Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the interpreters of the heavens, the observers of the stars, who predict according to the new moons what shall come upon thee, stand up, and save thee.
Babylon had built an empire on reading the sky. As her collapse arrives, God turns to those experts with one demand: stand up and save her. The words are a taunt, and they raise a question for every age: who knows what is coming, and who can do anything about it?
The verse names three kinds of specialists. Each one read a different part of the sky.
ASTROLOGERS, habar shamayim, "dividers of the heavens" for astrological purposes. Isaiah 47:13. In Daniel, "astrologers" translates a different word, ashshaph. That word has no link with the heavens. It means rather "sorcerers" or "enchanters," as we read about Babylon in Isaiah 47:9, 12, which speak of a multitude of sorceries and a great abundance of enchantments. With the Babylonian astrologers in Isaiah 47:13 stand the STAR-GAZERS. They may have predicted events from the changing positions of the planets against the stars. Added to these are the MONTHLY PROGNOSTICATORS, the monthly forecasters, who probably drew their conclusions from the moon.
The verse opens with a worn-out city. Advice was plentiful; help was not.
Babylon's many advisers wore it out, and they no doubt often disagreed with one another. But it had no other resource, so it turned to its astrologers, stargazers, and the rest.
Sorcery was not a side interest in Babylon; it was her pride. That is why God aims His summons at it, and why the demand moves from predicting to saving.
Remember too what made the taunt cut deeper: Babylon's boast in her sorceries and enchantments. Even so, these could not profit her or prevail... As they could not really predict, still less could they save; so He predicts, He who is the Saviour God. And it is to be feared that those who do not believe His prophetic word are strangers to His saving grace.
Another writer puts the challenge as a dare: if sorcery works at all, let it work now.
The overthrow of Babylon exposes the complete worthlessness of sorceries and enchantments. Is there any profit in sorcery? Then let Babylon turn to her many sorceries and enchantments, in the hope that she may prevail against her enemies. Let the astrologers and stargazers, and those who predict by the new moons, stand up and save Babylon.
Star-reading was the visible face of something darker. Commentators connect this verse to what Babylon becomes as a symbol later in Scripture.
Verse 13 speaks of the men who practised the dark arts of spiritism. Babylon trusted in them, for that city seems to have been the original home of idolatry, which means the worship of demon powers. All such evil powers collapse when God acts in judgment. But we believe this is why Revelation carries Babylon forward with a spiritual meaning, and not some other ancient city. Of that Babylon we read that it had "become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit," and that by its sorcery "all nations were deceived."
Tablets dug up from Babylon match the picture. They also show the fear behind the trade.
Their astronomy was mixed up with astrology. Many tablets show they held that the stars and signs of the heavens foretold events. That agrees with God's message to Babylon... Many magic and incantation tablets show that they were in great fear of evil spirits. They called on "the spirit of heaven" and "the spirit of earth" to deliver them... These tablets are thousands of years old. They now show how Satan kept the Babylonians completely under his power.
The trade did not die with the city. Where it must stay hidden, it changes its clothes.
In these lands it is necessary for Satan to act less crudely and to adopt plausible disguises. So we have séances, spirit-writing boards, palm reading, hypnotism, mesmerism, astrology, horoscope reading, and so on. Some palmists only trick the public. But I am convinced they often serve as "decoy ducks" for Spiritualism. They thrive in big cities and at seaside and holiday resorts. There they trap the unwary and take money from the foolish.
- Wearied. Babylon's many advisers left her tired, not safe. They disagreed with each other, and still she had nowhere else to turn.
- Summoned. God names her three kinds of sky-readers: those who divide the heavens, those who watch the stars, those who read the new moons. He asks them for one thing — save her.
- Worthless. They could not predict, and still less could they save. Babylon's fall exposed the whole trade as empty.
- Unmasked. Behind the star charts stood the worship of demon powers. That is why Babylon, and no other ancient city, carries forward as the symbol of sorcery that deceives the nations.
- Saviour. The God who tells the future is the God who saves. It is to be feared that those who reject His word about the future are strangers to His saving grace.
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.
Isaiah 47 announces God's judgment on Babylon, the empire that had crushed His people. This verse turns from the city to the experts she paid to keep her safe, and it tells them what is coming: a fire that burns them up and gives no warmth.
The verse points back to the men named just before it. Their job titles say what each one did.
ASTROLOGERS, habar shamaym, "dividers of the heavens" for astrological purposes. Isa. 47:13… Beside the Babylonian astrologers of Isa. 47:13 stand STAR-GAZERS, who may have predicted events from the changed positions of the planets in relation to the stars. The list also includes MONTHLY PROGNOSTICATORS, who probably drew their conclusions from the moon.
God's challenge invites Babylon to bring out her whole system and put it to the test.
The overthrow of Babylon exposes the absolute worthlessness of sorceries and enchantments. If there is any profit in sorcery, let Babylon turn to the multitude of her sorceries and enchantments, in the hope that she may prevail against her enemies. Let the astrologers and stargazers, and those who predict according to the new moons, stand up and save Babylon.
The verse answers that challenge. The advisers burn along with the city they were paid to protect.
But, says God, they cannot deliver themselves from judgment, much less Babylon. Her merchants, with all their wealth, cannot save Babylon. When God's judgment falls, "there is no one to save you."
Babylon's sorcery was more than clever guesswork. Something darker stood behind it.
Verse 13 speaks of the men who practised the dark arts of spiritism, in which Babylon trusted, for that city was apparently the original home of idolatry, which means the worship of demon powers. All such evil powers collapse when God acts in judgment.
History proved the point. Babylon's last king called in his wise men, and they failed him.
Babylon's last king, Belshazzar (a deputy king), was extremely profane. At a great feast he made for a thousand of his lords, he gave himself up to insulting the God of Israel, the true God. In that same hour the fingers of a man's hand came out and wrote on the wall of the king's palace. But this was God's writing, and the king saw it, and fear seized him, as well it might (Daniel 5). He called in the scientific men — "the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers" — "the wise men of Babylon," as they are named in Daniel 5:7. The king offered them great rewards if they could explain the writing, but they failed to do so. Then they called in Daniel, the man they had forgotten, and God's Spirit was in him. He read the writing and gave the interpretation, which pronounced the doom of the monarch. That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.
A contrast runs under the whole passage. It reaches far past the question of who can read the future.
As they could not really predict, still less could they save; so He predicts, He who is the Saviour God. And we have reason to fear that those who do not believe His prophetic word are strangers to His saving grace. For without faith it is impossible to please God. Predicting the future is divine, but it is a small thing next to the grace that saves righteously.
The stubble image is not limited to one ancient city. The same word returns for a coming day that will burn up all the proud.
But when He arises as the Sun of righteousness, will it not be for all? Truly; but He will not arise for all with healing in His wings. To many, His arising will mean the very opposite of that. He will arise with fierce and scorching heat: "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch" (Mal. 4:1). He will arise "with healing in His wings" only for those who fear His name.
Babylon's story also points forward. There is a Babylon still ahead.
It is a solemn thought that the Babylon pictured in Revelation, towards which a Christendom that has abandoned the faith is working, is more filthy in the eyes of God than the literal Babylon of Old Testament times.
- Boast — Babylon trusted her sky-readers. Astrologers "divided the heavens," stargazers watched the planets, and others forecast by the moon.
- Bluff called — God tells her to bring out every sorcery she owns and see if it saves her. Her fall shows the whole system is worthless.
- Burned — the advisers cannot even save themselves. The fire that takes them warms nobody, and "there is no one to save you."
- Belshazzar — his wise men could not read one line of God's writing on the wall, and he died that same night.
- Beyond — the same stubble waits for all the proud on the coming day. And God calls the Babylon of Revelation filthier than the ancient one.