Reflections on Isaiah 13

Isaiah 13 (Contemporary English Version)
1. This is the message that I was given about Babylon:
   
2. From high on a barren hill give a signal, shout the orders, and point the way to enter the gates of Babylon's proud rulers.
   
3. The LORD has commanded his very best warriors and his proud heroes to show how angry he is.
   
4. Listen to the noisy crowds on the mountains! Kingdoms and nations are joining forces. The LORD All-Powerful is bringing together an army for battle.
   
5. From a distant land the LORD is coming fierce and furious-- he brings his weapons to destroy the earth.
   
6. Cry and weep! The day is coming when the mighty LORD will bring destruction. *
   
7. All people will be terrified. Hands will grow limp; courage will melt away.
   
8. Everyone will tremble with pain like a woman giving birth; they will stare at each other with horror on their faces.
   
9. I, the LORD, will show no mercy or pity when that time comes. In my anger I will destroy the earth and every sinner who lives on it.
   
10. Light will disappear from the stars in the sky; the dawning sun will turn dark, and the moon will lose its glow.
    
11. I will punish this evil world and its people because of their sins. I will crush the horrible pride of those who are cruel.
    
12. Survivors will be harder to find than the purest gold.
    
13. I, the LORD All-Powerful, am terribly angry-- I will make the sky tremble and the earth shake loose.
    
14. Everyone will run to their homelands, just as hunted deer run, and sheep scatter when they have no shepherd.
    
15. Those who are captured will be killed by a sword.
    
16. They will see their children beaten against rocks, their homes robbed, and their wives abused.
    
17. The Medes can't be bought off with silver or gold, and I'm sending them to attack Babylonia.
    
18. Their arrows will slaughter the young men; no pity will be shown to babies and children.
    
19. The city of Babylon is glorious and powerful, the pride of the nation. But it will be like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah after I, the Lord, destroyed them.
    
20. No one will live in Babylon. Even nomads won't camp nearby, and shepherds won't let their sheep rest there.
    
21. Only desert creatures, hoot owls, and ostriches will live in its ruins, and goats will leap about.
    
22. Hyenas and wolves will howl from Babylon's fortresses and beautiful palaces. Its time is almost up!

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Beginning with this chapter, Isaiah shifts from his prophecy concerning Israel to prophecy concerning the sinful nations around Israel. Chapter 13 concerns Babylon. Where do our thoughts go when we think of a sinful nation? What sins do we think of? Is it primarily immorality? This was undoubtedly a part of the sin of Babylon, but the central issue is pride and arrogance. God is particularly incensed when people credit His work to other sources, be it themselves, other gods, or whatever. The arrogance of Babylon was that she credited herself for her greatness as a nation. For a time she was superior to the nations around her but did not credit this to God.

God would use His chosen ones to destroy Babylon. This is not a reference to Israel, God's chosen people, but rather a reference to a particular people God chose to assign the task of destroying Babylon. Some translations render this passage in verse 3 in this way, "I have commanded my consecrated ones." This reference to the Medes and Persians who God chose for this task does not mean they were holy. Rather it means they were "set apart" for the task which is the meaning of sanctified - set apart.

The army of the Medes and Persians would be unrelenting, these "who cannot be bought off with silver and who have no desire for gold." (13:17) Neither would they have compassion on children. Their goal was destruction, and they would make Babylon uninhabitable. It will become like Sodom and Gomorrah when God rained down fire and brimstone. There would also be cosmic events related to this destruction of Babylon for God would "make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its foundations at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts, on the day of His burning anger." (13:13)

Babylon was indeed destroyed at the hands of the Medes and Persians although not all that is described here occurred at that time. This prophecy of Babylon's destruction intermingles near future and distant future events. The complete destruction described in these verses does not happen until just prior to Christ's millenial reign.