mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 14.xml

<div2 id="Is.xv" n="xv" next="Is.xvi" prev="Is.xiv" progress="6.03%" title="Chapter XIV">
<h2 id="Is.xv-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.xv-p0.2">CHAP. XIV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.xv-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter, I. More weight is added to the
burden of Babylon, enough to sink it like a mill-stone; I. It is
Israel's cause that is to be pleaded in this quarrel with Babylon,
<scripRef id="Is.xv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.1-Isa.14.3" parsed="|Isa|14|1|14|3" passage="Isa 14:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. 2. The king of
Babylon, for the time being, shall be remarkably brought down and
triumphed over, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.4-Isa.14.20" parsed="|Isa|14|4|14|20" passage="Isa 14:4-20">ver.
4-20</scripRef>. 3. The whole race of the Babylonians shall be cut
off and extirpated, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.21-Isa.14.23" parsed="|Isa|14|21|14|23" passage="Isa 14:21-23">ver.
21-23</scripRef>. II. A confirmation of the prophecy of the
destruction of Babylon, which was a thing at a distance, is here
given in the prophecy of the destruction of the Assyrian army that
invaded the land, which happened not long after, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.24-Isa.14.27" parsed="|Isa|14|24|14|27" passage="Isa 14:24-27">ver. 24-27</scripRef>. III. The success of Hezekiah
against the Philistines is here foretold, and the advantages which
his people would gain thereby, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.28-Isa.14.32" parsed="|Isa|14|28|14|32" passage="Isa 14:28-32">ver. 28-32</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.xv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14" parsed="|Isa|14|0|0|0" passage="Isa 14" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.xv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.1-Isa.14.3" parsed="|Isa|14|1|14|3" passage="Isa 14:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xv-p1.8">
<h4 id="Is.xv-p1.9">Promises to Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 739.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xv-p2" shownumber="no">1 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p2.1">Lord</span>
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.   2 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p2.2">Lord</span> for servants and handmaids: and they shall
take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule
over their oppressors.   3 And it shall come to pass in the
day that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p2.3">Lord</span> shall give thee
rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage
wherein thou wast made to serve,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p3" shownumber="no">This comes in here as the reason why
Babylon must be overthrown and ruined, because God has mercy in
store for his people, and therefore, 1. The injuries done to them
must be reckoned for and revenged upon their persecutors. Mercy to
Jacob will be wrath and ruin to Jacob's impenitent implacable
adversaries, such as Babylon was. 2. The yoke of oppression which
Babylon had long laid on their necks must be broken off, and they
must be set at liberty; and, in order to this, the destruction of
Babylon is as necessary as the destruction of Egypt and Pharaoh was
to their deliverance out of that house of bondage. The same
prediction is a promise to God's people and a threatening to their
enemies, as the same providence has a bright side towards Israel
and a black or dark side towards the Egyptians. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p4" shownumber="no">I. The ground of these favours to Jacob and
Israel—the kindness God had for them and the choice he had made of
them (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.1" parsed="|Isa|14|1|0|0" passage="Isa 14:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): "<i>The
Lord will have mercy on Jacob,</i> the seed of Jacob now captives
in Babylon; he will make it to appear that he has compassion on
them and has mercy in store for them, and that he will not contend
for ever with them, but <i>will yet choose them,</i> will yet again
return to them; though he has seemed for a time to refuse and
reject them, he will show that they are his chosen people and that
the election stands sure." However it may seem to us, God's mercy
is not gone, nor does his promise fail, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.77.8" parsed="|Ps|77|8|0|0" passage="Ps 77:8">Ps. lxxvii. 8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p5" shownumber="no">II. The particular favours he designed
them. 1. He would bring them back to their native soil and air
again: The <i>Lord will set them in their own land,</i> out of
which they were driven. A settlement in the holy land, the land of
promise, is a fruit of God's mercy, distinguishing mercy. 2. Many
should be proselyted to their holy religion, and should return with
them, induced to do so by the manifest tokens of God's favourable
presence with them, the operations of God's grace in them, the
operations of God's grace in them, and his providence for them:
<i>Strangers shall be joined with them,</i> saying, <i>We will go
with you, for we have heard that God is with you,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Zech.8.23" parsed="|Zech|8|23|0|0" passage="Zec 8:23">Zech. viii. 23</scripRef>. It adds much to the
honour and strength of Israel when strangers are joined with them
and there are added to the church many from without, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.47" parsed="|Acts|2|47|0|0" passage="Ac 2:47">Acts ii. 47</scripRef>. Let not the church's
children be shy of strangers, but receive those whom God receives,
and own those who cleave to the house of Jacob. 3. These proselytes
should not only be a credit to their cause, but very helpful and
serviceable to them in their return home: <i>The people</i> among
whom they live <i>shall take them,</i> take care of them, take pity
on them, and shall <i>bring them to their place</i>—as friends,
loth to part with such good company—as servants, willing to do
them all the good offices they could. God's people, wherever their
lot is cast, should endeavour thus, by all the instances of an
exemplary and winning conversation, to gain an interest in the
affections of those about them, and recommend religion to their
good opinion. This was fulfilled in the return of the captives from
Babylon, when all that were about them, pursuant to Cyrus's
proclamation, contributed to their removal (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.1.4 Bible:Ezra.1.6" parsed="|Ezra|1|4|0|0;|Ezra|1|6|0|0" passage="Ezr 1:4,6">Ezra i. 4, 6</scripRef>), not as the Egyptians, because
they were sick of them, but because they loved them. 4. They should
have the benefit of their service when they had returned home, for
many would of choice go with them in the meanest post, rather than
not go with them: They <i>shall possess them in the land of the
Lord for servants and handmaids;</i> and as the laws of that land
saved it from being the purgatory of servants, providing that they
should not be oppressed, so the advantages of that land made it the
paradise of those servants that had been strangers to the covenants
of promise, for there was <i>one law to the stranger and to those
that were born in the land.</i> Those whose lot is cast in the land
of the Lord, a land of light, should take care that their servants
and handmaids may share in the benefit of it, who will then find it
better to be possessed in the Lord's land than possessors in any
other. 5. They should triumph over their enemies, and those that
would not be reconciled to them should be reduced and humbled by
them: <i>They shall take those captives whose captives they were
and shall rule over their oppressors,</i> righteously, but not
revengefully. The Jews perhaps bought Babylonian prisoners out of
the hands of the Medes and Persians and made slaves of them. Or
this might have its accomplishment in their victories over their
enemies in the times of the Maccabees. It is applicable to the
success of the gospel (when those were brought into obedience to it
who had made the greatest opposition to it, as Paul) and to the
interest believers have in Christ's victories over their spiritual
enemies, when he led captivity captive, to the power they gain over
their own corruptions, and to the dominion the upright shall have
in the morning, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.14" parsed="|Ps|49|14|0|0" passage="Ps 49:14">Ps. xlix.
14</scripRef>. 6. They should see a happy termination of all their
grievances (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.3" parsed="|Isa|14|3|0|0" passage="Isa 14:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>):
<i>The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and thy fear, and
from thy hard bondage.</i> God himself undertakes to work a blessed
change, (1.) In their state. They shall have rest from their
bondage; the days of their affliction, though many, shall have an
end; and the rod of the wicked, though it lie long, shall not
always lie on their lot. (2.) In their spirit. They shall have rest
from their sorrow and fear, sense of their present burdens and
dread of worse. Sometimes fear puts the soul into a ferment as much
as sorrow does, and those must needs feel themselves very easy to
whom God has given rest from both. Those who are freed from the
bondage of sin have a foundation laid for true rest from sorrow and
fear.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.xv-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.4-Isa.14.23" parsed="|Isa|14|4|14|23" passage="Isa 14:4-23" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xv-p5.7">
<h4 id="Is.xv-p5.8">The Doom of the King of
Babylon. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p5.9">b. c.</span> 739.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xv-p6" shownumber="no">4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against
the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the
golden city ceased!   5 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p6.1">Lord</span> hath broken the staff of the wicked,
<i>and</i> the sceptre of the rulers.   6 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.   7 The
whole earth is at rest, <i>and</i> is quiet: they break forth into
singing.   8 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.   9 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.  
10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become
weak as we? art thou become like unto us?   11 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.   12 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!   13 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:   14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I
will be like the most High.   15 Yet thou shalt be brought
down to hell, to the sides of the pit.   16 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;   17 <i>That</i> made the world as a wilderness, and
destroyed the cities thereof; <i>that</i> opened not the house of
his prisoners?   18 All the kings of the nations, <i>even</i>
all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.   19
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.   20 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.   21
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.   22 For I will rise up against
them, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p6.2">Lord</span> of hosts, and
cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew,
saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p6.3">Lord</span>.   23 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p6.4">Lord</span> of hosts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p7" shownumber="no">The kings of Babylon, successively, were
the great enemies and oppressors of God's people, and therefore the
destruction of Babylon, the fall of the king, and the ruin of his
family, are here particularly taken notice of and triumphed in. In
the day that God has given Israel rest they shall <i>take up this
proverb against the king of Babylon.</i> We must not rejoice when
our enemy falls, as ours; but when Babylon, the common enemy of God
and his Israel, sinks, then <i>rejoice over her, thou heaven, and
you holy apostles and prophets,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.18.20" parsed="|Rev|18|20|0|0" passage="Re 18:20">Rev. xviii. 20</scripRef>. The Babylonian monarchy bade
fair to be an absolute, universal, and perpetual one, and, in these
pretensions, vied with the Almighty; it is therefore very justly,
not only brought down, but insulted over when it is down; and it is
not only the last monarch, Belshazzar, who <i>was slain on that
night</i> that Babylon was taken (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.30" parsed="|Dan|5|30|0|0" passage="Da 5:30">Dan.
v. 30</scripRef>), who is here triumphed over, but the whole
monarchy, which sunk in him; not without special reference to
Nebuchadnezzar, in whom that monarchy was at its height. Now
here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p8" shownumber="no">I. The fall of the king of Babylon is
rejoiced in; and a most curious and elegant composition is here
prepared, not to adorn his hearse or monument, but to expose his
memory and fix a lasting brand of infamy upon it. It gives us an
account of the life and death of this mighty monarch, how he
<i>went down slain to the pit,</i> though he had been <i>the terror
of the mighty in the land of the living,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.32.27" parsed="|Ezek|32|27|0|0" passage="Eze 32:27">Ezek. xxxii. 27</scripRef>. In this parable we may
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p9" shownumber="no">1. The prodigious height of wealth and
power at which this monarch and monarchy arrived. Babylon was a
<i>golden city,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.4" parsed="|Isa|14|4|0|0" passage="Isa 14:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef> (it is a Chaldee word in the original, which intimates
that she used to call herself so), so much did she abound in riches
and excel all other cities, as gold does all other metals. She is
<i>gold-thirsty,</i> or an exactress of gold (so some read it); for
how do men get wealth to themselves but by squeezing it out of
others? The New Jerusalem is the only truly golden city, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.18 Bible:Rev.21.21" parsed="|Rev|21|18|0|0;|Rev|21|21|0|0" passage="Re 21:18,21">Rev. xxi. 18, 21</scripRef>. The king of
Babylon, having so much wealth in his dominions and the absolute
command of it, by the help of that <i>ruled the nations</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.xv-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.6" parsed="|Isa|14|6|0|0" passage="Isa 14:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), gave them
law, read them their doom, and at his pleasure <i>weakened the
nations</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.12" parsed="|Isa|14|12|0|0" passage="Isa 14:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>), that they might not be able to make head against
him. Such vast and victorious armies did he bring into the field,
that, which way soever he looked, he <i>made the earth to tremble,
and shook kingdoms</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.16" parsed="|Isa|14|16|0|0" passage="Isa 14:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>); all his neighbours were afraid of him, and were
forced to submit to him. No one man could do this by his own
personal strength, but by the numbers he has at his beck. Great
tyrants, by making some do what they will, make others suffer what
they will. How piteous is the case of mankind, which thus seems to
be in a combination against itself, and its own rights and
liberties, which could not be ruined but by its own strength!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p10" shownumber="no">2. The wretched abuse of all this wealth
and power, which the king of Babylon was guilty of, in two
instances:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p11" shownumber="no">(1.) Great oppression and cruelty. He is
known by the name of the <i>oppressor</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.4" parsed="|Isa|14|4|0|0" passage="Isa 14:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>); he has <i>the sceptre of the
rulers</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.5" parsed="|Isa|14|5|0|0" passage="Isa 14:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>),
has the command of all the princes about him; but it is <i>the
staff of the wicked,</i> a staff with which he supports himself in
his wickedness and wickedly strikes all about him. <i>He smote the
people,</i> not in justice, for their correction and reformation,
but <i>in wrath</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.6" parsed="|Isa|14|6|0|0" passage="Isa 14:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>), to gratify his own peevish resentments, and that
<i>with a continual stroke,</i> pursued them with his forces, and
gave them no respite, no breathing time, no cessation of arms. He
ruled the nations, but he ruled them <i>in anger,</i> every thing
he said and did was in a passion; so that he who had the government
of all about him had no government of himself. He <i>made the world
as a wilderness,</i> as if he had taken a pride in being the plague
of his generation and a curse to mankind, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.17" parsed="|Isa|14|17|0|0" passage="Isa 14:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Great princes usually glory in
building cities, but he gloried in destroying them; see <scripRef id="Is.xv-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.9.6" parsed="|Ps|9|6|0|0" passage="Ps 9:6">Ps. ix. 6</scripRef>. Two particular instances,
worse than all the rest, are here given of his tyranny:—[1.] That
he was severe to his captives (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.17" parsed="|Isa|14|17|0|0" passage="Isa 14:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): He <i>opened not the house of
his prisoners;</i> he <i>did not let them loose homeward</i> (so
the margin reads it); he kept them in close confinement, and never
would suffer any to return to their own land. This refers
especially to the people of the Jews, and it is that which fills up
the measure of the king of Babylon's iniquity, that he had detained
the people of God in captivity and would by no means release them;
nay, and by profaning the vessels of God's temple at Jerusalem, did
in effect say that they should never return to their former use,
<scripRef id="Is.xv-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.3" parsed="|Dan|5|3|0|0" passage="Da 5:3">Dan. v. 3</scripRef>. For this he was
quickly and justly turned out by one whose first act was to open
the house of God's prisoners and send home the temple vessels. [2.]
That he was oppressive to his own subjects (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p11.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.20" parsed="|Isa|14|20|0|0" passage="Isa 14:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>Thou hast destroyed thy
land, and slain thy people;</i> and what did he get by that, when
the wealth of the land and the multitude of the people are the
strength and honour of the prince, who never rules so safely, so
gloriously, as in the hearts and affections of the people? But
tyrants sacrifice their interests to their lusts and passions; and
God will reckon with them for their barbarous usage of those who
are under their power, whom they think they may use as they
please.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p12" shownumber="no">(2.) Great pride and haughtiness. Notice is
here taken of his <i>pomp,</i> the extravagancy of his retinue,
<scripRef id="Is.xv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.11" parsed="|Isa|14|11|0|0" passage="Isa 14:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. He affected
to appear in the utmost magnificence. But that was not the worst:
it was the temper of his mind, and the elevation of that, that
ripened him for ruin (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.13-Isa.14.14" parsed="|Isa|14|13|14|14" passage="Isa 14:13,14"><i>v.</i>
13, 14</scripRef>): <i>Thou has said in thy heart,</i> like
Lucifer, <i>I will ascend into heaven.</i> Here is the language of
his vainglory, borrowed perhaps from that of the angels who fell,
who not content with their first estate, the post assigned them,
would vie with God, and become not only independent of him, but
equal with him. Or perhaps it refers to the story of
Nebuchadnezzar, who, when he would be more than a man, was justly
turned into a brute, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.30" parsed="|Dan|4|30|0|0" passage="Da 4:30">Dan. iv.
30</scripRef>. The king of Babylon here promises himself, [1.] That
in pomp and power he shall surpass all his neighbours, and shall
arrive at the very height of earthly glory and felicity, that he
shall be as great and happy as this world can make him; that is the
heaven of a carnal heart, and to that he hopes to ascend, and to be
as far above those about him as the heaven is above the earth.
Princes are the stars of God, which give some light to this dark
world (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.29" parsed="|Matt|24|29|0|0" passage="Mt 24:29">Matt. xxiv. 29</scripRef>); but
he will exalt his throne above them all. [2.] That he shall
particularly insult over God's Mount Zion, which Belshazzar, in his
last drunken frolic, seems to have had a particular spite against
when he called for the vessels of the temple at Jerusalem, to
profane them; see <scripRef id="Is.xv-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.2" parsed="|Dan|5|2|0|0" passage="Da 5:2">Dan. v. 2</scripRef>.
In the same humour he here said, <i>I will sit upon the mount of
the congregation</i> (it is the same word that is used for the holy
<i>convocations), in the sides of the north;</i> so Mount Zion is
said to be situated, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.48.2" parsed="|Ps|48|2|0|0" passage="Ps 48:2">Ps. xlviii.
2</scripRef>. Perhaps Belshazzar was projecting an expedition to
Jerusalem, to triumph in the ruins of it, at the time when God cut
him off. [3.] That he shall vie with the God of Israel, of whom he
had indeed heard glorious things, that he had his residence
<i>above the heights of the clouds.</i> "But thither," says he,
"<i>will I ascend,</i> and be as great as he; I will be like him
whom they call <i>the Most High.</i>" It is a gracious ambition to
covet to be like the Most Holy, for he has said, <i>Be you holy,
for I am holy;</i> but it is a sinful ambition to aim to be like
the Most High, for he has said, <i>He that exalteth himself shall
be abased,</i> and the devil drew our first parents in to eat
forbidden fruit by promising them that they should be as gods. [4.]
That he shall himself be deified after his death, as some of the
first founders of the Assyrian monarchy were, and stars had even
their names from them. "But," says he, "<i>I will exalt my throne
above them</i> all." Such as this was his pride, which was the
undoubted omen of his destruction.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p13" shownumber="no">3. The utter ruin that should be brought
upon him. It is foretold, (1.) That his wealth and power should be
broken, and a final period put to his pomp and pleasure. He has
been long an oppressor, but he shall cease to be so, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.4" parsed="|Isa|14|4|0|0" passage="Isa 14:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Had he ceased to be so
by true repentance and reformation, according to the advice Daniel
gave to Nebuchadnezzar, it might have been a lengthening of his
life and tranquillity. But those that will not cease to sin God
will make to cease. "<i>The golden city,</i> which one would have
thought might continue for ever, <i>has ceased;</i> there is an end
of that Babylon. <i>The Lord,</i> the righteous God, <i>has broken
the staff of that wicked prince,</i> broken it over his head, in
token of the divesting him of his office. God has taken his power
from him, and rendered him incapable of doing any more mischief: he
has broken the sceptres; for even these are brittle things, soon
broken and often justly." (2.) That he himself should be seized:
<i>He is persecuted</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.6" parsed="|Isa|14|6|0|0" passage="Isa 14:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>); violent hands are laid upon him, and none hinders.
It is the common fate of tyrants, when they fall into the power of
their enemies, to be deserted by their flatterers, whom they took
for their friends. We read of another enemy like this, of whom it
is foretold that <i>he shall come to his end and none shall help
him,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.11.45" parsed="|Dan|11|45|0|0" passage="Da 11:45">Dan. xi. 45</scripRef>.
Tiberius and Nero thus saw themselves abandoned. (3.) That he
should be slain, and <i>go down to the congregation of the
dead,</i> to be <i>free among them, as the slain that are no more
remembered,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.88.5" parsed="|Ps|88|5|0|0" passage="Ps 88:5">Ps. lxxxviii.
5</scripRef>. He shall be <i>weak as the dead</i> are, and <i>like
unto them,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.10" parsed="|Isa|14|10|0|0" passage="Isa 14:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. His <i>pomp is brought down to the grave</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.11" parsed="|Isa|14|11|0|0" passage="Isa 14:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), that is,
it perishes with him; the pomp of his life shall not, as usual, end
in a funeral pomp. True glory (that is, true grace) will go up with
the soul to heaven, but vain pomp will go down with the body to the
grave: there is an end of it. <i>The noise of his viols</i> is now
heard no more. Death is a farewell to the pleasures, as well as to
the pomps, of this world. This mighty prince, that used to lie on a
bed of down, to tread upon rich carpets, and to have coverings and
canopies exquisitely fine, now shall have the <i>worms spread under
him and the worms covering him,</i> worms bred out of his own
putrefied body, which, though he fancied himself a god, proved him
to be made of the same mould with other men. When we are pampering
and decking our bodies it is good to remember they will be
worms'-meat shortly. (4.) That he should not have the honour of a
burial, much less of a decent one and in the sepulchres of his
ancestors. <i>The kings of the nations lie in glory</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.18" parsed="|Isa|14|18|0|0" passage="Isa 14:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), either their dead
bodies themselves so embalmed as to be preserved from putrefaction,
as of old among the Egyptians, or their effigies (as with us)
erected over their graves. Thus, as if they would defy the ignominy
of death, they lay in a poor faint sort of glory, <i>every one in
his own house,</i> that is, his own burying-place (for the grave is
the house appointed for all living), a sleeping house, where the
busy and troublesome will lie quiet and the troubled and weary lie
at rest. But this king of Babylon is <i>cast out</i> and has no
grave (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.19" parsed="|Isa|14|19|0|0" passage="Isa 14:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>); his
dead body is thrown, like that of a beast, into the next ditch or
upon the next dunghill, <i>like an abominable branch</i> of some
noxious poisonous plant, which nobody will touch, or as the clothes
of malefactors put to death and by the hand of justice <i>thrust
through with a sword,</i> on whose dead bodies heaps of stones are
raised, or they are thrown into some deep quarry among <i>the
stones of the pit.</i> Nay, the king of Babylon's dead body shall
be as the carcases of those who are slain in a battle, which are
<i>trodden under feet</i> by the horses and soldiers and crushed to
pieces. Thus he <i>shall not be joined with his ancestors in
burial,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.20" parsed="|Isa|14|20|0|0" passage="Isa 14:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>.
To be denied decent burial is a disgrace, which, if it be inflicted
for righteousness' sake (as <scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.2" parsed="|Ps|79|2|0|0" passage="Ps 79:2">Ps. lxxix.
2</scripRef>), may, as other similar reproaches, be rejoiced in
(<scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.11" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.12" parsed="|Matt|5|12|0|0" passage="Mt 5:12">Matt. v. 12</scripRef>); it is the lot
of the two witnesses, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p13.12" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.9" parsed="|Rev|11|9|0|0" passage="Re 11:9">Rev. xi.
9</scripRef>. But if, as here, it be the just punishment of
iniquity, it is an intimation that evil pursues impenitent sinners
beyond death, greater evil than that, and that they shall <i>rise
to everlasting shame and contempt.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p14" shownumber="no">4. The many triumphs that should be in his
fall.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p15" shownumber="no">(1.) Those whom he had been a great tyrant
and terror to will be glad that they are rid of him, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.7-Isa.14.8" parsed="|Isa|14|7|14|8" passage="Isa 14:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. Now that he is gone
<i>the whole earth is at rest and is quiet,</i> for he was the
great disturber of the peace; now they all <i>break forth into
singing,</i> for <i>when the wicked perish there is shouting</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.xv-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.11.10" parsed="|Prov|11|10|0|0" passage="Pr 11:10">Prov. xi. 10</scripRef>); the
fir-trees and cedars of Lebanon now think themselves safe; there is
no danger now of their being cut down, to make way for his vast
armies or to furnish him with timber. The neighbouring princes and
great men, who are compared to fir-trees and cedars (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.11.2" parsed="|Zech|11|2|0|0" passage="Zec 11:2">Zech. xi. 2</scripRef>), may now be easy, and
out of fear of being dispossessed of their rights, for <i>the
hammer of the whole earth is cut asunder and broken</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.50.23" parsed="|Jer|50|23|0|0" passage="Jer 50:23">Jer. l. 23</scripRef>), the axe that <i>boasted
itself against him that hewed with it,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.15" parsed="|Isa|10|15|0|0" passage="Isa 10:15"><i>ch.</i> x. 15</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p16" shownumber="no">(2.) The congregation of the dead will bid
him welcome to them, especially those whom he had barbarously
hastened thither (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.9-Isa.14.10" parsed="|Isa|14|9|14|10" passage="Isa 14:9,10"><i>v.</i> 9,
10</scripRef>): "<i>Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet
thee at thy coming,</i> and to compliment thee upon thy arrival at
their dark and dreadful regions." <i>The chief ones of the
earth,</i> who when they were alive were kept in awe by him and
durst not come near him, but rose from their thrones, to resign
them to him, shall upbraid him with it when he comes into the state
of the dead. They shall go forth to meet him, as they used to do
when he made his public entry into cities he had become master of;
with such a parade shall he be introduced into those regions of
horror, to make his disgrace and torment the more grievous to him.
They shall scoffingly rise from their thrones and seats there, and
ask him if he will please to sit down in them, as he used to do in
their thrones on earth? The confusion that will then cover him they
shall make a jest of: "<i>Hast thou also become weak as we?</i> Who
would have thought it? It is what thou thyself didst not expect it
would ever come to when thou wast in every thing too hard for us.
Thou that didst rank thyself among the immortal gods, art thou come
to take thy fate among us poor mortal men? Where is thy pomp now,
and where thy mirth? <i>How hast thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer! son of the morning!</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.11-Isa.14.12" parsed="|Isa|14|11|14|12" passage="Isa 14:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>. The king of Babylon
shone as brightly as the morning star, and fancied that wherever he
came he brought day along with him; and has such an illustrious
prince as this fallen, such a star become a clod of clay? Did ever
any man fall from such a height of honour and power into such an
abyss of shame and misery?" This has been commonly alluded to (and
it is a mere allusion) to illustrate the fall of the angels, who
were as morning stars (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.7" parsed="|Job|38|7|0|0" passage="Job 38:7">Job xxxviii.
7</scripRef>), but <i>how have they fallen! How art thou cut down
to the ground,</i> and levelled with it, that <i>didst weaken the
nations!</i> God will reckon with those that invade the rights and
disturb the peace of mankind, for he is King of nations as well as
of saints. Now this reception of the king of Babylon into the
regions of the dead, which is here described, surely is something
more than a flight of fancy, and is designed to teach these solid
truths:—[1.] That there is an invisible world, a world of
spirits, to which the souls of men remove at death and in which
they exist and act in a state of separation from the body. [2.]
That separate souls have acquaintance and converse with each other,
though we have none with them: the parable of the rich man and
Lazarus intimates this. [3.] That death and hell will be death and
hell indeed to those that fall unsanctified from the height of this
world's pomps and the fulness of its pleasures. <i>Son,
remember,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.25" parsed="|Luke|16|25|0|0" passage="Lu 16:25">Luke xvi.
25</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p17" shownumber="no">(3.) Spectators will stand amazed at his
fall. When he shall be <i>brought down to hell, to the sides of the
pit,</i> and be lodged there, <i>those that see him shall narrowly
look upon him, and consider him</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.15-Isa.14.16" parsed="|Isa|14|15|14|16" passage="Isa 14:15,16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>); they shall scarcely
believe their own eyes. "Never was death so great a change to any
man as it is to him. Is it possible that a man, who a few hours ago
looked so great, so pleasant, and was so splendidly adorned and
attended, should now look so ghastly, so despicable, and lie thus
naked and neglected? <i>Is this the man that made the earth to
tremble and shook kingdoms?</i> Who could have thought he should
ever come to this?" <scripRef id="Is.xv-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.82.7" parsed="|Ps|82|7|0|0" passage="Ps 82:7">Ps. lxxxii.
7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p18" shownumber="no">5. Here is an inference drawn from all this
(<scripRef id="Is.xv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.20" parsed="|Isa|14|20|0|0" passage="Isa 14:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>The
seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned.</i> The princes of the
Babylonian monarchy were all a seed of evil-doers, oppressors of
the people of God, and therefore they had this infamy entailed upon
them. <i>They shall not be renowned for ever</i> (so some read it);
they may look big for a time, but all their pomp will only render
their disgrace at last the more shameful. There is no credit in a
sinful way.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p19" shownumber="no">II. The utter ruin of the royal family is
here foretold, together with the desolation of The royal city.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p20" shownumber="no">1. The royal family is to be wholly
extirpated. The Medes and Persians, that are to be employed in this
destroying work, are ordered, when they have slain Belshazzar, to
<i>prepare slaughter for his children</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.21" parsed="|Isa|14|21|0|0" passage="Isa 14:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>) and not to spare them. The
little ones of Babylon must be <i>dashed against the stones,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.xv-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.137.9" parsed="|Ps|137|9|0|0" passage="Ps 137:9">Ps. cxxxvii. 9</scripRef>. These
orders sound very harshly; but, (1.) They must suffer <i>for the
iniquity of their fathers,</i> which is often <i>visited upon the
children,</i> to show how much God hates sin and is displeased at
it, and to deter sinners from it, which is the end of punishment.
Nebuchadnezzar had slain Zedekiah's sons (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.52.10" parsed="|Jer|52|10|0|0" passage="Jer 52:10">Jer. lii. 10</scripRef>), and, for that iniquity of
his, his seed are paid in the same coin. (2.) They must be cut off
now, that they <i>may not rise up to possess the land</i> and do as
much mischief in their day as their fathers had done in
theirs—that they may not be as vexatious to the world by building
cities for the support of their tyranny (which was Nimrod's policy,
<scripRef id="Is.xv-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.10-Gen.10.11" parsed="|Gen|10|10|10|11" passage="Ge 10:10,11">Gen. x. 10, 11</scripRef>) as their
ancestors had been by destroying cities. Pharaoh oppressed Israel
in Egypt by setting them to build cities, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.11" parsed="|Exod|1|11|0|0" passage="Ex 1:11">Exod. i. 11</scripRef>. The providence of God consults
the welfare of nations more than we are aware of by cutting off
some who, if they had lived, would have done mischief. Justly may
the enemies cut off the children: <i>For I will rise up against
them, saith the Lord of hosts</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p20.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.22" parsed="|Isa|14|22|0|0" passage="Isa 14:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), and if God reveal it as his
mind that he will have it done, as none can hinder it, so none need
scruple to further it. Babylon perhaps was proud of the numbers of
her royal family, but God had determined to <i>cut off the name and
remnant</i> of it, so that none should be left, to have both the
sons and grandsons of the king slain; and yet we are sure he never
did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p21" shownumber="no">2. The royal city is to be demolished and
deserted, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.23" parsed="|Isa|14|23|0|0" passage="Isa 14:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. It
shall be a possession for solitary frightful birds, particularly
<i>the bittern,</i> joined with the cormorant and the owl,
<scripRef id="Is.xv-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.24.11" parsed="|Isa|24|11|0|0" passage="Isa 24:11"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 11</scripRef>. And
thus the utter destruction of the New-Testament Babylon is
illustrated, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.18.2" parsed="|Rev|18|2|0|0" passage="Re 18:2">Rev. xviii. 2</scripRef>.
It <i>has become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.</i>
Babylon lay low, so that when it was deserted, and no care taken to
drain the land, it soon became <i>pools of water,</i> standing
noisome puddles, as unhealthful as they were unpleasant: and thus
God <i>will sweep it with the besom of destruction.</i> When a
people have nothing among them but dirt and filth, and will not be
made clean with the besom of reformation, what can they expect but
to be swept off the face of the earth with the besom of
destruction?</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.xv-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.24-Isa.14.32" parsed="|Isa|14|24|14|32" passage="Isa 14:24-32" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xv-p21.5">
<h4 id="Is.xv-p21.6">The Doom of the Assyrians; The Doom of the
Philistines. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p21.7">b. c.</span> 726.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xv-p22" shownumber="no">24 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p22.1">Lord</span> 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:
  25 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.   26
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.   27 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p22.2">Lord</span> 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?   28 In
the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.   29 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.
  30 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.   31 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.   32 What shall <i>one</i> then answer the
messengers of the nation? That the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xv-p22.3">Lord</span> hath founded Zion, and the poor of his
people shall trust in it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p23" shownumber="no">The destruction of Babylon and the Chaldean
empire was a thing at a great distance; the empire had not risen to
any considerable height when its fall was here foretold: it was
almost 200 years from this prediction of Babylon's fall to the
accomplishment of it. Now the people to whom Isaiah prophesied
might ask, "What is this to us, or what shall we be the better for
it, and what assurance shall we have of it?" To both questions he
answers in these verses, by a prediction of the ruin both of the
Assyrians and of the Philistines, the present enemies that infested
them, which they should shortly be eye-witnesses of and have
benefit by. These would be a present comfort to them, and a pledge
of future deliverance, for the confirming of the faith of their
posterity. God is to his people the same to day that he was
yesterday and will be hereafter; and he will for ever be the same
that he has been and is. Here is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p24" shownumber="no">I. Assurance given of the destruction of
the Assyrians (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.25" parsed="|Isa|14|25|0|0" passage="Isa 14:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>): <i>I will break the Assyrian in my land.</i>
Sennacherib brought a very formidable army into the land of Judah,
but there God broke it, broke all his regiments by the sword of a
destroying angel. Note, Those who wrongfully invade God's land
shall find that it is at their peril: and those who with unhallowed
feet trample upon his holy mountains shall themselves there be
trodden under foot. God undertakes to do this himself, his people
having no might against the great company that came against them:
"<i>I will break the Assyrian;</i> let me alone to do it who have
angels, hosts of angels, at command." Now the breaking of the power
of the Assyrian would be the breaking of the yoke from off the neck
of God's people: <i>His burden shall depart from off their
shoulders,</i> the burden of quartering that vast army and paying
contribution; <i>therefore</i> the Assyrian must be broken, that
Judah and Jerusalem may be eased. Let those that make themselves a
yoke and a burden to God's people see what they are to expect. Now,
1. This prophecy is here ratified and confirmed by an oath
(<scripRef id="Is.xv-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.24" parsed="|Isa|14|24|0|0" passage="Isa 14:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>The
Lord of hosts hath sworn,</i> that he might show the immutability
of his counsel, and that his people may have strong consolation,
<scripRef id="Is.xv-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.17-Heb.6.18" parsed="|Heb|6|17|6|18" passage="Heb 6:17,18">Heb. vi. 17, 18</scripRef>. What is
here said of this particular intention is true of all God's
purposes: <i>As I have thought, so shall it come to pass;</i> for
<i>he is in one mind, and who can turn him?</i> Nor is he ever put
upon new counsels, or obliged to take new measures, as men often
are when things occur which they did not foresee. Let those who are
<i>the called according to God's purpose</i> comfort themselves
with this, that, <i>as God has purposed, so shall it stand,</i> and
on that their stability depends. 2. The breaking of the Assyrian
power is made a specimen of what God would do with all the powers
of the nations that were engaged against him and his church
(<scripRef id="Is.xv-p24.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.26" parsed="|Isa|14|26|0|0" passage="Isa 14:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): <i>This is
the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth</i> (<i>the whole
world,</i> so the LXX.), <i>all the inhabitants of the earth</i>
(so the Chaldee), not only upon the Assyrian empire (which was then
reckoned to be in a manner all the world, as afterwards the Roman
empire was, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p24.5" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.1" parsed="|Luke|2|1|0|0" passage="Lu 2:1">Luke ii. 1</scripRef>, and
with it many nations fell that had dependence upon it), but upon
all those states and potentates that should at any time attack his
land, his mountains. The fate of the Assyrian shall be theirs; they
shall soon find that they meddle to their own hurt. Jerusalem, as
it was to the Assyrians, will be <i>to all people a burdensome
stone; all that burden themselves with it shall infallibly be cut
to pieces by it,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p24.6" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.3 Bible:Zech.12.6" parsed="|Zech|12|3|0|0;|Zech|12|6|0|0" passage="Zec 12:3,6">Zech. xii. 3,
6</scripRef>. The same hand of power and justice that is now to be
stretched out against the Assyrian for invading the people of God
shall be <i>stretched out upon all the nations</i> that do
likewise. It is still true, and will ever be so, <i>Cursed is he
that curses God's Israel,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p24.7" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.9" parsed="|Num|24|9|0|0" passage="Nu 24:9">Num.
xxiv. 9</scripRef>. God will be an enemy to his people's enemies,
<scripRef id="Is.xv-p24.8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.22" parsed="|Exod|23|22|0|0" passage="Ex 23:22">Exod. xxiii. 22</scripRef>. 3. All the
powers on earth are defied to change God's counsel (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p24.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.27" parsed="|Isa|14|27|0|0" passage="Isa 14:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): "<i>The Lord of hosts
has purposed</i> to break the Assyrian's yoke, and every rod of the
wicked laid upon the lot of the righteous; <i>and who shall
disannul this purpose?</i> Who can persuade him to recall it, or
find out a plea to evade it? <i>His hand is stretched out</i> to
execute this purpose; <i>and who has power</i> enough <i>to turn it
back</i> or to stay the course of his judgments?"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p25" shownumber="no">II. Assurance is likewise given of the
destruction of the Philistines and their power. This burden, this
prophecy, that lay as a load upon them, to sink their state, came
<i>in the year that king Ahaz died,</i> which was the first year of
Hezekiah's reign, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.28" parsed="|Isa|14|28|0|0" passage="Isa 14:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>. When a good king came in the room of a bad one then
this acceptable message was sent among them. When we reform, then,
and not till then, we may look for good news from heaven. Now here
we have, 1. A rebuke to the Philistines for triumphing in the death
of king Uzziah. He had been as a serpent to them (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.29" parsed="|Isa|14|29|0|0" passage="Isa 14:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), had bitten them, had
smitten them, had brought them very low, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.26.6" parsed="|2Chr|26|6|0|0" passage="2Ch 26:6">2 Chron. xxvi. 6</scripRef>. He <i>warred against the
Philistines, broke down their walls, and built cities among
them.</i> But when Uzziah died, or rather abdicated, it was told
with joy in Gath and <i>published in the streets of Ashkelon.</i>
It is inhuman thus to rejoice in our neighbour's fall. But let them
not be secure; for though when Uzziah was dead they made reprisals
upon Ahaz, and took many of the cities of Judah (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.28.18" parsed="|2Chr|28|18|0|0" passage="2Ch 28:18">2 Chron. xxviii. 18</scripRef>), yet <i>out of the
root</i> of Uzziah <i>should come a cockatrice,</i> a more
formidable enemy than Uzziah was, even Hezekiah, the fruit of whose
government should be to them <i>a fiery flying serpent,</i> for he
should fall upon them with incredible swiftness and fury: we find
he did so. <scripRef id="Is.xv-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.18.8" parsed="|2Kgs|18|8|0|0" passage="2Ki 18:8">2 Kings xviii.
8</scripRef>, <i>He smote the Philistines even to Gaza.</i> Note,
If God remove one useful instrument in the midst of his usefulness,
he can, and will, raise up others to carry on and complete the same
work that they were employed in and left unfinished. 2. A prophecy
of the destruction of the Philistines by famine and war. (1.) By
famine, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p25.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.30" parsed="|Isa|14|30|0|0" passage="Isa 14:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>.
"When the people of God, whom the Philistines has wasted, and
distressed, and impoverished, shall enjoy plenty again," and <i>the
first-born of their poor shall feed</i> (the poorest among them
shall have food convenient), then, as for the Philistines, God will
kill <i>their root with famine.</i> That which was their strength,
and with which they thought themselves established as the tree is
by the root, shall be starved and dried up by degrees, as those die
that die by famine; and thus <i>he shall slay the remnant:</i>
those that escape from one destruction are but reserved for
another; and, when there are but a few left, those few shall at
length be cut off, for God will make a full end. (2.) By war. When
<i>the needy</i> of God's people <i>shall lie down in safety,</i>
not terrified with the alarms of war, but delighting in the songs
of peace, then every gate and every city of the Philistines shall
be howling and crying (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p25.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.31" parsed="|Isa|14|31|0|0" passage="Isa 14:31"><i>v.</i>
31</scripRef>), and there shall be a total dissolution of their
state; for from Judea, which lay north of the Philistines, <i>there
shall come a smoke</i> (a vast army raising a great dust, a smoke
that shall be the indication of a devouring fire at hand), <i>and
none</i> of all that army <i>shall be alone in his appointed
times;</i> none shall straggle or be missing when they are to
engage; but they shall all be vigorous and unanimous in attacking
the common enemy, when the time appointed for the doing of it
comes. None of them shall decline the public service, as, in
Deborah's time, Reuben abode among the sheepfolds and Asher on the
sea-shore, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p25.8" osisRef="Bible:Judg.5.16-Judg.5.17" parsed="|Judg|5|16|5|17" passage="Jdg 5:16,17">Judg. v. 16,
17</scripRef>. When God has work to do he will wonderfully endow
and dispose men for it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p26" shownumber="no">III. The good use that should be made of
all these events for the encouragement of the people of God
(<scripRef id="Is.xv-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.32" parsed="|Isa|14|32|0|0" passage="Isa 14:32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>): <i>What
shall one then answer the messengers of the nations?</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p27" shownumber="no">1. This implies, (1.) That the great things
God does for his people are, and cannot but be, taken notice of by
their neighbours; those among the heathen make remarks upon them,
<scripRef id="Is.xv-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.126.2" parsed="|Ps|126|2|0|0" passage="Ps 126:2">Ps. cxxvi. 2</scripRef>. (2.) That
messengers will be sent to enquire concerning them. Jacob and
Israel had long been a people distinguished from all others and
dignified with uncommon favours; and therefore some for good-will,
others for ill-will, and all for curiosity, are inquisitive
concerning them. (3.) That it concerns us always to be ready to
give a reason of the hope that we have in the providence of God, as
well as in his grace, in answer to every one that asks it, <i>with
meekness and fear,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.15" parsed="|1Pet|3|15|0|0" passage="1Pe 3:15">1 Pet. iii.
15</scripRef>. And we need go no further than the sacred truths of
God's word for a reason; for God, in all he does, is fulfilling the
scripture. (4.) The issue of God's dealings with his people shall
be so clearly and manifestly glorious that any one, every one,
shall be able to give an account of them to those that enquire
concerning them. Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xv-p28" shownumber="no">2. The answer which is to be given to the
messengers of the nations is, (1.) That God is and will be a
faithful friend to his church and people, and will secure and
advance their interests. Tell them that <i>the Lord has founded
Zion.</i> This gives an account both of the work itself that is
done and of the reason of it. What is God doing in the world, and
what is he designing in all the revolutions of states and kingdoms,
in the ruin of some nations and the rise of others? He is, in all
this, founding Zion; he is aiming at the advancement of his
church's interests; and what he aims at he will accomplish. The
messengers of the nations, when they sent to enquire concerning
Hezekiah's successes against the Philistines, expected to learn by
what politics, counsels, and arts of war he carried his point; but
they are told that these successes were not owing to any thing of
that nature, but to the care God took of his church and the
interest he had in it. The Lord has founded Zion, and therefore the
Philistines must fall. (2.) That his church has and will have a
dependence upon him: <i>The poor of his people shall trust in
it,</i> his poor people who have lately been brought very low, even
the poorest of them; they more than others, for they have nothing
else to trust to, <scripRef id="Is.xv-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.3.12-Zeph.3.13" parsed="|Zeph|3|12|3|13" passage="Zep 3:12,13">Zeph. iii. 12,
13</scripRef>. The <i>poor receive the gospel,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xv-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.5" parsed="|Matt|11|5|0|0" passage="Mt 11:5">Matt. xi. 5</scripRef>. They shall trust to this,
to this great truth, that the Lord has founded Zion; on this they
shall build their hopes, and not on an arm of flesh. This ought to
give us abundant satisfaction as to public affairs, that however it
may go with particular persons, parties, and interests, the church,
having God himself for its founder and Christ the rock for its
foundation, cannot but stand firm. <i>The poor of his people shall
betake themselves to it</i> (so some read it), shall join
themselves to his church and embark in its interests; they shall
concur with God in his designs to establish his people, and shall
wind up all on the same plan, and make all their little concerns
and projects bend to that. Those that take God's people for their
people must be willing to take their lot with them and cast in
their lot among them. Let the messengers of the nations know that
the poor Israelites, who trust in God, having, like Zion, their
foundation in the holy mountains (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.87.1" parsed="|Ps|87|1|0|0" passage="Ps 87:1">Ps.
lxxxvii. 1</scripRef>), are like Zion, which <i>cannot be removed,
but abides for ever</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xv-p28.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.125.1" parsed="|Ps|125|1|0|0" passage="Ps 125:1">Ps. cxxv.
1</scripRef>), and therefore they will not fear what man can do
unto them.</p>
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