Come down and sit in the dust, 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.
Babylon ruled the world as mistress of kingdoms. Now God orders her off her throne and into the dust — so why does the proudest power on earth end there?
Commentators notice the order of these two chapters.
This chapter shows us how low Babylon itself is brought, just as the chapter before showed judgement carried out on its gods.
Babylon's fall is not only about Babylon. God has His people in view.
In Isaiah 46 and 47 the message is aimed at Babylon and her idols, but it is still a plea for Israel, whom God loves. God's judgement in governing the world always brings rescue to the righteous ones He loves. Babylon with all her pride and all her idols must come down and sit in the dust.
The opening verses picture a pampered woman put to a slave's work. The soft life summed up in "tender and delicate" is over.
These verses foretell the destruction of Babylon. The empire would be brought down into the dust. Instead of living in luxury, the Chaldeans would cross the river into captivity in shame. Babylon had ruled the world as the mistress of kingdoms; now the first great Gentile empire would sink to the place of a slave at the millstone. So God would take vengeance on those who had shown no mercy to His people, and no one would hold back His hand.
The name God uses for her here is milder than it could have been — and the comparison with a later Babylon stings.
Revelation 17 and 18 picture the symbolic Babylon as a woman, and Isaiah pictures this Babylon as a woman too — only the picture here is not so dark. Here she is called "virgin daughter," not "the great prostitute" and "the mother of prostitutes." It is a solemn thought that the symbolic Babylon, which a Christian world that has turned away from God is heading towards, is filthier in God's eyes than the literal Babylon of Old Testament times.
God used Babylon against His own people. That did not excuse how she treated them.
God's anger at His guilty people was no excuse for Babylon's merciless behaviour. And her confidence that her resources would hold firm was the very thing that went before her ruin.
Babylon had warnings, and she had a whole industry of religious experts. Neither could stop what was coming.
The virgin daughter of Babylon must sit in the dust. No Gentile ruler had ever been warned so solemnly, and a Jewish prophet among the captives recalled that warning and explained it. Yet "the head of gold" did not take it to heart or remember how it would end. So the One who had long before predicted the captivity now added the ruin of Babylon. It would come suddenly. She would not know it, suspect it, or be able to fend it off. Her many spells and sorceries could not stop it, and neither could astrologers, stargazers, or those who forecast by the moon. There is no one to save Babylon.
It came as suddenly as predicted. On the night the enemy took the city, they turned the river aside, found the gates open, and a festival ended in conquest (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
- Throne. Chapter 46 judged Babylon's gods. Chapter 47 judges Babylon herself, and her throne goes first.
- Dust. God does not just defeat her. He sits her on the ground — the mistress of kingdoms put to work as a slave at the millstone.
- Mercy. God used her against His own people, but she showed them no mercy. His anger at them never excused her cruelty.
- Security. Her confidence in her own resources went just before her ruin. Sorceries, astrologers and stargazers had nothing to offer when the blow fell.
- Warning. God warned her king as He warned no other Gentile ruler, and he ignored it. Revelation gives a later Babylon a harsher name, so the warning still stands.
Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove thy veil, lift up the train, uncover the leg, pass over rivers
Isaiah 47 turns from Babylon's idols to Babylon herself. The city that ruled the nations must now take up the tools of a household slave. The commands pile up: mill, veil, robe, bare legs, the river crossing. Each one raises the same question. What does God do with a power that crushed His people?
Chapters 46 and 47 belong together, and one writer sets them side by side.
This chapter shows us the degradation of Babylon itself, as in the preceding chapter we had judgement executed against its gods.
The picture is a reversal of rank. The empire that gave orders now does the work of the lowest servant, and the river she wades is the road into exile.
The destruction of Babylon is foretold. The empire would be laid in the dust. Instead of living delicately, the Chaldeans — the people of Babylon — would cross the river in shame into captivity. From ruling over the world as the mistress of kingdoms, the first great Gentile empire would fall into the condition of a slave at the millstone. So God would take vengeance on those who had shown no mercy to His people, and none would stay His hand.
Notice the second loss. Babylon does not only lose power, she loses comfort. She had lived delicately; now she wades a river with her legs bare.
Grain does not become bread in one step. Grinding is only part of a long chain of work.
If we follow it further, we find more work needed. The grain for bread must be crushed, and then it must be ground. It was a weary toil, especially for women. "Take the millstones and grind flour." We cannot stop there either. To separate the bran from the flour you need a fine sieve, and the sifting at last brings out "the fine flour" that God fed Israel with so richly, that Israel then gave to her idols (Ezekiel 16:19), and that is also named as a special part of Babylon's merchandise (Revelation 18:13).
The last line carries a sting. Fine flour was one of Babylon's traded luxuries; now she must work the stone that makes it. (The ESV reads "grind flour" here; older translations read "grind meal" — the coarse ground grain that still has to be sifted before fine flour appears.)
Losing veil and robe is not just poverty. One writer links this exposure with turning from God to idols.
This chapter exposes the nakedness and shame of those who turn from God to idols and spiritual wickedness.
Another writer names who does the stripping, and who watches.
When the prophet Isaiah warned Babylon of coming judgment, he foretold how God would strip her naked and so expose her shame before the nations.
Revelation pictures Babylon as a woman too. One writer compares the two, and Isaiah's is the milder of the pair.
Isaiah 47 from start to finish pronounces judgment on Babylon itself. Revelation 17 and 18 picture their Babylon as a woman, and so does this chapter — only the picture here is not so dark. Isaiah calls Babylon "virgin daughter," not "the great prostitute" and "the mother of prostitutes." Here is a solemn thought. In God's eyes that other Babylon is more filthy than the literal Babylon of Old Testament times, and a Christian world that has left the faith is working up towards it.
- Down. The chapter moves downward. God judges Babylon's gods first, then brings the city itself low.
- Duty. The mill, the bared leg and the river crossing are a slave's work and a captive's road. The empire that ruled the world takes up the tasks of the lowest servant.
- Delicacy. Babylon had lived delicately. Now she grinds at the mill, a weary toil that fell hardest on women.
- Disclosure. Veil and robe come off, and the nations watch the shame of a people who turned from God to idols.
- Descendant. Isaiah's "virgin daughter" has a later counterpart in Revelation's Babylon. Commentators call that one more filthy in God's eyes than this one.