Isaiah 14 Study Notes

14:16-17 In death the powerful, oppressive king will look weak and helpless. The nameless people who will see him are quoted as expressing amazement at how powerless he looks.

14:18-20 There is even a contrast with other kings, who were buried in fine tombs. This king will not even be given a decent burial but will lie dead on the battlefield, surrounded and even covered by other dead bodies. Again, the idea is that a person who was powerful in life will be reduced to a humiliating circumstance in death.

14:21 It was an expectation of a powerful king that, when he died, his son would become the next king and would continue his imperialistic pretensions, but because of the depredations of the fathers, the sons would meet an untimely death.

14:22-23 God will bring this judgment. Babylon, particularly its most southern part, was a swampland. God would reduce the entire nation to this in the anger of his judgment.

14:24-27 The pronouncement shifts focus to the northern center of Mesopotamian power, Assyria. Assyria was the nation that under Tiglath-pileser III reduced the size of the northern kingdom of Israel in the 730s BC and then in 722 BC, under Shalmaneser, deported its citizens. But God will bring even this strong kingdom to an end.

14:24 On a human level Assyria seemed invincible, but God assured his people of his determination to judge the Assyrian people.

14:25 The yoke was a common metaphor for political servitude (10:27; 47:6; 58:6; Jr 27:11; 30:8; Ezk 30:18).

14:28-32 The pronouncement against Philistia is the first in a series of pronouncements against nations that were immediate neighbors of Israel. Indeed, Philistia occupied part of the promised land in a region west of Jerusalem and on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The book of Genesis records interaction between the patriarchs and the Philistines (Gn 10:14; 21:32,34), but it was not until the period of the united monarchy that we hear of a sizeable presence of Philistines in the region. Both Saul and David waged war against them. A remnant of Philistines lasted until the sixth century (Jr 47).

14:28 The year that King Ahaz died is debated. It may have been as early as the 720s BC, but it certainly was not later than 715 BC.

14:29 Debate surrounds the exact reference to the figurative language of this verse, but the broken rod may be a reference not to a particular king but to weakness in Assyria, perhaps in the period after Sargon II took the throne. However, the warning is that, though apparently weak, Assyria is not done. From its slumber will come a flying serpent against Philistia. Under Sennacherib, Esar-haddon, and Ashurbanipal, Assyria did experience a major resurgence.

14:30 Because of Philistia’s oppression of Judah, the poor had grown poorer, but with its destruction, there will be a reversal of their fortunes.

14:31 The cloud of dust coming from the north will be none other than the Assyrian army that will destroy Philistia.

14:32 This verse envisions Philistine envoys trying to convince Judah to join them in resisting the Assyrian army. But Judah’s trust should be in Zion, or God, not foreign alliances.