Commentaria in Isaiam
Chapter 13
This chapter is the third part of the prophecy of Isaias (for the second is from chapter 7 to here), and lasts to chapter 24, and contains threatening oracles concerning Babylon, the Idumeans and other nations; both that the Gentiles may not insult the Jews on hearing or reading in Isaias the oracles of their destruction, and that he may console the calamity of the Jews by the calamity of others, especially of enemies. This chapter, then, and the following, depicts vividly the destruction of Babylon, and under its type the day of judgment, the destruction of the world, the damnation of Lucifer (whom he even names, chapter 14:12) and of the reprobate. Jeremias treats the same subject, chapters 50 and 51.
In this chapter, therefore, first, God, like a general of war, raising a standard, calls forth Cyrus and the Persians against Babylon. Second, verse 6, he foretells how dreadful that day of destruction will be, so that sun, moon and stars seem to fall from heaven. Third, verse 16, he foretells that not only men but also infants will be slain, and women ravished. Fourth, verse 19, he says that Babylon is to be overthrown like Sodom, so that not men, but wild beasts shall dwell there.
1. The burden of Babylon, which Isaias the son of Amos saw. 2. Upon the dark mountain lift ye up a banner, exalt your voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers go into the gates. 3. I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my strong ones in my wrath, them that rejoice in my glory. 4. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as it were of many people, the noise of the sound of kings, of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts hath given charge to the army of war, 5. to them that come from a country afar off, from the end of heaven: the Lord, and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land. 6. Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near: it shall come as a destruction from the Lord. 7. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every heart of man shall melt, 8. and shall be broken. Gripings and pains shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman in labour: every one shall be amazed at his neighbour, their countenances shall be as faces burnt. 9. Behold the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10. For the stars of heaven, and their brightness, shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. 11. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty. 12. A man shall be more precious than gold, and a man than the finest gold. 13. For this I will trouble the heaven: and the earth shall be moved out of her place, for the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and for the day of his fierce wrath. 14. And it shall be as a doe fleeing away, and as a sheep: and there shall be none to gather them together: every man shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land. 15. Every one that shall be found, shall be slain: and every one that shall come to their aid, shall fall by the sword. 16. Their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes: their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished. 17. Behold I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not seek silver, nor desire gold: 18. but with arrows they shall kill the children, and they shall have no pity upon the sucking infants, and their eye shall not spare their sons. 19. And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, the famous pride of the Chaldeans, shall be even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha. 20. It shall no more be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be founded unto generation and generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tents there, nor shall shepherds rest there. 21. But wild beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be filled with serpents, and ostriches shall dwell there, and the hairy ones shall dance there: 22. and owls shall answer one another there in the houses thereof, and sirens in the temples of pleasure.
A sad and calamitous prophecy is called a “burden,” both because it is laid upon this or that people like a heavy burden and weight, and because the Prophets with trouble and reluctance lift it, like a weight, to their mouth, utter it, and impose it on their hearers. So St. Jerome, the Septuagint and others. Second, for “burden” the Hebrew is massa, which signifies various things, namely burden, weight, assumption, lifting. Hence the Septuagint render it lemma, that is, assumption, because a prophecy is as it were a mandate of God, which the Prophet takes up with ear and mind, so that he may utter it to those of whom Isaias treats, Babylon and the others to whom it is directed by God. Again, prophecy is called assumption and elevation, because the mind of the Prophet is in it raised to God to hear his oracles. The Syrians render it maskelo, that is, a carrying away, a departure, because the mind of the Prophet seems to depart from itself and to be carried away by God to see what is remote and future: although the Syriac maskelo signifies more.
Morally, see how great is the burden of sin, which draws so great a burden after it.
Mystically, St. Bernard, in the sermon On the Eleven Burdens of Isaias, expounds them one by one, and says: “The holy Isaias describes to us eleven burdens in prophetic speech: the first, the burden of Babylon; the second, the burden of the Philistines; the third, the burden of Moab; the fourth, the burden of Damascus; the fifth, the burden of the desert of the sea; the sixth, the burden of Egypt; the seventh, the burden of Duma; the eighth, the burden in Arabia; the ninth, the burden of the valley of vision; the tenth, the burden of Tyre; the eleventh, the burden of the beasts of the south. And what is a burden but a certain weight pressing down the soul, and inclining it to the earth, making it look to lower things and neglect higher? Such a burden comes to us sometimes from delight in the world, and this is the burden of Babylon; sometimes from the assault of unclean Spirits, and this is the burden of the Philistines; sometimes from a certain natural and unavoidable necessity, and this is the burden of Moab; sometimes from the darkness of ignorance, and this is the burden of Egypt; sometimes from an infirmity born in us, and this is the burden of Damascus; sometimes from the persecution of the malicious, and this is the burden of the desert of the sea; sometimes from a hidden vexation of the mind, and this is the burden of Duma; sometimes from the fear of death, and this is the burden in Arabia; sometimes from vanity, when we make progress, and this is the burden of the valley of vision; sometimes from the narrowness of what we endure, and this is the burden of Tyre; sometimes from charity, when we desire to profit others, and this is the burden of the beasts of the south.” Then he takes them one by one in order, which I have woven in at their places, and at last, assigning to each burden its remedy, he concludes thus:
“Let each one examine himself, and see what burden he bears, and what he fears to bear in the future. If he is under the burden of Babylon, let him detest it and cast it off, lest, if he is conformed to her works, he be not exempt from her punishments.
Under the burden of the Philistines let him see that he is not made drunk by their drinkings, and made like them in guilt, to be like them in punishment.
But if he feels himself labouring under the burden of Moab, let him beware of indulging the necessities of the body so that Nabuzardan destroy the walls of Jerusalem; nor so satisfy it that he burn with him for ever. But if the burden of Damascus has pressed the shoulder, let him beware lest he lay hands on himself; and so, sowing in the flesh, from the flesh reap corruption. Further, if the burden of Egypt lies upon him, let him cast away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; lest, if he gladly gives his mind to inner darkness here, he be someday against his will tormented in the outer. Moreover, if the burden of the desert of the sea has afflicted him with the persecutions of the malicious, let him not fail nor be broken; lest what they have inflicted on him through malice, he suffer through impatience. But if the burden of Duma, that is of silence, has made him impatient, or shame and confusion have blocked confession, let him beware the weight of punishment which the Prophet threatens to such silent ones. But if, pressed by the burden of Arabia, he fears death, let him so conduct himself according to nature that he does not fear it on account of conscience; lest he be pressed not only by Arabia but also crushed with Arabia by the burden of eternal damnation. Besides, if, sighing under the burden of the valley of vision, he has fought against vanity, let him beware lest he fall from the mountain of contemplation into the valley of error, to be overwhelmed by that very burden which the Prophet describes in the burden of the Valley of Vision. But if under the burden of Tyre, on account of present labours and sorrows, faint-heartedness has cast his mind into despair, let him beware above all the narrowness of his own will; that, his heart enlarged, he may go gladly through all the narrownesses of this life, and so escape the eternal weight of misery which is threatened to Tyre. Lastly, if under the burden of the beasts of the south he has fainted with weariness, let him think and know that if he casts off the burden of charity, he will undeservedly bear the burden of damnation.” Finally St. Bernard teaches that Christ frees us from all these burdens, by grace begun in this life, by glory perfected in the next. His help, therefore, must be implored constantly by the burdened one. All this is apposite enough, except that in the last burden by the beasts of the south he understands the pious and sympathetic burden of charity.