"Like a Carcass Trodden Down"

Isaiah continues the proverbial saying: "O how you have fallen from heaven, you shining one, son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the earth, you who are disabling  the nations!"  (Isaiah 14:12) Selfish pride prompts Babylon's kings to elevate themselves above those around them.  Like a star shining brightly in the early morning sky, they arrogantly wield power and authority.  A particular source of pride is Nebuchadnezzar's  conquest of Jerusalem, a feat that Assyria failed to accomplish.  The proverbial utterance portrays the proud dynasty of Babylon as saying:  "To the heavens I shall go up.  Above the stars of God I shall lift up my throne, and I shall sit down upon  the mountain of meeting, in the remotest parts  of the north.  I shall go up above the high places of the clouds; I shall make myself resemble the Most High."  (Isaiah 14:13, 14)  Could there be anything more outrageous?

In the Bible the kings of the royal line of David are likened to stars.  (Numbers 24:17)  From David  on, those "stars" ruled from Mount Zion.  After Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, the name Zion came to apply to the whole city.  Under the Law covenant, all male Israelites  were obliged to travel to Zion three times a year.  Thus, it became "the mountain of meeting." By determining to subjugate the Judean kings and then remove them from  that mountain,   Nebuchadnezzar is declaring his intention to put himself above those "stars."  He does not give Jehovah credit for his victory over them.  Rather, in effect, he arrogantly puts himself in Jehovah's place.

What a reversal is in store for the proud Babylonian dynasty!  Babylon is far from being elevated above the stars of God. Rather, Jehovah says:  "Down to Sheol you will be brought, to the remotest parts of the pit.  Those seeing you will gaze even at you; they will give close examination even to you, saying, 'Is this the man that was agitating the earth, that was making kingdoms rock, that made the productive land like the wilderness and that overthrew its very cities, that did not open the way homeward even for his prisoners?' " (Isaiah 14:15-17) The Ambitious  dynasty will come down to Hades (Sheol),  just like any human.

Where, then, will be the power that conquered kingdoms, destroyed productive land, and overthrew  cities without number?  where will be the world power that took captives and never allowed them to go back home?  Why, the Babylonian dynasty will not even have a decent burial!  Jehovah says:  "All other kings of the nations, yes, all of them, have lain down in glory, each on in his own house.  But as for you, you have been thrown away with out a burial place for you, like a detested sprout, clothed with killed men stabbed with the sword that are going down to the stones of a pit, like a carcass trodden down .  You will not become united  with them in a grave, because you brought your own land to ruin, you killed your own people .  To time indefinite the offspring of evildoers will not be named." (Isaiah 14:18-20)  In the ancient world, it was considered a disgrace for a king to be deprived of an honorable burial.  So, what about Babylon's royal dynasty?  It is true that individual kings are probably interred with honor, but the imperial dynasty is discarded "like a detested sprout."  It is as if the dynasty were thrown into an unmarked grave-like a mere foot soldier slain in battle.  What a humiliation!

The proverbial saying ends with final orders to the conquering Medes and Persians:  "Make ready, you men, a slaughtering block for his own sons because of the error of their forefathers, that  they may nor rise up and actually take possession of the earth and fill the face of the productive land with cities."  (Isaiah 14:21)  The fall of Babylon will be permanent.  The Babylonian dynasty will be rooted out.  There will be no renaissance.  Future generations of Babylonians will suffer because of "the error of their forefathers." 

Next time: Conclusion of "Like a Carcass Trodden Down"

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