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Yale University Library

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xamination of Isaiah XIII.

im. Ifoenrp Cobb.

H. 3. ©ooBricti, WuiiliBfier, ©fcerlin, ©.

AN

EXAMINATION OF ISAIAH XIII,

REV. WM. HENRY COBB,
NEWTON CENTEE, MASS.

REPRINTED FROM THE BIBLIOTHECA SACRA.

OBERLIN, OHIO:
E. J. GOODRICH. 1893.

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AN EXAMINATION OF ISAIAH XIII.

THE following attempt to show the genuineness of
this chapter, and to find its historical occasion in the circum
stances of Isaiah's time, is exposed to an enfilading fire from
two opposite fortresses. The ancient view understands the
chapter to treat of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, an
event which Isaiah was inspired to foresee; the fulfilment
being so minutely literal that the prophecy can only be ex
plained as a supernatural revelation from God. This general
theory is still held by eminent writers; for example, Rawlin-
son in the "Pulpit Commentary."
A leading modern view — that of most German, and
many English and American scholars — starting with the
same reference of the passage to B. C. 538, finds in it a con
temporary picture, or nearly so, by some unknown prophet.
A preliminary standing-ground between these extremes
is a desideratum, and may be gained by means of hypothe
ses. Let us suppose, then, that the traditional theory is cor
rect so far as this, that the prophecy was fulfilled in the days
of Cyrus; we cannot stop there, and neither does the com
mon view. For the prophecy predicts an utter desolation,
so that Babylon should never be inhabited. Now the Per
sian conquest effected a change of rulers, but nothing re
motely approaching the accomplishment of these conditions.
The common reply is that prophecy is not subject to strict
limitations of time. The prophet sees peak rising above
peak, but cannot see the space between them. The condi-

4 An Examitiation of Isaiah XIII.
tion of Babylon at present, and for many centuries past, is
in striking accordance with this word of Holy Writ. The
fulfilment began with the conquest by Cyrus, and was prose
cuted under Darius Hystaspes, Xerxes, and the Seleucidse.
By the time of Strabo, some seven centuries after Isaiah,
Babylon was almost a desert. Pausanias, in the second cen
tury of our era, says that nothing remained but the walls;
since then, the literal fulfilment of the prophecy has never
been interrupted.
Now if this theory proves to be the best explanation of
all the facts of the problem, it is sure of final acceptance.
It is capable, however, of extension backwards as well as
forwards; and if it appears that Babylon was taken in the
age of Isaiah, in a manner at least as conformable to the
prediction as the conquest by Cyrus, the traditional view will
simply be supplemented by the statement that the prophecy
began to be fulfilled in the eighth or seventh century instead
of the sixth. Those who hold this view are therefore as
much interested as any one in ascertaining whether such facts
exist. The immense expansion of Babylon in the interme
diate century or two no more contravenes the prediction on
this hypothesis than the failure of the city to decline during
the two centuries from Cyrus to Alexander contravenes it on
the ordinary hypothesis. In fact, a fulfilment in the age of
Hezekiah is a distinct advantage to the predictive element;
for the common view needs correcting as well as supple
menting. Whatever may be true of prophecy in general,
this particular prophecy does not stand out of relation to the
time of its fulfilment. It closes with the distinct statement,
deliberately repeated, "Her time" (that is, the time of Bab
ylon's overthrow) "is near to come; her days shall not be
prolonged;" — but on the common explanation, her time was
far to come, and her days were for centuries prolonged.
We may be confident, then, that no objection from the
standpoint of tradition will lie against the attempt to find

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 5
an initial fulfilment of this chapter in or near the lifetime of
its author. The preliminary defence against what I have called a
leading modern view is obtained by means of other hypoth
eses. A critical glance at the entire passage, Isa. xiii. 1-
xiv. 27, divides it into four portions, which may or may not
have been originally separate.
The first is chapter xiii., which we will call a. It comes
to a solemn and appropriate close in the sentence already
quoted. Section b comprises xiv. 1,2. It introduces the wholly
new conception of Israel in exile, and predicts that they will
hereafter rule over their oppressors.
Section c extends from xiv. 3 to 23. This ode on the
king of Babylon is very different from anything else in the
book of Isaiah.
Section d, xiv. 24-27, relates to the overthrow of Assyria
in the land of Jehovah, whose hand is stretched out over all
the earth. This last portion, by common consent, belongs to Isaiah,
and alludes to the destruction of Sennacherib's host. The
dominant critical view proceeds on the theory that the three
previous portions belong together, and were written about
the close of the exile. Thus the passage is divided as fol
lows: abc exilian, «T Isaian.
Let us now make the supposition that each of these
other three sections, as well as d, is a separate prophecy, a
and b being joined mechanically by a redactor who simply
inserted the particle for. Grant for the sake of argu
ment that b and c will then be exilian, it does not follow
that a will be. Babylon was certainly captured more than
once in Isaiah's lifetime, and so he may have predicted its
utter overthrow in chapter xiii. This hypothesis gives the
formula: a Isaian, b exilian, c exilian, d Isaian.
By another hypothesis, we may leave c unchanged, but

6 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
join b with a. The redactor made no insertion, we will sup
pose. The logical connection apparent is the real connec
tion. Babylon falls because Jehovah has mercy on Zion
and grants her deliverance from captivity. Why now must
this particular captivity fall in the sixth century rather than
the eighth? And why must the writer have been a captive
himself instead of watching the situation from afar? How
many things our critics read into the text which are not
there !
In Isaiah's time the northern kingdom of Israel had
been broken up and in good part swept away; Tiglath-Pileser
carried the captives to Babylonia among other countries.
Now if the writer of xiv. I, 2, might have formed the expec
tation that the positions of oppressor and oppressed would
be exchanged by Israel and Babylon on the fall of the latter,
and if Isaiah might have foreseen this last event, then we
have a basis for groupipg as follows: a b Isaian, c exilian, d
Isaian. One more combination remains to be noticed: abed
Isaian. This differs from what I have called the ancient, or
traditional, view, in avoiding the necessity for Isaiah's mirac
ulous foresight of Cyrus and his age. That view would
permit the grouping: a b c Isaian, d Isaian, the two subjects
being different; and so, after xiv. 23, the Revisers' "space"
would remain (see the American Committee's note). But
the theory before us understands the passage xiii. 1— xiv. 27,
from first to last, to refer to the Assyria of Isaiah's time, for
which Babylon stands, as one of its principal cities, and
whose king repeatedly calls himself king of Babylon. If it
be granted that in the midst of a lofty poetical characteri
zation, such as Isaiah xiv., alternate expressions, like "the
Assyrian" and "the king of Babylon," may refer to the same
power, this hypothesis can be made quite forcible.
Five different combinations have now been proposed,
each not only possible, but possessing some measure of

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 7
plausibility. As d\s a constant quantity, we have (1) a b c
Isaian, the traditional theory; (2) a b c exilian, the prevailing
modern theory; (3) a Isaian, b exilian, c exilian, Breden-
kamp's theory; (4) a b Isaian, c exilian, for which much
might be said; (5) abed Isaian, Strachey's theory. All these
except (2) permit chapter xiii. to have been written by Isaiah.
Hence we may proceed to investigate in its natural order the
evidence for his authorship, hoping to secure unbiased atten
tion to the facts which support the position chosen. The
natural order, as I conceive, is as follows: prima facie state
ments, linguistic parallels, historical environment.
I. The prima facie evidence is twofold.
1. The chapter has come down to us in the book of
Isaiah, a book which reaches us by a tradition (in the literal
sense of the word) unbroken for more than two thousand
years at any rate, i. e., from the time of the LXX. translation.
Those to whom this evidence is a trifle would do well to re
flect that on similar evidence we receive the great majority of
all our ancient books. Be the evidence in the case great or
small, there is nothing in this particular department to be
put on the other side.
2. Our chapter has a special title: nrn ik'k Soa am
f*iON"J3 irpyK^. If the evidence requires it, we shall surrender
the genuineness of chapters xl.-lxvi. and all the other
antilegomena, including xiv. 1-23; but xiii. occupies a
stronger position, behind the stubborn earthwork of its first
verse. Dr. Rowland Williams and others may assert, as
though it were a plain matter of fact, that the title was in
serted at a late and unreliable period; but in so saying they
speak what they do not know, and testify what they have not
seen. It might be convenient for us to declare, in defence of
the Isaian authorship, that the name Nineveh originally
stood in place of Babylon in xiii. 19, and that it was
changed by some later scribe; but we should be properly

8 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
challenged to subpoena the witness who caught the scribe in
his blundering act. The evidence for the word Isaiah in
verse i is not similar, it is precisely identical evidence with
that for the word Babylon in verse 19.
Professor Cheyne in his Bampton lectures may show
the unreliability of the psalm titles, and as fast as they are
proved inappropriate we ought to reject them; but in the ease
before us, the question of appropriateness comes up later;
till then, on prima facie grounds, chapter xiii. is Isaiah's by
a double claim, of the book and of the title; there being
absolutely nothing to set on the other side.
II. The linguistic evidence is threefold; from vocabu
lary, grammar, and phraseology.
1 . The vocabulary. A special Index to Isaiah xiii. is
presented herewith. There are in all 171 words, 135 of
which, about four-fifths, recur in the commonly acknowl
edged parts of Isaiah. It matters not, then, how often they
are found in the exilian or post-exilian literature; being
themselves Isaian, they confirm, so far as their testimony
goes, the presumption of the prima facie evidence. Of the
36 words not in Isaiah A, two are aira^ Xeyopeva, namely,
D'nx, the doleful creatures of verse 22, and naK'J, the epithet
bare in verse 2. Of the remaining 34 words, 21 are in the
pre-exile prophets (not including Joel and Jer. 1. and li.) and
7 others in the early histories (Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel); that
is, 28 of the 34 words are in the pre-exile literature. The
remaining 6 out of 171 words could hardly establish a Bab
ylonian habitat for our author, but I proceed to examine
them. (1) '!]£ verse 20, to pitch tent. The Piel occurs in this
place, and nowhere else at all. The Kal has the opposite
sense, to move tent, and is so rendered in the Revised Ver
sion in the only two places where it occurs, Gen. xiii. 12, 18
of Lot and of Abraham. The verb is found in no other

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 9
conjugation. Hence as to meaning it is another am. \ey.
in our passage, and proves nothing on either side.
(2) D^N verse 22, R. V. wolves, margin howling crea
tures, is found only twice besides, at Isa. xxxiv. 14, the oracle
on Edom, and at Jer. 1. 39, against Babylon. These passages
are practically identical. As their genuineness is disputed,
they remain neutral in the argument from diction; but if we
establish on other grounds the Isaian authorship of chapter
xiii., the repetition is easily explained, whoever wrote them.
(3) niJOPX verse 22. In the sense of widows, this word
is common in Isaiah A, but in the sense of desolate places, a
play of words being suggested between this word and
nto^X, it recurs only at Ezek. xix. 7. As we shall see, the
pun is quite in Isaiah's manner.
(4) r»OT verse 4. This is the commonest word to ex
press the abstract quality of likeness. There are several
others in the language: iVOT. h&O, k?D or !>OD, rVJlin, but it so
happens that not one of these is used in the clearly p re-
exilic literature, though JVJl} occurs in Psalm Iviii., which
Delitzsch and others consider Davidic. The other three
words are exceedingly rare; and n^ari is more properly con
crete, a pattern; it is distinguished from *"3vi at 2 Kings
xvi. 10, where Ahaz sends from Damascus the likeness of
the altar and its pattern. The author of Isa. xiii. 4 hears
the voice of a multitude in the mountains, and sees the like
ness (mDl) of a great host; whether it was Isaiah or some
one else who expressed this idea, JTiOT was the most fitting
word to use.
(5) !3 verse 12, fine gold. This occurs elsewhere eight
times. If Professor Cheyne is right in making all the psalms
late, we have no sure evidence that this was an early word;
if otherwise, we note its occurrence in Psalms xix. and xxi.
At all events, there is no other word for fine gold.
(6) rnOTi? verse 21, R. V., satyrs, margin he-goats, Am.

10 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
appendix wild goats, omitting margin. Isa. xxxiv. 14 is
treated, in the same way. Per contra, at Lev. xvii.. 7, the
Revisers read: "And they shall no more sacrifice their sac
rifices unto the he-goats [margin, satyrs], after whom they go
a whoring;" and in 2 Chron.xi. 1 5, Jeroboam appointed him
priests for the he-goats [margin, "satyrs. See Lev. xvii. 7"].
The American appendix has no note on either passage.
The only real parallel is Isa. xxxiv. 14; and hence the
CHlfe* are as indecisive as the D"X considered before.
This completes the list. It is claimed, however, that
some of the words in our chapter are used in a different
sense from that in which Isaiah employs them. Dillmann
instances, for example, T is^n, verse 2, as contrasted with xi.
15 and xix. 16. But it will not be seriously argued that a
writer in any language may not speak of " shaking the hand"
now as a threat, and again as a signal. The word ^"i 5?, which
Dillmann also claims as a late word, is, as he notices else
where, the earlier form of the word, occurring at Jer. iii. 2;
while ^~}V is exclusively late, being found only in Nehemiah
and Second Chronicles. On the other hand, Dillmann ad
mits the following words in chapter xiii. to be characteristic
of Isaiah (not peculiar to him, but favorite words of his):
verse 4, |i»n, JiKE>; verse 5, HVpD; verse 7, DB;ni?; verse 19,
|iX3, ids, rnKsn- To these should be added: verse 1, Nto;
verse 2, Dp; verse 3, t1?}?; verse 5, prnp; verse 8, T?-
The following index should be compared with the writer's
vocabulary of Isa. xii. (Journal Biblical of Literature, vol. x.
part 2); also with the index to Isa. xl.-lxvi. (Bibliotheca
Sacra, October, 1881; January, 1882). This kind of evi
dence has often been overrated; the present tendency is to
ward the opposite extreme. The chief value of such philo
logical testimony is seen in combination with other evidence.

An Examination of Isaiah XIII.

n

INDEX TO ISAIAH XIII.
\>T». Pi. 20 only. Kal Gen. xiii. 12, 18 only.
•nix 10, 10 = A
hs 21 only.
ms Kal 8 = A
¦<X 22 = xxxiv. 14 ; Jer. 1. 39 only.
•px 14 = A
2J1X 8, 14, 14 = A
¦njax 9, Jer. ProY. only.
bx 8, 14, 14 = A
wbs 19 and xxxv. 4; xxxvii. 4, 16, 17, 19 = A
nrais 22 = Eze. xix. 7 only.
piax 1 = A
eSistt 7, 12 = A
13K 3 = A
C|6tj M. 4 = A (xvi. 10) B. Jud. 1 Sam. 2 Sam. Hos. Mic.
Kal AB
t)N 3, 9, 13 = A
y^ 5, 5, 9, 13, 14= A
1-ilSX 16 = A PI. not in B
•fl»s 1, 17 = A
-n'x 17, 19, 19 = A

a 4, 10, 13, 13, 15, 17 = A
iaa 1, 19 ; xiv. 4, 22 ; xxi. 9 ; xxxix. 1, 3, 6, 7 and B. Mic. iv.
10 ; Jer. passim.
Via M. 8 ; xxi. 3 ; Jud. 1 Sam. 2 Sam.
Kia Kal. 2, 5, 6, 9, 22 = A
|Ba 18 and B. Hos. Mic. Jud.
rna 16, 21 = A
¦|a 1,18 = A
fi»'> m'ja 21 ; xxxiv. 13 ; xliii. 20 ; Mic.

rnaa 3, 11 = A
•)i«a 11, 19 = A
-ria& 3 = A

12 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
iia 4 = A
as 3 = A

*to 20, 20 ; xxxiv. 10, 10, 17, 17 ; xxxviii. 12 and B. Jud. Jer..
nwi 4 ; xl. 18.
*^ M. 15 only. Kal Jud. 1 Sam.

n 5, 5, 8, 9, 10, 10, 13, 15, 15 = A
rrr; Kal U, 19 = A
hs*>ri 22 = A
bin Bi. 10 ; Job only. Pj. B. Jud. 2 Sam.
¦pan 4 = A
nsn 9, 17 = A
"in 2, 4 = A

11 11 ; Ps. Pro. Jer. Mai. only.
an; 17 = A
dst 5 = A

ban P». 5 = A
ban 8 = A
Vir ^ Kal 8 = A ; xxvi. 17, 18 and B. Jud. Hos. Mic. etc.
D?n Kal 18 ; 1 Sam. Jer. Eze.
n;n Kal 1 = A
NBP, 9 = A
yen JTan7 = A.B. Hos. Mic. 1 Sam. 2 Sam.
a"in 15 = A
linn 9, 13. Hos. Nah. Jer. 1 Sam.
aisn Kal 17 = A
TjirrK A a? 10 = A

t> 2, 7 = A
nw 4, 5, 6, 9, 13 == A

An Examination of Isaiah XIII.

13

WP

6, 9, 13, 22 = A

*v

ifaZ 8 = A

IV

Bi. 6 = A

Si?

-STaZ 10 = A

ts
Bi. 12 ; Pro. only.
Kal B. 1 Sam.
TC
10 and B. Jer.
ass;
ifaZ 20 = A
^BTJSIB'i
1 = A
0
a
6, 8, 14, 14, 19 =
A
asia
10; xiv. 13 andB.
Am.
13
6, 10 = A
*o
5, 7, 7, 15, 15 = A
*?
5 = A
1?
7, 13 = A
Voa
10; Am.
t)P3
17 = A
tpKito
19 = A (xxiii. 13)
and B. Jer. passim.
b 2, 3, 3, 5, 9, 9, 16, 20, 22 = A
«b 10, 10, 17, 17, 18, 18, 20, 20, 20, 20, 22 = A
aab 7 = A
anb 8 = A
n79
17 ; xxi. 2 ; Jer.
roena
19 = A
«ba
Kal 21 = A
nanba
4 = A
'robaa
4, 19 = A
T»
5, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13 = A
oca
Ni. 7 = A
K3a
Ni. 15 = A
tripa
13 = A
PTa
5 = A (characteristic).
k'ib
1 = A (characteristic).
tjioa
iVt. 22 ; Eze. only. Kal. A.
Ph. A.
14 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
i
BM Bi. 10; 2 Sam. xxii. = Ps. xviii. only. Kal A Job only.
rHS Bo. 14 only. Ni. xvi. 3, 4 ; xxvii. 13. Pu. A.
aiis 2 = A
bia AW 14 = A
6|« Bi. 2 = A
C5 2 = A B (characteristic).
"isa 18 = A
bs; AW 15 = A
ns; 20 = A
xiaa AW 2 = A

did 19 = A
.-ISO Ni. 15 only. Kal A

mas 9, 13 = A
is 20 = A
•jiis 11 = A
bbis 16; Hos. 1 Sam.
-i?S ///. 17 and B. Polel A
IIS 16, 18 = A
bs 2, 7, 11, 11, 13, 17, 18 = A ,
libs 3 = A (characteristic).
cs 4, 14 = A
n-as 19 = A
SfS 11 ; lviii. 13 only.
nw Kal 22 = A
¦<ais 20 ; Jer. only, fiais Neh. 2 Ch. only.)
pis 11 = A
ns 22 = A s
tB 12. Kthubhim only.
n:s AW 14 = A
bi;b 8, 8 = A
ips AW 11 = A. P«. 4 only.
i-iS 18 = A
nns 2 = A

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 15

¦jNS

14 = A

xas

4 = A

las

14, 19 = A (characteristic).

nis

Pi. 3 = A

&-*x

21 = A

IIS

8 = A B (characteristic).

p
yap. A". 14 = A
ia-p Pa. 3 ; Eze. Ezr. 2 Chr. only. -2V». A. Bi. A.

bip

2, 4, 4 = A

^i?

5 = A

xip

Kal 3 = A

ai-p

6, 22 = A (xxxiii. 13)

*m

18 = A

-1

ai

4 = A

r?-?

Kal 21 = A. Bi. 20 ; liv. 11 ; Jer. Eze. Cant. Ps. xxiii.

only.

w?

Bi. 13 = A

Dill

Kal 4 = A. Bi.2 = A

nni

Pi. 18 = A

Bai

Pi. 18 ; 2 K. only. Pu. 16 ; Hos. Nah. only.

Si

8, 11 = A

nsn

Kal 20 = A

na-

Kal 7 = A

1!5S1

Kal 13 ; xxiv. 18 ; Am. ix. 1.

^?

Pi. 21 ; Nah. Joel, Job, 1 Chr. only.

siri

11 = A

to

BI'SJ Kal 7 = A
•VSia 21 ; xxxiv. 14 ; Pent. Eze. Dan. 2 Chr.

V

¦pstt| 4 = A
ngui ift. 11 = A

i6

An Examination of Isaiah XIII.

bsilj Ni. 1 6 ; Zee. xiv. 2 only. Pu. Jer.
liD 6 = A
"Hia 6 ; Joel, Eze. Pent, and K'thubhim
•)?B AW 20, 21 = A
Dii] 20, 20, 21, 21 = A
*rais ift. 9 = A
naia 9 = A
niair 5, 10, 13 = A
tries 10; xxxviii. 8, 8 and B. Jud. 1 Sam. 2 Sam. Am.
fc&B Ni. 16 and Zee. only. AW Jud. 1 Sam.
ns© Ni. 2 only. Pual Job only. No others.
bail) Ari. 11 ; xxv. 11, 12; xxvi. 5, 5 and B. 1 Sam.

ban 11= A
nan AW 8 = A
D^n 22 ; xxxiv. 12 ; xxxv. 7 and B. Mic.
niKSn 19 = A
2. Grammatical constructions . The few points differ
ing from strict regularity are all paralleled in Isaiah A.
(i) Ver. g. The infinitive carried on by a finite verb
=xxii. 13; xxx. 14; xxxi. 5.
(2) Ver. 10 f. The perfect tense inserted for vividness
into a series of futures=viii. 8; xi. 6.
(3) Ver. 1 7. The future expressed by nan with the par-
ticiple=viii. 7.
(4) Ver. 2. The imperative put poetically for the in-
dicative= xxiii. 1, 4.
(5) Ver. 2. The voluntative with ) conjunctive =v. 19.
(6) Ver. 14. The circumstantial clause=i. 31, etc.
(7) Ver. 17 f. The order of the words: subject, object,
predicate=iii. 17; xi. 8; xvii. 5; xxxii. 7, 8.
(8) Ver. 17. The accusative pendens=\. 7; ix. 1 ; xi. 10.
(9) Ver. 19. The noun with verbal force=xi. 9.
(10) Ver. 14. The distributive with plural verb =ix. 18.
3. Phraseological affinities.

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 17
(1) An accumulation of particulars for emphasis. Ver
ses 7, 8. So throughout: Isaiah. Cf. i. 16, 17; v. 25; xvi. 10;
xxi. 3, 4; xxii. 21; xxviii. 1 5 ; xxix. 4; xxx. 30, 33; xxxii. 6,
14; xxxiii. 8. 9.
(2) Poetical repetition of a word or phrase, verses 20,
21. So i. 9, 10; vi. 10; viii. 22, 23; xiv. 26, 27; xxiii. 8, 9,
15, 16; xxviii. 15, 17, 18; xxxii. 15, 16.
(3) A general statement differentiated into positive and
negative particulars. Verses 19-22. So v. 26—29; yiii- II —
13; xi- 3> 4; xvii. 7, 8; xxii. 12, 13.
(4) Play upon words, verses 6, 12, 22. So v. 7; vii.
9, etc. (5) Characteristic expressions.
Ver. 2. Lifting up a signal; cf. v. 26; xi. 12; xviii. 3,
" 4. Nations in tumult; cf. xvii. 12, 13, a close
parallel.
" 5. The whole earth; cf. x. 23.
" 6. 3 veritatis; cf. i. 7; xxix. 2.
" 7. The heart melts; cf. xix. 1. This was in
Dillmann's list.
" 11. The high brought low; cf. ii. 11— 17; v. 15;
x. 16, 17, etc.
" 12. A remnant left; cf. i. 9; vi. 11-13; xvi. 14;
xxi. 17, etc.
" 13. Effects of Jahveh's wrath, cf. ix. 18 (a close
parallel; cf. 3 causal and fix).
In summing up this branch of the subject, let me ex
plain why I would attach no undue weight to the first divi
sion treated. The vocabulary of Isaiah is so rich and ex
tensive that even if our passage were exilian it could hardly
avoid coinciding with this to a large degree. I have taken
pains to test in this way Ezekiel xxv., which fills the same
space in the Hebrew as Isaiah xiii., and which is also a
prophecy against foreign nations. I found nearly (not quite)
as large a proportion of Isaian words there as here. But

1 8 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
there were some notable contrasts. The whole number of
different words in Ezekiel xxv. is but 109, against 171 in
Isaiah xiii.; the reason is that Ezekiel keeps repeating him
self, while our passage is more varied. (The careful student
will not confound this quality of style with that noticed at
(2) under phraseology). Isaiah xiii. has 28 words used by
pre-exilic writers outside of Isaiah A; Ezekiel xxv. only 13.
Over against the 6 apparently late words out of 171 which
we have been examining, Ezekiel xxv. has 10 out of
109, or 9 per cent against 3^. I repeat, however, that I
would lay much less stress than formerly upon such figures.
We are considering the evidence, I take it, in its proper
order. The chapter having come down to us as Isaiah's,
holds its place until dislodged; the argument from diction
has no tendency to shake it, but on the other hand is de
cidedly confirmatory.
III. The historical situation.
This has been so magnified and distorted by centuries
of tradition that it is difficult for the student of the Bible to
turn his attention away from the huge metropolis of Nebu
chadnezzar's pride, and the splendid details of Jeremiah 1.
and li., and ask whether this prophecy really discloses any
thing incompatible with the Babylon of Isaiah's time, and
with the general environment of that prophet.
For my present purpose, I insist upon isolating chapter
xiii. I do not attempt as yet to decide whether chapter
xiv. may be a part of the same prophecy with this; but the
negative is supported not only by the considerations already
adduced, but by the fact that in chapter xiii. the people of
Babylon perish as well as the city; there is a general slaugh
ter, so that a man is rarer than fine gold; — in xiv. 2, how
ever, Israel changes places with its captors, and rules over
its oppressors. Further, it makes for the separation of b
from c that in xiv. 22 extermination is again threatened. In
a also (chapter xiii.), Babylon is to become a wilderness, in-

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 19
habited by wild beasts; cf. Jer. 1. 43, "a dry land and a de
sert;" in c'\t is to be inundated, and become pools of water.
In c the interest is engrossed almost wholly by a king of
Babylon; in a no such character enters.
Doubtless these statements can be reconciled; but they
are not natural statements (especially the first pair) for the
same writer to make in immediate succession.
These 'arguments of Bredenkamp deserve a more re
spectful hearing than Dillmann has given them ; they are not
to be answered by any such epithet as his "apologetische
HalbheitT Returning to chapter xiii., we find gathered against
Babylon a host under the Lord of hosts. As is not uncom
mon in the prophets, a great calamity, affecting the whole
world, and even the heavenly bodies, is contained in the
overthrow of God's foes (verses 5-13). Every such visita
tion, whether in Edom, or Jerusalem, or Babylon, has a uni
versal element, is one scene from the day of Jahveh, the dies
irae. Verses 14-22: the city is taken; plunder, rapine, and
wholesale destruction of natives and foreigners, old and
young, ensue. The pitiless Medes cannot be bribed to spare;
they rest not till the beauty of the Chaldean's pride becomes
an irreparable ruin like that of Sodom; and the time is near.
I cannot agree with Bredenkamp, that the mention in
verse 5 of the enemy as coming from a far country, from the
uttermost part of heaven, shows that the writer did not live
in Babylon. Sargon himself repeatedly mentions " the cities
of distant Media " and " Media the far one." Nor do I think
there is much force in his argument that if chapter xiii. had
been written in the time of -Cyrus, Elam as well as Media
would surely have been mentioned. It is always hazardous
to reason from what might have been; it is better to inquire
whether the text as we have it gives positive data as ap
propriate to the age of Isaiah as to any other. This age

20 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
was that of four great Assyrian kings, Tiglath-Pileser III.,
745-727, Shalmaneser 727-722, Sargon 722-705, and Sen
nacherib 705—681, these dates, however, being not yet set
tled with precision. No annals of Shalmaneser have been
found; but the records of the other three kings have much
to our purpose. Isaiah was a statesman, a man of courts;
his writings reveal a remarkable acquaintance with the geog
raphy and politics of his time. It has often been urged against
his authorship of chapter xiii. that neither the Chaldeans nor
the Medes had risen above Isaiah 's horizon, and that Babylon
could not have been so powerful then. I shall devote most of
my remaining space to citations from the monuments, which
may help us to apprehend Isaiah's actual view-point and the
range of his observation. The translations are mostly from
George Smith.
In Tiglath-Pileser's historical tablet, there is a long
list of geographical names ending with Likra, the heap
of gold, and called "districts of rugged Media." "The
whole of them," he says, "in hostility I overwhelmed, their
numerous fighting men I slew, 60,500 of their people and
children, horses, asses, mules, oxen, and sheep without num
ber I carried off, their cities I pulled down," etc.
The same king, in his annals for the year 744-43 relates:
"The tribute of the lords of the Medes, all of them to Bikin,
I received. My general Asshur-dainini to the powerful
Medes, who are at the rising of the sun, I sent. Five
thousand horses, people, oxen and sheep without number,
he brought." Sargon also says in his Annals (xiv. 2, 3): "I subdued
the towns of Media." " I reigned from Yatnan [Cyprus]
... to all the cities of remote Media." In another inscrip
tion (ii. 2) Sargon says: "My mighty hand reached from the
town of Hasmar unto the town of Simaspati in Media the
far one, which is situated at the rising sun." Again (v. 17):
"In the sixth year of my reign, [716-15] ... I increased

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 21
the large tribute of 28 Prefects of the capital places of Me
dia." The next year, "To keep my position in Media, I
built fortifications in the neighborhood of Kar-Sarkin; I for
tified . . . [the name is gone]. I received the tribute of
22 Prefects of the capitals of Media." Another year passes,
and we come to 714-13. "In the eighth year of my reign,
I received the tributes of Van, of Media, which the men of
the land of Van and Ellip had kept from me." In the
following year, 713-12: "The lands of Bait-Hi, the district
of Media, which belongs to Ellip [here follow the names of
ten provinces and one town] the far districts of the territory of
the Arabians from the rising sun, and the principal districts
of Media had shaken off the yoke of Asshur and had terri
fied the mountain and the valley." Sargon goes on to relate
that he reduced them to submission, and that he received
the tribute " of 45 governors of the Median towns." So much
for the strength and importance of Media in Isaiah's time.
Turning now to Chaldea, we read in II. R. 67, Tiglath-
Pileser's historical tablet: "Chaldea through its extent in
hostility I swept." In Sargon's Annals, xiv. 2, four pro
vinces are mentioned, "which form Chaldea in its totality,"
and he adds: "I took their tributes, I put over them my
Lieutenants as Governors, and I forced them under my
sovereignty." Here then is the name Chaldea; the region thus defined,
namely Babylonia, as might be naturally expected, is con
stantly named on the monuments, often being called Kar-
Dunias, or Sumir and Accad. The southern portion, along
the coast of the Persian Gulf, is termed Bit-Yakin. This
was the home of Merodach Baladan, who was contemporary
with all these kings, and who was either a Babylonian
patriot, as Lenormant describes him, or a very troublesome
rebel. The inscriptions fully corroborate' the scriptural
statement that he became king of Babylon. Tiglath-Pileser
says that the seacoast of Bit-Yakin had never been subdued

22 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
by his predecessors, but that Merodach Baladan, over
whelmed with fear, came and kissed his feet. In another in
scription he boasts as follows: "Kar-Dunias, the whole of it,
I possess and I rule its kingdom." He places his conquest
of Babylonia in the first year of his reign, i. e., 745. In
744 he added its cities to the borders of Assyria and ap
pointed his generals governors over them. Seven years
later, 738-37, in the midst of a campaign against Syria, he
relates: "My general captured [certain cities, the names
partly obliterated] of the people of Babylon and the cities
which were around them. Their warriors he slew, [the cap
tives?] to the land of the Hittites to my presence they
brought." Accordingly, we find among his royal titles,
"king of Babylon, king of Sumir and Accad," Babylon be
ing the only city thus singled out. The strength and signal
importance of Babylon appear too from the long struggle it
kept up against the powerful monarchs of Assyria. Though
often subdued, it as often rose again. In 721, the first year
of Sargon, as before in the first year of Tiglath-Pileser,
Babylonia revolted. "Merodach Baladan," says Sargon,
"having usurped, against the will of the gods, the kingdom
of Babylon, ... I led away . . . men [the number is
lost], whatever they possessed ... I transported them to
Syria." A good chance for Isaiah to get definite infor
mation about them and their country. Twelve years
later, in 709, Merodach Baladan is in alliance with Hum-
banigas the king of Elam, and all the tribes of Mesopota
mia, for "against the will of the gods of Babylon ... he
had sent during twelve years ambassadors."
It was probably one of these embassies which came to
Hezekiah, and which might have resulted, but for the
prophet's intervention, in provoking the king of Assyria to
take vengeance on Jerusalem. Directly afterward, however,
the irrepressible Merodach Baladan formed another league
with a new king of Elam, Satruk-Nakhunti. This was the

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 23
occasion of Sargon's triumphant march into Babylon itself.
"The inhabitants of Babylon called upon me," he says,
" and I made shake the entrails of the town of Bel and of
Merodach who judges the gods. I entered immediately to
Babylon, and I immolated the expiatory victims to the
great gods. I established my power in the midst of the
palace of Merodach Baladan."
The next year (709-708) Sargon makes Babylon the
base of his final expedition against Merodach Baladan. " In
the thirteenth year of my reign, in the month Iyar, I left
the town of Suanna [Babylon]. . . . Merodach Baladan
. . . assembled his forces, at Dur-Yakin, and he fortified
his citadels." [The battle follows, ending with his defeat
and flight, and the capture of 80,500 men.] "Concerning
the people of Sippara, of Nipur, of Babylon, and of Borsippa,
I allowed them to continue in the midst of the town their
ancient professions."
Let us pass now to the annals of Sennacherib. In 703:
" Merodach Baladan, king of Kar-Dunias, together with the
troops of Elam, in front of the city of Kish I defeated. In
the midst of the battle he abandoned his baggage; he fled
alone; into the land of Guzumman he escaped; he entered
in among the marshes and reeds; his life he saved. . . .
His palace in Babylon I entered with rejoicing; I opened his
treasuries; gold and silver, vessels of gold and silver, precious
stones of every kind ... I brought forth, I counted
them as spoils, I took possession of them. My soldiers I
despatched after him into the land of Guzumman, into the
midst of the marshes and reeds. Five days passed; but not
a trace of him was seen. In the might of Asshur my lord,
89 strong cities and fortresses of Chaldea, as well as 820
smaller cities and towns round about them, I besieged, I
took, I carried away their spoil. The Arabians, Aramaeans
and Chaldeans who were in Erech, Nipur, Kish, Charsak-

24 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
kalama, Cutha, with the inhabitants of the rebellious city, I
brought forth, I counted them as spoil."
We have not yet done with Babylon, but before going
further let us see how the data already gained correspond to
the period and the statements of our chapter. We find
Babylon, which is bounded on the west by the desert, en
compassed on the three other sides by the powers of Chal
dea, Elam, Media, and Assyria. Already Babylon looked
back to a proud antiquity. She had furnished literature,
religion, and all forms of civilization to the rapidly grow
ing Assyrian power. Assyria herself (as Sayce remarks
in his Life and Times of Isaiah, p. 80) was as yet but little
known to the statesmen of Judah. Even Isaiah, in his
prophecies against the Assyrian, never mentions Nineveh.
Babylon, however, had been known to the Israelites from
time immemorial, and Chaldea was their traditional birth
place. Babylon was maintaining a long and variously suc
cessful struggle for independence, and her embassadors came
with offers of friendship to Jerusalem. This city was the
"proud ornament of Chaldea" — so Cheyne renders the
phrase in our verse 19; and by reason of its wealth, which
Sennacherib describes, as also by reason of the contest for
its possession, it might well be called the glory [lit., the
gazelle] of kingdoms; a phrase less appropriate, one would
think, to the colossal metropolis, girded with its mountain of
brick, which Nebuchadnezzar erected.
It is objected, however, that in these struggles the
Medes were on the side of Babylon; and also that the Medes
were not consolidated into an empire until after the time of
Isaiah. We need not reply, with Bredenkamp, by referring
to the doubtful story of Deioces; but we may observe that
the two objections may be made to neutralize one another.
Exactly because Media was only an aggregation of fierce,
warring districts, the Medes who supported Merodach Bala-

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 25
dan are not to be considered as an entire nation, but as those
tribes (perhaps the nearest) whom he could influence.
But when the kings of Assyria record their repeated
raids upon Median tribes, and their capture of scores of
thousands of Medes at one time, it is impossible to doubt
that they recruited their armies from these fierce warriors.
Secular history confirms exactly the traits of the Medes de
picted in our chapter. Isaiah's countrymen of North Israel
were some of them settled among the Medes; from personal
friends among these, as well as from other sources, he may
have formed an accurate picture of their cruelty and implaca
ble atrocity. Our chapter says nothing of a kingdom of the
Medes; but if the author desired to impress most forcibly
the impending overthrow of Babylon, he could do this with
vividness by awaking against it the ferocious people who
could not be bought off with silver and gold, and who would
have no pity on the fruit of the womb.
We are so accustomed to read this chapter in the light
of a later Babylon, and especially in the light of Jeremiah 1.
and li., that it would be a useful exercise to re-read the lat
ter prophecy, noting how many details there are which point
with the greatest certainty to the Babylon of Nebuchadnez
zar's time, and which yet are totally absent from the picture
in the book of Isaiah.
We come finally to consider the total destruction of-
Babylon portrayed in Isaiah xiii. Returning to the annals
of Sennacherib, and passing over other struggles with Bab
ylon, we find his campaign of 691 depicted as follows (III.
R. 14, 43-53): "In my second expedition to Babylon,
when I planned to capture it, I went swiftly, and like the
approach of a shower I stormed, and like a black cloud I
cast it down, I surrounded the city with destruction. By
bilti and napalkati I took that city; of its people, small and
great, I left not; and [with] their corpses I filled the streets
of the city. I captured Shuzub, king of Babylon, together

26 An Examination of Isaiah XIII.
with his family; I brought him alive to the midst of my
country. The treasures of that city I carried off; gold,
precious stones, a possession, a treasure, I counted to
the hands of my people and they turned it to their own
hands. As for the gbds dwelling therein, the hands of my
people captured them and broke them in pieces; and their
treasure, their possession, they took. . . . City and houses,
from their foundation to their roof, I destroyed, laid waste,
burned with fire. Wall and rampart, temples, towers of brick
and earth, whatever there was, I carried off and cast into the
Arahti. In the interior of that city I dug canals, and cov
ered its site with waters. The work of its foundation I
destroyed, and against it I increased the deluge of its de
struction. In order that the ground of that city and the
temples might not be touched in future time, I hurried it into
the waters, and I finished it completely."
Now it is not necessary to suppose that this description
is perfectly accurate. Sennacherib is a great boaster, and in
certain particulars his statements are questioned. But it is
an undoubted fact that he did destroy Babylon, and that
about twelve years later Esarhaddon rebuilt it, making it a
second capital of his empire. We know not how long
Isaiah lived after Sennacherib's expedition to Palestine in
701 ; if he was alive at the destruction of Babylon in 691 he
need not have been more than eighty years old. The sup
position that he wrote chapter xiii. agrees well with Sen
nacherib's account, either on the extreme rationalistic theory
of a prophecy after the event, on the reverent modern theory
of a divine inspiration to announce principles, coupled in
this case with a remarkable coincidence as to details, or on
the traditional theory that the details themselves were di
vinely revealed to him.
In our distance and ignorance, we should be thankful
for sufficient light to perceive that the materials of our
prophecy may all have been present to Isaiah's consciousness,

An Examination of Isaiah XIII. 27
and to re-assure ourselves in the conviction that in this case,
as in so many others, the compilers of the book of Isaiah
may have seen clearly the external evidence which we see
through a glass darkly.