Bible Commentary

Isaiah 21:9

Isaiah 21:9

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible · John Gill (1697–1771) · Public Domain

And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men,.... Or "of a man" ; a chariot with a man in it, Cyrus or Darius:[with] a couple of horsemen; the army of the Medes and Persians, with their two leaders or generals, as before; only now seen nearer the city, just entering into it; for so the word may be rendered, "goeth", or "is gone in a chariot", &c.

:and he answered, and said; either the watchman, upon seeing the chariot and horsemen go into the city; or one of the horsemen that went in; so the Syriac and Arabic versions; or rather the prophet, and the Lord by him:Babylon is fallen, is fallen: which is repeated to show the certainty of it.

The same words are used of the fall of mystical Babylon, Re 14:8. The Targum is,"it is fallen, and also it shall be, that Babylon shall fall;''that is, a second time, and hereafter: and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of two falls, one by the Medes and Persians, and the other by the hand of heaven, or God himself: literal Babylon fell by the former; mystical Babylon will fall by the latter, even by the breath of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming:and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground; either Cyrus or Darius, who might do this, not from any detestation of them, but for the sake of the gold, and silver, and riches, that were about them; or rather the Lord by them, and so put an end to idolatry; as will be, when mystical Babylon is destroyed.

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