Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 47:1

Clarke's Commentary

CHAPTER XLVII

The destruction of Babylon is denounced by a beautiful

selection of circumstances, in which her prosperous is

contrasted with her adverse condition. She is represented as a

tender and delicate female reduced to the work and abject

condition of a slave, and bereaved of every consolation, 1-4.

And that on account of her cruelty, particularly to God's

people, her pride, voluptuousness, sorceries, and incantations,

5-11.

The folly of these last practices elegantly exposed by the

prophet, 12-15.

It is worthy of observation that almost all the imagery of this

chapter is applied in the book of the Revelation, (in nearly

the same words,) to the antitype of the illustrious capital of

the Chaldean empire, viz., Babylon the GREAT.

NOTES ON CHAP. XLVII

Verse Isaiah 47:1. Come down, and set in the dust - "Descend, and sit on the dust"] Isaiah 3:26, and on "Isaiah 52:2".

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

"Come down and sit in the dust; sit on the ground without a throne, O virgin daughter of Chaldea, for thou shalt no more be called Delicate and Luxurious. Take the millstone and grind meal; remove thy veil, strip off the train; uncover the leg, wade through the rivers. Let thy nakedness be uncovered, yea, let thy shame be seen: I will take vengeance, neither shall I meet any. As for our Goel, Jehovah Sabaoth is his name, the Holy One of Israel."

First, we should notice the snide, derogatory remark of Wardle who wrote that, "Babylon is here erroneously personified as a virgin, as if never before captured."Peake's Commentary Series, p. 465. The source of such a ridiculous remark is Mr. Wardle's blind allegiance to one of the silly dictums of critical butchers of the Word of God, namely, that the application of the word "virgin" to any nation means that such a nation had never suffered defeat; but the rule is absolutely worthless. The prophet Jeremiah in the very discussion of the terrible defeat of Israel, and in fact after the loss of all the ten northern tribes wrote this: "Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach" (Jeremiah 14:17). He also, a moment later, referred to "the virgin of Israel" (Isa. 18:13). It is too bad that critics like Wardle are simply ignorant of the Biblical usage of certain terminology.

Babylon indeed had frequently been defeated in her past history; it will be remembered that Sennacherib defeated Babylon and placed his son on the throne. Nothing however depreciates the appropriate beauty of this passage's reference to the nation as "Virgin daughter of Babylon." That, of course, was not God's estimate of her character, but her position in the world at that time, not only as she considered it, but as all the world also recognized it.

No one should fail to see the "signature of Isaiah" in every line of this. As Delitzsch noted, "Isaiah's artistic style may be readily perceived."T. K. Cheyne's Commentary, p. 306.

"Our Goel" Has the meaning of `Our Redeemer,' employing a Pentateuchal word for `next of kin,' the relative who was obligated to buy back a brother Israelite sold into slavery.

"Without a throne" This prophecy removed forever the existence of a throne in Babylon. How could any alleged Second Isaiah have known anything like this? Yet, "It is a fact that after the capture of Babylon by Cyrus she was never more the capital of a kingdom."Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 203. Furthermore, this prevailed forever, even in the face of Alexander the Great's announced intention of making Babylon his capital. He died before he could achieve that, and the Seleucidae retained the capital at Shushan (Susa); and Babylon gradually became a total ruin. What a powerful demonstration of the power of three little words in the sacred text of God's Word! Without a throne!

"Take the millstones and grind meal" This task was considered the lowest kind of drudgery, generally assigned to slave women. Water mills or other types of power grinders were not known until the times of Augustus Caesar.Robert T. Lowth, Isaiah with Notes, p. 342. No greater shame and reduction could be imagined than that of a princess, or queen, undergoing such a calamity. In place of her royal clothing and finery, she would wear the coarse garments of a peasant. Moreover, her work would be as a domestic among the numerous canals of suburban Babylon, where she would have to wade them, exposing her legs, or in cases of even deeper water, lifting her skirts to reveal her nakedness!

Such humiliation of women was also mentioned in Nahum where the Lord said of Nineveh:

"Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face: and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame" (Nahum 3:5).

The exact meaning of Isaiah 47:3 is disputed, but Henderson wrote that it means, "I will not meet thee as a man but as God, whom none can resist."E. Henderson, p. 365.

Summarizing the teaching of these first four verses, Archer has this:

"The passage presents vanquished Babylon, cast down from imperial power, reduced to the status of a half-naked slave gift grinding meal with the heavy grindstones. Babylon would never rise again to independence or imperial power."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 642.

Hailey stressed the fact that such terrible punishments upon Babylon were deserved. "The very foundation upon which the throne of God rests demands an avenging of all unrighteousness, a vindication of His righteous and holy Godhead, and of his sacred laws. God will neither withdraw the declaration of his judgments nor make exceptions to them."<8b>

Before leaving this first strophe, we must note that Babylon here, and throughout the Bible, is a symbol of carnal pride and enmity against the eternal God. There are no less than three Babylons in scripture: (1) the literal Babylon here spoken of, (2) the spiritual Babylon, identified as the beast coming up out of the earth in Revelation 13, and (3) Babylon the Great, also called Mystery Babylon the Great, which was defined by Leon Morris as, "Man in organized community, and opposed to God."Leon Morris, Tyndale Commentaries, Vol. 20 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1960), p. 142. This Babylon, in short is urban civilization in its corporate rebellion against Almighty God. It is given three names in Revelation 11:8, where it is called Egypt, Sodom, and Jerusalem (where the Lord was crucified); but it is not a single city anywhere on earth; it is all the cities of mankind, where are entrenched the luxuries, the godlessness, the sensual pleasures, the wickedness, the pride, arrogance and atheism which were the essential characteristics of the first Babylon. The three Babylons are: Ancient Babylon, The Apostate Christian Church, and Godless Urban Civilization.

And we have pointed all this out in order to emphasize that the doom of Babylon here is a type of the ultimate doom of Mystery Babylon the Great, which will occur at the eschatalogical conclusion of the present dispensation of the Mercy of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Come down - Descend from the throne; or from the seat of magnificence and power. The design of this verse has already been stated in the analysis. It is to foretell that Babylon would be humbled, and that she would be reduced from her magnificence and pride to a condition of abject wretchedness. She is therefore represented as a proud female accustomed to luxury and ease, suddenly brought to the lowest condition, and compelled to perform the most menial services.

And sit in the dust - To sit on the ground, and to cast dust on the head, is a condition often referred to in the Scriptures as expressive of humiliation and of mourning Joshua 8:6; Job 2:12; Job 10:9; Psalms 22:15; Lamentations 3:29. In this manner also, on the medals which were struck by Titus and Vespasian to commemorate the capture of Jerusalem, Jerusalem is represented under the image of a female sitting on the ground under a palm-tree, with the inscription Judaea capta (see the notes at Isaiah 3:26). The design here is, to represent Babylon as reduced to the lowest condition, and as having great occasion of grief.

O virgin daughter of Babylon - It is common in the Scriptures to speak of cities under the image of a virgin, a daughter, or a beautiful woman (see the notes at Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 37:22; compare Lamentations 1:15; Jeremiah 31:21; Jeremiah 46:11). Kimchi supposes that the term ‘virgin’ is here given to Babylon, because it had remained to that time uncaptured by any foreign power; but the main purpose is doubtless to refer to Babylon as a beautiful and splendid city, and as being distinguished for delicacy, and the prevalence of what was regarded as ornamental. Gesenius supposes that the words ‘virgin daughter of Babylon,’ denote not Babylon itself, but Chaldea, and that the whole land or nation is personified. But the common interpretation, and one evidently more in accordance with the Scripture usage, is to refer it to the city itself.

There is no throne - Thou shalt be reduced from the throne; or the throne shall be taken away. That is, Babylon shall be no longer the seat of empire, or the capital of kingdoms. How truly this was fulfilled, needs not to be told to those who are familiar with the history of Babylon. Its power was broken when Cyrus conquered it; its walls were reduced by Darius; Seleucia rose in its stead, and took away its trade and a large portion of its inhabitants, until it was completely destroyed, so that it became for a long time a question where it had formerly stood (see the notes at Isaiah 13:0; Isaiah 16:1-14)

Thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate - A place to which luxuries flow, amid where they abound. The allusion is to a female that bad been delicately and tenderly brought up, and that would be reduced to the lowest condition of servitude, and even of disgrace. It is possible that there may be an allusion here to the effeminacy and the consequent corruption of morals which prevailed in Babylon, and which made it a place sought with greediness by those who wished to spend their time in licentious pleasures. The corruption of Babylon, consequent on its wealth and magnificence, was almost proverbial, and was unsurpassed by any city of ancient times. The following extract from Curtius (v. 1), which it would not be proper to translate, will give some idea of the prevailing state of morals:

‘Nihil urbis ejus corruptius moribus, nihil ad irritandas illiciendasque immodicas voluptates instructius. Liberos conjugesque cum hospitibus stupro coire, modo pretium flagitii detur, parentes maritique patituntur. Babylonii maxime in vinum, et quae ebrietatem sequuntur effusi sunt. Foeminarum conviva ineuntium, in principio modestus est habitus, dein summa quaeque amicula exuunt paulatimque pudorem profanant; ad ultimum (horror auribusest) ima corporum velamenta projiciunt. Nee meretricum hoc dedecus est, sed matronarum virginumque apud quas comitas habetur vulgati corporis vilitas.’

See also the description of a loathsome, disgusting, and abominable custom which prevailed nowhere else, even in the corrupt nations of antiquity, except Babylon, in Herod. i. 199. I cannot transcribe this passage. The description is too loathsome, and would do little good. Its substance is expressed in a single sentence, πασᾶν γυναῖκα ἐπιχωρίην...μιχθὴναι ἀνδρὶ ξείνῳ pasan gunaika epichōriēn...michthēnai andri cheinō. It adds to the abomination of this custom that it was connected with the rites of religion, and was a part of the worship of the gods! Strabo, speaking of this custom (iii. 348), says, Ἔθος κατά τι λόγιον ξένῳ μίγνυσθαι Ethos kata ti logion chenō mignusthai. See also Baruch 6:43, where the same custom is alluded to. For an extended description of the wealth and commerce of Babylon, see an article in the Amer. Bib. Rep. vol. vii. pp. 364-390.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

1.Come down, and sit in the dust. Isaiah now explains more fully what he had briefly noticed concerning the counsel of God, and the execution of it. He openly describes the destruction of Babylon; because no hope whatever of the return of the people could be entertained, so long as the Babylonian monarchy flourished. Accordingly, he has connected these two things, namely, the overthrow of that monarchy, and the deliverance of the people which followed it; for the elevated rank of that city was like a deep grave in which the Jews were buried, and, when it had been opened, the Lord brought back his people to their former life.

The use of the imperative mood, “Come down,” is more forcible than if he had expressed the same thing in plain words and simple narrative; for he addresses her authoritatively, and as if he were speaking from the judgment-seat; because he proclaims the commands of God, and therefore, with the boldness which his authority entitles him to use, he publishes what shall happen, as we know that God granted this authority to the prophets. “Behold, I have this day set thee over nations and kingdoms, to root out and pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:10.) There is no power that is not added to the authority of the word. In a word, he intended to place the event immediately before the eye of the Jews; for that change could scarcely be imagined, if God did not thunder from heaven.

Virgin daughter of Babylon. It was a figure of speech frequently employed by Hebrew writers, to call any nation by the title of “Daughter.” He calls her “Virgin,” not because she was modest or chaste, but because she had been brought up softly and delicately like “virgins,” and had never been forced by enemies, as we formerly said when speaking of Sidon. ⁽²²²⁾ And at the present day the same thing might be said of Venice and some other towns, which have a great abundance of wealth and luxuries, and, in the estimation of men, are accounted very happy; for they have as good reason as the Babylonians had to dread such a revolution of affairs, even when they appear to be far removed from danger.

For it shall no longer be. That is, “Thou shalt no longer be caressed by men who thought that thou wast happy.”

(222) Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 2, p. 155.

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

God depicted Babylon here as a rather prissy virgin. The city, representing the kingdom of Babylon, had, like a virgin, thus far not experienced the breaching of her walls by invaders. The Lord summoned her to sit on the ground, rather than on the throne that she intended to occupy. Sitting in the dust was an act that depicted great mourning (cf. Jonah 3:6). She thought that she would be a queen, but in reality she would become a common, even a humiliated, beggar. Other peoples had regarded her as superior, but she would no longer be that. The Chaldeans were the residents of southern Mesopotamia, who had been the leaders in throwing off Assyrian dominance, and had provided the leadership for Neo-Babylonia.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

A call to Babylon 47:1-4

The first four verses constitute the introduction to the oracle.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon,.... The kingdom of Babylon is meant, as the Targum paraphrases it; or the Babylonish monarchy, called a virgin, because it had never been subdued and conquered from the first setting of it up, until it was by Cyrus; so Herodotus c says, this was the first time that Babylon was taken; and also because of the beauty and glory of it: but now it is called to come down from its height and excellency, and its dominion over other kingdoms, and sit in a mournful posture, and as in subjection to other princes and states, Jerom observes, that some interpret this of the city of Rome, which is mystical Babylon, and whose ruin may be hinted at under the type of literal Babylon. And though the church of Rome boasts of her purity and chastity, of her being espoused to Christ as a chaste virgin, she is no other than the great whore, the mother of harlots; and though she has reigned over the kings of the earth, the time is coming when she must come down from her throne and dignity, and sit and be rolled in the dust:

there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: that is, for her; there was a throne, but it was for Cyrus and Darius, kings of Persia, who should now possess it, when the king of Babylon should be obliged to come down from it. So the seat and throne which the dragon gave to the beast shall be taken from it, and be no more, Revelation 13:2:

for thou shall no more be called tender and delicate; or be treated in a tender and delicate manner; or live deliciously, and upon dainties, as royal personages do, Revelation 18:7.

c Clio, sive l. 1. c. 191.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 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.   2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.   3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.   4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.   5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.   6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

      In these verses God by the prophet sends a messenger even to Babylon, like that of Jonah to Nineveh: "The time is at hand when Babylon shall be destroyed." Fair warning is thus given her, that she may by repentance prevent the ruin and there may be a lengthening of her tranquility. We may observe here,

      I. God's controversy with Babylon. We will begin with that, for there all the calamity begins; she has made God her enemy, and then who can befriend her: Let her know that the righteous Judge, to whom vengeance belongs, has said (Isaiah 47:3; Isaiah 47:3), I will take vengeance. She has provoked God, and shall be reckoned with for it when the measure of her iniquities is full. Woe to those on whom God comes to take vengeance; for who knows the power of his anger and what a fearful thing it is to fall into his hands? Were it a man like ourselves who would be revenged on us, we might hope to be a match for him, either to make our escape from him or to make our part good with him. But he says, "I will not meet thee as a man, not with the compassions of a man, but I will be to the as a lion, and a young lion" (Hosea 5:14); or, rather, not with the strength of a man, which is easily resisted, but with the power of a God, which cannot be resisted. Not with the justice of a man, which may be bribed, or biassed, or mollified by a foolish pity, but with the justice of a God, which is strict and severe, and can never be evaded. As in pardoning the penitent, so in punishing the impenitent, he is God and not man,Hosea 11:9.

      II. The particular ground of this controversy. We are sure that there is cause for it, and it is a just cause; it is the vengeance of his temple (Jeremiah 50:28); it is for violence done to Zion,Jeremiah 51:35. God will plead his people's cause against them. It is acknowledged (Isaiah 47:6; Isaiah 47:6) that God had, in wrath, delivered his people into the hands of the Babylonians, had made use of them for the correction of his children, and had by their means polluted his inheritance, had left his peculiar people exposed to suffer in common with the rest of the nations, had suffered the heathen, who should have been kept at a distance, to come into his sanctuary and defile his temple,Psalms 79:1. Herein God was righteous; but the Babylonians carried the matter too far, and, when they had them in their hands (triumphing to see a people that had been so much in reputation for wisdom, holiness, and honour, brought thus low), with a base and servile spirit they trampled upon them, and showed them no mercy, no, not the common instances of humanity which the miserable are entitled to purely by their misery. They used them barbarously, and with an air of contempt, nay, and of complacency in their calamities. They were brought under the yoke; but, as if that were not enough, they laid the yoke on very heavily, adding affliction to the afflicted. Nay, they laid it on the ancient--the elders in years, who were past their labour, and must sink under a yoke which those in their youthful strength would easily bear--the elders in office, those that had been judges and magistrates, and persons of the first rank. They took a pride in putting these to the meanest hardest drudgery. Jeremiah laments this, that the faces of elders were not honoured,Lamentations 5:12. Nothing brings a surer or a sorer ruin upon any people than cruelty, especially to God's Israel.

      III. The terror of this controversy. She has reason to tremble when she is told who it is that has this quarrel with her (Isaiah 47:4; Isaiah 47:4): "As for our Redeemer, our Goël, that undertakes to plead our cause as the avenger of our blood, he has two names which speak not only comfort to us, but terror to our adversaries." 1. "He is the Lord of hosts, that has all the creatures at his command, and therefore has all power both in heaven and in earth." Woe to those against whom the Lord fights, for the whole creation is at war with them. 2. "He is the Holy One of Israel, a God in covenant with us, who has his residence among us, and will faithfully perform all the promises he has made to us." God's power and holiness are engaged against Babylon and for Zion. This may fitly be applied to Christ, our great Redeemer. He is both Lord of hosts and the Holy One of Israel.

      IV. The consequences of it to Babylon. She is called a virgin, because so she thought herself, though she was the mother of harlots. She was beautiful as a virgin, and courted by all about her; she had been called tender and delicate (Isaiah 47:1; Isaiah 47:1), and the lady of kingdoms (Isaiah 47:5; Isaiah 47:5); but now the case is altered. 1. Her honour is gone, and she must bid farewell to all her dignity. She that had sat at the upper end of the world, sat in state and sat at ease, must now come down and sit in the dust, as very mean and a deep mourner, must sit on the ground, for she shall be so emptied and impoverished that she shall not have a seat left her to sit upon. 2. Her power is gone, and she must bid farewell to all her dominion. She shall rule no more as she has done, nor give law as she has done to her neighbours: There is no throne, none for thee, O daughter of the Chaldeans! Note, Those that abuse their honour or power provoke God to deprive them of it, and to make them come down and sit in the dust. 3. Her ease and pleasure are gone: "She shall no more be called tender and delicate as she has been, for she shall not only be deprived of all those things with which she pampered herself, but shall be put to hard service and made to feel both want and pain, which will be more than doubly grievous to her who formerly would not venture to set so much as the sole of her foot to the ground for tenderness and for delicacy," Deuteronomy 28:56. It is our wisdom not to use ourselves to be tender and delicate, because we know not how hardly others may use us before we die not what straits we may be reduced to. 4. Her liberty is gone, and she is brought into a state of servitude and as sore a bondage as she in her prosperity had brought others to. Even the great men of Babylon must now receive the same law from the conquerors that they used to give to the conquered: "Take the mill-stones and grind meal (Isaiah 47:2; Isaiah 47:2), set to work, to hard labour" (like beating hemp in Bridewell), "which will make thee sweat so that thou must throw off all thy head-dresses, and uncover thy locks." When they were driven from one place to another, at the capricious humours of their masters, they must be forced to wade up to the middle through the waters, to make bare the leg and uncover the thigh, that they might pass over the rivers, which would be a great mortification to those that used to ride in state. But let them not complain, for just thus they had formerly used their captives; and with what measure they then meted it is now measured to them again. Let those that have power use it with temper and moderation, considering that the spoke which is uppermost will be under. 5. All her glory, and all her glorying, are gone. Instead of glory, she has ignominy (Isaiah 47:3; Isaiah 47:3): Thy nakedness shall be uncovered and thy shame shall be seen, according to the base and barbarous usage they commonly gave their captives, to whom, for covetousness of their clothes, they did not leave rags sufficient to cover their nakedness, so void were they of the modesty as well as of the pity due to the human nature. Instead of glorying she sits silently, and gets into darkness (Isaiah 47:5; Isaiah 47:5), ashamed to show her face, for she has quite lost her credit and shall no more be called the lady of kingdoms. Note, God can make those sit silently that used to make the greatest noise in the world, and send those into darkness that used to make the greatest figure. Let him that glories, therefore, glory in a God that changes not, and not in any worldly wealth, pleasure, or honour, which are subject to change.