A "Proverbial Saying" Against Babylon

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More than 1oo years before  Babylon's rise as the preeminent world power, Isaiah foretells the world's reaction to her fall. Prophetically, he commands Israelites who have been freed from captivity to her:  "You must raise up this proverbial saying against the king of Babylon and say: 'How has the one driving others to work come to a stop,  the oppression come to a stop! Jehovah has broken the rod of the wicked ones, the staff of the ruling ones, the one striking peoples in fury with  a stroke incessantly, the one subduing nations in sheer anger with a persecution without restraint.' "  (Isaiah 14:4-6)  Babylon has built up quite  a reputation as a conqueror, an oppressor who turns free people into slaves.  How fitting that her fall be celebrated with a "proverbial saying" directed primarily at the Babylonian dynasty-starting with Nebuchadnezzar and ending with Nabonidus and Belshazzar-that presided over the glory days of the great city!

What a difference her fall will make! "The whole earth has come to rest, has become free of disturbance. People have become cheerful with joyful cries. Even the juniper trees have also rejoiced at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Ever since you have lain down, no woodcutter comes up against us.' " (Isaiah 14:7, 8) The kings of the nations round about were, to Babylon's rulers, like trees to be cut down and used for their own purposes.  Well, all of that is finished! The Babylonian woodcutter has cut his last tree!

So astonishing is the fall of Babylon that the grave itself reacts:  "Even Sheol underneath has become agitated at you in order to meet you on coming in. At you it has awakened those impotent in death, all the goatlike leaders of the earth. It has made all the kings of the nations get up from their thrones. All of them speak up  and say to you, 'Have you yourself also been made weak like us?  Is it to us that you have been  made comparable?  Down to Sheol your price has been brought, the din of your stringed instruments.  Beneath you, maggots are spread out as a couch; and worms are your covering.' " (Isaiah 14:9-11)  What a powerful poetic image!  It is as if the common grave of mankind were to wake up all those kings who preceded the Babylonian dynasty into death so that they can greet the newcomer.  They mock the Babylonian ruling power, which is now helpless, lying on a bed of maggots instead of a costly divan, covered with worms instead of expensive linens. 

Next time:  "Like a Carcass Trodden Down"

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000