47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt, O virgin daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.
Isaiah predicted the rise and fall of Babylon 150 years in advance. In this vision, Isaiah saw Babylon as a virgin queen sitting not on her throne, but sitting in the dirt. She was a virgin, because her walls had never been breached. She would never be called a delicate and pampered virgin queen again. She would be attacked. Her walls would be leveled to dust.
47:2 Pick up millstones and grind flour! Remove your veil, strip off your skirt, expose your legs, cross the streams!
Instead of living her life like a queen, she would live like a servant girl. She would perform menial labor for the Persians.
47:3 Let your private parts be exposed! Your genitals will be on display! I will get revenge; I will not have pity on anyone,”
Babylon would no longer be a virgin queen. Her nakedness would be exposed. She would lose her virginity.
47:4 says our protector— the Lord who commands armies is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
Israel had been protected by Jehovah. Jehovah is the covenant-keeping-promise-keeping God. He is the one who commands the angelic army. He is the one who has been set apart to protect Israel.
47:5 “Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’
Babylon would no longer a world power. She would be demoted. She was to be silent. No one wanted to hear what she had to say. She would go into hiding. She would no longer be the Queen of the nations. Her Babylonian Gardens were once one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but these gardens would be reduced to dust.
47:6 I was angry at my people; I defiled my special possession and handed them over to you. You showed them no mercy; you even placed a very heavy burden on old people.
Jehovah let Babylon know that she would only able to conquer Israel, because of the divine will of God. However, she treated Israel too harshly. She overstepped her commission. She burdened the older people with burdens too heavy to carry. She violated the Abrahamic Covenant and would receive its cursings.
47:7 You said, ‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ You did not think about these things; you did not consider how it would turn out.
The Hebrew word for "I will rule" is אֶהְיֶ֣ה (ehweh), meaning "I am." This is the personal name of God. Babylon was self-deifying herself Therefore, she must be destroyed.
Babylon boasted that she would be head of the nations forever. This boast would not happen. Babylon would only rule for seventy years She did not understand that Jehovah was using her as a temporary tool to knock the idolatry out of Israel.
47:8 So now, listen to this, O one who lives so lavishly, who lives securely, who says to herself, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! I will never have to live as a widow; I will never lose my children.’
Babylon bragged that she would never be widow-less or child-less. Jehovah informed her that the Persians would decimate her population, leaving her without husbands and without children.
47:9 Both of these will come upon you suddenly, in one day! You will lose your children and be widowed. You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, despite your many incantations and your numerous amulets.
Babylon listened to the occult. However, she would receive no advance warning from the occult about her sudden destruction. She thought that she was well-plugged into the occult, but the occult would be silent on the day of her destruction. In contrast, both Israel and Judah both received warning of their destructions from the prophecies of Jehovah.
The original city of Babylon was the origin of the occult. After the languages were confused at the Tower of Babel, then the occultism of Babylon spread into all of the ancient nations of the post-flood world. Babylon would be defeated in one day. Her trust in the occult would not be able to save her. During the Millennial Kingdom, demons will be imprisoned in Babylon.
47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; you thought, ‘No one sees me.’ Your self-professed wisdom and knowledge lead you astray, when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’
Babylon did many evil deeds. She falsely thought that no one was watching her. She thought that she was getting away with her sins. She thought that she was special and unique and above all of the other nations.
47:11 Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it.
While the Babylonians were enjoying a wild, drunken fest, the Medes and Persians stopped up the Euphrates River, crawled under the Babylonian wall, and took the city before Babylon even knew what was going on.
47:12 Persist in trusting your amulets and your many incantations, which you have faithfully recited since your youth! Maybe you will be successful— maybe you will scare away disaster.
Babylon was a nation of Satan-worshipers. They were heavily involved in the occult. They had been this way ever since the birth of their nation by Nimrod.
47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. Let them take their stand— the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make monthly predictions— let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you!
Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah were prophets to Israel during the Babylonian Captivity. Babylon did not want to hear from these prophets of God. They wanted to listen to the demons who were behind their occult practices.
47:14 Look, they are like straw, which the fire burns up; they cannot rescue themselves from the heat of the flames. There are no coals to warm them, no firelight to enjoy.
The Babylonians were nothing but straw which would quickly burst into flames, giving them a quick destruction.
47:15 They will disappoint you, those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. Each strays off in his own direction, leaving no one to rescue you.”
The Babylonian demonic gods would disappoint the Babylonians. They would not be able to rescue them from the Persians.