Isaiah — Chapter 14

For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose out of Israel, and will make them rest upon their own ground. The fall of Babylon is for the sake of the Jews — to liberate them. Allegorically: Christ's liberation of humanity from the tyranny of sin (typified by Babylon) is for the sake of the new Israel, the Church.

And thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and shalt say: How is the oppressor come to nothing? How hath the tribute ceased? The triumphal taunt song begins: the great oppressor who exacted tribute from the whole world is suddenly silenced. Applied as a parable against all worldly tyranny.

Hell below was in an uproar to meet thee at thy coming, it stirred up the giants for thee. Hell (Sheol, the underworld) stirs to welcome the mighty tyrant; all the great kings of old (the 'giants' or rephaim) rise from their thrones to mock the newcomer. Lapide: this passage describes the state of the damned, who mock one another and take a bitter comfort in sharing their misery ('even you are brought low like us!').

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? How art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations? The Lucifer verse: all the Fathers (Jerome, Origen, Ambrose, Tertullian, Augustine) apply this primarily to the fall of Satan, who like the morning star was the highest of all angels, and fell by his proud aspiration to be like the Most High. The Babylonian king is a type and historical instrument of Lucifer's pride. Lapide refutes those who apply this only to Nabuchodonosor and deny any reference to Satan.

And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. Lucifer's five-fold pride: (1) ascend to heaven; (2) exalt throne above God's stars (= other angels); (3) sit in the mountain of the covenant (= the highest rank in the angelic hierarchy); (4) in the sides of the north (= equality with God, since God's throne faces north in Hebrew cosmology); (5) v.14: be like the Most High. Lapide analyzes this in detail, citing Dionysius Carthusian and Aquinas on the nature of Lucifer's sin.

But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit. The proud aspiration met with instant and irrevocable fall into the deepest hell — the punishment of presumption. Applied to heretics and proud scholars who claim equality with or superiority over God and Sacred Tradition.

Thou shalt not have fellowship with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people: the seed of the wicked shall not be named for ever. The Babylonian king denied honorable burial — like a rejected branch (stirps inutilis). Lapide: denial of burial was the ultimate disgrace in antiquity (Homer, Virgil). Applies to those who use their power to oppress rather than govern.

In the year of the death of king Achaz, was this burden. Oracle against Philistia (vv.29-32): Do not rejoice, Philistia, because Achaz (who oppressed you) has died — Ezechias will be worse for you; from the serpent's root (Achaz) comes a flying cockatrice (Ezechias). Lapide identifies the 'cockatrice from the serpent's root' as Ezechias who destroyed Philistia. Allegorically: from the root of the Law comes the Gospel, which is far more powerful against spiritual enemies.