Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

> Mr. Gathaus observed:

Actually, it's Mr G. Athas.  :)

>
> If  Isaiah 13-14 dates from the 8th century BCE, then the King of Babylon is
> likely to have
> been Marduk-apal-iddina (Merodach-baladan) who defied Sargon V for a while
> until he was
> beaten back to the marshlands at the head of the Gulf. Yet, we must ask what
> the Medes
> have to do with things here. It's more likely that either the statement
> about the Medes is
> a later addition from after 540 BCE, or the whole thing dates from after 540
>
> The problem with Marduk-apal-iddina being the King of Babylon that Isaiah is
> railing about, is the coming up with a scenario to explain why Israel would
> feel threatened by the Babylonian King. Like Hezekiah, he was no friend of
> the Assyrians, and like Hezekiah, he rebelled unsuccessfully.  An Assyrian
> King of Babylon would make more sense as the recepient of Isaiah's wrath.

There is no real sense of threat against Judah in these oracles. IF (and 
that's a big IF!)
the oracle is from the 8th century BCE, then Isaiah is merely making a 
political
commentary on the future fortunes of Babylon under Marduk-apil-iddina. Isa 39 
says that
Marduk-apil-iddina had sent a delegation to Hezekiah, presumably to stir up 
rebellion on
Assyrian's western front as well as southern and eastern. Perhaps Isa 13-14 
is an oracle
or commentary on this diplomatic mission? If this is the case, then Isaiah 
got it right --
Babylon's resistance to Assyria failed.

Best regards,
George Athas
 Dept of Semitic Studies,
 University of Sydney
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