culture, their name, their very existence is to be obliterated. It will be such an upheavel of the whole structure of society then known it would be as if God had turned off all the light in the world. When a government and culture like that of Babylon, which had such influence all over the world (Cf. Daniel 4:1-27), comes to such a sudden and chaotic end, it would seem as if the whole universe had caved in. The figure of the stars and the sun and the moon being darkened is a favorite figure of prophetic literature (Cf. Joel 2:10; Joel 2:31; Joel 3:15; Amos 8:9; Micah 3:6; Matthew 24:29). It is a figure that depicts downfalls of anti-God human structures to such an extent that men turning everywhere and anywhere for light and hope find only darkness and despair. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was such a downfall of Judaism that those who had rejected the Messiah and Christianity were victims of the wrath of God and it appeared to them as if the sun had darkened and the moon turned to blood, etc. (Cf. our comments in Minor Prophets on Joel 2:30-32).

Babylon's destruction will be so complete that a man cannot be found. So many Babylonian men will be killed that one man will be as rare as the finest gold in the world. The trembling of the heavens and the shaking of the earth out of its place is another figurative way of describing the complete downfall of this world-encompassing empire. It is our opinion that this is the figure the writer to the Hebrews in the New Testament (Hebrews 12:25-29) is applying to the imminent downfall of Judaism in 70 A.D. God was going to shake down once and for all the old system of Judaism and the Hebrew Christians should be grateful for receiving a kingdom (the Church) that could not be shaken. Here, God is going to shake down the empire of Babylon, and it will be such a cataclysmic event it will be as if the whole earth were being shaken out of its place. All of this, is, of course, typical of the final judgment day of God when He will judge Babylon (Cf. Revelation) and shake down the old heavens and earth and create new ones. The condition of the people of Babylon, once so arrogant, haughty, wicked and complacent, is described as pathetic. They will run helter-skelter in wild-eyed fashion like a deer being hunted or like sheep being scattered.

Isaiah 13:15-16 ATROCITIES UPON BABYLON: Historians tell us there was great bloodshed, carnage and atrocities of every kind perpetrated when the Medo-Persian coalition assaulted the city of Babylon. People of other nations (Babylon was a very cosmopolitan city) who were visiting fled in every direction to their own country. Those caught were destroyed. In the night of capture, there was a horrible massacre. A party of Persian soldiers burst into the palace and slew Belshazzar in the midst of great confusion and carnage. Young and old alike were impaled upon swords and spears. The city was fired and when morning came Cyrus was undisputed master of Babylon! (Cf. our comments in Daniel, ch. 5, College Press).

QUIZ

1.

Who did God use to carry out His wrath on Babylon?

2.

How thorough was their downfall?

3.

What does shake the heavens and the earth mean?

4.

What kinds of atrocities were committed upon the Babylonians?