The Waking Dead in Isaiah 14:9-11

In a grim satire, Sheol is portrayed as a negative world, a moon shadow that parodies the lunar calendar of Israel but where the only harvest is corruption.

This passage is the Exodus/Division step in what would be a sevenfold sequence if it had not been denied its Sabbath rest. For the introduction to this section (Isaiah 14:3-23), see Isaiah’s Kill List – Part 2.

The Taunt of Israel (Isaiah 14:3-23)

CYCLE 2B2
Dead Kings Rise to Meet Him

The nations of the earth that were conquered by Babylon would stir themselves up to join Israel in the jeering celebration of her demise (Isaiah 14:7). The great trees also rejoice in the end of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, those who coveted their durable timber for palaces (Garden), siege works (Land), and ships (World) (Isaiah 14:8). Disturbed from their slumber by such a turn of events, even the dead kings of the emancipated nations now join in the taunt.

The foundations of the world quake at the magnitude of Babylon’s fall, so the action shifts from the Edenic pillar-trees above to the pillars of the earth below (1 Samuel 2:8; 2 Samuel 22:16; Psalm 18:15; 75:3; 104:5; 102:25; Job 9:6; 38:4). This correspondence is explicit in Ezekiel 31, where those “Adamic” kings who considered themselves to be like the cedars of Eden are sent down to Sheol.

The primary referent in this Passover Cycle is the watery grave of the Pharaoh who opposed Moses. Egypt is the target in Ezekiel 31, and Pharaoh goes to join the royal necropolis as Babylon’s greatest trophy in Ezekiel 32. Apart from Assyria, Egypt was the only serious contemporary threat to Babylon’s supremacy. In God’s mercy, Egypt, like Babylon, was not destroyed, only disempowered. The real villains were not the people but the dynasties that ruled them. These wild beasts were domesticated by God and rendered harmless.

In Tabernacle terms, the Veil of the waters below is parted to reveal the umbrous valley of the kings—the tombs of the “shades.” Their satisfaction at learning that the ruler who sent them to the underworld will soon join them there is their only comfort in death.

In Isaiah 26, the fate of these kings is contrasted with the fate of Israel. In verse 14, God’s adversaries are wiped from remembrance; but, in verse 19, His people are “born again” from the grave. Again, the referent is Egypt—the end of Pharaoh’s armies in the Red Sea and the deliverance of the Hebrews by the same deadly instrument.

In a grim satire, Sheol is portrayed as a negative world, a moon shadow that parodies the lunar calendar of Israel but where the only harvest is corruption. In this dark mirror, each phase is back to front. Darkness is light, the dead are alive, graves are thrones, gloating is celebration, silence drowns out song, and only the worms can feast. The King of Babylon will reap what he sowed. He is a seed that falls into the ground and dies, never to rise again.

• (14:9a) The unSabbath is an agitation of the realm of the dead. It is also a military evangelion, the “good news” of a glorious conquest, but the kings greet the vanquished instead of the victor. The Babylonian “king of kings” who exalted himself to heaven will now join his vassals in the dust and ashes of the earth. This prophetic scenario is a brilliant political cartoon.
• (14:9b) UnPassover raises Pharaoh from the grave to deride him. The Passover sacrifice could be either a lamb or a kid. The word for these “chief ones” is an idiom which is literally “he-goats.” And the tomb-doors of this hellish hierarchy all open at midnight.
• (14:9c) For unFirstfruits, these royal firstborn heirs stand up in mock respect as an ascension offering from the dead. The word “raise” is also used of establishing a covenant and setting up the Tabernacle. “Jachin,” the priestly pillar, means “he shall establish.”
• (14:10) A testimony from the dead (such as Samuel, or the rich man in Jesus’ parable) is terrifying. Whatever their motivation, the dead only speak the truth. Death is God’s means of making wise men out of the Man, so the Kingdom Stanza is the royal wisdom of Ecclesiastes turned inside out.
  The word “dead” in verse 9 implies prostration. It means feeble, faint, or pleading. Since it sounds like “Rephaim,” a race of giants, it is now revealed as a pun, a parody of Ugaritic texts in which the Rephaim are deified ghosts of ancient kings. These mighty men in life—cedars and cypresses like the giants before the Flood—are like swooning women in death. Babylon became a vassal, a begging subordinate, to Persia—a shadow of its former self.
• (14:11a) UnTrumpets brings an anti-resurrection. The earth opens like a mouth as it did for the pomp of Jerusalem (5:14). But from the grave of exile, Levite harps cried for vengeance (Psalm 137).
• (14:11b) The “covering” of worms is not only an unAtonement, but a royal, scarlet robe: worms were used to make the red dye.
  Like Herod in Acts 12:20-23, these kings were not the Tree of Life. Like the manna of the disobedient, they were eaten with worms and nowhere to be found on Day 7 (Exodus 16:16-28).

Stanza Analysis

• (14:9a) The six words of the Genesis Stanza are an anti-Creation. Sheol is the abyss awaiting the light; beneath is the waters below, the Flood that extinguishes all breath; stirred up is a quaking of the Land; about you identifies the falling star; to meet you are the hosts of the Sea, the slain armies of the conquered nations; at your coming is the return of the king—a return to the dust for the Man who exalted himself and corrupted the mountain of God.
• (14:10) The Ten Words were given at the first Pentecost, so the unPentecost Stanza conveys its biting irony in ten words. The dead kings speak with authority (Transcendence); they address their conqueror, the king of Babylon, as if he were a vassal (Hierarchy); like Saul, the might of his spirit is taken and given to another (Ethics); this judgment is a just recompense (Oath/Sanctions); and his future is the same as theirs—oblivion (Succession).

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