Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 47

Verse 1

A LOWLY SEAT

‘Come down, and sit in the dust.’

Isaiah 47:1

I. To Israel the Divine summons is to arise from the dust and sit on the throne; to Babylon to come down from the throne and sit in the dust.—He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, he that exalteth himself shall be made low.

The sin charged on Babylon is her mercilessness. She was sent by God to execute judgment on the chosen people, but she performed her work very cruelly, and, therefore, she herself fell under the just judgment of the Almighty. The Jews were God’s chosen instruments in consummating the death of Jesus, but because they did it with wicked hands their city was left to them desolate.

II. God even now is judging nations, and we may well lift our prayers on behalf of our beloved country.—She has been undoubtedly chosen of all the nations under heaven for great pioneering work. To colonise, to civilise heathen races, to make roadways across the ocean, to link the whole world by the nerves of telegraph wires, to carry the Gospel to every people—such has been her mission. But how much sin has mingled with its performance!—the evil example of the soldiers, sailors, and civilians; lust, drink, fire-water, rapacity, land-grabbing. Let Great Britain be warned by the fate of Babylon.