Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 49:195 (Jul 1892)
Article: An Examination Of Isaiah 13
Author: William Henry Cobb

BSac 49:195 (July 1892) p. 471

An Examination Of Isaiah 13

Rev. WM. Henry Cobb

The following attempt to show the genuineness of this chapter, and to find its historical occasion in the circumstances of Isaiah’s time, is exposed to an enfilading fire from two opposite fortresses. The ancient view understands the chapter to treat of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, an event which Isaiah was inspired to foresee; the fulfilment being so minutely literal that the prophecy can only be explained as a supernatural revelation from God. This general theory is still held by eminent writers; for example, Rawlinson in the “Pulpit Commentary.”

A leading modern view—that of most German, and many English and American scholars—starting with the same reference of the passage to B. C. 538, finds in it a contemporary picture, or nearly so, by some unknown prophet.

A preliminary standing-ground between these extremes is a desideratum, and may be gained by means of hypotheses.

Let us suppose, then, that the traditional theory is correct so far as this, that the prophecy was fulfilled in the days of Cyrus; we cannot stop there, and neither does the common view. For the prophecy predicts an utter desolation, so that Babylon should never be inhabited. Now the Persian conquest effected a change of rulers, but nothing remotely approaching the accomplishment of these conditions. The common reply is that prophecy is not subject to strict limitations of time. The prophet sees peak rising above peak, but cannot see the space between them. The condi-

BSac 49:195 (July 1892) p. 472

tion of Babylon at present, and for many centuries past, is in striking accordance with this word of Holy Writ. The fulfilment began with the conquest by Cyrus, and was prosecuted under Darius Hystaspes, Xerxes, and the Seleucidae. By the time of Strabo, some seven centuries after Isaiah, Babylon was almost a desert. Pausanias, in the second century of our era, says that nothing remained but the walls; since then, the literal fulfilment of the prophecy has never been interrupted.

Now if this theory proves to be the best explanation of all the facts of the problem, it is sure of final acceptance. It is capable, however, of extension backwards as well as forwards; and if it appears that Babylon was taken in the age of Isaiah, in a manner at least as conformable to the prediction as the conquest by Cyrus, the traditional view will simply be supplemented by the statement that the prophecy began to be fulfilled in the eighth or seventh century instead of the sixth. Those who hold this view are therefore as much interested as any one in ascertaining whether such facts exist. The immense expansion of Babylon in the intermediate century or two no more c...