Isaiah 14:1 - Meaning and Application

This verse gives the reason Babylon must be destroyed and overthrown: God has mercy stored up for his people. Because he means to show kindness to Jacob, the injuries done to them must be repaid, and their oppressor must be judged. Mercy for Jacob will mean wrath and ruin for Jacob’s stubborn enemies, and Babylon was one of those enemies. The yoke Babylon had long put on their necks must be broken, and the people must be set free. In that way, Babylon’s destruction was as necessary for their rescue as Pharaoh’s destruction was for Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.

The same prophecy is both a promise to God’s people and a warning to their enemies. God’s providence has a bright side toward Israel and a dark side toward the Egyptians. Here the Lord’s favor rests on Jacob, the descendants of Jacob who were captives in Babylon. He will show that he still has compassion on them, that his mercy has not run out, and that he will not stay angry forever. Though he seemed for a time to reject them, he will prove that they are still his chosen people, and his choice stands firm. However it may look to us, God’s mercy is not gone, and his promise does not fail (Psalm 77:8).

The particular blessings he meant for them were many. First, he would bring them back to their own land, the land from which they had been driven. A settlement in the holy land, the promised land, is a gift of mercy, and a special mercy at that. Second, many strangers would join themselves to their faith and return with them, moved by the clear signs of God’s favor, his work in them, and his care for them. “Strangers shall be joined with them, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:23). This adds honor and strength to Israel, and it also shows the growth of the church when many from outside are brought in (Acts 2:47).

God’s people should not be unwilling to welcome strangers. They should receive those whom God receives and recognize those who cling to the house of Jacob. Third, these new followers would not only honor their cause, they would also help them in practical ways as they returned home. The people among whom they lived would take them, care for them, pity them, and bring them to their place. Some would do this like friends who hated to lose such good company, and some like servants eager to do them every kindness. In the same way, God’s people should live so well among others that they win affection and make religion look good in their eyes. This was fulfilled when the captives returned from Babylon, and those around them helped with the journey, as Cyrus commanded (Ezra 1:4, Ezra 1:6), not because they were sick of them, as the Egyptians were of Israel, but because they loved them.

Fourth, when the captives came home, they would benefit from the service of these strangers. Some would choose to go with them in the humblest place rather than stay behind. “They shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids.” The laws of that land kept servants from being crushed, and its blessings made it a better place for servants than many other lands. Even those who had once been outside the covenant could share in its goodness, since there was one law for the stranger and for the native-born. Those who live in the land of the Lord, the land of light, should see that their servants and handmaids share in its benefits too. Then they will find it better to belong to the Lord’s land than to belong anywhere else.

Fifth, they would triumph over their enemies, and those who refused peace with them would be brought low. They would take captive those who had once taken them captive and rule over their oppressors, righteously but not in revenge. The Jews may have bought Babylonian prisoners from the Medes and Persians and made slaves of them. Or this may have been fulfilled in their victories over enemies in the days of the Maccabees. It also points to the success of the gospel, when some who most opposed it, like Paul, were brought into obedience. It points to believers sharing in Christ’s victories over spiritual enemies, when he led captivity captive, and to the power the upright will have in the morning (Psalm 49:14).

Finally, they would see a happy end to all their troubles (Isaiah 14:3). The Lord would give them rest from sorrow, fear, and hard bondage. God himself would bring about this blessed change. In their outward condition, they would have rest from slavery, and the long days of affliction would end. The rod of the wicked would not always rest on their lot. In their inward life, they would have rest from sorrow and fear, from present burdens and from dread of worse things to come. Fear can stir the soul as strongly as sorrow does, and a person is truly at peace only when God gives rest from both. Those who are freed from the bondage of sin have the sure beginning of true rest from sorrow and fear.