Isaiah 13:1

The burden. Or, “load”; technically, as here, “oracle,” “solemn message.” This title is often employed by Isaiah for messages delivered against various powers (see chs. 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; 21:1; 22:1; 23:1). This “burden” continues through ch. 14:28 (see on ch. 14:1). It came in the year 716/715 (see on ch. 14:28). Having delivered a series of messages against Judah and Jerusalem, Isaiah now directs his attention to the surrounding nations. This section includes chs. 13-23. These messages were borne, not primarily to the nations mentioned in them, but to God’s own people, Israel, in order that they might understand God’s dealings with the nations about them. Isaiah begins with Babylon and, in turn, discusses such nations as Moab, Syria, Ethiopia, and Tyre. In the patriarchal period Babylon had been the great power of the Orient. But about 800 years before the time of Isaiah, Babylon passed into a state of eclipse, while such nations as Egypt, Assyria, and the Hittite empire occupied dominant places in Near Eastern affairs.

Though, in Isaiah’s day, a vassal kingdom of the Assyrian Empire, Babylon was beginning to regain its lost power, and within another century was again to be the outstanding nation of Western Asia. In 729/728 Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria became king of Babylon, ailing under the name of Pulu, and in 709 Sargon became king of Babylon. During the reigns of Sargon and Sennacherib, Merodach-baladan of Babylon posed a serious threat to Assyrian power. He was repeatedly driven from Babylon, but always came back. It was Merodach-baladan who courted an alliance with Hezekiah, to assist him in his struggles against Assyria. Infuriated by the frequent revolts of Babylon, Sennacherib, in 689, destroyed the city, which was rebuilt later in that century. On this period see Vol. II, pp. 61-65, 87, 88, 156, 157.