Isaiah 21: 6-10

⁶ For thus the Lord says to me,

“Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.
⁷ “When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
A train of donkeys, a train of camels,
Let him pay close attention, very close attention.”

⁸ Then the lookout called,

“O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
⁹ “Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
¹⁰ O my threshed people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel, I make known to you.

We draw conclusion to another prophecy concerning Babylon with our passage today, though Chapter 21 of Isaiah has more in store for us. It's not the last time we'll hear about Babylon over the course of Isaiah, and this prophecy in particular may resonate with you if you have studied Revelation.

Last week, we had a preview into the fulfillment of a prophecy that came about in Daniel's time with the death of Belshazzar. The cry came to "oil the shields," (vs. 5) and now God tells Isaiah to "station the lookout." (vs. 6) The one placed in a watchtower, near the king's palace, had much the same job as Paul Revere's men in the light towers in Revolutionary War times: observing the situation with the enemy and reporting back. But instead of "one if by land, two if by sea," God said the watchman should look for twos and groupings of certain animals.

"He then saw another chariot drawn by asses or mules, which were much in use among the Persians, and a chariot drawn by camels, which were likewise much in use among the Medes; so that...these two chariots signify the two nations combined against Babylon, or rather these chariots come to bring tidings to the palace."

--Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

We don't know how long the watchman was in the tower literally, but that it was day and night (vs. 8). We can gain from this that the man was vigilant in his responsibilities of observation, expecting that there would be the sign the Lord indicated. Then, in verse 9, "Behold...," just as the Lord had said. There is a bigger picture in this description--for the prophecy in its time and for us. In its time, through Isaiah's speaking, the prophecy to Judah should have provided them with reassurance. Yes, Babylon pressures and threatens you, but My plan is to ultimately overcome them.

"...And, before it [Babylon] arrived at that pitch of eminency which it was at in Nebuchadnezzar’s time, God by this prophet plainly foretold its fall, again and again, that his people might not be terrified at its rise, nor despair of relief in due time when they were its prisoners...."

--Matthew Henry

If we believe the Word and promises of Scripture, do we let the Holy Spirit act as our man in the watchtower, calling our attention to act or to wait longer or to rest in the knowledge that things as they exist now are how they should be? Do we trust in the Spirit to be on-call, day and night, and to report to us?

Finishing verse 9, which may be familiar to some of you: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon...." The vision from the tower is now quite defined. "Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, and glory of the Chaldeans' pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." (Isa. 13:19) Indeed, Babylon fell to the Persians and Medes in 539 B.C.--the second defeat at the hands of a significant empire. (Babylon was defeated by the Assyrians in 689 B.C.) 

Today, Babylon is located in Iraq. It is a pile of archeological rubble and not a true city. Saddam Hussein actually tried to reconstruct Babylon to its former glory days, but he didn't get very far. But it doesn't mean that Babylon of old doesn't exist. The ideologies of this nation may seem of history, yet you will still find them in our daily headline news. No, this will not be the last time "Babylon" is defeated, as the cry of the watchman is heard through John's Revelation:

"And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality....' And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.'"

--Revelation 14:8 and 18:2

Not only does the city fall, but her idols are gone. More literally, the end of verse 9 translates, "He has shattered them to the earth." This is part of the fulfillment of this prophecy that is yet to come. There are still nations imbibing the wine of the passion of Babylon's immorality, which includes the worship of idols, the following of false teachings, living with "every unclean spirit," you-name-it, whatever....

Look to the Holy Spirit--the watchman over your lives!

Verse 10 in the King James Version reads as follows: "O my threshing, and the corn of my floor!" Isaiah is speaking to Judah here and the reference is a difficult one. Threshing is the process of separating out the grain from the rest of the plant or seed pod. If you remember the story of Ruth and Boaz, you learn a great deal about the process of grain harvesting. Isaiah says this to Judah as God speaking love to His people: You will be threshed--at the hands of Babylon, Persia, Rome, etc.--but you are the corn of My floor! What remains on the floor is that which has been culled and refined under the care of God the Father. What remains on the floor is His to keep.

"What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I make known to you."

 

The prophecy concerning Edom.  ...'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: www.bibleplaces.com

* * *

Next week:  Isaiah 21: 11 and 12
 
Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 21: 1-5

God Commands That Babylon Be Taken

¹ The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.

As windstorms in the Negev sweep on,
It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.
² A harsh vision has been shown to me;
The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media;
I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused.
³ For this reason my loins are full of anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor.
I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.
⁴ My mind reels, horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.
⁵ They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, captains, oil the shields,”

It was not long ago that we read prophecies concerning Babylon in Isaiah. We can read back through Chapters 13 and 14 for more details. We will take another look at this powerful nation, as God has revealed more words to the prophet concerning its fate in Chapter 21.

Isaiah opens this word, calling on Babylon as "the wilderness of the sea." (vs. 1) More literally, the words are translated "sandy waters" or "sea country." He is referring to an area of southern Babylon near the Persian Gulf--where the Tigris and Euphrates empty themselves. The Reformation Study Bible is a bit more direct in its definition: "This is probably a sarcastic parody. Babylon’s southern region on the Persian Gulf, known as 'Land of the Sea,' will become a wilderness or as good as a wilderness to anyone looking for salvation from there." From our reading in Chapters 13 and 14, we can recall that Babylon will be devastated by the release of water, previously dammed up, through the city, leaving it a wasteland.

An easterly wind sweeping across the Negev is a picture of trouble. The Negev is located in what we now call the Sinai Peninsula. Per the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, it means "to be dry," or "desert." East winds in the Bible are notorious for being signs of plagues (Exodus 10), drought (Genesis 41), ill will (Job 15), and damage (Psalm 48). Hot desert winds blowing east represent the danger and speed of the enemy that will sweep an unsuspecting Babylon off its feet.

The vision is "harsh," according to Isaiah, in verse 2, describing the rise of the Elamites and the Medes as part of the Persian army, which will take over Babylon. God will raise up these nations, who have been enemies of Babylon at other times, to continue the use of treachery and cunning Babylon had regularly used, to bring an end to the once-shining nation.

"The Persians shall pay the Babylonians in their own coin; those that by fraud and violence, cheating and plundering, unrighteous wars and deceitful treaties, have made a prey of their neighbours, shall meet with their match, and by the same methods shall themselves be made a prey of."

--Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible 

That Isaiah makes a point of labeling the vision as 'harsh' is the beginning of his sharing the burden of his heart through the burden placed on him by God. Note some of the phrases in verse 3: "my loins are full of anguish," "pains of a woman in labor," "bewildered," "terrified," and into verse 4: "horror" and "trembling." What the prophet has been made privy to obviously has him in an awful state, both physically and emotionally, and he shares it all. Isaiah has already given us this view back in Chapter 13 from the perspective of what Babylon will face:

"They will be terrified,
Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will writhe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame."

--Isaiah 13:8

But here in Chapter 21, the view is so much more personal. As only a man with Isaiah's sense of compassion and obedience could do, he practically lives out the prophecy as he is telling it. If we weren't aware of his compassion ("Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab...."--Isaiah 16:11a) and hadn't witnessed his humble faithfulness in answering the call to be a prophet, we might write off these verses as dramatic prose from an ancient Greek tragedy. Isaiah has too much integrity to present himself a phony for the sake of others. (The prophet who went "naked and barefoot," remember....) It is a message he desperately wants to reach his people.

Verse 4 comes with cross-references and commentary that brought me to Daniel 5. I'm still thinking, wow, how did we get here? Daniel comes quite a bit after Isaiah in terms of timing. (Judah is in captivity then.) But, why is it impossible for God to have given Isaiah a vision that would be carried out in the presence of another prophet, who would have an active hand in its fulfillment? Look at verse 4 in the Amplified Bible:

"My mind reels and wanders, horror terrifies me. [In my mind’s eye I am at the feast of Belshazzar. I see the defilement of the golden vessels taken from God’s temple, I watch the handwriting appear on the wall—I know that Babylon’s great king is to be slain.] The twilight I looked forward to with pleasure has been turned into fear and trembling for me."

For Isaiah, seeing the then-Babylonian king making use of the Temple vessels for his luxurious feast might have been enough to send him over the edge. "Anguish" and "bewilderment" that the Temple was taken? Of course! If he actually did see words on the wall, knowing that there would be more bloodshed [and how much more might his vision show?] would have horrified him. As bad a view as this was for Babylon, what about for Judah? How much did Isaiah understand about where the people of Judah were in this time? If they were alive, how much more dangerous a predicament were they in? 

The Lord had spoken before of what happens to those who do not follow Him in obedience. This is the weightiness of the message that Isaiah bears to Judah:

"Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see."

--Deuteronomy 28: 65-67

Verse 5 could tack on to Belshazzar's feast--setting the table and such. I am partial to the King James Version translation on this one:

"Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield." 

--Verse 5, King James Version

Truly, it would be more of a command--especially given what was written on the wall that night in Babylon: "...Your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians." (Daniel 5:28) "Arise, ye princes," indeed! Easton's Bible Dictionary says that "shields were usually 'anointed' in order to preserve them, and at the same time make the missiles of the enemy glide off them more easily."

But, for Belshazzar and company, shields would be rendered useless, as God had anointed others to carry out His will against them.


 

More from the watchtower next week.  ...'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: wilhelmblokzijl.blogspot.com

* * *

Next week:  Isaiah 21: 6-10
 
Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 13: 17-19

Babylon Will Fall to the Medes

¹⁷ Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold.
¹⁸ And their bows will mow down the young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their eye pity children.
¹⁹ And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Although we have mentioned their name in posts since starting Chapter 13, Isaiah makes it official that Babylon will fall to the Medes.

God speaks, in verse 17, "I am going to stir up the Medes against them...." Time to find out a little more about these folks. Looking at the map above, you can see where Media was located and its close proximity to Babylon. Interestingly, the Medes had allied themselves with Babylon to conquer Assyria, capturing and destroying the city of Nineveh. But their alliance did not stand, as Persia took advantage of a weak Median king and conquered the nation. The two nations became united under Cyrus the Persian to cause the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C., more than 70 years after Media's initial alliance with Babylon. [Details from my study Bible, the Reformation Study Bible and Easton's Bible Dictionary]

Picking up the rest of the text of verse 17 from the Amplified Bible: "[The Medes] ...who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold [and thus cannot be bribed]." Though a little detail, you can see the hand of God in hand-picking His avenger. He would not set up a situation in which an empire would prosper materialistically. His "instrument of indignation" (13:5) would only delight in seeing the blood of its enemy poured out before him. Verse 18 picks up with just that thought, as the Medes will "mow down" or "dash to pieces," as we read in last week's text, Babylon's young soldiers. 

The Medo-Persian armies will have no "compassion on the fruit of the womb." (vs. 18) Recall that the "dash to pieces" reference from verse 16 is used first in regard to "little ones."

"Pause a little here and wonder: That men should be thus cruel and inhuman, and so utterly divested of all compassion; and in it see how corrupt and degenerate the nature of man has become. That the God of infinite mercy should suffer it, nay, and should make it to be the execution of his justice, which shows that, though he is gracious, yet he is the God to whom vengeance belongs...."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

There is a man currently on trial in Philadelphia for such crimes related to such "little ones." Matthew Henry's words as to the corrupt and degenerate nature of man sound loudly in the face of today's happenings. How does the God of infinite mercy suffer this? How long will He suffer this??

The end is coming for Babylon, which had quite a reputation in its day. There was nothing that its kings could not have or get. Life was lavish. Read through Daniel. Catch a glimpse of the lifestyle of Nebuchadnezzar and the beauty of the city he created: "The king reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?'" (Daniel 4:30) But, "the glory of the Chaldean's pride" was just that--the glory of pride, not the glory of God. King Neb was humbled by God to see the truth, but not his son, Belshazzar.

"It is foretold that it should be wholly destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah; not so miraculously, nor so suddenly, but as effectually, though gradually; and the destruction should come upon them as that upon Sodom, when they were secure, eating and drinking.... Babylon was taken when Belshazzar was in his revels; and, though Cyrus and Darius did not demolish it, yet by degrees it wasted away and in process of time it went all to ruin."

--Matthew Henry

 
Inhabited, but not by people. Closing out the prophecy on Babylon and Chapter 13.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: http://biblestudio.com/p/persia.htm

* * *

Next week: Isaiah 13: 20-22

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).