Isaiah 47 Commentary
Babylon Faces Punishment
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KEY THOUGHT: I will take vengeance [Isaiah 47:3b NKJV]
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Isaiah 47 NKJV
The Humiliation of Babylon
47 “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 [a]delicate.
2 Take the millstones and grind meal.
Remove your veil,
Take off the skirt,
Uncover the thigh,
Pass through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
Yes, your shame will be seen;
I will take vengeance,
And I will not arbitrate with a man.”
4 As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.
5 “Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
For you shall no longer be called
The Lady of Kingdoms.
6 I was angry with My people;
I have profaned My inheritance,
And given them into your hand.
You showed them no mercy;
On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.
7 And you said, ‘I shall be a lady forever,’
So that you did not take these things to heart,
Nor remember the latter end of them.
8 “Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures,
Who dwell securely,
Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow,
Nor shall I know the loss of children’;
9 But these two things shall come to you
In a moment, in one day:
The loss of children, and widowhood.
They shall come upon you in their fullness
Because of the multitude of your sorceries,
For the great abundance of your enchantments.
10 “For you have trusted in your wickedness;
You have said, ‘No one sees me’;
Your wisdom and your knowledge have [b]warped you;
And you have said in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
11 Therefore evil shall come upon you;
You shall not know from where it arises.
And trouble shall fall upon you;
You will not be able [c]to put it off.
And desolation shall come upon you suddenly,
Which you shall not know.
12 “Stand now with your enchantments
And the multitude of your sorceries,
In which you have labored from your youth—
Perhaps you will be able to profit,
Perhaps you will prevail.
13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels;
Let now the[d] astrologers, the stargazers,
And [e]the monthly prognosticators
Stand up and save you
From what shall come upon you.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble,
The fire shall burn them;
They shall not deliver themselves
From the power of the flame;
It shall not be a coal to be warmed by,
Nor a fire to sit before!
15 Thus shall they be to you
With whom you have labored,
Your merchants from your youth;
They shall wander each one to his [f]quarter.
No one shall save you.
Footnotes
a. Isaiah 47:1 dainty
b. Isaiah 47:10 led you astray
c. Isaiah 47:11 Lit. to cover it or atone for it
d. Isaiah 47:13 Lit. viewers of the heavens
e. Isaiah 47:13 Lit. those giving knowledge for new moons
f. Isaiah 47:15 own side or way
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 47 Commentary
Compare Verse 6 with Job 1 verses 8 and 12. In Isaiah, the LORD God is angry with His people. Consequently, Jacob is left in the hands of cruelty – without the usual protection.
In the Book of Job, the LORD is actually happy with Job. He is boasting about him. Eventually, the LORD lifts His protection and hell breaks loose on Job. But it’s a controlled environment.
Why is Babylon punished when the LORD is using Babylon as a whip to punish Israel?
There are several thoughts popping up from this chapter.
Yes, the LORD uses Babylon to inflict “punishment” on Israel. He does so by simply allowing existing wickedness to have its way. It’s never like a godly parent using the rod on his son. Babylon is a bad tool by itself: cruelty, pride, sorcery, and idolatry.
But Babylon’s days are numbered.
The rich and powerful have many things. Discernment isn’t one of them! They don’t know when to worry about their own future!
Yes, vengeance come to Babylon. The picture of Babylon becomes a moniker for wickedness that will eventually be punished.
We can reflect on these thoughts and find comfort in the LORD God, our Redeemer.
There is pain and suffering for Israel, but you hear the word “discipline”. Babylon’s pain and suffering sound like punishment.
Job’s suffering is neither punishment nor discipline. Let the saint ponder the differences. Like Israel, the saint may be disciplined. But the saint will have his or her own Job situation.
We can look to the future and see that all Babylons are destroyed. Wickedness and pride aren’t everlasting!
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