Isaiah 14 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 14

The Restoration of Jacob

14:1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD’s land as male and female slaves.¹ They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

Israel’s Remnant Taunts Babylon

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 fury² ceased!
5   The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
    the scepter of rulers,
6   that struck the peoples in wrath
    with unceasing blows,
  that ruled the nations in anger
    with unrelenting persecution.
7   The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
    they break forth into singing.
8   The cypresses rejoice at you,
    the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
  ‘Since you were laid low,
    no woodcutter comes up against us.’
9   Sheol beneath is stirred up
    to meet you when you come;
  it rouses the shades to greet you,
    all who were leaders of the earth;
  it raises from their thrones
    all who were kings of the nations.
10   All of them will answer
    and say to you:
  ‘You too have become as weak as we!
    You have become like us!’
11   Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
    the sound of your harps;
  maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
    and worms are your covers.
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;³
14   I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.’
15   But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the far reaches of the pit.
16   Those who see you will stare at you
    and ponder over you:
  ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
    who shook kingdoms,
17   who made the world like a desert
    and overthrew its cities,
    who did not let his prisoners go home?’
18   All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
    each in his own tomb;⁴
19   but you are cast out, away from your grave,
    like a loathed branch,
  clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
    who go down to the stones of the pit,
    like a dead body trampled underfoot.
20   You will not be joined with them in burial,
    because you have destroyed your land,
    you have slain your people.
  “May the offspring of evildoers
    nevermore be named!
21   Prepare slaughter for his sons
    because of the guilt of their fathers,
  lest they rise and possess the earth,
    and fill the face of the world with cities.”

22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity,” declares the LORD. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog,⁵ and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts.

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

24   The LORD of hosts has sworn:
  “As I have planned,
    so shall it be,
  and as I have purposed,
    so shall it stand,
25   that I will break the Assyrian in my land,
    and on my mountains trample him underfoot;
  and his yoke shall depart from them,
    and his burden from their shoulder.”
26   This is the purpose that is purposed
    concerning the whole earth,
  and this is the hand that is stretched out
    over all the nations.
27   For the LORD of hosts has purposed,
    and who will annul it?
  His hand is stretched out,
    and who will turn it back?

An Oracle Concerning Philistia

28 In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:

29   Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,
    that the rod that struck you is broken,
  for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder,
    and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.
30   And the firstborn of the poor will graze,
    and the needy lie down in safety;
  but I will kill your root with famine,
    and your remnant it will slay.
31   Wail, O gate; cry out, O city;
    melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
  For smoke comes out of the north,
    and there is no straggler in his ranks.
32   What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
  “The LORD has founded Zion,
    and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

Footnotes

[1] 14:2 Or servants
[2] 14:4 Dead Sea Scroll (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate); the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain
[3] 14:13 Or in the remote parts of Zaphon
[4] 14:18 Hebrew house
[5] 14:23 Possibly porcupine, or owl

Commentary

v1-2: The return of Israel to their own land, "the Lord's land." The original promises to Abraham are irrevocable, and must be fulfilled, and the land will belong to the children of Israel. The Lord will have compassion on His people. Significantly "nations" (Gentiles) will share in that blessing, as Israel's "menservants and maidservants." So Israel's blessing will mean blessing for Gentiles, compare Rom 11.22.

v3-8: Israel delivered from fear and hard bondage; no longer mistreated by the nations. In particular, Israel will mock Babylon, having been delivered from oppression, see Rev 18.2,20. The defeat of Babylon brings peace to the whole world. This also matches the content of Revelation, where Babylon is brought down. Isaiah speaks here of some future worldwide dominion of "Babylon." God had used Babylon as His instrument of judgment, and now Babylon itself is judged.

v9-11: Their destiny is death; their pomp and glory covered by maggots and worms.

v12: The description of Babylon is linked with that of Lucifer, the morning star, the devil. See also Ezek 28.15. These references to Babylon are therefore also to a devil-inspired religion, promoting all manner of sins and injustice, and opposing the work of the true God and His people.

v13-15: Lucifer sought absolute power and authority, seeking to usurp even the throne of God, "Like the Most High." But he will be brought low.

v16-17: His power and influence were widespread; the image here is of the dead inspecting the latest arrival, gazing in wonder at his power brought to nothing.

v18-21: Babylon is cast out, not receiving even a burial.

v22-23: As with 13.20-22, very detailed prophecies, as the land was changed into swampland (southern Iraq today).

v24-27: Words addressed to Assyria; who will be broken "in my land," as the army attacking Hezekiah in Jerusalem was destroyed; see 37.36-38.

God's plan for any nation and for all nations cannot be frustrated, for none has greater power. These words would belong in any section here. They bring reassurance to the people of God, suffering repeated invasions from the ungodly.

v28-32: Philistine, the ancient enemy of Israel, was also defeated. The first "rod" that struck them, Assyria, was broken, but a later army, Babylon, would come from the north.

But through these international conflicts, Zion enjoyed the preservation of God. There is always refuge in God.