Isaiah 47 Study Notes

47:8-9 Babylon is personified as a woman consistently in this chapter. Before she was the Virgin Daughter, but in these verses she is a woman who is blessed with marriage and children. The future judgment of Babylon is compared to a woman who will lose husband and children in one day. A woman without husband and children had no value and no protection in ancient times. This disaster will befall Babylon even though she was a sorceress (see Nah 3:4 for a similar description of Assyria).

47:10-11 Wisdom includes the ability to navigate life in a way that avoids pitfalls and also includes the skill to get out of jams if hardship should fall. However, in this case wisdom is useless and unable to ward off disaster. In other words, Babylonian wisdom is actually foolishness. This affirmation is not far from the NT idea that the wisdom of the world is folly (1Co 1-2). Babylon will fall because it was “wise in [its] own eyes” rather than trustful in the one true God (Pr 3:5-8).

47:12-13 Babylonian culture was known for its infatuation with sorceries and spells, which represented a way to manipulate the gods. In particular, Babylon was known for attempts to determine the future by consulting the stars. Indeed, even after Babylon disappeared as an empire, the term “Chaldean” was used to designate astrologers.

47:14-15 Those who practice sorcery and astrology are worthless like stubble.