---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Isaiah 14:1. And will yet choose Israel. — That is, will still regard Israel as his chosen people; however he may seem to desert them, by giving the"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/isaiah/14"
---

Verse [Isaiah 14:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/1). ***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 [Ezekiel 13:16](../../../kjv/ezekiel/13/16); [Malachi 1:1](../../../kjv/malachi/1/1); [Malachi 2:11](../../../kjv/malachi/2/11): 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.

Verse [Isaiah 14:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/2). ***For servants and handmaids*** — *For thrallis and* *thrallesses*. - OLD BIBLE. Male and female slaves.

Verse [Isaiah 14:3](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/3). ***In the day*** - "In that day"] ביום ההוא *bayom hahu*. The word ההוא *hahu* is added in *two* MSS. of *Kennicott's*, and was in the copies from which the *Septuagint* and *Vulgate* translated: εν τῃ ἡμερᾳ εκεινῃ, *in die illa*, (ᾑ αναπαυσει, MS. Pachom. adding ה,) in that day. This is a matter of no great consequence: however, it restores the text to the common form, almost constantly used on such occasions; and is one among many instances of a word apparently lost out of the printed copies.

Verse [Isaiah 14:4](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/4). ***This proverb*** - "This parable"] משל *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, ([Numbers 23:7-10](../../../kjv/numbers/23/7-10),) 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, [Job 27:1-40](../../../kjv/job/27/1-40), 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. [Proverbs 1:1](../../../kjv/proverbs/1/1).
The *Septuagint* in this place render the word by θρηνος, *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* Θρηνοι, are written.
***The golden city ceased*** — מדהבה *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.

Verse [Isaiah 14:9](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/9). ***Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet*****thee**] That is, *Nebuchadnezzar*. "*It* (hell) hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the earth; - the *ghosts* (rephaim) of all the *mighty* *ones*, or *goats*, (עתודי attudey,) of the earth - all the oppressors of mankind." What a most terrible idea is here! Tyrannical kings who have oppressed and spoiled mankind, are here represented as *enthroned in hell*; and as taking a Satanic pleasure in seeing others of the same description enter those abodes of misery!

Verse [Isaiah 14:11](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/11). ***Cover thee*** - "Thy covering."] *Twenty-eight* MSS. (*ten* ancient) of *Kennicott's, thirty-nine* of *De Rossi's, twelve* editions, with the *Septuagint* and *Vulgate*, read ומכסך *umechassecha*, in the singular number.

Verse [Isaiah 14:12](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/12). ***O Lucifer, son of the morning*** — The *Versions* in general agree in this translation, and render הילל *heilel* as signifying *Lucifer*, Φωσφωρος, the *morning star*, whether *Jupiter* or *Venus*; as these are both *bringers of the morning light*, or *morning stars*, annually in their turn. And although the context speaks explicitly concerning Nebuchadnezzar, yet this has been, I know not why, applied to the chief of the fallen angels, who is most incongruously denominated *Lucifer*, (the bringer of light!) an epithet as common to him as those of *Satan* and *Devil*. That the Holy Spirit by his prophets should call this arch-enemy of God and man the *light-bringer*, would be strange indeed. But the truth is, the text speaks nothing at all concerning *Satan* nor his *fall*, nor the *occasion* of that fall, which many divines have with great confidence deduced from this text. O how necessary it is to understand the literal meaning of Scripture, that preposterous comments may be prevented! Besides, I doubt much whether our translation be correct. הילל *heilel*, which we translate *Lucifer*, comes from ילל *yalal, yell, howl*, or *shriek*, and should be translated, "Howl, son of the morning;" and so the *Syriac* has understood it; and for this meaning *Michaelis* contends: see his reasons in *Parkhurst*, under הלל *halal*.

Verse [Isaiah 14:13](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/13). ***I will ascend into heaven*** — I will get the empire of the whole world. *I will exalt my throne above the stars of* *God* - above the Israelites, who are here termed the stars of God. So the *Targum* of Jonathan, and *R. D. Kimchi*. This chapter speaks not of the ambition and fall of Satan, but of the pride, arrogance, and fall of Nebuchadnezzar.
***The mount of the congregation*** - "The mount of the Divine Presence"] It appears plainly from [Exodus 25:22](../../../kjv/exodus/25/22), and [Exodus 29:42-43](../../../kjv/exodus/29/42-43), where God appoints the place of meeting with Moses, and promises to meet with him before the ark to commune with him, and to speak unto him; and to meet the children of Israel at the door of the tabernacle; that the tabernacle, and afterwards the door of the tabernacle, and Mount Zion, (or Moriah, which is reckoned a part of Mount Zion,) whereon it stood, was called the tabernacle, and the mount of convention or of appointment; not from the people's assembling there to perform the services of their religion, (which is what our translation expresses by calling it the tabernacle of the congregation,) but because God appointed that for the place where he himself would meet with Moses, and commune with him, and would meet with the people. Therefore הר מועד *har moed*, the "mountain of the assembly," or אהל מועד *ohel moed*, the "tabernacle of the assembly," means the place appointed by God, where he would present himself; agreeably to which I have rendered it in this place, *the mount of the Divine Presence*.

Verse [Isaiah 14:19](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/19). ***Like an abominable branch*** - "Like the tree abominated"] That is, as an object of abomination and detestation; such as the tree is on which a malefactor has been hanged. "It is written," saith St. Paul, [Galatians 3:13](../../../kjv/galatians/3/13), "Cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree," from [Deuteronomy 21:23](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/21/23). The Jews therefore held also as accursed and polluted the tree itself on which a malefactor had been executed, or on which he had been hanged after having been put to death by stoning. "Non suspendunt super arbore, quae radicibus solo adhaereat; sed super ligno eradicato, ut ne sit excisio molesta: nam lignum, super quo fuit aliquis suspensus, cum suspendioso sepelitur; ne maneat illi malum nomen, et dicant homines, Istud est lignum, in quo suspensus est ille, ὁ δεινα. Sic lapis, quo aliquis fuit lapidatus; et gladius, quo fuit occisus is qui est occisus; et sudarium sive mantile, quo fuit aliquis strangulates; omnia haec cum iis, qui perierunt, sepeliuntur." *Maimonides, apud Casaub. in Baron. Exercitat*. xvi. An. 34, Num. 134. "Cum itaque homo suspensu maximae esset abominationi - Judaei quoque prae caeteris abominabantur lignum quo fuerat suspensus, ita ut illud quoque terra tegerent, tanquam rem abominabilem. Unde interpres Chaldaeus haec verba transtulit כחט טמור *kechat temir*, sicut virgultum absconditum, sive sepultum." *Kalinski, Vaticinta* *Observationibus Illustrata*, p. 342.
"The Jews never hang any malefactor upon a tree that is *growing* *in the earth*, but upon a post fixed in the ground, that it might never be said, 'That is the tree on which such a one was hanged;' for custom required that the tree should be *buried* with the *malefactor*. In like manner the *stone* by which a criminal was *stoned to death*, or the *sword* by which he was *beheaded*, or the *napkin* or *handkerchief* by which he was *strangled*, should be buried with him in the same grave." "For as the hanged man was considered the *greatest abomination*, so the very *post* or *wood* on which he was hanged was deemed a most abominable thing, and therefore buried under the earth."
Agreeably to which *Theodoret, Hist. Ecclesiast*. i. 17, 18, in his account of the finding of the cross by Helena, says, "That the three crosses were buried in the earth near the place of our Lord's sepulchre." And this circumstance seems to confirm the relation of the discovery of the cross of Christ. The crosses were found where the custom required they should be buried.
***The raiment of those that are slain*** - "Clothed with the slain"] *Thirty-five* MSS., (*ten* ancient,) and *three* editions, have the word fully written, לבוש *lebush*. It is not a noun, but the participle passive; thrown out among the common slain and covered with the dead bodies. So [Isaiah 14:11](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/11), the earth-worm is said to be his bed-covering. This reading is confirmed by two ancient MSS. in my own collection.

Verse [Isaiah 14:20](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/20). ***Because thou hast destroyed thy land***, c. - "Because thou hast destroyed thy country thou hast slain thy people"] Xenophon gives an instance of this king's wanton cruelty in killing the son of Gobrias, on no other provocation than that, in hunting, he struck a boar and a lion which the king had missed. *Cyrop*. iv. 309.

Verse [Isaiah 14:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/23). ***I will sweep it with the besom of destruction*** - "I will plunge it in the miry gulf of destruction"] I have here very nearly followed the Version of the *Septuagint*; the reasons for which see in the last note on De Poesi Hebr. Praelect, xxviii.
*The besom of destruction*, as our Version renders it. במטאטא *bematate*. This, says *Kimchi*, is a *Chaldee* word: and it is worthy of remark that the prophet, writing to the *Chaldeans*, uses several words peculiar to their own language to point out the *nature* of the Divine judgments, and the *causes* of them. [Jeremiah 10:11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/10/11). *Sixteen* of *Kennicott's* MSS., and *seventeen* of *De Rossi's*, and *one* ancient of my own, have the word במטאטי *bematatey*, in the plural. "I will sweep her with the besoms of destruction."

Verse [Isaiah 14:25](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/25). ***I will break the Assyrian - upon my mountains*** - "To crush the Assyrian - on my mountains"] The Assyrians and Babylonians are the same people, Herod. i. 199, 200. Babylon is reckoned the principal city in Assyria, *ibid*. 178. Strabo says the same thing, lib. xvi. *sub init*. The circumstance of this judgment being to be executed on God's mountains is of importance; it may mean the destruction of Sennacherib's army near Jerusalem, and have a still farther view: compare [Ezekiel 39:4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/39/4); and see Lowth on this place of Isaiah.

Verse [Isaiah 14:28](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/28). ***In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden*** — Uzziah had subdued the Philistines, [2 Chronicles 26:6-7](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/26/6-7); but, taking advantage of the weak reign of Ahaz, they invaded Judea, and took, and held in possession, some cities in the southern part of the kingdom. On the death of Ahaz, Isaiah delivers this prophecy, threatening them with the destruction that Hezekiah, his son, and great-grandson of Uzziah, should bring upon them: which he effected; for "he smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof," [2 Kings 18:8](../../../kjv/2-kings/18/8). Uzziah, therefore, must be meant by the rod that smote them, and by the serpent from whom should spring the flying fiery serpent, [Isaiah 14:29](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/29), that is, Hezekiah, a much more terrible enemy than even Uzziah had been.
The *Targum* renders the *twenty-ninth* verse in a singular way. "For, from the sons of Jesse shall come forth the Messiah; and his works among you shall be as the flying serpent."

Verse [Isaiah 14:30](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/30). ***And the first-born of the poor, c.*** — The *Targum* goes on applying all to the *Messiah*. "And the poor of the people shall he feed, and the humble shall dwell securely in his days: and he shall kill thy children with famine, and the remnant of thy people shall he slay."
***I will kill***- "He will slay"] The *Septuagint* reads המית *hemith,* *in the third person*, ανελει and so the *Chaldee*. The *Vulgate* remedies the confusion of persons in the present text, *by* reading both the verbs in the first person.

Verse [Isaiah 14:31](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/31). ***There shall come from the north a smoke***- "From the north cometh a smoke"] That is, a cloud of dust raised by the march of Hezekiah's army against Philistia; which lay to the south-west from Jerusalem. A great dust raised has, at a distance, the appearance of smoke: *Fumantes pulvere campi*; "The fields *smoking* with dust." - VIRG. AEn. xi. 908.

Verse [Isaiah 14:32](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/32). ***The messengers of the nation*** - "The ambassadors of the nations"] The *Septuagint* read גוים *goyim*, εθνων, plural; and so the *Chaldee*, and one MS. The ambassadors of the neighbouring nations, that send to congratulate Hezekiah on his success, which in his answer he will ascribe to the protection of God. See [2 Chronicles 32:23](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/32/23). Or, if גוי *goi singular*, the reading of the text, be preferred, the ambassadors sent by the Philistines to demand peace. - L.
***The Lord hath founded Zion*** — *Kimchi* refers this to the state of *Zion* under Hezekiah, when the rest of the cities of Judea had been taken, and this only was left for a *hope* to the poor of God's people: and God so defended it that Rabshakeh could not prevail against it.
The true Church of God is a place of safety; for as all its members are devoted to God, and walk in his testimonies, so they are continually defended and supported by him. In the congregations of his people, God dispenses his light and salvation; hence his *poor* or humble ones expect in his ordinances the blessings they need.

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