After issuing a warning concerning Babylon’s imminent and permanent destruction, Isaiah looks forward to a future time of blessing for Israel, when Yahwah brings His people out of bondage from under the Babylonian exile.

In chapter 14 verse 1 of his prophecy, Isaiah declares, “Yahwah will pity Jacob and will choose Israel again and will settle/give rest to them on their land. The foreigner will join himself to them and they will be joined to Jacob.”

[Comment: This verse has taken on new meaning for me in the wake of the hullabaloo that has been raised over the issue of Replacement Theology. Here is a prime reference to the fact that Yahwah has not abandoned the Jews, but will return them to their ancestral home. The alien/sojourner in this context can be none other than the ekklesia, which will be grafted into a believing Israel, the quintessential qahal, as intended by Yahwah. Please cf. my post https://thedragonisslain.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=670&action=edit ] (Theoretical Reconstruction of the Derivation of the Conceptual Word ‘Church’).

As we have stated previously [please cf. my post https://the-dragon-is-slain.com/2024/12/03/the-roar-of-war-the-roar-of-death-and-the-roar-of-victory-the-eternal-sons-roar-was-heard-once-and-will-be-heard-once-more-are-you-ready/], much of biblical prophecy involves a near-future and a far-future fulfillment. This verse is a case in point. Ancient Israel did return to Canaan at the end of the Babylonian exile.

I would like to draw attention to verses 3-4 of Isaiah 14, where Isaiah is proclaiming that Yahwah will bring Israel’s exile in Babylon to an end. He declares, ³“Behold, in the day Yahwah will secure rest for you from your hardship/pain/distress and from your turmoil and from the enforced hard labor which was forced on you, ⁴you will lift up this song to the king of Babylon and you will say, ‘How the tyrant has ceased, the forced payment of taxes or tribute has ended.’

וְהָי֗הָ בְּי֨וֹם הָנִ֤יחַ יהוה לְךָ֔ מֵעָצְבְּךָ וּמֵרָגְזֶ֑ךָ וּמִן-הָעֲבֹדָ֥ה הַקָּשָׁ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר וְנָשָׂ֝אתָ הַמָּשָׁ֥ל הַזֶ֛ה עַל-מֶ֥֥לֶךְ בָּבֶ֖ל וְאָמָ֑רְתָּ אֵיךְ שָׁבַ֣ת נֹגֵ֔שׂ שָׁבְתָ֖ה מַדְהֵבָה׃

[Translation note: More times than may be realized, a word pops up in a given Hebrew text that causes some consternation among Hebrew Bible scholars. One such instance is found in verse 4 of the above text regarding the last word of the sentence, ‘madheyvah’ | מַדְהֵבָה, which the Hebrew & Chaldean Lexicon defines as ‘exactress’ of gold (‘aurum,’ as renowned Hebraist and Biblical Hebrew scholar, Franz Delitzsch refers to it). In his commentary on Isaiah, Delitzsch identifies the word ‘madheyvah’ (מַדְהֵבָָָה) as a ‘one-off,’ i.e., a ‘hapax legomenon,’ which, he claims, was never understood to refer to gold; therefore, translator-commentators have felt obligated to decipher what the original word had been prior to its being corrupted by scribes’ miscopying and thereby yielding the form given in the previous sentence.]

[Comment: We are able to address Delitzsch’s objection with the observation that in the previously-mentioned Hebrew & Chaldean Lexicon, its author, Benjamin Davidson notes under the lexical entry ‘d^ehav’ (דְהַב) – the triliteral root from which the noun ‘madheyvah’ is derived – that this is the Chaldean for the Hebrew ‘zahav’ (זָהָב), meaning ‘gold.’ It seems quite logical and in keeping with this consonant interchange of d/z to accept the noun to retain a ‘gold’-related meaning.]

To support his argument, Delitzsch notes that other translator-commentators have opted for an alternative word used by Isaiah in chapter 3:5 (רָהַב), from which they draw the conclusion that the d/ד in ‘madheyvah’ (מַדְהֵבָָָה) should have been an r/ר with the resulting word meaning ‘arrogant, violent treatment.’ Delitzsch, on the other hand, suggests the ‘h’ (heh/ה) should be replaced by the silent consonant ‘a’ (aleph/א), resulting in a word meaning to ‘flow/pine away,’ with the sense being “the place where they reduce to pining away, ‘da’av’ (דָָּאַב), i.e., Babylon, as a house of servitude where Israel has been made weary to death.”

I would submit a third speculative possibility, which 1) would seem apropos of the context of the passage; and, 2) has a lexical representation similar to that of the word under discussion, as is found in Psalm 140:12, whereas the possibilities given in the paragraph above are not found in the Hebrew Bible and must be reconstructed from whole cloth. I am referring to ‘madhayfah’ (מַַדְחֵפָה), meaning ‘ruin,’ or ‘destruction,’ distinguished from ‘madhayvah’ (מַדְהֵבָָָה) by the ‘hard’ h (ח) and the unvoiced ‘f’ (פ) as opposed to the voiced ‘v’ (ב), both of which, under certain conditions, could be misheard and thus misrepresented when written. Contextually, replacing the existing noun with this noun offers a future hope for Israel’s welfare, not destruction, the latter to befall its enemies, as Isaiah proceeds to prophesy.

This speculative exercise aside, however, I contend that there is no need to succumb to the urge to ‘rectify’ what has been considered an obvious lack of concentration on the part of a scribe who was assigned to copy out this portion of Scripture. It is certainly plausible that the Babylonian ‘tyrant(s)’ would have kept the Israelites under their thumb not only through forced labor but also by an exorbitant taxing system after having demanded whatever items of worth they had brought with them at the time they were initially exiled. Rarely do I look to the Septuagint (LXX) for translation aid, given what I have come to view a questionable source for accurate translation. However, in this instance, it is interesting that the LXX has rendered the Hebrew quite closely, with no attempt to second-guess the Masoretic text (MT), although it flipped the subject of the two clauses and made the subject of the second clause an actor rather than the abstract noun that it is in the MT > “How has the extortioner ceased, and the taskmaster ceased!” (Πως αναπεπαυται ο απαιτων, και αναπεπαυται ο επισπουδαστης.) Actually, the original text makes perfect sense given that part of Elohim’s purpose for His people was to purify them for His service by stripping them of what they had valued prior to going into exile.

In addition to prophesying against Babylon, Isaiah also implicated Assyria and Philistia in the mistreatment of the ancient Israelites, though Yahwah had used them as agents through whom He had called His people to task for not living according to the Law that had been given them.

Although Israel did return to Canaan after the Babylonian exile, this was not the ‘rest’ that Yahwah had promised through Isaiah’s prophesy. The Jews would again be sent into exile, this time to be dispersed among the nations of the world beginning in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and to live a stateless existence outside the borders of their ancient homeland until May 14/15, 1948 when the State of Israel became a reality.

But Israel has yet to realize its promised ‘rest,’ having had to fight for its survival since the state’s inception, as the surrounding Arab nations maintain a perpetual state of war against the Jewish state. Present-day Israelis find themselves suffering the consequences of their ancient progeny’s not having obeyed Yahwah’s command to wipe out the peoples who were occupying the land of Canaan, which He intended to give to His people Israel as a perpetual inheritance.

However difficult the way ahead or how dire the situation may appear, it is obvious that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is in the process of fulfilling His promise to them. Even as the history of this world inexorably winds down, its reprobate inhabitants continue to rail against God’s chosen people in support of those who desire to destroy them.

Israel will not overcome until the last Gentile who believes in Jesus is brought into His Ekklesia and Israel, the apple of Yahwah’s eye, believes on Yeshua. Then, with this new Qahal gathered in, the Lion of Judah will wreak havoc and destruction on Babylon the Great, this world that has become Satan’s domain.

^v32What will the messengers of the nations answer, for Yahwah has established Zion and in it the afflicted of his people will find refuge. | וּמַה-יַּעֲנֶ֭ה מַלְאֲכֵי-ג֑וֹי כִּ֚י יהוה֙ יִסַּ֣ד צִיּ֔וֹן וּבָ֥הּ יֶחֱס֭וּ עֲנִיֵּ֥י עַמּֽוֹ: ס

Yahwah will establish a new heaven and new earth, to which its inhabitants – the Body of Christ – will proclaim, “The old has passed away; all things have become new.” Maranatha