Isaiah 47:1-15
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 perverteda 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,b 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 themselvesc 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.
Isaiah 47:2. Take the millstones and grind meal. Prepare the weekly loaf, as was anciently the custom, a work which the servants performed with handmills.
Isaiah 47:4. Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. He who redeemed us from Egypt, will redeem us from Babylon by the Persians, and throw the yoke of servitude on our oppressors.
Isaiah 47:7. Thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever. Oh virgin, how couldst thou dream of this, seeing every city within the grasp of thy wide empire has been stormed and ravished by thine invading armies. Shall the Lord visit other metropolitan cities for their sins, and never visit thee for the blood of all nations.
Isaiah 47:9. These two things shall come to thee in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood. This was partly fulfilled in the sudden manner in which Cyrus stormed Babylon. But about twenty years afterward, when the Chaldeans had gotten a little strength, taking advantage of the absence of the Persian kings, they rebelled; and on being closely besieged by Darius, when the provisions grew short, it was agreed in counsel that every man should go home, and kill all his wives, with the exception of one, and all other persons who could not be useful in defending the city. So in one night they were made widowers. From that time, Babylon was gradually deserted, and the city of Seleucia rose in grandeur. Bagdad is built on the ruins of Seleucia, at the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris by the canal.
Isaiah 47:10. Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness. Babylon, like most other nations, was very religious in the time of trouble. She fled to her star- gazers and sorcerers for counsel and comfort. They all promised her deliverance and relief, and doubled her misery by deception.
Isaiah 47:13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. The confusion of the Chaldaic oracles greatly augmented their distress of mind. Heaven made their diviners mad.
REFLECTIONS.
Isaiah had severely censured the vain and haughty women of Zion, chap. 3:32.; and now he was directed to censure with equal severity the delicate women of Babylon. He in effect addresses them in language of the keenest satire that can possibly be composed. He calls Babylon a virgin, who was in idolatries the mother of harlots. They had sat on couches and thrones; now they must bewail their dead, sitting on the cold earth. They had been cruel to the captive women of Israel, and made no distinction between the old and the young; now their delicate hands must take hold of the handmills, and grind the corn for their Persian lords. They indulged in superb dresses; now they must go into captivity almost naked, and ford rivers with their tender feet. They had been addicted to nocturnal pleasures, had lived carelessly, and were soothed by sorcerers; they had trusted in their wickedness, and said, none seeth. Therefore the anger of heaven burned against them to the last extreme; and the Lord would not meet them as one who might be softened by their tears, but as an avenging God. In one night the loss of children and widowhood should come upon them. Cyrus took the city in the night; and notwithstanding his famed humanity, there was a most dreadful carnage; they put to death all they found in the streets. But the wicked, reprieved for a moment, proved themselves unworthy of life. The haughty Babylonians soon rebelled against Darius; and being pressed with a sore siege in order to hold out to the last extremity, every man who had more than one wife, chose the woman he loved best, and strangled all the others, that useless persons might not exhaust the provisions. What a stroke at polygamy! But what a striking completion of prophecy; and what a contrast between those who trust in the Lord, and those who trust diviners and earthly hopes. And were the women of Babylon more vain and effeminate, more secure and corrupt, than the fashionable ladies of our own times? Were they more disposed to dress, and to indulge in nocturnal entertainments and pleasures? In this reverse of life, from the summit of Babylonian pride to the dregs of misery, we have a most instructive mirror for modern ages, and for the fashionable circles of society in particular. Happy is that soul, truly disposed to reformation, and to learn wisdom from the divine counsel.