Mashal

Isaiah 14 moves forward by a series of puns on the Hebrew mashal .

The noun form means “proverb” or “parable,” and describes the poem that Israel will take up on the day when Babel is overthrow (14:4).

The mashal is about the fall of those with rods and scepters of rule. The word “ruler” in verse 5 is a verb form of mashal , the term for the original dominion of the stars of heaven in Genesis 1:18. The parabolic mashal is the tale of the fall of the stars from heaven, the fall of the moshlim .

The original noun form of mashal has the generic sense of “similitude” – a parable or proverb or allegory is a verbal similitude. When the one who was mashal of Babel falls all the way to Sheol, he “becomes like” (another mashal ) alltbhe rest of the kings, fallen into death (14:10).

Israel’s poetic similitude is a song about the similarity of Babel to all other rulers.