Isaiah 13:1-5 – An Unlikely Target
God reveals the target for His judgement in these verses, and the target is Babylon. Babylon was a big city. Babylon was a very well defended city. Babylon was an old city. But Babylon was a subject city. At this time, Babylon is totally under the power of the Assyrians. Who was the world power of the day? It was not Babylon. It was Assyria. It was Assyria that, when Isaiah was writing here, was about to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel. It was Assyria that, in a few years, would come in, flooding into Judah and would lap up everything coming up, as the Scripture says, to the neck, but not totally drowning Judah. For God miraculously delivered Jerusalem and Judah, by killing 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. From that point, Assyrian power quickly fell apart. Shortly afterward, some envoys from Babylon came congratulating Hezekiah on his victory and his prolonged life. And at that time, Babylon and Judah were close friends of each other because they had this common enemy and because a serious power had been seriously broken. Babylon then began throwing off Assyria’s yoke. But when Isaiah wrote, all this was some years in the future. Babylon was no power. Why would it be the target? Because God would be raising up Babylon. God would be using Babylon as the rod of His discipline against Judah. For a time, the people would be brought into their exile, and Babylon would be exalted. For a time. But like with so many other nations, God would then judge them for their sin. That’s what this is all looking to. God can and does raise up what seems to human minds and hearts the most unlikely people, the most unlikely nation from the most unlikely places. He raises up, and He puts down as well those who seem to be firmly entrenched, those who seem to be so powerful, those who seem be getting all their own way. He does it all in His time, in His wisdom, and nothing stops Him.
Questions
- What is the target?
- Why would this have seemed strange to Isaiah’s readers?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that God is in control of all things.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.