Isaiah  

Thank you for telling the truth through actual meanings of words & where the metaphor came from. Whatever anyone thinks God is communicating without understanding His lingo, can cause wrong conclusions & fear of a Satan who too, has been misunderstood from Hebrew to English. Studying the Hebrew Bible alongside the English Bible is a must to really know God.

Amen! Well explained. Thank you.

In Isaiah <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="852">14:12</a>, Isaiah describes the fall of the king of Babylon, saying, “How you are fallen from heaven.” At first glance, this appears to be talking about Satan since he was cast out of heaven and no man has ascended into heaven (John <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="193">3:13</a>), however, there is an easy explanation for this expression, and the data in Isaiah <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="855">14:15</a>-16 shows that Isaiah <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="852">14:12</a>-14 is discussing Belshazzar. In Isaiah <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="852">14:12</a>-14, the king of Babylon boasts that he will ascend to the heavens, sit on the mount of the assembly on the heights of Zaphon, and make himself like the Most High, but Isaiah declares that he will be cut down to the ground and fall from heaven. This vocabulary is consistent with the religion and mythology of the time. Mount Zaphon was the Levantine equivalent of Mount Olympus, which makes sense if the king of Babylon is Belshazzar, not Satan. Many ancient Gentile kings claimed to be gods or the offspring of gods (e.g., the Egyptian Pharaohs and certain Roman emperors), so the boast in Isaiah <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="852">14:12</a>-14 is consistent with that culture and time. The description of the king of Babylon ascending to heaven and falling from heaven may refer to Etemenanki (The Temple of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth), a ziggurat in Babylon dedicated to Marduk, the king of the gods of heaven and the underworld (i.e., the Most High in Isaiah <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="854">14:14</a>). In the 1880s, foundation cylinders from Nabopolassar were found which say, “At that time my lord Marduk told me in regard to E-temen-anki, the ziqqurrat of Babylon, which before my day was (already) very weak and badly buckled, to ground its bottom on the breast of the netherworld, to make its top vie with the heavens.” In 1917, a Neo-Babylonian royal inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II was discovered on a stele from Babylon, which reads, “Etemenanki, Ziggurat of Babylon, I made it, the wonder of the people of the world, I raised its top to heaven, made doors for the gates, and I covered it with bitumen and bricks.” The priest-king of Babylon was required to perform certain rituals to please the gods of Babylon. The last king of Babylon (Nabonidus) forsook the traditional gods and spent 10 years in Arabia serving Sin (the moon god) and left his son, Belshazzar in charge of the capital. When Cyrus captured the city, he gained the support of the locals by restoring the worship of the traditional gods and claimed that their gods had given him the kingship because Nabonidus was an apostate. One could speculate that Belshazzar sought to overturn the established order in Babylon and establish himself on top of Etemenanki (in the heavens) as king of the gods, but his celestial coup d'état failed and he (figuratively) fell from those heavenly heights. Further, Isaiah <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="855">14:15</a>-16 specifically addresses the person making the boast by saying that he will be brought down to the grave (Hebrew, sheol) and those who look on him will ask, “Is this the man (Hebrew, ish) who shook the earth?” The Hebrew term (ish) refers to a male human being.

We must also consider, that Bible prophecy often refers to 2 (or maybe even more) events. It has a pretty obvious meaning and also a prophetic one. For example, Hosea <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="661">11:1</a> says, that God called Israel, his son, out of Egypt (Exodus). Matthew also interprets this text prophetically to refer to Jesus. (Matthew <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="135">2:15</a>) Or the Psalm often refer to the situation of David, but also to the Messiah. Likewise, Isaiah 14 likely does refer to the king of Babel as the type, and to Satan as the antitype.

Interesting,! .

He was thrown down twice on earth? Maybe multiply times, like a jo-jo, you know, those toys going up and down over and over.

I'm not in disagreement with the Scriptures, I asked this question earnestly: when would you link the statement of fact that the prophet said; that Lucifer was in charge of what nations, it has to be in an historical op past, also Jesus'statement has to be in an historical past; when did Lucifer fall, ? Is he that old serpent, dragon from the book of Revelation that was in the garden tempting Adam and Eve?

Thank You explained very well!

It's clearly referring to both, (1) He falls from heaven to earth...[Satan] (2) He is explicitly called a man...[Belshazar]. It may be Isaiahs attempt to compare mans pride to Satan fall.

I have never heard that verse is about the satan. That is totally ridicuous. It doesn't say Luther or whoever. Where did anyone get that.

The stars ascend into heaven at night and the morning they descend there's no message about any creature