Isaiah 13 - Judgement Against Babylon

I.  The call to arms (v1-5)

This chapter is about the judgement on Babylon after they have destroyed Jerusalem and taken the Jews captive for 70 years. All these things will happen 100 years from the writing. The word "oracle" in Hebrew is "mas-sa" meaning "burden" that is placed on the Babylonians. (13:1)

God will bring "mighty men" to execute the judgment on Babylon. "I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones." (13:3)

It reminds us that many evil regime had been kept dormant or destroyed because God still holds the law justice in this world. This includes Nazi Germany, ISIS and South Korea. God is sovereign and has all the rights to change the heart of kings (Prov 21:1) and move nations (Ps 22:28; 75:7),


II. The terror of the day of the Lord (v6-16)

Isaiah made the emphasis that the destruction of Babylon from the Lord WILL come (13:6). It was a statement of fact, rather than a wish. It was God who brought them judge Israel, and God can just as well remove them.

The "day of the Lord" will be a destruction they have never experienced before. Just as they massacred the infants in Jerusalem, their destroyer will also kill their babies in front of them (13:16).  Their pride and pompousness will be removed and very few number of people numbers will remain. (13:11-12).

"Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it." (13:9)

God's time table is very different than ours. Sometimes we see evil and sin being done and wonder why God doesn't do something. Why did God allow evil man to have their day? Well, today man have their day, but the day of the Lord is coming, where sinners will be removed from the land when the Son comes again.


III.  The completeness of the destruction (17-22)

The Bible specifically mentioned that the people God will bring to destroy Babylon will be the Medes. The Medes are the old Persian empire, located where Iran sits today. Even the name of the King, Cyrus, were mentioned in Isaiah 44:28.

Babylon would be destroyed and left to decay so that only wild animals would live there.