Isaiah – The fifth Hebrew gospel – Chapter 13

Download Notes

13:1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. 2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. 

V. 3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.

LXX V.3 I give command and I bring them: giants are coming to fulfill my wrath, rejoicing at the same time and insulting.

4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the יהוה of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. 5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the יהוה, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 6 Howl ye; for the day of the יהוה is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: 8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9 Behold, the day of the יהוה cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 

11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 

LXX V. 11 And I will command evils for the whole world, and will visit the sins on the ungodly: and I will destroy the pride of transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty. 

12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the יהוה of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. 15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. 16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. 17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. 18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

LXX close V.21 But wild beasts will rest there, and the houses shall be filled with howling, and monsters shall rest there, and devils shall dance there and satyrs shall dwell there and hedgehogs shall make their nests in their houses. 

Isaiah 13:17 (Today the Kurds are decendants of the Medes) 17 See, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

So, we’re now in the section that does’t end until 23:18 where Isaiah prophecies against the nations and what a visionary, I mean what a visionary…events that Isaiah envisions are hundreds of years in the future concerning nations that are desert outposts that will rise and fall in apocalyptic destruction and historical awe. 

His first prophecy is about the destruction of the Babylonian Empire, an event that would occur more than 130 years after his death. 

V.1 ‘A prophecy,’ literally, “something that is carried” prophesying יהוהs Word carries a burden; as hearkened by the prophet Malachi…Mal 1:1 The burden of the Word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi.

v.7-8 in that day, all the earth’s inhabitants go into labor, some to perish, some to deliverance; those to deliverance will live through the devouring fire to see יהוה coming in glory. 

V. 2-8 They will be amazed at one another. When Babylon fell suddenly by a clever, surprise attack by Cyrus, the citizens of the city were completely shocked (Dan. 5)

Yahusha was of course quoting or paraphrasing this passage in: 

Matt 24:29 And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Mat 24:30 And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. Mat 24:31 And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Babylon is mentioned 287 times in the Scriptures, more than any other city except Jerusalem. 

Babylon, a literal city seated on the Euphrates River, the seat of commerce, trade and trafficking. Soon after the flood it was organized to be the forma seat of rebellion against the Creator – the seat of the civilization that expressed organized hostility to יהוה. 

The Hebrew word for Babylon is ‘BAVEL’ BET BET LAMED, the BET being a picture of house, and the letter LAMED being a goad, or a staff – which represents authority. The word picture for ‘BAVEL’ then is house-house-lamed, meaning that the authority is split between two differing houses. 

I will shake the heavens, and the earth will be moved out of her place. 

Hag. 2:6, For so says יהוה Zevoth: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.

Hag 2:7 And I will shake all the nations; and the desire of all nations shall come; 

Heb. 12:25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape, those who refused him that spoke on earth, much more we shall not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven.

Will be as when יהוה overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Not only a complete destruction but also its moral cause. 

V. 9 ‘Egregious sinners’ not simply, ‘its sinners’; the state of man where he commits sins out of principle. 

V. 10 ‘their constellations’ כְּסִיל kesı̂yl  literall; ‘a fool’. It’s actually named after the Hebrew, ‘the Kesiyl group’; of widely spaced stars in the Southern sky associated with the constellation Orion. 

Ps. 12:23 A wise man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools cries out foolishness.

Pro 14:8 The wisdom of the wise is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.

Pro 14:9 Fools laugh at sin, but among the righteous there is favor.

V. 11 World, תֵּבֵל têbêl – the world of human beings, It’s related to BeL- BET-LAMED-LAMED; it speaks to the world of mankind in its confused and lawless state of out right rebellion – Ps. 9:9

 אָדָם ‘âdâm refers to mankind in his ideal or highest state…yet here V. 12 opens with the word אֱנוֹשׁ ‘ĕnôsh – man in his weakened state. 

The אֱנוֹשׁ ‘ĕnôsh – prophecy is thus: a Jewish exile in his fallen state an אֱנוֹשׁ ‘ĕnôsh a man of low esteem was elevated to high honor by the Babylonian king Belshazzar…

Daniel was transformed from an אֱנוֹשׁ ‘ĕnôsh to an אָדָם ‘âdâm highly venerated as he interpreted the mysterious handwriting on the wall – Bavel is doomed!

Test yourself to see if you are an אֱנוֹשׁ ‘ĕnôsh or an אָדָם ‘âdâm and interpret the handwriting on the wall: 

These are all the interpretations of אֱנוֹשׁ ‘ĕnôsh men of low esteem. 

Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the tree

Law contained in ordinances verses law contained in covenant is the interpretation of אָדָם ‘âdâm the highly venerated as confirmed by two witnesses: 

Heb 9:10 “…and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation”

Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

“The law of commandments contained in ordinances” – isn’t a record of sin debt. 

Notice that the law of commandments “contained in ordinances” (Eph.2:15) is very different from the Commandment Laws contained in Covenant at Eph.2:12.  

One new man – אָדָם ‘âdâm or the same old אֱנוֹשׁ ‘ĕnôsh!