Isaiah 14:16-21

The fourth strophe returns to the reactions of people on the earth (cf. Isaiah 14:4-8). They expected that such a "great man" would enjoy an honorable burial, but this man received no burial at all. He died covered with the bodies of his fellow warriors rather than with earth. The pagans of Isaiah’s day believed that to leave a corpse unburied not only dishonored the dead person but doomed his spirit to wander forever on the earth seeking a home (cf. 1 Samuel 31:11-13; 2 Samuel 2:4-7). Viewing his unburied corpse, onlookers would wonder if this was really the infamous scourge of Babylon, who had ruined his own country, and ravaged his own people, as well as his enemies. They would view his lack of burial as divine judgment of him. They would then take measures to assure that his sons would not rise to power by cutting off his posterity, a common practice in the ancient Near East. [Note: Watts, pp. 211-12.] Hopefully they could remove his memory from the earth. I favor the view that the king of Babylon to be judged is the Antichrist.

The whole point of this poem is the futility and folly of self-exalting pride, which this idealized Babylonian king modeled (cf. Daniel 4:25).