Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 4. This proverb"This parable"] lm mashal, I take this to be the general name for poetic style among the Hebrews, including every sort of it, as ranging under one or other, or all of the characters, of sententious, figurative, and sublime; which are all contained in the original notion, or in the use and application of the word mashal. Parables or proverbs, such as those of Solomon, are always expressed in short pointed sentences; frequently figurative, being formed on some comparison; generally forcible and authoritative, both in the matter and the form. And such in general is the style of the Hebrew poetry. The verb mashal signifies to rule; to exercise authority; to make equal; to compare one thing with another; to utter parables, or acute, weighty, and powerful speeches, in the form and manner of parables, though not properly such. Thus Balaam's first prophecy, (Num. xxiii. 7-10) is called his mashal; though it has hardly any thing figurative in it: but it is beautifully sententious, and, from the very form and manner of it, has great spirit, force, and energy. Thus Job's last speeches, in answer to his three friends, chap. 27-31., are called mashals; from no one particular character, which discriminates them from the rest of the poem, but from the sublime, the figurative, the sententious manner which equally prevails through the whole poem, and makes it one of the first and most eminent examples extant of the truly great and beautiful in poetic style. See the note on Prov. i. 1.
The Septuagint in this place render the word by qrhnov, a lamentation.
They plainly consider the speech here introduced as a piece of poetry, and of that species of poetry which we call the elegiac; either from the subject, it being a poem on the fall and death of the king of Babylon, or from the form of the composition, which is of the longer sort of Hebrew verse, in which the Lamentations of Jeremiah, called by the Septuagint qrhnoi, are written.
The golden city ceased] hbhdm madhebah, which is here translated golden city, is a Chaldee word. Probably it means that golden coin or ingot which was given to the Babylonians by way of tribute. So the word is understood by the Vulgate, where it is rendered tributum; and by Montanus, who translates it aurea pensio, the golden pension. Kimchi seems to have understood the word in the same sense. De Rossi translates it auri dives, rich in gold, or auri exactrix, the exactor of gold; the same as the exactor of tribute.
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 ונשׂאת5375 המשׁל4912 הזה2088 על5921 מלך4428 בבל894 ואמרת559 איך349 שׁבת7673 נגשׂ5065 שׁבתה7673 מדהבה׃4062
