The Fall of Babylon’s King, the Lord’s Unbreakable Purpose, and the Oracle Against Philistia

Isa 14:3-6 The song of the redeemed is a song concerning the fall of the king of Babel. Isa 14:3, Isa 14:4 . Instead of the hiphil hinniach (to let down) of Isa 14:1, we have here, as in the original passage, Deu 25:19, the form hēniach , which is commonly used in the sense of quieting, or procuring rest. עצב is trouble which plagues (as עמל is trouble which oppresses), and rōgez restlessness which wears out with anxious care (Job 3:26, cf.

, Eze 12:18). The assimilated min before the two words is pronounced mĭ , with a weak reduplication, instead of mē , as elsewhere, before ח, ה, and even before ר (1Sa 23:28; 2Sa 18:16). In the relative clause עבּד־בך אשר, אשר is not the Hebrew casus adverb . answering to the Latin ablative quâ servo te usi sunt ; not do בך ... אשר belong to one another in the sense of quo , as in Deu 21:3, quâ ( vitulâ ); but it is regarded as an acc.

obj . according to Exo 1:14 and Lev 25:39, qu'on t'a fait servir , as in Num 32:5, qu'on donne la terre (Luzzatto). When delivered from such a yoke of bondage, Israel would raise a mâshâl . According to its primary and general meaning, mâshâl signifies figurative language, and hence poetry generally, more especially that kind of proverbial poetry which loves the emblematical, and, in fact, any artistic composition that is piquant in its character; so that the idea of what is satirical or defiant may easily be associated with it, as in the passage before us.

The words are addressed to the Israel of the future in the Israel of the present, as in Isa 12:1. The former would then sing, and say as follows. “How hath the oppressor ceased! The place of torture ceased! Jehovah hath broken the rod of the wicked, the ruler’s staff, which cmote nations in wrath with strokes without ceasing subjugated nations wrathfully with hunting than nevers stays.

” Not one of the early translators ever thought of deriving the hap. leg. madhebâh from the Aramaean dehab (gold), as Vitringa, Aurivillius, and Rosenmüller have done. The former have all translated the word as if it were marhēbâh (haughty, violent treatment), as corrected by J. D. Michaelis, Doederlein, Knobel, and others. But we may arrive at the same result without altering a single letter, if we take דּאב as equivalent to דּהב, דּוּב, to melt or pine away, whether we go back to the kal or to the hiphil of the verb, and regard the Mem as used in a material or local sense.

We understand it, according to madmenah (dunghill) in Isa 25:10, as denoting the place where they were reduced to pining away, i. e. , as applied to Babylon as the house of servitude where Israel had been wearied to death. The tyrant’s sceptre, mentioned in Isa 14:5, is the Chaldean world-power regarded as concentrated in the king of Babel (cf. , shēbet in Num 24:17).

This tyrant’s sceptre smote nations with incessant blows and hunting: maccath is construed with macceh , the derivative of the same verb; and murdâph , a hophal noun (as in Isa 9:1; Isa 29:3), with rodeh , which is kindred in meaning. Doederlein’s conjecture ( mirdath ), which has been adopted by most modern commentators, is quite unnecessary. Unceasing continuance is expressed first of all with bilti , which is used as a preposition, and followed by sârâh , a participial noun like câlâh , and then with b'li , which is construed with the finite verb as in Gen 31:20; Job 41:18; for b'li châsâk is an attributive clause: with a hunting which did not restrain itself, did not stop, and therefore did not spare.

Nor is it only Israel and other subjugated nations that now breathe again.

Isa 14:7-8 “The whole earth rests, is quiet: they break forth into singing. Even the cypresses rejoice at thee, the cedars of Lebanon: 'Since thou hast gone to sleep, no one will come up to lay the axe upon us.' ” The preterites indicate inchoatively the circumstances into which the whole earth has now entered. The omission of the subject in the case of pâtz'chu (they break forth) gives the greatest generality to the jubilant utterances: pâtzach rinnâh ( erumpere gaudio ) is an expression that is characteristic of Isaiah alone (e.

g. , Isa 44:23; Isa 49:13); and it is a distinctive peculiarity of the prophet to bring in the trees of the forest, as living and speaking beings, to share in the universal joy (cf. , Isa 55:12). Jerome supposes the trees to be figuratively employed here for the “chiefs of the nations” ( principes gentium ). But this disposition to allegorize not only destroys the reality of the contents, but the spirit of the poetry also.

Cypresses and cedars rejoice because of the treatment which they received from the Chaldean, who made use of the almost imperishable wood of both of them for ornamental buildings, for his siege apparatus, and for his fleets, and even for ordinary ships - as Alexander, for example, built himself a fleet of cypress-wood, and the Syrian vessels had masts of cedar. Of the old cedars of Lebanon, there are hardly thirty left in the principle spot where they formerly grew.

Gardner Wilkinson (1843) and Hooker the botanist (1860) estimated the whole number at about four hundred; and according to the conclusion which the latter drew from the number of concentric rings and other signs, not one of them is more than about five hundred years old.

Isa 14:7-8 “The whole earth rests, is quiet: they break forth into singing. Even the cypresses rejoice at thee, the cedars of Lebanon: 'Since thou hast gone to sleep, no one will come up to lay the axe upon us.' ” The preterites indicate inchoatively the circumstances into which the whole earth has now entered. The omission of the subject in the case of pâtz'chu (they break forth) gives the greatest generality to the jubilant utterances: pâtzach rinnâh ( erumpere gaudio ) is an expression that is characteristic of Isaiah alone (e.

g. , Isa 44:23; Isa 49:13); and it is a distinctive peculiarity of the prophet to bring in the trees of the forest, as living and speaking beings, to share in the universal joy (cf. , Isa 55:12). Jerome supposes the trees to be figuratively employed here for the “chiefs of the nations” ( principes gentium ). But this disposition to allegorize not only destroys the reality of the contents, but the spirit of the poetry also.

Cypresses and cedars rejoice because of the treatment which they received from the Chaldean, who made use of the almost imperishable wood of both of them for ornamental buildings, for his siege apparatus, and for his fleets, and even for ordinary ships - as Alexander, for example, built himself a fleet of cypress-wood, and the Syrian vessels had masts of cedar. Of the old cedars of Lebanon, there are hardly thirty left in the principle spot where they formerly grew.

Gardner Wilkinson (1843) and Hooker the botanist (1860) estimated the whole number at about four hundred; and according to the conclusion which the latter drew from the number of concentric rings and other signs, not one of them is more than about five hundred years old.

Isa 14:9 But whilst it has become so quiet on earth, there is the most violent agitation in the regions below. “The kingdom of the dead below is all in uproar on account of thee, to meet thy coming; it stirreth up the shades for thee, all the he-goats of the earth; it raiseth up from their throne-seats all the kings of the nations. ” The notion of Hades, notwithstanding the mythological character which it had assumed, was based upon the double truth, that what a man has been, and the manner in which he has lived on this side the grave, are not obliterated on the other side, but are then really brought to light, and that there is an immaterial self-formation of the soul, in which all that a man has become under certain divinely appointed circumstances, by his own self-determination, is, as it were, reflected in a mirror, and that in a permanent form.

This psychical image, to which the dead body bears the same relation as the shattered mould to a cast, is the shade-like corporeality of the inhabitants of Hades, in which they appear essentially though spiritually just as they were on this side the grave. This is the deep root of what the prophet has here expressed in a poetical form; for it is really a mâshâl that he has interwoven with his prophecy here.

All Hades is overwhelmed with excitement and wonder, now that the king of Babel, that invincible ruler of the world, who, if not unexpected altogether, was not expected so soon, as actually approaching. From עורר onwards, Sheol , although a feminine, might be the subject; in which case the verb would simply have reverted from the feminine to the radical masculine form.

But it is better to regard the subject as neuter; a nescio quid , a nameless power. The shades are suddenly seized with astonishment, more especially the former leaders (leading goats or bell-wethers) of the herds of nations, so that, from sheer amazement, they spring up from their seats.

Isa 14:10 And how do they greet this lofty new-comer? “They all rise up and say to thee, Art thou also made weak like us? art thou become like us? ” This is all that the shades say; what follows does not belong to them. The pual chullâh (only used here), “to be made sickly, or powerless,” signifies to be transposed into the condition of the latter, viz. , the Repahim (a word which also occurs in the Phoenician inscriptions, from רפא = רפה, to be relaxed or weary), since the life of the shades is only a shadow of life (cf.

, εἴδωλα ἄκικυς, and possibly also καμόντες in Homer, when used in the sense of those who are dying, exhausted and prostrate with weakness). And in Hades we could not expect anything more than this expression of extreme amazement. For why should they receive their new comrade with contempt or scorn? From Isa 14:11 onwards, the singers of the mashal take up the song again.

Isa 14:11 “Thy pomp is cast down to the region of the dead, the noise of thy harps: maggots are spread under thee, and they that cover thee are worms. ” From the book of Daniel we learn the character of the Babylonian music; it abounded in instruments, some of which were foreign. Maggots and worms (a bitter sarcasm) now take the place of the costly artistic Babylonian rugs, which once formed the pillow and counterpane of the distinguished corpse.

יצּע might be a third pers. hophal (Ges. §71); but here, between perfects, it is a third pers. pual , like yullad in Isa 9:5. Rimmâh , which is preceded by the verb in a masculine and to a certain extent an indifferent form (Ges. §147, a ), is a collective name for small worms, in any mass of which the individual is lost in the swarm. The passage is continued with איך (on which, as a catchword of the mashal , see at Isa 1:21).

Isa 14:12 “How art thou fallen from the sky, thou star of light, sun of the dawn, hurled down to the earth, thou that didst throw down nations from above? ” הילל is here the morning star (from hâlal , to shine, resolved from hillel , after the form מאן, Jer 13:10, סעף, Psa 119:113, or rather attaching itself as a third class to the forms היכל, עירם: compare the Arabic sairaf , exchanger; saikal , sword-cleaner).

It derives its name in other ancient languages also from its striking brilliancy, and is here called ben - shachar (sun of the dawn), just as in the classical mythology it is called son of Eos, from the fact that it rises before the sun, and swims in the morning light as if that were the source of its birth. Lucifer, as a name given to the devil, was derived from this passage, which the fathers (and lately Stier) interpreted, without any warrant whatever, as relating to the apostasy and punishment of the angelic leaders.

The appellation is a perfectly appropriate one for the king of Babel, on account of the early date of the Babylonian culture, which reached back as far as the grey twilight of primeval times, and also because of its predominant astrological character. The additional epithet chōlēsh ‛al - gōyim is founded upon the idea of the influxus siderum : cholesh signifies “overthrowing” or laying down (Exo 17:13), and with ‛al , “bringing defeat upon;” whilst the Talmud (b.

Sabbath 149 b ) uses it in the sense of projiciens sortem , and thus throws light upon the cholesh (= purah , lot) of the Mishnah. A retrospective glance is now cast at the self-deification of the king of Babylon, in which he was the antitype of the devil and the type of antichrist (Dan 11:36; 2Th 2:4), and which had met with its reward.

Isa 14:13-15 “And thou, thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and sit down on the mount of the assembly of gods in the corner of the north. I will ascend to the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High. Nevertheless, thou wilt be cast down into the region of the dead, into the corner of the pit.

” An antithetical circumstantial clause commences with veattah , just as in Isa 14:19, “whilst thou,” or “whereas thou. ” The har hammōēd (mount of assembly) cannot be Zion, as is assumed by Schegg and others, who are led astray by the parallel in Psa 48:3, which has been entirely misunderstood, and has no bearing upon this passage at all. Zion was neither a northern point of the earth, nor was it situated on the north of Jerusalem.

The prophet makes the king of Babylon speak according to the general notion of his people, who had not the seat of the Deity in the midst of them, as the Israelites had, but who placed it on the summit of the northern mountains, which were lost in the clouds, just as the Hindus place it on the fabulous mountains of Kailâsa , which lie towards the north beyond the Himalayas (Lassen, i. 34ff.)

ירכתים (with an aspirated כ in a loosely closed syllable) are the two sides into which a thing parts, the two legs of an angle, and then the apex at which the legs separate. And so here, צפון ירכּתי (with an unaspirated Caph in a triply closed syllable) is the uttermost extremity of the north, from which the northern mountains stretch fork-like into the land, and yarcethe - bor the interior of the pit into which its two walls slope, and from which it unfolds or widens.

All the foolhardy purposes of the Chaldean are finally comprehended in this, “ I will make myself like the Most High; ” just as the Assyrians, according to Ctesias, and the Persians, according to the Persae of Aeschylus, really called their king God, and the Sassanidae call themselves bag , Theos , upon coins and inscriptions ( 'eddammeh is hithpael , equivalent to 'ethdammeh , which the usual assimilation of the preformative Tav : Ges. §34, 2, b ).

By the אך in Psa 48:14, the high-flying pride of the Chaldean is contrasted with his punishment, which hurls him down into the lowest depths. אך, which was originally affirmative, and then restrictive (as rak was originally restrictive and then affirmative), passes over here into an adversative, just as in Psa 49:16; Job 13:15 (a change seen still more frequently in אכן); nevertheless thou wilt be hurled down; nothing but that will occur, and not what you propose.

The prophetic tūrad is language that neither befits the inhabitants of Hades, who greet his advent, nor the Israel singing the mashal ; but the words of Israel have imperceptibly passed into words of the prophet, who still sees in the distance, and as something future, what the mashal commemorates as already past.

Isa 14:13-15 “And thou, thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and sit down on the mount of the assembly of gods in the corner of the north. I will ascend to the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High. Nevertheless, thou wilt be cast down into the region of the dead, into the corner of the pit.

” An antithetical circumstantial clause commences with veattah , just as in Isa 14:19, “whilst thou,” or “whereas thou. ” The har hammōēd (mount of assembly) cannot be Zion, as is assumed by Schegg and others, who are led astray by the parallel in Psa 48:3, which has been entirely misunderstood, and has no bearing upon this passage at all. Zion was neither a northern point of the earth, nor was it situated on the north of Jerusalem.

The prophet makes the king of Babylon speak according to the general notion of his people, who had not the seat of the Deity in the midst of them, as the Israelites had, but who placed it on the summit of the northern mountains, which were lost in the clouds, just as the Hindus place it on the fabulous mountains of Kailâsa , which lie towards the north beyond the Himalayas (Lassen, i. 34ff.)

ירכתים (with an aspirated כ in a loosely closed syllable) are the two sides into which a thing parts, the two legs of an angle, and then the apex at which the legs separate. And so here, צפון ירכּתי (with an unaspirated Caph in a triply closed syllable) is the uttermost extremity of the north, from which the northern mountains stretch fork-like into the land, and yarcethe - bor the interior of the pit into which its two walls slope, and from which it unfolds or widens.

All the foolhardy purposes of the Chaldean are finally comprehended in this, “ I will make myself like the Most High; ” just as the Assyrians, according to Ctesias, and the Persians, according to the Persae of Aeschylus, really called their king God, and the Sassanidae call themselves bag , Theos , upon coins and inscriptions ( 'eddammeh is hithpael , equivalent to 'ethdammeh , which the usual assimilation of the preformative Tav : Ges. §34, 2, b ).

By the אך in Psa 48:14, the high-flying pride of the Chaldean is contrasted with his punishment, which hurls him down into the lowest depths. אך, which was originally affirmative, and then restrictive (as rak was originally restrictive and then affirmative), passes over here into an adversative, just as in Psa 49:16; Job 13:15 (a change seen still more frequently in אכן); nevertheless thou wilt be hurled down; nothing but that will occur, and not what you propose.

The prophetic tūrad is language that neither befits the inhabitants of Hades, who greet his advent, nor the Israel singing the mashal ; but the words of Israel have imperceptibly passed into words of the prophet, who still sees in the distance, and as something future, what the mashal commemorates as already past.

Isa 14:13-15 “And thou, thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and sit down on the mount of the assembly of gods in the corner of the north. I will ascend to the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High. Nevertheless, thou wilt be cast down into the region of the dead, into the corner of the pit.

” An antithetical circumstantial clause commences with veattah , just as in Isa 14:19, “whilst thou,” or “whereas thou. ” The har hammōēd (mount of assembly) cannot be Zion, as is assumed by Schegg and others, who are led astray by the parallel in Psa 48:3, which has been entirely misunderstood, and has no bearing upon this passage at all. Zion was neither a northern point of the earth, nor was it situated on the north of Jerusalem.

The prophet makes the king of Babylon speak according to the general notion of his people, who had not the seat of the Deity in the midst of them, as the Israelites had, but who placed it on the summit of the northern mountains, which were lost in the clouds, just as the Hindus place it on the fabulous mountains of Kailâsa , which lie towards the north beyond the Himalayas (Lassen, i. 34ff.)

ירכתים (with an aspirated כ in a loosely closed syllable) are the two sides into which a thing parts, the two legs of an angle, and then the apex at which the legs separate. And so here, צפון ירכּתי (with an unaspirated Caph in a triply closed syllable) is the uttermost extremity of the north, from which the northern mountains stretch fork-like into the land, and yarcethe - bor the interior of the pit into which its two walls slope, and from which it unfolds or widens.

All the foolhardy purposes of the Chaldean are finally comprehended in this, “ I will make myself like the Most High; ” just as the Assyrians, according to Ctesias, and the Persians, according to the Persae of Aeschylus, really called their king God, and the Sassanidae call themselves bag , Theos , upon coins and inscriptions ( 'eddammeh is hithpael , equivalent to 'ethdammeh , which the usual assimilation of the preformative Tav : Ges. §34, 2, b ).

By the אך in Psa 48:14, the high-flying pride of the Chaldean is contrasted with his punishment, which hurls him down into the lowest depths. אך, which was originally affirmative, and then restrictive (as rak was originally restrictive and then affirmative), passes over here into an adversative, just as in Psa 49:16; Job 13:15 (a change seen still more frequently in אכן); nevertheless thou wilt be hurled down; nothing but that will occur, and not what you propose.

The prophetic tūrad is language that neither befits the inhabitants of Hades, who greet his advent, nor the Israel singing the mashal ; but the words of Israel have imperceptibly passed into words of the prophet, who still sees in the distance, and as something future, what the mashal commemorates as already past.

Isa 14:16-17 The prophet then continues in the language of prediction. “They that see thee look, considering thee, look at thee thoughtfully: Is this the man that set the earth trembling, and kingdoms shaking? that made the world a wilderness, and destroyed its cities, and did not release its prisoners ( to their ) home? ” The scene is no longer in Hades (Knobel, Umbreit).

Those who are speaking thus have no longer the Chaldean before them as a mere shade, but as an unburied corpse that has fallen into corruption. As tēbēl is feminine, the suffixes in Isa 14:17 must refer, according to a constructio ad sensum , to the world as changed into a wilderness ( midbâr ). Pâthach , to open, namely locks and fetters; here, with baithâh , it is equivalent to releasing or letting go (syn.

shillēach , Jer 50:33). By the “prisoners” the Jewish exiles are principally intended; and it was their release that had never entered the mind of the king of Babylon.

Isa 14:16-17 The prophet then continues in the language of prediction. “They that see thee look, considering thee, look at thee thoughtfully: Is this the man that set the earth trembling, and kingdoms shaking? that made the world a wilderness, and destroyed its cities, and did not release its prisoners ( to their ) home? ” The scene is no longer in Hades (Knobel, Umbreit).

Those who are speaking thus have no longer the Chaldean before them as a mere shade, but as an unburied corpse that has fallen into corruption. As tēbēl is feminine, the suffixes in Isa 14:17 must refer, according to a constructio ad sensum , to the world as changed into a wilderness ( midbâr ). Pâthach , to open, namely locks and fetters; here, with baithâh , it is equivalent to releasing or letting go (syn.

shillēach , Jer 50:33). By the “prisoners” the Jewish exiles are principally intended; and it was their release that had never entered the mind of the king of Babylon.

Isa 14:18-19 The prophet, whose own words now follow the words of the spectators, proceeds to describe the state in which the tyrant lies, and which calls for such serious reflections. “All the kings of the nations, they are all interred in honour, every one in his house: but thou art cast away far from thy sepulchre like a shoot hurled away, clothed with slain, with those pierced through with the sword, those that go down to the stones of the pit; like a carcase trodden under feet.

” Every other king was laid out after his death “in his house” ( b'bēthō ), i. e. within the limits of his own palace; but the Chaldean lay far away from the sepulchre that was apparently intended for him. The מן in מקברך signifies procul ab , as in Num 15:24; Pro 20:3. He lies there like nētzer nith‛âb , i. e. , like a branch torn off from the tree, that has withered and become offensive, or rather (as neetzer does not mean a branch, but a shoot) like a side-shoot that has been cut off the tree and thrown away with disgust as ugly, useless, and only a hindrance to the regular growth of the tree (possibly also an excrescence); nith‛âb (cast away) is a pregnant expression, signifying “cast away with disgust.

” The place where he lies is the field of battle. A vaticinium post eventum would be expressed differently from this, as Luzzatto has correctly observed. For what Seder 'Olam says - namely, that Nebuchadnezzar’s corpse was taken out of the grave by Evilmerodach, or as Abravanel relates it, by the Medo-Persian conquerors - is merely a conclusion drawn from the passage before us, and would lead us to expect הוצת rather than השלכת.

It is a matter of indifference, so far as the truth of the prophecy is concerned, whether it was fulfilled in the person of Nebuchadnezzar I, or of that second Nebuchadnezzar who gave himself out as a son of Nabonet, and tried to restore the freedom of Babylon. The scene which passes before the mind of the prophet is the field of battle. To clear this they made a hole and throw stones ( abnē - bor , stones of the pit) on the top, without taking the trouble to shovel in the earth; but the king of Babylon is left lying there, like a carcase that is trampled under foot, and deserves nothing better than to be trampled under foot ( mūbâs , part.

hoph . of būs , conculcare ). They do not even think him worth throwing into a hole along with the rest of the corpses.

Isa 14:18-19 The prophet, whose own words now follow the words of the spectators, proceeds to describe the state in which the tyrant lies, and which calls for such serious reflections. “All the kings of the nations, they are all interred in honour, every one in his house: but thou art cast away far from thy sepulchre like a shoot hurled away, clothed with slain, with those pierced through with the sword, those that go down to the stones of the pit; like a carcase trodden under feet.

” Every other king was laid out after his death “in his house” ( b'bēthō ), i. e. within the limits of his own palace; but the Chaldean lay far away from the sepulchre that was apparently intended for him. The מן in מקברך signifies procul ab , as in Num 15:24; Pro 20:3. He lies there like nētzer nith‛âb , i. e. , like a branch torn off from the tree, that has withered and become offensive, or rather (as neetzer does not mean a branch, but a shoot) like a side-shoot that has been cut off the tree and thrown away with disgust as ugly, useless, and only a hindrance to the regular growth of the tree (possibly also an excrescence); nith‛âb (cast away) is a pregnant expression, signifying “cast away with disgust.

” The place where he lies is the field of battle. A vaticinium post eventum would be expressed differently from this, as Luzzatto has correctly observed. For what Seder 'Olam says - namely, that Nebuchadnezzar’s corpse was taken out of the grave by Evilmerodach, or as Abravanel relates it, by the Medo-Persian conquerors - is merely a conclusion drawn from the passage before us, and would lead us to expect הוצת rather than השלכת.

It is a matter of indifference, so far as the truth of the prophecy is concerned, whether it was fulfilled in the person of Nebuchadnezzar I, or of that second Nebuchadnezzar who gave himself out as a son of Nabonet, and tried to restore the freedom of Babylon. The scene which passes before the mind of the prophet is the field of battle. To clear this they made a hole and throw stones ( abnē - bor , stones of the pit) on the top, without taking the trouble to shovel in the earth; but the king of Babylon is left lying there, like a carcase that is trampled under foot, and deserves nothing better than to be trampled under foot ( mūbâs , part.

hoph . of būs , conculcare ). They do not even think him worth throwing into a hole along with the rest of the corpses.

Isa 14:20 “Thou art not united with them in burial, for thou hast destroyed thy land, murdered thy people: the seed of evil-doers will not be named for ever. ” In this way is vengeance taken for the tyrannical manner in which he has oppressed and exhausted his land, making his people the involuntary instruments of his thirst for conquest, and sacrificing them as victims to that thirst.

For this reason he does not meet with the same compassion as those who have been compelled to sacrifice their lives in his service. And it is not only all over for ever with him, but it is so with his dynasty also. The prophet, the messenger of the penal justice of God, and the mouthpiece of that Omnipotence which regulates the course of history, commands this.

Isa 14:21 “Prepare a slaughter-house for his sons, because of the iniquity of their fathers! They shall not rise and conquer lands, and fill the face of the earth with cities. ” They exhortation is addressed to the Medes, if the prophet had any particular persons in his mind at all. After the nocturnal storming of Babylon by the Medes, the new Babylonian kingdom and royal house which had been established by Nabopolassar vanished entirely from history.

The last shoot of the royal family of Nabopolassar was slain as a child of conspirators. The second Nebuchadnezzar deceived the people (as Darius says in the great inscription of Behistan), declaring, “I am Nabukudrac ara the son of Nabunita. ” בּל (used poetically for אל, like בּלי in Isa 14:6 for לא) expresses a negative wish (as pen does a negative intention): Let no Babylonian kingdom ever arise again!

Hitzig corrects ערים into עיּים (heaps of ruins), Ewald into עריצים (tyrants), Knobel into רעים, and Meier into עדים, which are said to signify conflicts, whilst Maurer will not take ערים in the sense of cities, but of enemies. But there is no necessity for this at all. Nimrod, the first founder of a Babylonio-Assyrian kingdom, built cities to strengthen his monarchy.

The king of Asshur built cities for the Medes, for the purpose of keeping them better in check. And it is to this building of cities, as a support to despotism, that the prophet here refers.

Isa 14:22-23 Thus far the prophet has spoken in the name of God. But the prophecy closes with a word of God Himself, spoken through the prophet. “And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and root out in Babel name and remnant, sprout and shoot, saith Jehovah. And make it the possession of hedgehogs and marshes of water, and sweep it away with the bosom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.

” שם ושאר and נין ונכד are two pairs of alliterative proverbial words, and are used to signify “the whole, without exception” (compare the Arabic expression “ Kiesel und Kies ,” “flint and pebble,” in the sense of “altogether:” Nöldecke, Poesie der alten Araber , p. 162). Jehovah rises against the descendants of the king of Babylon, and exterminates Babylon utterly, root and branch.

The destructive forces, which Babylon has hitherto been able to control by raising artificial defences, are now let loose; and the Euphrates, left without a dam, lays the whole region under water. Hedgehogs now take the place of men, and marshes the place of palaces. The kippod occurs in Isa 34:11 and Zep 2:14, in the company of birds ; but according to the derivation of the word and the dialects, it denotes the hedgehog , which possesses the power of rolling itself up (lxx ἔρημον ὥστε κατοικεῖν ἐχίνους), and which, although it can neither fly, nor climb with any peculiar facility, on account of its mode of walking, could easily get upon the knob of a pillar that had been thrown down (Zep 2:14).

The concluding threat makes the mode of Babel’s origin the omen of its end: the city of טיט, i. e. , Babylon, which had been built for the most part of clay or brick-earth, would be strangely swept away. The pilpel טאטא (or טאטא, as Kimchi conjugates it in Michlol 150 a b, and in accordance with which some codices and early editions read וטאטאתיה with double zere ) belongs to the cognate root which is mentioned at Psa 42:5, with an opening ד, ט, ס (cf.

, Isa 27:8), and which signifies to drive or thrust away. מטאטא is that with which anything is driven out or swept away, viz. , a broom. Jehovah treats Babylon as rubbish, and sweeps it away, destruction ( hashmēd : an inf. absol. used as a substantive) serving Him as a broom.

Isa 14:22-23 Thus far the prophet has spoken in the name of God. But the prophecy closes with a word of God Himself, spoken through the prophet. “And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and root out in Babel name and remnant, sprout and shoot, saith Jehovah. And make it the possession of hedgehogs and marshes of water, and sweep it away with the bosom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.

” שם ושאר and נין ונכד are two pairs of alliterative proverbial words, and are used to signify “the whole, without exception” (compare the Arabic expression “ Kiesel und Kies ,” “flint and pebble,” in the sense of “altogether:” Nöldecke, Poesie der alten Araber , p. 162). Jehovah rises against the descendants of the king of Babylon, and exterminates Babylon utterly, root and branch.

The destructive forces, which Babylon has hitherto been able to control by raising artificial defences, are now let loose; and the Euphrates, left without a dam, lays the whole region under water. Hedgehogs now take the place of men, and marshes the place of palaces. The kippod occurs in Isa 34:11 and Zep 2:14, in the company of birds ; but according to the derivation of the word and the dialects, it denotes the hedgehog , which possesses the power of rolling itself up (lxx ἔρημον ὥστε κατοικεῖν ἐχίνους), and which, although it can neither fly, nor climb with any peculiar facility, on account of its mode of walking, could easily get upon the knob of a pillar that had been thrown down (Zep 2:14).

The concluding threat makes the mode of Babel’s origin the omen of its end: the city of טיט, i. e. , Babylon, which had been built for the most part of clay or brick-earth, would be strangely swept away. The pilpel טאטא (or טאטא, as Kimchi conjugates it in Michlol 150 a b, and in accordance with which some codices and early editions read וטאטאתיה with double zere ) belongs to the cognate root which is mentioned at Psa 42:5, with an opening ד, ט, ס (cf.

, Isa 27:8), and which signifies to drive or thrust away. מטאטא is that with which anything is driven out or swept away, viz. , a broom. Jehovah treats Babylon as rubbish, and sweeps it away, destruction ( hashmēd : an inf. absol. used as a substantive) serving Him as a broom.

Isa 14:24-27 There now follows, apparently out of all connection, another prophecy against Asshur. It is introduced here quite abruptly, like a fragment; and it is an enigma how it got here, and what it means here, though not an enigma without solution. This short Assyrian passage reads as follows. “Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, that takes place; to break Asshur to pieces in my land, and upon my mountain will I tread him under foot: then his yoke departs from them, and his burden will depart from their neck.

This is the purpose that is purposed over the whole earth; and this the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who could bring it to nought? And His hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back? ” It is evidently a totally different judicial catastrophe which is predicted here, inasmuch as the world-power upon which it falls is not called Babel or Chasdim, but Asshur, which cannot possibly be taken as a name for Babylon (Abravanel, Lowth, etc.)

Babylon is destroyed by the Medes, whereas Asshur falls to ruin in the mountain-land of Jehovah, which it is seeking to subjugate - a prediction which was literally fulfilled. And only when this had taken place did a fitting occasion present itself for a prophecy against Babel, the heiress of the ruined Assyrian power. Consequently the two prophecies against Babel and Asshur form a hysteron-proteron as they stand here.

The thought which occasioned this arrangement, and which it is intended to set forth, is expressed by Jeremiah in Jer 50:18-19, “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. ” The one event was a pledge of the other. At a time when the prophecy against Assyria had actually been fulfilled, the prophet attached it to the still unfulfilled prophecy against Babylon, to give a pledge of the fulfilment of the latter.

This was the pedestal upon which the Massâh Bâbel was raised. And it was doubly suited for this, on account of its purely epilogical tone from Isa 14:26 onwards.

Isa 14:24-27 There now follows, apparently out of all connection, another prophecy against Asshur. It is introduced here quite abruptly, like a fragment; and it is an enigma how it got here, and what it means here, though not an enigma without solution. This short Assyrian passage reads as follows. “Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, that takes place; to break Asshur to pieces in my land, and upon my mountain will I tread him under foot: then his yoke departs from them, and his burden will depart from their neck.

This is the purpose that is purposed over the whole earth; and this the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who could bring it to nought? And His hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back? ” It is evidently a totally different judicial catastrophe which is predicted here, inasmuch as the world-power upon which it falls is not called Babel or Chasdim, but Asshur, which cannot possibly be taken as a name for Babylon (Abravanel, Lowth, etc.)

Babylon is destroyed by the Medes, whereas Asshur falls to ruin in the mountain-land of Jehovah, which it is seeking to subjugate - a prediction which was literally fulfilled. And only when this had taken place did a fitting occasion present itself for a prophecy against Babel, the heiress of the ruined Assyrian power. Consequently the two prophecies against Babel and Asshur form a hysteron-proteron as they stand here.

The thought which occasioned this arrangement, and which it is intended to set forth, is expressed by Jeremiah in Jer 50:18-19, “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. ” The one event was a pledge of the other. At a time when the prophecy against Assyria had actually been fulfilled, the prophet attached it to the still unfulfilled prophecy against Babylon, to give a pledge of the fulfilment of the latter.

This was the pedestal upon which the Massâh Bâbel was raised. And it was doubly suited for this, on account of its purely epilogical tone from Isa 14:26 onwards.

Isa 14:24-27 There now follows, apparently out of all connection, another prophecy against Asshur. It is introduced here quite abruptly, like a fragment; and it is an enigma how it got here, and what it means here, though not an enigma without solution. This short Assyrian passage reads as follows. “Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, that takes place; to break Asshur to pieces in my land, and upon my mountain will I tread him under foot: then his yoke departs from them, and his burden will depart from their neck.

This is the purpose that is purposed over the whole earth; and this the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who could bring it to nought? And His hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back? ” It is evidently a totally different judicial catastrophe which is predicted here, inasmuch as the world-power upon which it falls is not called Babel or Chasdim, but Asshur, which cannot possibly be taken as a name for Babylon (Abravanel, Lowth, etc.)

Babylon is destroyed by the Medes, whereas Asshur falls to ruin in the mountain-land of Jehovah, which it is seeking to subjugate - a prediction which was literally fulfilled. And only when this had taken place did a fitting occasion present itself for a prophecy against Babel, the heiress of the ruined Assyrian power. Consequently the two prophecies against Babel and Asshur form a hysteron-proteron as they stand here.

The thought which occasioned this arrangement, and which it is intended to set forth, is expressed by Jeremiah in Jer 50:18-19, “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. ” The one event was a pledge of the other. At a time when the prophecy against Assyria had actually been fulfilled, the prophet attached it to the still unfulfilled prophecy against Babylon, to give a pledge of the fulfilment of the latter.

This was the pedestal upon which the Massâh Bâbel was raised. And it was doubly suited for this, on account of its purely epilogical tone from Isa 14:26 onwards.

Isa 14:24-27 There now follows, apparently out of all connection, another prophecy against Asshur. It is introduced here quite abruptly, like a fragment; and it is an enigma how it got here, and what it means here, though not an enigma without solution. This short Assyrian passage reads as follows. “Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, that takes place; to break Asshur to pieces in my land, and upon my mountain will I tread him under foot: then his yoke departs from them, and his burden will depart from their neck.

This is the purpose that is purposed over the whole earth; and this the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who could bring it to nought? And His hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back? ” It is evidently a totally different judicial catastrophe which is predicted here, inasmuch as the world-power upon which it falls is not called Babel or Chasdim, but Asshur, which cannot possibly be taken as a name for Babylon (Abravanel, Lowth, etc.)

Babylon is destroyed by the Medes, whereas Asshur falls to ruin in the mountain-land of Jehovah, which it is seeking to subjugate - a prediction which was literally fulfilled. And only when this had taken place did a fitting occasion present itself for a prophecy against Babel, the heiress of the ruined Assyrian power. Consequently the two prophecies against Babel and Asshur form a hysteron-proteron as they stand here.

The thought which occasioned this arrangement, and which it is intended to set forth, is expressed by Jeremiah in Jer 50:18-19, “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. ” The one event was a pledge of the other. At a time when the prophecy against Assyria had actually been fulfilled, the prophet attached it to the still unfulfilled prophecy against Babylon, to give a pledge of the fulfilment of the latter.

This was the pedestal upon which the Massâh Bâbel was raised. And it was doubly suited for this, on account of its purely epilogical tone from Isa 14:26 onwards.

Isa 14:28 This is one of the prophecies the date of which is fixed in Isa 14:28. “In the year of the death of king Ahaz the following oracle was uttered. ” “The year of the death of king Aha”Z was (as in Isa 6:1) the year in which the death of Ahaz was to take place. In that year the Philistines still remained in those possessions, their hold of which was so shameful to Judah, and had not yet met with any humiliating retribution.

But this year was the turning-point; for Hezekiah, the successor of Ahaz, not only recovered the cities that they had taken, but thoroughly defeated them in their own land (2Ki 18:8).

Isa 14:29 It was therefore in a most eventful and decisive year that Isaiah began to prophesy as follows. “Rejoice not so fully, O Philistia, that the rod which smote thee is broken to pieces; for out of the serpent’s root comes forth a basilisk, and its fruit is a flying dragon. ” Shēbet maccēk , “the rod which smote thee” (not “of him that smote thee,” which is not so appropriate), is the Davidic sceptre, which had formerly kept the Philistines in subjection under David and Solomon, and again in more recent times since the reign of Uzziah.

This sceptre was now broken to pieces, for the Davidic kingdom had been brought down by the Syro-Ephraimitish war, and had not been able to recover itself; and so far as its power over the surrounding nations was concerned, it had completely fallen to pieces. Philistia was thoroughly filled with joy in consequence, but this joy was all over now. The power from which Philistia had escaped was a common snake ( nâchâsh ), which had been either cut to pieces, or had died out down to the very roots.

But out of this root, i. e. , out of the house of David, which had been reduced to the humble condition of its tribal house, there was coming forth a zepha‛ , a basilisk ( regulus , as Jerome and other early translators render it: see at Isa 11:8); and this basilisk, which is dangerous and even fatal in itself, as soon as it had reached maturity, would bring forth a winged dragon as its fruit.

The basilisk is Hezekiah, and the flying dragon is the Messiah (this is the explanation given by the Targum); or, what is the same thing, the former is the Davidic government of the immediate future, the latter the Davidic government of the ultimate future. The figure may appear an inappropriate one, because the serpent is a symbol of evil; but it is not a symbol of evil only, but of a curse also, and a curse is the energetic expression of the penal justice of God.

And it is as the executor of such a curse in the form of a judgment of God upon Philistia that the Davidic king is here described in a threefold climax as a snake or serpent. The selection of this figure may possibly have also been suggested by Gen 49:17; for the saying of Jacob concerning Dan was fulfilled in Samson, the sworn foe of the Philistines.

Isa 14:30 The coming Davidic king is peace for Israel, but for Philistia death. “And the poorest of the poor will feed, and needy ones lie down in peace; and I kill thy root through hunger, and he slays thy remnant. ” “The poorest of the poor:” becōrē dallim is an intensified expression for benē dallim , the latter signifying such as belong to the family of the poor, the former (cf.

, Job 18:13, mors dirissima ) such as hold the foremost rank in such a family - a description of Israel, which, although at present deeply, very deeply, repressed and threatened on every side, would then enjoy its land in quietness and peace (Zep 3:12-13). In this sense ורעוּ is used absolutely; and there is no necessity for Hupfeld’s conjecture ( Ps . ii. 258), that we should read בכרי (in my pastures).

Israel rises again, but Philistia perishes even to a root and remnant; and the latter again falls a victim on the one hand to the judgment of God (famine), and on the other to the punishment inflicted by the house of David. The change of persons in Isa 14:30 is no synallage; but the subject to yaharōg (slays) is the basilisk, the father of the flying dragon.

The first strophe of the massah terminates here. It consists of eight lines, each of the two Masoretic Isa 14:29, Isa 14:30 containing four clauses.

Isa 14:31 The massah consists of two strophes. The first threatens judgment from Judah, and the second - of seven lines - threatens judgment from Asshur. “Howl, O gate! cry, O city! O Philistia, thou must melt entirely away; for from the north cometh smoke, and there is no isolated one among his hosts. ” שׁער, which is a masculine everywhere else, is construed here as a feminine, possibly in order that the two imperfects may harmonize; for there is nothing to recommend Luzzatto’s suggestion, that שׁער should be taken as an accusative.

The strong gates of the Philistian cities (Ashdod and Gaza), of world-wide renown, and the cities themselves, shall lift up a cry of anguish; and Philistia, which has hitherto been full of joy, shall melt away in the heat of alarm (Isa 13:7, nâmōg , inf. abs. niph . ; on the form itself, compare Isa 59:13): for from the north there comes a singing and burning fire, which proclaims its coming afar off by the smoke which it produces; in other words, an all-destroying army, out of whose ranks not one falls away from weariness or self-will (cf.

, Isa 5:27), that is to say, an army without a gap, animated throughout with one common desire. (מועד, after the form מושב, the mass of people assembled at an appointed place, or mō'ed , Jos 8:14; 1Sa 20:35, and for an appointed end.)

Isa 14:32 To understand Isa 14:32, which follows here, nothing more is needed than a few simple parenthetical thoughts, which naturally suggest themselves. This one desire was the thirst for conquest, and such a desire could not possibly have only the small strip of Philistian coast for its object; but the conquest of this was intended as the means of securing possession of other countries on the right hand and on the left.

The question arose, therefore, How would Judah fare with the fire which was rolling towards it from the north? For the very fact that the prophet of Judah was threatening Philistia with this fire, presupposed that Judah itself would not be consumed by it. And this is just what is expressed in Isa 14:32 : “And what answer do the messengers of the nations bring?

That Jehovah hath founded Zion, and that the afflicted of His people are hidden therein. ” “The messengers of the nations” ( maleacē goi ): goi is to be taken in a distributive sense, and the messengers to be regarded either as individuals who have escaped from the Assyrian army, which was formed of contingents from many nations, or else (as we should expect pelitē in that case, instead of mal'acē ) messengers from the neighbouring nations, who were sent to Jerusalem after the Assyrian army had perished in front of the city, to ascertain how the latter had fared.

And they all reply as if with one mouth ( yaaneh ): Zion has stood unshaken, protected by its God; and the people of this God, the poor and despised congregation of Jehovah (cf. , Zec 11:7), are, and know that they are, concealed in Zion. The prophecy is intentionally oracular. Prophecy does not adopt the same tone to the nations as to Israel. Its language to the former is dictatorially brief, elevated with strong self-consciousness, expressed in lofty poetic strains, and variously coloured, according to the peculiarity of the nation to which the oracle refers.

The following prophecy relating to Moab shows us very clearly, that in the prophet’s view the judgment executed by Asshur upon Philistia would prepare the way for the subjugation of Philistia by the sceptre of David. By the wreck of the Assyrian world-power upon Jerusalem, the house of David would recover its old supremacy over the nations round about. And this really was the case.

But the fulfilment was not exhaustive. Jeremiah therefore took up the prophecy of his predecessor again at the time of the Chaldean judgment upon the nations (Jer 47:1-7), but only the second strophe. The Messianic element of the first was continued by Zechariah (Zech 9). The Oracle Concerning Moab - Isaiah 15-16 So far as the surrounding nations were concerned, the monarchy of Israel commenced with victory and glory.

Saul punished them all severely for their previous offences against Israel (1Sa 14:47), and the Moabites along with the rest. The latter were completely subdued by David (2Sa 8:2). After the division of the kingdom, the northern kingdom took possession of Joab. The Moabites paid tribute from their flocks to Samaria. But when Ahab died, Mesha the king of Moab refused this tribute (2Ki 1:1; 2Ki 3:4.)

Ahaziah of Israel let this refusal pass. In the meantime, the Moabites formed an alliance with other nations, and invaded Judah. But the allies destroyed one another, and Jehoshaphat celebrated in the valley of Berachah the victory which he had gained without a battle, and which is commemorated in several psalms. And when Jehoram the king of Israel attempted to subjugate Moab again, Jehoshaphat made common cause with him.

And the Moabites were defeated; but the fortress, the Moabitish Kir, which was situated upon a steep and lofty chalk rock, remained standing still. The interminable contests of the northern kingdom with the Syrians rendered it quite impossible to maintain either Moab itself, or the land to the east of the Jordan in general. During the reign of Jehu, the latter, in all its length and breadth, even as far south as the Arnon, was taken by the Syrians (2Ki 10:32-33).

The tribes that were now no longer tributary to the kingdom of Israel oppressed the Israelitish population, and avenged upon the crippled kingdom the loss of their independence. Jeroboam II, as the prophet Jonah had foretold (2Ki 14:25), was the first to reconquer the territory of Israel from Hamath to the Dead Sea. It is not indeed expressly stated that he subjugated Moab again; but as Moabitish bands had disturbed even the country on this side under his predecessor Joash (2Ki 13:20), it may be supposed that he also attempted to keep Moab within bounds.

If the Moabites, as is very probable, had extended their territory northwards beyond the Arnon, the war with Joab was inevitable. Moreover, under Jeroboam II on the one hand, and Uzziah-Jotham on the other, we read nothing about the Moabites rising; but, on the contrary, such notices as those contained in 1Ch 5:17 and 2Ch 26:10, show that they kept themselves quiet.

But the application made by Ahaz to Assyria called up the hostility of Joab and the neighbouring nations again. Tiglath-pileser repeated what the Syrians had done before. He took possession of the northern part of the land on this side, and the whole of the land on the other side, and depopulated them. This furnished an opportunity for the Moabites to re-establish themselves in their original settlements to the north of the Arnon.

And this was how it stood at the time when Isaiah prophesied. The calamity which befel them came from the north, and therefore fell chiefly and primarily upon the country to the north of the Arnon, which the Moabites had taken possession of but a short time before, after it had been peopled for a long time by the tribes of Reuben and Gad.

Isa 15:1 There is no other prophecy in the book of Isaiah in which the heart of the prophet is so painfully affected by what his mind sees, and his mouth is obliged to prophesy. All that he predicts evokes his deepest sympathy, just as if he himself belonged to the unfortunate nation to which he is called to be a messenger of woe. He commences with an utterance of amazement.

“Oracle concerning Moab! for in a night 'Ar-Moab is laid waste, destroyed; for in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste, destroyed. ” The ci (for) is explanatory in both instances, and not simply affirmative, or, as Knobel maintains, recitative, and therefore unmeaning. The prophet justifies the peculiar heading to his prophecy from the horrible vision given him to see, and takes us at once into the very heart of the vision, as in Isa 17:1; Isa 23:1.

'Ar Moab (in which 'Ar is Moabitish for 'Ir ; cf. , Jer 49:3, where we find 'Ai written instead of 'Ar , which we should naturally expect) is the name of the capital of Moab (Grecized, Areopolis ), which was situated to the south of the Arnon, at present a large field of ruins, with a village of the name of Rabba . Kir Moab (in which Kir is the Moabitish for Kiryah ) was the chief fortress of Joab, which was situated to the south-east of Ar , the present Kerek , where there is still a town with a fortification upon a rock, which can be seen from Jerusalem with a telescope on a clear day, and forms so thoroughly one mass with the rock, that in 1834, when Ibrahim Pasha resolved to pull it down, he was obliged to relinquish the project.

The identity of Kir and Kerek is unquestionable, but that of Ar and Rabba has been disputed; and on the ground of Num 22:36, where it seems to be placed nearer the Arnon, it has been transposed to the ruins on the pasture land at the confluence of the Lejûm and Mujib (= “the city that is by the river” in Deu 2:36 and Jos 13:9, Jos 13:16 : see Comm. on Num 21:15) - a conjecture which has this against it, that the name Areopolis , which has been formed from Ar , is attached to the “ metropolis civitas Ar ,” which was called Rabba as the metropolis, and of which Jerome relates (on the passage before us), as an event associated with his own childhood, that it was then destroyed by an earthquake (probably in 342).

The two names of the cities are used as masculine here, like Dammesek in Isa 17:1, and Tzor in Isa 23:1, though it cannot therefore be said, as at Mic 5:1, that the city stands for the inhabitants (Ges. Lehrgebäude , p. 469). “ In a night ” (ליל absolute, as in Isa 21:11, not construct, which would give an illogical assertion, as shuddad and nidmâh are almost coincident, so far as the sense is concerned) the two pillars of the strength of Moab are overthrown.

In the space of a night, and therefore very suddenly (Isa 17:14), Moab is destroyed. The prophet repeats twice what it would have been quite sufficient to say once, just as if he had been condemned to keep his eye fixed upon the awful spectacle (on the asyndeton , see at Isa 33:9; and on the anadiplosis , Isa 15:8; Isa 8:9; Isa 21:11; Isa 17:12-13). His first sensation is that of horror.

Isa 15:2-4 But just as horror, when once it begins to reflect, is dissolved in tears, the thunder-claps in Isa 15:1 are followed by universal weeping and lamentation. “They go up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon Nebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads baldness, every beard is mutilated. In the markets of Moab they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in its streets, everything wails, melting into tears.

Heshbon cries, and 'Elâle; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of Moab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it. ” The people (the subject to עלה) ascend the mountain with the temple of Chemosh , the central sanctuary of the land. This temple is called hab - baith , though not that there was a Moabitish town or village with some such name as Bêth - Diblathaim (Jer 48:22), as Knobel supposes.

Dibon , which lay above the Arnon ( Wady Mujib ), like all the places mentioned in Isa 15:2-4, at present a heap of ruins, a short hour to the north of the central Arnon, in the splendid plain of el-Chura , had consecrated heights in the neighbourhood (cf. , Jos 13:17; Num 22:41), and therefore would turn to them. Moab mourns upon Nebo and Medebah ; ייליל, for which we find יהיליל in Isa 52:5, is written intentionally for a double preformative, instead of ייליל (compare the similar forms in Job 24:21; Psa 138:6, and Ges.

§70, Anm.) על is to be taken in a local sense, as Hendewerk, Drechsler, and Knobel have rendered it. For Nebo was probably a place situated upon a height on the mountain of that name, towards the south-east of Heshbon (the ruins of Nabo , Nabau , mentioned in the Onom .) ; and Medebah (still a heap of ruins bearing the same name) stood upon a round hill about two hours to the south-east of Heshbon.

According to Jerome, there was an image of Chemosh in Nebo; and among the ruins of Madeba, Seetzen discovered the foundations of a strange temple. There follows here a description of the expressions of pain. Instead of the usual ראשיו, we read ראשיו here. And instead of gedu‛âh ( abscissae ), Jeremiah (Jer 48:37) has, according to his usual style, geru'âh ( decurtatae ), with the simple alteration of a single letter.

All runs down with weeping ( culloh , written as in Isa 16:7; in Isa 9:8, Isa 9:16, we have cullo instead). In other cases it is the eyes that are said to run down in tears, streams, or water-brooks; but here, by a still bolder metonymy, the whole man is said to flow down to the ground, as if melting in a stream of tears. Heshbon and Elale are still visible in their ruins, which lie only half an hour apart upon their separate hills and are still called by the names Husban and el-Al .

They were both situated upon hills which commanded an extensive prospect. And there the cry of woe created an echo which was audible as far as Jahaz ( Jahza ), the city where the king of Heshbon offered battle to Israel in the time of Moses (Deu 2:32). The general mourning was so great, that even the armed men, i. e. , the heroes (Jer 48:41) of Moab, were seized with despair, and cried out in their anguish (the same figure as in Isa 33:7).

על־כן(, thereat, namely on account of this universal lamentation. Thus the lamentation was universal, without exception. Naphsho (his soul) refers to Moab as a whole nation. The soul of Moab trembles in all the limbs of the national body; ירעה (forming a play upon the sound with יריעוּ), an Arabic word, and in יריעה a Hebrew word also, signifies tremere , huc illuc agitari - an explanation which we prefer, with Rosenmüller and Gesenius, to the idea that ירע is a secondary verb to רעע, fut.

ירע. לו is an ethical dative (as in Psa 120:6 and Psa 123:4), throwing the action or the pathos inwardly (see Psychology , p. 152). The heart of the prophet participates in this pain with which Moab is agitated throughout; for, as Rashi observes, it is just in this that the prophets of Israel were distinguished from heathen prophets, such as Balaam for example, viz.

, that the calamities which they announced to the nations went to their own heart (compare Isa 21:3-4, with Isa 22:4).

Isa 15:2-4 But just as horror, when once it begins to reflect, is dissolved in tears, the thunder-claps in Isa 15:1 are followed by universal weeping and lamentation. “They go up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon Nebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads baldness, every beard is mutilated. In the markets of Moab they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in its streets, everything wails, melting into tears.

Heshbon cries, and 'Elâle; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of Moab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it. ” The people (the subject to עלה) ascend the mountain with the temple of Chemosh , the central sanctuary of the land. This temple is called hab - baith , though not that there was a Moabitish town or village with some such name as Bêth - Diblathaim (Jer 48:22), as Knobel supposes.

Dibon , which lay above the Arnon ( Wady Mujib ), like all the places mentioned in Isa 15:2-4, at present a heap of ruins, a short hour to the north of the central Arnon, in the splendid plain of el-Chura , had consecrated heights in the neighbourhood (cf. , Jos 13:17; Num 22:41), and therefore would turn to them. Moab mourns upon Nebo and Medebah ; ייליל, for which we find יהיליל in Isa 52:5, is written intentionally for a double preformative, instead of ייליל (compare the similar forms in Job 24:21; Psa 138:6, and Ges.

§70, Anm.) על is to be taken in a local sense, as Hendewerk, Drechsler, and Knobel have rendered it. For Nebo was probably a place situated upon a height on the mountain of that name, towards the south-east of Heshbon (the ruins of Nabo , Nabau , mentioned in the Onom .) ; and Medebah (still a heap of ruins bearing the same name) stood upon a round hill about two hours to the south-east of Heshbon.

According to Jerome, there was an image of Chemosh in Nebo; and among the ruins of Madeba, Seetzen discovered the foundations of a strange temple. There follows here a description of the expressions of pain. Instead of the usual ראשיו, we read ראשיו here. And instead of gedu‛âh ( abscissae ), Jeremiah (Jer 48:37) has, according to his usual style, geru'âh ( decurtatae ), with the simple alteration of a single letter.

All runs down with weeping ( culloh , written as in Isa 16:7; in Isa 9:8, Isa 9:16, we have cullo instead). In other cases it is the eyes that are said to run down in tears, streams, or water-brooks; but here, by a still bolder metonymy, the whole man is said to flow down to the ground, as if melting in a stream of tears. Heshbon and Elale are still visible in their ruins, which lie only half an hour apart upon their separate hills and are still called by the names Husban and el-Al .

They were both situated upon hills which commanded an extensive prospect. And there the cry of woe created an echo which was audible as far as Jahaz ( Jahza ), the city where the king of Heshbon offered battle to Israel in the time of Moses (Deu 2:32). The general mourning was so great, that even the armed men, i. e. , the heroes (Jer 48:41) of Moab, were seized with despair, and cried out in their anguish (the same figure as in Isa 33:7).

על־כן(, thereat, namely on account of this universal lamentation. Thus the lamentation was universal, without exception. Naphsho (his soul) refers to Moab as a whole nation. The soul of Moab trembles in all the limbs of the national body; ירעה (forming a play upon the sound with יריעוּ), an Arabic word, and in יריעה a Hebrew word also, signifies tremere , huc illuc agitari - an explanation which we prefer, with Rosenmüller and Gesenius, to the idea that ירע is a secondary verb to רעע, fut.

ירע. לו is an ethical dative (as in Psa 120:6 and Psa 123:4), throwing the action or the pathos inwardly (see Psychology , p. 152). The heart of the prophet participates in this pain with which Moab is agitated throughout; for, as Rashi observes, it is just in this that the prophets of Israel were distinguished from heathen prophets, such as Balaam for example, viz.

, that the calamities which they announced to the nations went to their own heart (compare Isa 21:3-4, with Isa 22:4).

Isa 15:2-4 But just as horror, when once it begins to reflect, is dissolved in tears, the thunder-claps in Isa 15:1 are followed by universal weeping and lamentation. “They go up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon Nebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads baldness, every beard is mutilated. In the markets of Moab they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in its streets, everything wails, melting into tears.

Heshbon cries, and 'Elâle; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of Moab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it. ” The people (the subject to עלה) ascend the mountain with the temple of Chemosh , the central sanctuary of the land. This temple is called hab - baith , though not that there was a Moabitish town or village with some such name as Bêth - Diblathaim (Jer 48:22), as Knobel supposes.

Dibon , which lay above the Arnon ( Wady Mujib ), like all the places mentioned in Isa 15:2-4, at present a heap of ruins, a short hour to the north of the central Arnon, in the splendid plain of el-Chura , had consecrated heights in the neighbourhood (cf. , Jos 13:17; Num 22:41), and therefore would turn to them. Moab mourns upon Nebo and Medebah ; ייליל, for which we find יהיליל in Isa 52:5, is written intentionally for a double preformative, instead of ייליל (compare the similar forms in Job 24:21; Psa 138:6, and Ges.

§70, Anm.) על is to be taken in a local sense, as Hendewerk, Drechsler, and Knobel have rendered it. For Nebo was probably a place situated upon a height on the mountain of that name, towards the south-east of Heshbon (the ruins of Nabo , Nabau , mentioned in the Onom .) ; and Medebah (still a heap of ruins bearing the same name) stood upon a round hill about two hours to the south-east of Heshbon.

According to Jerome, there was an image of Chemosh in Nebo; and among the ruins of Madeba, Seetzen discovered the foundations of a strange temple. There follows here a description of the expressions of pain. Instead of the usual ראשיו, we read ראשיו here. And instead of gedu‛âh ( abscissae ), Jeremiah (Jer 48:37) has, according to his usual style, geru'âh ( decurtatae ), with the simple alteration of a single letter.

All runs down with weeping ( culloh , written as in Isa 16:7; in Isa 9:8, Isa 9:16, we have cullo instead). In other cases it is the eyes that are said to run down in tears, streams, or water-brooks; but here, by a still bolder metonymy, the whole man is said to flow down to the ground, as if melting in a stream of tears. Heshbon and Elale are still visible in their ruins, which lie only half an hour apart upon their separate hills and are still called by the names Husban and el-Al .

They were both situated upon hills which commanded an extensive prospect. And there the cry of woe created an echo which was audible as far as Jahaz ( Jahza ), the city where the king of Heshbon offered battle to Israel in the time of Moses (Deu 2:32). The general mourning was so great, that even the armed men, i. e. , the heroes (Jer 48:41) of Moab, were seized with despair, and cried out in their anguish (the same figure as in Isa 33:7).

על־כן(, thereat, namely on account of this universal lamentation. Thus the lamentation was universal, without exception. Naphsho (his soul) refers to Moab as a whole nation. The soul of Moab trembles in all the limbs of the national body; ירעה (forming a play upon the sound with יריעוּ), an Arabic word, and in יריעה a Hebrew word also, signifies tremere , huc illuc agitari - an explanation which we prefer, with Rosenmüller and Gesenius, to the idea that ירע is a secondary verb to רעע, fut.

ירע. לו is an ethical dative (as in Psa 120:6 and Psa 123:4), throwing the action or the pathos inwardly (see Psychology , p. 152). The heart of the prophet participates in this pain with which Moab is agitated throughout; for, as Rashi observes, it is just in this that the prophets of Israel were distinguished from heathen prophets, such as Balaam for example, viz.

, that the calamities which they announced to the nations went to their own heart (compare Isa 21:3-4, with Isa 22:4).