Isaiah 14:4 - Meaning and Application

The kings of Babylon, one after another, were the great enemies and oppressors of God’s people. So when Babylon falls, and its king and his family are ruined, Scripture pauses to notice it and celebrate it. On the day when God gives Israel rest, they will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon. We should not rejoice when a personal enemy falls, as if we were only pleased for ourselves. But when Babylon, the common enemy of God and his people, sinks, then heaven, the holy apostles, and the prophets are called to rejoice too (Revelation 18:20).

The Babylonian empire acted as if it could be absolute, worldwide, and endless. In doing that, it set itself against the Almighty, so it is only right that it is not just brought low, but also mocked in its fall. This taunt is not aimed only at the last king, Belshazzar, who was killed the night Babylon was taken (Daniel 5:30). It also stands for the whole kingdom, which fell with him, especially as it had reached its height under Nebuchadnezzar. Here, then, the fall of the king of Babylon is celebrated in a carefully shaped poem, not to honor his burial, but to expose his life and leave a lasting mark of shame on his memory.

The poem describes how this mighty ruler went down slain to the grave, even though he had once been a terror to the strong in the land of the living (Ezekiel 32:27). First, it shows the amazing height of wealth and power that this king and his empire reached. Babylon was a golden city, or a city that claimed to be golden, as the word in the original suggests. She was rich beyond the other cities, as gold is richer than other metals. Some take the phrase to mean that she was greedy for gold, or that she squeezed gold out of others. The New Jerusalem is the only city that is truly golden (Revelation 21:18, Revelation 21:21).

The king of Babylon, with his vast wealth and full control over it, used it to rule the nations (Isaiah 14:6). He gave them laws, decided their fate, and weakened them whenever he chose (Isaiah 14:12), so they could not stand against him. He brought such huge and victorious armies into the field that the earth trembled and kingdoms shook wherever he turned (Isaiah 14:16). His neighbors feared him and had to submit. No one man could do that by his own strength, but only through the many people under his command. Great tyrants get some to do what they want and force many others to suffer what they please. It is a sad picture of humanity when people are turned against themselves, and their own rights and freedom are crushed by human strength.

Second, the passage shows the cruel abuse of all this wealth and power. He was known as an oppressor (Isaiah 14:4). He had the ruler’s scepter (Isaiah 14:5), with all the princes under him, but it was really the staff of the wicked. It supported his evil rule and struck everyone around him. He struck the people, not to correct them in justice, but in anger (Isaiah 14:6), to satisfy his own bitter feelings. He kept up the blows without pause, gave them no rest, and never stopped his attacks. He ruled the nations in wrath, saying and doing everything in anger, so the man who ruled everyone else had no control over himself. He made the world like a wilderness, as if he took pride in being the plague of his generation and a curse to mankind (Isaiah 14:17). Rulers usually boast of building cities, but he boasted in destroying them (Psalm 9:6).

Two especially bad examples of his tyranny are given. First, he was harsh to his captives (Isaiah 14:17). He would not open the prison house for them, meaning he would not let them go home. He held them in strict confinement and never allowed them to return to their own land. This points especially to the Jewish people, and it shows one chief reason for the king of Babylon’s guilt: he kept God’s people in exile and refused to release them. He even profaned the vessels of God’s temple in Jerusalem, as if to say they would never be used for their proper purpose again (Daniel 5:3). Because of this, he was quickly and justly removed by one whose first act was to open the house of God’s prisoners and send the temple vessels home.

Second, he was harsh to his own subjects too (Isaiah 14:20). “You have destroyed your land and killed your people.” Yet what did he gain? The wealth of a land and the size of its people are the strength and honor of a prince. A ruler is never safer or more glorious than when he rules in the hearts and affection of the people. But tyrants sacrifice their own true good to their greed and rage. God will call them to account for their cruel treatment of those under their power, as though they could use people any way they pleased.

The passage also points to his great pride and arrogance. It notices his display and the wasteful splendor of his court (Isaiah 14:11). He wanted to appear in the greatest possible magnificence. But the deeper problem was the pride in his heart, which prepared him for ruin (Isaiah 14:13, Isaiah 14:14). “You have said in your heart, like Lucifer, I will ascend into heaven.” This is the language of empty boasting, perhaps borrowed from the fallen angels, who were not content with their assigned place and wanted to be equal with God. Or it may point to Nebuchadnezzar, who tried to rise above human limits and was justly turned into a beast for it (Daniel 4:30).

The king of Babylon promised himself, first, that he would rise above all his neighbors in power and splendor, and reach the highest earthly glory and happiness. That, for a worldly heart, is what heaven means. He hoped to climb up to that place and stand above others as far as heaven is above the earth. Princes are called the stars of God, because they give some light to this dark world (Matthew 24:29), but he wanted to lift his throne above them all. Second, he especially wanted to insult God’s Mount Zion. Belshazzar, in his drunken last celebration, seems to have shown special hatred for Jerusalem when he called for the vessels of the temple to be profaned (Daniel 5:2). In the same spirit, he said, “I will sit on the mount of the congregation, in the far north.” That is the same word used for holy gatherings, and Mount Zion is described that way (Psalm 48:2). Perhaps Belshazzar was even planning an attack on Jerusalem, hoping to triumph over its ruins, when God cut him off.

He had also heard glorious things about the God of Israel, who lives above the highest clouds. Still, he says in pride, “I will rise there too, and make myself equal with him. I will be like the one they call the Most High.” It is good and right to want to be like the Most Holy, because God says, “Be holy, because I am holy.” But it is sinful pride to try to make ourselves like the Most High, because he also says, “Whoever exalts himself will be brought low.” The devil used the same lie with our first parents, Adam and Eve, by promising that they would be like gods if they ate the forbidden fruit.

He would also be treated as a god after his death, as some of the first Assyrian rulers were, and even stars got their names from them. Yet he says, “I will set my throne above them all.” This was his pride, and it was a sure sign of his coming ruin.

His wealth and power would be broken, and his proud life of luxury would come to an end. He had long been an oppressor, but he would stop being one (Isaiah 14:4). If he had stopped through true repentance and changed his life, as Daniel advised Nebuchadnezzar, it could have brought him longer peace and safety. But those who will not stop sinning, God will make to stop. The golden city, Babylon, which seemed likely to last forever, has fallen. The Lord, the righteous God, has broken the staff of that wicked ruler over his own head, showing that he has removed him from power. God has taken away his strength and made him unable to do more harm, and he has broken his scepters, because even such powerful things are fragile and can be shattered justly.

He would also be seized. He is hunted down, and no one stops it (Isaiah 14:6). This is what often happens to tyrants when they fall into enemy hands, their flatterers leave them, though they had counted them as friends. Another enemy like this is described as coming to his end with no one to help him (Daniel 11:45). Tiberius and Nero learned this same bitter lesson.

He would be killed and go down to the assembly of the dead, to be with the dead who are forgotten (Psalm 88:5). He will be as weak as the dead and like them (Isaiah 14:10). His splendor is brought down to the grave (Isaiah 14:11), meaning it dies with him. His outward glory will not end in a funeral full of honor, as people often expect. Real glory, which is true grace, goes up with the soul to heaven, but empty show goes down with the body to the grave. The music of his harps is heard no more. Death says goodbye to the pleasures of this world as well as its display.

This mighty prince had rested on soft bedding, walked on rich carpets, and lived under fine coverings and canopies. Now worms will be spread under him, and worms will cover him. Those worms will come from his own decaying body. Even though he had imagined himself a god, he still had the same body as other people. When we are feeding and decorating our bodies, it is wise to remember that they will soon become food for worms.

He would also miss the honor of burial, and certainly a proper burial in the tombs of his ancestors. The kings of the nations lie in glory (Isaiah 14:18), either because their bodies were preserved with spices, as in ancient Egypt, or because their carved images were set up over their graves, as is common in some places. In this small way they tried to resist the shame of death. They lie in their own resting place, that is, their own grave, for the grave is the house appointed for all the living. It is a sleeping place, where the busy and troubled lie still, and the weary find rest.

But the king of Babylon is thrown out and has no grave (Isaiah 14:19). His body is treated like a beast’s, cast into some ditch or onto a heap of refuse, like a harmful plant that nobody will touch. It is like the bodies of criminals put to death and then covered with stones, or thrown into a deep pit among the rocks. Worse still, his body will be like the carcasses of soldiers killed in battle, trampled under horses and men. So he will not be laid with his ancestors in burial (Isaiah 14:20). To be denied a decent burial is a disgrace. If that shame comes for righteousness’ sake, it can be borne with joy (Psalm 79:2; Matthew 5:12). It was the lot of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:9). But when it is the just punishment of evil, as here, it shows that evil follows unrepentant sinners beyond death, and that they will rise to everlasting shame and contempt.

Many will rejoice over his fall. Those he had oppressed and terrified will be glad to be free of him (Isaiah 14:7, Isaiah 14:8). Now that he is gone, the whole earth rests and is quiet, because he was the great troublemaker. Now they all break out in singing, because when the wicked are gone, there is shouting (Proverbs 11:10). The fir trees and cedars of Lebanon also feel safe, because they will no longer be cut down to serve his armies or provide him timber. The nearby princes and great men, pictured as fir trees and cedars (Zechariah 11:2), can now rest easy and stop fearing loss of their rights. The hammer that struck the whole earth has been broken (Jeremiah 50:23), and the axe that bragged against the one who used it has been shattered (Isaiah 10:15).

The world of the dead will welcome him too, especially those he had cruelly sent there early (Isaiah 14:9, Isaiah 14:10). “The world of the dead below is stirred up because of you, to meet you when you come.” The leading men of the earth, who once feared him and dared not come near him, now rise from their thrones to mock him when he enters the state of death. They meet him as if to greet a conqueror entering a city, but here the parade is into a place of horror, which makes his disgrace and torment worse. They rise from their seats and ask whether he would like to sit in them now, as he used to sit in their thrones on earth. They will laugh at the shame that covers him: “Have you also become weak like us?” Who would have thought it? It is more than he himself ever expected when he seemed too strong for everyone.

“You who put yourself among the immortal gods, are you now coming down to share the lot of mortal men? Where is your splendor now, and where is your joy? How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning” (Isaiah 14:11, Isaiah 14:12). The king of Babylon shone like the morning star and acted as if he brought daylight wherever he went. But can such a glorious ruler fall so far, like a bright star turned into a lump of clay? Has any man ever dropped from such honor and power into such shame and misery?

People have often used this as a picture of the fall of the angels, who were called morning stars (Job 38:7). But it is only a picture, and it helps us feel how terrible their fall was. “How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!” God will call to account those who trample on the rights of others and disturb human peace, because he is King over the nations as well as over his saints.

This picture of the king of Babylon going down to the world of the dead is more than imagination. It teaches serious truths. First, there is an unseen world, a world of spirits, where people’s souls go at death and live apart from the body. Second, souls that are separated from the body know and speak with one another, even though we cannot speak with them. The story of the rich man and Lazarus points to this. Third, death and hell will be truly death and hell for those who leave this life still unholy, after living in the height of worldly wealth and pleasure. “Son, remember” (Luke 16:25).

Those who watch his downfall will be stunned. When he is brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit, and placed there, people will look closely at him and think about what they see (Isaiah 14:15, Isaiah 14:16). They will hardly believe their own eyes. Never was death such a great change for any man as it is for him. Could this really be the same man who, only a little while before, looked so grand, so pleased with himself, so richly dressed, and so well attended? Is this the man who made the earth tremble and shook kingdoms? Who would have thought he would end up like this? (Psalm 82:7)

From all this comes an important lesson: “The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned” (Isaiah 14:20). The rulers of Babylon were all children of evil, oppressors of God’s people, and so this shame belonged to them. Some read it as, “They shall not be remembered forever.” They may seem impressive for a time, but all their splendor will only make their final disgrace worse. There is no honor in a sinful way.

The prophecy then turns to the complete ruin of the royal family and the destruction of the royal city. The royal family will be fully cut off. The Medes and Persians, who will be used in this work of judgment, are told that after they kill Belshazzar, they must prepare slaughter for his children also (Isaiah 14:21) and spare none of them. The little ones of Babylon must be dashed against the stones (Psalm 137:9). These orders sound severe, but there is a reason. First, the children are made to suffer for the sins of their fathers, as punishment often comes on later generations. This shows how much God hates sin and how strongly he warns sinners away from it. Nebuchadnezzar had killed the sons of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 52:10), and now his own line receives the same treatment.

Second, they must be removed now so they do not rise up later, take the land, and do the same kind of harm in their own day that their fathers had done. God often protects nations in ways we do not notice, even by cutting off people who, if they lived, would do great evil. The enemies may rightly cut off the children, for the Lord says, “I will rise up against them” (Isaiah 14:22). When God makes his will known, no one can stop it, and no one needs to feel uneasy about carrying it out. Babylon may have taken pride in the size of her royal family, but God had decided to cut off every last remnant of it, so that no sons or grandsons of the king would remain. Yet we are sure that God never does wrong to any of his creatures.

The royal city itself will be torn down and left empty (Isaiah 14:23). It will become a home for lonely, frightening birds, especially the bittern, along with the cormorant and the owl (Isaiah 24:11). This also helps explain the total destruction of the New Testament Babylon (Revelation 18:2), which becomes a cage for every unclean and hated bird. Babylon sat low, so when people abandoned it and no one drained the land, it quickly turned into pools of water and foul standing puddles, ugly and unhealthy. So God will sweep it away with the broom of destruction. When a people are full of dirt and refuse, and will not be made clean by reform, what else can they expect except to be swept off the earth by destruction?