Isaiah 13:19 - Meaning and Application

The great ruin and destruction that the Medes and Persians were foretold to bring on Babylon comes to its final end here. Babylon was truly a great city. It was the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride. It was that head of gold (Dan 2:37, Dan 2:38). It was called the lady of kingdoms (Isa 47:5) and the praise of the whole earth (Jer 51:41). Like a pleasant roe, that is what the word means, but it would become like a hunted roe, driven and helpless, as in Isa 13:14.

The Chaldeans took pride in the beauty and wealth of their capital city. Yet it is foretold that Babylon would be destroyed completely, like Sodom and Gomorrah. The destruction would not be as sudden or miraculous, but it would be just as sure, though it came little by little. It would come when they felt safe, eating and drinking, as in Luk 17:28, Luk 17:29. Babylon was taken while Belshazzar was feasting. Even though Cyrus and Darius did not tear it down at once, it slowly decayed over time and eventually fell into ruin.

The prophecy says in Isa 13:20 that Babylon would never again be inhabited. In Adrian’s time, only the wall was left. While Nineveh, that great city, was said to become so deserted that flocks would lie down in its midst, Babylon is described differently. The Arabians, who were shepherds, would not even make their folds there, because the land around it would be too barren for grazing, not even fit for sheep.

Instead, it would become a home for wild animals that love lonely places. The houses of Babylon, where people once gathered in pleasure, would be filled with sad creatures, owls and satyrs. These creatures would be drawn there because it suited them, and they would drive others away. Historians say this came true exactly. Benjamin Bar-Jona, in his Itinerary, speaking of Babel, said, “This is that Babel which was of old thirty miles in breadth; it is now laid waste. There are yet to be seen the ruins of a palace of Nebuchadnezzar, but the sons of men dare not enter in, for fear of serpents and scorpions, which possess the place.”

Let no one be proud of grand palaces, for they may become worse than cottages. Let no one think their houses will last forever (Psa 49:11), when all that may remain is ruin and shame. This destruction is also said to come soon in Isa 13:22: “Her time is near to come.” This prophecy was meant to support and comfort God’s people while they were captives in Babylon and suffering under hard oppression.

The prophecy was fulfilled almost 200 years after it was given, yet it still came in the right time. When Israel was groaning under Babylon’s heavy rule, sitting in tears by the rivers of Babylon, and mocked with the songs of Zion, and when their proud oppressors were at their most arrogant (Isa 13:11), they could take comfort in this: Babylon’s time was near, her day of fall was close, and her days of prosperity would not last much longer. When God begins to judge her, he will finish the work. This is also said of the destruction of New Testament Babylon, which the old Babylon pictured: “In one hour has her judgment come.”