Isaiah 13:2, commentary and pictures

The verse raises a signal on a high mountain with loud voice and beckoning hand to summon forces to enter the gates of the nobles and carry out God's judgment, foretelling Babylon's overthrow while the city had not yet reached the height of its power and seemed secure. It first concerns ancient Babylon to be humbled by the Medes and Persians, and then shifts to the day of the Lord when modern Babylon and all sinners will be punished. The local judgment on the literal city is a figure of the greater and more fearful destruction of mystical Babylon at the last day, showing the common pattern in which a present judgment illustrates the destruction that ushers in the great day of the Lord. The burden is not limited to the old kingdom, for old Babylon as mother of evils through sun-worship and idolatry is used as a symbol of succeeding apostasies to the end of time under the term Babylon in Revelation, so its complete overthrow is a type of the everlasting overthrow of the whole world for incorrigible wickedness. Its doom because it defied God stands as a warning lesson for later proud cities and peoples who forget and defy God, applied to modern cities including New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

Context and Plain Sense

Isaiah 13:2 belongs to the prophecy of the doom and destruction of Babylon, given before the Persian empire took its place. It stands in chapters 13-23, which form the third division of the first part of Isaiah, chapters 1-39, containing burdens upon Babylon, Philistia, Moab and other nations and addressing foreign nations. That first part, chapters 1 to 39, contains prophecies and historical accounts from Isaiah's active work as God's messenger to rulers and people, given as distinct single prophecies at different times and occasions and afterward brought together into one collection.

The verse introduces the prophecy against Babylon by summoning a signal to be raised and a call to be made for the forces that will enter the city and its gates to carry out God's judgment against the proud kingdom, foretelling Babylon's coming overthrow when the city had not yet reached the height of its power and seemed secure. It presents a signal raised on a high mountain with a loud voice and shaken hand summoning people to enter the nobles' gates, connected with the proclamation of God's message and the gathering of forces for judgment. The high mountain imagery shows that a nation or government can be represented by a great mountain.

Literal Babylon existed on the Euphrates and later suffered destruction. Its name means mixture or confusion. That meaning recalls the confusion of languages at Babel when God thwarted the attempt to build a tower to heaven.

Fulfillment and Final Judgment

The overthrow by the Persians did not complete the destruction foretold, for the prophecy pointed onward to the city's eventual ruin, and after Alexander died there Babylon declined until it became utterly desolate in literal fulfillment. What was foretold against Babylon has been fulfilled to the letter upon its site, which has become overturned ruins called the Overturned with no living soul permanently abiding there. Not even the Arabian pitches tent there, for the Arabs avoid even temporary pitching of tents on the spot as under a curse. Those employed in excavating Nebuchadnezzar's palace built their mud huts half a mile away in the bed of the ancient Euphrates, whose course has now shifted half a mile farther west. The laid-bare foundations everywhere bear the marks of the great building work done by King Nebuchadnezzar in his pride, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built.

The prophecy first concerns ancient Babylon, which the Medes and Persians were to humble, and then shifts to the day of the Lord, when modern Babylon and all sinners will be punished. It looks from the destruction of literal Babylon over to the greater and more fearful destruction of mystical Babylon at the last day, so that its judgments partly apply to the literal city and also point forward to mystical Babylon. This shows the common prophetic pattern in which a local judgment is a figure or illustration of the greater destruction that ushers in the great day of the Lord.

The burden of Babylon is not limited to the old Babylonish kingdom, for old Babylon was the great mother of evils through sun-worship and other idolatrous practices. The Bible continually uses her as a symbol of the evils of succeeding ages, with Revelation presenting the apostasies of the church clear to the end of time under the term Babylon, so the burden must be directed to things to take place at the close of time. It shows the connection between conditions in old Babylon and the time immediately preceding the day of the Lord, and the complete and everlasting overthrow set forth in the chapter is a type of the everlasting overthrow of the whole world at the day of the Lord because of incorrigible wickedness and arrogance, when the world will again be going almost wholly to evil. In the prophecy of Babylon's fall the opening summons with signal raised on a high mountain and loud call and gesture for entry into the nobles' gates is connected with the proclamation of God's message and the gathering of forces for judgment, and opens a description that reaches beyond the ancient city to the final overthrow of Babylon and the ruin of the world's wicked powers. That prophecy of Babylon's fall is used as a type of the end of the world and is connected with the return to Zion.

The chapter applies to the final overthrow of all nations at the second coming of Christ. It shows that not all beasts and birds are destroyed at the second coming but live on as at present, propagating their kind amid the ruins of the earth, and during the thousand years between the second coming and the resurrection of the wicked their numbers are increased enormously, providing sustenance of some kind for the hosts called forth at the resurrection of the wicked. The chapter describes the evils to come in the great day of the Lord, emphatically called the great day of his wrath, which surpass all evils God has ever brought upon men. As with all God's past dealings, the approach of that great and terrible day will be heralded by a warning from God. The chapter places the shaking of heaven and earth and the terror of its inhabitants in the day of the Lord in immediate connection with the coming of the Lord, not as a sign beforehand, when the inhabitants of the earth are dismayed and seek shelter and a hiding place in the rocks for fear of the Lord's majesty. The prophecy concerning Babylon reaches beyond the earthly king of Babylon to Lucifer, the highest king and the power inspiring Babylon's wickedness, and concerns God's refuge from Babylon's doom.

Warning for Later Cities

The warnings pronounced over Babylon's doom stand as instruction for cities that forget God and defy Him, with direct application to modern centers including New York and Chicago as well as San Francisco. That judgment came because Babylon defied God, and the same warning remains a lesson for later cities that forget God and defy Him. The chapter warns of Babylon's doom after its warnings went unheeded, and it continues as a lesson for cities and people who forget God and defy Him. The judgment of proud, God-defying cities includes this summons, and it applies to San Francisco and to other cities that forget God and defy Him. The unfurled banners signal triumph while the return of Christ and His victory over sin, death, and hell are proclaimed.