Isaiah 47 · The Lantern

“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.

Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.

As Fabiola was not ashamed of the Lord on earth, so he shall not be ashamed of her in heaven. She laid bare her wound to the gaze of all, and Rome beheld with tears the disfiguring scar that marred her beauty. She uncovered her limbs, bared her head and closed her mouth.

"Take the millstone," that is: After being deprived of the glory of your sovereignty, you will adopt the apparel of slaves. The words "cut your white hair" [in the Syriac Bible, Peshitta] mean "You have grown old and decrepit in your sovereignty."

Second, as to the ignominy which they incurred: take a millstone, which was the work of servant girls, as if to say: you shall be a servant girl; or it signifies sexual intercourse, as in Judges 16:21 of Samson; uncover your shame, that is, your shameful members, either to the lust of your enemies or for crossing rivers on foot: I will change their glory into shame (Hos 4:7).

Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name— is the Holy One of Israel.

“Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of Chaldea. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.

I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.

But when these accursed ones obtain possession of anyone, they immediately forget not only all others but even themselves. Raising their brow in great haughtiness, they neither grasp the times and seasons nor respect human nature in those whom they injure. Like the tyrant of Babylon, they attack more furiously; they show pity to none.

For they have burned the temple of God, they have consecrated the sacred vessels to idols, and they have used cruelty against the prisoners. "I gave them into your hands." You would not have carried off the victory if I had not willed it. I delivered them [to you] because I wanted to correct them, not exterminate them.

I was angry. Here he set out their fault, which is the cause of such a punishment. And he sets out three faults. First, the cruelty of their rule toward the Jews, setting out the power granted them: I was angry with my people, because of their sins, wishing to punish them; I have polluted, allowed to be polluted by you, my inheritance, the people of Israel, above: Israel is my…

You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.

So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’

(Verse 8, onwards) And now listen to this, you delicate and confident one, who says in your heart: I am, and there is no one besides me; I will not sit as a widow, nor will I know the loss of children. But suddenly these two things will come upon you in one day: widowhood and loss of children.

Thinking that you would prove to be better than the Persians, you said, "I am and there is no other," and you were encouraged by the oracles of demons and astrologers. And you called on a hope that was fornication and that was far removed from God.

And he sets out the frustration of their hope: and now hear; I shall not sit as a widow, through the deprivation of my kingdom; barrenness, that is, the loss of the people who were born in me.

These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.

And what follows describes very clearly the arrogance of the kingdom of the Chaldeans and the foolishness of their royal people, in such a way that they ascribed to themselves immortal power and an indestructible rule. However, suddenly you will experience a loss of men and the destruction of your children—that is, men to rule among you, and children meaning those to be ruled.

"Two plagues shall come to you in one day," because you were deceived by the art of the Chaldeans and ignored your doom. "The loss of children and widowhood shall come on you," that is, sterility. The loss of children indicates the destruction of the city; the widowhood, the privation of the kingdom.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, above: the destruction thereof shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for (Isa 30:13): give them, O Lord, a womb without children (Hos 9:14). Third, the multitude of their sorceries: all things. And he sets out three things.

You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.

Suddenly, [Isaiah] says, you will receive destruction and undergo the misfortunes that you do not expect. "[There shall be] a pit, and you shall fall into it; and grief shall come on you, and you cannot be cleared." Symmachus and Aquila have rendered the translation of this passage as follows: "And a misfortune will befall you that you will not be able to avert," that is to say…

Third, he sets out the punishment they merited because of this: evil shall come upon you, and you shall not know the rising thereof, he says this in the manner of astrologers, who teach that we should consider the rising of kingdoms according to the rising of the planets: when they shall say: peace and security; then shall sudden destruction come upon them (1 Thess 5:3).

So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!

(Verse 12 and following) Stand with your sorcerers, and with the multitude of your evil deeds, in which you have labored since your youth, if perhaps it will benefit you, or if you can become stronger.

The prophetic text addresses these words to [Babylon] in an ironic manner: stick to your habitual magic; stick to your customary incantations. It is likely that you will escape from misfortunes that besiege you! Then he proclaims the vainness of these practices.

Stand now with your enchanters. Here he excludes their trust in escape; and concerning this, he does two things. First, he excludes hope from the wise, excluding their help, as to sorcerers: stand now with your enchanters; from your youth, from when they were created, they were full of magical arts, above: and when they shall say to you: seek of pythons, and of diviners (Isa 8:…

You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you— your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate.

Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.

This is what they are to you— those with whom you have labored and traded from youth— each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.

And when God afflicts those who deserve punishment, how else is it intended except for their good? It is he who says to the Chaldaeans, "You have coals of fire; sit on them. They shall be a help to you." Further, let them hear what is related in the seventy-seventh psalm, which is ascribed to Asaph, about those who fell in the desert.

For I know a cleansing fire that Christ came to send on the earth, and he himself is anagogically called a fire. This Fire takes away whatever is material and of evil habit. This [Christ] desires to kindle with all speed, for he longs for speed in doing us good, since he gives us even coals of fire to help us.

Second, he excludes hope from their merchants: merchants, in which they also abounded; or wise men (magi), who sold them lies for truth, above: every one shall be amazed at his neighbor, their countenances shall be as faces burnt (Isa 13:8).

Isaiah47