Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 47:15

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 47:15. To his quarter - "To his own business"] לעברו leebro. Expositors give no very good account of this word in this place. In a MS. it was at first לעבדו leabdo, to his servant or work, which is probably the true reading. The sense however is pretty much the same with the common interpretation: "Every one shall turn aside to his own business; none shall deliver thee."

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Judgment on Babylon (47:1-15)

The great nation Babylon is likened to a beautiful and vain young lady who is now disgraced. She once lived in luxury, but now she is made to sit in the dirt, forced to work like a slave girl, stripped of her beautiful clothing and made to walk around naked (47:1-3). God’s judgment on Babylon brings freedom to Israel (4).
Pride is the reason for Babylon’s downfall. God’s desire was to use Babylon to punish Israel, but Babylon has gone beyond the limits God set and has acted with unnecessary cruelty (5-7). Proud of the place of honour she has gained among the nations, she acts as if she is God. Therefore, God will punish her. She thinks she is unconquerable, but God will suddenly destroy her (8-9).
In her arrogance Babylon thinks that she can do as she likes and no one can stop her (10-11). She thinks that her rise to power is a result of guidance received through her knowledge of magic and astrology. The prophet challenges her to keep trusting in magic and astrology, and see if that will save her from God’s judgment (12-13). What she will find is that the magicians and astrologers themselves will fall under God’s judgment. They will be destroyed, as straw is burnt in a fire. No one will be able to save Babylon from the coming judgment (14-15).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee. 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 warm, nor a fire to sit before. Thus shall the things be unto thee wherein thou hast labored: they that have trafficked with thee from thy youth shall wander everyone to his own quarter; there shall be none to save thee.”

Are the vast majority of human beings today trusting anything any more substantial than these objects of misplaced trust in ancient Babylon? Behold the millions that are trusting in alcohol or drugs, that are given continually and without intermission to pleasures, who feel secure in their complacent rejection of God’s Word and his imperatives for all men, who, to all intents and purposes, are saying by their actions, “I am, and there is none else besides me!” who give no more thought regarding God Almighty himself than if he did not exist? As a nation today, we are investing $3,000,000,000 annually in astrological readings, the signs of the Zodiac, etc.; and there is a full quarter-page of such nonsense every day in the daily newspapers. In every large city, there may be found in every square mile of them some “Madam So and So,” reading palms or something, predicting futures, solving problems, and guiding lives by the same old black arts found in ancient civilizations. Who bothers to seek God and to pray about his needs or problems?

Family ties are greatly strained; the Biblical conception of monogamous marriage is threatened by the “live in” libertines; and every department store in the nation adds a surcharge of at least 15 percent to protect themselves from shop-lifting. Such people are materialists, living only for material rewards, and measuring themselves and all whom they know by material standards alone. God have mercy upon our new race of Babylonians.

“The reference to `monthly prognosticators’ (Isaiah 47:13) apparently refers to the monthly reports which the official astronomers at the various observatories in the empire were required to send in every month to the king.”T. K. Cheyne’s Commentary, p. 310. They certainly missed it in that month in which the drunken Belshazzar was slain.

Barnes’ comment on this chapter is appropriate:

“This chapter contains some very particular statements about the manner in which Babylon was to be destroyed, statements which were fulfilled with remarkable accuracy. They are statements that could not have been the result of conjecture, nor of mere political sagacity; and it should be borne in remembrance that this prophecy was uttered one hundred fifty years before its fulfillment.”Albert Barnes’ Commentary, Vol. II, 172.

The last two verses here are very similar to the flight and disappearance of all Nineveh’s previous allies as soon as God’s judgment fell upon her. The traffickers, whether applied to the merchants, or to the traffickers in the black arts, will not be around when they are needed. The statement that each shall wander to his own quarter, does not mean “his quarter of the city,” but rather that he shall go about his business and leave Babylon to perish. This is exactly what was prophesied of Nineveh in Nahum 2:8. “They shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land (Isaiah 13:14).”Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 207.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

With whom thou hast labored - The multitude of diviners, astrologers, and merchants, with whom thou hast been connected and employed. The idea is, that Babylon had been the mart where all of them had been assembled.

Even thy merchants from thy youth - Babylon was favorably situated for traffic; and was distinguished for it. Foreigners and strangers had resorted there, and it was filled with those who had come there for purposes of trade. The sense here is, that the same destruction which would come upon the diviners, would come on all who had been engaged there in traffic and merchandise. It does not mean that the individuals who were thus engaged would be destroyed, but that destruction would come upon the business; it would come in spite of all the efforts of the astrologers, and in spite of all the mercantile advantages of the place. The destruction would be as entire as if a fire should pass over stubble, and leave not a coal or a spark. What a striking description of the total ruin of the commercial advantages of Babylon!

From thy youth - From the very foundation of the city.

They shall wander every one to his own quarter - All shall leave Babylon, and it shall be utterly forsaken as a place of commerce, and all who have been engaged in mercantile transactions there shall go to other places. The phrase, ‘his own quarter’ (לעברו l^e‛eb^erô), means, “to his own way;” they shall be driven from Babylon, and wander to other places. They shall flee from the danger; and if they practice their arts, or engage in commerce, it shall be done in other places besides Babylon.

None shall save thee - How truly this was fulfilled need not here be stated. All its arts of astrology, its wealth, its mercantile advantages, the strength of its walls and gates, were insufficient to save it, and now it lies a wide waste - a scene of vast and doleful ruin (see the notes at Isaiah 13:0; Isaiah 14:0) So certainly will all the predictions of God be accomplished; so vain are the arts and devices of man, the strength of fortifications, and the advantages for commerce, when God purposes to inflict his vengeance on a guilty nation. The skill of astrology, the advantages of science, accumulated treasures, brass gates and massive walls, and commercial advantages, the influx of foreigners, and a fertile soil, cannot save it. All these things are in the hands of God; and he can withdraw them when he pleases. Babylon once had advantages for commerce equal to most of the celebrated marts now of Europe and America. So had Palmyra, and Tyre, and Baalbec, and Petra, and Alexandria, and Antioch. Babylon was in the midst of a country as fertile by nature as most parts of the United States. She had as little prospect of losing the commerce of the world, and of ceasing to be a place of wealth and power, as Paris, or London, or Liverpool, or New York. Yet how easy was it for God, in the accomplishment of his plans, to turn away the tide of her prosperity, and reduce her to ruins.

How easy, in the arrangements of his providence, to spread desolation over all the once fertile plains of Chaldea, and to make those plains pools of water. And so with equal ease, if he pleases, and by causes as little known as were those which destroyed Babylon, can he take away the commercial advantages of any city now on earth. Tyre has lost all its commercial importance; the richly-laden caravan has ceascd to pause at Petra; Tadmor lies waste. Baalbec is known only by the far-strewed ruins, and Nineveh and Babylon are stripped of all. that ever made them great, and can rise no more. God has taken away the importance and the power of Rome, once, like Babylon, the mistress of the world, by suffering the malaria to desolate all the region in her vicinity; and so with equal truth, all that contributes to the commercial importance of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, London, or Paris, are under the control of God. By some secret causes he could make these cities a wide scene of ruins; and they may be, if they are like Babylon and Tyre and Tadmor in their character, yet like them in their doom. They should feel that the sources of their prosperity and their preservation are not in themselves, but in the favor and protection of God. Virtue, justice, and piety, will better preserve them than wealth; and without these they must be, in spite of their commercial advantages, what the once celebrated cities of antiquity now are.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

15.So shal they be to thee. After having threatened destruction to those astronomers, he again retums to the Babylonians, and threatens that they must not look for assistance from that quarter from which they expected it, and that they ought not to rely on those vain counsels, with which they had long and eagerly vexed themselves in vain.

He calls them dealers, or, as we commonly say, traffickers; a metaphor taken from merchants, who are skilled in innumerable arts of deceiving, and in impostures of every kind; for the princes do not consult in a manner suitable to their rank, but traffic in disgraceful transactions. ⁽²³²⁾ Though we may extend this to all the allies by whom the Babylonians were aided, yet the Prophet has his eye chiefly on the diviners. When he adds, from thy youth, he aggravates the guilt of Babylon, in having been infected with this foolish belief from an ancient date, and in having held this error as if it had been born with her.

Every one to his own quarter. ⁽²³³⁾ It is supposed that the Prophet here speaks of the flight of the astrologers, that every one shall provide for his own safety; and I fully agree with this, but think that, there is also an allusion to the “quarters” of the heavens, which astrologers divide and measure, so as to deduce their prognostications from them. He therefore ridicules their vain boasting. “Theyshall withdraw into their quarters, but they shall go astray, and there shall be no means of protection. If any one choose to apply it to the revolt of those whose assistance Babylon thought that at any time she could easily obtain, I have no objection.

(232) “It becomes a question whether these are called traders in the literal and ordinary sense, or at least in that of national allies and negotiators; or whether the epithet is given in contempt to the astrologers and wise men of the foregoing context, as trafficking or dealing in imposture. J. D. Michaelis supposes them to be described as travelling dealers, that is, pedlars and hawkers, who removed from place to place, lest their frauds should be discovered. He even compares them with the gipsy fortune-tellers of our own day, but admits that the astrologers of Babylonia held a very different position in society.” —Alexander.

(233) “That is, wherever each person can depart, they disperse and wander, so that every person pursues his own road, for rescuing himself from danger, by fleeing to the farthest boundaries of the kingdom of Babylon. — Rosenmuller.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 47

Now in chapter 47, God speaks of the judgment that is going to come against Babylon. Now this is before Babylon ever conquered them. But God has declared that Babylon shall conquer them, but because of the treatment that Babylon gives to the people of God, she herself, though used as an instrument of God in judgment against His people, will also be brought into judgment by God.

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. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. For thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: and I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man ( Isaiah 47:1-3 ).

He's going to meet them as a God in judgment.

As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into your hand: but you did not show them mercy; upon the ancient ( Isaiah 47:4-6 )

That is, the very old men.

you have laid a very heavy yoke ( Isaiah 47:6 ).

So the Babylonians were not really kind to their captives. They were very hard on the people of Israel when they took them captives. And even upon the old men they laid very heavy burdens, made them bondslaves and made them work hard. And so because of their treatment, He said,

You have said, I shall be a lady for ever: so that you did not lay these things to thy heart, neither did you remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwell carelessly, that say in your heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 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 your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments. For you have trusted in your wickedness: and you have said, None seeth me ( Isaiah 47:7-10 ).

Now God speaks of the judgment that is going to come against Babylon because of their treatment of His people. You remember Jesus spoke when He returns to the earth, He said, "Then will I gather together the nations for judgment and I will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And to those on the right hand I will say, 'Come ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundations of the earth. For I was hungry, you fed Me. Thirsty and you gave Me to drink.'" And so forth. "'Lord, when did we see You hungry? When did we see You thirsty?' Inasmuch as you did it unto My brethren, the least of My brethren, you did it to Me" ( Matthew 25:32-40 ). And so the nations will be judged for their treatment of God's people, the Jews. Be careful about speaking against the Jews. For God has chosen them and God has said, "I will bless those that bless thee, and curse those that curse thee" ( Genesis 12:3 ). "For those on His left He said, 'Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity, into everlasting judgment that was prepared for Satan and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not feed Me; thirsty, and you did not give Me to drink; naked, and you did not clothe Me; in prison, you did not visit Me.' 'Lord, when did we see You and not help You out?' 'Inasmuch as you did it not to the least of these My brethren, you did it not to Me'" ( Matthew 25:41-45 ).

Now here because of the ill treatment of His people, though God was angry with the Jews and had a cause against them because they had polluted the name of God by their false worship, yet though He gave them over in the hand of the Babylonians, they did not show them mercy. And thus, God's judgment and heavy hand. Now one of the things the Babylonians were saying, notice here, is that our kingdom is going to last. "I will be a lady forever. The Babylonian kingdom will endure forever. We will never be widows. We will never lose our children. Our husbands will never be slain in battle. We'll never have to face widowhood." And God said, "You've said these things and you've lived in pleasure and you've lived carelessly. But in a moment, in one night, you're going to be both, the loss of children and become widows."

Now you remember when Nebuchadnezzar had this dream that troubled him. He could not remember the dream. He felt it had significance and so they called in all the wise men and astrologers, soothsayers and so forth to interpret for him the dream. These astrologers were very active in Babylon at that time. In fact, we get a little kick against them down in verse Isaiah 47:13 . Astrology was a very popular thing. They had those that could tell your horoscope and tell you when to do what according to the influence of the stars upon your life. And finally, Daniel was brought in.

And Daniel said to him, "Now the other night before you went to sleep in your mind you were wondering, 'What is going to happen to my great kingdom and what is going to happen to the world?' And so the God who dwells in heaven has shown unto thee what is going to happen to your kingdom and what is going to happen to the world. For in your dream, you saw this great image that had a head of gold, chest of silver, stomach of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay, with ten toes. And as you watch this great image, there came a rock not cut with hands. It hit the image in its feet and the whole image fell. It crumbled and there grew from the rock. The rock grew into a mountain that covered the whole earth." He said, "God has shown to you the kingdoms that are going to rule over the earth. And you, Nebuchadnezzar, are the head of gold. But your kingdom is going to be replaced by an inferior kingdom, as silver is inferior to gold. That kingdom will be replaced by a yet inferior kingdom, the stomach of brass, as brass is inferior to silver. And that will be replaced by iron, which is hard and stamps everything to pieces. And the final kingdom will be of ten kings, as iron and clay are mixed together. It will not have the power of the iron but they will be mixed together and it is during the time of these ten kings that the Lord of heaven shall come and set up a kingdom that shall never end."

Nebuchadnezzar said, "I proclaim that there is no God in all the earth like the God of Daniel that is able to reveal dreams and secrets and tells things that are going to be" ( Daniel 2:47 ). Acknowledged God, but turned right around and he commanded that they build a huge idol, ninety feet tall, of all gold. Now that huge idol of all gold was a direct defiance to what God had just declared.

Now there are a lot of people who proclaim there's no god like the God of heaven, and then they go do their own thing or they defy Him. And he was defying God with this huge idol. And as Isaiah declared here, their attitude here is, "Babylon will live forever. Babylon will never be destroyed. Babylonian will never be conquered. It's the eternal kingdom. It will rule forever." But the prophecy is here, is in a moment, in a day, the kingdom will fall. And Babylon fell in one night as Daniel came in before Belshazzar and interpreted to him the writing that was on the wall. "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. For your kingdom has been weighed in the balances, you're found wanting. And this night, thy soul shall be taken from thee and your kingdom will be divided among the Medes and the Persians this night" ( Daniel 5:26-28 ). And that night, Cyrus the king of Persia came under the walls of Babylon where they had diverted the river Euphrates up into the city. And that night, Belshazzar and all of his lords were slain.

Now Isaiah here is talking a hundred and fifty years before the king Cyrus was born. He's talking, really, well in advance of the attitude that would prevail in Babylon. Declaring that they would not have mercy on the people of God. Thus Babylon was to be judged, and in a moment, in one day, they would experience the loss of their children and widowhood. "For they shall come upon thee," the Lord said, verse Isaiah 47:9 , "in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments. For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, 'No one sees me.'"

So many times we think that our sin is done in secret. We say, "Nobody sees me." But when Nebuchadnezzar was walking through the garden, he heard a voice and it said, "The watchers have been watching you and you've not been behaving yourself. And you're going to get cut off." And he came to Daniel and said, "What's this all about?" And he says, "Walk carefully, O king, you're in a bad way. Because of the pride of your heart, you've exalted yourself against God." You see, he made this golden idol. He was defying God. He was lifted up with pride and so he said, "Walk softly before the Lord that you might continue your days upon the earth." And for a year he behaved himself and he walked softly. But at the end of the year as he was walking through the hanging gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, he said, "Is this not the great Babylon that I have built?" And he heard that voice, for the watchers were still watching. And they declared, "Because you have been lifted up in pride, you are going to be driven forth with the wild beasts for seven seasons until you know that the God in heaven rules over the earth and He sets into the kingdoms those whom He will." And Nebuchadnezzar went insane and lived with the animals out in the field like a wild beast until his hair grew like feathers and his nails grew like claws until seven seasons have passed over him until he knew that the Lord of heaven reigns over the earth and set up the kingdoms and set on the kingdoms those whom He would. You say none sees, but there are watchers. God sees.

Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and you've said in your heart, I am, and there is no one beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it rises: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you will not know. Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have labored from your youth; if so be that thou shalt be able to profit, if so be that you may prevail. For thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels ( Isaiah 47:10-13 ).

Now you remember Nebuchadnezzar calling the counselors, the wise men, soothsayers, astrologers and so forth, and here again.

Let now the astrologers, and the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee ( Isaiah 47:13 ).

I am really amazed in a world of science in which we live where we have made such positive scientific advancement and we've come to know so much about the universe in which we live. I am amazed that in this world of modern technology, that most of the newspapers publish a daily horoscope, which is superstition and comes from the ancient religions in Babylon. The charting of a person's life, the monthly prognosticating of a person's highs and lows and positive signs and so forth. All has superstitious origin as though the stars and the position of the stars has some kind of a mystic influence over our lives. Some people seek to govern their activities by the position of the stars in heaven. How ridiculous can you be? And yet, people have to believe in something and it is amazing the foolish things that people believe in when they've rejected the truth of God.

You see, the Bible declares that, "Professing themselves to be wise, they've become fools" ( Romans 1:22 ). The minute you rule God out of your life, you are open and susceptible to every foolish thing. And men can believe the most stupid things when they once reject God. For the Bible speaks that, "God will give them over to a delusion that they may believe a lie rather than the truth" ( 2 Thessalonians 2:11 ). You don't want to believe in God? All right, Mr. Wise Guy, we'll show you how wise you are. And God lets people believe in such stupid, foolish, ridiculous things once they've rejected Him. And I look at these. What can you say that won't get you into trouble? These professed wise people and I read of some of their actions and activities and all and I think, "And they are supposed to be so smart." But it's because once you have put God out of your life, you are open and susceptible to every kind of gimmick, religious or otherwise. And so people are looking into psychic phenomena and into the occult and so forth.

Having rejected God they're open, they're susceptible to anything. And they're gullible. Ready to believe anything. And professing themselves to be wise, God has allowed them to become fools. "For their foolish minds are darkened. And because they do not want to retain God in their minds, God gives them over to minds that are reprobate and void of God" ( Romans 1:21 , Romans 1:28 ). So that men end up in the pit.

Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom you have labored, even your merchants, from your youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee ( Isaiah 47:14-15 ).

All of these wise men and astrologers, they won't be able to save themselves, much less you. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The doom of Babylon 47:12-15

Yahweh’s denunciation of Babylon comes to a climax in the final four verses. In spite of her pride, Babylon would need a savior, but there would be none for her.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

However, their powers would be no match for the consuming judgment of God that was coming on them like a fire. It would sweep everything in its path away, the astrologers as well as their predictions. They would become the fuel for this fire that would be like a wild forest fire, not a comfortable campfire.

"They [the astrologers] do not even have the enduring power of wood in the fire, for they are consumed instantly [as stubble], and are not able to save themselves from the flame that devours them. If they cannot save themselves it is foolish to look to them to save Babylon." [Note: Young, 3:243.]

False religion offers the comfort of a fire, but it turns into a furnace of destruction. The philosophical leaders of Babylon would not be saviors in that day of judgment. In fact, there would be none to save then.

"These few words at the end of Isaiah 47:15 capture the whole argument of chs. 40-47: everybody needs a savior; the gods and the magical worldview on which they rest cannot save; the Lord who stands outside the cosmos and directs it according to his good purposes can save; which shall we choose?" [Note: Oswalt, The Book . . . 40-66, p. 256.]

The fulfillment of this prophecy came when Cyrus invaded Babylon in 539 B.C. But the similarities between this chapter and Revelation 17, 18 remind us that a future eschatological destruction of Babylon is also coming.

"Those who have turned from the living God to the daily horoscope in our own society would do well to heed this passage." [Note: Grogan, p. 278.]

"The point of chapters 41-47 is that the entire structure and system of the Babylonian Empire (represented by her idols) was developed by humans [cf. the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11]; Babylon had no lasting divine sanction. Just as an idol is of human fabrication, with no autonomous power or usefulness of its own, so the entire Babylonian system of society, economics, and politics was a human fabrication which in time would collapse. Israel, then, must reserve her worship, her ultimate commitment, for YHWH. This commitment must stand above all other systems and values. YHWH may grant these systems (including Assyria, Persia) temporary sanction to do his will, but he also reserves the right to repudiate and destroy them. Only YHWH deserves worship." [Note: John D. W. Watts, "Babylonian Idolatry in the Prophets As a False Socio-Economic System," in Israel’s Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, p. 121.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured,.... In training them up in those arts, and in consulting with them in cases of difficulty; in which they were of no service, and now in time of danger as useless as stubble, or a blaze of straw:

even thy merchants from thy youth; either the above astrologers and diviners, who had been with them from the beginning of their state; and who had made merchandise of them, and were become rich as merchants by telling fortunes, and predicting things to come by the stars; which sense our version leads to by supplying the word "even"; or rather merchants in a literal sense, which Babylon abounded with from the first building of it; it being the metropolis of the empire, and the mart of nations: these, upon the destruction of the city,

shall wander everyone to his quarter, or "passage" y; to the country from whence they came, and to the passage in that part of the city which led unto it; or to the passage over the river Euphrates, which ran through the city; or to the next port, from whence they might have a passage by shipping to their own land: it denotes the fright and fugitive state in which merchants, from other countries, should be in, when this calamity should come upon Babylon; that they should leave their effects, flee for their lives, and wander about till they got a passage over to their native place, and be of no service to the Chaldeans, as follows:

none shall save thee: neither astrologers nor merchants; so the merchants of mystical Babylon will get without the city, and stand afar off, and lament her sad case, but will not be able to help her,

Revelation 18:15.

y לעברו "ad vel in transitum suum", Tigurine version.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      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 perverted 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, 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 themselves 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.

      Babylon, now doomed to ruin, is here justly upbraided with her pride, luxury, and security, in the day of her prosperity, and the confidence she had in her own wisdom and forecast, and particularly in the prognostications and counsels of the astrologers. These things are mentioned both to justify God in bringing these judgments upon her and to mortify her, and put her to so much the greater shame, under these judgments; for, when God comes forth to take vengeance, glory belongs to him, but confusion to the sinner.

      I. The Babylonians are here upbraided with their pride and haughtiness, and the great conceit they had of themselves, because of their wealth and power, and the vast extent of their dominion; it was the language both of the government and of the body of the people: Thou sayest in thy heart (and God, who searches all hearts, can tell men what they say there, though they never speak it out) I am, and none else besides me,Isaiah 47:8; Isaiah 47:10. The repetition of this part of the charge intimates that they said it often, and that it was very offensive to God. It is the very word that God has often said concerning himself, I am, and none else besides me, denoting his self-existence, his infinite and incomparable perfections, and his sole supremacy. All this Babylon pretends to; and no wonder if she that assumed a power to make what gods and goddesses she pleased for the people to worship made herself one among the rest. It is presumption to say of any creature, "It is, and there is not its like, there is none besides it" (for creatures stand very nearly upon a level with one another); but it is insufferable arrogance for any to say so of themselves, and an evidence of their self-ignorance.

      II. They are upbraided with their luxury and love of ease (Isaiah 47:8; Isaiah 47:8): "Thou that art given to pleasures, art a slave to them, art in them as in thy element, and, that thou mayest enjoy them without disturbance or interruption, dwellest carelessly and layest nothing to heart." Great wealth and plenty are great temptations to sensuality, and, where there is fulness of bread, there is commonly abundance of idleness. But if those that are given to pleasures, and dwell carelessly, would but hear this, that for all these things God will bring them into judgment, it would be a damp to their mirth, an allay to their pleasure, and would find them something to be in care about.

      III. They are upbraided with their carnal security and their vain confidence of the perpetuity of their pomps and pleasures. This is much insisted on here. Observe,

      1. The cause of their security. They thought themselves safe and out of danger, not because they were ignorant of the uncertainty of all earthly enjoyments and the inevitable fate that attends states and kingdoms as well as particular persons, but because they did not lay this to heart, did not apply it to themselves, nor give it a due consideration. They lulled themselves asleep in ease and pleasure, and dreamt of nothing else but that to-morrow should be as this day, and much more abundant. They did not remember the latter end of it--the latter end of their prosperity, that it is a fading flower, and will wither--the latter end of their iniquity, that it will be bitterness, that they day will come when their injustice and oppression must be reckoned for and punished. She did not remember her latter end (so some read it); she forgot that her day would come to fall and what would be in the end hereof. It was the ruin of Jerusalem (Lamentations 1:9) that she remembered not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully; and it was Babylon's ruin too. The children of men are easy, and think themselves safe, in their sinful ways, only because they never think of death, and judgment, and their future state.

      2. The ground of their security. They trusted in their wickedness and in their wisdom, Isaiah 47:10; Isaiah 47:10. (1.) Their power and wealth, which they had gotten by fraud and oppression, were their confidence: Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, As Doeg. Psalms 52:7. Many have so debauched their own consciences, and have got to such a pitch of daring wickedness, that they stick at nothing; and this they trust to carry them through those difficulties which embarrass men who make conscience of what they say and do. They doubt not but they shall be too hard for all their enemies, because they dare lie, and kill, and forswear themselves, and do any thing for their interest. Thus they trust in their wickedness to secure them, which is the only thing that will ruin them. (2.) Their policy and craft, which they called their wisdom, were their confidence. They thought they could outwit all mankind, and therefore might set all their enemies at defiance. But their wisdom and knowledge perverted them, and turned them out of the way, made them forget themselves, and the preparation necessary to be made for hereafter.

      3. The expressions of their security. Three things this proud and haughty monarchy said, in her security:-- (1.) "I shall be a lady for ever," Isaiah 47:7; Isaiah 47:7. She looked upon the patent of her honour to be not merely during the pleasure of the sovereign Lord, the fountain of honour, or during her own good behaviour, but to be perpetual to the present generation and their heirs and successors for ever. She was not only proud that she was a lady, but confident that she should be a lady for ever. Thus the New-Testament Babylon says, I sit as a queen, and shall see no sorrow,Revelation 18:7. Those ladies mistake themselves, and consider not their latter end, who think they shall be ladies for ever; for death will shortly lay their honour with them in the dust. Saints will be saints for ever, but lords and ladies will not be so for ever. (2.) "I shall not sit as a widow, in solitude and sorrow, shall never lose the power and wealth I am thus wedded to; the monarchy shall never want a monarch to espouse and protect it, and be a husband to the state; nor shall I know the loss of children," Isaiah 47:8; Isaiah 47:8. She was as confident of the continuance of the numbers of her people as of the dignity of her prince, and had no fear of being either deposed or depopulated. Those that are in the height of prosperity are apt to fancy themselves out of the reach of adverse fate. (3.) "No one sees me when I do amiss, and therefore there will be none to call me to an account," Isaiah 47:10; Isaiah 47:10. It is common for sinners to promise themselves impunity, because they promise themselves secrecy, in their wicked ways. They trust to their wicked arts and designs to stand them in stead, because they think they have carried them on so plausibly that none can discern the wickedness and deceit of them.

      4. The punishment of their security. It shall be their ruin; and it will be, (1.) A complete ruin, the ruin of all their comforts and confidences: "These two things shall come upon thee (the very two things that thou didst set at defiance), loss of children and widowhood,Isaiah 47:9; Isaiah 47:9. Both thy princes and thy people shall be cut off, so that thou shalt be no more a government, no more a nation." Note, God often brings upon secure sinners those very mischiefs which they least feared and thought themselves in least danger of. "They shall come upon thee in their perfection, with all their aggravating circumstances and without any thing to allay or mitigate them." Afflictions to God's children are not afflictions in perfection. Widowhood is not to them a calamity in perfection, for they have this to comfort themselves with, that their Maker is their husband; loss of children is not, for he is better to them than ten sons. But on his enemies they come in perfection. Widowhood and loss of children are either of them great griefs, but both together great indeed. Naomi thinks she may well be called Marah when she is left both of her sons and of her husband (Ruth 1:5); and yet on her these evils did not come in perfection, for she had two daughters-in-law left, that were comforts to her. But on Babylon they come in perfection; she has no comfort remaining. (2.) It will be a sudden and surprising ruin. The evil shall come in one day, nay, in a moment, which will make it much the more terrible, especially to those that were so very secure. "Evil shall come upon thee (Isaiah 47:11; Isaiah 47:11) and thou shalt have neither time nor way to provide against it, or to prepare for it; for thou shalt not know whence it rises, and therefore shalt not know where to stand upon thy guard." Thou shalt not know the morning thereof; so the Hebrew phrase is. We know just when and where the day will break and the sun rise, but we know not what the day, when it comes, will bring forth, nor when or where trouble will arise; perhaps the storm may come from that point of the compass which we little thought of. Babylon pretended to great wisdom and knowledge (Isaiah 47:10; Isaiah 47:10), but with all her knowledge she cannot foresee, nor with all her wisdom prevent, the ruin threatened: "Desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, as a thief in the night, which thou shalt not know, that is, which thou little thoughtest of." Fair warning was indeed given them, by Isaiah and other prophets of the Lord, of this desolation; but they slighted that notice, and would give no credit to it, and therefore justly is it so ordered that they should have no other notice of it, but that partly through their own security, and partly through the swiftness and subtlety of the enemy, when it came it should be a perfect surprise to them. Those that slight the warnings of the written word, let them not expect any other premonitions. (3.) It will be an irresistible ruin, and such as they will have no fence against: "Mischief shall come upon thee so suddenly that thou shalt have no time to turn thee in, so strongly that thou shalt not be able to make head against it and to put it off and save thyself." There is no opposing the judgments of God when they come with commission. Babylon herself, with all her wealth, and power, and multitude, is not able to put off the mischief that comes.

      IV. They are upbraided with their divinations, their magical and astrological arts and sciences, which the Chaldeans, above any other nation, were notorious for, and from them other nations borrowed all their learning of that kind.

      1. This is here spoken of as one of their provoking sins, which would bring the judgments of God upon them, Isaiah 47:9; Isaiah 47:9. "These evils shall come upon thee to punish thee for the multitude of thy sorceries, and the great abundance of thy enchantments." Witchcraft is a sin in its own nature exceedingly heinous; it is giving that honour to the devil which is due to God only, making God's enemy our guide and the father of lies our oracle. In Babylon it was a national sin, and had the protection and countenance of the government; conjurors, for aught that appears, were their privy counsellors and prime ministers of state. And shall not God visit for these things? Observe what a multitude, what a great abundance, of sorceries and enchantments there were among them. Such a bewitching sin this was that when it was once admitted it spread like wildfire, and they never knew any end of it; the deceived and the deceivers both increased strangely.

      2. It is here spoken of as one of their vain confidences, which they relied much upon, but should be deceived in, for it would not serve so much as to give them notice of the judgments coming, much less to guard against them. (1.) They are here upbraided with the mighty pains they had taken about their sorceries and enchantments: Thou hast laboured in them from thy youth,Isaiah 47:12; Isaiah 47:12. They trained up their young men in these studies, and those that applied themselves to them were indefatigable in their labours about them--reading books, making observations, trying experiments. Well, let them stand up now with their enchantments, and try their skill in the critical moment. Let them make a stand, if they can, in opposition to the invading enemy; let them stand to offer their service to their country; but to what purpose? "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels of this kind (Isaiah 47:13; Isaiah 47:13); thou hast advised with them all, but hast received no satisfaction from them; the different schemes they have erected, and the different judgments they have given, have but increased thy perplexity and tired thee out." In the multitude of such counsellors there is no safety. (2.) They are upbraided with the variety they had of such kinds of people among them, Isaiah 47:13; Isaiah 47:13. They had their astrologers, or viewers of the heavens, that did not consider them, as David, to behold the wisdom and power of God in them; but, under pretence of foretelling future events by them, they viewed the heavens and forgot him that made them and set their dominion on the earth (Job 38:33), and has himself dominion over them, for he rides on the heavens. They had their star-gazers, who by the motions of the stars, their conjunctions and oppositions, read the doom of states and kingdoms. They had their monthly prognosticators, their almanac-makers, that told what weather it should be or what news they should have each month. The great stock they had of these was what they valued themselves much upon; but they were all cheats, and their art was a sham. I confess I see not how the judicial astrology which some now pretend to, by the rules of which they undertake to prophecy concerning things to come, can be distinguished from that of the Chaldeans, nor therefore how it can escape the censure and contempt which this text lays that under; yet I fear there are some who study their almanacs, and regard them and their prognostications, more than their Bibles and the prophecies there. (3.) They are upbraided with the utter inability and insufficiency of all these pretenders to do them any kindness in the day of their distress. Let them see whether with the help of their enchantments they can prevail against their enemies, or profit themselves, inspirit their own forces or dispirit those that come against them, Isaiah 47:12; Isaiah 47:12. Let them see what service those can do them who make a trade of divination: "Let them stand up, and either by their power save thee from these evils that are coming upon thee or by their foresight make such a discovery of them beforehand that thou mayest by needful precautions save thyself;" as Elisha, by notifying to the king of Israel the motions of the Syrian army, enabled him to save himself, not once nor twice,2 Kings 6:10. This baffling of the diviners was literally fulfilled when, the night that Babylon was taken and Belshazzar slain, all his astrologers, soothsayers, and wise men, were quite nonplussed with the handwriting on the wall that pronounced the fatal sentence, Daniel 5:8. (4.) They are upbraided with the fall of the wise men themselves in the common ruin, Isaiah 47:14; Isaiah 47:14. Those are unlikely to stand their friends in any stead who cannot secure themselves; they are as stubble at the best, worthless and useless, and they shall be as stubble before a consuming fire. The Persians, to make room for their own wise men, will cut off those of Babylon; that fire shall burn them, and they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. Those can expect no other than to be devoured by their sins make themselves fuel to a devouring fire. When God kindles a fire among them it shall not be a coal to warm at, and a fire to sit before, but a coal to burn them. Or, rather, it denotes that they shall be utterly consumed by the judgments of God, burnt quite to ashes, and there shall not remain one live coal to do any body any service; for when God judges he will overcome. (5.) They are upbraided with their merchants, and those they dealt with (Isaiah 47:15; Isaiah 47:15), such as they dealt with from their youth, either, [1.] In a way of consultation. These astrologers, that dealt in the black art, they always loved to be dealing with, and they were in effect their merchants; fortune-telling was one of the best trades in Babylon, and those that followed that trade probably lived as splendidly and got as much money as the richest merchants; yet, when some of them were devoured, others fled their country, every one to his quarter, and there was none to save Babylon. Miserable comforters are they all. Or, [2.] In a way of commerce. As their astrologers, with whom they had laboured, failed them, so did their merchants; they took care to secure their own effects, and then valued not what became of Babylon. They wandered every one to his own quarter; each man shifted for his own safety, but none would offer to lend a helping hand, no, not to a city by which they had got so much money. Every one was for himself, but few for his friends. The New-Testament Babylon is lamented by the merchants that were made rich by her, but they very prudently stand afar off to lament her (Revelation 18:15), not willing to attempt any thing for her succour. Happy are those who by faith and prayer deal with one that will be a very present help in time of trouble!