The Humiliation of Babylon
ISAIAH CHAPTER 47
The Humiliation of Babylon
47:1-48:22: Two conclusions can be drawn from the preceding evidence that the Lord alone is God:
- Babylon’s great pride is foolishness (47:1-15);
- Israel needs to pay attention to the word of God (48:1-12)
47:1-4: In this taut against Babylon, the queen of nations is humiliated, and forced to work as a servant girl.
Verse 1 – To sit in the dust was a way of expressing humiliation.
Jeremiah 48:18: “Come down from your glory and sit in the dust, you people of Dibon,
for those who destroy Moab will shatter Dibon, too. They will tear down all your towers.
. Babylonia; or Chaldea; also in 47:5: I am the Lord; there is no other God.
I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know me.
Verse 2 – Expose yourself to public view: Literally, bare your leg, and pass through the rivers.
Genesis 24:65: “Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?” she asked the servant. And he replied, “It is my master.” So, Rebekah covered her face with her veil.
1 Corinthians 11:5: But a woman dishonors her head (dishonors her husband) if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head.
Verse 3 – God’s vengeance against those who oppose Him and those who oppress His people (see Isaiah 34:8: For it is the day of the Lord’s revenge, the year when Edom will be paid back for all it did to Israel.) will bring justice to the world by purging it of wickedness.
Isaiah 63:4: For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!
47:5-11: Babylon’s confidence and arrogance were well known (see Isaiah 14:13-17: For you said to yourself,
‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north.
14 I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’
15 Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths.
16 Everyone there will stare at you and ask, ‘Can this be the one who shook the earth
and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?
17 Is this the one who destroyed the world and made it into a wasteland? Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities and had no mercy on his prisoners?’; Daniel 4:30: As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor). All of the nation’s charms, magic, and wisdom were useless against the disaster decreed for it.
Verse 5 – Lamentation 2:10: The leaders of beautiful Jerusalem sit on the ground in silence. They are clothed in burlap and throw dust on their heads. The young women of Jerusalem hang their heads in shame.
Deuteronomy 2:37: However, we avoided the land of the Ammonites all along the Jabbok River and the towns in the hill country—all the places the Lord our God had commanded us to leave alone.
Verse 6 – The people of Israel had provoked god’s wrath, prompting him to use Babylon to punish them. Now wicked Babylon itself would be punished.
Deuteronomy 28:49-50: The Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth, and it will swoop down on you like a vulture. It is a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young.
Zechariah 1:15: But I am very angry with the other nations that are now enjoying peace and security. I was only a little angry with my people, but the nations inflicted harm on them far beyond my intentions.
Verse 7 – Revelation 18:7: She glorified herself and lived in luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow. She boasted in her heart, ‘I am queen on my throne.
I am no helpless widow and have no reason to mourn.’
Verse 8 – I am the only one, and there is no other: This was a claim to divinity (cross-reference: 45:5: I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know me; 47:10: “You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’) Only the Lord can make such a claim. For any created thing including a nation, to utter this is the height of hubris (self-confidence).
. To be a widow or to lose one’s children was a disgrace.
Isaiah 22:13: But instead, you dance and play; you slaughter cattle and kill sheep. You feast on meat and drink wine. You say, “Let us feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”; 32:9, 11: Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug…Tremble, you women of ease; throw off your complacency. Strip off your pretty clothes, and put on burlap to show your grief.
Verse 9 – Witchcraft and magic were commonly used in an attempt to ward off evil and secure a happy future.
Isaiah 13:16: Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.
1 Thessalonians 5:23: Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
Revelation 18:8,10, 23: Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day-death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire,
for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”…. they will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out “How terrible, how terrible for you, O Babylon, you great city! In a single moment, God’s judgment came on you.”… The light of a lamp will never shine on you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.
Verse 10 – In this context, ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ probably refer sarcastically to the pseudo-knowledge gained through occult practices, which actually led Babylon away from the truth and into disaster (47:11: So, disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared.)
Psalm 52:7: “Look what happens to mighty warriors who do not trust in God? They trust their wealth instead and grow bolder and bolder in their wickedness.”
Isaiah 5:21: What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.
Ezekiel 8:12: Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see us; he has deserted our land!’”
Verse 11 – Jeremiah 51:8, 43: But suddenly Babylon, too, has fallen. Weep for her.
Give her medicine. Perhaps she can yet be healed…. Her cities now lie in ruins; she is a dry wasteland where no one lives or even passes by.
Verse 13 – Babylon was advanced in astronomy, which the astrologers and stargazers used as a form of divination (see Daniel 2:2, 10: He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers, and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed. As they stood before the king… The astrologers replied to the king, “No one on earth can tell the king his dream! And no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer! 5:7: The king shouted for the enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers to be brought before him. He said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor and will have a gold chain placed around his neck. He will become the third-highest ruler in the kingdom!”)
Isaiah 8:19: Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
Verse 14 – Jeremiah 51:30, 32, 58: Her mightiest warriors no longer fight. They stay in their barracks, their courage gone. They have become like women. The invaders have burned the houses and broken down the city gates. 32 All the escape routes are blocked.
The marshes have been set aflame, and the army is in a panic… This is what the Lord of Host says: “The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled to the ground, and her massive gates will be burned. The builders from many lands have worked in vain, for their work will be destroyed by fire!”.
Nahum 1:10: His enemies, tangled like thornbushes and staggering like drunks, will be burned up like dry stubble in a field.
Verse 15 – Revelation 18:11: The merchants of the world will weep and mourn for her, for there is no one left to buy their goods.