no man taketh up--sheep defenseless, without a shepherd ([Zec 13:7]).
every man ... to his own people--The "mingled peoples" of foreign lands shall flee out of her ([Jr 50:16], 28, 37; ).
15. found--in the city.
joined--"intercepted" [Maurer]. "Every one that has withdrawn himself," namely, to hide in the houses [Gesenius].
16. ([Psa 137:8], ).
17. Medes--([Is 21:2]; [Jr 51:11], ). At that time they were subject to Assyria; subsequently Arbaces, satrap of Media, revolted against the effeminate Sardanapalus, king of Assyria, destroyed Nineveh, and became king of Media, in the ninth century B.C.
not regard silver--In vain will one try to buy his life from them for a ransom. The heathen Xenophon (Cyropædia, 5,1,10) represents Cyrus as attributing this characteristic to the Medes, disregard of riches. A curious confirmation of this prophecy.
18. bows--in the use of which the Persians were particularly skilled.
19. glory of kingdoms--([Is 14:4]; ; [Jr 51:41]).
beauty of ... excellency--Hebrew, "the glory of the pride" of the Chaldees; it was their glory and boast.
as ... Gomorrah--as utterly ([Jr 49:18]; ; [Am 4:11]). Taken by Cyrus, by clearing out the canal made for emptying the superfluous waters of the Euphrates, and directing the river into this new channel, so that he was able to enter the city by the old bed in the night.
20. Literally fulfilled.
neither ... Arabian pitch tent--Not only shall it not be a permanent residence, but not even a temporary resting-place. The Arabs, through dread of evil spirits, and believing the ghost of Nimrod to haunt it, will not pass the night there (compare [Is 13:21]).
neither ... shepherds--The region was once most fertile; but owing to the Euphrates being now no longer kept within its former channels, it has become a stagnant marsh, unfit for flocks; and on the wastes of its ruins (bricks and cement) no grass grows.
21. wild beasts--Hebrew, tsiyim, animals dwelling in arid wastes. Wild cats, remarkable for their howl [Bochart].
doleful creatures--"howling beasts," literally, "howlings" [Maurer].
owls--rather, "ostriches"; a timorous creature, delighting in solitary deserts and making a hideous noise [Bochart].
satyrs--sylvan demi-gods--half man, half goat--believed by the Arabs to haunt these ruins; probably animals of the goat-ape species [Vitringa]. Devil-worshippers, who dance amid the ruins on a certain night [J. Wolff].
22. wild beasts of the islands--rather, "jackals"; called by the Arabs "sons of howling"; an animal midway between a fox and a wolf [Bochart and Maurer].
cry--rather, "answer," "respond" to each other, as wolves do at night, producing a most dismal effect.
dragons--serpents of various species, which hiss and utter dolorous sounds. Fable gave them wings, because they stand with much of the body elevated and then dart swiftly. Maurer understands here another species of jackal.
her time ... near--though one hundred seventy-four years distant, yet "near" to Isaiah, who is supposed to be speaking to the Jews as if now captives in Babylon ([Is 14:1], 2).
Chapter 14
Is 14:1-3. The Certainty of Deliverance from Babylon
Is 14:4-23. The Jews' Triumphal Song Thereat
"It moves in lengthened elegiac measure like a song of lamentation for the dead, and is full of lofty scorn" [Herder].
Is 14:24-27. Confirmation of This by the Hereforetold Destruction of the Assyrians under Sennacherib;
a pledge to assure the captives in Babylon that He who, with such ease, overthrew the Assyrian, could likewise effect His purpose as to Babylon. The Babylonian king, the subject of this prediction, is Belshazzar, as representative of the kingdom ([Da 5:1-31]).
1. choose--"set His choice upon." A deliberate predilection [Horsley]. Their restoration is grounded on their election (see [Psa 102:13-22]).
strangers--proselytes ([Es 8:17]; [Ac 2:10]; 17:4, 17). Tacitus, a heathen [Histories, 5.5], attests the fact of numbers of the Gentiles having become Jews in his time. An earnest of the future effect on the heathen world of the Jews' spiritual restoration ([Is 60:4], [5, 10]; [Mi 5:7]; [Zec 14:16]; [Ro 11:12]).
2. the people--of Babylon, primarily. Of the whole Gentile world ultimately ([Is 49:22]; ; ).
their place--Judea ([Ezr 1:1-6]).
possess--receive in possession.
captives--not by physical, but by moral might; the force of love, and regard to Israel's God ([Is 60:14]).
3. rest--([Is 28:12]; [Eze 28:25], ).
Is 14:4-8. A Chorus of Jews Express Their Joyful Surprise at Babylon's Downfall
The whole earth rejoices; the cedars of Lebanon taunt him.
4. proverb--The Orientals, having few books, embodied their thoughts in weighty, figurative, briefly expressed gnomes. Here a taunting song of triumph ([Mi 2:4]; [Ha 2:6]).
the king--the ideal representative of Babylon; perhaps Belshazzar ([Da 5:1-31]). The mystical Babylon is ultimately meant.
golden city--rather, "the exactress of gold" [Maurer]. But the old translators read differently in the Hebrew, "oppression," which the parallelism favors (compare [Is 3:5]).
5. staff--not the scepter ([Psa 2:9]), but the staff with which one strikes others, as he is speaking of more tyrants than one ([Is 9:4]; ; ) [Maurer].
rulers--tyrants, as the parallelism "the wicked" proves (compare see on [Is 13:2]).
6. people--the peoples subjected to Babylon.
is persecuted--the Hebrew is rather, active, "which persecuted them, without any to hinder him" [Vulgate, Jerome, and Horsley].
7. they--the once subject nations of the whole earth. Houbigant places the stop after "fir trees" ([Is 14:8]), "The very fir trees break forth," &c. But the parallelism is better in English Version.