Friends,
This is the second part of "Lucifer, aka, the Kings of Babylon", please read the first part here.
A walk through of the taunt against the King of Babylon.
We often get carried away by man made traditions. When a layman like you and me find something is not right with the teachings of mainstream Christianity, we fear to pursue it till we find a logical answer. We always fear: what if we are wrong? Why not highly qualified theologians do not study the topic?
My friend, God has not given us the spirit of fear! Our unwillingness to expose the errors are wrong at many levels. If we say that Almighty God has a rival whom He could not tackle in all these thousands of years since creation, we are proving that God is not almighty, which I think is blasphemous. Again, by not exposing the fables created by human traditions, we are exposing our own faith to be ridiculed by the detractors of it. By endorsing the view that there are evil forces that meddle with our day to day life, we are indirectly promoting superstitions in the human society.
As I receive more enlightenment of the topic, I may update this post. As I always say, my incompetence as a writer won't bring non existent Satan/Devil/Lucifer into existence. Also, if there are things I need to improve, please let me know.
This is the second part of "Lucifer, aka, the Kings of Babylon", please read the first part here.
A walk through of the taunt against the King of Babylon.
| Isa 14:4 | ... How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! | It was the Babylonian kingdom that oppressed Israel. Now that they are freed from the oppression, they raise this taunt. The Hebrew word used for "golden city" is not used elsewhere. Remember, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, gold represented Babylon. Dan 2:38 Moreover, it appears that there were huge terraced step pyramids (named ziggurats) decorated with gold, silver, bronze and other metals existed in Babylon. There was a Golden image of Baal and the Golden Table (both weighing over 50,000 lbs of solid gold.). There were 2 golden lions, a solid gold human figure (18 feet high) in Babylon. |
| Isa 14:5 | The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. | Obviously, pointing to the fall of Babylon. |
| Isa 14:6 | He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. | Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, invaded Egypt, Assyrians, Palestine, Syria and controlled all the trade routes across Mesopotamia. Now, once Babylon has fallen, it is the time for those nations to take revenge on Babylon. Medes who invaded and overthrew Babylon was from the region of Mesopotamia and Assyria. |
| Isa 14:7 | The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. | Under Cyrus the Great, king of Medes, there was peace in the land. (The Hebrew word for earth and land are the same.) |
| Isa 14:8 | Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. | During the heydays of Babylon, there were construction activity in Babylon, building the imposing palaces, the hanging Gardens. Lebanon was the source of fir and cedar for all the construction activity in the Middle East. Even King Solomon used to import fir and cedar from there. |
| Isa 14:9 | Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. | Now, the presence of the word "hell" in this scripture makes people to associate the passage with Satan/Lucifer. If you believe that the passage is to be understood literally, let me ask you this:
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| Isa 14:10 | All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? | The kings whom the hell raised up from their seats are telling that the king of Babylon has become like one of them - defeatable, vincible. |
| Isa 14:11 | Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. | Satan, according to popular Christian beliefs, was a rebellious, fallen angels, a spirit being. How can a spirit being be covered by worms? One may argue that Jesus mentioned about worms that won't die (Mar 9:44). So, if it is also to be understood literally, worms also have eternal life, despite being in hell! |
| Isa 14:12 | How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer[H1966], son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! | Before dealing with the Lucifer clause, let us see what his activity was: he used to weaken the nations! If
Satan / Lucifer was in the business of weakening the nations, how was
that the nations around Israel were so strong and used to invade Israel
very frequently? The Hebrew word translated as Lucifer, H1966 in Strong's (הֵילֵל, pronounced as hêylêl) is not used elsewhere in the Bible. Strong's Lexicon defines it as: the morning star. With a single occurrence of a word it is hard to arrive at the meaning. If Isaiah wanted the word to mean "the morning star", he could easily have used the same expression used in: Job 38:7 When the morning[H1242] stars[H3556] sang together,... So, there is nothing to prove that H1966, hêylêl, means "the morning star". The word Lucifer is not Hebrew/Greek/Aramaic. It has its origin in Latin. It was used in Latin Vulgate translation of the scriptures by Jerome in the 5th century. We need to remember that the passage is a taunt on a fallen king. In the orient there had been a practice of praising (or even indirectly ridiculing) kings and emperors by equating them to sun and moon. |
| Isa 14:13 | For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: | Please note that these were the thoughts of the character mentioned as Lucifer BEFORE his fall from heaven. In other words, these thoughts caused his fall. No, this is not the thought of Satan after the so-called fall, it is the reason for his fall. Again, look at the expression "I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation". Are there mounts in heaven? (The Hebrew word translated as "mount" in this verse is H2022 in Strong's and is always translated as mount, mountain or hill.) "in the sides of the north"! Come one, do directions like north, south, east and west apply for heaven? As we I have seen earlier, this is a mocking poem or a taunt. The things stated need not be factual. Have you notice the statement: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God?  Many Christians think that such pronouncements can proceed only from Satan. In fact, the very second time Babylon (Hebrew: Babel) is mentioned in the Bible, we see a similar pronouncement: Gen 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. It doesn't take a Satan to make a rebellious statement. |
| Isa 14:14 | I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. | Are there clouds in heaven? (Heaven, as in the dwelling place of God)? I will be like the most High. Please remember that this a taunt and what is stated in such contexts need not be factual. For that matter, what one says while praising an emperor also need not be factual. Have you noticed what was stated by Daniel while praising Nebuchadnezzar? Dan 4:22 It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. There was nothing factual in this praise, Nebuchadnezzar's dominion was not till the end of the earth; it did not cross much beyond the Middle East.  |
| Isa 14:15 | Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. | shalt be is added by the translators. Whoever is mentioned as Lucifer is already brought down. See verse 9, where hell has already moved to receive this "Lucifer" character at his coming. |
| Isa 14:16 | They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms. | Is this the man that made the earth to tremble? Are
we talking about Satan, a supposed to be spirit being OR a man? The
Hebrew word rendered as man is H376 in Strong's and is always about
human beings. It is never used in connection with any spirit beings. Was it not Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon that shook the kingdoms? |
| Isa 14:17 | That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? | Was it not Nebuchadnezzar who invaded
nations and made them desolate? Please read the book of Jeremiah where
Jehovah warns Israel multiple times about bringing the King of Babylon
and making the land a wilderness. If Satan in fact made the world a wilderness, why the whole world is not a wilderness? Was it not the King of Babylon who destroyed cities, including Jerusalem? If Satan has been destroying cities, why do have cities now? |
| Isa 14:18 | All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. | If the talk of the chapter is about
Satan, why the chapter repeatedly contrasts between the character
mentioned as Lucifer and other kings? Has Satan any fixation towards
kings? Is it not logical to think that the context is about a fallen king or kingdom and rest of the kings who are at rest? |
| Isa 14:19 | But thou art cast out of thy grave
like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain,
thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a
carcase trodden under feet. |
Again, Lucifer alias Satan is supposed to be a spirit being. How can a spirit being be in a grave? |
| Isa 14:20 | Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. | We are told of Satan being thrown into the lake of fire. But, here the talk is about the burial of Lucifer alias Satan! "the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned" - this is very important. Has Satan seeds or children? Many do not even know that Amel-Marduk, mentioned as Evilmerodach in the Bible (2Ki 25:27; Jer 52:31) was the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Though Evilmerodach did good to Israel, it appears that the "Evil" prefix made him quite unpopular among Christian circles. Nergalsharezer, son-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar, finds mention in Jer 39:3, 13; but is never mentioned as the king of Babylon. History tells us he killed Evilmerodach and ascended the throne. Though Dan 5:2 mentions Belshazzar as the son of Nebuchadnezzar, he was in fact the son of Nabonidus, who is not mentioned in the Bible. In fact, the 7 year bout of mental illness which the Bible attributes to Nebuchadnezzar, apparently happened to Nabonidus. Belshazzar's daughter Vashti is known for her disobedience to her husband and king Ahasuerus (Esther 1). It appears that the expression "the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned" suits the children of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. |
| Isa 14:21 | Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. | How does it apply to Satan? Was Satan
married to have children? One may be able to strain scriptures to say
that all their opponents are the children of Satan; but, such views have
no scriptural support. In fact KJV renders this scriptures as though a feast had to be arranged for the children of the character mentioned as Lucifer. From the context it is clear that his children are to be slaughtered. Please read it in Young's Literal Translation: (YLT) Prepare ye for his sons slaughter; Because of the iniquity of their fathers, They rise not, nor have possessed the land, Nor filled the face of the world with cities. The passage is about the cutting off of the children of the kings of Babylon. |
| Isa 14:22 | For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. | Oh! My God! Satan / Lucifer had even
sons and nephews! To have children, Lucifer should be married and to
have nephews he should have sisters who are married! Please, this passage does not suit Lucifer/Satan who is supposed to be a spirit being. It is about the cutting off of the entire remnant of Belshazzar from Babylon. |
| Isa 14:23 | I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts. | This is again about the desolation of Babylon. Similar things are pronounced against Edom (Isa 34) and Judea (Zep 2) |
We often get carried away by man made traditions. When a layman like you and me find something is not right with the teachings of mainstream Christianity, we fear to pursue it till we find a logical answer. We always fear: what if we are wrong? Why not highly qualified theologians do not study the topic?
My friend, God has not given us the spirit of fear! Our unwillingness to expose the errors are wrong at many levels. If we say that Almighty God has a rival whom He could not tackle in all these thousands of years since creation, we are proving that God is not almighty, which I think is blasphemous. Again, by not exposing the fables created by human traditions, we are exposing our own faith to be ridiculed by the detractors of it. By endorsing the view that there are evil forces that meddle with our day to day life, we are indirectly promoting superstitions in the human society.
As I receive more enlightenment of the topic, I may update this post. As I always say, my incompetence as a writer won't bring non existent Satan/Devil/Lucifer into existence. Also, if there are things I need to improve, please let me know.
In Christ,
Tomsan Kattackal
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