Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 47

Come down – Descend from the throne, or from the seat of magnificence and power. The design of this verse has already been stated in the analysis. It is to foretell that Babylon would be humbled, and that she would be reduced from her magnificence and pride to a condition of abject wretchedness. She is therefore represented as a proud female accustomed to luxury and ease, suddenly brought to the lowest condition, and compelled to perform the most menial services.

And sit in the dust – To sit on the ground and to cast dust on the head is a condition often referred to in the Scriptures as expressive of humiliation and mourning (Joshua 8:6; Job 2:12; Job 10:9; Psalms 22:15; Lamentations 3:29). In this manner also, on the medals that were struck by Titus and Vespasian to commemorate the capture of Jerusalem, Jerusalem is represented under the image of a female sitting on the ground under a palm tree, with the inscription Judaea capta (see the notes at Isaiah 3:26). The design here is to represent Babylon as reduced to the lowest condition and as having great occasion of grief.

O virgin daughter of Babylon – It is common in the Scriptures to speak of cities under the image of a virgin, a daughter, or a beautiful woman (see the notes at Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 37:22; Jeremiah 31:21; Jeremiah 46:11). Kimchi supposes that the term ‘virgin’ is here given to Babylon because it had remained to that time uncaptured by any foreign power; but the main purpose is doubtless to refer to Babylon as a beautiful and splendid city, and as being distinguished for delicacy and the prevalence of what was regarded as ornamental. Gesenius supposes that the words ‘virgin daughter of Babylon’ denote not Babylon itself, but Chaldea, and that the whole land or nation is personified. But the common interpretation, and one evidently more in accordance with the Scripture usage, is to refer it to the city itself.

There is no throne – You shall be reduced from the throne, or the throne shall be taken away. That is, Babylon shall no longer be the seat of empire or the capital of kingdoms. How truly this was fulfilled need not be told to those who are familiar with the history of Babylon. Its power was broken when Cyrus conquered it; its walls were reduced by Darius; Seleucia rose in its place and took away its trade and a large portion of its inhabitants, until it was completely destroyed, so that it became for a long time a question where it had formerly stood (see the notes at Isaiah 13; Isaiah 16:1–14).

You shall no more be called tender and delicate – A place to which luxuries flow and where they abound. The allusion is to a female that had been delicately and tenderly brought up, and that would be reduced to the lowest condition of servitude, and even of disgrace. It is possible that there may be an allusion here to the effeminacy and the consequent corruption of morals that prevailed in Babylon, and that made it a place greedily sought by those who wished to spend their time in licentious pleasures. The corruption of Babylon, consequent on its wealth and magnificence, was almost proverbial and was unsurpassed by any city of ancient times. The following extract from Curtius (5.1), which it would not be proper to translate, will give some idea of the prevailing state of morals:

‘Nihil urbis ejus corruptius moribus, nihil ad irritandas illiciendasque immodicas voluptates instructius. Liberos conjugesque cum hospitibus stupro coire, modo pretium flagitii detur, parentes maritique patiuntur. Babylonii maxime in vinum, et quae ebrietatem sequuntur effusi sunt. Foeminarum convivia ineuntium, in principio modestus est habitus, dein summa quaeque amicula exuunt paulatimque pudorem profanant; ad ultimum (horror auribus est) ima corporum velamenta projiciunt. Nec meretricum hoc dedecus est, sed matronarum virginumque apud quas comitas habetur vulgati corporis vilitas.’

See also the description of a loathsome, disgusting, and abominable custom that prevailed nowhere else, even in the corrupt nations of antiquity, except Babylon, in Herodotus 1.199. I cannot transcribe this passage. The description is too loathsome and would do little good. Its substance is expressed in a single sentence, πασᾶν γυναῖκα ἐπιχωρίην ... μιχθῆναι ἀνδρὶ ξείνῳ pasan gunaika epichōriēn ... michthēnai andri xeinō. It adds to the abomination of this custom that it was connected with the rites of religion and was a part of the worship of the gods! Strabo, speaking of this custom (3.348), says, Ἔθος κατά τι λόγιον ξένῳ μίγνυσθαι Ethos kata ti logion xeinō mignusthai.

See also Baruch 6:43, where the same custom is alluded to. For an extended description of the wealth and commerce of Babylon, see an article in the American Biblical Repository, vol. 7, pp. 364-390.

Take the millstones, and grind meal - The design of this is plain. Babylon, which had been regarded as a delicately reared female, was to be reduced to the lowest condition of poverty and wretchedness—represented here by being compelled to perform the most menial and laborious tasks, and submitting to the deepest disgrace and ignominy. There is an allusion here to the custom of grinding in the East.

The mills commonly used there, and which are also extensively used to this day, consisted of two stones. The lower one was convex on the upper side, and the upper one was concave on the lower side, so that they fitted into each other. The hole for receiving the grain was in the center of the upper stone. In the process of grinding, the lower one was fixed, and the upper one was turned around, usually by two women , with considerable velocity by means of a handle.

Watermills were not invented until a little before the time of Augustus Caesar, and windmills long after. The custom of using handmills is the primitive custom everywhere, and they are still in use in some parts of Scotland, and generally in the East. (See Mr. Pennant’s “Tour to the Hebrides,” and the Oriental travelers generally). Grinding was usually performed by the women, though it was often regarded as the work of slaves.

It was often inflicted on slaves as a punishment.

Molendum in pistrino; vapulandum; habendae compedes.

Terent. Phormio ii. 1. 19.

In the East it was the usual work of female slaves (see Exodus 11:5, in the Septuagint). ‘Women alone are employed to grind their corn.’ (Shaw, “Algiers and Tunis,” p. 297). ‘They are the female slaves that are generally employed in the East at those handmills. It is extremely laborious, and esteemed the lowest employment in the house.’ (Sir John Chardin, Harmer’s Obs. i. 153). Compare Lowth, and Gesenius’s “Commentary on Isaiah.” This idea of its being a low employment is expressed by Job 31:10: Let my wife grind unto another. The idea of its being a most humble and laborious employment was long since exhibited by Homer:

A woman next, then laboring at the mill,
Hard by, where all his numerous mills he kept,
Gave him the sign propitious from within.
Twelve damsels toiled to turn them, day by day
Meal grinding, some of barley, some of wheat,
Marrow of man. The rest (their portion ground)
All slept, one only from her task as yet
Ceased not, for she was feeblest of them all;
She rested on her mill, and thus pronounced:
‘Jove, Father, Governor, of heaven and earth!
‘O grant the prayer
Of a poor bond-woman. Appoint their feast,
This day the last, that in Ulysses’ house,
The suitors shall enjoy, for whom I drudge,
Grinding, to weariness of heart and limb,
Meal for their use.’
Cowper

The sense here is that Babylon should be reduced to the lowest state, like that of reducing a female delicately and tenderly reared to the hard and laborious condition of working the handmill—the usual work of slaves.

Uncover thy locks - Gesenius renders this, ‘Raise your veil.’ The word used here (צמה tsamâh) is rendered ‘locks’ in Song of Solomon 4:1, Song of Solomon 4:3, and Song of Solomon 6:7, as well as here. It occurs nowhere else in the Bible. Gesenius derives it from צמם tsāmam — “to braid, to plait,” and then “to bind fast,” as a veil; to veil. Jerome renders it, Denuda turpetudinem tuam.

The Septuagint renders it, Τὸ κατακάλυμμα σου (To katakalumma sou) — ‘Your veil.’ The Syriac also renders it, ‘Your veil.’ The Chaldee has paraphrased the whole verse this way: ‘Go into servitude; reveal the glory of your kingdom. Broken are your princes; dispersed are the people of your host; they have gone into captivity like the waters of a river.’ Jarchi says that the word used here (צמה tsamâh) denotes whatever is bound up or tied together. Kimchi says that it means the hair, which a woman arranges around her temples over her face and covers with a veil, considering it an ornament; but that when a female goes into captivity, this is removed as a sign of an abject condition.

It properly means that which is plaited or gathered together. It may refer either to the hair so plaited as an ornament or a covering for the head and face (compare the note at 1 Corinthians 11:15), or it may denote a veil. To remove either would be regarded as disgraceful. It is known that oriental females pay great attention to their hair, and also that it is a universal custom to wear a close veil. To remove either, and to leave the head bare or the face exposed, was considered highly humiliating and dishonorable (see the notes at Isaiah 3:24).

‘The head,’ says the Editor of the “Pictorial Bible,” ‘is the seat of female modesty in the East; and no woman allows her head to be seen bare. In our traveling experience, we saw the faces of very many women, but never the bare head of any except one—a female servant, whose face we were in the constant habit of seeing, and whom we accidentally surprised while dressing her hair. The perfect consternation, and deep sense of humiliation which she expressed on that occasion, could not easily be forgotten, and furnish a most striking illustration of the present text.’

Make bare the leg - In the interpretation of this, also, commentators vary.

Jerome renders it, “Discooperi humerum” — ‘Uncover the shoulder.’ The Septuagint, Ἀνακάλυψαι τὰς πολιάς (Anakalupsai tas polias) — ‘Uncover your gray locks.’ The Syriac, ‘Cut off your hoary hairs.’ Jarchi and Kimchi suppose it means, ‘Remove the waters from the paths, so that they might pass over them.’ The word used here (שׁבל shobel) is derived from שׁבל shâbal — “to go; to go up, to rise; to grow; to flow copiously.”

Hence, the noun in its various forms means a path (Psalms 77:19; Jeremiah 18:15); ears of corn, שׁבלת shibbôleth (Genesis 41:5; Judges 12:6; Ruth 2:2; Job 24:24; Isaiah 17:5); floods (Psalms 69:15); branches (Zechariah 4:12). In no place does it have the certain meaning of a leg; rather, it refers to that which flows, flows copiously. It probably here means the train of a robe (Gesenius and Rosenmuller), and the expression means ‘uncover or make bare the train’ — that is, lift it up, as would be necessary when passing through a stream, so that the leg would be made bare.

Orientals, as is well known, wore a long, loose, flowing robe, and when passing through waters, it would be necessary to lift or gather it up, so that the legs would be bare. The idea is that she who had sat as a queen, and who had been clothed in the rich, loose, and flowing robe usually worn by those in the most elevated ranks of life, would now be compelled to leave the seat of magnificence in such a manner as to be subject to the deepest shame and disgrace.

Uncover the thigh - By collecting and gathering up the train of the robe, so as to pass through the streams.

Pass over the rivers - Hebrew, ‘Pass the rivers’ — that is, by wading or fording them. This image is taken from the fact that Babylon was surrounded by many artificial rivers or streams, and that one passing from it would be compelled to ford many of them. It does not mean that the population of Babylon would be removed into captivity by the conquerors—for there is no evidence that this was done. Instead, the image is that of Babylon, represented as a delicately reared and magnificently attired female, compelled to ford the streams. The idea is that the power and magnificence of the city would be transferred to other places. Rosenmuller remarks that it is common in the countries bordering on the Tigris and the Euphrates for females of humble rank to ford the streams or even to swim across them.

Your nakedness - This denotes the abject condition to which the city would be reduced. All its pride would be taken away, and it would be brought to such a state as to fill its inhabitants with the deepest mortification and shame. Vitringa supposes that it means that all the powerlessness and weakness, the vileness, the real poverty, the cruelty, and injustice of Babylon would be exposed. But it more probably means that it would be reduced to the deepest ignominy. No language could more forcibly express the depths of its shame and disgrace than that which the prophet here uses.

I will take vengeance - This expresses literally what had been previously expressed in a figurative manner. The whole purpose of God was to inflict vengeance on her for her pride, her luxury, and oppression, and especially for her lack of kindness toward His people .

And I will not meet you as a man - This phrase has been interpreted in various ways. Jerome renders it: ‘And man will not resist me.’ The Septuagint renders it: ‘I will take what is just from you, and will no longer deliver you up to men.’ The Syriac: ‘I will not allow man to meet you.’ Grotius: ‘I will not allow any man to be an intercessor.’ So Lowth: ‘Neither will I allow man to intercede with me.’ Noyes: ‘I will make peace with none.’ So Gesenius (Lexicon by Robinson) renders it: ‘I will take vengeance, and will not make peace with man; that is, will make peace with none before all are destroyed.’

The word used here (אפגע 'ep^ega‛) is derived from פגע pâga‛—which means “to strike upon” or “to strike against”; “to impinge upon anyone, or anything; to fall upon in a hostile manner” (1 Samuel 22:17); “to kill, to slay” (Judges 8:21; Judges 15:12); “to assail with petitions, to urge, entreat anyone” (Ruth 1:16; Jeremiah 7:16); “to light upon, or meet with anyone” (Genesis 28:11), and then, according to Gesenius, “to strike a league with anyone, to make peace with him.”

Jarchi renders it: ‘I will not ask any man to take vengeance;’ that is, I will do it myself. Aben Ezra: ‘I will not admit the intercession of any man.’ Vitringa renders it: ‘I will take vengeance, and will not have a man to concur with me; that is, although I should not have a man to concur with me who should execute the vengeance which I plan; for this reason I have raised up Cyrus from Persia, of whom no one thought.’ In my view, the meaning that best accords with the usual sense of the word is that proposed by Lowth: that no one should be allowed to interpose or intercede for them.

All the interpretations concur in the same general meaning: that Babylon should be totally destroyed, and that no one—whether by resistance, as Jerome supposes, or by intercession, as Lowth suggests—should be allowed to oppose the execution of the divine purpose of vengeance.

As for our Redeemer - This verse stands absolutely and is not connected with the preceding or the following. It seems to be an expression of admiration or grateful surprise, by which the prophet saw Yahweh as the Redeemer of his people.

He saw, in vision, Babylon humbled, and, full of the subject, he breaks out into an expression of grateful surprise and rejoicing: “O! our Redeemer! It is the work of our Savior, the Holy One of Israel! How great is his power! How faithful is he! How manifestly is he revealed! Babylon is destroyed. Her idols could not save her.”

Her destruction has been accomplished by him who is the Redeemer of his people and the Holy One of Israel. Lowth regards this verse as the language of a chorus that breaks in upon the midst of the subject, celebrating the praises of God. The subject is resumed in the next verse.

Sit thou silent - The same general sentiment is expressed here as in the preceding verses, though the figure is changed. In (Isaiah 47:1–3), Babylon is represented under the image of a frivolous and delicately-reared female, suddenly reduced from her exalted station, and compelled to engage in the most menial and laborious employment. Here she is represented as in a posture of mourning. To sit in silence is emblematic of deep sorrow or affliction : The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep silence, they have cast up dust upon their heads; - see the note at (Isaiah 3:26): And she (Jerusalem) being desolate shall sit upon the ground; (Job 2:13): So they (the three friends of Job) sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him, for they saw that his grief was very great. Compare Ezra 9:4.

Get thee into darkness - That is, into a place of mourning. Persons greatly afflicted, almost as a matter of course, shut out the light from their dwellings, as emblematic of their feelings. This is common even in this country—and particularly in the city in which I write—where the universal custom prevails of making a house dark during the time of mourning. Nature prompts to this, for there is an obvious similarity between darkness and sorrow.

That this custom also prevailed in the East is apparent : He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light;Micah 7:8: When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. The idea is that Babylon would be brought to desolation and have cause for sorrow, like a delicately-trained female suddenly deprived of children (Isaiah 47:9). She would then seek a place of darkness and silence to fully indulge her grief.

O daughter of the Chaldeans - (See the notes at Isaiah 47:1).

For thou shalt no more be called The lady of kingdoms - The magnificence, splendor, beauty, and power that have given rise to this title, and that have led the nations by common consent to give it to you, shall be entirely and forever removed. The title, ‘Lady of Kingdoms,’ is equivalent to that so often used of Rome, as ‘the mistress of the world;’ and the idea is that Babylon, by its power and splendor, maintained the position of mistress, and that all other cities were regarded as servants or as subordinate.