Isaiah 14:1-32

14:1 | The phrase will have mercy is related to the Hebrew word for womb. It describes the love of a mother for her newborn child, denoting deep emotion and sacrificial care. The word is always used in a positional relationship, where the person in a superior position extends mercy toward one who is in a lesser position; the term is never used of a human’s love for God (Ps. 102:13). The strangers are those not in the house of Israel who choose to follow the Lord.

14:3 | Hard bondage is the same expression used to describe the Israelites in bondage to Egypt (Ex. 1:14). God is going to perform a “new Exodus.”

14:12-14 | Lucifer as an “I” problem. Five times he uses the first-person singular pronoun, each time making a more audacious claim until finally, he lays out his primary goal: I will be like the Most High.

14:19 | Kings were normally buried with pomp and ceremony. Not so for the fallen tyrant.

14:24-25 | In these verses we see both God’s sovereignty and human responsibility at work. God chose Assyria as His instrument for punishing Israel; yet Assyria was still held responsible for its evil actions and was punished by God (Micah 5:5-6).