Isaiah 14

Wesley: Fallen—from the height of thy glory. Lucifer—which properly is a bright star, that ushers in the morning; but is here metaphorically taken for the mighty king of Babylon. Son—the title of son is given not only to one begotten, but to anything related, as the sons of Arcturus. Day Star is that king.

Fallen from heaven is fallen from glory. The taunt already begun against the king of Babylon continues here.

Calvin: he compares him to Lucifer, the Son of the Dawn, on account of his splendor and brightness above others. The exposition which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance; the context shows the king of the Babylonians. It was gross ignorance to imagine Lucifer the king of devils; pass by those inventions as useless fables.

Shared with Wesley: this is the king of Babylon. Cut down to the ground is the Lord’s doing. “Shining one” is that monarch’s brightness.

Wesley: I—I will advance myself above the state of a weak man. Above—above all other kings and potentates; or, above the most eminent persons of God’s church. North—a more exact description of the place of the temple; it stood upon mount Moriah, northward from the hill of Zion strictly so called.

The “I will” is that king’s heart. Shared pride: he said he would ascend.

Calvin: yet thou saidst in thy heart; to say means to resolve in one’s mind. He ridicules the pride of the Babylonian monarch. I will sit on the mountain of the testimony: by this effrontery he attempted to make himself equal to God. The blasphemy is proved in that he attacked heaven itself rather than an earthly place.

The mount of assembly is the covenant site. The king’s heart aimed at God’s presence with his people.

Wesley: Like—in the uncontrolableness of my power, and the universal extent of my dominion. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. Agreed on both sides: the boast is the king of Babylon’s.

Likeness to the Most High is uncontrolable dominion in his own mouth. The warning stood while he still said “I will.”

Calvin: all who ascribe more to themselves than God allows are chargeable with exalting themselves against God; where pride is, contempt of God must be. He is not accused of exalting himself above angels, but of endeavoring to crush the Church of God. Satan’s “Ye shall be as gods” is named as the same pattern of pride, not as a reading that this verse is the devil.

The tyrant who assaults Zion assaults the Lord who dwells there.

Wesley is silent on this verse; nearest: fallen from the height of glory, and like the Most High in uncontrolable power. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. I will ascend / brought down to Sheol.

The pit answers the boast. The king of Babylon is the man brought down.

Calvin: he contrasts the king’s intention—his throne above the clouds—with the sides of the pit, some corner of a sepulcher into which he shall be thrown. The Lord from on high laughs at the pride of the ungodly; in the twinkling of an eye he overturns their schemes.

Brought down to Sheol is the Lord’s contrast, not chance. The oppressor is brought down to Sheol. The depths of the pit are that king’s end.

Wesley is silent on this verse; nearest: fallen from glory, the mighty king of Babylon cut down. Those who see you will stare and ponder: Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms?

Staring is the taunt’s punch.

Calvin: they first ask if it be possible that he who, by the slightest expression of his will, made the earth to tremble, should be so quickly and easily laid low. Tyrants, with all their cruelty, are like clouds that threaten to destroy everything and are scattered in a moment.

“Is this the man” is astonishment under God’s hand. The man is the king of Babylon. The earth trembled at that scepter.

Wesley: Cried not—whereby he signifies both his irresistible power, and his continued cruelty. Who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities, who didn’t release his prisoners to their home.

Cruelty was chosen under that scepter. Prisoners kept is Babylon’s manner, not a modern labor slogan. The warning stood.

Calvin: he expresses the cruel and savage disposition of the tyrant: he brought desolation on the world, overthrew cities, did not release prisoners. Tyrants choose rather to be feared than to be loved. They think the only way to reign is to strike terror by inexorable cruelty.

The Judge gives like for like. Common ground: this is that king’s world-made-desert.

Wesley: All—that is, other things most commonly do. Lie—are buried in their own sepulchres, having stately monuments erected to their memory. All the kings of the nations sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.

Glory in a tomb is still a burial. The contrast is coming: this king will not lie as they lie.

Calvin: he contrasts the king of Babylon with other kings, that after death he will be more wretched than the rest. He does not venture to limit this to Nebuchadnezzar alone, because it does not appear from history that he was denied burial. He therefore describes not a single man but a whole dynasty.

Lying in glory is the ordinary honor of dead kings.

Wesley: Cast out—or, cast from thy grave or burying-place. Which very probably happened to Belshazzar, when his people had neither opportunity nor heart to bestow an honourable interment upon him, and the conquerors would not suffer them to do it. Like—like a rotten twig of a tree, which he that prunes the trees casts away. Trodden—neglected, like such a carcase. And this might literally happen to Belshazzar’s dead body.

An abominable branch, clothed with the slain: honest disgrace, not sensational gore. Wesley’s hook is Belshazzar, historic. Do not copy the trampling.

Calvin: the kings of Babylon will be loaded with such disgrace that they will even be cast out of the sepulcher. As hurtful trees are rooted out, the king of Babylon does not deserve a place among men. Their bloody bodies are thrown into a ditch with their rotten garments.

Denied burial is judgment on that tyranny, not a license to desecrate. Cast out, away from the grave.

Wesley: Joined—not buried as they are. Slain—thou hast exercised great tyranny and cruelty, not only to thine enemies, but even to thine own subjects. The seed—such as Belshazzar was, being descended from that Nebuchadnezzar who had made such horrid slaughters. Renowned—or, shall not be renowned for ever: although I have long borne with thee and thy family.

He destroyed his land and slain his people. The offspring of evildoers: that royal house, not a living people now. The long bearing was true; the cutting off is no illusion.

Calvin: he who has laid the earth desolate does not deserve that the earth shall receive him into its bosom. The Lord punishes the pride of wicked men who wish to leave a perpetual remembrance; he blots out their name. The righteous shall be held in perpetual remembrance; the remembrance of the wicked must be destroyed.

Not joined in burial because of blood on his own land. The king of Babylon’s house is the seed named here.

Wesley: Children—cut off all the branches of the royal family. Rise—not recover their former power. Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities.

Be honest—this is judgment on a royal house so it does not rise again. We do not sensationalize slaughter. We do not aim this verse at a living people.

Calvin: he does not speak of innocent children, but of flagitious and unprincipled children who perhaps even exceeded their parents; they were justly associated with their parents. God never punishes those who do not deserve it. The children of the reprobate, whom the curse of God pursues, are liable to the same sentence.

Name the judgment without relish. The LORD cuts off a house so it does not fill the world with cities. On this both agree: slaughter prepared for Babylon’s sons. Not a permit to imitate it.

Wesley: Remnant—the remembrance of those that are dead, and the persons of those who yet survive. I will rise up against them, says the LORD of Armies, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and posterity.

Name, remnant, and descendants are all cut off: the dynasty that exalted itself (vv. 13–14) is ended by the LORD himself.

Calvin: the Lord now declares that he will do what he had commanded others to do. Men are instruments; he is, strictly speaking, the Author of the work. I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, son and grandson. He meant not only the posterity but the remembrance.

“I will rise up” is the LORD of hosts. Cut off from Babylon. The Author is God; Medes and others are servants.

Wesley: Bittern—a great water fowl, which delights in solitary places, as also in watery grounds. Such as those were about Babylon. Pools—the ground about Babylon was of itself very moist, because of the great river Euphrates, kept from overflowing with charge and labour; this being neglected, when the city was destroyed, it was easily turned into pools of water.

Hedgehog, pools, broom of destruction: honest emptying of a site, not sensational. Wesley’s Euphrates neglected is hydrology. The broom is the Lord’s, over Babylon, not over a modern skyline.

Calvin: henceforth it will not be a habitation of men, but will resemble a hideous cavern in which wild beasts shall lurk. He spoke of an animal found near the water; Babylon lay in a moist place, watered by the Euphrates and the Tigris. The Lord threatens to bring a deluge upon it. I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.

The broom is his. Babylon made a possession for the porcupine. Pools and sweep are the decree made visible on that ground.