Isaiah 47

Passage: Isaiah 47

The Humiliation of Babylon.

1 Come down and sit in the dust,

O virgin daughter of Babylon;

sit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of the Chaldeans!

For you shall no more be called

tender and delicate.

2 Take the millstones and grind flour,

put off your veil,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers.

3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your disgrace shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one.

4 Our Redeemer—the LORD of hosts is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of the Chaldeans;

for you shall no more be called

the mistress of kingdoms.

6 I was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

you showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

7 You said, "I shall be mistress forever,"

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.
8 Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,

who sit securely,

who say in your heart,

"I am, and there is no one besides me;

I shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children":

9 These two things shall come to you

in a moment, in one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

in spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.
10 You felt secure in your wickedness,

you said, "No one sees me";

your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,

and you said in your heart,

"I am, and there is no one besides me."

11 But evil shall come upon you,

which you will not know how to charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

for which you will not be able to atone;

and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.
12 Stand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed;

perhaps you may inspire terror.

13 You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

those who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons make known

what shall come upon you.
14 Behold, they are like stubble;

the fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before!

15 Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have done business with you from your youth;

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you.

Journal: Babylon will be given rule over Judah for a season. The "reason for the season" is the discipline of God's people for its rebellion and pride. Yet, Babylon was full of its own pride, and ruthless while in its conquering posture. For this, God will give Babylon some of its own medicine - dust, toil, nakedness, shame, silence and darkness. [v. 1-3 -- "Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers. Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one."] God is just, and His justice is never compromised. [v. 10 - 11 -- "You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, "No one sees me"; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me." But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing."]

The plight of the Babylonians would be our plight as well. That is, God's justice demands that "disaster shall fall upon [us], for which [we] will not be able to atone." This is our sin, the sin we will commit even today, that will be exposed in nakedness and darkness before our God. However, the incredible grace of God has pacified His justifiable wrath [His justice] through the "atonement" of Christ Jesus. It is this atonement for God's children that allows us to escape the wandering way the Babylonians. [v. 15 -- "Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth; they wander about, each in his own direction; there is no one to save you."]

Heard 'Round the House: We can put this under the index of "Willy Wonka."

I got up this morning at 5:30 am, turned on the shower and, while waiting for the water to warm up, was groggily reading by the light of the shower a flier from a local nursery. It was advertising an auction that it has on a quarterly basis. I am a regular attendee and have landscaped my home primarily from stuff [plants and landscaping material] bought at these auctions over the past few years.

Jill stumbles in about this time to go to the bathroom [she wanted me to share that]. She sleepily asks what in the world I am doing as I have this flier up in the air to catch the light of the shower. I told her what it was. She asked what I was targeting this go round for my purchases. I reply chocolate covered rock. Of course, I meant to say chocolate colored rock, since this is the rock with which I have been lining my flower beds. Even in my eyes half opened state, I quickly corrected myself to say "chocolate colored" rock. I don't know if it was funnier that I said what I said, or that Jill didn't even catch it as being somewhat of an unusual targeted purchase category. I did note that people would be looking forward to coming to our house for parties since it would be such a "yummy" place to hang out . . .