Isaiah · chapter 47 of 66
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Isaiah 47 announces the fall of Babylon, pictured as a virgin daughter who must come down from her throne and sit in the dust. Her pride, her trust in sorcery and her belief that no one saw her will lead her to lose husband and children suddenly, and neither astrologers nor magicians will be able to save her from the fire that consumes her.
Isaiah 47 is part of the chapters that comfort the exiles by announcing that the empire oppressing them will not last. After the contrast between the idols and the Lord in chapter 46, this satirical poem turns to Babylon itself and shows why her power, which seemed eternal, will end.
The chapter opens with a command to the daughter of Babylon: come down and sit in the dust, you will no longer be called tender and delicate. She will grind meal at the mill, remove her veil, uncover her legs and cross rivers. Her shame will be seen, and the Lord will take vengeance without asking anyone's permission. The Redeemer of Israel, whose name is the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel, is speaking. She is told to sit in silence and go into darkness, for she will no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.
The Lord explains why. He was angry with his people and gave them into the hand of Babylon, but she showed them no mercy, and even on the aged she laid a very heavy yoke. Babylon said she would be mistress forever and did not take these things to heart or consider how it would end. She is lover of pleasure, lives securely and says to herself that she is, and there is no one besides her, that she will never be a widow or know the loss of children. But both things will come upon her in a moment, in a single day. In spite of her many sorceries and her spells, she will lose children and husband.
She felt safe in her wickedness and said no one saw her. Her wisdom and her knowledge led her astray. Disaster will come upon her, and she will not know how to ward it off. So let her enchantments and many spells, in which she has labored since youth, stand up; perhaps they will help. Let the astrologers stand up, those who gaze at the stars and announce each month what is coming. They will be like stubble that fire burns, and they cannot deliver themselves from the flame. Those who traded with her since her youth will each wander off on his own, and there will be no one to save her.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Redeemer of Israel introduces himself by name, the Lord of hosts and the Holy One of Israel. The one who rescues the exiles is the same one who brings low the empire that oppressed them.
Babylon says to herself that she is, and there is no one besides her. Those words take for herself what only the Lord can say, and they prepare the fall of anyone who takes the place of God.
Babylon trusted in her wickedness and thought no one saw her; her wisdom and her knowledge led her astray. The text shows how hidden sin and intellectual pride can deceive someone who thinks herself invulnerable.
The astrologers and those who watch the stars cannot save Babylon and will be like stubble in the fire. Practices that promise to know the future cannot deliver anyone from God's judgment.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To come down and sit in the dust, with no throne. — Isaiah 47:1
Answer: The Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel. — Isaiah 47:4
Answer: She showed no mercy and laid a very heavy yoke even on the aged. — Isaiah 47:6
Answer: That she is, and there is no one besides her, that she would not be a widow or lose her children. — Isaiah 47:8
Answer: The loss of children and widowhood. — Isaiah 47:9
Answer: They will be like stubble that fire burns, unable to save themselves or Babylon. — Isaiah 47:13-14
Isaiah 47 is a warning about the security that comes from pride. Babylon thought she was invulnerable and no one called her to account, and that very feeling ruined her. Any person, family or institution can slip into thinking it does not need to answer to anyone. In a Sunday school class you can talk about how to cultivate humility and surround ourselves with people who tell us the truth.
The chapter also warns against seeking answers in horoscopes, fortune-tellers or similar practices. Scripture does not treat them as sources of trust. For those who have suffered at the hands of the powerful, the chapter offers comfort: the Redeemer sees the abuse and does not overlook it, even though his timing is not always ours.
Isaiah 47 shows that the mightiest empire cannot save itself once the Lord decides to judge it. Chapter 48 turns back to God's people, reminding them of their stubbornness and calling them to leave Babylon.
In prophetic language a city or nation could be described as a daughter or a virgin to stress its delicacy and the idea that it had never been conquered. The poem uses the image to show a sharp reversal: the one who lived in luxury will work as a slave and be put to shame.
According to known history, the Persians under Cyrus took Babylon in 539 BC. Although Isaiah speaks of the judgment poetically and does not give details of the conquest, the fall of the empire fits what this chapter announces. The book of Revelation later uses Babylon as an image of the power that opposes God.