Isaiah 13:6 - Meaning and Application

Here is a vivid picture of the terrible confusion and ruin that would come on Babylon when the Medes and Persians attacked it. Those who now felt safe were told to howl and mourn, because God was about to act in anger against them. It is a fearful thing to fall into his hands. “The day of the Lord is at hand” (Isaiah 13:6), a short but serious day of judgment, when God rises as a just avenger for his own cause and for his people’s wrongs. There are always those who have good reason to tremble when that day draws near.

People may think their own day is secure, and even imagine they will keep control. But God laughs at that confidence, because he sees his own day coming (Psalm 37:13). God is not ruled by wild fury, yet his judgment on the Babylonians is described as cruel, full of wrath and fierce anger. He will deal severely with them because they treated his people so harshly. With the cruel, he shows himself severe, and he gives the bloodthirsty blood to drink.

Their courage will collapse, and they will have neither strength nor comfort left. They will be unable to resist the judgment coming on them or to endure it, unable either to fight the enemy or steady themselves, as in (Isaiah 13:7, Isaiah 13:8). Those who were proud, arrogant, and frightening in their day of peace (Isaiah 13:11) will be completely crushed when trouble comes. “All hands shall be faint,” unable to hold a weapon, and “every man’s heart shall melt,” so that fear will nearly kill them. Their panic will be like a woman’s labor pains, and they will look at one another in confusion. They will be amazed at the sight of people who used to be bold, or they will stare at one another like men who do not know what to do (Genesis 42:1). Their faces will show their fear, either pale with terror or red with shame and fright, like people scorched by fire, or blackened like a bottle left in smoke (Psalm 119:83).

All comfort and hope will also fail them (Isaiah 13:10). The stars of heaven will not give their light, and the sun will be darkened as it rises, as if foul weather were closing in. They will be like sailors in distress when neither sun nor stars can guide them (Acts 27:20). It will be as dreadful for them as if all the lights of heaven were turned into darkness, a picture that also points ahead to the day of judgment, when the sun will be darkened. When the heavens look dark in this way, it shows the displeasure of the God of heaven. If things are dark on earth, yet it is enough if all is clear above. But if we get no comfort from there, where else can comfort come from?

God will also punish them for their sin, and all this suffering is meant as a judgment on sin, especially pride, as in (Isaiah 13:11). This makes the misery even heavier. Sin must now receive its punishment. Though Babylon was like a small world of its own, it was a wicked world, so it would not go unpunished. Sin brings ruin on the world of the ungodly. And when the kingdoms of the earth fight one another, it is part of God’s dispute with them all.

Pride must now fall. The arrogance of the terrible must be brought low, especially Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar, who had used their pride to crush God’s people and make themselves feared. A person’s pride will bring him down. There will be such a great slaughter that people will become scarce (Isaiah 13:12). God says, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold.” You would not be able to find a man to handle government work, serve in the army, or even marry your daughter to in order to build a family, even if you offered money for one. Neighboring troops would not be willing to serve the king of Babylon, because they could see that everything was going against him. War quickly empties crowded places. God can soon turn a kingdom that was admired and courted into one that everyone fears and avoids, like a house about to fall or a ship about to sink.

There will also be total confusion and panic, a shaking of their affairs like heavens torn by thunder and the earth shaken by earthquakes. Everything will fall into ruin on the day of the wrath of the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 13:13). Fear will also seize their minds so completely that Babylon, once like a roaring lion and a raging bear to her neighbors, will become like a hunted deer and like a sheep with no shepherd to gather it (Isaiah 13:14). The army they bring into the field, made up of troops from many nations, will be so discouraged by their fears and so scattered by their enemies’ swords that each man will run back to his own people. Every soldier will try to save himself. The men of strength will be unable to stand firm (Psalm 76:5), and will instead flee.

There will be a scene of blood and horror, as is usual when the sword destroys. It is no surprise that everyone tries to escape, since the conqueror gives no mercy and kills all who remain. This includes not only those found fighting, which is common even in very harsh warfare, but every person found alive, who will be run through as soon as it is clear he is a Babylonian (Isaiah 13:15). More than that, because the sword destroys without distinction, all who are joined to Babylon will fall by the sword, including those from other nations who came to help her. It is dangerous to keep bad company and to help those whom God has decided to destroy. Those who join themselves to Babylon must expect to share in her plagues (Revelation 18:4).

Since war shuts out the most basic laws of nature and human kindness, though it cannot truly cancel them, the conquerors will act in the most savage and brutish way, dashing children to pieces and violating the wives. “Wickedness shall have free course” (Isaiah 13:16). Babylon had treated God’s people that way too (Lamentations 5:11), and now she will get the same treatment in return (Revelation 13:10). It had already been foretold that Babylon’s little ones would be dashed against the stones (Psalm 137:9). However cruel and unjust those acts were, God was still righteous in allowing them, and in allowing them to happen before Babylon’s own eyes, to their greater fear and anguish. It was also just that the houses they had filled with the spoil of Israel should now be plundered themselves. What people gain by robbery is often lost in the same way.

The enemy God will send against Babylon will be relentless. They may be driven by some special provocation, or in some other way made especially fierce. In any case, God himself will stir up the Medes to deal severely with the Babylonians. He will work through their plans and desires, and he will let them carry out their attack with full force. God is not the source of sin, but he would not allow it unless he knew how to bring glory to himself from it.

These Medes, joined with the Persians, will carry out the destruction completely. They will take no bribes (Isaiah 13:17). People will give anything they have to save their lives, but the Medes will not care about silver. They are after blood, not gold, and no one’s wealth will be enough to buy his life. They will also show no mercy (Isaiah 13:18). They will not spare young men in the strength of life, but will shoot them and then smash them to pieces. They will also spare none of the innocent little children, even though their cries would seem enough to soften the hardest heart.

Pause here and think about three things. First, how cruel and heartless people can become, with no compassion at all. This shows how deeply human nature has been spoiled and corrupted. Second, wonder that the God of endless mercy would allow this, and even use it as the act of his justice. That shows that, though he is gracious, he is also the God to whom vengeance belongs. Third, think about how little infants, who have done no actual sin, can still suffer this way. That points to original guilt, the guilt people are born with, by which life is already lost as soon as it begins.