Isa 14:13, Obd 3-4 | JFB | STEP | 13. above . . . God —In , "stars" express earthly potentates. "The stars" are often also used to express heavenly principalities ( ). mount of the congregation —the place of solemn meeting between God and His people in the temple at Jerusalem. In , this is attributed to Antichrist. sides of the north —namely, the sides of Mount Moriah on which the temple was built; north of Mount Zion ( ). However, the parallelism supports the notion that the Babylonian king expresses himself according to his own, and not Jewish opinions (so in ) thus "mount of the congregation" will mean the northern mountain (perhaps in Armenia) fabled by the Babylonians to be the common meeting-place of their gods. "Both sides" imply the angle in which the sides meet; and so the expression comes to mean " the extreme parts of the north." So the Hindus place the Meru, the dwelling-place of their gods, in the north, in the Himalayan mountains. So the Greeks, in the northern Olympus. The Persian followers of Zoroaster put the Ai-bordsch in the Caucasus north of them. The allusion to the stars harmonizes with this; namely, that those near the North Pole, the region of the aurora borealis (compare see on ; ) [MAURER , Septuagint, Syriac ].

Isaiah 14:13

13. above . . . God—In Da 8:10, "stars" express earthly potentates. "The stars" are often also used to express heavenly principalities (Job 38:7).

mount of the congregation—the place of solemn meeting between God and His people in the temple at Jerusalem. In Da 11:37, and 2Th 2:4, this is attributed to Antichrist.

sides of the north—namely, the sides of Mount Moriah on which the temple was built; north of Mount Zion (Ps 48:2). However, the parallelism supports the notion that the Babylonian king expresses himself according to his own, and not Jewish opinions (so in Isa 10:10) thus "mount of the congregation" will mean the northern mountain (perhaps in Armenia) fabled by the Babylonians to be the common meeting-place of their gods. "Both sides" imply the angle in which the sides meet; and so the expression comes to mean "the extreme parts of the north." So the Hindus place the Meru, the dwelling-place of their gods, in the north, in the Himalayan mountains. So the Greeks, in the northern Olympus. The Persian followers of Zoroaster put the Ai-bordsch in the Caucasus north of them. The allusion to the stars harmonizes with this; namely, that those near the North Pole, the region of the aurora borealis (compare see on Job 23:9; Job 37:22) [MAURER, Septuagint, Syriac].

Obadiah 3-4

3. clefts of . . . rock— (So 2:14; Jer 48:28). The cities of Edom, and among them Petra (Hebrew, sela, meaning "rock," 2Ki 14:7, Margin), the capital, in the Wady Musa, consisted of houses mostly cut in the rocks.

4. exalt thyself —or supply from the second clause, "thy nest" [MAURER] (Compare Job 20:6; Jer 49:16; Am 9:2).

set . . . nest among . . . stars—namely, on the loftiest hills which seem to reach the very stars. Edom is a type of Antichrist (Isa 14:13; Da 8:10; 11:37).

thence will I bring thee down—in spite of thy boast (Ob 3), "Who shall bring me down?"