In an earlier article, “Babylon in Isaiah 13-14”,[1] it was suggested that Isa 13:17 referred to Median harassment of Israelite places of settlement in Media after the captivity of 722 (2 Kgs 17:6). The purpose of this note is to put another (better) suggestion into the field that is also consistent with the eighth century application of Isaiah 13 to the sack of Samaria and the deportation of the northern tribes which was argued in the article.
It cannot be assumed that Isa 13:17-18 refers to a Median conquest of the city of Babylon. Rather, it is just as possible that this verse begins a new oracle which predicts the role of Media in the downfall of Assyria in the late seventh century.[2] The juxtaposition of such an oracle with the previous oracle is easy to explain: the role of Assyria in the downfall of Samaria would be punished—they would be overthrown for the simple reason that the Lord intended to bring the northern tribes back home (Isa 14:1-3). This oracle, Isa 13:17-18, is included alongside the next oracle, Isa 13:19-22, because Assyria boasted of their possession of Babylon in their war propaganda during their campaign in Israel (725-722); their proud possession would become a desolation.
The advantage of this proposal is that it takes account of the mention of gold and silver: “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it” (Isa 13:17). The Israelite settlements would not be flush with silver and gold, but the Assyrian empire and its major cities would have an abundance of gold and silver. The prophecy predicts that the Medes would have no concern for such plunder. Assyria was their traditional enemy[3] and they were assisted in their destruction of Assyrian power by the Babylonians, their traditional ally.
The reason why Isaiah 13-14 are “The Burden of Babylon” is nothing to do with the peaceful capture of Babylon by Cyrus, but rather they are oracles that meet the war propaganda of Assyria directed against God’s people, viz. that they possessed Babylon, the Rome of their day, and that their king was the “king of Babylon”, a situation that had obtained since Tiglath-Pileser took the hand of Bel in 730-729.
[1] A. Perry “Babylon in Isaiah 13-14” in Christadelphian EJournal of Biblical Interpretation Annual 2007 (eds. A. Perry and P. Wyns; Sunderland Willow Publications, 2007), 11-15.
[2] G. Roux, Ancient Iraq (3rd ed.; London: Penguin, 1992), ch. 23.
[3] ARAB, 795, 812.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One