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Expanded Comments | Additional Comments |
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| 1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. |
Burden of Babylon – The doom of Babylon. HG714:3
Mystic Babylon, Christendom. D26
Verses 1 to 13 are a description of the time of trouble. R5735:4
The extravagant language used in respect to the fall of Babylon was made extravagant because the divine testimony had reference to mystic Babylon more particularly than to literal Babylon. R2372:5; HG64:1; HG520:5
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| 2 Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain, lift up the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. |
Lift ye up a banner – The standard of the gospel of truth, divested of the traditional errors that have long beclouded it. D40
Upon the high mountain – Among those who constitute the true embryo Kingdom of God. D40
Exalt the voice – Earnestly and widely proclaim this truth. D41
Unto them – The bewildered sheep of the Lord's flock who are still in Babylon. D41
Shake the hand – Motion with the hand--let them see the power of the truth exemplified, as well as hear its proclamation. D41
That they – The true sheep. D41
Go into the gates – Realize the blessings of the truly consecrated. D41
Of the nobles – The heirs of the heavenly Kingdom. D41
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Exalt the voice – The voice of our Returned Lord, the voice of Present Truth. See Isa. 52:8 |
| 3 I have commanded my consecrated ones, yes, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even my proudly exulting ones. |
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| 4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people! the noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Jehovah of hosts is mustering the host for the battle. |
Of a multitude – Of a tumult. D21
In the mountains – Kingdoms. B146
A great people – Contending for real and fancied rights and liberties. B146
A tumultuous noise – "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout." (1 Thess. 4:16) B145, B147
Mustereth – He gathers the nations and assembles the kingdoms to pour upon them his indignation, even all his fierce anger. (Zeph. 3:8) D528
Host of the battle – Hosts of the time of trouble. A324; B146; D528
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In the mountains – In the Kingdoms (of Christendom.)
The kingdoms of nations gathered together – Joel 3:2
The LORD hosts mustereth the hosts for the battle – "And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Rev. 16:16 |
| 5 They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. |
To destroy – Nevertheless his judgment will be for the world's deliverance; for he wounds to heal. R1869:3
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| 6 Wail ye; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; as destruction from the Almighty shall it come. |
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| 7 Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt: |
Every man's heart – Every mortal's heart. D21
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| 8 and they shall be dismayed; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail: they shall look in amazement one at another; their faces shall be faces of flame. |
Be amazed one at another – Wonder every man at his neighbor. D21
Shall be as flames – Red like flames shall their faces glow. D21
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| 9 Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. |
Day of the LORD – The Day of Jehovah, which will accomplish the destruction of Babylon. R1352:6
The day of judgment divides into two parts. First, a "time of trouble"; and, secondly, a morning, driving away the mists of superstition. This text is fulfilled in the first of these portions. R268:4, R34:6*
Cruel – Direful. D21
Wrath – "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." (Rom. 1:18) R350:4*
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| 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine. |
Stars of heaven – The apostles. D591
The sun – The Gospel light, the truth, and thus, Christ. D590
And the moon – The light of the Mosaic Law. D590
Not cause her light – Symbolic of a spiritual night. R268:4, R35:1*
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| 11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. |
For their evil – In aggrandizing the few, heedless of the cries of the poor and needy. D149
Of the terrible – Of the tyrants. D22
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| 12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the pure gold of Ophir. |
A man more precious – The lives of multitudes will not then be sacrificed. D149
A man's life. D45
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| 13 Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. |
Shake the heavens – The powers of spiritual control. A318
And the earth – The present organization of society. C229; A323; D46
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| 14 And it shall come to pass, that as the chased roe, and as sheep that no man gathereth, they shall turn every man to his own people, and shall flee every man to his own land. |
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| 15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is taken shall fall by the sword. |
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| 16 Their infants also shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be rifled, and their wives ravished. |
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| 17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. |
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| 18 And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. |
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| 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. |
And Babylon – Verses 16 to 22 evidently referring to literal Babylon. R2372:5
Symbolic of mystic Babylon. R5092:2
The glory of kingdoms – Likewise, mystical Babylon, the great ecclesaistical kingdom, is exalted to power and dominion and backed, to a considerable degree, by the kings of the earth, the civil powers. D25
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| 20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. |
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| 21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there. |
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The wild beasts of the desert – Compare with Isa. 34:14
Doleful creatures – Doleful is Strong's 255 (used here only), taken from 253 which is translated as 'Alas.' Thus these are mourning, much like that described in Rev. 18:9-19. |
| 22 And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
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