#Halloween Taunting the King of Babylon Isaiah 14 - Bible Study

Many Christians have made Halloween about the devil.

The truth is it is not about the devil - it is about the soul.  All the scary stuff is meant to invite you to take a good look at your soul; is it a ghostly rotting corpse - or a shining light?

Medieval morality plays were designed to 'scare the hell' out of you.  A character who did something evil was carried off by people dressed as demons - and a character who did what was good would be rescued by beautiful angels.  The night of "All Halo's Eve" became an opportunity to think of the darkness and torment of crooked souls; following the night of terror - a day of hope - all souls day.  A reminder that human evil can be defeated.  Souls do not need to be ugly.

The prophet Isaiah warns Israel about her impending exile under the evil, tyrannical, Babylonian King.  He tells the Israelites that this King will eventually be overthrown and the people will take up a taunt against the king of Babylon.  This kind of taunt is a part of the theological thinking behind a festival like Halloween.

A reminder of mortality.
A reminder of justice in death - the great equalizer; a warning taunt to tyrants.

Isaiah 14:4-23

...you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
    How the oppressor has ceased!
    How his insolence has ceased!
    5      The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
    the scepter of rulers,
    6      that struck down the peoples in wrath
    with unceasing blows,
    that ruled the nations in anger
    with unrelenting persecution.
    7      The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
    they break forth into singing.
    8      The cypresses exult over you,
    the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
    “Since you were laid low,
    no one comes to cut us down.”
    9      Sheol beneath is stirred up
    to meet you when you come;
    it rouses the shades to greet you,
    all who were leaders of the earth;
    it raises from their thrones
    all who were kings of the nations.
    10      All of them will speak
    and say to you:
    “You too have become as weak as we!
    You have become like us!”
    11      Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
    and the sound of your harps;
    maggots are the bed beneath you,
    and worms are your covering.

    12      How you are fallen from heaven,
    O Day Star, son of Dawn!
    How you are cut down to the ground,
    you who laid the nations low!
    13      You said in your heart,
    “I will ascend to heaven;
    I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
    I will sit on the mount of assembly
    on the heights of Zaphon;
    14      I will ascend to the tops of the clouds,
    I will make myself like the Most High.”
    15      But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the depths of the Pit.
    16      Those who see you will stare at you,
    and ponder over you:
    “Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
    who shook kingdoms,
    17      who made the world like a desert
    and overthrew its cities,
    who would not let his prisoners go home?”
    18      All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
    each in his own tomb;
    19      but you are cast out, away from your grave,
    like loathsome carrion,
    clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,
    who go down to the stones of the Pit,
    like a corpse trampled underfoot.
    20      You will not be joined with them in burial,
    because you have destroyed your land,
    you have killed your people.

    May the descendants of evildoers
    nevermore be named!
    21      Prepare slaughter for his sons
    because of the guilt of their father.
    Let them never rise to possess the earth
    or cover the face of the world with cities.

22 I will rise up against them, says the LORD of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says the LORD. 23 And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts.


Scary Bits

The Welcome Committee (Isaiah 14:9-11)

9      Sheol beneath is stirred up
    to meet you when you come;
    it rouses the shades to greet you,
    all who were leaders of the earth;
    it raises from their thrones
    all who were kings of the nations.
    10      All of them will speak
    and say to you:
    “You too have become as weak as we!
    You have become like us!”
    11      Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
    and the sound of your harps;
    maggots are the bed beneath you,
    and worms are your covering.


The New King James inspired New Revised Standard Version gives these verses a beautiful dark poetry.  This is the stuff of horror movies.

Verse 9 - Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come...

Sheol is the name for the place of the dead.  It is almost as if the writer is reveling in death's hunger for the soul of the king of Babylon.  If that wasn't scary enough:

it rouses the shades to greet you...

The NIV is probably a little less scary - and a bit more explanation occurs in the translation:

The grave below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—
- Isaiah 14:9 (NIV)


This is the stuff of Halloween... an open grave with scary spirits waiting to greet you.  The King of Babylon, just like all the rich, powerful, arrogant, evil leaders who have gone before him and will come after him will be met by 'the spirits of the departed'.

Got goosebumps yet?

Verse 10 - You too have become as weak as we!

As we remember the beginning of this passage - verse 4 says:  'You will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon...'

I think the reader is meant to imagine all the 'spirits of the departed' especially 'those who were leaders of the earth' in ghostly forms taunting the King of Babylon:
 "You too have become as weak as we!"

I imagine this taunt in a hissing, evil voice repeated again and again.

"You too have become as weak as we!  You have become weak like us!"

Those who taunt the king of Babylon are making the king of Babylon afraid of death.  Reminding him of his mortality.

Got goosebumps yet?

Verse 11 - ...maggots are the bed beneath you, and worms are your covering.

I don't think this verse needs much explanation.  Maggots and worms swarm around decaying flesh.  Isaiah's imagination allows us to feel them gently tickling.  They really do give me the creeps.  Imagine waking up to that sensation.

Got goosebumps yet?

Verses 12-17 - The Folly of Pride

The King of Babylon was the leader of a great super power.  Verses 12-18 describe his power... "...the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms..." He called himself the 'Day Star'; the King James renders this 'Lucifer' which means bringer of light and has become a common term for Satan.

In his arrogance, the king of Babylon used all of his power to do evil.

Verse 18 - Cast out from the grave

This really is the stuff of a great horror movie.  Isaiah is describing a truly tormented soul - the kings of the nations may rest in their tombs (Verse 17) but the king of Babylon is so evil that the grave casts him out... and he is doomed.  Either to die exposed - not buried.  Or - and this is a scarier interpretation - doomed to not die, but to be like:

'loathsome carrion, clothed with the dead... like a corpse trampled underfoot.'
- Verse 18


Now remember this is a taunt... this is very angry, hurt people, bent on revenge telling the king of Babylon what might happen to him.  Telling him about what awaits him in death... a great humbling.

Verse 23 - Hedgehog...

And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog...
- Isaiah 14:23


And finally - to taunt the king of Babylon and point out just how insignificant his life is.  Isaiah tells the people to tell him that hedgehogs will inherit all his wealth.  Little creatures that live under bushes and really couldn't care about all of his power and influence.

Goosebumps

The taunt of the King of Babylon in Isaiah 14:12-23 is meant to scare the hell out of you.  It is meant to make you think about your soul, with sober fear, you are meant to turn to God.  It is like learning to drive carefully by almost having an accident when you were driving foolishly.