22 "I will rise up against them," says Yahweh of Armies, "and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son's son," says Yahweh.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
For I will rise up against them. The Lord now declares that he will do what he had formerly, by the Prophet, commanded others to do. Both statements ought to be observed, that it is the work of God, when wicked men are ruined, though he may employ the agency of men in executing his judgments. He formerly addressed them, saying, Prepare. (Verse. 21.) This should lead us to observe not only the power of God, but likewise the efficacy of prophecy, in consequence of which the prophets, by the appointment of God, command all nations to do this or that; and next, that men are so far from being able to hinder the accomplishment that they are even constrained to yield obedience to God. As we usually rely on men, and, by neglecting God, attribute to them the power of doing everything, we ought to hold by this principle, that since God acts by means of them, he is, strictly speaking, the Author of the work, and that they are only servants or instruments. This is clearly enough shown by the connection of what immediately follows. I have thought it best to view the particle v (vau) as meaning for. He assigns the reason why he enjoins the Medes and others to prepare destruction to the Babylonians, For I will rise up against them. This mode of expression, by which the Lord says that he riseth up, is sufficiently common. By means of it, the Prophet accommodates himself to our capacity, for the majesty of God is so high that we cannot conceive of it. We think that God is idle and unoccupied, so long as he winks at men; and therefore he says that he riseth up, when he exerts his power, and manifests it by some visible act. Saith the Lord of hosts. This title serves to confirm the statement; as if he had said that he did not, without good grounds, claim the government over the nations; for God governs all armies by his own hand. Since, therefore, he has been appointed to make known the purpose of God, it belongs to him to command men, that they may yield obedience to him. By the words saith the Lord, which he twice repeats in this verse, he affirms that he utters nothing but what has been commanded by God, that this prophecy may carry greater weight. And I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, son and grandson. It has been often enough mentioned before, that this destruction did not overtake Babylon till after the death of Alexander the Great. By the phrase sons and grandsons, he means not only the posterity but the remembrance, which wicked men are so desirous to obtain, in order that they may be applauded for many ages after their death. This also the Lord took away from Babylon, that no remembrance of it might remain, but what was accompanied by dishonor and reproach.
For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts - That is, against the family of, the king of Babylon.
And cut off from Babylon the name - That is, all the "males" of the royal family, so that the name of the monarch shall become extinct (compare Ruth 4:5; Isaiah 56:5).
And remnant - All that is left of them; so that the family shall cease to exist.
The son and nephew - Everyone of the family who could claim to be an heir of the throne. The dynasty shall cease; and the proud and haughty family shall become wholly extinct. This is the solemn purpose in regard to the "family" of the monarch of Babylon. It only remains to inquire when and how it was fulfilled.
The circumstances which it was said would exist in regard to the king of Babylon here spoken of, are the following:
(1) That he would be a proud, haughty, and oppressive prince (Isaiah 14:17, and throughout the prophecy).
(2) That when he died he would be east out with the common dead, and denied the common honors of the sepulchre - especially the honors which all other monarchs have in their burial Isaiah 14:18-20.
(3) That his posterity would be cut off, and that he would have no one to succeed him on his throne; or that the dynasty and the kingdom would terminate in him Isaiah 14:21-22.
In regard to the application and the fulfillment of this prophecy there have been three opinions.
I. That it does not refer to an "individual" sovereign, but to the kings of Babylon in general; that the description is designed to be applicable to the succession or the dynasty, as signally haughty, proud, and oppressive; and that the prophet means to say that that haughty and wicked reign of kings should cease. To this, the objections are obvious -
(1) The whole aspect and course of the prophet seems to have reference to an "individual." Such an individual the prophet seems to have constantly in his eye. He descends to "sheol" Isaiah 14:9; he is proud, ambitious, oppressive, cast out; all of which circumstances refer naturally to an individual, and not to a "succession" or dynasty.
(2) The main circumstance mentioned in the prophecy is applicable only to an individual - that he should be "unburied" Isaiah 14:18-21. It was not true of all the kings of Babylon that they were unburied, and how could it be said respecting a "succession" or a dynasty at all that it should be east out of the grave as an abominable branch; and that it should not be joined with others in burial? All the circumstances, therefore, lead us to suppose that the prophet refers to an individual.
II. The Jews, in general, suppose that it refers to Nebuchadnezzar. But to this interpretation, the objections are equally obvious:
(1) It was not true that Nebuchadnezzar had no one to succeed him on the throne; or that his family was totally cut off, as it was foretold of this king of Babylon that his would be Isaiah 14:21-22.
(2) It was not true that he was denied the privileges of a burial which kings commonly enjoy. To meet this difficulty, the Jews have invented the following story Thev say that when Nebuchadnezzar was driven from society during his derangement Daniel. 4, and when he was with the beasts of the field seven years, the people made his son, Evil-Merodach, king; but that when Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his right mind and to his throne, he threw Evil-Merodach into prison, where he lay until he died. At the death of Nebuchadnezzar, the people released him to make him king, but he refused because he did not believe that his father was dead, and said that if his father should find him he would kill him; and that in order to convince him that his father was dead he was taken out of the grave. But this is manifestly a fiction. Besides, the prophecy was not that the king should be taken out of the grave, but that he should not be buried. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded in the kingdom by his son Evil-Merodach, and he by Belshazzar, in whom the line of kings ended.
III. The only other interpretation of which this is susceptible, is that which refers it to Belshazzar, in whose reign the city of Babylon was taken. This king, called in Scripture Belshazzar Daniel. 5, was the son of Evil-Merodach, and the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. His name, as it occurs in pagan writers, was "Nabonadius." In him the circumstances of the prophecy agree:
(1) He was an impious prince (Xen. Cyr. vii. Daniel. 5).
(2) In his reign the city and the kingdom came to an end, as it was foretold.
(3) Every circumstance of the taking of Babylon would lead us to suppose that he was denied the privilege of a magnificent sepulture.
(a) He was slain in the night Daniel 5:30.
(b) It was in the confusion of the capture of the city - amidst the tumult caused by the sudden and unexpected invasion of Cyrus. It is therefore altogether improbable that he had a regular and an honored burial. Like the common dead, he would lie in the palace where he fell, or in the street.
(c) There is no evidence that Cyrus gave him an honorable sepulchre.
(4) none of his posterity occupied the throne to give honor to the memory of their father.
(5) in him the dynasty and the kingdom ended. Immediately the kingdom on his death was given to the Medes and Persians Daniel 5:28-31. None of the names of his posterity, if he had any, are known; and God cut off from him 'the name and remnant, the son and nephew,' as was predicted (see Prideaux's "Connection," i. 2. 257-271, Ed. 1815).
For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts,.... That is, against the children of the Babylonish monarch; and therefore they shall not rise and possess the earth, and disturb it, since he who is the Lord of armies in heaven and earth, and has all power in both worlds, and has everything at his beck and command, will rise up, who seemed, as it were, asleep, and unconcerned about the affairs of this world, and will set himself against them, and exert his power in their destruction:
and cut off from Babylon; the king of Babylon, and the inhabitants of it:
the name; not of the city, which is mentioned long after, and still is; but of the king and his family:
and remnant; his flesh, or those that were akin to him, as Kimchi interprets it:
and son, and nephew; his son, and son's son as the Targum, and after that other Jewish writers; the whole family was destroyed with Belshazzar, after whom none of that race was ever heard of any more.
against them--the family of the king of Babylon.
name--all the male representatives, so that the name shall become extinct (Isaiah 56:5; Ruth 4:5).
remnant--all that is left of them. The dynasty shall cease (Daniel 5:28-31). Compare as to Babylon in general, Jeremiah 51:62.
Thus far the prophet has spoken in the name of God. But the prophecy closes with a word of God Himself, spoken through the prophet. "And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and root out in Babel name and remnant, sprout and shoot, saith Jehovah. And make it the possession of hedgehogs and marshes of water, and sweep it away with the bosom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts." שם ושאר and נין ונכד are two pairs of alliterative proverbial words, and are used to signify "the whole, without exception" (compare the Arabic expression "Kiesel und Kies," "flint and pebble," in the sense of "altogether:" Nldecke, Poesie der alten Araber, p. 162). Jehovah rises against the descendants of the king of Babylon, and exterminates Babylon utterly, root and branch. The destructive forces, which Babylon has hitherto been able to control by raising artificial defences, are now let loose; and the Euphrates, left without a dam, lays the whole region under water. Hedgehogs now take the place of men, and marshes the place of palaces. The kippod occurs in Isaiah 34:11 and Zephaniah 2:14, in the company of birds; but according to the derivation of the word and the dialects, it denotes the hedgehog, which possesses the power of rolling itself up (lxx ἔρημον ὥστε κατοικεῖν ἐχίνους), and which, although it can neither fly, nor climb with any peculiar facility, on account of its mode of walking, could easily get upon the knob of a pillar that had been thrown down (Zephaniah 2:14). The concluding threat makes the mode of Babel's origin the omen of its end: the city of טיט, i.e., Babylon, which had been built for the most part of clay or brick-earth, would be strangely swept away. The pilpel טאטא (or טאטא, as Kimchi conjugates it in Michlol 150ab, and in accordance with which some codices and early editions read וטאטאתיה with double zere) belongs to the cognate root which is mentioned at Psalm 42:5, with an opening ד, ט, ס (cf., Isaiah 27:8), and which signifies to drive or thrust away. מטאטא is that with which anything is driven out or swept away, viz., a broom. Jehovah treats Babylon as rubbish, and sweeps it away, destruction (hashmēd: an inf. absol. used as a substantive) serving Him as a broom.
Remnant - The remembrance of those that are dead, and the persons of those who yet survive.
*More commentary available at chapter level.