January 30, 2020

Isaiah 13:11-16


Rachel Workman: “I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil
    and the wicked for their sin.
I will crush the arrogance of the proud
    and humble the pride of the mighty.
12 I will make people scarcer than gold—
    more rare than the fine gold of Ophir.
13 For I will shake the heavens.
    The earth will move from its place
when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath
    in the day of his fierce anger.”

14 Everyone in Babylon will run about like a hunted gazelle,
    like sheep without a shepherd.
They will try to find their own people
    and flee to their own land.
15 Anyone who is captured will be cut down—
    run through with a sword.
16 Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes.
    Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.

The image of the woman in travail is used in Scripture to describe a time of judgment (v. 8; 21:3; 26:17; Jer. 6:24; Mic. 4:9–10; Matt. 24:8, where “sorrows” is “birthpains”; 1 Thess. 5:3). Isaiah looked beyond that day to the day when the Babylonian world system would be destroyed (Rev. 17—18). (Compare Isaiah 13:10 and Matthew 24:29; Joel 2:10; and Revelation 6:12–14; and see Jeremiah 50–51.)
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John Burnett:  11 I will punish the world for its evil,
    and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
    and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make people more rare than fine gold,
    and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
    and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
    in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And like a hunted gazelle,
    or like sheep with none to gather them,
each will turn to his own people,
    and each will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
    and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed in pieces
    before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
    and their wives ravished.

There are definitely some hard things said in this passage.  In the context of the last passage and the Day of the LORD reference, this is further description of what it will be like during the 7 year tribulation period.  It will not be pretty but it is the result of the sin of the world and God turning the world over to a depraved mind until Jesus returns at the end of this time.
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Tomorrow’s reading for Isaiah 14:1-8

The Lord will have compassion on Jacob;
    once again he will choose Israel
    and will settle them in their own land.
Foreigners will join them
    and unite with the descendants of Jacob.
Nations will take them
    and bring them to their own place.
And Israel will take possession of the nations
    and make them male and female servants in the Lord’s land.
They will make captives of their captors
    and rule over their oppressors.
On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has come to an end!
    How his fury[a] has ended!
The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,

    the scepter of the rulers,
which in anger struck down peoples
    with unceasing blows,
and in fury subdued nations
    with relentless aggression.
All the lands are at rest and at peace;
    they break into singing.
Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon
    gloat over you and say,
“Now that you have been laid low,
    no one comes to cut us down.”

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