Nimrod in Isaiah 13:10-13

Unlike Babel, Babylon was not a “tower to heaven,” but the arrogance of its rulers was an offense whose stink ascended to the court of God. And the prophet even includes a cryptic reference to the ancient builder.

This famous passage is the Ascension step in what would be a sevenfold sequence if it had not been denied its Sabbath rest. For the introduction to this section (Isaiah 13:1-14:2), see Isaiah’s Kill List – Part 2.

CYCLE 2A3
Presentation/Ascension:
Heavenly Judgment Upon Earth

In a biting irony, the Ascension Cycle describes the fall of those who have exalted themselves against God. Unlike Babel, Babylon was not a “tower to heaven,” but the arrogance of its rulers was an offense whose stink ascended to the court of God. This explains why the judgment of its kings appears in the Priesthood Cycle. Their sin of seizing dominion of the earth without submission to heaven was Adamic. Because they presumed access to the kingly Tree of Knowledge, they would be denied the priestly Tree of Life.

This presumption before God is described in Daniel 3-5. Both Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar assumed the authority of a Noahic priest-king, one who communed with heaven and also ruled upon the earth. Both these Babylonian kings were humbled by God, but only Nebuchadnezzar was converted and restored to his throne.

By surrounding himself with holy items from Solomon’s Temple, Belshazzar placed himself in the royal court of God. By drinking wine like Melchizedek did, from a cup that was now forbidden to men until the Messiah filled it with His own blood, the king invoked a visitation from the Most High. In response, God “bowed the heavens,” uniting the court above with the court below as He did at Mount Sinai. His glory-cloud came to the palace in the same way that it visited Adam in the Sanctuary after he ate the forbidden fruit. This intrusion by the heavenly chariot of God was followed quickly by an incursion of the earthly armies of men.

This abuse of the Levitical means of fellowship with God, like that committed by the kings of the Jews, was the act that devoted the city to destruction. Bereft of self-examination, tokenistic worship, as an attempt to manipulate God, is nothing but witchcraft. For Israel, this was the offering of sacrifices while continuing in sin, or sending the Ark of the Testimony into battle as a magic charm.

The divine response to Belshazzar’s invocation was similar to that received by King Saul when he consulted a witch: Samuel rose from the dead not to help him, but to judge and condemn him.

This “temple” scenario explains why the thread that shines the brightest in this sevenfold sequence is that of the elements of the Tabernacle as representives of the Days of Creation. But instead of the Lord building the house and finally inhabiting it with His glory, the Lord comes to scatter the glories of man and scorch the earth.

• (13:10a) In Genesis 1, the singular light of the Creator preceded the delegation of that light to created mediators—the sun, moon, and stars. Likewise, in the Tabernacle, the moral light of the Law of God in the Most Holy Place preceded the sevenfold light of the Lampstand in the Holy Place. By the light of the lampstand in the court of man (Daniel 5:5), the King of Babylon saw the hand that engraved the tablets on Mount Sinai in the court of God.
  The stars would not “give” their light. This word, halal, means to praise, to boast, to shine, to celebrate, to glory. In Tabernacle terms, the music of the glorious, royal worship of the Davidic era was being downgraded to the humble, priestly silence of a Mosaic tent. In this case, Babylon’s elites became the servants of Persia.
  The “Gentile” background here is the correspondence between the rejoicing of the stars in heaven and the shouting of the Noahic Sons of God (priest-kings) after the Great Flood (Job 38:7).¹
  At the center of the Stanza, in its Day 4 “Kingdom” slot, are the “constellations.” The word (kesil) is a plural of the Hebrew for the constellation of Orion, the hunter. Its Persian name is Nimrod (“the rebel”), so Isaiah’s allusion here is to the builder of the first Babel, the impious man who was a mighty hunter “in God’s face.” Nimrod likewise eschewed/usurped the role of the priest as the “Facebread” at the Ascension step in the Tabernacle sequence.²
  Jesus cited this text in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:29). Not only had Jerusalem become a spiritual Babylon (1 Peter 5:13; Revelation 14:8), but the Edomite Herods, descendants of Esau the hunter, were its bloodthirsty, murderous kings.
  But the word kesil itself can also mean a foolhardy or insolent rebel, so this Testing Stanza is a stroke of literary brilliance. The biblical definition of a fool is one who has been given the light of God’s wise law yet rebels against it and chooses to walk in darkness.
• (13:10b) God would draw a veil over the eyes of Babylon’s wise men. No longer would the stars enlighten the court astrologers. The actual king, Nabonidus, lived in Arabia and delegated his authority to his son, Belshazzar. His unpopular preference for the moon god perhaps explains its central position in the Stanza. And King Belshazzar was certainly a lesser light: the supposed wisdom of Babylon’s gods was obscured by Nabonidus’ absence and Belshazzar’s diplomatic incompetence. This blotting out of the heavenly governors of the times and seasons also meant that time had run out for the ancient kingdom of Babylon on earth.
• (13:11a) As the heart of the empire, Babylon was the center of the inhabited “world,” the imperial domain that would be ruled by a series of four cherubic “beast” guardians until the empire of Christ was established (Daniel 2:44; 7:27). This territory appears at the Day 3 step because these empires became an extension of the Land of Israel after the exile. The influence of the dispersed Jews across the world was a spiritual annexation of the Gentiles in preparation for the ministry of the Gospel. The wickedness committed upon this “dry land” is thus its cursed, thorny “fruit.”
  This Priesthood Stanza brings not mediation for sin but an atoning punishment. Like Nineveh—the city that was pardoned in Jonah but judged in Nahum—Babylon was spared under Nebuchadnezzar (who personally bore its curse) but subjugated under Belshazzar. God is long-suffering, but not forever.
• (13:11b) The Lord will “halt” the works of the rulers, and this word is sabbath. The Stanza is missing its seventh line, so the disinheritance of Babylon is what will bring rest to the nations. The prevailing sin of Babylon was its arrogance (Isaiah 14:12-15; 47:1-7), so this Day 4 Stanza takes these rulers of the skies and throws them down to the abyss.
• (13:12) Just as God would hold Babylon accountable in Line 5 of Stanza 3, Stanza 5 brings the recompense: decimation instead of multiplication. Whereas God rendered Nebuchadnezzar bestial in order to humble him, the mighty men of the city of Nimrod would be hunted like beasts unto extinction. This is the subject of the next Cycle (13:14-18).
  The reference to the famously pure gold of Ophir alludes to the riches of the lands below the mountain of God (Genesis 2:10-14). The “tower-city” that exacted tribute from all nations was now to be plundered. The mention of mortal man becoming as rare as gold speaks of Adam returning to the earth. This 6-Line Maturity Stanza brings not the mustering of Babylon’s hosts, but a scattering of the “Babelic” people. In similar English idioms, they would make themselves scarce and go to ground.
• (13:13a) Shaking the heavens (the Bronze Laver as the crystal sea) and quaking the earth (the Bronze Altar as the dry land) brings the removal of the pagan priest-kings who sought to manipulate the gods and take possession of the nations. In the Day 6 step, their satanic grasp upon heaven and their Adamic footing upon earth would both be shaken loose.
• (13:13b) The glory of God will descend as fire from heaven upon this man-made mountain. Its kings desired to “go up,” so their flesh would ascend as smoke. Unlike the descent of the Shekinah to the Tabernacle, it was not that God might gather men but scatter them. It hints at the humiliating words in Genesis 11:5-7: “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built… Come, let us go down…” In response to the tower of odious sins piled up to heaven (Revelation 18:5), the Lord would visit the earth… breathing fire from his nostrils.

Stanza Analysis

13:11a has the dry land and its fruit bearers in the correct order but it runs the Creation pattern backwards. Instead of three days of forming, three days of filling, and a “Sabbath” future, it begins with singular punishment followed by two triplets. “On account of” wields the sword of the king, then the sword of the priest.

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1. See the notes on page 237.
2. See Appendix 6: Nimrod in the Court of God.