ISAIAH CHAPTER 14

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 14:1-32]:

A) (1-8) THE LORD WILL STILL HAVE MERCY ON HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL. HE WILL SETTLE THEM IN THEIR OWN LAND. THOSE THAT HELD THEM CAPTIVE WILL NOW BE THEIR SERVANTS. A DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME GIVING ISRAEL REST FROM PAIN AND TURMOIL AND FROM ENSLAVEMENT. IN THAT DAY, THERE WILL BE LIFTED UP A PROVERB AGAINST THE OPPRESSOR THE KING OF BABYLON - THE EPITOME OF ALL OPPRESSORS. FOR HE WILL HAVE CEASED, AND HIS ATTACK WILL HAVE CEASED. THE LORD WILL HAVE BROKEN THE STAFF OF THE WICKED, THE SCEPTER OF THE RULERS AND THE ONE WHO SUBDUED THE NATIONS IN ANGER WITH UNRESTRAINED PERSECUTION! THE WHOLE EARTH WILL HAVE BEEN AT REST AND QUIET. THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH - EVEN THE TREES WILL HAVE REJOICED OVER THE KING'S DEATH

B) (9-11) ISAIAH'S TAUNTING PROVERB PORTRAYS A FIGURATIVE SCENE IN SHEOL - A SONG OF CONTEMPT ABOUT THE KING OF BABYLON OF THE FUTURE WHEN HE WILL HAVE MET DEATH AND HIS SPIRIT WILL ENTER SHEOL. HE IS THE ONE WHO WILL HAVE OPPRESSED THE WHOLE WORLD WITH UNRESTRAINED PERSECUTION WITHOUT EQUAL. THE DEAD SPIRITS OF THE LEADERS OF THE EARTH WILL RISE FROM THEIR THRONES TO MEET HIM. THEY WILL SAY TO HIM, 'YOU HAVE BECOME WEAK, AS WE ARE. YOUR POMP HAS BEEN BROUGHT DOWN TO SHEOL, MAGGOTS AND WORMS COVER YOU BODY IN AN OPEN GRAVE

C) (12-14) THE SUBJECT SWITCHES TO THE FALL OF THE REBELLIOUS ANGELIC BEING FROM HEAVEN TO BE CUT DOWN BY THE LORD TO EARTH. THIS BEING WAS EVIDENTLY INSTRUMENTAL IN THE KING OF BABYLON'S CRUEL OPPRESSION OF THE RULERS AND THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH. HE IS DESCRIBED AS "THE STAR OF THE MORNING" AND "THE SON OF THE DAWN," AND "THE ONE WHO WEAKENS THE NATIONS," EVIDENTLY THROUGH THE KING OF BABYLON AMONG OTHERS. FOR THIS "STAR OF THE MORNING" HAD SAID IN HIS HEART, "I WILL ASCEND TO HEAVEN; I WILL RAISE MY THRONE ABOVE THE STARS OF GOD, AND I WILL SIT ON THE MOUNT OF ASSEMBLY, IN THE REMOTEST PART OF THE NORTH," REFERRING TO THE THRONE OF THE LORD IN HIS HOLY MOUNTAIN; AND "I WILL ASCEND ABOVE THE HEIGHTS OF THE CLOUDS; I WILL MAKE MYSELF LIKE THE MOST HIGH."

1) [Compare Ps 48:1-2]:

D) (15-23) THE CONTEXT OF CHAPTER 14 RETURNS TO THE FIGURATIVE TAUNT IN SHEOL OF THE KING OF BABYLON OF THE FUTURE REDUCED IN DEATH TO ABJECT, IMPOTENT WEAKNESS TO THE REMOTEST PARTS OF THE PIT FOR HIS MONUMENTAL UNSURPASSED EVIL THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. THOSE WHO WILL GAZE UPON HIS DEAD PHYSICAL BODY WILL CONSIDER, "IS THIS THE MAN WHO MADE THE EARTH TREMBLE, WHO SHOOK KINGDOMS MAKING THE WORLD AS A WILDERNESS, WHO HAS DESTROYED ITS CITIES, AND NOT RELEASED PRISONERS FROM CAPTIVITY. ALL THE KINGS WERE LAIN DOWN IN THEIR TOMBS, BUT THE KING OF BABYLON WAS THROWN OUT OF HIS TOMB LIKE AN ABOMINABLE BRANCH, BECAUSE HE WILL HAVE DESTROYED HIS LAND AND SLAIN HIS PEOPLE. THE TAUNT GOES ON TO DECLARE THAT DESCENDANTS OF EVILDOERS SHALL NEVER BE NAMED. PREPARE FOR HIS SONS A PLACE OF SLAUGHTER BECAUSE OF THE INIQUITY OF THEIR DESCENDANTS. AND BABYLON ITSELF WILL BE DESTROYED WITH NO SURVIVORS

E) (24-27) THE LORD ALMIGHTY HAS SWORN TO BREAK ASSYRIA AND TRAMPLE HIM ON HIS MOUNTAINS, HENCE REMOVE ASSYRIA'S YOKE FROM HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL. AND THE LORD ALMIGHTY WILL COME AGAINST ALL WICKEDNESS IN ALL THE NATIONS OF THE WHOLE EARTH. NO ONE CAN COME AGAINST HIM OR TURN HIM BACK!

****** EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 10 ******

(ISA 10:5-19) CHAPTER TEN MOVES TO THE ROD OF THE LORD'S ANGER AND WRATH AGAINST HIS UNGODLY PEOPLE FROM THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM OF JUDAH: ASSYRIA, WHOM HE SENT TO TREAD THEM DOWN AND SEIZE THE SPOILS. THE ASSYRIAN KING WAS ARROGANT AND CONSIDERED THAT THE CONQUEST OF MANY NATIONS WAS SOLELY BY HIS OWN WISDOM AND STRENGTH. HE CONSIDERED THAT TO CUT DOWN MANY NATIONS WAS HIS DESTINY AND THAT HE WAS DEPENDENT UPON NO GOD. HE CLAIMED THAT HIS POWER WAS GREATER THAN ANY OF THE IDOLS WHOM THE CONQUERED NATIONS WORSHIPPED; AND THE IDOLS OF THOSE NATIONS HE CONSIDERED EXCELLED THOSE OF JERUSALEM AND SAMARIA (THE NORTHERN KINGDOM) BECAUSE OTHER NATIONS WHICH ASSYRIA HAD CONQUERED DEMONSTRATED SUPERIOR MILITARY POWER AGAINST JUDAH AND ISRAEL! SO WHEN THE WORK OF THE LORD UPON MT. ZION AND JERUSALEM WAS FINISHED, THE LORD WOULD DESTROY ASSYRIA

****** END OF EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 10 ******

F) (28-32) IN THE YEAR 715 B.C., WHEN KING AHAZ DIED, AN ORACLE FOR THE BENEFIT OF JUDAH CAME TO ISAIAH CONCERNING PHILISTIA: ISAIAH WARNED PHILISTIA NOT TO REJOICE "BECAUSE THE ROD OF OF THE ONE WHO STRUCK [THEM WAS] BROKEN. FOR A VIPER WILL COME OUT OF THE ROOT OF A SNAKE, AND FROM IT'S OFFSPRING COMES A FLYING SERPENT." BUT PHILISTIA FELT WELL FED AND SAFE. SO SHE REBELLED AGAINST ASSYRIA. BUT THE LORD SPOKE, AND IN 711 B.C. PHILISTIA SUFFERED FAMINE - KILLING THEIR ROOTS. AND THEN ASSYRIA'S FORCES CAME FROM THE NORTH INTO ASHDOD, SLAYING PHILISTIA'S REMNANT. PHILISTIA'S ENTREATY TO JUDAH TO JOIN THEM IN BATTLE AGAINST ASSYRIA WAS ANSWERED: "THAT THE LORD HAS FOUNDED ZION, AND THE AFFLICTED OF HIS PEOPLE WILL SEEK REFUGE IN IT.

CONTINUE TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 15