ISAIAH CHAPTER 13

OBSERVATION STAGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The purpose of the observation stage is to maintain focus on the text at hand within the normative rules of language, context and logic . .This limits the observer to the content offered by the book of Isaiah. This will serve to avoid going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere; and more importantly, it will provide the framework for a proper and objective comparison with passages located elsewhere in Scripture.

Remember that something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in view.

I) [Isa 13:1-22]:

A) (13:1-3) THE ORACLE FROM THE LORD CAME CONCERNING THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF THE BABYLON OF ISAIAH'S TIME WHICH WAS GIVEN IN A VISION TO ISAIAH: A BANNER WILL BE LIFTED UP ON A BARREN MOUNTAIN, THERE WILL BE A CALLING OUT AND A WAVING OF HANDS TO THOSE CHOSEN BY THE LORD TO GO THROUGH THE GATES OF THE NOBLES - THE GATES OF THE CITY OF BABYLON. THOSE WHO WERE COMMANDED BY THE LORD - WERE SANCTIFIED = SET APART, I.E., CHOSEN BY THE LORD - BY HIS DESIGN AND MOTIVATION - TO BE MIGHTY WARRIORS IN ORDER TO EXECUTE HIS WRATH UPON BABYLON. THEY WOULD, IN THEIR EXULTATION OF THEIR VICTORY, UNBEKNOWNST TO THEM, BE REJOICING IN THE MAJESTY OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE LORD, WHOSE PURPOSES THEY UNKNOWINGLY WOULD SERVE

1) [Compare Isa 8:16]:

2) [Compare Isa 1:18-20]:

B) (13:4-5) A TUMULTOUS NOISE WOULD BE CAUSED BY MANY PEOPLE OF THE KINGDOMS OF NATIONS GATHERING TOGETHER AS THE LORD SOVEREIGNLY COMMANDED THEIR SERVICE TO HIM. THEY WOULD BE HIS ARMY TO DO BATTLE FOR HIM. THEY WOULD COME FROM A LAND OF GREAT DISTANCE, FROM THE END OF THE HEAVENS, I.E., FROM BEYOND THE HORIZON. THEY WOULD BE HIS WEAPONS OF WRATH TO DESTROY THE WHOLE LAND OF BABYLON

1) Ancient Babylonian History Relevant To Isaiah Chapter 13

(or skip and go to Isaiah chapter 13 continued

C) (13:6-13) ISAIAH LEAPS FORWARD TO WHEN THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL BE AT HAND. IT WILL BE A DAY OF DESTRUCTION FROM THE ALMIGHTY, WHEN PEOPLE WILL WAIL. ALL HANDS WILL BECOME LIMP, EVERY MAN'S HEART WILL BECOME WEAK, AND THEY WILL BE TERRIFIED. PANGS OF PAIN AND SUFFERING WILL TAKE HOLD OF THEM. THEY WILL BE ASTONISHED AT ONE ANOTHER - THEIR FACES WILL BE LIKE FLAMES. THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME IN CRUEL FASHION WITH WRATH AND FIERCE ANGER TO LAY THE EARTH DESOLATE AND DESTROY ALL SINNERS ON IT. THE STARS, CONSTELLATONS, SUN AND MOON WILL NOT GIVE THEIR LIGHT. THE WORLD WILL BE PUNISHED FOR ITS INIQUITY. THE LORD WILL BRING AN END TO THE ARROGANCE OF THE PROUD AND LAY LOW THE HAUGHTINESS OF THE POWERFUL. SURVIVORS WILL BE SCARCER THAN THE GOLD OF OPHIR. THE LORD WILL MAKE HEAVENS TREMBLE, AND THE EARTH WILL BE SHAKEN FROM ITS PLACE BY THE FURY OF THE ALMIGHTY LORD IN THE DAY OF HIS BURNING ANGER

ISAIAH IMPLIES WITH THIS LEAP FORWARD IN TIME TO THE DAY OF THE LORD: SO IT WILL BE THIS KIND OF DEVASTATING JUDGMENT IN ISAIAH'S NEAR FUTURE WHEN BABYLON WILL BE DESTROYED, ALBEIT LIMITED IN SCALE TO THE LAND OF BABYLON. NO ONE IN BABYLON WILL ESCAPE JUDGMENT, HER SINS WILL BE COMPLETELY PUNISHED, AND THERE WILL BE TOTAL DESTRUCTION - IMPLYING A WARNING TO JUDAH AND EVERY NATION AS WELL

D) (13:14-22) ISAIAH GOES BACK IN TIME FROM THE FAR FUTURE TIME OF THE DAY OF THE LORD TO THE NEAR FUTURE DAY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON BEING AT HAND, I.E., SOON IN ISAIAH'S TIME. AS THE ASSYRIAN ARMY WILL BEGIN ITS APPROACH TO THE CITY FROM THE MOUNTAINS, THE CAPTIVE PEOPLE OF BABYLON WILL FLEE TO THEIR OWN LANDS - TO THEIR OWN PEOPLE. EVERYONE WHO WILL BE FOUND IN THE CITY WILL BE KILLED. CHILDREN WILL BE SLAUGHTERED, HOUSES PLUNDERED, WIVES RAPED. THE LORD WILL HAVE STIRRED UP THE MEDES AGAINST BABYLON. THEY EVIDENTLY WILL HAVE BEEN MOTIVATED NOT BY PLUNDER BUT BY REVENGE. THEIR BOWS WILL DASH THE YOUNG MEN TO PIECES. THEY WILL SHOW NO MERCY FOR THE CHILDREN. BABYLON, THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD, THE SPLENDOR OF THE CHALDEANS' PRIDE, WILL BE AS GOD LEFT SODOM AND GOMORRAH: DESOLATED. FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION IT WILL NOT BE INHABITED; NOR WILL THE ARAB PITCH HIS TENT THERE, NOR WILL SHEPHERDS MAKE THEIR FLOCKS LIE DOWN THERE. BUT WILD BEASTS ... WILL [HAVE LIED] DOWN THERE, AND THE HOUSES WILL [HAVE BEEN FULL OF] OWLS [LIT., HOWLING CREATURES]; DAUGHTERS OF OSTRICHES AND WILD HE-GOATS WILL DANCE THERE. THE HYENAS [LIT., WILD ANIMALS] WILL HOWL IN THEIR CITADELS, AND JACKALS IN THE LUXURIOUS PALACES. BABYLON'S FATEFUL TIME WILL SOON COME. HER DAYS WILL NOT BE PROLONGED.

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE NEAR PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON WILL EVIDENTLY SERVE AS A FORESHADOWING OF THE FAR OFF PROPHECY OF THE DAY OF THE LORD TO WHICH ISAIAH HAS REFERRED IN SOME DETAIL, IMPLYING A WARNING TO JUDAH AND ALL MANKIND THROUGHOUT THE AGES TO TRUST IN THE LORD IN EARNEST OR SUFFER DIRE CONSEQUENCES

CONTINUE TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 14