Isaiah 13:17-22 - Jackals will fill her houses

13:17,18

This is quite remarkable, and very important in determining the authorship of Isaiah 40 onwards. Isaiah clearly states that the Medes will conquer Babylon. This is long before Babylon was the dominant power, and even longer before the Medes actually did conquer Babylon, but it was indeed the Medes who did overthrow the Babylonians. So if Isaiah rightly foresaw this happening, there is no reason to doubt his authorship of Isaiah 40 onwards. If one does deny prophetic God-given ability to see the future then one has to start chopping up Isaiah even further. We need to remember who God is, He is the Lord of history who knows the end from the beginning. So as far as Isaiah goes, the most consistent and simplest solution is “one book, one author”.

13:19-22

The description of the destruction continues, and is compared to the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah. Babylon is seen as a representative of all that is evil by the world’s kingdom, Satan’s kingdom. This is especially so on the book of Revelation. At that time Rome was playing the Babylon role, but it applies more generally to the worldly kingdom at all times. She had much beauty and sophistication and wealth, but all would be taken away. She would become a desolate wasteland. Becoming the haunt of jackals and hyenas is a common Old Testament metaphor describing the downfall of a kingdom.