Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 13:10

"For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine." — Isaiah 13:10 (ASV)

For the stars of heaven - This verse cannot be understood literally, but is a metaphorical representation of the calamities that were coming upon Babylon. The meaning of the figure evidently is that those calamities would be such as would be appropriately denoted by the sudden extinguishment of the stars, the sun, and the moon.

Since nothing would tend more to anarchy, distress, and ruin than to have all the lights of heaven suddenly and forever quenched, this was an apt and forcible representation of the awful calamities that were coming upon the people.

Darkness and night in the Scriptures are often the emblem of calamity and distress (see the note at Matthew 24:29). The revolutions and destructions of kingdoms and nations are often represented in the Scriptures under this image. So, concerning the destruction of Idumea, Isaiah writes (Isaiah 34:4):

And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll;
And all their host shall fall down,
As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as a falling fig from the fig tree.

So in Ezekiel 32:7-8, in a prophecy concerning the destruction of Pharaoh, king of Egypt:

And when I shall put you out,
I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
And the moon shall not give its light.
And all the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you,
And set darkness upon your land.

(Compare to Joel 2:10 and Joel 3:15-16). Thus in Amos 8:9:

I will cause the sun to go down at noon,
And I will darken the earth in a clear day.

See also Revelation 6:12-14:

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo,
The sun became black as sackcloth of hair,
And the moon became as blood;
And the stars of heaven fell to the earth,
Even as a fig tree casts its untimely figs
When it is shaken by a mighty wind:
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together.

Many have supposed that these expressions respecting the sun, moon, and stars refer to kings, princes, and magistrates as the “lights” of the state, and that the sense is that their power and glory should cease.

But it is rather a figurative representation, denoting calamity “in general,” and describing a state of extreme distress, such as would occur if all the lights of heaven should suddenly become extinct.

And the constellations thereof - (וּכסיליהם ûkı̂sı̂ylēyhem). The word (כסיל k^esı̂yl) properly means “a fool” (Proverbs 1:32; Proverbs 10:1, 10:18; Proverbs 13:19–20, and elsewhere).

It also denotes “hope, confidence, expectation” (Job 31:24; Proverbs 3:26; Job 8:14); and also “the reins, the flanks, or loins” (Leviticus 3:4, 3:10, 3:15; Psalms 38:7).

It is also, as here, applied to a constellation in the heavens, but the connection of this meaning of the word with the other meanings is uncertain. In Job 9:9 and Job 38:31, it is translated ‘Orion.’ In Amos 5:8, it is translated ‘the seven stars’—the Pleiades.

In Arabic, that constellation is called ‘the giant.’ According to an Eastern tradition, it was Nimrod, the founder of Babylon, afterward translated to the skies. It has been supposed that the name the “impious” or “foolish one” was thus given to the deified Nimrod, and consequently to the constellation. The rabbis interpret it as “Simis.”

The word ‘constellations’ denotes clusters of stars, or stars that appear to be near each other in the heavens, and which, on a celestial globe, are reduced to certain figures for convenience of classification and memory, such as the Bear, the Bull, the Virgin, the Balance. This arrangement was made early, and there is no reason to doubt that it existed in the time of Isaiah (compare the notes at Job 9:9).