Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 1. And will yet choose Israel.] That is, will still regard Israel as his chosen people; however he may seem to desert them, by giving them up to their enemies, and scattering them among the nations. Judah is sometimes called Israel; see Ezek. xiii. 16; Mal. i. 1; ii. 11: but the name of Jacob and of Israel, used apparently with design in this place, each of which names includes the twelve tribes, and the other circumstances mentioned in this and the next verse, which did not in any complete sense accompany the return from the captivity of Babylon, seem to intimate that this whole prophecy extends its views beyond that event.
Matthew Henry Commentary
- The armies of God's wrath. (Is. 13:1-5) The conquest of Babylon. (Is 13:6-18) Its final desolation. (Is. 13:19-22)
Is. 13:1-5 The threatenings of God's word press heavily upon the wicked, and are a sore burden, too heavy for them to bear. The person brought together to lay Babylon waste, are called God's sanctified of appointed ones; designed for this service, and made able to do it. The are called God's mighty ones, because they had their might from God and were now to use it for him. They come from afar. God can make thos a scourge and ruin to his enemies, who are farthest off, and therefor least dreaded.
Is. 13:6-18 We have here the terrible desolation of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. Those who in the day of their peace were proud, an haughty, and terrible, are quite dispirited when trouble comes. Their faces shall be scorched with the flame. All comfort and hope shal fail. The stars of heaven shall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened. Such expressions are often employed by the prophets, to describe the convulsions of governments. God will visit them for their iniquity, particularly the sin of pride, which brings men low. Ther shall be a general scene of horror. Those who join themselves to Babylon, must expect to share her plagues, Rev. 18:4. All that me have, they would give for their lives, but no man's riches shall be the ransom of his life. Pause here and wonder that men should be thus crue and inhuman, and see how corrupt the nature of man is become. And tha little infants thus suffer, which shows that there is an origina guilt, by which life is forfeited as soon as it is begun. The day of the Lord will, indeed, be terrible with wrath and fierce anger, fa beyond all here stated. Nor will there be any place for the sinner to flee to, or attempt an escape. But few act as though they believe these things.
Is. 13:19-22 Babylon was a noble city; yet it should be wholl destroyed. None shall dwell there. It shall be a haunt for wild beasts All this is fulfilled. The fate of this proud city is a proof of the truth of the Bible, and an emblem of the approaching ruin of the Ne Testament Babylon; a warning to sinners to flee from the wrath to come and it encourages believers to expect victory over every enemy of their souls, and of the church of God. The whole world changes and is liabl to decay. Wherefore let us give diligence to obtain a kingdom whic cannot be moved; and in this hope let us hold fast that grace whereb we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew כי3588 ירחם7355 יהוה3068 את853 יעקב3290 ובחר977 עוד5750 בישׂראל3478 והניחם3240 על5921 אדמתם127 ונלוה3867 הגר1616 עליהם5921 ונספחו5596 על5921 בית1004 יעקב׃3290
