The Burden against Babylon 1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter XIII—Verse 1) The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah, son of Amos, saw. The Hebrew word 'Messa' can be understood as burden, load, or weight. And wherever it is mentioned, it signifies a heavy message. Hence, I wonder why the Septuagint translators wanted to use the word 'vision' in this sad context; but that is a topic for another time.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 The burden of Babylon. Here he threatens against the Babylonians, who had captured the two tribes. And this is divided into two parts: in the first, he threatens the destruction of the enemy, in the second, he promises, from this, the comfort of the Jews: her time is near at hand (ch. 14). The first of these is divided into two.
2 Lift you up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice to them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 2.) On the dark mountain, raise a sign, lift up your voice, raise your hand. The dark mountain, also called the mountain of darkness, which in Hebrew is called Nesphe, represents Babylon because of its pride.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 By a mountain is designated the apostate angel, as is said to preachers concerning the ancient enemy under the character of the king of Babylon, Lift ye up a banner upon the gloomy mountain. For holy preachers lift up a banner above the gloomy mountain, when they exalt the virtue of the cross against the pride of Satan, which is frequently concealed under the mist of hypocrisy.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Concerning the first of these, he does two things. First, he sets out the calling together; and he calls them together to attack and besiege: lift up a sign, that is, a banner, upon the mountain, of Babylon, dark, because of the smoke from the fire, when it had been burned.
3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for my anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
Jerome · AD 420 (Vers. 3, 4.) And the leaders shall enter the gates: I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. The princes, and the giants, according to the LXX Translators, Eusebius interprets as angelic powers, and the most wicked demons, who were sent for the overthrow of Babylon.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he sets out the condition of those who are called as to their suitableness on account of charge of office: my sanctified ones, as if to say: those whom I have sanctified to carry out this office; and as to power: strong; and as to cheerfulness: them that rejoice: the Lord has sanctified those he has called (Zeph 1:7).
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts musters the host of the battle.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 4, 5.) The voice of the multitude on the mountains, like the voice of many people: the sound of the gathered kings of nations. The Lord of hosts has commanded the forces of war to come from afar, from the top of the heavens. The Lord and His vessels of fury, to destroy all the earth.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 The voice of a multitude. Here he describes the coming of those who are called, and first, as to the lowly: the voice of a multitude; second, as to the great, the voice of the sound of kings: their voice shall roar like the sea (Jer 50:42); below: the tumult of crowds shall come (Isa 17:12). The Lord of hosts. Here he decrees the command.
5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Jerome · AD 420 (Vers. 5, 6.) How has the tax collector ceased, the tribute rested? The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked: the rod of the rulers, smiting the people in wrath, with an incurable plague, subjecting the nations in fury, persecuting cruelly. In the Epistle of Peter we read: The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, divine help to fulfill the command: from the end of heaven, as though to help; and the instruments of his wrath, that is, all kinds of arms.
6 Howl; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 6, 7.) Howl, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come as destruction from the Lord. Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every man's heart will melt, and be crushed. For the warriors of the Lord are coming to destroy all the earth, howl and repent, for punishment is coming.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Howl. Here he describes the affliction of the punishment. And concerning this he sets out three things: first, the fear of those to be punished; second, the affliction: behold, the day (Isa 13:9); third, the ferocity of the punishers, behold I will stir up (Isa 13:17).
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 7, 8.) Therefore, all hands will be loosened, and every man's heart will waste away and be crushed. There will be twisting and pain: they will be in agony like a woman in labor. Each person will be astonished at their neighbor; their faces will be burned with the expression of fear.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, as to the abatement of work: therefore shall all hands be faint: the king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands are grown feeble (Jer 50:43).
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that labors: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 The day of the Lord comes suddenly, it says, and in an unexpected way like the pains of childbirth, which forestall all one's efforts to hide them.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 8.) They will be tormented with twists and pains. They will groan like a woman giving birth. Each one will be astonished at their neighbor. Their faces will be burned.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, as to the disturbance of the heart, which is disturbed in three ways. According to its inner state, either as to cheerfulness: and every heart of man shall melt; or as to magnanimity: and shall be broken, as though divided into little pieces; or as to security, by the distress of fear: gripings: there were pains as of a woman in labor (Ps 48:8).
9 Look, the day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy its sinners out of it.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Concerning that day, hear the prophets, saying, "The day of the Lord is incurable, full of anger and wrath." For there will be none to stand by, none to rescue, nowhere the face of Christ, so mild and calm.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 9) Behold, the cruel day of the Lord is coming, full of indignation, wrath, and fury, to make the earth a desolation and to crush sinners out of it. For the phrase 'the earth' the Seventy interpreted it as 'the inhabited world', that is, the globe. And for 'cruel' they translated it as 'incurable'.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Behold, the day. Here he describes the punishment of the afflicted. And concerning this, he sets out three things: first, the magnitude of the punishment: full of indignation, as to the removal of mercy; and of wrath, as to the delight of punishment; according to the Philosopher: the angry are saddened, but rejoice in punishing; and fury, as to impetuous vengeance, for fury is…
10 For the stars of heaven and its constellations shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 10.) For the stars of heaven and their splendor will not expand their light: the sun will be obscured in its rising, and the moon will not shine in its brightness. LXX: For the stars of heaven and Orion, and all the adornment of the heavens will not give their light (or, will have it): and they will be darkened when the sun rises, and the moon will not give its light.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 It is also expressed in the removal of comfort: for the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light, either literally as how they are reckoned, for all things seem dark to the afflicted; or the stars, the princes; the sun in his rising, the king; the moon, the queen: the sun became black as sackcloth of hair (Rev 6:12).
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
Clement of Rome · AD 99 You have opened "the eyes of our hearts" so that we realize you alone are "highest among the highest, and ever remain holy among the holy." "You humble the pride of the arrogant, overrule the plans of the nations, raise up the humble and humble the haughty.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 11) And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wickedness of their iniquities. When God visits and strikes; He strikes in order to correct.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he sets out equity, ordaining the punishment for the fault which they committed against themselves: I will visit, I will avenge, the evils of the world, that is, of Babylon, for it was in that monarchy, or because of the multitude of those assembling from all over; and, as to the fault which they also committed against their subjects, through the oppression of the wicke…
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 12) A man will be more precious than gold and a human more adorned than the world. LXX: And those who have been abandoned will be honored more than refined gold, and a man will be more honorable than the sapphire stone.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 That price is most precious. On account of this Isaiah says: "A man shall be more precious than gold, and a human being than pure gold of Ophir." This he says of Christ, who made us precious.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, he sets out the moderation of the punishment. And he sets out four things: first, the small number of defenders: more precious, that is, more rare: the word of God was precious (1 Sam 3:1), and a man, who can defend by power, yea a man, who can defend by counsel, the finest of gold, that is, red gold, which is the best, above: they that remain of the trees of his forest…
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 13.) On account of this, I will disturb the heavens, and the earth will be moved from its place: because of the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and because of the day of His furious wrath.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, the commotion of the elements: for this I will trouble the heaven: and the earth shall be moved, as to the literal sense, there could have been a storm in the air and an earthquake in the earth; or this is hyperbole for the magnitude of their evils: I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing: and the heavens, and there was no light in them (Jer 4:23).
14 And it shall be as the chased gazelle, and as a sheep that no man takes up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 In this way the word [Scripture] clearly shows the few who will be saved in the day of the ruin of those who are evil. Therefore, one cannot expect that all those who are uncircumcised and all of the Jewish nation, without exception, will receive the promises of God.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 14) And it will be like a frightened doe, and like a sheep, and there will be no one to gather. It signifies the people of Babylon and the Chaldeans, who flee in fear from the invasion of the Medes and Persians, like a doe and a sheep fleeing from the roar of a lion and the howl of a wolf: they have no defender or ruler whose authority they can follow.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, as to the dispersion of those who flee, citizens and warriors as much as captives, a doe, a swift animal: deliver yourself as a doe from the hand (Prov 6:5); my flocks were scattered upon the face of the earth (Ezek 34:6).
15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined to them shall fall by the sword.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 15.) However, you will be dragged down to the depths of the lake. LXX: But now you will descend to the underworld, and to the foundations of the earth. You will not descend to the underworld willingly (or, by your own choice), for this is the work of the Lord and Savior, to free the bound from the depths.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Fourth, as to the oppression of those who remain, which occurred in three things: in the killing of men: every one that shall be found, as to citizens, every one that shall come to their aid, as to foreigners, infants, as to children: with you I will break in pieces the old man and the child (Jer 51:22).
16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 16, 17.) Those who see you will bow down to you, and they will look at you. Is this the man who troubled the earth? who shook kingdoms? who made the world a desert, and destroyed its cities, and did not open the prison to those who were bound? Or as the Seventy translated: did he not release those who were led?
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, in the pillaging of goods: their houses shall be pillaged: our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers (Lam 5:2); third, as to the violation of women: their wives shall be ravished: they humiliated the women in Zion (Lam 5:11).
17 Look, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
Jerome · AD 420 (Vers. 17, 18.) Behold, I will raise up against them the Medes, who do not seek silver, nor desire gold; but they will kill the small children with arrows, and have no mercy on the infants in the womb, and their eyes will not spare the children. We find in Genesis (Gen.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Behold I will stir up the Medes against them. Here he describes the ferocity of the enemy, which is not appeased by tribute: who shall not seek silver.
18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 18.) But they will kill the small ones with their arrows, and they will have no pity on the infants of the womb, and their eyes will not spare the children.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Nor softened by mercy: but with their arrows they shall kill the children, neither on powerless men: the sucklings, nor on little children: their sons: behold, I will bring upon her, and she shall be utterly destroyed (Jer 51:64).
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ excellence, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 19.) And Babylon will be glorious in kingdoms, renowned in the pride of the Chaldeans: just as the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: it will not be inhabited until the end, and it will not be established until generation after generation.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 And that Babylon. Here he describes Babylon's subsequent desolation. And first, the destruction of the city: turned, that is, overturned, as Sodom, about which Revelation 18:10 says: alas! Alas! That great city, Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is your judgment come.
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 20) You will not have the fellowship of a putrid corpse nor be buried with them. For you have destroyed your land and killed your people. LXX: Just as a garment mixed with blood cannot be clean, neither will you be clean, for you have destroyed my land and killed my people.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, as to its perpetual solitude: it shall no more be inhabited: him that bends his bow shall not live there, and him that is armed with a coat of mail shall not go up (Jer 51:3).
21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of mournful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and goat-demons shall dance there.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Wherefore I entreat, let us kill the serpent, let us shut up the wild beasts, let us stifle them, let us slay them, and these wicked thoughts let us give over to the sword of the Spirit, lest the prophet threaten us also with such things as he threatened Judea, that "The wild asses shall dance there, and porcupines, and serpents." For there are, there are even men worse than wi…
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 21, 22.) The seed of the wicked, prepare your sons for the slaughter of the sins of their fathers: they will not rise nor inherit the land, nor fill the face of the cities of the world. And I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts: and I will destroy the name and remnants of Babylon, and its seed, and its offspring, says the Lord of hosts.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 As to the inhabitation of beasts and the dead: but wild beasts shall rest there, who love solitude. Dragons, who, according to some, are large winged serpents, according to others, are large fish with wet scales, and according to others, are cubit long serpents that eat other serpents and, because of this, poison with the breath of their mouths.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.