Day 201. Isaiah 14-16

In today's reading we begin a series of oracles directed against Israel's enemies. One by one they will be brought low.
First the whole earth exults over the coming fall of the king of Babylon. The cedars of Lebanon that were in danger of being cut to build his palaces will exult in their newfound safety (14:8). The spirits of the dead in Sheol will chirp with excitement--"You too have become as weak as we!" (14:10). The king of that great city presumed to call himself, "Day Star, Son of Dawn" (14:12), but now the full irony of that title is revealed. The Day Star has fallen "to the depths of the Pit" (10:15), never to rise. (The name "Day Star" is Lucifer in Latin; Jesus uses the imagery of Isaiah to describe the fall of Satan in Luke 10:18.)
The king of Babylon, who clothed himself in glory, will be denied even a decent burial; his body will be treated like "loathsome carrion" (14:19). (For Jews of the Old Testament period this was worst possible fate one could suffer, to be cast out of the grave.) But this is what will happen—and soon-- to the mighty king of Babylon. The Lord will sweep that once mighty city "with the broom of destruction" (14:23).
The Assyrians, the other great super-power of the time, will soon come to destruction as well—The Lord's "hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back" (14:27). Even such lesser powers such as Philistia, which had been a danger to the people Israel since the time of judges, will soon be destroyed. Not long now and Israel's ancient enemy will fall before the LORD of history who, like a shepherd, will cause "the first born of the poor will graze and the needy will lie down in safety," but will make the "root" of the Philistines "die of famine" and kill its "remnant" (14:30).
The people of Moab, though related ethnically to Israel, had often been its on and off again adversaries in regional wars. But now, in the face of imminent destruction, refugees—"lambs" (16:1)-- from that land come to Judah seeking asylum. God himself is moved with compassion at their plight, and the prophet urges the king to give shelter to them and to "be a refuge to them from the destroyer (16:1-5). And in a remarkable passage, he promises that the Messiah, the righteous king who is coming from "the tent of David," will give justice to Moab as well to the people of Israel.