See on Job 38:7. The desire for self-exaltation was the cause of the downfall of Lucifer. Before his fall he was the most beautiful and the wisest of all the angels of heaven. He took surpassing pride in the honor God had bestowed upon him, but sought still greater glory for himself.

 Heb. har-mo‘ed, “mountain of assembly.” Compare the expression, “mountain of God,” in the parallel passage, Eze. 28:16. Lucifer aspired to “sit [enthroned] also upon the mount of the congregation,” but God would cast him “out of the mountain of God.” The “king of Babylon” was a heathen, and in heathen mythology the gods held their council meetings on a high mountain, where they determined the affairs of earth. The literal “king of Babylon” (see on Isa. 14:4) would thus presume to usurp the control of the gods—that is, supreme authority—over the affairs of earth. As king of mystical Babylon (see on v. 4) Satan would similarly aspire to control the councils of heaven, that is, to rule the universe of God.

 In Ps. 48:2 Mt. Zion is described as being “on the sides of the north,” that is, to the north of the main part of the city. Anu, foremost of the early gods of Babylon, was supposed to have his throne in the third heaven. His constellation was among the polar stars, around which all others revolved. Heathen mythology often represented the gods as meeting in council on a mountain far to the north. Some think Isaiah made use of this figure in describing the boastful pretensions of Lucifer (v. 12), “king of Babylon” (v. 4). The name Baal-zephon of Ex. 14:2 means literally, “Baal of the north.”