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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Isaiah 14 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/isaiah/14.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/isaiah/14.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/isaiah/14-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../isaiah/">Isaiah</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../isaiah/13.htm" title="Isaiah 13">◄</a> Isaiah 14 <a href="../isaiah/15.htm" title="Isaiah 15">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-1.htm">Isaiah 14:1</a></div><div class="verse">For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.</div>XIV.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob . . .</span>—The words imply a prevision of the return of the Israelites from exile, and therefore of the exile itself. The downfall of Babylon was certain, because without it the mercy of the Lord to Israel could not be manifested. The whole section is an anticipation of the great argument of Isaiah 40-66, and the question of its authorship stands or falls on the same grounds.<p><span class= "bld">The strangers shall be joined with them . . .</span>—The thought is one specially characteristic of the later prophecies of Isaiah (<a href="/isaiah/44-5.htm" title="One shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand to the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.">Isaiah 44:5</a>; <a href="/isaiah/55-5.htm" title="Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew not you shall run to you because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.">Isaiah 55:5</a>; <a href="/context/isaiah/56-3.htm" title="Neither let the son of the stranger, that has joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD has utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.">Isaiah 56:3-6</a>), but is prominent in the earlier also (<a href="/isaiah/2-2.htm" title="And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.">Isaiah 2:2</a>). In later Hebrew the same words came to be applied to the proselytes who are conspicuous in the apostolic age (<a href="/acts/2-10.htm" title="Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,">Acts 2:10</a>; <a href="/acts/6-5.htm" title="And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:">Acts 6:5</a>), and in them, as before in the adhesion and support of the Persian kings and satraps, and as afterwards in the admission of the Gentiles into the kingdom of the Christ, we may trace successive fulfilments of the prophet’s words.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-2.htm">Isaiah 14:2</a></div><div class="verse">And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">The people shall take them . . .</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">the peoples. </span>In <a href="/context/ezra/1-1.htm" title="Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,">Ezra 1:1-4</a>; <a href="/context/ezra/6-7.htm" title="Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place.">Ezra 6:7-8</a>, we have what answered, in a measure, to the picture thus drawn; but here, as elsewhere, the words paint an ideal to which there has been as yet no historical reality fully corresponding. No period of later Jewish history has beheld the people ruling over a conquered race; and if we claim a real fulfilment of the last clause of the verse, it is only in the sense in which the Latin poet said that <span class= "ital">Grœcia capta ferum victorem cepit </span>(Horat. <span class= "ital">Ep. </span>II. i. 156). The triumph of Israel has, so far, been found in that of its leading ideas, and in the victory of the faith of Christ. In <a href="/isaiah/56-3.htm" title="Neither let the son of the stranger, that has joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD has utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.">Isaiah 56:3</a> the proselyte appears as admitted on terms of equality, here on those of subjugation.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-3.htm">Isaiah 14:3</a></div><div class="verse">And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,</div>(3) <span class= "bld">It shall come to pass . . .</span>—The condition of the exiles in Babylon is painted in nearly the same terms as in <a href="/habakkuk/2-13.htm" title="Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?">Habakkuk 2:13</a>. A monarch bent on building towers and walls and palaces, who had carried off all the skilled labour of Jerusalem, was likely enough to vex their souls with “fear” and “hard bondage.” So Assurbanipal boasts that he made his Arabian prisoners carry heavy burdens and build brick-work (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, </span>i. 104).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-4.htm">Isaiah 14:4</a></div><div class="verse">That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!</div>(4) <span class= "bld">That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon.</span>—The prophet appears once more (comp. <a href="/isaiah/5-1.htm" title="Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:">Isaiah 5:1</a>; <a href="/isaiah/12-1.htm" title="And in that day you shall say, O LORD, I will praise you: though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away, and you comforted me.">Isaiah 12:1</a>) in his character as a psalmist. In the <span class= "ital">mashal </span>or <span class= "ital">taunting-song </span>that follows, the generic meaning of “proverb” is specialised (as in <a href="/micah/2-4.htm" title="In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: he has changed the portion of my people: how has he removed it from me! turning away he has divided our fields.">Micah 2:4</a>; <a href="/habakkuk/2-6.htm" title="Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increases that which is not his! how long? and to him that lades himself with thick clay!">Habakkuk 2:6</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/28-37.htm" title="And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations where the LORD shall lead you.">Deuteronomy 28:37</a>, <a href="/1_kings/9-7.htm" title="Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:">1Kings 9:7</a>, and elsewhere) for a derisive utterance in poetic or figurative speech. The LXX., singularly enough, renders the word here by “lamentation.”<p><span class= "bld">How hath the oppressor ceased.</span>—If we take “the golden city” of the English version as the correct rendering, it finds a parallel in the epithet of “gold abounding” applied to Babylon by Æschylus (<span class= "ital">Pers. </span>53). The word so translated is, however, not found elsewhere, and the general consensus of recent critics, following in the wake of the Targum and the LXX., is in favour of the rendering, <span class= "ital">the task-master, </span>or <span class= "ital">the place of torture. </span>The Vulgate, <span class= "ital">how has the tribute ceased, </span>expresses substantially the same thought. The marginal reading, <span class= "ital">exactress of gold, </span>seems like an attempt to combine two different etymologies.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-5.htm">Isaiah 14:5</a></div><div class="verse">The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, <i>and</i> the sceptre of the rulers.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked . . .</span>—The “staff” and the “sceptre” are alike symbols of power, the former being that on which a man supports himself, the other that which he wields in his arm to smite those who oppose him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-6.htm">Isaiah 14:6</a></div><div class="verse">He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, <i>and</i> none hindereth.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">He who smote . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">which smote, </span>the whole verse being of the nature of a relative clause, with the “sceptre” for antecedent.<p><span class= "bld">A continual stroke.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">a stroke without ceasing.</span><p><span class= "bld">Is persecuted, and none hindereth.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">completing </span>the parallelism, <span class= "ital">with a trampling that is not stayed.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-7.htm">Isaiah 14:7</a></div><div class="verse">The whole earth is at rest, <i>and</i> is quiet: they break forth into singing.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">They break forth into singing . . .</span>—The phrase is noticeable as characteristic of Isaiah (<a href="/isaiah/44-23.htm" title="Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.">Isaiah 44:23</a>; <a href="/isaiah/49-13.htm" title="Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted.">Isaiah 49:13</a>; <a href="/isaiah/52-9.htm" title="Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.">Isaiah 52:9</a>; <a href="/isaiah/54-1.htm" title="Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you that did not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, said the LORD.">Isaiah 54:1</a>; <a href="/isaiah/55-12.htm" title="For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.">Isaiah 55:12</a>), and is not found elsewhere. The emancipated nations are represented as exulting in the unfamiliar peace that follows on the downfall of their oppressor.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-8.htm">Isaiah 14:8</a></div><div class="verse">Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, <i>and</i> the cedars of Lebanon, <i>saying</i>, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee.</span>—The tree has been identified (Carruthers, in <span class= "ital">Bible Educator, 4, </span>359) with the Aleppo pine (<span class= "ital">Pinus halepensis</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>which grows abundantly on the Lebanon range above the zone of the evergreen oaks. The LXX. often translates it by “cypress,” the Vulgate and Authorised version commonly by “fir tree.” Its wood was largely used in house and ship-building, but was less precious than the cedar (<a href="/1_kings/5-10.htm" title="So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.">1Kings 5:10</a>; <a href="/1_kings/6-15.htm" title="And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.">1Kings 6:15</a>; <a href="/1_kings/6-34.htm" title="And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.">1Kings 6:34</a>; <a href="/isaiah/41-19.htm" title="I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:">Isaiah 41:19</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/27-5.htm" title="They have made all your ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for you.">Ezekiel 27:5</a>).<p><span class= "bld">No feller is come up against us</span>—The literal and figurative senses melt into each other, the former perhaps being the more prominent. It was the boast of Assurbanipal and other Assyrian kings that wherever they conquered they cut down forests and left the land bare. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/37-24.htm" title="By your servants have you reproached the Lord, and have said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.">Isaiah 37:24</a> : <span class= "ital">Records of the Past, </span>i. 86.) As the fir tree, the cedar, and the oak were the natural symbols of kingly rule (<a href="/jeremiah/22-7.htm" title="And I will prepare destroyers against you, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.">Jeremiah 22:7</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/17-3.htm" title="And say, Thus said the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, long winged, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came to Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:">Ezekiel 17:3</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/31-3.htm" title="Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.">Ezekiel 31:3</a>), this devastation represented the triumph of the Chaldæan king over other princes. On his downfall, the trees on the mountain, the kings and chieftains in their palaces, would alike rejoice.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-9.htm">Isaiah 14:9</a></div><div class="verse">Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet <i>thee</i> at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, <i>even</i> all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Hell from beneath is moved for thee . . .</span>—“Hell,” or <span class= "ital">Sheol, </span>is, as elsewhere, the shadow-world, the region of the dead. Into that world the king of Babylon descends. The “dead” and the Rephaim are there, the <span class= "ital">giant-spectres, </span>now faint and feeble (<a href="/deuteronomy/2-11.htm" title="Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites called them Emims.">Deuteronomy 2:11</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/3-11.htm" title="For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.">Deuteronomy 3:11</a>), of departed forms of greatness. The verb (“it stirreth up”), which is masculine, while the noun is feminine, seems to personify Sheol, as Hades is personified in <a href="/revelation/20-14.htm" title="And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.">Revelation 20:14</a>. The “chief ones” are, literally, <span class= "ital">the he-goats, </span>or “bell-wethers” of the flock (<a href="/isaiah/34-6.htm" title="The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.">Isaiah 34:6</a>; <a href="/zechariah/10-3.htm" title="My anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in the battle.">Zechariah 10:3</a>), of which Hades is the shepherd (<a href="/psalms/49-14.htm" title="Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.">Psalm 49:14</a>). Even in Sheol the kings of the earth retain their former majesty, and sit on thrones apart from the vulgar dead. In <a href="/context/ezekiel/32-17.htm" title="It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,">Ezekiel 32:17-32</a> we have a reproduction of the same imagery, and the kings appear, each with his “weapons of war.” The whole passage finds a striking parallel in the Assyrian legend of the Descent of Ishtar (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, i.</span> p. 144), where Hades is described.<p>“The abode of darkness and famine.<p>* * * * * *<p>Night is not seen—in darkness they dwell.<p>Ghosts, like birds, flutter their wings there.<p>On the door and gate-posts the dust lies undisturbed.<p>* * * * * * *<p>To be the ruler of a palace shall be thy rank;<p>A throne of state shall be thy seat.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-10.htm">Isaiah 14:10</a></div><div class="verse">All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Art thou also become weak as we?</span>—The question implies, of course, an affirmative answer. The king of Babylon, the report of whose coming had roused awe and wonder, is found to be as weak as any of the other Rephaim, the <span class= "ital">eidôla, </span>or shadowy forms, of Homer (<span class= "ital">Il, xxiii.</span>, 72). With these words the vision of the spectral world ends, and the next verse takes up the taunting song of the liberated Israelites, the language of which is, however, influenced by the imagery of the vision.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-11.htm">Isaiah 14:11</a></div><div class="verse">Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, <i>and</i> the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Thy pomp is brought down to the grave. </span>Literally, <span class= "ital">to Sheol, </span>as in <a href="/isaiah/14-9.htm" title="Hell from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming: it stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.">Isaiah 14:9</a>. The “pomp” is the same as the “beauty” of <a href="/isaiah/13-19.htm" title="And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.">Isaiah 13:19</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The noise of thy viols.</span>—Perhaps <span class= "ital">harps, </span>or <span class= "ital">cymbals, </span>representing one of the prominent features of Babylonian culture (<a href="/daniel/3-5.htm" title="That at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up:">Daniel 3:5</a>). The singers see, as it were, all this kingly state mouldering in the grave, <span class= "ital">maggots </span>and worms (the two words are different in the Hebrew) taking the place of the costly shawls and carpets on which the great king had been wont to rest.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-12.htm">Isaiah 14:12</a></div><div class="verse">How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! <i>how</i> art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!</div>(12) <span class= "bld">How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!</span>—The word for Lucifer is, literally, <span class= "ital">the shining one, </span>the planet Venus, the morning star, the <span class= "ital">son of the dawn, </span>as the symbol of the Babylonian power, which was so closely identified with astrolatry. “Lucifer” etymologically gives the same meaning, and is used by Latin poets (Tibull. i., 10, 62) for Venus, as an equivalent for the <span class= "ital">phôsphoros </span>of the Greeks. The use of the word, however, in mediæval Latin as a name of Satan, whose fall was supposed to be shadowed forth in this and the following verse, makes its selection here singularly unfortunate. Few English readers realise the fact that it is the king of Babylon, and not the devil, who is addressed as Lucifer. While this has been the history of the Latin word, its Greek and English equivalents have risen to a higher place, and the “morning star” has become a name of the Christ (<a href="/revelation/22-16.htm" title="I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.">Revelation 22:16</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-13.htm">Isaiah 14:13</a></div><div class="verse">For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:</div>(13) <span class= "bld">I will ascend into heaven.</span>—The boast of the Chaldæan king is represented as nothing less than an apotheosis, which they themselves claimed. So Shalmaneser describes himself as “a sun-god” (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, </span>iii. 83), Assurbanipal as “lord of all kings” (<span class= "ital">ib., </span>iii. 78). In contrast with the <span class= "ital">Sheol </span>into which the Chaldæan king had sunk, the prophet paints the heaven to which he sought to rise. He, the brightest star, would raise his throne above all the stars of God.<p><span class= "bld">I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation . . .</span>—The words have often been interpreted of Jerusalem or the Temple, as the “mountain of assembly” (as the tabernacle was “the tent of the congregation,” or “of meeting”), and “the sides (better, <span class= "ital">recesses</span>) of the north” have been connected, like the same phrase in <a href="/psalms/48-2.htm" title="Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.">Psalm 48:2</a>, with the portion of the Temple which the king of Babylon is supposed to threaten. Most modern scholars are, however, agreed that this interpretation is untenable. What is brought before us is the heaven, the “mountain of assembly,” where the great gods in whom the king of Babylon believed sat in council. So Assyrian hymns speak of “the feasts of the silver mountains, the heavenly courts” (as the Greeks spoke of Olympus), where the gods dwell eternally (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, iii.</span> 133). And this ideal mountain was for them, like the Meru of Indian legend, in the farthest north. So in the legendary geography of Greece, the Hyperborei, or “people beyond the north wind,” were a holy and blessed race, the chosen servants of Apollo (Herod., ii. 32-36). In <a href="/ezekiel/28-14.htm" title="You are the anointed cherub that covers; and I have set you so: you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the middle of the stones of fire.">Ezekiel 28:14</a> the prophet recognises an ideal “mountain of God” of like nature, and the vision of the future glory of a transfigured Zion, in chap 2:1-3, implies, as we have seen, an idea of the same kind. Possibly the same thought appears in Ezekiel’s vision, “out of the north” (<a href="/isaiah/1-4.htm" title="Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.">Isaiah 1:4</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-14.htm">Isaiah 14:14</a></div><div class="verse">I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">I will be like the most High.</span>—The Chaldaean king is rightly represented as using a Divine name (<span class= "ital">Elîôn</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>which was not essentially Israelite, but common to the Phœnicians and other kindred nations. (See <a href="/genesis/14-18.htm" title="And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.">Genesis 14:18</a>; <a href="/daniel/4-24.htm" title="This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come on my lord the king:">Daniel 4:24</a>; <a href="/luke/8-28.htm" title="When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of God most high? I beseech you, torment me not.">Luke 8:28</a>; <a href="/acts/16-17.htm" title="The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show to us the way of salvation.">Acts 16:17</a>.) The Persians carried their adulation still further, and applied the title “god” to their kings (Æsch. <span class= "ital">Pers. </span>623), as the Syrians afterwards did in the case of Antiochus Theos. The Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions, for the most part, fall short of this, and describe the king as the “servant,” or “priest,” of Assur, or Bel, or Nebo, “the viceroy, or vicar, of the gods.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-15.htm">Isaiah 14:15</a></div><div class="verse">Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Yet thou shalt be brought . . .</span>—We note in the use of the same words (“ the sides, or <span class= "ital">recesses,” </span>of the pit), as in the previous verse, the contrast of an indignant sarcasm. Yes, the prophet seems to say, the proud king has found his way to those “recesses;” but they are not in heaven, but in Hades.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-16.htm">Isaiah 14:16</a></div><div class="verse">They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, <i>and</i> consider thee, <i>saying, Is</i> this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;</div>(16) <span class= "bld">They that see thee . . .</span>—<span class= "bld">The context shows </span>that the picture before the prophet’s eye is no longer the shadow-world of Hades, but the field of battle, Men look at the corpse of the mighty conqueror as it lies dishonoured, bloody, and unburied.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-17.htm">Isaiah 14:17</a></div><div class="verse"><i>That</i> made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; <i>that</i> opened not the house of his prisoners?</div>(17) <span class= "bld">That opened not the house of his prisoners.</span>—Better, as in the margin, <span class= "ital">he loosed not his prisoners to their homes. </span>This was, we may note, a characteristic feature of the cruelty of the Assyrian kings. So Sennacherib and Assurbanipal boast of having carried off captive kings in “chains of iron” (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, </span>i. pp. 43, 62, 72), and kept them chained like dogs in the court of their palace (<span class= "ital">ib., </span>pp. 93, 97). So Jehoiachin was kept in prison for thirty-seven years (<a href="/jeremiah/52-31.htm" title="And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison.">Jeremiah 52:31</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-18.htm">Isaiah 14:18</a></div><div class="verse">All the kings of the nations, <i>even</i> all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">All the kings of the nations . . .</span>—The “house” in which the monarchs lie is, of course, their sepulchre. Such sepulchres, as in the case of the pyramid graves of the Egyptian kings, the “eternal home” as they themselves called it (comp. <a href="/ecclesiastes/12-5.htm" title="Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goes to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:">Ecclesiastes 12:5</a>), were often almost literally the “house,” or palace, of the dead.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-19.htm">Isaiah 14:19</a></div><div class="verse">But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, <i>and as</i> the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">Like an abominable branch.</span>—The noun is the same as in <a href="/isaiah/11-1.htm" title="And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:">Isaiah 11:1</a>; <a href="/isaiah/60-21.htm" title="Your people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.">Isaiah 60:21</a>. The idea seems to be that of a scion or shoot which is mildewed and blasted, and which men fling away as loathsome.<p><span class= "bld">As the raiment of those that are slain . . .</span>—The image reminds us of the “garments rolled in blood “of <a href="/isaiah/9-5.htm" title="For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.">Isaiah 9:5</a>, gathered after the battle, and “cast forth” to be burnt. In such raiment, not in stately robes nor kingly grave-clothes, would the great ruler be found. To lie thus unburied, “a prey to dogs and vultures” (Homer, <span class= "ital">Iliad, </span>i. 4), was, as with the Homeric heroes, the shame of all shames.<p><span class= "bld">That go down to the stones of the pit.</span>—By some critics these words are joined with the following verse: <span class= "ital">Those that go down </span><span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "ital">with them thou shalt not be joined in burial, i.e., </span>shalt have no proper sepulchre. As the passage stands, “the stones of the pit” represent the burial-place into which the carcases of the slain were indiscriminately thrown.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-20.htm">Isaiah 14:20</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, <i>and</i> slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial . . .</span>—The curse of the dishonoured death is connected with its cause. The conqueror had inflicted that shame even on his own people, and was punished in like kind himself. Comp. Jeremiah’s prediction as to Jehoiakim (<a href="/jeremiah/22-19.htm" title="He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.">Jeremiah 22:19</a>), and parallel instances in <a href="/2_chronicles/21-20.htm" title="Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. However, they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchers of the kings.">2Chronicles 21:20</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/24-25.htm" title="And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchers of the kings.">2Chronicles 24:25</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/29-5.htm" title="And I will leave you thrown into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers: you shall fall on the open fields; you shall not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given you for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.">Ezekiel 29:5</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">shall not be named for ever. </span>Here we have a parallel in the sentence on Coniah (<a href="/jeremiah/22-30.htm" title="Thus said the LORD, Write you this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.">Jeremiah 22:30</a>). In the inscription of Eshmunazzar, king of Sidon (quoted by Cheyne), we have both elements of the imprecation: “Let him (the man who violates the sacredness of the king’s tomb) not have a couch with the shade, and let him not be buried in the grave, and let him not have son or seed in his stead.” In the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, v.</span> 26) and Merôdach-baladan III. (<span class= "ital">ib., </span>ix. 36) we find like curses. Historically, as the <span class= "ital">Behistun </span>inscription shows, the dynasty of Nabopolassar disappeared from history. and Darius boasts of having subdued an impostor, a second Nebuchadnezzar, who claimed to represent it (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, </span>i. 114).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-21.htm">Isaiah 14:21</a></div><div class="verse">Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">Prepare slaughter for his children.</span>—Literally, as in <a href="/jeremiah/51-40.htm" title="I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.">Jeremiah 51:40</a>, <span class= "ital">a slaughter house. </span>The command may be addressed to the Medes of <a href="/isaiah/13-17.htm" title="Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.">Isaiah 13:17</a>, or to any minister of the Divine vengeance. In the judgment of God, as seen in history, that judgment falls necessarily on the last members of an evil and cruel dynasty. In this sense the sins of the fathers are visited on the children, while, in the eternal judgment which lies behind the veil, each single soul stands, as in <a href="/ezekiel/18-4.htm" title="Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.">Ezekiel 18:4</a>, on its own personal responsibility, and may win pardon for itself. Penitent or impenitent (and the latter seems here implied), the children of the evil-doers should cease to be conquerors and rulers.<p><span class= "bld">Nor fill the face of the world with cities.</span>—The words describe the boast of the great monarchs, who, like Nimrod, built cities to perpetuate their fame. (Comp. <a href="/context/genesis/10-10.htm" title="And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.">Genesis 10:10-12</a>; <a href="/daniel/4-30.htm" title="The king spoke, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?">Daniel 4:30</a>.) The Babylonian and Assyrian kings record their destructive and constructive work with equal exultation (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, v.</span>, pp. 80, 119, 123). Various readings have been suggested, giving <span class= "ital">ruined heaps, </span>or <span class= "ital">terrible ones, </span>or <span class= "ital">enemies, </span>or <span class= "ital">conflicts; </span>but there seems no need for any change.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-22.htm">Isaiah 14:22</a></div><div class="verse">For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Son, and nephew . . .</span>—The latter word, as throughout the Bible, is used in its true sense as “grandson,” or “descendant.” (Comp. <a href="/1_timothy/5-4.htm" title="But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.">1Timothy 5:4</a>.) Every word that could express descent is brought together to express the utter extirpation of the Babylonian dynasty. The Hebrew adds the emphasis of alliteration, as in our “bag and baggage,” and other like phrases.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-23.htm">Isaiah 14:23</a></div><div class="verse">I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">I will also make it a possession for the bittern . . .</span>—Naturalists are not agreed as to the meaning of the noun. In the LXX. and Vulgate it appears as “hedgehog,” or “porcupine,” and the “tortoise,” “beaver,” “otter,” and “owl” have all been suggested by scholars. Its conjunction with “pelican in <a href="/isaiah/34-11.htm" title="But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out on it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.">Isaiah 34:11</a> and <a href="/zephaniah/2-14.htm" title="And flocks shall lie down in the middle of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for he shall uncover the cedar work.">Zephaniah 2:14</a>, and with” pools of water “here, is in favour of some kind of water-fowl. The “hedgehog” frequents dry places, and not marshes, and does not roost, as in <a href="/zephaniah/2-14.htm" title="And flocks shall lie down in the middle of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for he shall uncover the cedar work.">Zephaniah 2:14</a>, on the capitals of ruined columns. On the whole, therefore, “bittern” (<span class= "ital">Botaurus stellaris</span>) may as well stand.<p><span class= "bld">Pools of water.</span>—These were the natural result of the breaking up of the canals, sluices, reservoirs, which had kept the overflow of the Euphrates within bounds (Diod. Sic., ii. 7).<p><span class= "bld">I will sweep it with the besom of destruction . . .</span>—The phrase has its parallel in the “sieve of vanity,” in <a href="/isaiah/30-28.htm" title="And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the middle of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.">Isaiah 30:28</a>. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/34-11.htm" title="But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out on it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.">Isaiah 34:11</a>) The force of the image must not be lost sight of Babylon is to be swept away as men sweep away some foul rubbish from their house. The world is cleaner for its destruction. The solemn doom closes the “burden” of Babylon.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-24.htm">Isaiah 14:24</a></div><div class="verse">The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, <i>so</i> shall it stand:</div>(24) <span class= "bld">The Lord of hosts hath sworn . . .</span>—The long “oracle” of Babylon is followed by a fragmentary prophecy against Assyria (<a href="/context/isaiah/14-24.htm" title="The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:">Isaiah 14:24-27</a>), possibly misplaced, possibly, as opening with a solemn asseveration, like that of the preceding verse, added by way of proof, that the word of the Lord of Hosts would be fulfilled on Babylon, as it had been on Assyria, with which, indeed, Babylon was closely connected—almost, perhaps, identified—in his thoughts.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-25.htm">Isaiah 14:25</a></div><div class="verse">That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">That I will break the Assyrian in my land . . .</span>—The words found their fulfilment in the destruction of Sennacherib’s army. The “mountains” are the hills round Jerusalem on which the army of the Assyrians was encamped. They were sacred, as the phrase, <span class= "ital">“my </span>mountains,” shows, to Jehovah (comp. <a href="/isaiah/49-11.htm" title="And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.">Isaiah 49:11</a>; <a href="/isaiah/65-9.htm" title="And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.">Isaiah 65:9</a>; <a href="/zechariah/14-5.htm" title="And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal: yes, you shall flee, like as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with you.">Zechariah 14:5</a>), and He, therefore, would put forth His power to rescue them from the proud invader.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-26.htm">Isaiah 14:26</a></div><div class="verse">This <i>is</i> the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this <i>is</i> the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">This is the hand that is stretched out</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span>—The words point, as it were, to the idea of a universal history. The fall of the Assyrian power and of Babylon does not stand alone, but forms part of a scheme embracing all nations and all ages (<a href="/isaiah/9-12.htm" title="The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.">Isaiah 9:12</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-27.htm">Isaiah 14:27</a></div><div class="verse">For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul <i>it</i>? and his hand <i>is</i> stretched out, and who shall turn it back?</div>(27) <span class= "bld">His hand is stretched out.</span>—Literally, and more emphatically, <span class= "ital">His is the outstretched hand.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-28.htm">Isaiah 14:28</a></div><div class="verse">In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.</span>—The prophecies against Babylon and Assyria are naturally followed by a series of like predictions, dealing with other nations which played their part in the great drama of the time. The date of that which comes next in order is obviously specified, either by Isaiah himself or by the compiler of his prophecies, that it might be seen that it was not a prophecy after the event. The death-year of Ahaz was B.C. 727. It was natural that the prophet’s thoughts should be much exercised then, as in the year of Uzziah’s death (<a href="/isaiah/6-1.htm" title="In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.">Isaiah 6:1</a>), on the uncertainties of the coming future, and the “burden” was the answer to his searchings of heart. It was probably delivered <span class= "ital">before </span>the king’s death. (See Note on <a href="/isaiah/6-1.htm" title="In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.">Isaiah 6:1</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-29.htm">Isaiah 14:29</a></div><div class="verse">Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit <i>shall be</i> a fiery flying serpent.</div>(29) R<span class= "bld">ejoice not thou, whole Palestina.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Rejoice not thou, Philistia, all of thee; i.e., </span>give not thyself wholly to rejoicing. Here, as in <a href="/exodus/15-14.htm" title="The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.">Exodus 15:14</a>, “Palestina” is used, not in the wider meaning with which we are familiar, but specifically as the country of the Philistines. The historical circumstances connected with the “oracle” before us are found in <a href="/2_chronicles/18-18.htm" title="Again he said, Therefore hear the word of the LORD; I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.">2Chronicles 18:18</a>. The Philistines had invaded the low country (<span class= "ital">Shetph</span>ē<span class= "ital">lah</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>and the district known as the <span class= "ital">Negeb, </span>or “south” of Judah, in the reign of Ahaz. He had called in the help of Tiglath-pileser, the Assyrian king, to assist him as against Rezin and Pekah (Isaiah 7), so probably against these new invaders. Sargon (who succeeded Tiglath-pileser, B.C. 723) invaded Ashdod in B.C. 710 (<a href="/isaiah/20-1.htm" title="In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;">Isaiah 20:1</a>; <span class= "ital">Records of the Past, vii.</span> 40). Sennacherib records a like attack on Ashkelon and (according to Rawlinson’s interpretation) Ekron (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, vii.</span> 61). With these data we are able to enter on the interpretation of Isaiah’s prediction.<p><span class= "bld">Because the rod of him that smote thee is broken.</span>—The “rod,” as in <a href="/isaiah/10-24.htm" title="Therefore thus said the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt.">Isaiah 10:24</a>, is the power of Tiglath-pileser. The Philistines were exulting in his death, or in that of Ahaz as his ally, as though their peril was past. They are told that their exultation was premature.<p><span class= "bld">Out of the serpent’s root.</span>—The three forms of serpent life (we need not be careful about their identification from the zoologist’s point of view) may represent the three Assyrian kings named above, from whose invasions the Philistines were to suffer. Each form was more terrible than the preceding. The fiery flying serpent (<a href="/isaiah/30-6.htm" title="The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from where come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches on the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures on the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.">Isaiah 30:6</a>; <a href="/numbers/21-6.htm" title="And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.">Numbers 21:6</a>), which represented Sennacherib, was the most formidable of the three. So in <a href="/isaiah/27-1.htm" title="In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.">Isaiah 27:1</a>, the “piercing serpent,” the “crooked serpent,” and the “dragon” are symbols of the Assyrian power. Some critics, however, led chiefly by the first words of the next verse, find in the three serpents—(1) Ahaz, (2) Hezekiah, (3) the ideal king of <a href="/context/isaiah/11-1.htm" title="And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:">Isaiah 11:1-9</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-30.htm">Isaiah 14:30</a></div><div class="verse">And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">And the firstborn of the poor shall feed.</span>—As the “children of the needy” in <a href="/psalms/72-4.htm" title="He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.">Psalm 72:4</a> are simply the poor as a class, so the “firstborn” are those who, as it were, inherit the double portion, not of riches, but of poverty. (Comp. “the firstborn of death” in <a href="/job/18-13.htm" title="It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.">Job 18:13</a>.) The people spoken of are those of Judah, which in the days of Ahaz had been “brought very low” (<a href="/2_chronicles/28-19.htm" title="For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD.">2Chronicles 28:19</a>). For these the prophet foretells a time of plenty; not so for Philistia. Either through the sieges of their towns or the devastation of their fields, they would be reduced to the last extremities of famine. With them there should be no “remnant” to return.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-31.htm">Isaiah 14:31</a></div><div class="verse">Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, <i>art</i> dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none <i>shall be</i> alone in his appointed times.</div>(31) <span class= "bld">Howl, O gate . . .</span>—The “gate,” as elsewhere, is the symbol of the city’s strength. The “city<span class= "ital">” </span>stands probably for Ashdod, as the most conspicuous of the Philistine cities.<p><span class= "bld">From the north.</span>—Here of the Assyrian invaders, as in <a href="/jeremiah/1-14.htm" title="Then the LORD said to me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.">Jeremiah 1:14</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/10-22.htm" title="Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.">Jeremiah 10:22</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/46-20.htm" title="Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction comes; it comes out of the north.">Jeremiah 46:20</a> of the Chaldean. The “smoke” may be either that of the cities which the Assyrians burnt, or, more probably, the torch-signals, or beacons, which they used in their night marches or encampments (<a href="/jeremiah/6-1.htm" title="O you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the middle of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appears out of the north, and great destruction.">Jeremiah 6:1</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/1-2.htm" title="To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.">Jeremiah 1:2</a>). (See Note on <a href="/isaiah/4-5.htm" title="And the LORD will create on every dwelling place of mount Zion, and on her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for on all the glory shall be a defense.">Isaiah 4:5</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">None shall be alone in his appointed times.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">there is no straggler at the appointed places: i.e., </span>all the troops shall meet at the rendezvous which was indicated by the column of fiery smoke as a signal.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/14-32.htm">Isaiah 14:32</a></div><div class="verse">What shall <i>one</i> then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">What shall one then answer . . .?</span>—The words obviously imply that the prophet either had received, or expected to receive, a message of inquiry from the Philistines, and that this is his answer. It seems not improbable, indeed, that the series of prophecies that follow were delivered in answer to such inquiries. The fame of the prophet had spread beyond the confines of Israel, and men of different nations came to Jerusalem to consult him. So Jeremiah’s oracles are delivered to the ambassadors who came to propose an alliance against Nebuchadnezzar in the time of Zedekiah (<a href="/jeremiah/27-3.htm" title="And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah;">Jeremiah 27:3</a>). Commonly, however, the words are referred to the embassies of congratulation, which came with plans of new alliances after the destruction of Sennacherib’s army (<a href="/2_chronicles/32-23.htm" title="And many brought gifts to the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thereafter.">2Chronicles 32:23</a>).<p><span class= "bld">That the Lord hath founded Zion.</span>—This is the answer to all such inquiries. Zion stands firm and safe in the protection of Jehovah. The “poor” (obviously those of <a href="/isaiah/14-30.htm" title="And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill your root with famine, and he shall slay your remnant.">Isaiah 14:30</a>) shall trust (better, <span class= "ital">shall find refuge</span>) in it. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/28-16.htm" title="Therefore thus said the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.">Isaiah 28:16</a>.) They need no foreign alliances, no arm of flesh.<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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