Isaiah 14 Commentary
God’s Mercy On Jacob, Strangers. Babylon Punished.
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KEY THOUGHT: The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. [Isaiah 14:1b NKJV]
Kindly read your Bible before going through the commentary!
Isaiah 14 NKJV
Mercy on Jacob
14 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. 2 Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.
Fall of the King of Babylon
3 It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, 4 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
The golden[a] city ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the rulers;
6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
He who ruled the nations in anger,
Is persecuted and no one hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
They break forth into singing.
8 Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you,
And the cedars of Lebanon,
Saying, ‘Since you [b]were cut down,
No woodsman has come up against us.’
9 “Hell[c] from beneath is excited about you,
To meet you at your coming;
It stirs up the dead for you,
All the chief ones of the earth;
It has raised up from their thrones
All the kings of the nations.
10 They all shall speak and say to you:
‘Have you also become as weak as we?
Have you become like us?
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
And the sound of your stringed instruments;
The maggot is spread under you,
And worms cover you.’
The Fall of Lucifer
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O [d]Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the [e]lowest depths of the Pit.
16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
And consider you, saying:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world as a wilderness
And destroyed its cities,
Who [f]did not open the house of his prisoners?’
18 “All the kings of the nations,
All of them, sleep in glory,
Everyone in his own house;
19 But you are cast out of your grave
Like an [g]abominable branch,
Like the garment of those who are slain,
[h]Thrust through with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit,
Like a corpse trodden underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land
And slain your people.
The brood of evildoers shall never be named.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children
Because of the iniquity of their fathers,
Lest they rise up and possess the land,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
Babylon Destroyed
22 “For I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts,
“And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant,
And offspring and posterity,” says the Lord.
23 “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine,
And marshes of muddy water;
I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says the Lord of hosts.
Assyria Destroyed
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying,
“Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass,
And as I have purposed, so it shall stand:
25 That I will break the Assyrian in My land,
And on My mountains tread him underfoot.
Then his yoke shall be removed from them,
And his burden removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed against 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?”
Philistia Destroyed
28 This is the [i]burden which came in the year that King Ahaz died.
29 “Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia,
Because the rod that struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper,
And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.
30 The firstborn of the poor will feed,
And the needy will lie down in safety;
I will kill your roots with famine,
And it will slay your remnant.
31 Wail, O gate! Cry, O city!
All you of Philistia are dissolved;
For smoke will come from the north,
And no one will be alone in his [j]appointed times.”
32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation?
That the Lord has founded Zion,
And the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.
Footnotes
a. Isaiah 14:4 Or insolent
b. Isaiah 14:8 have lain down
c. Isaiah 14:9 Or Sheol
d. Isaiah 14:12 Lit. Day Star
e. Isaiah 14:15 Lit. recesses
f. Isaiah 14:17 Would not release
g. Isaiah 14:19 despised
h. Isaiah 14:19 Pierced
i. Isaiah 14:28 oracle, prophecy
j. Isaiah 14:31 Or ranks
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 14 Commentary
Isaiah uses all sorts of visuals and images for his message. Jacob means Israel, the nation. Yes, the same restored nation. But the restoration itself represents yet another restoration that comes with the Son.
So the term “Jacob” represents the remnant. Salvation is extended to strangers, the Gentiles. They both enjoy restoration.
Objects represent actual objects. Events represent actual events – using realities as models for His ultimate design.
The promise that the restored Israel would rule over “their” oppressors is yet another image. Otherwise, how does Israel rule over an oppressor who is completely destroyed?
It’s possible if the “total” destruction is also an image! But the message forbids us from direct equations or mapping. But an image doesn’t exist without an object!
Isaiah communicates his message in a complex web of visuals. At one point, Babylon is the tool that the LORD uses to inflict punishment on Judah.
At another point, Babylon’s fate is compared to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course, it is easy for the reader to remember the wickedness of the two cities. What may not be obvious is the fact that the prophet wants us to appreciate God’s judgment on wickedness.
The punishment is divinely orchestrated. It is not a consequence of random occurrences of civil strife.
We can identify a couple of scenarios. Evil punishing evil. But we also have evil persecuting righteousness. Eventually, righteousness punishes evil while rescuing the righteous in divine justice – when the Son rules.
Babylon’s wickedness is Sodom’s wickedness. It is actually the wickedness of humanity in the Garden of peace and tranquility. It is satan’s perversion manifesting itself down the generations.
So, Isaiah’s visuals include the mention of Lucifer’s fall – the source of deception, wickedness, and darkness.
Play satan. Manifest evil. Use his language. Cruelty. Pride. Note the repeated usage of the word ‘I’. It’s pride at its best. That is Babylon!
He said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” Daniel 4:30. This is Nebuchadnezzar’s sin; it is Babylon’s sin. But Isaiah knows better. It is humanity’s sin, instigated by satan, whose words we hear in this chapter. Isaiah has gone back to the beginning.
“I will be like the Most High”. Verse 15. Adam was drawn to this thought – to be like God. And here we are! The drama of Genesis plays once again!
But Isaiah looks to the future. Babylon will be punished exactly because of this root wickedness.
This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. Verse 26. We are not reading history; this is our situation. The LORD will punish wickedness – divine justice at full stretch!
Isaiah is so timeless in his message that you often forget he is writing within the context of his own time!
So we have moments of actual historical events to remind us of Isaiah’s time and moments. King Ahaz has died, and the prophet must address this specific event. As usual, it becomes a teaching aid for God’s judgment against the Philistines.
Remember that the LORD deals with the wickedness of the world. Named nations and groups give us details of the judgment as well as the circumstances.
At the head of it all is satan whose establishment the LORD promises to break down. The mention of Zaphon – the sacred mountain of the Canaanites, draws our thoughts to the evil establishments and shrines that seek to replace the worship of the Most High. But satan and everything associated with wickedness will be brought down to the realm of the dead, so orders the Creator God, LORD God Almighty.
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