Hymns: RHC 43 God Is Still On the Throne 45 We Gather Together 47 Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Isaiah 47

1 Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. 2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. 3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. 4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. 6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. 7 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. 8 Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. 10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. 11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. 12 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. 13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. 14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. 15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.

God’s Vengeance on Israel’s Captor

OUTLINE

• From Mistress to Servant (v1-5)
• Punishment for Sin (v6-15)

INTRODUCTION

In the closing verse of the previous chapter, the LORD had given the assurance that His people should certainly be delivered from their captivity in Babylon, and restored to their own land. 

In this chapter, Isaiah describes the vengeance which He would take on Babylon, and the entire chapter is occupied in portraying, under various images, the prostration and humiliation of that proud and oppressive seat of magnificence and of empire. 

Babylon is described under the image of a lady, carefully nourished and decorated; and all the images of her destruction are drawn from those circumstances which would tend to humble a happy and proud female that had been accustomed to luxury, and unused to scenes of humiliation, poverty, and bereavement. [Barnes]

This chapter, therefore, contains many very particular statements about the manner in which Babylon was to be destroyed, statements which will be found to have been fulfilled with surprising accuracy. 

They are statements, moreover, which could not have been the result of conjecture, or mere political sagacity, for political conjecture and sagacity do not descend to minute particulars and details. 

It is to be borne in remembrance that this prophecy was uttered a hundred and fifty years before its fulfillment, and that there were no circumstances existing in the time of Isaiah which could have laid the foundation for conjecture in regard to the events predicted here. 

The temple was then standing; the city of Jerusalem was strongly fortified; the kingdom of Judah was powerful; Babylon was just rising into magnificence; the power which ultimately overthrew it had scarcely begun to start into being: and none of the causes which ultimately led Cyrus to attack and destroy it, had as yet an existence. 

And if these things were so then the conclusion is inevitable that Isaiah was under the influence of divine inspiration. It is the particularity of the description in the prophets long before the events occurred, which, more than anything else, distinguishes them from mere political conjecture; and if the particular descriptions here and elsewhere recorded of the overthrow of Babylon, and of other future events, were actually made before the events occurred, then the conclusion is irresistible that they were inspired by God. [Barnes]

The scope of the chapter is, to state the crimes for which she would be humbled and punished, and the manner in which it would be done. 

These are intermingled, but they may be contemplated separately. 

The chapter may, therefore, be regarded as consisting of the following items:

Babylon is addressed, by an apostrophe to her, as the seat of empire, and her humiliation is directly predicted under the image of a happy and delicately reared female, suddenly reduced to circumstances of great humiliation and disgrace (v1-5).

• From Mistress to Servant (v1-5)

1 Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. 2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. 3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. 4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.

She is commanded to sit down in the dust; she should no longer be treated as tender and delicate (v1); she would be reduced to the most abject condition – like a delicate and tender female from elevated life compelled to perform the most menial offices, and stripped of all her fine attire (v2-3); she was to sit in darkness, or obscurity; her honour was to be taken away, and she was no more to be called the lady of kingdoms (v5); and all this was to be done by Yahweh, to take vengeance on the oppressors of his people (v3-4).

• Punishment for Sin (v6-15)

6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. 7 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

God states the reasons why He would thus humble and punish her (v6-7). It was because she had shown no mercy to His people, and had laid a heavy yoke on an ancient nation (v6); and because she had vainly calculated that her power and magnificence would continue forever, notwithstanding the manner in which she had oppressed the people whom God had given into her hand (v7).

Although God did appoint her to carry His people into exile, He did not order her to be cruel and merciless. She overplayed her part. Now she says, “I shall be a lady forever,” but God says, “for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.”

8 Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.

She was proud and arrogant, supposing that nothing could ever destroy her prosperity. She will become widowed and childless in one day, and none of her sorceries will be able to prevent the calamity. She considered herself immune from detection and punishment. [William MacDonald]

The nature of the punishment which should come upon her for this is more distinctly and fully predicted, intermingled with further statements of the causes why she should be punished and humbled (v8-9). The causes were, that luxury and effeminacy abounded; that she was proud, and did not apprehend that it was possible that she should be reduced from her state of magnificence and grandeur; and that she had cherished sorcerers and enchantments. 

The punishment was, that she should be reduced in a moment to the condition of a widow, and to the state of one who had been suddenly bereft of all her children. [Barnes]

The significant of the marriage bond to be one flesh with the husband and wife looking out for one another, for better for worse. When one spouse is down, there other also is down, in the sight of God, they are one flesh.

In widowhood, when the spouse is gone, there is much hardship in losing the dependence of the spouse.

Christ’s is the bridegroom and the church is the bride is that glorious relationship in eternity and depicted in the marriage between a man and a woman. 

10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. 11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

The crime and the punishment of the city are further stated (v10-11). The crime was, that she had supposed no avenging God saw her; and that she had become proud and vain of her wisdom and knowledge. The punishment would be, that evil would come upon her from a quarter where she little expected it, and in a manner which she could not prevent. [Barnes]

But her smugness and proud self-sufficiency will be rewarded with disaster. She trusted in sorcerers and astrologers. Jennings writes, “the LORD counsels her to call all these powers to her aid, for she will need them sorely.” God’s punishment will be a blazing inferno, not a comfortable fire in the fireplace. Those who trafficked with Babylon will go their own way, unable to save her. [William MacDonald]

12 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. 13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

Babylon is sarcastically called on to invoke to her aid those in whom she had trusted – the astrologers, the star-gazers, and those who practiced sorcery and enchantments (v12-13).

14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. 15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.

The chapter concludes with a statement of the utter vanity of the sorcerers, and the absolute folly of trusting in them (v14-15). Even the flame would pass over them; and so far were they from having any power to deliver those who trusted in them, that they had no power to preserve themselves from ruin.