Giants Are Coming

GIANTS AND WATCHERS will execute God's judgment on the prophesied Day of the Lord. Isaiah 13 is, on the surface, a prophecy of judgment on Babylon. But there are clues in this chapter that there's more to this prophecy than meets the eye. First, the Hebrew verb translated "consecrated" (as in "consecrated ones," Isaiah 13:3) is based on the same root behind the words “holy one/s” in Daniel 4:13 and 17, used in parallel with "Watcher/s” in those verses. Given that the Septuagint translates Hebrew gibborim ("mighty men") as “giants," it's possible that the "consecrated ones" of Isaiah 13:3 are Watchers—a powerful class of angel often tasked with carrying out God's will (as in Daniel 4). As a whole, Isaiah 13 is an "already but not yet" prophecy of the destruction of Babylon. The "already" took place roughly 150 years after Isaiah wrote this prophecy when Cyrus the great captured the city the night of Belshazzar's drunken feast. The future fulfillment comes on the Day of the Lord, which we believe takes place at the end of the seven year Great Tribulation. In addition, there are hints of the supernatural fulfillment of the "not yet" part of the prophecy. Isaiah 13:20–22 foretells a day when Babylon is utterly destroyed, becoming a haunt of supernatural creatures. That's not apparent in most English translations, but digging into the Hebrew and Greek reveals more of Isaiah's original vision: Babylon inhabited forever by demons, sirens, satyrs (or donkey-centaurs), and dragons. Question of the week: What do we think about the Noahide laws?