“Isaiah was a very sensible man; doesn’t he say something about night monsters living in the ruins of Babylon? These things are rather beyond us at present.” M.R. James was a respected British scholar best remembered for his ghost stories. In his story “Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book” , published in 1894, his hero meets a demon and reflects on the legacy of Isaiah - especially when it comes to the hideous creatures of the night. James was not the first to note that Isaiah includes references to creatures that may be animals - but may be mythic beasts. It often depends on the translation.
In chapter 13 Isaiah begins to address Babylon. The prophet of Jerusalem predicts that this mighty nation - on its slow path to become the world’s superpower - will also topple one day. In excruciating and somewhat gloating detail he illustrates the end of the empire - way in the future.
In the next series of chapters Isaiah will expand his mission beyond his hometown and national scope and turn his vision on to address each of the neighbors of Judah and Israel. And he begins with Babylon.
But wait - why Babylon? In the 8th century BCE the major global empire brutally taking over was Assyria - Babylon will rise and replace Assyria in another century. So why is Isaiah addressing this remote and still relatively harmless nation? Some scholars claim that this is a later prophecy that was inserted into Isaiah’s early chapters. Others suggest that he is referring to Assyria - but keeping it coded - to stay safe. But either way - the visions that he has are those of total war against the evil empire - fought by both natural and supernatural forces, supervised by a universal god whose overarching goal is justice. On the way to justice is a heavy dose of revenge. Maybe that’s where the human desire is projected on the divine plan.
Isaiah describes the Babylon of post-war, a total desolation, where no human travels the plains that once were populated cities. And in the middle of that no-man’s-land is where the jackals roam - or are they demons? This is where the translations get out of hand and inspire folks like James to claim that demons and mythic beasts already show up in the Bible, among the ruins of Babylon:
וְרָבְצוּ־שָׁ֣ם צִיִּ֔ים וּמָלְא֥וּ בָתֵּיהֶ֖ם אֹחִ֑ים וְשָׁ֤כְנוּ שָׁם֙ בְּנ֣וֹת יַעֲנָ֔ה וּשְׂעִירִ֖ים יְרַקְּדוּ־שָֽׁם׃
But beasts shall lie down there,
And the houses be filled with owls;
There shall ostriches make their home,
And there shall satyrs dance.
Isaiah 13:21
The Hebrew word for ‘satyrs’ is goat is “Saiyr” - ‘the hairy one’ - referred to through the Bible to goats, and to the region where Esau and the people of Edom dwell. But in at least one verse in Leviticus is also refers to local demons, seen as goat-like, worshiped by Canaanites. The term “satyr” is Greek, but it strongly resembles the Hebrew “saiyr.” Some scholars suggest the Greek “satyr” may actually be based on the Hebrew “saiyr.” The debaucherous half-goat creature of Greek mythology strongly resembles the “goat demon” mentioned in Scripture. Isaiah’s reference here may simply be about goats roaming the once teeming streets of Babylon. But as early as the Greek translation, it’s not goats that roam there, but satyrs who dance in the night.
Robert Alter comments:
“As happens not infrequently in biblical poetry, there is an overlap between zoological and mythological entities: in the midst of the hyenas and jackals, goat-demons and a demonic goddess of the night make an appearance.”
By the time the King James English translation is created, whatever Isaiah meant is sealed as ‘Satyrs’ - dancing their way only twice in the Bible, and both times in Isaiah’s visions. From the pages of the good book these imagined creatures danced their way into horror stories and dark tales of the occult, in which Babylon becomes the symbol of corrupted power in the fight between good and evil, demons and angels.
C. S. Lewis, another Englishman fascinated by both scriptures and the vast world of myth, dedicated at least one poem to the Satyr:
“When the flowery hands of spring
Forth their woodland riches fling,
Through the meadows, through the valleys
Goes the satyr carolling.”
Isaiah’s visions of the end of time continue with wrath, and in the next chapter yet another creature from the underworld will rise - this one, richly debated, will become the most feared one of all.
“Like Watchmen in the Night”
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Noting the line “Howl” at the beginning of ch 13 I had to look up Alan Ginsberg’s poem of that name, wondering if this chapter offered him inspiration.
Noting the line at the beginn