Thomas Aquinas Commentary Isaiah 47:1-15

"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 thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called The mistress of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, I profaned mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be mistress for ever; so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end thereof. Now therefore hear this, thou that art given to pleasures, that sittest securely, that sayest in thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: but these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come upon thee, in the multitude of thy sorceries, and the great abundance of thine enchantments. 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 thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know the dawning thereof: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou knowest not. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before. Thus shall the things be unto thee wherein thou hast labored: they that have trafficked with thee from thy youth shall wander every one to his quarter; there shall be none to save thee." — Isaiah 47:1-15 (ASV)

1. Come down, and sit in the dust. Here the prophet foretells the degradation of the kingdom of Babylon. In this regard, he does three things:

   1. He threatens the punishment of degradation.
   2. He shows their fault: I was angry with my people (Isaiah 47:6).
   3. He removes their confidence of escape: Let now the astrologers stand up (Isaiah 47:13).

2. Regarding the first point, he addresses it in three parts.

   First, he foretells their degradation regarding the glory they lost. Come down from the height of your power; sit in the dust, as if you were vile and abject. She is called a virgin because she had never before been laid waste, or because of her tender delicacy. The throne represents her royal dignity. She is called delicate, as queens are accustomed to be; as it is written, for she was so delicate and tender that she was not able to support her own body (Esther 15:6). It is as if to say, “You will no longer be a queen.” As the Scripture says, He has put down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted the humble (Luke 1:52), and as stated before, The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pride of all glory (Isaiah 23:9).

   Second, he describes the ignominy they incurred. Take a millstone was the work of servant girls, as if to say, “You will become a servant girl.” Alternatively, it signifies sexual debasement, as with Samson in Judges 16:21. Uncover your shame refers to your shameful parts, exposed either to the lust of your enemies or for crossing rivers on foot. As it is written, I will change their glory into shame (Hosea 4:7). He also reveals the author of this ignominy: I will take vengeance, however powerful you may be. The phrase our redeemer is the voice of the people liberated from servitude to Babylon. As stated before, your GodDominus. Vg.: Deus vester. DR: “your God.” will bring the revenge (Isaiah 35:4).

   Third, he speaks of the shame of their confusion. Sit silent, as one who is ashamed does not dare to speak or appear before others. As the Scripture says, The wicked shall be silent in darkness (1 Samuel 2:9).

3. I was angry. Here the prophet sets out their fault, which is the cause of such a punishment. He identifies their cruelty in ruling over the Jews, first explaining the power granted to them: I was angry with my people because of their sins and wished to punish them; I have polluted my inheritance, meaning, “I allowed it—the people of Israel—to be polluted by you.” As stated before, Israel is my inheritance (Isaiah 19:25), and elsewhere, I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance (Jeremiah 12:7). He then points out their abuse of this power: you have shown no mercy to them, and upon the ancient, who should be given mercy even by enemies, as it is written, They did not respect the persons of the old (Lamentations 5:12).

4. The second fault is their pride of heart. The phrase and you said introduces their proud thinking: I shall be a lady forever. As it is written elsewhere, She says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen’ (Revelation 18:7). The prophet also points out the foolishness of the proud, in that they did not consider things to come: you have not laid these things to heart, meaning the things that will come upon you. As the Scripture says, In the day of good things be not unmindful of evils (Sirach 11:27 [25]), and, In all your works remember your last end (Sirach 7:40 [36]).

   He then describes the frustration of their hope: and now hear this... I shall not sit as a widow, which means being deprived of my kingdom, nor experience barrenness, that is, the loss of the people born in me. These things will come suddenly and unexpectedly, as stated before: the destruction thereof shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for (Isaiah 30:13). As Hosea prayed, give them, O Lord, a womb without children (Hosea 9:14).

5. The third fault is the multitude of their sorceries. The prophet explains this in three parts.

   First, he mentions the sorceries by which they prospered: the multitude of your sorceries, for they abounded in arts of this kind. As the law says, let there not be among you anyone who consults diviners (Deuteronomy 18:11).

   Second, he describes the error they fell into because of these things: they thought they had immunity from punishment because their sorceries denied divine providence. You have trusted in your wickedness, so that you might sin safely, saying, There is none that sees me. This means, “No God sees me sinning, that he might punish me.” As Job says, the eye of the adulterer observes darkness, saying: no eye shall see me (Job 24:15). They also thought their power was eternal because their diviners promised it. This is the meaning of your wisdom, referring to those who occupied themselves with divine things, and your knowledge, referring to those who occupied themselves with human things. As Jeremiah says, every man is become a fool for knowledge (Jeremiah 10:14).

   Third, he sets out the punishment they merited for this: Evil shall come upon you, and you shall not know its rising. He says this in the manner of astrologers, who teach that one should consider the rise of kingdoms according to the rising of the planets. As the Apostle Paul writes, when they shall say, “Peace and security,” then shall sudden destruction come upon them (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

6. Stand now with your enchantments. Here the prophet dismisses their confidence in escape, and regarding this, he does two things.

   First, he removes any hope in the wise, dismissing their help. Regarding the sorcerers, he says, Stand now with your enchantments... from your youth. From the time they were created, they were full of magical arts, as mentioned before: and when they shall say to you: seek out soothsayers and diviners (Isaiah 8:19). Regarding the astrologers, he says, Let now the astrologers stand up against their enemies, if they could, for they abounded in these arts, too. As Jeremiah says, be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens fear (Jeremiah 10:2).

   He then threatens the wise with burning: Behold, they are like stubble—that is, the wise among you. There are no coals by which they may be warmed, but only a fire by which the whole city will be burned. This could also mean that the city was burned in winter, so that they were punished by both cold and fire at the same time. Alternatively, it means that the coal of divine wisdom is not in you. As it is written, The congregation of sinners is like tow heaped together, and the end of them is a flame of fire (Sirach 21:10 [9]).

   Second, he removes any hope in their merchants. The word merchants can refer to those in whom they also abounded, or it can refer to the wise men (magi), who sold them lies for truth. As stated before, every one shall be amazed at his neighbor, their countenances shall be as faces burnt (Isaiah 13:8).