Howl, O gate; &c.— Howl, O gate; cry, O city; all of thee is dissolved, O Palestine; for, &c.—And there shall not be a solitary one among his legions. Vitringa: see also Bishop Lowth. In this latter part, a new calamity is denounced upon Palestine, to be brought upon it by the Assyrians; and in the 32nd verse, the cause is explained why the Jews should be exempted from that calamity. The prophet sees as it were a thick cloud coming from the north, darkening the heaven, an emblem of the numerous army coming from that quarter against Palestine. Now he sees the messengers of this nation, as in a common danger, going to the king of Judaea, and deliberating concerning the common safety. While he beholds the first, he turns his discourse to one of the cities of the Philistines, which was most remarkable, and excites them to lamentation for this or for a new calamity; at the same time teaching the Jews what answer they should give the messengers of that nation upon this occasion. See Jeremiah 47:2 and Vitringa.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, It was peculiarly for Zion's sake that God visited her oppressors, both to avenge her quarrel, and by their ruin to procure the liberty of the people, whom Cyrus, on his conquest of Babylon, sent back to their own land.
1. God encourages his people with promises of mercy in general, that they might not think, because of their sufferings, that they were utterly rejected.
2. He engages, in particular, to bring them once more into their own land; to increase their number by faithful proselytes, to open the hearts of Cyrus and his subjects to help them on their journey, see Ezra 1:4 and to give them servants and handmaids out of the land of their captivity. Thus God having restored them with honour, and replenished them, they would no longer be under servitude, distressed and sorrowful, but enjoy a happy rest in the fertile land of Canaan. And this seems to look forward to the times of the Gospel, when, through the preaching of Jesus and his apostles, multitudes of Jews and Gentiles should be converted and brought home to the church, the land of the Lord, and lead their captivity captive; no more the servants of corruption, or distressed with terrifying and guilty fears; but entering into pardon, peace, and rest, through Jesus, here below, as an earnest of that eternal rest which remaineth for the faithful above.
2nd, The triumphs of God's people, and the wretchedness to which their conquerors shall be reduced, are here most elegantly displayed. The description is called a proverb, a taunting speech, full of sarcasm and irony.
1. With admiration and exultation the people of God behold the fall of Babylon, the golden city, full of splendor; and also of her oppressive king. For his wickedness, cruelty, and tyranny, God had broken his sceptre, and hurled him from his throne, overtaken by just judgment, and none either able or willing to deliver him. Note; (1.) Riches profit not in a day of wrath. (2.) When God in his determined justice seizes the sinner, none can stay his righteous vengeance, or deliver out of his hand.
2. The fall of this oppressive power would be the peace and joy of the nations of the earth. Their troubler removed, quietness would be restored, and with gladness the people would celebrate their deliverance. The very firs and cedars are represented as rejoicing, since now no feller would hew them down, to build gorgeous palaces for these proud monarchs. Or rather, the kings and princes of the earth, hereby represented, are happy to be delivered from the bondage and fears under which they groaned during the tyrannic sway of Babylon's monarchs. Note; Peace and quietness in a nation is matter of great thankfulness.
3. Whilst earth rejoices in being rid of such a burden, those who are in hell, or the state of the dead, are represented as welcoming the king of Babylon with sarcastic taunts to their dark abode. They are all in motion, hasting to congratulate him on his arrival. It stirreth up the dead, Rephaim, the giants, the chief ones of the earth: these, informed of his approach, are represented as going to meet him; and the kings of the nations, as rising from their thrones, in derision to pay him that homage which in his lifetime they had been obliged to render. These all with affected wonder shall say, Art thou also become weak as we! a boasted god, but found, like us, a dying worm. How short-lived is thy glory! how despicable thy end! Thy pomp is faded in the dust, thy music lost in groans, and thy gorgeous body, once clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day, is now loathsome in corruption, and meat for worms. How wondrous the change! How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! proud as the prince of darkness, like him once shining as the morning-star, and in glory exalted high as heaven, but now cut down even to the ground, low as the nations thou hast wasted. How vain thy former pride and boast! nothing once seemed too high for thy aspiring ambition: thou hast said, I will establish a monarchy as wide as the heavens, bring suppliant kings to the footstool of my throne, and sit as conqueror on Zion's holy mount; yea, not content with earthly dignity, affecting divine honours, as if thou couldst ascend above the clouds, and rival the Most High. But how different thy catastrophe! brought down to hell, and numbered among the dead! Note; (1.) Pride is the bosom-sin of fallen man: since our first parents, affecting godlike wisdom, were undone, we have inherited their guilty ambition. (2.) They who go down to the grave in their iniquities, will be thrust down into hell as their eternal punishment.
4. The living can scarcely believe their own eyes, when they behold him fallen from his high estate, and weltering in his blood; so different his ghastly countenance, deformed with wounds, and pale in death, from what he once appeared; and therefore insulting over him they shall say, Is this the man, the mighty conqueror, who shook the thrones and humbled the monarchs of the earth; who by his ravages depopulated the nations, destroyed their cities, and made the world a wilderness, and whose captives groaned under a heavy yoke, without hope of being ever loosed? Yes; this is he, once higher than the highest, now more despicable than ever he was dignified. Whilst other kings in pomp are carried to the tomb, the clods of the valley made sweet unto them, and stately monuments erected over them to perpetuate their memory; destitute even of a grave, thy corpse is cast out as an abominable branch, and, like the raiment of those who are slain with the sword, clotted with blood, which none cared to touch as ceremonially unclean; trodden under foot as mire by men and horses in the battle, and afterwards cast into the pit, and covered with a heap of stones. Such shall be thy vile end, denied a place among the tombs of thy ancestors, because of thy wanton cruelty, murders, and arbitrary oppression; for this is God's righteous decree, that the seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned, or not for ever, their momentary blaze of glory being quickly extinguished, and their honour laid in the dust. Note; (1.) In the blaze of conquest we admire the hero, and are apt to overlook the murderer, the robber, and the scourge of mankind. (2.) The pomp of a gorgeous sepulchre is a poor distinction; yet, for the punishment of iniquity to be denied a grave, is a brand of real infamy. (3.) Strange changes are soon brought about when God will work; and it is a wretched greatness to be proud of, which stands in so slippery a place, and may so quickly be dashed in pieces.
5. The utter ruin of the royal family, and Babylon the seat of their majesty, is declared. The Medes and Persians are commanded to prepare slaughter for them, to visit on them the sins of their fathers, and not spare the most distant branch, but utterly extirpate the name of the Babylonish monarchs, that they may no more succeed to the throne of their ancestors, or fill the world with cities to perpetuate their same, or extend their grandeur; and their metropolis, utterly ruined, should become a marsh, and the abode of bitterns, swept with the besom of destruction, and scarce a stone left upon another: all which was literally accomplished.
The whole of this awful and terrible destruction also looks forward to the ruin of Babylon mystical, whose pride, impiety, tyranny, and cruelty, will meet with as condign punishment, and be matter of the like joy to the saints of God, as fully appears from the book of Revelations. Compare Isaiah 14:7-8 with Revelation 15:2-3 with 2 Thessalonians 2:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8., Revelation 13:4, Revelation 20:10.; Isaiah 14:11 with Revelation 18:22.; Isaiah 14:12 with Revelation 18:21Rev 18:21; Isaiah 14:13-14 with Revelation 18:7-8., 2 Thessalonians 2:4.; Isaiah 14:15-16 with Revelation 19:20; Isaiah 14:23 with Revelation 18:21; Revelation 18:24.
3rdly, While the more distant events of the utter destruction of Babylon, and the deliverance of God's people, are expected, an earnest of their fulfilment is given in two signal instances of a nearer date, the destruction of Sennacherib's army, and the subdual of the Philistines.
1. The Assyrians shall be broken, when invading God's land, and be trodden under foot on the mountains of Israel, who now shall be delivered from the yoke of bondage, and, with the ruin of their oppressors, regain their freedom. This work God undertakes himself to accomplish, ratified by his solemn oath. His hand is stretched out upon the mighty army of Assyria, composed of all nations brought under her tyrannic sway: or this is his purpose throughout the earth, to punish universally the persecutors of his people. And who can defeat the counsels of infinite wisdom, or oppose the arm of Omnipotence? Note; They who are the enemies of God's people will smart for it.