Verses 11-12
11, 12. Punish the world The Babylonian world, the symbol (Isaiah 13:5) of all resisting human wills and kingdoms of the earth hostile to God. Here the prophet, as afterward elsewhere, resolves his figures into literal expressions. Isaiah 1:22; Isaiah 11:9.
Arrogancy Babylon’s prevailing sin.
The terrible Tyrants and oppressors.
Make a man more precious More scarce or rare than fine gold.
Than the… wedge of Ophir “Wedge,” כתם , ( kethem,) properly means “gold” Ophir’s gold. For the probable location of “Ophir,” see notes on 1 Kings 9:28; 1 Kings 10:11. But the main point of the text is the scarcity of man, weak and frail, אנושׁ , ( Enosh,) and man אדם , ( Adam,) men of the common origin. Both words would seem to include man exhaustively. Babylon’s defenders shall be so cut off that a single man will be more scarce than the finest gold. This is the common explanation. But Kay ( Bible Commentary) hints another meaning. It is in substance this: “I will make a man,” the lowly man, in comparison with the “haughty,” “arrogant,” “the terrible ones,” of more consequence to me in caring, providing, etc., for him (Psalm viii) than the choicest gold. The lowly man, the man formed out of the dust, is the holy man of my “remnant” preserved in Babylon to be returned to Jerusalem. He shall be kept safe amid the terrible judgments upon Babylon by the army of Cyrus. This seems far-fetched, yet it has some plausibility.
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