Isaiah 47
CHAPTER 47
Isaiah 47:1-15 . THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON IS REPRESENTED UNDER THE IMAGE OF A ROYAL VIRGIN BROUGHT DOWN IN A MOMENT FROM HER MAGNIFICENT THRONE TO THE EXTREME OF DEGRADATION.
Job 2:13 , Lamentations 2:10 ).virgin--that is, heretofore uncaptured [HERODOTUS, 1.191].
daughter of Babylon--Babylon and its inhabitants
no throne--The seat of empire was transferred to Shushan. Alexander intended to have made Babylon his seat of empire, but Providence defeated his design. He soon died; and Seleucia, being built near, robbed it of its inhabitants, and even of its name, which was applied to Seleucia.
delicate--alluding to the effeminate debauchery and prostitution of all classes at banquets and religious rites [CURTIUS, 5.1; HERODOTUS, 1.199; BARUCH, 6.43].
2. millstones--like the querns or hand-mills, found in this country, before the invention of water mills and windmills: a convex stone, made by the hand to turn in a concave stone, fitted to receive it, the corn being ground between them: the office of a female slave in the East; most degrading ( Job 31:10 , Matthew 24:41 ).
uncover thy locks--rather, "take off thy veil" [HORSLEY]: perhaps the removal of the plaited hair worn round the women's temples is included; it, too, is a covering ( 1 Corinthians 11:15 ); to remove it and the veil is the badge of the lowest female degradation; in the East the head is the seat of female modesty; the face of a woman is seldom, the whole head almost never, seen bare
make bare the leg--rather "lift up (literally, 'uncover'; as in lifting up the train the leg is uncovered) thy flowing train." In Mesopotamia, women of low rank, as occasion requires, wade across the rivers with stript legs, or else entirely put off their garments and swim across. "Exchange thy rich, loose, queenly robe, for the most abject condition, that of one going to and fro through rivers as a slave, to draw water," &c.
uncover . . . thigh--gather up the robe, so as to wade across.
3. not meet . . . as a man--rather, "I will not meet a man," that is, suffer man to intercede with me--give man an audience [HORSLEY]. Or, "I will not make peace with any man," before all are destroyed. Literally, "strike a league with"; a phrase arising from the custom of striking hands together in making a compact [MAURER], Proverbs 22:26 , 11:15 , Margin). Or else from striking the victims sacrificed in making treaties.
4. As for--rather supply, "Thus saith our Redeemer" [MAURER]. LOWTH supposes this verse to be the exclamation of a chorus breaking in with praises, "Our Redeemer! Jehovah of hosts," &c. ( Jeremiah 50:34 ).
5. Sit--the posture of mourning ( Ezra 9:4 , Job 2:13 , Lamentations 2:10 ).
darkness--mourning and misery ( Lamentations 3:2 , Micah 7:8 ).
lady of kingdoms--mistress of the world ( Isaiah 13:19 ).
6. reason for God's vengeance on Babylon: in executing God's will against His people, she had done so with wanton cruelty ( Isaiah 10:5 , &c.; Jeremiah 50:17 , 51:33 , Zechariah 1:15 ).
polluted my inheritance--( Isaiah 43:28 ).
the ancient--Even old age was disregarded by the Chaldeans, who treated all alike with cruelty ( Lamentations 4:16 , 5:12 ) [ROSENMULLER]. Or, "the ancient" means Israel, worn out with calamities in the latter period of its history ( Isaiah 46:4 ), as its earlier stage of history is called its "youth" ( Isaiah 54:6 , Ezekiel 16:60 ).
7. so that--Through thy vain expectation of being a queen for ever, thou didst advance to such a pitch of insolence as not to believe "these things" (namely, as to thy overthrow, Isaiah 47:1-5 ) possible.
end of it--namely, of thy insolence, implied in her words, "I shall be a lady for ever."