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Day 198: The Day of the Lord
Isaiah 14 - 15
Chapter 14: The End of the Exile and the Death of the King of Babylon
Isaiah 14:1-2 ~ The Return of the Refugees
When the Judahites return in the 6th century BC, many men will have married pagan women who will return with their husbands. Those women who did not convert but retained their pagan gods and influenced their children to worship pagan gods will be a problem for the returning people and their leaders (see the Book of Ezra chapters 9-10).
Isaiah 14:3-8 ~ The Taunt against the King of Babylon
This satirical poem for a fallen tyrant is directed against the king of Babylon, but it could also be directed against every fallen tyrant of every age to whom the poem should serve as a warning. The accusation of "arrogance" in verse 4 has been repeated throughout the condemnation prophecies; it was included among the sins of the Israelites and their leaders and will continue to be among the list of chief sins (Is 9:9; 10:12; 13:11; 16:6; 37:29).
The mention of the felling of the cedars of Lebanon in verse 8 refers to how the oppressive regime of the Babylonians (and the Assyrians before them) stripped the natural resources of conquered nations. It was a pattern of behavior for conquerors in the past and continues in our modern age.
Isaiah 14:9-15 ~ Sheol welcomes the King
Sheol, the abode of the dead, is personified as welcoming the Babylonian king/kings who will now be a citizen/citizens of his kingdom in the company of other dead rulers of earthly kingdoms. It is the dead who now address the fallen king of Babylon in 10b-15, asking how someone who made so many great boasts could come to such an end.
The Fathers of the Church (Origen, Augustine, Jerome, and others), citing verse 12 and arguing that humans do not fall from heaven, interpreted the 5 "I shall/I will" boasts of the king of Babylon in verses 13- 14 as symbolic of the arrogant and prideful boasts of Satan against God in the great heavenly rebellion that took place prior to the Fall of Adam and which is recorded in the Book of Revelation: And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven. The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him (Rev 12:7-9).
It is St. Jerome in his Latin Vulgate translation who translated the Hebrew word "heylel", meaning "brightness" as in the "Daystar/Morning star" as "Lucifer" and identified him with the prince of demons. Jerome wrote: "For greater ease of understanding we translated this phrase as follows: How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, who arose in the morning.' But if we were to render a literal translation from the Hebrew, it would red, How you have fallen from heaven, howling son of the dawn.' Lucifer is also signified with other words. And he who was formerly so glorious that he was compared to a bearer of lightning is now told that he must weep and mourn" (Commentary on Isaiah, 5:14.12-14). In their interpretation of these verses the Fathers wrote that the 5 "I shall/I will" boasts of Satan were answered by the 5 bloody wounds on the Body of Christ as He suffered on the Cross: the 2 wounds in each of His hands, the 2 wounds in each of His feet, and the blood from the crown of thorns on His head. See CCC 391-395, 550.
Isaiah 14:15-21 ~ The Taunt Continues and the Ghosts of Sheol address the King of Babylon
The taunt continues:"15 Now you have been flung down to Sheol, into the depths of the Abyss! 16 When they see you, they will scrutinize you and consider what you have become, Is this the man who made the world tremble, who overthrew kingdoms? 17 He made the world a desert; he levelled cities and never freed his prisoners to go home.' 18 All other kings of nations, all of them, lie honorably, each in his own tomb; 19 but you have been thrown away, unburied, like a loathsome branch, covered with heaps of the slain pierced by the sword who fall on the rocks of the abyss like trampled carrion.' 20 You will not rejoin them in the grave, for you have brought your country to ruin and destroyed your people. The offspring of the wicked leave no name behind them. 21 Prepare the slaughter for his sons for the guilt of their father! Never again must they rise to conquer the world and cover the face of the earth with their cities."
Isaiah 14:22-23 ~Yahweh's final decree
22 "I will raise against them, declares Yahweh Sabaoth, and deprive Babylon of name, remnant, offspring and posterity, declares Yahweh. 23 I shall turn it into the haunt of hedgehogs, a swamp. I shall sweep it with the broom of destruction", declares Yahweh Sabaoth.
Part of the judgment for the sins of the wicked ruler of Babylon (who is probably not a single ruler but a series of rulers) is that the suffering he caused will not only impact the people he conquered, but the penalty Babylonia will pay will bring suffering to all the Babylonian people and the members of the royal family. God does not judge a son or daughter for the sins of a father or mother, but in war it is inevitable that the defeated nation and the offspring of the leaders should suffer because of the sins of their fathers. When the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 587/6 BC, King Zedekiah of Judah, the last reigning Davidic king, was forced to watch the murder of all of his sons (2 Kng 25:6-7).
Isaiah 14:24-27 ~ Against Assyria
Assyria is destined for destruction and nothing will stop it. After 2 chapters of prophecy against Babylon, Isaiah speaks only 4 verses on Assyria's judgment. It is probably because he already dealt with Assyria in 10:5-34 and will again in 36:1-37:38. Isaiah 14:25 is probably an allusion to the invasion of Assyrian King Sennacherib and his siege of Jerusalem with his army spread across the mountains upon which Jerusalem rested in 701 BC. Yahweh's intervention routed his army; it is a story told in chapters 36-37.
Next Isaiah gives two proclamations in a poetic oracle: one against the Philistines and the second against Moab; territories that bordered Judah on the west and the east and both of which were at one time vassals of the Davidic kings.
Isaiah 14:28-32 ~ Against the Philistines
It is the year of King Ahaz of Judah's death, and he is succeeded by his 25 year old son, Hezekiah. The year is 715 BC (or 727 BC depending on the chronology used for Hezekiah's reign). Other nations often saw the opportunity to take advantage of an untested ruler, which probably accounts for the rejoicing of the Philistines.
Isaiah 15:1-9 ~ Lament over Moab's Condition
Moab territory was along the eastern coast of the Dead Sea, south of the tribal lands of Reuben that at this time had been absorbed into the Aramaean and Ammonite kingdoms and no longer existed. Kings Saul and David conquered Moab in the age of the United Kingdom (1 Sam 14:47; 2 Sam 8:2), and Moab remained a vassal state under the Davidic king Solomon, but Moab regained independence in the days of the divided kingdom. Some battles are recorded in 2 Kings 3:4-27 and 2 Chronicles 20:1-26 and in the famous Mesha stela of King Mesha of Moab.(2)
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A Daily Defense
DAY 198 Images of Hell
CHALLENGE: “I can’t take the idea of hell seriously. The idea that a loving God would confine people to a fiery place deep in the earth where devils poke them with pitchforks in a torture chamber is ridiculous.”
DEFENSE: The next world transcends our ability to imagine, and, even at their best, the images we use aren’t meant to be more than pointers.
Like some popular depictions of heaven, popular depictions of hell owe more to artistic imagination than they do to Scripture. The image of devils poking people with pitchforks—or otherwise torturing them—is not found in Scripture but in art and in cartoons.
Scripture depicts fallen angels in hell alongside fallen humans (Jude 6; Rev. 20:10), not torturing them.
Describing hell, the New Testament uses images like fire (Matt. 13:50; Mark 9:43; Rev. 14:10, 21:8) and being excluded from God’s presence (Matt. 8:12, 22:13, 25:30; 2 Thess. 1:9). These give us a way of picturing the next world, but because that world transcends our imagination, we must recognize the limits of the images.
John Paul II stated: “The images of hell that Sacred Scripture presents to us must be correctly interpreted. They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy” (General Audience, July 28, 1999).
Consequently, “The thought of hell—and even less the improper use of biblical images—must not create anxiety or despair, but is a necessary and healthy reminder of freedom” (ibid.).
“Hell’s principal punishment consists of eternal separation from God in whom alone man can have the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs” (CCC 1057).
We therefore must leave the details of precisely how hell works—where and how the suffering takes place—to God. What is important for us is to recognize the need to ensure that we are united with God, the source of ultimate and eternal happiness.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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