WWUTT 1929 Fallen Fallen is Babylon the Great (Isaiah 20:1-21:17

Isaiah's Sign Against Egypt and Ethiopia

In Isaiah chapter 21, it is declared, fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the graven images of her gods are shattered on the ground. This was an oracle that we would see repeated again in the book of Revelation, when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we feature New Testament study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q and A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky.

Today, we come to our study in the book of Isaiah, and we're gonna cover a couple of chapters today, because we're up to Isaiah 20, that's a short chapter, just six verses. We'll consider this oracle against Egypt and Ethiopia, and then after that, the oracle against Babylon.

So let's begin here with Isaiah chapter 20, verses one through six. I'll begin by reading from the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it.

At that time, Yahweh spoke by the hand of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying, go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet. And he did so, going naked and barefoot. And Yahweh said, even as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt.

Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Ethiopia, their hope, and Egypt, their boast. So the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, behold, such is our hope, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria.

And we, how shall we escape? So this is a pretty famous portion of the book of Isaiah. At least it's often mentioned and joked about, though few people probably know exactly where it's located. But this is the sign that God was giving through the prophet Isaiah of the way that Egypt and Ethiopia would be conquered and would be exiled and would be embarrassed.

They would be stripped and the exiles would go about naked. So the Lord had Isaiah go about naked to foretell of this that was coming. Isaiah wandered around naked for three years because Egypt and Ethiopia would be undergoing this for three years.

So Isaiah being a prophet of God, he does what the Lord tells him to do. Now, as most prophets did, especially during a time of woe or a time of warning, they would wear sackcloth and ashes. In this particular case, Isaiah is going to be wearing nothing.

So the instruction that comes at the start of chapter 20 is that Isaiah would loosen his sackcloth from his hips and take your shoes off your feet. So that indicates to us that that's what Isaiah was wearing.

He had sackcloth on because of the woeful oracles that he previously had to deliver. With this one in particular, he was going to go about naked. But this was to proclaim, this is what's coming upon the Egyptians and the Ethiopians.

And others would see this and tremble and say, if the Egyptians and the Ethiopians could not even withstand the strength and the might of Assyria, then what hope do the rest of us have that these other peoples would tremble and turn to the Lord God and so be saved?

The remnant would certainly be saved. Now, this is definitely going to get a lot of people's attention. As we have been going through these different oracles in Isaiah, you might be wondering, yeah, these things are being foretold of the destruction that's going to take place when Assyria sweeps the land, but how many people are really listening to it?

How many people would even consider or heed anything that Isaiah has to say? But this is certainly going to get their attention. When a guy is wandering around three years naked, there's going to be some news spread about that, especially when you consider, as we said in the beginning, or as I had mentioned in the introduction of the book of Isaiah, Isaiah was likely a priest, so he had a pretty significant position, not just some guy who's doing crazy things and claiming that the end of the world is coming.

This was a man that had a certain recognition in Judah as well. So he is going about naked, proclaiming the way that the Assyrians would come against Egypt and Ethiopia. The Egyptians and the Ethiopians would be stripped naked and would be exiled in just this form of shame.

Babylon's Fall Foretold

Then we get to chapter 21 and we have the oracle against Babylon. So let me read this chapter 21, verses one through 10. This particular chapter split into two parts. You have the oracle against Babylon, and then you have oracles concerning Edom and Arabia, which is the last half of chapter 21.

So let me read here the oracle concerning Babylon. The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea, as whirlwinds in the Negev sweep on. It comes from the wilderness, from a fearsome land. A harsh vision has been declared to me.

The treacherous one still deals treacherously and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam, lay siege, Medea. I have made an end of all the groanings she has caused. For this reason, my loins are full of anguish.

Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. My heart reels. Horror terrorizes me. The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink. Rise up, commanders, oil the shields, for thus the Lord says to me, go, station the lookout. Let him declare what he sees. Indeed, he shall see riders, horsemen in pairs, riders of donkeys, riders of camels.

So let him pay close attention, very close attention. Then the lookout called, O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, and I am stationed every night at my guard post. Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.

And one answered and said, fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the graven images of her gods are shattered on the ground. O my trampled people and my afflicted of the threshing floor, what I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.

So we have at the very start of this oracle, it says the oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. Now that is a title that is being given to Babylon, though we know what's being spoken about here or who's being spoken about is Babylon because of what is stated in verse nine.

And you probably recognize that statement. One answered and said, fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the graven images of her gods are shattered on the ground. That comes up again in Revelation, where Babylon is symbolic of those great empires or great cities of the world that will fall and be destroyed by Christ at the end.

None of the world's nations, none of the most extravagant or impressive major cities will stand when Christ returns. They will all be as Babylon and they will fall. And the kings of the world is talked about there in Revelation will mourn and weep over her.

So this is a picture of something that is happening or is about to happen during this time. And then it's even forecasting something that will come much later since the same statement is picked up again in the book of Revelation.

The destruction of Babylon during this time of the Jews is something that will even be a type of a greater destruction that will come later on when Christ will return and lay waste to the nations. He will smash them with a rod of iron as said in the prophecies.

Now with these 10 verses here, Matthew Henry in his abridged commentary says the following, Babylon was a flat country, abundantly watered. The destruction of Babylon so often prophesied of by Isaiah was typical of the destruction of the great foe of the New Testament church foretold in Revelation.

To the poor oppressed captives, it would be welcome news. To the proud oppressors, it would be grievous. Here is the alarm given to Babylon when forced by Cyrus. A donkey and a camel seem to be the symbols of the Medes and Persians.

Babylon's idols shall be so far from protecting her that they shall be broken down. True believers are the corn of God's floor. Hypocrites are but as chaff and straw with which the wheat is now mixed but from which it shall be separated.

The corn of God's floor must expect to be threshed by afflictions and persecutions. God's Israel of old was afflicted. Even then God owns it and is his still. In all events concerning the church past, present and to come, we must look to God who has power to do anything for his church and grace to do everything that is for her good.

I always appreciate Matthew Henry's commentaries in the prophets especially because he helps us to see not only how these things would pertain to this people at that time but how it would be relevant to us.

And we know that this is relevant to us not just recalling something that happened in the past but because these very same words are quoted with regards to things that are going to happen in the future in the book of Revelation.

Let's come back to the very start of the chapter once again. The Oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea as whirlwinds in the Negev sweep on. It comes from the wilderness from a fearsome land and certainly descriptive of the Babylonians as many people considered them to be fearsome.

Now in the previous chapter when Isaiah was given an Oracle concerning the Egyptians and the Ethiopians the Lord told him to strip naked because that was gonna be a picture of the way that the Ethiopians and Egyptians would be exiled.

The way their prisoners would be led out. Well here in chapter 21 with this prophecy concerning Babylon Isaiah feels great pain in his body and it is the pain that becomes prophetic regarding what is gonna happen with these things with this Oracle concerning Babylon.

So he says in verse two a harsh vision has been declared to me the treacherous one still deals treacherously and the destroyer still destroys. Go up Elam lay siege Medea. I have made an end of all the groaning that she has caused.

So now these nations are being summoned that are going to come against Babylon and end the treachery that they've caused to other nations of the world. Verse three for this reason my loins are full of anguish.

Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear so terrified I cannot see. So Isaiah is experiencing pain in some places that men don't typically experience this kind of pain but it is supposed to be symbolic of the way that a woman experiences labor pains before giving birth.

And so this is the pains of labor before this prophecy is given birth before it comes about so Isaiah feels this pain. He knows something great is about to happen because of the way the Lord has afflicted his body concerning this prophecy.

So in verse four my heart reels, horror terrorizes me. The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. Now not only is Isaiah feeling great stress in his body but even in his mind that's what verse four is about.

My heart reels, horror terrorizes me. So not only his body being afflicted but he is experiencing great distress. Verse five they set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink. Rise up commanders, oil the shields.

So this is a nation that is feeling pretty comfortable about themselves, they are reveling in the daytime and all of their sinfulness and debauchery. For thus the Lord says to me, verse six, go station the lookout, let him declare what he sees.

Indeed he shall see riders, horsemen in pairs, riders of donkeys, riders of camels. So let him pay close attention, very close attention. So while the Babylonians are gonna be feasting and enjoying the spoils of all the different peoples that they have conquered, the Lord is gonna bring about these other nations that will conquer the Babylonians.

So hence the statement and there's two nations in particular that's why it said that they are going to come in pairs. He shall see riders, horsemen in pairs and then mentions these animals, riders of donkeys and riders of camels.

Which again as mentioned earlier are symbolic of the Medes and the Persians. So let him pay close attention, very close attention. In verse eight, then the lookout called, oh Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower and I am stationed every night at my guard post.

So there is somebody watching out, waiting to see the fulfillment of this particular prophecy. So then in verse nine, now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs. Now what is being demonstrated here is that all of this is going to transpire it's all gonna come about very quickly.

When a woman is experiencing labor pains in such anguish that she can't stand it any longer, you know that she's about to give birth. This isn't like serious labor pains and then she enters into her next trimester.

This is the end of the pregnancy and the baby is coming. Hence the great pains that Isaiah was feeling earlier. So then you have this statement that's mentioned to the watchman and it's like immediately when he goes out and looks, there he sees exactly what he is told to look for.

So what is being communicated here is that all of this is gonna come upon the Babylonians quickly and suddenly. Now it's not immediately after this prophecy is being made, but rather after the Babylonians conquer Jerusalem and exile the Jews into Babylonian captivity.

It will be shortly after that, that they will quickly be conquered themselves by the Medes and the Persians. And so the terror that they had been afflicting to various peoples in the world will come to an end.

And it will happen as quickly as on a night that they're setting a table and spreading out the cloth and they're eating and drinking. We happen to know according to what happens in the book of Daniel, that that's exactly the way that this transpires.

Belshazzar, who was the son of Nebuchadnezzar, he was having a feast in which he had requested the gold and silver vessels that had been taken out of the tabernacle in Jerusalem would be brought to his nobles so that they might drink from them.

It was Belshazzar along with his wives and his concubines drank wine from the sacred vessels that were taken out of the temple. And so the Lord afflicted Belshazzar that night. There was the hand that appeared in the writing on the wall, meanie, meanie, teckle, a parson.

And Daniel came and translated for him exactly what that meant. Meanie, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. Teckle, you have been weighed on the scales and found lacking. A parson, your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and the Persians.

And it was that very night that those things happened. So this is what Isaiah is prophesying that, prophesying rather, that all of this is gonna come about and transpire in a very quick manner. And so even the watchman says, as soon as he's told, he looks out and he sees a troop of riders coming, horsemen and pears.

And one answered and said, fallen, fallen is Babylon and all the graven images of her gods are shattered on the ground. The Babylonians would turn to their gods to try to save them. And of course their gods are as nothing and will do nothing for them.

We've seen that with just about every oracle that we have read. The oracle concerning Egypt, they'll turn to their gods and their gods would be no help. The oracle concerning Damascus, they would turn to their gods.

And again, there would not be any deliverance. Philistia, Moab, all of that has entailed some sort of prophecy about those gods who are powerless to do what the Lord has declared, what he has decreed.

And so verse 10, oh, my people trampled, my afflicted of the threshing floor, what I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you. And then I'll finish up with this oracle concerning Edom and Arabia.

Edom, Arabia, and the Certainty of God's Judgment

The oracle concerning Duma, which is Edom, one keeps calling to me from Seir, watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night? The watchman says, morning comes, but also night.

If you would inquire, inquire, come back again. The oracle about Arabia, in the thickets of Arabia, you must spend the night, oh, caravans of the Danites, bring water to meet the thirsty, oh, inhabitants of the land of Tima, meet with bread the one who has fled, for they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword and from the bent bow and from the heaviness of battle.

For thus the Lord said to me in a year as a hired man would count it, all the glory of Keter will end and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Keter will be few, for Yahweh, the God of Israel has spoken.

So these oracles that are made against Edom and against Arabia will certainly come to pass. And it's in the book of Obadiah, where Obadiah is more particular about the oracle against Edom and the way that it would fall when God brings judgment against the Edomites because they decided to go against Israel who were their kinsmen rather than helping them.

So this is the conclusion of chapters 20 and 21, which we are looking at today. And once again, considering those words from Matthew Henry, in all events concerning the church, past, present and to come, we must look to God who has power to do anything for his church and grace to do everything that is for her good.

Though we might even be living in times that are hostile against the church, we continue to hold fast to Christ for he is even now and still purifying us for that day of glory, even in the midst of these things.

Hold fast to Christ, continue to walk in holiness, do not be intimidated by this world. As is said in Romans chapter eight, if God is for us, who can be against us? Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read here.

And I pray that it does have some modern relevance to us as we have seen these nations that have fallen by the hand of God. So it happens even in our world today, a nation is upheld by God or it is torn down by God.

But no matter what happens, those who are in Christ, in the nations that do the tearing down and in the nations that are torn down, everyone who is in Christ will be delivered and have everlasting life in your imperishable kingdom, which no one may conquer.

So help us to set our minds on things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Help us to live according to your ways today. It's in Jesus name we pray, amen.

This has been, When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

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