Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them"
Text: Isaiah 13:17
IDENTIFICATION OF THE CONQUEROR OF BABYLON
This was an amazing prophecy. Medes was not a great empire when this prophecy was uttered. But history confirms that the Medo-Persian Empire rose up and destroyed Babylon.
“Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye will not spare children.”
Isaiah 13:17-18
1. The Medes
a) They were an Aryan race.
b) They teamed up with Persia.
c) Under the Persian Cyrus the Great they destroyed Babylon in 539 BC.
2. Where was Medes?
a) It is identified as North and West of Modern Iran.
b) They had their language and culture.
c) They were the nemesis of Babylon.
3. A brief description of what the Medes were like.
a) They could not be bought off by gold or silver.
i) In the ancient days, many nations could be persuaded with huge offers of gold and silver.
ii) That does not mean that they were righteous.
b) They were single-minded in their determination to destroy Babylon.
i) If they had accepted gold and silver, Babylon would continue to remain as an Empire.
ii) Babylon was famed for its huge treasures of gold and silver.
4. The military might of the Medes.
a) They had great archers.
b) Their arrows slew many of the young soldiers who served in the Babylonian armies.
c) They entered into their battle with Babylon with no sense of mercy.
i) They did not spare even the women who were pregnant.
ii) Little children were also slain without remorse.