Isaiah 13

THE burden This Title is commonly given to sad Prophecies, which indeed are grievous Burdens to them upon whom they are laid. See 2 Kings 9. 25. Ier. 23. 33, 36. of Babylon Of the City and Empire of Babylon by Cyrus, for their manifold and great Sins, and in order to the Deliverance of his People. which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

Lift ye up a banner To gather Soldiers together for this Expedition. upon the high mountain Whence it may be discerned at a considerable distance. Withal he seems to intimate that their Enemies should come from the Mountainous Country of Media., exalt the voice unto them To the Medes, who are named below, v. 17., shake the hand Becken to them with your Hand, that they may come to this Service., that they may go into the gates of the nobles That they may go and fight against Babylon, and take it, and so enter into the Palaces of the King, and of his Princes, and spoil them at their pleasure; which the Medes and Persians did. The manner of Expression implies how easily and expeditiously they did their Work, that, like Caesar, they might say, they only came, and saw, and overcame..

I have commanded my sanctified ones The Medes and Persians, fitly so called, because they were solemnly designed and set apart by God for his own Service, and for this holy Work of executing his just Vengeance upon them., I have also called my mighty ones Those whom I have made Mighty for this Work. for mine anger, even them that rejoyce in my highness Or, as others render it, in my glory, materially considered, to wit, in the doing of that Work which tends much to the Advancement of my Glory, in destroying of the Babylonian Empire. For otherwise the Medes had no regard to God nor to his Glory, but only to their own carnal Ends..

The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people: a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms and nations The Medes and Persians, and other Nations which served under them in this War: of which see Ier. 25. 14. & 27. 7. & 50. 41. gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battel.

They come from a far Country, from the end of heaven From the ends of the Earth under Heaven, as Mat. 24. 30. Which is not to be understood strictly and properly, but popularly and hyperbolically, as such Expressions are commonly used in Sacred and Profane Authors. And yet in some respects this might be truly said of Persia, which on the South-side was bounded by the Main Ocean; as for the same reason Sheba, a Part of Arabia, is called the uttermost parts of earth, Mat. 12. 42., even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation The Medes and Persians, who were but a Rod in God's Hand, and the Instruments of his Anger, as was said of the Assyrian, Isa. 10. 5., to destroy the whole land To wit, of Babylon, of which he is now speaking..

Howl ye, for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction Or rather, a destruction or devastation shall come, as the LXX and Vulgar Latin render it. For this was not as a destruction, but was a Destruction indeed. And the Particle as is seldom used to express not the likeness, but the reality of the thing, as Ioh. 1. 14. and oft elsewhere. from the Almighty Who fighteth for your Adversaries, and against you, and therefore your Destruction is unavoidable..

Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every mans heart shall melt.

And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman that travelleth: they shall be amazed one at another To see so populous and impregnable a City as Babylon was, so easily and unexpectedly taken., their faces shall be as flames Heb. faces of flame, either pale with Fear, or inflamed with Rage and Torment, as men in misery frequently are. Some render it the faces of Lehabim, a People descending from Mizraim, Gen, 10. 13. 1 Chron. 1. 11. i. e. black with pain, as men use to be: of which see I... el 2. 6. Nah. 2. 10..

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger Divers Words are heaped together, to signifie the extremity of his Anger., to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof The Inhabitants of that City, who were guilty of so much Idolatry and Cruelty, and all sorts of Luxury. out of it.

For the stars of heaven, and the constellations Which consist of many Stars, and therefore give a greater light. thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkned Either, 1. properly and really, by an Eclipse; for Prodigies in Heaven do sometimes go before or accompany great and publick Calamities upon Earth: or, 2. figuratively, and in appearance. All things shall look darkly and dismally; men shall have no comfort nor hope. See the like Descriptions of a most calamitous State, Isa. 5. 30. & 34. 4. Ioel 2. 10, 31, &c. in his going forth As soon as he riseth, when he is most welcom to men, and giveth them hopes of a pleasant Day. As soon as they have any appearance or hope of amendment, they shall be instantly disappointed., and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

And I will punish the world The Babylonish Empire, which is called the world, as the Roman Empire afterward was, Luk. 2. 1. because it was extended to a great part of the World, and because it was vastly populous, and Babylon it self looked more like a World than one City. for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible Of them who formerly were very terrible for their great Power and Cruelty..

I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir The City and Nation shall be so depopulated, that few men shall be left in it..

Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place A Poetical and Prophetical Description of great Horrours and Confusions, as if Heaven and Earth were about to meet together. in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

And it To wit, Babylon. shall be as the chased roe Fearful in it self, especially when it is pursued by the Hunter., and as a sheep that no man taketh up In a most forlorn and neglected condition.: they shall every man Those Souldiers of other and more warlike Nations, whom she had hired to assist her; which she used to do at other times, but especially upon this great occasion of which see on Ier. 50. 16. & 51. 9. turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.

Every one that is found In Babylon, at the taking of it. The Expectation whereof made them flee away with all speed. shall be thrust through: and every one that is joyned unto them, shall fall by the sword.

Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes As a just Recompence for the like Cruelty acted by them upon the Jews, 2 Chron. 36. 17. which also was foretold Psal. 137. 9., their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

Behold, I will stir up the Medes Under whom he comprehends the Persians, who were their Neighbours, and Confederates in this Expedition. against them, which shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it Which is to be understood comparatively. They shall more eagerly pursue the Destruction of the People, than the getting of Spoil; whereby it shall appear, that they are only the Executioners of my Vengeance against them; they will accept no Ransom to save their Lives..

Their bows Under which are comprehended their Arrows, and possibly other Weapons of War; for so generally sometimes is the... ow used in Scripture, as 2 Sam. 1. 18. Psal. 78. 9. Isa. 41. 2. also shall dash the young men to pieces Or, shall pierce the young men through, as the Chaldee render it., and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

And Babylon the glory of kingdoms Which once was the most noble and excellent of all the Kingdoms then in being, and was more glorious than the succeeding Empires, whence it was represented by the head of gold, Dan. 2. 37., the beauty of the Caldees excellency The famous and beautiful Seat of the Chaldaean Monarchy., shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah Shall be totally and irrecoverably destroyed, as is more fully expressed in the following Verses. Which yet was not done immediately upon the taking of the City by Darius and Cyrus, but was fulfilled by degrees, as is confessed by Historians, and appears this day..

It shall never be inhabited After the Destruction threatned shall be fully accomplished., neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian Who dwelt in Tents, and wandred from place to place, where they could find Pasture; but shall avoid this place, either because the Land, once noted for great Fruitfulness, is now become Barren; or because the Land is accursed by God, and abhorred by all men; or for fear of the Wild Beasts, as it follows. pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there The Land being forsaken by Men, shall be possessed by Wild Beasts, which love solitary places., and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there What the Hebrew Words used here, and in the next Verse, signifie, the Learned may see in my Latin Synopsis; and for others, it may suffice to know that in which all the Learned agree, that these are frightful and solitary Creatures: Of which if I should particularly discourse, I should rather perplex than edifie the Vulgar Reader..

And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant places: and her time is near to come So it was, though not according to Man's rash Judgment, and impatient Expectation, yet according to God's Estimation, and to the Eye of Faith, whereby Abraham saw Christ's Day as present, many Ages before it came, Ioh 8. 56. and comparatively; for it hapned within Two hundred years: which is but a small proportion of Time, if it be compared either with the foregoing or following Age... of the World, or with the imm... nse duration of Eternity, from whence it was decreed by God, and therefore might well be said now to be near the Accomplishment of it. In like manner the Apostles speak of the Day of Judgment as near in their time, though it was at many Ages distance., and her days shall not be prolonged Beyond the time prefixed and appointed by God. Compare Habak. 2. 3..