Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Isaiah 48:20-22
The Call To Flee From Babylon (Isaiah 48:20).
As we come to the end of the section from chapter 40 to 48 we find God's final charge. It is to ‘flee from Babylon.' Babylon with all that it stood for was the opposite of the Servant. It represented all that was at enmity with God. That was why it had to be destroyed for ever, and why all men had to flee from it as from danger and peril (compare Revelation 18:4). After this Babylon will not again be mentioned. Her influence is over.
But the question must arise as to whom the call comes to flee. Who are the ones who are to flee from it and to testify to what Yahweh has done? Most see it as referring to the exiles from Judah. But if it is spoken of them (referred to as ‘His servant Jacob') then this is the only example in the whole book of Isaiah where speakers speak of themselves indirectly in the third person, i.e. ‘saying Yahweh has redeemed (not ‘us' but) His servant Jacob'. This would give weight to the suggestion that these words are not spoken by Jacob/Israel themselves but by third parties (compare Isaiah 47:13), who are fleeing from Babylon and testifying in amazement to the deliverance of His servant Jacob as they are filled with wonder at the coming destruction of Babylon and realise why it has happened (see Isaiah 45:6 where the activities of Cyrus were to cause just such an effect, and Isaiah 44:23 where the whole world is to sing at the redemption of God's Servant Jacob).
And this is especially so in view of the fact that return from exile is never spoken of in terms of fleeing (the word used generally signifies fleeing from danger). Always when return from exile is mentioned we are given the idea of Yahweh's activity (Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 56:8) and/or of a triumphant homecoming (Isaiah 14:1; Isaiah 49:12; Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 60:9), often with the nations giving their assistance. Note also the contradictory ‘you will not go out in haste, nor will you go by flight' (Isaiah 52:12), if that is taken to mean the return from exile. So if this was directly referring to return from exile it would be doing so in a unique and even contradictory way. This therefore tends to emphasise that the idea is rather of Babylon being deserted by its ‘friends' as they become aware of the disaster that is looming, who sing of Jacob's deliverance because they have recognised in what is happening the hand of Yahweh.
Indeed it is probably intended to be symbolic. All men everywhere must flee from what Babylon is, and from its pernicious influence. And so we may see this as an appeal to all men to flee from Babylon and all that it means. It does of course include any exiles from Israel but they are only indirectly in mind. Rather it is they who are being redeemed by what is happening.
This may then also be seen as the reversal of what was declared in Isaiah 39:6. There a part of the Servant would be dragged off to Babylon. Now the Servant must be made complete (‘His Servant Jacob'). For we have already seen the profound effect that Hezekiah's failure had had on Isaiah. It is reflected in Chapter s 13-14. And he knew the consequences of it. Thus he would know that he could have no peace until those exiles returned. They were a necessary part of the completeness of the Servant. Here then in the light of Yahweh having promised to deal with Babylon (Isaiah 48:14) he is possibly including in his words a call to any exiles to return. But that is secondary to the main significance. The flight from all that Babylon is, with its licentious, good-time living and its deep died idolatry was required of all people, because of what Babylon was, and what was about to happen to it. All must flee from Babylon.
‘Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans,
With a voice of singing make your declaration,
Tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth.
Say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob.”
The impression given here is not of an orderly return from exile under the command of an overlord, but of the people in mind fleeing for their lives. They are to go forth, they are to flee, for as Yahweh deals with Babylon in apocalyptic judgment all who would be saved must flee. And as they flee they are to sing, to let the whole world know, that Yahweh has redeemed His servant Jacob by restoring them to be His Servant. He has saved them from all that Babylon represents, and the world is filled with wonder. Compare Isaiah 44:23 where all are to sing because Yahweh has redeemed Jacob. See also Isaiah 55:12.
So this is not just depicting the return of the exiles from Babylon to make up the new Israel (and note here that those who flee are to flee from the city Babylon, not from the surrounding countryside. It is Babylon in its pride that must be avoided). Isaiah's prophecies elsewhere clearly suggest that he expected exiles to come from all over the known world, but their return is never depicted in these terms. And he knew full well that many men of Israel and Judah were still in their own land, and that many were scattered among the nations. So as far as Isaiah was concerned any actual returnees from Babylon (and we know that men of the northern kingdom had been exiled there - Isaiah 11:11) would only play a small part in the whole. Any who would come would simply be seen as part of a whole and as redressing the failure of Hezekiah so that the Servant may be made complete.
But we may add further the thought that this verse is depicting what all men everywhere must do. They must ‘flee from Babylon', what it signifies and the hold that Babylonian licentiousness and belief in the occult has on them. Wherever they are they must flee from their sources of wealth that hold them back, they must flee from their comfortable living, they must flee from their compromises. For that apocalyptic moment when final judgment comes on Babylon is approaching and all who are His people must flee from the very idea of it (compare Revelation 18:4).
The picture presented is thus precisely that of one looking far ahead and seeing an apocalyptic event taking place without actually having first hand knowledge of it. It is true that what mattered to him was the completing of the Servant for his worldwide task, and that would involve remedying the disaster of Isaiah 39:6, but that was secondary. Primary was for all men to escape from mythical Babylon, the great enemy of God.
We can again compare here what God had said to Abraham. He too had been called on to leave the land of the Chaldees in order to go to where he could fulfil the purposes of God. Thus was it now necessary for his seed to do so also, along with all men. For until they had done so they could not fulfil their ministry as the Servant.
For ‘My Servant Jacob' compare Isaiah 44:1; Isaiah 45:4. For the redemption of Jacob see Isaiah 44:23 with 21, where the redemption is through the blotting out of their sins. This would suggest that the ‘redemption of His Servant Jacob' is more in terms of God's work in them which has freed them from the grip of what Babylon stands for, than having anything to do with exile.
Note the voice of singing and compare Isaiah 12:5; Isaiah 14:7; Isaiah 24:14; Isaiah 26:19; Isaiah 42:10; Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 49:9; Isaiah 51:11; Isaiah 52:9; Isaiah 55:12.
‘And they did not thirst when he led them through the deserts,
He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them,
He split the rock also and the waters gushed out.'
The fact that Yahweh has redeemed His servant Jacob reminds Isaiah of their previous great deliverance when God had brought His people through the wilderness and had done all that was necessary to prevent them from thirsting.
Exiles from all over the world would come as fugitives, (‘fleeing from what Babylon stood for'), as Israel had come as fugitives out of Egypt, and so Yahweh would deliver them as He had His fugitives from Egypt (Isaiah 49:9). For them He had caused waters to flow from the rock, He had even ‘cleaved' the rock for them to bring those waters out (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11). Thus would He preserve all His own from thirst on their way through any deserts they may cross, even deserts in their own land. But comparison with the next verse, and with Isaiah 48:18, suggests that this is to be interpreted spiritually as in Isaiah 44:1. It is probably therefore saying that just as those who went through the wilderness were provided with water from a rock, so will the Rock Himself provide spiritual water to all who have found themselves in a spiritual desert and turn to Him so that they might have peace (Isaiah 48:18). In contrast with the wicked He would give them peace in their hearts (compare Isaiah 48:18 and Isaiah 48:22).
“There is no peace, says Yahweh, to the wicked.”
But for the wicked there is no peace, under any circumstances. Not for them the peace which is like a river (Isaiah 48:18). Compare Isaiah 57:21. This comment sums up the whole section from 40-48. With all the glorious truths and promises that had been revealed and given, the hearts of the majority of Israel were still not at peace. This was what chapter 48 has emphasised. The people are not at peace (Isaiah 48:18). And now Yahweh sums up why. Even with the worldwide exiles returning there is no peace to the wicked. Total reformation will be needed if they are to find peace. But who is there who can bring it about? The answer lies in the Chapter s that follow as he describes the One Who will come to bring peace, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).