In this chapter we have an answer expected by the
prophet (
1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. 2 And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
Here, I. The prophet humbly gives his
attendance upon God (
II. God graciously gives him the meeting;
for he will not disappoint the believing expectations of his people
that wait to hear what he will say unto them, but will speak
peace, will answer them with good words and comfortable
words,
1. The prophet must write the
vision,
2. The people must wait for the
accomplishment of the vision (
3. This vision, the accomplishment of which
is so long waited for, will be such an exercise of faith and
patience as will try and discover men what they are,
5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people: 6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! 7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? 8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. 9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! 10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. 11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. 12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! 13 Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? 14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
The prophet having had orders to write
the vision, and the people to wait for the accomplishment of
it, the vision itself follows; and it is, as divers other
prophecies we have met with, the burden of Babylon and Babylon's
king, the same that was said to pass over and offend,
I. The charge laid down against this enemy,
upon which the sentence is grounded,
II. The sentence passed upon him (
1. That, since pride has been his sin, disgrace and dishonour shall be his punishment, and he shall be loaded with contempt, shall be laughed at and despised by all about him, as those that look big, and aim high, deserve to be, and commonly are, when they are brought down and baffled.
2. That, since he has been abusive to his
neighbours, those very persons whom he has abused shall be the
instruments of his disgrace: All those shall take up a taunting
proverb against him. They shall have the pleasure of insulting
over him and he the shame of being trampled upon by them. Those
that shall triumph in the fall of this great tyrant are here
furnished with a parable, and a taunting proverb, to
take up against him. He shall say (he that draws up the
insulting ditty shall say thus), Ho, he that increases that
which is not his! Aha! what has become of him now? So it may be
read in a taunting way. Or, He shall say, that is, the
just, who lives by his faith, he to whom the vision is
written and made plain, with the help of that shall say this, shall
foretel the enemy's fall, even when he sees him flourishing, and
suddenly curse his habitation, even when he is taking
root,
(1.) Here is a woe against him for
increasing his own possessions by invading his neighbour's rights,
(2.) Here is a woe against him for coveting
still more, and aiming to be still higher,
(3.) Here is a woe against him for building
a town and a city by blood and extortion (
15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! 16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. 17 For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. 18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? 19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
The three foregoing articles, upon which
the woes here are grounded, are very near akin to each other. The
criminals charged by them are oppressors and extortioners, that
raise estates by rapine and injustice; and it is mentioned here
again (
But here are two articles more, of a different nature, which carry a woe to all those in general to whom they belong, and particularly to the Babylonian monarchs, by whom the people of God were taken and held captives.
I. The promoters of drunkenness stand here
impeached and condemned. Belshazzar was one of those; he was so,
remarkably that very night that the prophecy of this chapter was
fulfilled in the period of his life and kingdom, when he drank
wine before a thousand of his lords (
1. Who the sinner is that is here articled
against; it is he that makes his neighbour drunk,
2. What the sentence is that is here passed
upon him. There is a woe to him (
II. The promoters of idolatry stand here impeached and condemned; and this also was a sin that Babylon was notoriously guilty of; it was the mother of harlots. Belshazzar, in his revels, praised his idols. And for this, here is a woe against them, and in them against all others that do likewise, particularly the New-Testament Babylon. Now see here,
1. What they do to promote idolatry; they
are mad upon their idols; so the Chaldeans are said to be,
2. How the extreme folly of this is
exposed. God, by Isaiah, when he foretold the deliverance of his
people out of Babylon, largely showed the shameful stupidity and
sottishness of idolaters, and so he does here by the prophet, on
the like occasion. (1.) Their images, when they have made them, are
but mere matter, which is the meanest lowest rank of being; and all
the expense they are at upon them cannot advance them one step
above that. They are wholly void both of sense and reason, lifeless
and speechless (the idol is a dumb idol, a dumb
stone, and there is no breath at all in the midst of
it), so that the most minute animal, that has but breath and
motion, is more excellent then they. They have not so much as the
spirit of a beast. (2.) It is not in their power to do their
worshippers any good (
3. How the people of God triumph in him,
and therewith support themselves, when the idolaters thus shame
themselves (