Reflections on Isaiah 14

Isaiah 14 (Contemporary English Version)
1. The LORD will have mercy on Israel and will let them be his chosen people once again. He will bring them back to their own land, and foreigners will join them as part of Israel.
   
2. Other nations will lead them home, and Israel will make slaves of them in the land that belongs to the Lord. Israel will rule over those who once governed and mistreated them.
   
3. The LORD will set you free from your sorrow, suffering, and slavery.
   
4. Then you will make fun of the King of Babylonia by singing this song: That cruel monster is done for! He won't attack us again.
   
5. The LORD has crushed the power of those evil kings,
   
6. who were furious and never stopped abusing the people of other nations.
   
7. Now all the world is at peace; its people are celebrating with joyful songs.
   
8. King of Babylonia, even the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon celebrate and say, "Since you were put down, no one comes along to chop us down."
   
9. The world of the dead eagerly waits for you. With great excitement, the spirits of ancient rulers hear about your coming.
   
10. Each one of them will say, "Now you are just as weak as any of us!
    
11. Your pride and your music have ended here in the world of the dead. Worms are your blanket, maggots are your bed."
    
12. You, the bright morning star, have fallen from the sky! You brought down other nations; now you are brought down.
    
13. You said to yourself, "I'll climb to heaven and place my throne above the highest stars. I'll sit there with the gods far away in the north.
    
14. I'll be above the clouds, just like God Most High."
    
15. But now you are deep in the world of the dead.
    
16. Those who see you will stare and wonder, "Is this the man who made the world tremble and shook up kingdoms?
    
17. Did he capture every city and make earth a desert? Is he the one who refused to let prisoners go home?"
    
18. When kings die, they are buried in glorious tombs.
    
19. But you will be left unburied, just another dead body lying underfoot like a broken branch. You will be one of many killed in battle and gone down to the deep rocky pit.
    
20. You won't be buried with kings; you ruined your country and murdered your people. You evil monster! We hope that your family will be forgotten forever.
    
21. We will slaughter your sons to make them pay for the crimes of their ancestors. They won't take over the world or build cities anywhere on this earth.
    
22. The LORD All-Powerful has promised to attack Babylonia and destroy everyone there, so that none of them will ever be remembered again.
    
23. The LORD will sweep out the people, and the land will become a swamp for wild animals.
    
24. The LORD All-Powerful has made this promise: Everything I have planned will happen just as I said.
    
25. I will wipe out every Assyrian in my country, and I will crush those on my mountains. I will free my people from slavery to the Assyrians.
    
26. I have planned this for the whole world, and my mighty arm controls every nation.
    
27. I, the LORD All-Powerful, have made these plans. No one can stop me now!
    
28. This message came from the LORD in the year King Ahaz died:
    
29. Philistines, don't be happy just because the rod that punished you is broken. That rod will become a poisonous snake, and then a flying fiery dragon.
    
30. The poor and needy will find pastures for their sheep and will live in safety. But I will starve some of you, and others will be killed.
    
31. Cry and weep in the gates of your towns, you Philistines! Smoke blows in from the north, and every soldier is ready.
    
32. If a messenger comes from a distant nation, you must say: "The LORD built Zion. Even the poorest of his people will find safety there."

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The events of this chapter appear to all be related to the near future in relation to when Isaiah spoke of them. Though Isaiah said in 9:17 that in God's punishment of Israel He would no long have compassion on the nation, here he says the "LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again." Though God had punished Israel at the hands of the Assyrians, He would again restore the nation to her land and she would be joined there by people from other nations.

Starting in verse 4, the attention is turned to the king of Babylon. Babylon in this period became very powerful as a result of its aggressiveness in expanding its borders at the demise of other nations.  But Isaiah gives a prophecy of Babylon's own demise which would bring calm and rest to all the earth (14:7) The nations that Babylon had subdued would shout with rejoicing at this event. Isaiah then depicts the king of Babylon joining all the other rulers of the earth in the grave at his own death. The response of the other rulers as the Babylonian king joins them was, "You too have become as weak as we are; you have become like us! Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol (the grave), along with the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you." Regardless of how powerful one might become in life, the same fate awaits everyone, whether great or small. Death comes to all.

At the pinacle of his power the king of Babylon thought himself to have become a god. Rather than joining others in death, he envisioned himself joining the gods in the heavens. There is a popular belief in current thought that it doesn't matter what one believes as long as they are true to what they believe. All worldviews are of equal value. But this thinking will not hold up when it comes face to face with the Creator of all things. It does matter what one believes and gives their life to and there is only one avenue to the true God who is the Creator, and it is through His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the reality with which the king of Babylon came face to face. God allowed him to have his run, but appointed a time in which he would learn who truly was in control. He undoubtedly thought he controlled his own destiny, but found this was not the case. God controlled his destiny as He does for us all.

Despite the tremendous power and wealth this king acquired, in death he was not even given a descent burial. Although the other kings he met in the grave had their own tombs, when the king of Babylon died he was thrown out without a grave, dumped into a rocky pit. History tells us that he was assassinated by his own sons who were unable to rule in his place because they had to run for their lives.

If we must face our Creator in death, why not join Him in life.