14 When the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male servants and female servants; and [a]they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.
3 And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, 4 that you will take up this [b]taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,
“How the oppressor has ceased,
And how [c]fury has ceased!
5 “The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers
6 Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which [d]subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
7 “The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They break forth into shouts of joy.
8 “Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
9 “Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;
It arouses for you the [e]spirits of the dead, all the [f]leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 “They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.
11 ‘Your pomp and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
Gross, just gross! But in case you didn’t pick up on it, the “taunt” and especially v. 10-11 simply indicates that Babylon is dead, along with her king, and warriors. The empire that “used to strike the peoples in fury” is no more–or will be no more, since that day was still yet to come.
And again, it seems harsh, but Isaiah is speaking of a nation that would see first-hand the work of God. First, the king (Nebuchadnezzar) would have a dream of a statue foretelling the fall of his nation. In it, they were the head of gold, with other nations represented by iron, bronze, and clay. But what does the king do? He promotes Daniel, but builds a statue of solid gold (to represent himself), head to foot, and commands all to worship it.
Three of Daniel’s friends refuse, are tossed into a furnace, come out unscathed, and the Nebuchadnezzar decrees that no one should ever speak against their God. All the officials of the kingdom were witness to this, and yet later God has to send the king another dream warning him of his pride. He doesn’t listen, goes mad (crazy), then grazes in the fields like a cow for several years.
There’s more recorded in the book of Daniel, but I think you get the picture. This was not a nation who had no idea who God was. They knew, and continued in their wickedness, thinking they were untouchable. They were not, as time would tell, and God would remove them and their swollen pride.
Once again, we come back to pride. Yes, we can and will accomplish great things, but to what end? Are we doing it for God’s glory, or our own? He sees our very heart, and we should be sure that it is not the latter. Seek him with your whole heart, and hold nothing back. God isn’t willing that any should perish (John 3), yet He will not force anything on us.
He didn’t want that for Babylon, and even in this prophecy we see that some would “attach themselves to the house of Jacob.” Why? Because I’m sure not everyone in Babylon was as stubborn as the king, so some decided to find out who God really was and serve Him. Much like Ruth, who followed Naomi home, these would not see Sheol with the rest of their nation.
Our nation is not so different, in fact it is highly probable that America is the Babylon of the prophecies in the book of Revelation. We have plenty we could be puffed up about, but it is not our doing. We must choose to see the hand of God at work, and follow His guiding, giving all glory to God along the way.