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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJabez Burns Sermons: 851. Isa 21:5. The Overthrow of Babylon
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Isa_21:5. The Overthrow of Babylon
"Prepare the table, watch in the watch-tower, eat and drink; arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield."—Isa_21:5.
Our text is a part of a vision which Isaiah had in reference to Babylon. The language he employs is energetic and poetical. He describes the effect the vision had upon himself: "Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it. My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me."—Isa_21:3-4. He saw Babylon apparently secure, and filled with pleasure and feasts. Suddenly its invasion and overthrow are brought before his mind; and our text, in one short sentence, states the rapid change from feasting to ruin—from joy to desolation—which that city experienced.
Let it be remembered that this vision of Isaiah's was at least one hundred and twenty years before the events so graphically portrayed occurred.
In the further consideration of the subject, we will,
I. Take a rapid view of the destined city.
II. The particulars of the vision Isaiah had, and its literal fulfilment.
And,
III. The practical lessons which it suggests.
Let us,
I. Take a rapid view of the destined city.
The city of Babylon is supposed to have been built by the first descendants of Noah, two thousand two hundred and thirty-four years before Christ. It was enlarged by Nimrod, about two thousand years before Christ; and almost rebuilt by the Assyrian queen, Semiramis, twelve hundred years before Christ. It was afterwards enlarged and beautified to a great degree of splendor and magnificence, by Nebuchadnezzar.
Babylon stood in the midst of an immense plain, and was divided into two parts, by the river Euphrates. The city formed a complete square, and extended to four hundred and eighty furlongs in compass. Each of the four sides of the city had twenty-five gates of solid brass; and at every corner was a strong watch-tower. The city was composed of fifty streets, fifteen miles long, and one hundred and fifty feet wide. It contained six hundred and seventy-six squares. The walls were eighty-seven feet broad, and three hundred and fifty feet high. It contained two magnificent palaces, united by a long subterraneous passage. In connection with one of them, there were hanging gardens and elevated terraces. In this city also, was the celebrated Temple of Belus, six hundred feet high; and which had eight towers at equal distances from each other. In this temple, it is said, was a golden image, forty feet in height, and equal in value to three and a half millions sterling; besides other sacred Trias, said to be worth forty-two millions of pounds sterling.
It may be that some of these statements are exaggerated; but making allowance for these, no doubt Babylon was at least six times larger than London and its suburbs. Enriched with the spoils of the East, it seemed to be the queen city of the world, and was known for its luxury, revelry, pride, and oppression.
Let us just look at two or three descriptions of it, as given in the Scriptures.
"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah."—Isa_13:19. "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High."—Isa_14:13-14.
Such was Babylon; the city destined to entire and irrevocable ruin.
Observe,
II. The particulars of the vision Isaiah had, and its literal fulfilment.
Our text has reference to one exact period in the history of Babylon. For two years Cyrus had been besieging it; he had tried all sorts of methods to enter it, and to starve its inhabitants. At length he learned that there was to be a great feast in the city, and he resolved that night, by diverting the stream of the river, to enter it by its channels.
Now, it was at this time that the infatuated monarch, Belshazzar, is supposed to have used the language of the text. He issues an edict,
1. For the festival,
"Prepare the table." See the account of this: "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone."—Dan_5:1-4.
He adds to this,
2. That vigilance should be maintained.
"Watch in the watch-tower." While we feast, let the guard be on the alert: let not the tower be deserted. This was prudent in itself; but the example now set of universal revelry, would quite counteract it.
3. He now invites to the banquet.
"Eat, drink;" dismiss care, enjoy life. Now let the music, and feasting, and the dance begin. But observe the semicolon in the text. Almost immediately—even before the feast is ended—the alarm is given; and the excited and affrighted monarch utters,
4. The signal of war.
"Arise, ye princes, anoint the shield." Peril is around us; the enemy is at the door. Fly from the banquet; let the trumpet sound for battle; anoint the shield, that the weapons might not take effect. The ancient shield was made of the skin of the rhinoceros, or leather rubbed over with oil, that it might be slippery to the pointed dart or javelin.
Now Cyrus is represented by Xenophon as saying on that eventful night: "Now," says he, "let us go against them. Many of them are asleep—many of them intoxicated—and all of them are unfit for battle."
His army entered the city, and imitated in their cries the revelry of the intoxicated, and forced their way into the banqueting hall, while Daniel is interpreting the writing on the wall.
"And this is the writing that was written,
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene—God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Tekel—thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting, Peres—thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain."—Dan_5:25-30. Now such was the prediction of Isaiah, and most exact and literal was its fulfilment.
Consider then,
III. The practical lessons which it suggests.
Notice,
1. The inevitable certainty of the divine purposes.
God had doomed the wicked city, and nothing could save it. How sublimely true the confession of Nebuchadnezzar: "And at the end of the days, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?"—Dan_4:34-35.
How true too that passage,—
"When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only."—Job_34:29. Power, wealth, armies, avail not when he pleases. God's foreknowledge of all events is absolute, clear, and infallibly unerring. And his holy purposes, grounded on that foreknowledge, are in every case inevitable. There is no contingency, no peradventure with him, whose infinite mind at one glance sees all from the beginning to the end.
Learn,
2. The destructive influence of worldly pleasure.
How infatuated the condition of Belshazzar, and the princes of Babylon, with a formidable army at the gates, to yield themselves up to feasting and revelry. How in this instance, the banquet became the carnival of death. Is it not equally so in individual cases? Is not the path of dissipation the way of death? The sensual banquet and perdition, are closely connected with each other.
3. The manifest truth of God's word. Here was the prophecy of Belshazzar's ruin, distinctly stated one hundred and seventy years before, and it came literally to pass, and by the person named by the prophet.
None of the persons were living who should act their part in this fearful drama, neither Belshazzar nor Cyrus, nor the Captains, nor the soldiery. But time rolls on. The era arrives—the men appear—the crisis comes, and the city of cities is utterly de molished. How true is God's word! how surely what he has spoken shall come to pass, whether of threatening or promise: the language uttered by Jehovah to Isaiah is most forcible:—"For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."—Isa_55:10-11.
Let not the admonition of the apostle Peter be forgotten—"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up."—2Pe_3:8-9, 2Pe_3:10.
4. In Babylon's overthrow we have a type of the ruin of mystical Babylon—Papal Rome.
In how many things do the two cities resemble each other? In pomp, magnificence, riches, antiquity, and self-security. As Babylon too, had been the persecutor of God's Israel, so Rome of the saints. And God's word avers, that Rome's destruction shall be as certain, sudden, entire, and as universal, perpetual, and irrevocable, as that of Babylon.
See John's vision—
(1.) Of mystical Babylon, and its splendor.—"How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her; for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."—Rev_18:7.
(2.) Of its destruction—"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."—Rev_18:1, Rev_18:2.
(3.) Of the suddenness of her overthrow—"Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."—Rev_18:8.
(4.) The consequence of it—"And a mighty angel took up a stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all."—Rev_18:21.
(5.) The joy this shall be to heaven and earth—"Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her."—Rev_18:20. "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever."—Rev_19:1-3.
5. In Babylon's overthrow we see the imminent peril of personal carnal security.
This is true of all men at ease in sin. Men asleep under the sentence of the divine wrath. Wicked men, infatuated and thoughtless. Formal professors at ease in Zion. And what is the evident duty and safety of all such?
To awake—consider—repent. To fly to God, as a God of mercy in Christ Jesus, and thus escape his righteous displeasure, and final wrath.