Today we’re going to be looking at chapters in Isaiah that
deal with rather lengthy prophecies against nations in the region around
Judah. These nations are, in order of
Isaiah’s mentioning of them, Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Syria,
Ethiopia, and Egypt. I will cover much
of these chapters rather quickly but you will understand as you read them.
Chapter 13:1 – 14:23
- Prophesy against Babylon
The entire thirteenth chapter describes in detail what God
is going to do to Babylon. It is clear
that God is going to make it a priority to punish Babylon. He is going to handle it Himself. In verse 3 God’s wrath against Babylon is
mentioned. God will stir up the armies
of foreign nations against Babylon. He
mentions the “Day of the Lord” several times, which further indicates how
important this is to God that Babylon be destroyed in devastating fashion. He mentions the Medes in verse 17, then goes
on in verse 19 to compare the punishment to Babylon with that of Sodom and
Gomorrah. {You will notice in your
reading of this book of Isaiah that he goes into much detail as in chapter 13
when prophesying, be it destruction or redemption.}
Chapter 14 opens with Isaiah prophesying that God will take
care of His chosen people Israel and even refers to the Promised Land in the
phrase “…sets them in their own land”.
Notice the word in NIV “compassion” in verse 1. KJV says “mercy”. This is to suggest that Israel will not
deserve this, but rather their deliverance will be a gift from God. Their apostasy has earned them punishment
rather than reward. The next few verses
speak that Israel will rule over all of these nations, particularly
Babylon. God speaks out against the
pompous way of life these nations have lived and vows to deal with it in a
harsh manner. In verses 12-23 we see
Isaiah singling out the king of Babylon, and his words are scathing against
this man. He speaks of how this man was
placing himself above all gods. {The Lord
will not stand for this attitude from Babylon’s king or anybody else. The Roman Caesars were considered gods also.}
14:24-25 – This brief prophecy against Assyria begins with
“The Lord Almighty has sworn”. Sounds
serious. It is serious. It means God is making a promise. God is remembering the burdens that were
placed on His people by the Assyrians and He will personally exact revenge.
He goes on to prophecy against other nations. In the remaining verses of this chapter he
speaks to the Philistines. The
Philistines occupied the land bordering the Mediterranean Sea directly west of
Judah and have been a cruel aggressor against Israel since the days of Joshua.
Chapters 15 – 17 speak of God dealing with other nations
that have been cruel against His people Israel, starting with Moab. He says in chapter 15 that he will humiliate
Moab when He says in verse 2 that every head will be shaved and every beard cut
off. {This was a sign of complete defeat
and humiliation in those times.} He
continues his prophecy against Moab in chapter 16 as well, expounding on the
punishment God has selected for them.
Chapter 17 moves to Syria, using Damascus as a reference to all of
Syria. He plans to destroy Damascus as a
city, turning it into ruins that will astonish all who will see it. If you look closely at this chapter you will
see that Isaiah includes Ephraim in this prophecy of gloom, which was in
response to Israel (the Northern Kingdom) allying itself with Syria against Judah in 735 BC.
In chapters 18-20 Isaiah extends his prophecy to include
Ethiopia and Egypt. There was an
Ethiopian dynasty which ruled Egypt from 715 to 663 BC. This explains Isaiah’s use of the
interchanging terms for Egypt and Ethiopia.
He considered them the same, which at first reading can be confusing if
one is not aware of this. The
circumstances setting the stage for these two chapters is when Egypt and
Ethiopia tried to recruit Judah into their alliance against Assyria in 714
BC. God (through Isaiah) dissuaded Ahaz
from joining this alliance which fell to pieces in 663 BC when the Assyrians
destroyed the city of Thebes.
Chapter 20
is a reflection back to when Isaiah made desperate appeals to king Ahaz to
reject Egypt’s offer to be included in this alliance. {Let me take this opportunity to say that
joining that alliance made perfect sense at this time, which was why it took
such extreme measures and so much time to dissuade him.} It is in this chapter that tells of Isaiah
being naked in the city of Jerusalem for three years, as directed by God. That is the extreme measure I just spoke
of. This act of desperation was to
display the severity of the situation and convince Ahaz that God would be his
Defender against Assyria.
In the first ten verses of chapter 21 Isaiah speaks of
Babylon which he refers to as the “Desert by the Sea”. Babylon was a mighty empire but only lasted
forty-seven years, which would barely be considered a dynasty. They were defeated handily by Cyrus and his
Persian in 539 BC. But in those forty-seven
short years Babylon utterly destroyed the entire nation of Judah. The remaining verses in chapter 21 and the
following two chapters tells of Isaiah’s prophecies concerning yet more
nations. Note that Isaiah mentions
Israel throughout these prophecies, condemning them as being as bad in their
apostasy as those nations around them.
He is trying to save Judah and the City of David.
Chapter 24 gets more general when it speaks of the whole
earth becoming desolate. But then notice
in chapter 25 that Isaiah breaks out into praise for God and His power. In chapter 26 he writes what has become
considered a song of praise. Then in
chapter 27 he speaks of the deliverance of Israel in “the Day of the
Lord”.
This seems to complete a major
section of Isaiah’s prophecies with a fitting end being a song of praise and an
announcement of deliverance. But in the
next post we’ll see his prophecies move from other nations to Judah itself,
beginning in chapter 28.
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