mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 47.xml

<div2 id="Is.xlviii" n="xlviii" next="Is.xlix" prev="Is.xlvii" progress="17.80%" title="Chapter XLVII">
<h2 id="Is.xlviii-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.xlviii-p0.2">CHAP. XLVII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.xlviii-p1" shownumber="no">Infinite Wisdom could have ordered things so that
Israel might have been released and yet Babylon unhurt; but if they
will harden their hearts, and will not let the people go, they must
thank themselves that their ruin is made to pave the way to
Israel's release. That ruin is here, in this chapter, largely
foretold, not to gratify a spirit of revenge in the people of God,
who had been used barbarously by them, but to encourage their faith
and hope concerning their own deliverance, and to be a type of the
downfall of that great enemy of the New-Testament church which, in
the Revelation, goes under the name of "Babylon." In this chapter
we have, I. The greatness of the ruin threatened, that Babylon
should be brought down to the dust, and made completely miserable,
should fall from the height of prosperity into the depth of
adversity, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.1-Isa.47.5" parsed="|Isa|47|1|47|5" passage="Isa 47:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II.
The sins that provoked God to bring this ruin upon them. 1. Their
cruelty to the people of God, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.6" parsed="|Isa|47|6|0|0" passage="Isa 47:6">ver.
6</scripRef>. 2. Their pride and carnal security, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.7-Isa.47.9" parsed="|Isa|47|7|47|9" passage="Isa 47:7-9">ver. 7-9</scripRef>. 3. Their confidence in
themselves and contempt of God, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.10" parsed="|Isa|47|10|0|0" passage="Isa 47:10">ver.
10</scripRef>. 4. Their use of magic arts and their dependence upon
enchantments and sorceries, which should be so far from standing
them in any stead that they should but hasten their ruin, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.11-Isa.47.15" parsed="|Isa|47|11|47|15" passage="Isa 47:11-15">ver. 11-15</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.xlviii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47" parsed="|Isa|47|0|0|0" passage="Isa 47" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.xlviii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.1-Isa.47.6" parsed="|Isa|47|1|47|6" passage="Isa 47:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xlviii-p1.8">
<h4 id="Is.xlviii-p1.9">Babylon Threatened. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xlviii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 708.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xlviii-p2" shownumber="no">1 Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin
daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: <i>there is</i> no throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called
tender and delicate.   2 Take the millstones, and grind meal:
uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over
the rivers.   3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy
shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet
<i>thee as</i> a man.   4 <i>As for</i> our redeemer, the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xlviii-p2.1">Lord</span> of hosts <i>is</i> his name,
the Holy One of Israel.   5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into
darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be
called, The lady of kingdoms.   6 I was wroth with my people,
I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand:
thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very
heavily laid thy yoke.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p3" shownumber="no">In these verses God by the prophet sends a
messenger even to Babylon, like that of Jonah to Nineveh: "The time
is at hand when Babylon shall be destroyed." Fair warning is thus
given her, that she may by repentance prevent the ruin and there
may be a lengthening of her tranquility. We may observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p4" shownumber="no">I. God's controversy with Babylon. We will
begin with that, for there all the calamity begins; she has made
God her enemy, and then who can befriend her: Let her know that the
righteous Judge, to whom vengeance belongs, has said (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.3" parsed="|Isa|47|3|0|0" passage="Isa 47:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), <i>I will take
vengeance.</i> She has provoked God, and shall be reckoned with for
it when the measure of her iniquities is full. Woe to those on whom
God comes to take vengeance; for who knows the power of his anger
and what a fearful thing it is to fall into his hands? Were it a
man like ourselves who would be revenged on us, we might hope to be
a match for him, either to make our escape from him or to make our
part good with him. But he says, "<i>I will not meet thee as a
man,</i> not with the compassions of a man, but I will be to the as
a lion, and a <i>young lion</i>" (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.5.14" parsed="|Hos|5|14|0|0" passage="Ho 5:14">Hos.
v. 14</scripRef>); or, rather, not with the strength of a man,
which is easily resisted, but with the power of a God, which cannot
be resisted. Not with the justice of a man, which may be bribed, or
biassed, or mollified by a foolish pity, but with the justice of a
God, which is strict and severe, and can never be evaded. As in
pardoning the penitent, so in punishing the impenitent, he is
<i>God and not man,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.9" parsed="|Hos|11|9|0|0" passage="Ho 11:9">Hos. xi.
9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p5" shownumber="no">II. The particular ground of this
controversy. We are sure that there is cause for it, and it is a
just cause; it is the <i>vengeance of his temple</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.50.28" parsed="|Jer|50|28|0|0" passage="Jer 50:28">Jer. l. 28</scripRef>); it is for <i>violence
done to Zion,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.51.35" parsed="|Jer|51|35|0|0" passage="Jer 51:35">Jer. li.
35</scripRef>. God will plead his people's cause against them. It
is acknowledged (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.6" parsed="|Isa|47|6|0|0" passage="Isa 47:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>) that God had, in wrath, delivered his people into the
hands of the Babylonians, had made use of them for the correction
of his children, and had by their means <i>polluted his
inheritance,</i> had left his peculiar people exposed to suffer in
common with the rest of the nations, had suffered the heathen, who
should have been kept at a distance, to <i>come into his
sanctuary</i> and <i>defile his temple,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.1" parsed="|Ps|79|1|0|0" passage="Ps 79:1">Ps. lxxix. 1</scripRef>. Herein God was righteous; but
the Babylonians carried the matter too far, and, when they had them
in their hands (triumphing to see a people that had been so much in
reputation for wisdom, holiness, and honour, brought thus low),
with a base and servile spirit they trampled upon them, <i>and
showed them no mercy,</i> no, not the common instances of humanity
which the miserable are entitled to purely by their misery. They
used them barbarously, and with an air of contempt, nay, and of
complacency in their calamities. They were brought under the yoke;
but, as if that were not enough, they <i>laid the yoke on very
heavily,</i> adding affliction to the afflicted. Nay, they laid it
<i>on the ancient</i>—the elders in years, who were past their
labour, and must sink under a yoke which those in their youthful
strength would easily bear—the elders in office, those that had
been judges and magistrates, and persons of the first rank. They
took a pride in putting these to the meanest hardest drudgery.
Jeremiah laments this, that the <i>faces of elders were not
honoured,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.12" parsed="|Lam|5|12|0|0" passage="La 5:12">Lam. v. 12</scripRef>.
Nothing brings a surer or a sorer ruin upon any people than
cruelty, especially to God's Israel.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p6" shownumber="no">III. The terror of this controversy. She
has reason to tremble when she is told who it is that has this
quarrel with her (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.4" parsed="|Isa|47|4|0|0" passage="Isa 47:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>): "<i>As for our Redeemer,</i> our <i>Goël,</i> that
undertakes to plead our cause as the avenger of our blood, he has
two names which speak not only comfort to us, but terror to our
adversaries." 1. "He is <i>the Lord of hosts,</i> that has all the
creatures at his command, and therefore has <i>all power both in
heaven and in earth.</i>" Woe to those against whom the Lord
fights, for the whole creation is at war with them. 2. "He is the
<i>Holy One of Israel,</i> a God in covenant with us, who has his
residence among us, and will faithfully perform all the promises he
has made to us." God's power and holiness are engaged against
Babylon and for Zion. This may fitly be applied to Christ, our
great Redeemer. He is both Lord of hosts and the Holy One of
Israel.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p7" shownumber="no">IV. The consequences of it to Babylon. She
is called a <i>virgin,</i> because so she thought herself, though
she was the mother of harlots. She was beautiful as a virgin, and
courted by all about her; she had been called <i>tender and
delicate</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.1" parsed="|Isa|47|1|0|0" passage="Isa 47:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>),
and <i>the lady of kingdoms</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.5" parsed="|Isa|47|5|0|0" passage="Isa 47:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>); but now the case is altered. 1.
Her honour is gone, and she must bid farewell to all her dignity.
She that had sat at the upper end of the world, sat in state and
sat at ease, must now <i>come down and sit in the dust,</i> as very
mean and a deep mourner, must <i>sit on the ground,</i> for she
shall be so emptied and impoverished that she shall not have a seat
left her to sit upon. 2. Her power is gone, and she must bid
farewell to all her dominion. She shall rule no more as she has
done, nor give law as she has done to her neighbours: <i>There is
no throne,</i> none for thee, <i>O daughter of the Chaldeans!</i>
Note, Those that abuse their honour or power provoke God to deprive
them of it, and to make them <i>come down and sit in the dust.</i>
3. Her ease and pleasure are gone: "She shall <i>no more be called
tender and delicate</i> as she has been, for she shall not only be
deprived of all those things with which she pampered herself, but
shall be put to hard service and made to feel both want and pain,
which will be more than doubly grievous to her who formerly
<i>would not venture to set</i> so much as <i>the sole of her foot
to the ground for tenderness and for delicacy,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.56" parsed="|Deut|28|56|0|0" passage="De 28:56">Deut. xxviii. 56</scripRef>. It is our wisdom
not to use ourselves to be tender and delicate, because we know not
how hardly others may use us before we die not what straits we may
be reduced to. 4. Her liberty is gone, and she is brought into a
state of servitude and as sore a bondage as she in her prosperity
had brought others to. Even the great men of Babylon must now
receive the same law from the conquerors that they used to give to
the conquered: "<i>Take the mill-stones and grind meal</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.2" parsed="|Isa|47|2|0|0" passage="Isa 47:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), set to work,
to hard labour" (like beating hemp in Bridewell), "which will make
thee sweat so that thou must throw off all thy head-dresses, and
<i>uncover thy locks.</i>" When they were driven from one place to
another, at the capricious humours of their masters, they must be
forced to wade up to the middle through the waters, to <i>make bare
the leg</i> and <i>uncover the thigh,</i> that they might <i>pass
over the rivers,</i> which would be a great mortification to those
that used to ride in state. But let them not complain, for just
thus they had formerly used their captives; and <i>with what
measure they</i> then <i>meted</i> it is now <i>measured to them
again.</i> Let those that have power use it with temper and
moderation, considering that the spoke which is uppermost will be
under. 5. All her glory, and all her glorying, are gone. Instead of
glory, she has ignominy (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.3" parsed="|Isa|47|3|0|0" passage="Isa 47:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>): <i>Thy nakedness shall be uncovered and thy shame
shall be seen,</i> according to the base and barbarous usage they
commonly gave their captives, to whom, for covetousness of their
clothes, they did not leave rags sufficient to cover their
nakedness, so void were they of the modesty as well as of the pity
due to the human nature. Instead of glorying she <i>sits silently,
and gets into darkness</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.5" parsed="|Isa|47|5|0|0" passage="Isa 47:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>), ashamed to show her face, for she has quite lost her
credit and <i>shall no more be called the lady of kingdoms.</i>
Note, God can make those sit silently that used to make the
greatest noise in the world, and send those into darkness that used
to make the greatest figure. Let him that glories, therefore, glory
in a God that changes not, and not in any worldly wealth, pleasure,
or honour, which are subject to change.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.xlviii-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.7-Isa.47.15" parsed="|Isa|47|7|47|15" passage="Isa 47:7-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xlviii-p7.8">
<h4 id="Is.xlviii-p7.9">Babylon Threatened. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xlviii-p7.10">b. c.</span> 708.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xlviii-p8" shownumber="no">7 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever:
<i>so</i> that thou didst not lay these <i>things</i> to thy heart,
neither didst remember the latter end of it.   8 Therefore
hear now this, <i>thou that art</i> given to pleasures, that
dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I <i>am,</i> and
none else beside me; I shall not sit <i>as</i> a widow, neither
shall I know the loss of children:   9 But these two
<i>things</i> shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss
of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their
perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, <i>and</i> for the
great abundance of thine enchantments.   10 For thou hast
trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy
wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast
said in thine heart, I <i>am,</i> and none else beside me.  
11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from
whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not
be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee
suddenly, <i>which</i> thou shalt not know.   12 Stand now
with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries,
wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be
able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.   13 Thou art
wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers,
the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save
thee from <i>these things</i> that shall come upon thee.   14
Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they
shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: <i>there
shall</i> not <i>be</i> a coal to warm at, <i>nor</i> fire to sit
before it.   15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou
hast laboured, <i>even</i> thy merchants, from thy youth: they
shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p9" shownumber="no">Babylon, now doomed to ruin, is here justly
upbraided with her pride, luxury, and security, in the day of her
prosperity, and the confidence she had in her own wisdom and
forecast, and particularly in the prognostications and counsels of
the astrologers. These things are mentioned both to justify God in
bringing these judgments upon her and to mortify her, and put her
to so much the greater shame, under these judgments; for, when God
comes forth to take vengeance, glory belongs to him, but confusion
to the sinner.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p10" shownumber="no">I. The Babylonians are here upbraided with
their pride and haughtiness, and the great conceit they had of
themselves, because of their wealth and power, and the vast extent
of their dominion; it was the language both of the government and
of the body of the people: <i>Thou sayest in thy heart</i> (and
God, who searches all hearts, can tell men what they say there,
though they never speak it out) <i>I am, and none else besides
me,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.8 Bible:Isa.47.10" parsed="|Isa|47|8|0|0;|Isa|47|10|0|0" passage="Isa 47:8,10"><i>v.</i> 8, 10</scripRef>.
The repetition of this part of the charge intimates that they said
it often, and that it was very offensive to God. It is the very
word that God has often said concerning himself, <i>I am, and none
else besides me,</i> denoting his self-existence, his infinite and
incomparable perfections, and his sole supremacy. All this Babylon
pretends to; and no wonder if she that assumed a power to make what
gods and goddesses she pleased for the people to worship made
herself one among the rest. It is presumption to say of any
creature, "It is, and there is not its like, there is none besides
it" (for creatures stand very nearly upon a level with one
another); but it is insufferable arrogance for any to say so of
themselves, and an evidence of their self-ignorance.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p11" shownumber="no">II. They are upbraided with their luxury
and love of ease (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.8" parsed="|Isa|47|8|0|0" passage="Isa 47:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>): "<i>Thou that art given to pleasures,</i> art a
slave to them, art in them as in thy element, and, that thou mayest
enjoy them without disturbance or interruption, <i>dwellest
carelessly</i> and layest nothing to heart." Great wealth and
plenty are great temptations to sensuality, and, where there is
fulness of bread, there is commonly abundance of idleness. But if
those that are given to pleasures, and dwell carelessly, would but
hear this, that <i>for all these things God will bring them into
judgment,</i> it would be a damp to their mirth, an allay to their
pleasure, and would find them something to be in care about.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p12" shownumber="no">III. They are upbraided with their carnal
security and their vain confidence of the perpetuity of their pomps
and pleasures. This is much insisted on here. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p13" shownumber="no">1. The cause of their security. They
thought themselves safe and out of danger, not because they were
ignorant of the uncertainty of all earthly enjoyments and the
inevitable fate that attends states and kingdoms as well as
particular persons, but <i>because they did not lay this to
heart,</i> did not apply it to themselves, nor give it a due
consideration. They lulled themselves asleep in ease and pleasure,
and dreamt of nothing else but that <i>to-morrow should be as this
day, and much more abundant.</i> They did not <i>remember the
latter end of it</i>—the latter end of their prosperity, that it
is a fading flower, and will wither—the latter end of their
iniquity, that it will be bitterness, that the day will come when
their injustice and oppression must be reckoned for and punished.
<i>She did not remember her latter end</i> (so some read it); she
forgot that her day would come to fall and what would be in the end
hereof. It was the ruin of Jerusalem (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.1.9" parsed="|Lam|1|9|0|0" passage="La 1:9">Lam. i. 9</scripRef>) that <i>she remembered not her last
end, therefore she came down wonderfully;</i> and it was Babylon's
ruin too. The children of men are easy, and think themselves safe,
in their sinful ways, only because they never think of death, and
judgment, and their future state.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p14" shownumber="no">2. The ground of their security. They
trusted in their wickedness and in their wisdom, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.10" parsed="|Isa|47|10|0|0" passage="Isa 47:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. (1.) Their power and wealth,
which they had gotten by fraud and oppression, were their
confidence: <i>Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness,</i> As Doeg.
<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.52.7" parsed="|Ps|52|7|0|0" passage="Ps 52:7">Ps. lii. 7</scripRef>. Many have so
debauched their own consciences, and have got to such a pitch of
daring wickedness, that they stick at nothing; and this they trust
to carry them through those difficulties which embarrass men who
make conscience of what they say and do. They doubt not but they
shall be too hard for all their enemies, because they dare lie, and
kill, and forswear themselves, and do any thing for their interest.
Thus they trust in their wickedness to secure them, which is the
only thing that will ruin them. (2.) Their policy and craft, which
they called their <i>wisdom,</i> were their confidence. They
thought they could outwit all mankind, and therefore might set all
their enemies at defiance. But their <i>wisdom and knowledge
perverted them,</i> and turned them out of the way, made them
forget themselves, and the preparation necessary to be made for
hereafter.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p15" shownumber="no">3. The expressions of their security. Three
things this proud and haughty monarchy said, in her security:—
(1.) "<i>I shall be a lady for ever,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.7" parsed="|Isa|47|7|0|0" passage="Isa 47:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. She looked upon the patent of
her honour to be not merely during the pleasure of the sovereign
Lord, the fountain of honour, or during her own good behaviour, but
to be perpetual to the present generation and their heirs and
successors for ever. She was not only proud that she was a lady,
but confident that she should be a lady for ever. Thus the
New-Testament Babylon says, <i>I sit as a queen, and shall see no
sorrow,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.18.7" parsed="|Rev|18|7|0|0" passage="Re 18:7">Rev. xviii. 7</scripRef>.
Those ladies mistake themselves, and consider not their latter end,
who think they shall be ladies for ever; for death will shortly lay
their honour with them in the dust. Saints will be saints for ever,
but lords and ladies will not be so for ever. (2.) "<i>I shall not
sit as a widow,</i> in solitude and sorrow, shall never lose the
power and wealth I am thus wedded to; the monarchy shall never want
a monarch to espouse and protect it, and be a husband to the state;
<i>nor shall I know the loss of children,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.8" parsed="|Isa|47|8|0|0" passage="Isa 47:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. She was as confident of the
continuance of the numbers of her people as of the dignity of her
prince, and had no fear of being either deposed or depopulated.
Those that are in the height of prosperity are apt to fancy
themselves out of the reach of adverse fate. (3.) "<i>No one sees
me</i> when I do amiss, and therefore there will be none to call me
to an account," <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.10" parsed="|Isa|47|10|0|0" passage="Isa 47:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. It is common for sinners to promise themselves
impunity, because they promise themselves secrecy, in their wicked
ways. They trust to their wicked arts and designs to stand them in
stead, because they think they have carried them on so plausibly
that none can discern the wickedness and deceit of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p16" shownumber="no">4. The punishment of their security. It
shall be their ruin; and it will be, (1.) A complete ruin, the ruin
of all their comforts and confidences: "<i>These two things shall
come upon thee</i> (the very two things that thou didst set at
defiance), <i>loss of children and widowhood,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.9" parsed="|Isa|47|9|0|0" passage="Isa 47:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Both thy princes and thy
people shall be cut off, so that thou shalt be no more a
government, no more a nation." Note, God often brings upon secure
sinners those very mischiefs which they least feared and thought
themselves in least danger of. "<i>They shall come upon thee in
their perfection,</i> with all their aggravating circumstances and
without any thing to allay or mitigate them." Afflictions to God's
children are not afflictions in perfection. Widowhood is not to
them a calamity in perfection, for they have this to comfort
themselves with, that their Maker is their husband; loss of
children is not, for he is better to them than ten sons. But on his
enemies they come in perfection. Widowhood and loss of children are
either of them great griefs, but both together great indeed. Naomi
thinks she may well be called <i>Marah</i> when she is <i>left both
of her sons and of her husband</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.1.5" parsed="|Ruth|1|5|0|0" passage="Ru 1:5">Ruth
i. 5</scripRef>); and yet on her these evils did not come in
perfection, for she had two daughters-in-law left, that were
comforts to her. But on Babylon they come in perfection; she has no
comfort remaining. (2.) It will be a sudden and surprising ruin.
The evil shall come <i>in one day,</i> nay, <i>in a moment,</i>
which will make it much the more terrible, especially to those that
were so very secure. "<i>Evil shall come upon thee</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.11" parsed="|Isa|47|11|0|0" passage="Isa 47:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>) and thou shalt have
neither time nor way to provide against it, or to prepare for it;
for <i>thou shalt not know whence it rises,</i> and therefore shalt
not know where to stand upon thy guard." <i>Thou shalt not know the
morning thereof;</i> so the Hebrew phrase is. We know just when and
where the day will break and the sun rise, but we know not what the
day, when it comes, will bring forth, nor when or where trouble
will arise; perhaps the storm may come from that point of the
compass which we little thought of. Babylon pretended to great
wisdom and knowledge (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.10" parsed="|Isa|47|10|0|0" passage="Isa 47:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>), but with all her knowledge she cannot foresee, nor
with all her wisdom prevent, the ruin threatened: "<i>Desolation
shall come upon thee suddenly,</i> as a thief in the night,
<i>which thou shalt not know,</i> that is, which thou little
thoughtest of." Fair warning was indeed given them, by Isaiah and
other prophets of the Lord, of this desolation; but they slighted
that notice, and would give no credit to it, and therefore justly
is it so ordered that they should have no other notice of it, but
that partly through their own security, and partly through the
swiftness and subtlety of the enemy, when it came it should be a
perfect surprise to them. Those that slight the warnings of the
written word, let them not expect any other premonitions. (3.) It
will be an irresistible ruin, and such as they will have no fence
against: "<i>Mischief shall come upon thee</i> so suddenly that
thou shalt have no time to turn thee in, so strongly that thou
shalt not be able to make head against it and to put it off and
save thyself." There is no opposing the judgments of God when they
come with commission. Babylon herself, with all her wealth, and
power, and multitude, is not able to put off the mischief that
comes.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p17" shownumber="no">IV. They are upbraided with their
divinations, their magical and astrological arts and sciences,
which the Chaldeans, above any other nation, were notorious for,
and from them other nations borrowed all their learning of that
kind.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p18" shownumber="no">1. This is here spoken of as one of their
provoking sins, which would bring the judgments of God upon them,
<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.9" parsed="|Isa|47|9|0|0" passage="Isa 47:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. "These evils
shall come upon thee to punish thee <i>for the multitude of thy
sorceries, and the great abundance of thy enchantments.</i>"
Witchcraft is a sin in its own nature exceedingly heinous; it is
giving that honour to the devil which is due to God only, making
God's enemy our guide and the father of lies our oracle. In Babylon
it was a national sin, and had the protection and countenance of
the government; conjurors, for aught that appears, were their privy
counsellors and prime ministers of state. And shall not God visit
for these things? Observe what a multitude, what a great abundance,
of sorceries and enchantments there were among them. Such a
bewitching sin this was that when it was once admitted it spread
like wildfire, and they never knew any end of it; the deceived and
the deceivers both increased strangely.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlviii-p19" shownumber="no">2. It is here spoken of as one of their
vain confidences, which they relied much upon, but should be
deceived in, for it would not serve so much as to give them notice
of the judgments coming, much less to guard against them. (1.) They
are here upbraided with the mighty pains they had taken about their
sorceries and enchantments: Thou hast <i>laboured in them from thy
youth,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.12" parsed="|Isa|47|12|0|0" passage="Isa 47:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>.
They trained up their young men in these studies, and those that
applied themselves to them were indefatigable in their labours
about them—reading books, making observations, trying experiments.
Well, let them stand up now with their enchantments, and try their
skill in the critical moment. Let them make a stand, if they can,
in opposition to the invading enemy; let them stand to offer their
service to their country; but to what purpose? "<i>Thou art wearied
in the multitude of thy counsels</i> of this kind (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.13" parsed="|Isa|47|13|0|0" passage="Isa 47:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); thou hast advised
with them all, but hast received no satisfaction from them; the
different schemes they have erected, and the different judgments
they have given, have but increased thy perplexity and tired thee
out." In the multitude of such counsellors there is no safety. (2.)
They are upbraided with the variety they had of such kinds of
people among them, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.13" parsed="|Isa|47|13|0|0" passage="Isa 47:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. They had their <i>astrologers,</i> or viewers of the
heavens, that did not consider them, as David, to behold the wisdom
and power of God in them; but, under pretence of foretelling future
events by them, they viewed the heavens and forgot him that made
them and set <i>their dominion on the earth</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.33" parsed="|Job|38|33|0|0" passage="Job 38:33">Job xxxviii. 33</scripRef>), and has himself dominion
over them, for he rides on the heavens. They had their
<i>star-gazers,</i> who by the motions of the stars, their
conjunctions and oppositions, read the doom of states and kingdoms.
They had their <i>monthly prognosticators,</i> their
almanac-makers, that told what weather it should be or what news
they should have each month. The great stock they had of these was
what they valued themselves much upon; but they were all cheats,
and their art was a sham. I confess I see not how the judicial
astrology which some now pretend to, by the rules of which they
undertake to prophecy concerning things to come, can be
distinguished from that of the Chaldeans, nor therefore how it can
escape the censure and contempt which this text lays that under;
yet I fear there are some who study their almanacs, and regard them
and their prognostications, more than their Bibles and the
prophecies there. (3.) They are upbraided with the utter inability
and insufficiency of all these pretenders to do them any kindness
in the day of their distress. Let them see whether with the help of
their enchantments they can prevail against their enemies, or
profit themselves, inspirit their own forces or dispirit those that
come against them, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.12" parsed="|Isa|47|12|0|0" passage="Isa 47:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>. Let them see what service those can do them who make
a trade of divination: "<i>Let them stand up,</i> and either by
their power save thee from these evils that are coming upon thee or
by their foresight make such a discovery of them beforehand that
thou mayest by needful precautions save thyself;" as Elisha, by
notifying to the king of Israel the motions of the Syrian army,
enabled him to <i>save himself, not once nor twice,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.6" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.6.10" parsed="|2Kgs|6|10|0|0" passage="2Ki 6:10">2 Kings vi. 10</scripRef>. This baffling of the
diviners was literally fulfilled when, the night that Babylon was
taken and Belshazzar slain, all his astrologers, soothsayers, and
wise men, were quite nonplussed with the handwriting on the wall
that pronounced the fatal sentence, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.8" parsed="|Dan|5|8|0|0" passage="Da 5:8">Dan.
v. 8</scripRef>. (4.) They are upbraided with the fall of the wise
men themselves in the common ruin, <scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.14" parsed="|Isa|47|14|0|0" passage="Isa 47:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Those are unlikely to stand
their friends in any stead who cannot secure themselves; they are
as stubble at the best, worthless and useless, and <i>they shall be
as stubble</i> before a consuming fire. The Persians, to make room
for their own wise men, will cut off those of Babylon; that <i>fire
shall burn them,</i> and <i>they shall not deliver themselves from
the power of the flame.</i> Those can expect no other than to be
devoured by their sins make themselves fuel to a devouring fire.
When God kindles a fire among them it <i>shall not be a coal to
warm at,</i> and <i>a fire to sit before,</i> but a coal to burn
them. Or, rather, it denotes that they shall be utterly consumed by
the judgments of God, burnt quite to ashes, and there shall not
remain one live coal to do any body any service; for <i>when God
judges he will overcome.</i> (5.) They are upbraided with their
merchants, and those they dealt with (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.15" parsed="|Isa|47|15|0|0" passage="Isa 47:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), such as they dealt with from
their youth, either, [1.] In a way of consultation. These
astrologers, that dealt in the black art, they always loved to be
dealing with, and they were in effect their merchants;
fortune-telling was one of the best trades in Babylon, and those
that followed that trade probably lived as splendidly and got as
much money as the richest merchants; yet, when some of them were
devoured, others fled their country, <i>every one to his
quarter,</i> and there was none to save Babylon. Miserable
comforters are they all. Or, [2.] In a way of commerce. As their
astrologers, with whom they had laboured, failed them, so did their
merchants; they took care to secure their own effects, and then
valued not what became of Babylon. They <i>wandered every one to
his own quarter;</i> each man shifted for his own safety, but none
would offer to lend a helping hand, no, not to a city by which they
had got so much money. Every one was for himself, but few for his
friends. The New-Testament Babylon is lamented by the merchants
that were made rich by her, but they very prudently stand afar off
to lament her (<scripRef id="Is.xlviii-p19.10" osisRef="Bible:Rev.18.15" parsed="|Rev|18|15|0|0" passage="Re 18:15">Rev. xviii.
15</scripRef>), not willing to attempt any thing for her succour.
Happy are those who by faith and prayer deal with one that will be
a <i>very present help in time of trouble!</i></p>
</div></div2>