Conceptually, chapters 47 and 48 form one large unit dealing with the fulfillment of the Lord’s purpose to use Cyrus to free His people from captivity in Babylon. The captives are portrayed here as residents of one city but citizens of another, a tension between place and citizenship that can be resolved only by returning to where they belong. The logic of the whole unit is that Babylon is doomed (chapter 47); leave it, and set out for Jerusalem, your true home (chapter 48).

Babylon: defiant but doomed (47:1-15): The portrait of Babylon is a classic study in worldly power and arrogance. She is the queen of kingdoms (v. 5) and believes that she will remain so forever (v. 7). She has an utterly false sense of security, which leads her into self-indulgence and complete indifference to the needs of the weak and vulnerable in her midst (vv. 6, 8). She considers herself so self-sufficient that all notions of accountability are excluded. She is proud of her wisdom and knowledge (v. 10), and has perfected a form of religion (astrology) which enhances her sense of power over her own destiny without making any moral demands upon her (vv. 9b, 12-13). She is the complete symbol of worldly success. However, the virgin city will be violated (vv. 1-3, 8b-9, 12-15). In short, her sense of impregnability is a complete illusion. She is like the man who built his house on the sand, or the rich man who did not reckon on what the night would bring. Babylon is the city of destruction.

We must note two things carefully before we move on. First, Babylon here is not merely the ancient city of that name, and the poem does not simply look forward to what was to happen to it in 539 BC when Cyrus conquered it. Like Jerusalem, with which it is contrasted, it is both a concrete historical reality and a symbol, and it is the symbolic significance of Babylon which is primary here. Secondly, the sin of Babylon is not simply its pride and self-absorption, but its self-deification. Twice uttered I am, and there is none besides me (vv. 8, 10), is a direct challenge to the Lord’s identical claim in 45:5. Babylon represents humankind organized in defiance of God – the kingdom of mere mortals, in contrast to the kingdom of God. In this sense “Babylon” is still with us, and still stands under judgment of God. The historical Babylon of the sixth century BC was merely on manifestation of it.

“Leave Babylon!” (48:1-22): Now we are in better position to understand the challenge of chapter 48, where the contrast between Babylon and Jerusalem is developed. The reference to Jerusalem as the holy city in verse 2 has symbolism associated with it also, because by the sixth century it was to be little more than a forsaken ruin with most of its citizens in exile. But for all that, it would continue to be the place God had chosen as the center of His kingdom on earth, and the announcement concerning Cyrus in the previous chapters have made clear His intention to raise it up again. It would once again be “the holy city”, not just in the sense that no evil will be found in it, but that God Himself would return to it and rule from it. The holy city was to become the symbol of their future hope – the coming of God’s kingdom. The challenge of chapter 48 is that they should live constantly in the light of that hope, expecting its realization at any moment.

The people certainly profess to be citizens of the kingdom, but their lives give little evidence of it; the old sins live on, it is as though their suffering taught them nothing (vv. 4-6). The Lord is tempted to discard altogether what is left (vv. 9-10), but there is more at stake here than their own betterment; there is the honor of the Lord’s name (v. 11). The world must know it is He, and not Babylon, Bel and Nebo, who rules the world and for that reason He will press on, regardless of how His people respond.

There is anger but also sadness in this chapter and this brings us to the heart of Israel’s sinfulness (vv. 1, 12, 16-18). God has opened His heart to them. He has given them His Law; He has spoken to them through His prophets, but they have not listened, and they are still not listening! Verse 22 is a tragic note on which to end, but it underlines powerfully the serious nature of failure to listen to God; it shuts us out from the peace of God. Isaiah has been speaking here of a situation that was to emerge after his own lifetime. The basic sins and failures he describes may just as well have been looking at himself, or even speaking directly to the church in our own day and age. We need no great imagination to recognize ourselves in his stinging rebukes. Sadly, the sins of the people of God do not alter.

Isaiah 47:1-48:22 Reflection Questions:

How does the symbolism of Babylon touch your life (now and/or in the past)?

Are you living constantly in the light of the hope of expecting Christ to return at any moment? What does that mean to you?

God has opened His heart to you, are you listening?