Isaiah 47 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 47

The Humiliation of Babylon

47:1   Come down and sit in the dust,
    O virgin daughter of Babylon;
  sit on the ground without a throne,
    O daughter of the Chaldeans!
  For you shall no more be called
    tender and delicate.
2   Take the millstones and grind flour,
    put off your veil,
  strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
    pass through the rivers.
3   Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
    and your disgrace shall be seen.
  I will take vengeance,
    and I will spare no one.
4   Our Redeemer—the LORD of hosts is his name—
    is the Holy One of Israel.
5   Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
    O daughter of the Chaldeans;
  for you shall no more be called
    the mistress of kingdoms.
6   I was angry with my people;
    I profaned my heritage;
  I gave them into your hand;
    you showed them no mercy;
  on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
7   You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”
    so that you did not lay these things to heart
    or remember their end.
8   Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,
    who sit securely,
  who say in your heart,
    “I am, and there is no one besides me;
  I shall not sit as a widow
    or know the loss of children”:
9   These two things shall come to you
    in a moment, in one day;
  the loss of children and widowhood
    shall come upon you in full measure,
  in spite of your many sorceries
    and the great power of your enchantments.
10   You felt secure in your wickedness;
    you said, “No one sees me”;
  your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
  and you said in your heart,
    “I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11   But evil shall come upon you,
    which you will not know how to charm away;
  disaster shall fall upon you,
    for which you will not be able to atone;
  and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
    of which you know nothing.
12   Stand fast in your enchantments
    and your many sorceries,
    with which you have labored from your youth;
  perhaps you may be able to succeed;
    perhaps you may inspire terror.
13   You are wearied with your many counsels;
    let them stand forth and save you,
  those who divide the heavens,
    who gaze at the stars,
  who at the new moons make known
    what shall come upon you.
14   Behold, they are like stubble;
    the fire consumes them;
  they cannot deliver themselves
    from the power of the flame.
  No coal for warming oneself is this,
    no fire to sit before!
15   Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
    who have done business with you from your youth;
  they wander about, each in his own direction;
    there is no one to save you.

Commentary

v1-3: The glory of Babylon will be destroyed; in 13.19, Babylon was the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride. It is significant that, during Isaiah's ministry, Babylon was not an influential power. So Isaiah looked forward to the rise of Babylon, as well as to its defeat; see Dan 5.30-31.

The image is of a pampered virgin, tender and delicate, letting others work hard for her benefit. The judgment is that she will sit in the dust, as in mourning, be forced to do menial work, and to be exposed as a harlot.

v4: In the midst of the words about Babylon, a reminder that the Lord God is the "Holy One of Israel." Babylon would be judged for the way she treated the people of God.

v5-6: Like Assyria, Babylon was an instrument in God's hand. He delivered Judah over to her, but she showed no mercy, see Hab 1.6-7, a bitter and hasty nation, terrible and dreadful.

v7: Babylon was also guilty of pride, and ignorant of her calling; compare 10.13; 45.4.

v8: Babylon guilty also of hedonism, given over to pleasure. Babylon sought the glory that belonged only to God, see 43.11; 45.5; 46.9. Like Herod (Acts 12.22-23) and Tyre (Ezek 28.8), she was judged by God.

v9: Sudden judgment, Rev 18.8.

Babylon had used "sorceries … potent spells", following occult religion, as in v12-13.

v10: Babylon trusted in her own wickedness, thinking she was accountable to no one; considered herself exalted over all the kingdoms.

The pursuit of human knowledge and wisdom instead of seeking the true God; the effect is corruption, in financial dishonesty, in corrupted thinking, in false religion.

v11: The judgments of God will demonstrate the impotence of Babylon's occult religion; disaster, calamity, catastrophe; it can't be conjured away, warded off, of foreseen.

v12-15: Human schemes are seen as impotent; no human religion or wisdom can deliver from the hand of God. The nation of Babylon would persist in her magic spells and sorcery, following her astrologers and stargazers.