THE BOOK OF ISAIAH
Lesson 17: Chapters 45:9-47:15
Part III: Prophecies of Consolation (Chapters 40-66)
Most Holy and Sovereign Lord,
When we feel we are swallowed up by a disordered world, help
us to remember that You are sovereign over all the heavens and the earth and
everything in it. So long as we cling to You and acknowledge Your divine plan
for our lives, we have no reason to feel that we have been cast adrift in a sea
of chaos. We are in the world, but we are not of the world for we belong to
You, and You are our Savior and Redeemer. Send Your Holy Spirit, Lord, to
guide us in today's study concerning God's promise of redemption and
restoration for His covenant people, Israel. His promise to them is the same
promise Jesus made to all believers when He said, "And look, I am with you
always; yes, to the end of time." We pray in the name of God the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
+ + +
In the first
year of Cyrus king of Persia "to fulfil the word of Yahweh through
Jeremiah "Yahweh roused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue a
proclamation and to have it publicly displayed throughout his kingdom: "Cyrus
king of Persia says this, Yahweh, the God of Heaven, has given me all the
kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem,
which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God
be with him! Let him go up.'"
2 Chronicles 36:22-23
Cyrus became king of Persia in 559 BC. He conquered Babylon in March/April 539 BC, which made him the ruler of a vast empire, acquiring all the lands and peoples formerly ruled by the Babylonian Empire. He issued the Edict of Cyrus allowing the return of the different peoples exiled by the Babylonians in 539/8 BC. Cyrus was extremely generous to the people he conquered. He restored them to their homelands and actively supported them and their worship sites, while at the same time keeping a measure of control over them. His generosity was recognized and he was seen as a liberator of the people conquered by the Babylonians, including the Jews who may have enjoyed a particular advantage. As in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 and Ezra 1:2-4 where the Persian king refers to Yahweh as "the God of Heaven," in the Persian court records Yahweh is always called "the God of Heaven." Cyrus seems to have equated Yahweh with his god Ahura-Mazda.(1) After reigning for 29/30 years, Cyrus died in c. 530 BC. There are three different accounts of his death; two accounts state that he died in battle with the Scythians along the banks of the Syr Darya River in Central Asia (modern Russia).
In Isaiah 41:2-4 Yahweh promised to send a liberator to end the covenant people's exile in Babylon. He will be a mighty warrior king who will come from the East to be a "champion of justice," and he will subdue kings and their nations. In the last lesson we learned the name of the mysterious king God chose to liberate His covenant people and return them to the Promised Land (Is 44:28; 45:1). He is a man named Cyrus who is described by God as "My shepherd" and as God's "anointed one" (mashiach/messiah). Cyrus is a man who will not enter the stage of human history until the mid-6th century BC when he will forge the greatest empire the ancient Near East had ever seen up to that point in time (559-529 BC). God chose to act through King Cyrus of Persia as His agent for three reasons:
In Isaiah 45:9-25 Isaiah emphasizes three things:
Isaiah 45:9-13 ~ A Curse Judgment Against the Defiant
9 Woe to anyone
who argues with His Maker, one earthenware pot among many! Does the clay say
to its potter, "What are you doing? Your work has no hands!" 10 Woe to anyone who asks a father, "Why are you
begetting?" and a woman, "Why are you giving birth?" 11 Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel and
his Maker: I am asked for signs regarding my sons, I am given orders about the
work I do. 12 It was I who made
the earth and I created human beings on it, mine were the hands that spread out
the heavens and I have given the orders to all their array. 13 I myself have raised him in saving justice [righteousness]
and I shall make all paths level for him. He will rebuild my city and bring my
exiles home without ransom or indemnity, says Yahweh Sabaoth. [...] = the
Hebrew word tsedeq/sedek from the root meaning "to cause to make right." The
NJB usually translates this word as "saving justice."
Question: In verse 9 to what does Isaiah compare
God and the people?
Answer: God is the supreme Creator "He is compared
to a potter who creates earthenware pots and to the parents of children. The
Israelites are just one kind of "pot" among many peoples that God has created,
and it is presumptuous of them to question God's motives or His plans. The pot
does not question the potter, nor do newborn children talk back to their
parents.
Isaiah used the same potter and clay imagery in Isaiah 29:16; also see the same imagery again in Jeremiah 18:1-12; J19:1-11, and again by St. Paul in Romans 9:20-21.
11 Thus says Yahweh,
the Holy One of Israel and his Maker: I am asked for signs regarding my sons, I
am given orders about the work I do. 12 It
was I who made the earth and I created human beings on it, mine were the hands
that spread out the heavens and I have given the orders to all their array.
As is Isaiah's custom, he uses three appellatives to make
God's authority unmistakable: He is "Yahweh", He is the "Holy One of Israel",
and He is Israel's Maker/Creator." It is Yahweh who took a disenfranchised
slave population and turned it into the covenant nation of Israel. Isaiah reminds
both the Israelites and all peoples of the earth that Yahweh is the Creator God
and no one has the authority to question God's freedom of action concerning the
role of His divinely appointed agents "the "sons" who God has chosen to aid Him
in shaping the destiny of human history. God appears to equating Cyrus as a
"son" in the same way the Davidic kings are His sons by adoption (2 Sam 7:14).
13 I myself have
raised him in saving justice [righteousness] and I shall make all paths level
for him. He will rebuild my city and bring my exiles home without ransom or
indemnity, says Yahweh Sabaoth.
Verse 13 is the concluding argument supported by the
previous statements.
Question: Who is the "him" and "he" in verse 13
and what will he do?
Answer: Cyrus is the man God has "raised in
righteousness", and he is:
The point is the Israelites should not question God's radical divine plan to use a Gentile to bring about their salvation, and God utters a curse judgment against those who do question Him or His motives.
Question: In the past God had used pagan kings to
bring about His divine plan, but those kings and the kingdoms were later
punished for going too far and in committing crimes against humanity. Why will
Cyrus be speared God's divine judgment after he has served his purpose in God's
divine plan for returning the covenant people to their homeland? See 41:1-3;
44:28; 45:1-4, and 13.
Answer: Not only did Cyrus allow himself to be
guided by Yahweh to fulfill all that God intended of him, but unlike the other
pagan kings he was a righteous and honorable man.
Isaiah 45:14-19 ~ Deliverance and Conversion
14 Thus says
Yahweh: The produce of Egypt, the commerce of Cush and the men of Seba, tall of
stature, will come over to you and belong to you. They will follow you,
walking in chains, they will bow before you, they will pray to you, "With you
alone is God, and there is no other! Their gods do not exist." 15 Truly, you are a God who conceals himself,
God of Israel, Savior! 16 They are
shamed and humbled, every one of them, humiliated they go, the makers of
idols. 17 Israel will be saved by
Yahweh, saved everlastingly. You will never be ashamed or humiliated forever
and ever. 18 For thus says Yahweh,
the Creator of the heavens "he is God, who shaped the earth and made it, who set
it firm; he did not create it to be chaos, he formed it to be lived in: 19 I am Yahweh, and there is no other. I have
not spoken in secret, in some dark corner of the underworld. I did not say,
"Offspring of Jacob, search for me in chaos!" I am Yahweh: I proclaim saving
justice [righteousness], I say what is true.
Isaiah presents a vision of universal conversion and salvation in a future gathering of the nations around Jerusalem when they submit themselves to being servants of the covenant and to worship the God of Israel. Cush is Nubia and Seba refers to the nomads of the Arabian Desert. This same prophecy was introduced in Isaiah 2:2-4; it is repeated verbatim in Micah 4:1-3, and in variations in Jeremiah 12:15-16; 16:19-21 and Zephaniah 3:9-10. This concept of the nations of the world coming to salvation is one of the key themes of the Book of Consolation that began in Isaiah 42:1-4, 6; 45:14-16, 20-25 and which will be revisited in Isaiah 49:6; 55:3-5; in chapter 60; and in the conclusion of the Book of Isaiah in 66:18-24. The post exile prophet Zechariah will also write about the future conversion of the Gentiles in Zechariah 2:15; 8:20-23; 14:9 and 16.
It is in Jerusalem that the New Covenant will take hold after Jesus' Resurrection and the great miracle on the Jewish feast of Pentecost fifty days later when God the Holy Spirit fills and indwells the New Covenant people of God praying in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. The Gospel of salvation will then spread out to the nations of the earth who will recognize Yahweh as the One God of entire earth, and in rejecting the pagan gods. Jerusalem will be the "mother church" of the New Covenant people of God.
15 Truly, you are
a God who conceals himself, God of Israel, Savior!
This verse offers a theological lesson. God no longer
visually presents Himself as He did in the Glory Cloud or in the Theophany at
Sinai, or in the bread from heaven, or in the miracles like the Red Sea
crossing in the exodus out of Egypt, or the parting of the Jordan River at the
beginning of the conquest of Canaan. He now conceals Himself behind His
instruments like Cyrus. But, in spite of this, He still remains His people's
Savior (verses 15 and 17) whose sovereignty and omnipotence is continually
manifested to His people.
19 I am Yahweh,
and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in some dark corner of the
underworld. I did not say, "Offspring of Jacob, search for me in chaos!" I am
Yahweh: I proclaim saving justice [righteousness], I say what is true.
God has always spoken openly to His people through His
prophets and has fulfilled everything He has spoken through them. In revealing
His Divine Name that goes back to His covenant with Adam and Eve (Eve is the
first human to speak God's Divine Name in Scripture in Genesis 4:1), God both
says who He is and establishes an intimacy with His human creation by giving
them the name by which He is to be called. In Exodus 3:15b God tells Moses, "This
my name for all time, and thus I am to be invoked for all generations to come."
It is a false piety for His chosen people to refuse to use His Divine
Name. "His name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to
men" (CCC 206).
Question: How does God continue to manifest
Himself to His people? Does He manifest Himself in reason and order or in
chaos?
Answer: He manifests Himself through the prophets,
in the fulfillment of predictive prophecies, and also in His creative and
redemptive works that are part of a divine plan and not the chaos of a
disordered world (verses 18-19).
Isaiah 45:20-25 ~ The Lord of the Universe calls the Nations
to Acknowledge Him as their God
20 Assemble,
come, all of you gather round, survivors of the nations. They have no
knowledge, those who parade their wooden idols and pray to a god that cannot
save. 21 Speak up, present your
case, let them put their heads together! Who foretold this in the past, who
revealed it long ago? Was it not I, Yahweh? There is no other god except me,
no saving God, no Savior except me! 22 Turn
to me and you will be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God, and there
is no other. 23 By my own self I
swear it; what comes from my mouth is saving justice [righteousness], it is an
irrevocable word: All shall bend the knee to me, by me every tongue shall
swear, 24 saying, "In Yahweh alone
are saving justice [righteousness] and strength," until all those who used to
rage at him come to him in shame. 25 In
Yahweh the whole race of Israel finds justice and glory.
God reminds the nations through His prophet that their idols cannot save them. Only He, Yahweh the righteous Savior, controls past, present and the unknown future. He calls all the peoples from the ends of the earth to come to Him and be saved, for there is none other who can save them.
Question: The call to salvation to the "ends of
the earth" will be repeated in the New Testament. What does Jesus tell His
disciples in Act 1:8 before His Ascension into Heaven?
Answer: He commands them to go out and baptize,
beginning in Jerusalem and then Judea, Samaria and "to the ends of the earth."
Isaiah's prophecy of a future universal call to salvation anticipates St. Simeon's prophecy of the gift of universal salvation to the Holy Family in Luke 2:29-32 and Jesus' command to His Apostles and disciples to reach all nations with the Gospel of salvation (Mt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).
Question: Isaiah was God's agent in the Old
Testament to announce His salvation. How does the Lord advance His kingdom and
the Gospel message of salvation today?
Answer: He does it today as He has done in each
generation since His Resurrection "through believers who take up His call
to discipleship through baptism and confirmation and advance His Kingdom of the
Church by calling others to join the covenant family of the Church on the
journey to eternal salvation.
22 Turn to me and
you will be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no
other. 23 By my own self I swear
it; what comes from my mouth is saving justice [righteousness], it is an
irrevocable word: All shall bend the knee to me, by me every tongue shall
swear, 24 saying, "In Yahweh alone
are saving justice [righteousness] and strength," until all those who used to
rage at him come to him in shame.
To the Israelites, His "chosen people," God revealed
himself as the only One. They professed this belief in the Shema, the Old
Covenant profession of faith, with a three times repetition of the Divine Name
which began, Hear, O Israel: Yahweh, our God is one Yahweh; and you shall
love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and all your
might (Dt 6:4-5). But through the prophets, God called not only Israel
but all nations to turn to Him, the one and only God: 22 Turn to me and you will be saved, all you
ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other... All shall bend the
knee to me, by me every tongue shall swear, 24
saying, "In Yahweh alone are saving justice [righteousness] and strength
..." (see CCC 201).
Jesus himself affirms this core belief when He said, teaching about the commandments, "This is the first: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength'" (Mk 12:29-30 NAB). At the same time Jesus taught His disciples that He is "the Lord" and "the Savior" about whom Isaiah spoke (Mk 12:35-37). In citation 202 the Catechism teaches: "To confess that Jesus is Lord is distinctive of Christian faith. This is not contrary to belief in the One God. Nor does believing in the Holy Spirit as "Lord and giver of Life" introduce any division onto the One God: We firmly believe and confess without reservation that there is only one true God, eternal, infinite (immensus) and unchangeable, incomprehensible, almighty, and ineffable, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance, or natural entirely simple'" (quoting Lateran Council IV: DS 800).
"All those who used to rage" refers to the Gentile nations who used to worship idols but who will repent one day and turn to Yahweh. Once again Isaiah uses the language of the courtroom. In verse 23 God swears by His own self "because there is nothing greater by which He can swear "that He has spoken through His prophet in truth and righteousness. His word is irrevocable "it cannot be recalled, withdrawn, or annulled " and what He speaks comes about. The message of His salvation will reach the Gentile nations, and they will come to Him in submission, swearing their obedience to His commands and recognizing Him as the One True God. St. Paul will refer to this verse in Romans 14:11 and again Philippians 2:10-11 when writing about the fulfillment of God's promise of universal salvation in Christ Jesus:
Chapters 46:1-47:15 ~ Condemnation of Babylon
In this section Isaiah presents God's condemnation of the Babylonian's idols and all false gods (46:1-13), and also Yahweh's lament for the fate of the Babylonian people and their empire (47:1-15).
The focus of Isaiah 46:1-13 is God versus the Babylonian false gods. Isaiah presents this section in four parts:
Isaiah 46:1-2 ~ The Humiliation of False Idols
1 Bel is
crouching, Nebo cowering, their idols are being put on animals, on beasts of
burden, the loads you have been carrying are a burden to a weary beast. 2 They are cowering and crouching together, no
one can save this burden, they themselves have gone into captivity.
The festival of Akitu, the Babylonian new year festival, took place just before the spring equinox and lasted for eleven days. All the major idols of the Babylonian pantheon were brought to the capital city of Babylon to participate in grand processions. Bel or Marduk, sometimes called Bel-Marduk, was the head of the pantheon and was associated with the sky/rain, vegetation and magic. Nebo (Nabu) was Bel's son, the god of wisdom and writing. During the festival, the images of the deities, including Bel-Marduk and Nebo, were carried on carts drawn by oxen through the streets of Babylon in a procession with the king "holding the hand" of Bel-Marduk, signifying his loyalty, submission and partnership with the god.
Question: How do verses 1-2 show the prophet's
familiarity with the religious practices of the Babylonian Akitu festival?
Answer: While he only names Bel and Nebo, he does
name the two chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon and alludes to the procession
on the festival of the new year as the idols are drawn on carts through the
city.
But Isaiah's description is not of powerful idols but of false gods who are bowed down and powerless. They have become a burden to their people and cannot save them from God's agent, Cyrus of Persia.
Isaiah 46:3-4 ~ God gives His Assurance to the Remnant of Israel
3 Listen to me,
House of Jacob, all who remain of the House of Israel, whom I have carried
since the womb, whom I have supported since you were conceived. 4 Until your old age I shall be the same, until
your hair is grey I shall carry you. As I have done, so I shall support you, I
myself shall carry and shall save you.
Notice the contrast Isaiah is making: the beasts pull carts that carried the false idols of Babylon, but it is Yahweh who "carried" Israel "each man and woman "since they were conceived in the womb of their mothers. God has preserved this remnant ""those who remain" "of the House of Israel. He will continue to be with them until they are old and grey. It is He who will protect and save them and no other.
Isaiah 46:5-7 ~ The Futility of All Idols is Repeated
5 With whom can
you equate me, to whom can you liken me, making equals of us? 6 They lavish gold from their purses and weigh
out silver on the scales. They engage a goldsmith to make a god, then bow low
and actually adore! 7 They lift it
on their shoulders and carry it, and put it down where it is meant to stand, so
that it never moves from the spot. You may cry out to it in distress, it never
replies, it never saves anyone in trouble.
The contrast between the conquered gods of Babylon and the God of Israel who will be victorious in redeeming His people leads Isaiah to resume his theme of the futility of all lifeless idols compared with God's incomparable power and majesty.
Isaiah 46:8-13 ~ Yahweh's Uniqueness is Repeated
8 Remember this
and stand firm; rebels, look into your hearts. 9 Remember the things that happened long ago, for I am God, and
there is no other, God, and there is none like me. 10 From the beginning I revealed the future, in
advance, what has not yet occurred. I say: My purpose will come about, I shall
do whatever I please; 11 I call a
bird of prey from the east, my man predestined, from a distant land. What I
have said, I shall do, what I have planned, I shall perform. 12 Listen to me, you hard-hearted people far
removed from saving justice [righteousness]: 13 I am bringing my justice nearer, it is not far away, my
salvation will not delay. I shall place my salvation in Zion and my glory in
Israel.
The "rebels" are the Judeans who have apostatized from the covenant and who stand in opposition of God's divine plan.
Question: In 46:10-11 Isaiah announces what three
demonstrations of God's sovereignty over human history and His supremacy over
all false gods?
Answer:
Chapter 47: Yahweh's Lament for Babylon
Isaiah described the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus by giving an account of the humiliation of Babylon's deities. If a nation's gods fail and are destroyed, it is symbolic of the failure and destruction of that nation. Isaiah announced Babylon's judgment and downfall in chapters 13-14, and now he speaks again of Babylon's judgment; but this time the judgment against Babylon is more personal because God speaks directly to the Babylonians and accuses them of standing in the way of His divine plan (verse 3). This judgment can be divided into three parts:
Question: When did Jesus lament over the sins of a
city and her coming judgment? See Mt 23:37-39? What was that city's sin?
Answer: Jesus lamented the coming destruction of
Jerusalem; it was a divine judgment for the rejection the Messiah and standing
in opposition of God's divine plan for the New Covenant Church and God's elect
who He says will experience Jewish persecution.
In 47:3-6 Babylon is personified as a sinful woman. This is God's judgment on the "whore of Babylon":
Isaiah 47:1-3 ~ The Shame of Babylon Exposed
1 Step down! Sit
in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground, no throne,
daughter of the Chaldaeans, for never again will you be called tender and
delicate. 2 Take the grinding
mill, crush up the meal. Remove your veil, tie up your skirt, bare your legs,
cross the rivers. 3 Let your
nakedness be displayed and your shame exposed. I am going to take vengeance
and no one will stand in my way.
To personify a town or country as a woman is common in the Bible. For some examples in the Old Testament see:
Question: What commands are given to Babylon in verse 1?
Answer: The commands to "step down," and to "sit"
on the dust and the ground without a throne.
To step down from the throne is to give up her royal power and authority. To sit in the dust is a demonstration of her humiliation and disgrace as well as her mourning. For the second command a similar expression describes Nineveh's king in the Book of Jonah (Jon 3:6) and Job during his affliction (Job 2:8).
The term "virgin daughter of Babylon" may seem surprising considering the spiritual impurity of Babylon in her many sins (47:12-13), but it probably refers to the fact that the neo-Babylonian Empire (after the defeat of the Assyrians), prior to the Persian invasion, had been untouched by defilement of a foreign invader.
Sit on the ground, no throne, daughter of the Chaldaeans, for never again will you be called tender and delicate. The Chaldeans were an ethic group that achieved domination over the region and therefore came to be known as the Babylonians. Abraham was originally from the region of the Chaldean city of Ur (Gen 11:28, 31; 15:7 and Neh 9:7).(1) The terms "Babylonian" and "Chaldean" are considered to be basically interchangeable in this period.
In verses 1-2 Isaiah uses images of conquest and captivity to describe Babylon's coming fate at the hands of God's agent, Cyrus. Instead of living as a royal princess, Babylon would receive the same shameful treatment they inflicted on the citizens of Judah and others:
Question: According to verse 3 who would be
responsible for bring this shame upon Babylon?
Answer: Yahweh alone.
What Yahweh is bringing to Babylon will be justice for her past acts of cruelty on other peoples. In Hebrew the word translated "vengeance" in verse 3 means "balancing the scales."
Isaiah 47:4-7 ~ Babylon will Face Divine Judgment
because of the Failure to show Mercy
4 Our redeemer,
Yahweh Sabaoth is his name, the Holy One of Israel, says: 5 Sit in silence, bury yourself in darkness,
daughter of the Chaldaeans, for never again will you be called the mistress of
kingdoms. 6 Being angry with my
people, I rejected my heritage, surrendering them into your clutches [hands].
You showed them no mercy, you made your yoke very heavy on the aged. 7 You thought, "I shall be a queen forever."
You did not reflect on these matters or think about the future.
Sitting in silence and darkness was completely contrary to the normal habitation of Babylon, "queen of kingdoms" who considered her rightful place to be foremost among the empires of the earth. However, on the day that God threw her off her throne (47:1), this would be her lot.
Question: What does Isaiah reveal as the real
reason for Judah's exile into Babylon in verse 6a?
Answer: It wasn't because of Babylon's power but
because of God's judgment against Judah's sins.
Question: What is the reason God is now going to
subject Babylon to judgment? See verse 6b-7.
Answer: Babylon failed to show mercy to their
conquered peoples, especially the elderly. Babylon may have been God's
instrument of divine judgment, but Babylon has gone beyond what was necessary
in the conquest by being cruel and heartless to the captives and for being
arrogant enough to think that God would hold them accountable for their
actions.
Isaiah 47:8-15 ~ Babylon's Overconfidence will Result in Disaster and Despair
8 Now listen to
this, voluptuous woman, lolling at ease and thinking to yourself, "I am the
only one who matters. I shall never be widowed, never know bereavement." 9 Yet both these things will befall you,
suddenly, in one day. Bereavement and widowhood will suddenly befall you in
spite of all your witchcraft and the potency of your spells. 10 Confident in your wickedness, you thought,
"No one can see me." Your wishes and your knowledge were what deluded you, as
you thought to yourself, "I am the only one who matters." 11 Hence, disaster will befall you which you
will not know how to charm away, calamity overtake you which you will not be
able to avert, ruination will suddenly befall you, such as you have never
known. 12 Keep to your spells then
and all your sorceries, at which you have worked so hard since you were young.
Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will strike terror! 13 You have had many tiring consultations: let
the astrologers come forward now and save you, the star-gazers who announce
month by month what will happen to you next. 14 Look, they are like wisps of straw, the fire will burn them
up. They will not save their lives from the power of the flame. No embers
these, for keeping warm, no fire to sit beside! 15 Such will your wizards prove to be for you, for whom you have
worked so hard since you were young; each wandering his own way, none of them
can save you.
In verse 7 Isaiah expressed Babylon's foolish
overconfidence with her thought: "I shall be a queen forever."
Question: This failure to see that one day she
would be held accountable for her sins is followed by what other foolish
thoughts in 47:8 and 10? List all three foolish thoughts.
Answer:
In verse 8 Babylon was so arrogant and so confident that she believed nothing disastrous, like being defeated in war that left many widows and much sorrow, would ever happen to her. But Isaiah's answer to her in verse 9 is: 9 Yet both these things will befall you, suddenly, in one day. Bereavement and widowhood will suddenly befall you in spite of all your witchcraft and the potency of your spells. He compared Babylon to a woman who became a widow and lost everything precious to her in a single day.
The boast "I am the only one who matters" in verse 10 can also be translated " I am, and there is none besides me" "this statement is very like what Yahweh asserted about Himself in 42:8; 45:14, 22; 46:9! Babylon is apparently trying to rival Yahweh and she will be punished for her arrogance and pride.
The prophecy of disaster coming in a single day (verse 9) is exactly what happened in 539 BC when Cyrus and his Persian army marched unopposed into the city of Babylon while her king and her citizens were celebrating what may have been the new year feast of Akitu, as recorded in the Book of Daniel chapter 5 and by ancient historians like Herodotus.
Verses 9, 12 and 13 suggest that the Babylonians placed their confidence in the occult. These forms of foretelling or attempting to manipulate future events are forbidden in the Law of the Sinai Covenant. The punishment for participating in such activities was death (Ex 22:17/18; Lev 20:6, 27; Dt 18:9-12). God even mocks them by inviting them to try to use their spells, sorceries, and attempts to read the stars to save themselves. Not only will those who participate in the occult not be able to save Babylon, they will not be able to save themselves.
There is no atonement in the punishment and suffering that God has ordained for Babylon because there is no repentance. Babylon has persecuted God's chosen people, especially the most vulnerable, and has stubbornly stood in opposition to God's divine plan to return His people to their homeland; Babylon is now beyond redemption. "Babylon" will become a symbolic title for any city and its people that stand in opposition to God and persecute His elect. St. Peter will refer to the city of Rome as "Babylon" in 1 Peter 5:13 during a period of intense persecution of Christians prior to his martyrdom in 67AD. And in the Book of Revelation, "Babylon" becomes a symbolic name for the city of Jerusalem that persecuted the Church and rejected the Messiah in St. John's prophecies of Jerusalem's judgment shortly prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army in 70 AD ( Rev 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2, 10, 21).
Question for reflection or group discussion:
Give a summary of God's condemnation of Babylon in Isaiah
chapter 47. Of what sins were the people and their nation guilty and how do
their sins and guilt compare to us and the collective sins of the people of our
nation today?
Endnotes:
1. Ahura Mazda is the highest spirit of worship in
Zoroastrianism. Cyrus, the first of the Achaemenid rulers, was an early
follower of Zoroastrianism. The worship of Ahura Mazda first appeared in
Persia c. 550 BC and under Cyrus it quickly became the religion of the
Achaemenid rulers. The literal meaning of the word "ahura" is "mighty" or
"lord" and "mazda" means "wisdom. Zoroastrianism revolves around three basic
tenets: good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. There were no
representations of Ahura Mazda in this period and the name of Ahura Mazda was
worshiped and invoked alone. Therefore, Cyrus probably equated Yahweh with his
god since the practice of basic tenants and worship of the Persian god was
somewhat similar to the practice of worshipping Yahweh.
2. Chaldaea was a Semitic nation that gained dominance over
southeastern Mesopotamia between the late 10th and early 9th
century BC and maintained dominance until the mid-6th century BC
when the Chaldean tribes were absorbed into the other ethnic populations of
Babylonia. In the 6th century BC, the 11th dynasty of
the Kings of Babylon is known to historians as the Chaldean Dynasty. However,
the last rulers, Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar, were not Chaldean but were
of Assyrian origin.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2016 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
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