Isaiah 13:20-21

20, 21. Never be inhabited This is a statement of certainty of the event, not its nearness, not its occurrence immediately after the capture by Cyrus. It did not become a perfect desert for five hundred years. The prophecy is seen in space, not in definite time.

Neither… pitch tent there The Arabian is mentioned as being the nomad of the ages past, just as he is now. It is stated by travellers that superstition or dread of evil spirits operates to make this statement still true. Some of them say that the Bedouins still have a superstitious fear of lodging near the ruins of Babylon.

Wild beasts Tzizyim, desert animals indefinitely, or whatever inhabits dry and desolate situations. Lexicographers find much difficulty in settling the import of the word.

Owls Or, literally, daughters of screaming. Ostriches are intended, as some think, but that is doubtful.

Satyrs Literally, shaggy creatures; perhaps a species of goat, though Tristram ( Natural History of the Bible, page 132,) thinks the “goat-god” of Egypt, with which the children of Israel became acquainted in Egypt, furnished the popular myth of the satyr half goat and half man and poetically the prophet Isaiah painted horrible desert places with this ideal creature. Nevertheless, he countenances another interpretation of the word, namely, a creature of the dog-faced baboon, also an object of worship with the Egyptians, as shown from their monuments, like to the mocko, or maccacus Arabacus, a baboon which is now disseminated from Central Africa as far north as to the continence of the Tigris and the Euphrates.

It is observable that our Lord, in Matthew 12:43, recognised the sentiment, current even in his day, that the desert is the abode of demons or unclean spirits. Virgil also calls them saltantes satyros, dancing satyrs. The Yezides of Syria and Mesopotamia are a sect of devil worshippers.

Joseph Wolf, missionary, and traveller to Bokhara, saw pilgrims of this sect upon the ruins of Babylon performing strange and horrid rites by moonlight, dancing and howling, and reminding him of this passage. ( Delitzsch.)