Isaiah 47:1 - Meaning and Application

God sends a warning to Babylon through the prophet, much like Jonah was sent to Nineveh. The message is, “The time is near when Babylon will be destroyed.” This warning is meant to give her a chance to repent and so avoid ruin, or at least delay it.

The first thing shown here is God’s case against Babylon. Her trouble begins there, because she has made God her enemy. Once God takes up a cause, who can stand against him? He says, “I will take vengeance” (Isaiah 47:3), and when a nation has filled up the measure of its sins, God will call it to account.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God when he comes in judgment. If the one opposed to us were only a human enemy, we might hope to escape or bargain with him. But God does not come with weak human power. He comes with the power of God, which cannot be resisted. He also does not judge with human weakness, such as bribery, bias, or foolish pity. In pardoning those who repent and punishing those who refuse to repent, he acts as God, not as man (Hosea 11:9).

The specific reason for this judgment is also clear. Babylon’s destruction is a just act of vengeance for what she did to God’s people, the vengeance of his temple (Jeremiah 50:28), and the judgment for violence done to Zion (Jeremiah 51:35). God had, in his wrath, allowed his people to fall into Babylon’s hands. He used Babylon to correct his children and allowed his inheritance to be defiled. He even permitted the nations to come into his sanctuary and pollute his temple (Psalm 79:1). In that, God was right.

But Babylon went further than she should have. She did not show mercy to the people she had in her power. Instead, she treated them with cruelty and contempt, and even seemed to take pleasure in their misery. She laid a heavy yoke on them, adding pain to pain. She pressed especially on the old, both the aged in years and the elders in office, men who had once been judges, magistrates, and leading men. Jeremiah mourned that the faces of elders were not honored (Lamentations 5:12). Nothing brings a surer ruin on any people than cruelty, especially cruelty toward God’s people.

Babylon should tremble when she sees who is against her. “Our Redeemer,” our Goel, meaning the one who steps in to defend a family member and avenge wrong, has two names that bring comfort to his people and terror to their enemies. He is the Lord of hosts, which means he rules all creatures and has all power in heaven and on earth. So those against whom the Lord fights find all creation against them.

He is also the Holy One of Israel, the God who has made covenant with his people and dwells among them. He will surely keep all his promises to them. His power and his holiness are both turned against Babylon and for Zion. This also points rightly to Christ, our great Redeemer, who is both the Lord of hosts and the Holy One of Israel.

Then comes the result for Babylon. She is called a virgin because she thought of herself that way, though she was really the mother of harlots. She was beautiful like a virgin and admired by those around her. She had been called tender and delicate (Isaiah 47:1), and the lady of kingdoms (Isaiah 47:5). But now all of that changes.

Her honor is gone, and she must give up all her dignity. She who once sat in pride and ease at the center of power must now come down and sit in the dust. She must sit on the ground, low and mournful, because she will be stripped so bare and poor that she will have no seat left.

Her power is gone too, and she must give up her rule. She will no longer govern as she once did, or give law to her neighbors. “There is no throne, none for you, daughter of the Chaldeans” is the message. Those who abuse honor or power provoke God to take it away and bring them low.

Her comfort and ease are gone. Babylon will no longer be called tender and delicate. She will lose the luxuries that once fed her pride, and she will be forced into hard work and hardship. She who once would not even set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicacy will now feel want and pain, and that will cut deeply. This fulfills the warning in (Deuteronomy 28:56). It is wise not to train ourselves to live in softness, because we do not know how harshly others may one day treat us, or what trouble we may be brought into before we die.

Her freedom is gone, too, and she is brought into slavery. Babylon must now suffer the same kind of rule she once forced on others. Even her great men must obey the conquerors. They are told to take the millstones and grind meal, that is, to do hard labor (Isaiah 47:2). They will sweat so much that they must remove their head coverings, and they will have to wade through water with their legs exposed as they are moved from place to place. That would shame people who once rode in honor. But they should not complain, because they had treated their captives the same way. The measure they used for others is now measured back to them. Those with power should remember this and use power with restraint and kindness, because the one who is on top today may be beneath tomorrow.

All her glory is gone, and all her boasting with it. Instead of honor, she has shame. Her nakedness will be uncovered, and her disgrace will be seen (Isaiah 47:3). This matches the cruel way Babylon usually treated its captives, leaving them barely enough clothing to cover themselves. Such treatment showed how little modesty or pity they had for people made in God’s image. Instead of boasting, she will sit in silence and sink into darkness (Isaiah 47:5). She will be too ashamed to show her face, because she has lost her reputation and will no longer be called the lady of kingdoms. God can silence those who once made the loudest noise in the world, and he can bring into darkness those who once stood in the brightest light. So let the one who boasts boast in the God who does not change, and not in wealth, pleasure, or honor, because all those things can change.