Isaiah 13-23
Why do the nations rage?
Psalms 2 – Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, And the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!”
That question is answered many times in the Scriptures, but in this section of Isaiah, beginning with Chapter 13 and through the end of chapter 23. In these chapters the prophet is given a vision concerning the great world powers that surrounded Israel in that day. The prophecy begins with a word concerning Babylon; then focuses on Assyria, Moab, Egypt, Edom and other nations; and ends in Chapter 23 with the burden of the city-nation of Tyre.
These messages were wholly predictive when they were given. They point out things that are going to happen from Isaiah’s time onward. As we look back on history we can see that much of this prophecy has already been fulfilled. One of the principles of understanding Old Testament prophecy is to separate the historic from what is yet to happen. These nations are not just historic but are symbols of forces at work in every age and in every generation. What makes this passage so real and valuable to us is that through the experience of these nations we begin to understand some of our own personal struggles.
Chapters 13 and 14 concern the city of Babylon; “the burden of Babylon,” or, “the oracle concerning Babylon,” as it is in the NASB. When Isaiah wrote this, Babylon was not yet a world power but only a small city on the banks of the Euphrates River. It would not come into world prominence for 200 years after Isaiah. What the prophet is describing here is not the rise of Babylon as a great city and world power, but the fall of the empire. This is interesting because Babylon was not a worldwide power when this was written.
Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! (Isa 13:6)
Isaiah labels this time of the fall of Babylon as a manifestation of “the day of the Lord,” a time of judgment from God, even though that judgment came at the hands of another nation. This is God’s process throughout history: he uses one nation to judge another. In World War II, he used Hitler to judge the nations of the world; then he used the other nations to judge Germany under Hitler. Here this judgment is called “the day of the Lord.”
When Isaiah talks about the destruction of Babylon, this is where the book of Daniel aligns with the prophecy of Isaiah, but years later.
In this passage we learn more about the nature of sin. The root of sin is self-occupation. Ezekiel 28 (which is a parallel passage to this), describes the king of Tyre in similar language to this as a supernatural being, and says, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your brightness,” (Ezek 28:2, 28:17). Thus the fundamental character of evil is to become occupied with one’s self. This is behind the narcissism of the day in which we live. The media constantly push people to look out for themselves, to speak of “My rights, my desires, my plans. What’s in it for me?” This is the philosophy that keeps troubling the pot of international relationships and domestic relationships boiling over again and again in wars, conflicts and troubles.
The answer to the question, “Why do the nations rage?” is that Lucifer, the Lightbearer, choose to overlook or forget his dependence on God. In self-sufficiency he uttered these five “I wills” recorded here in Isaiah 14:14. In 14:14b, you see the root of the issue in the garden, where Satan challenges Eve with the same question of being like God. In Genesis 3, Satan tells Eve this lie “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The nature of sin is to try to ascend to be like God in our own little world. It does not matter whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, what constitutes sin is to feel you are in control of things you really don’t control including your own destiny. Believing that you have all it takes to handle life. First John 3:8 says: “If any man commits sin, he is of the devil, for the devil sinned from the beginning.” Playing God is the nature of sin. It is an extremely pleasurable experience. We all have felt, from personal experience, and when it appears to work, we like it. And then pride takes over in other areas of our lives.
This is why these passages that deal with Babylon are so significant to us, for we all have this spirit of Babylon at work in our lives. Chapters 15 and 16 present what is called “The burden (or the oracle) of Moab.” These chapters describe a terrible desolation that is to fall upon Moab. The reason is given in Chapter 16, Verse 6:
We have heard of the pride of Moab, how proud he was; of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence his boasts are false. (Isa 16:6)
Moab was a relative of Israel, born of incest. The story is related in Genesis (Gen 19:29-38). Lot, Abraham’s nephew, lay with two of his daughters and from that action there were two sons, Moab and Ammon (the nations that make up the present country of Jordan). Moab lived on the edges of the land of Israel but could not inhabit the land. In Numbers 22-24, the king of Moab, Balak hired Balaam, the false prophet, to teach the people of Israel to do two things: to worship idols and to commit fornication. Moab forever stands in Scripture as a picture of religious worldliness that loves wealth and luxury and regards sexual immorality with a tolerance that grows into arrogant insolence. There is much of Moab in the church today.
Verse 10 of Chapter 16 describes the fate of Moab:
And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field; and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no shouts are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; the vintage shout is hushed. (Isa 16:10)
Two verses in Chapter 17 describe the future of Damascus, a city much in the news today.
An oracle concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city, and will become a heap of ruins. Her cities will be deserted for ever; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid. (Isa 17:1-2)
That has not yet been fulfilled. If you search for Damascus, it is still in the news and findable on a Google map. The infallible Word of God says that Damascus. a large and very old city, ultimately will be destroyed. We are not told how or when this will happen but it will happen because God’s Word tells us that.
Chapter 18 has fascinated many who would like to believe that it is a reference to the United States. Ah, land of whirring wings [literally, “overshadowing wings”] Most conservative scholars attribute this to Egypt and the numerous winged insects that inhabit that region.
The first fifteen verses of Chapter 19, “the burden of Egypt,” have been already fulfilled. But beginning with Verse 16, there is an amazing prediction of a coming change in Egypt. This will take place in six stages, each of which is introduced by the phrase “in that day.” That phrase carries us forward to the end times. Have you ever wondered why Egypt is the only Arab nation to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, putting herself in jeopardy with the rest of the Arab world as a result? Perhaps the reason for that is given here. Ultimately, according to this passage, Egypt will become a believing nation and will be one with Israel and Assyria in the last days. The first of the six changes is found in Verse 16:
In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand which the Lord of hosts shakes over them. And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians; every one to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose which the Lord of hosts has purposed against them. (Isa 19:16)
Egypt seems to be the first of the nations who, following the return of the Messiah to Israel, recognizes that God is with his people and begins to fear what he will do by means of a nation that has been restored to his blessing. The land of Judah will cause Egypt to fear. Then the second stage comes:
In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan, which is of course Hebrew and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. Interestingly, if you enter the phrase “cities in Egypt that speak Hebrew”, you will find a number of hits. One of these will be called the City of the Sun [the ancient city of Heliopolis, the Greek form of the words “the City of the Sun”]. (Isa 19:18)
You can visit Heliopolis today. It is still unbelieving city but “in that day” it will be one of five cities which will have turned to Israel so totally that its inhabitants will actually speak the Hebrew language. Verse 19 introduces a third step in Egypt’s transformation:
In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. (Isa 19:19)
Some think that the passage is referring to the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Several cults look to the Great Pyramid as a kind of a prophetic monument, whose dimensions stand for certain numbers of years. (The Rosicrucian church was one of those.) But this reference in Isaiah would not refer to the Great Pyramid because the passage refers to an altar and the pyramid is an empty tomb. Also the pyramid was already in existence when Isaiah wrote these words and his words were about a future reference, “in that day.” The pillar, of course, is a reference to the pillar that Jacob erected after his vision of God at the city of Bethel. Thus the altar and the pillar are a sign of Egypt’s conversion. They speak of a Gentile recognition of the God of Israel and the fact that Egyptians begin to worship that God. Verse 20 confirms this:
It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the Lord because of oppressors he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver them. (Isa 19:20)
Then there is another step of change: And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. And the Lord will smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will heed their supplications and heal them. (Isa 19:21-22)
This “smiting” is the discipline of God. When we come to him today he corrects us, chastising us in order to heal us. This will happen to Egypt in that day. Then the final stage:
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, [across the land of Israel] and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.” (Isa 19:23-24)
This is not the time in which we live and it points to a millennial scene. The nations will no longer rage and jostle with one another, but peace and harmony will reign throughout the whole of the earth. Assyria and Egypt will cease their ancient enmity and will be recognized, with Israel, as the people of God.
Chapter 20 returns to the historic fulfillment of Egypt’s judgment. Chapters 21 and 22 give additional details on Babylon under the title, “the oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea,” the desert of the sea, a strange term. Here also are given the judgment of Dumah, which is Edom, and a brief word on the judgment of Arabia, which we address in detail now. Chapter 22 describes Jerusalem under the name of “the valley of vision” and predicts its chastisement. Many of you know that phrase from a book of the same name. Interesting that is brought out here in the context of judgment.
The final burden in this section calls upon Tarshish, the colony of Tyre, and Egypt and Sidon to behold the desolation of the Lord upon this city. The prophet inquires why this is coming to pass, asking in Chapter 23, Verse 8:
Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? [The answer comes:] The Lord of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth. (Isa 23:8-9)
Jesus once said, “for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15). God despises the love of luxury, the lust for creature comforts, and the pursuit of material gain which Tyre stands for in the Scriptures. The sin is crass materialism. Some bible teachers added that Tyre is still noted for this.
Read the words of the apostle in First Corinthians: “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. ” (1 Cor. 10:11). What does he mean? These judgments depict things that are warnings to us. Babylon, Tyre, Assyria and Egypt appear all the way through the Scriptures, and they generally picture the same thing: the world and its varied attack upon us. Egypt is a picture of the corruption and defilement of the world. Babylon pictures the deceitfulness of the world and the great Deceiver behind it, using false religion to lead astray. Tyre is a picture of the materialism of the world, storing up wealth and treasure for this present life with little concern for that which is to come. Assyria is a picture of the violence and cruelty of the world. The other nations mentioned, Moab, Edom, Ammon, and Arabia, depict the enemy we call the “flesh.” It is within us, the enemy we are related to. It manifests itself as jealousy, envy, lust, anger, and all those things that are called in Scripture “the works of the flesh,” (Gal 5:19).
So the warnings are there, but we spend so little time examining our own life and values of our life in the blazing light of the Scripture. May each one of our hearts be laid open to our own personal examination by the light of the scriptures that God has given us.