November 12, 2021 – Friday
Isaiah 14:18-20 NIV
18 All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.
19 But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
20 you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. Let the offspring of the wicked never be mentioned again.
Comment.
My intention here wax to look at verse 19 and the stones of the pit, but context is required thus two more verses and some more background. Here, in this chapter, the Lord’s compassion on Jacob is made clear by His plan to return His people to resettle in Israel from Babylon. Verses 3-21 are all about His judgment upon Babylon.
His anger seems not so much on what Babylon did, but how they did it as seen in verse 6 where Babylon is described as in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression. Babylon was also a nation full of itself, full of arrogance and verse 11 shows us how God intends to deal with such conceit, All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you.
People often wonder if the arrogant and those living in sin will ever get their just rewards. Verses 16-17 answer such wonderings as an introduction to our verses for today, Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?” Judgment does come! Listening to a Billy Graham sermon a few days ago and he noted how so many rich and famous people end ups committing suicide when money, fame, and drugs can no longer fill that empty hole in their hearts or souls. God made Babylon fall, made Hilter’s Germany fall, made Japan fall, made the USSR fall, made the Berlin wall fall, and He is not yet done. Those are nation states, but He also deals with individuals as Billy Graham showed in his sermon. It does not bode well for anyone to doubt God’s judgment.
Now though let us look at verse 19 and 20a, But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. One writer stated, As the passage stands, “the stones of the pit” represent the burial-place into which the carcases of the slain were indiscriminately thrown. When we read Like a corpse trampled underfoot, it helps to know among the ancients, this was considered the deepest degradation. For not to- have a proper burial was a grave insult intended to shame the deceased. To have one’s body simply discarded was a terrible fate. This final dishonor shows one has reached the end of life without anyone who cares or will take the time for a proper burial.
Gill’s Exposition of the Bible tells us all of this was very probably was the case of Belshazzar, when slain by the Chaldeans, whose body in a tumult might be neglected and trodden upon, and afterwards have no other burial than that of a common soldier in a pit; and instead of having a sepulchral monument erected over him, as kings used to have, had nothing but a heap of stones thrown upon him.
If we go to Daniel we find Belshazzar was the last Babylonian king and God foretold his end by writing on the wall.
The bottom line for me is that I can trust God to deal with those who need to be dealt with in His own time to accomplish His own plans.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank You for such teaching that Your judgment will come and it will be just. I do not need to doubt, but simply to wait on You and Your timing. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Dayton in Beavercreek