Isaiah 5.7 46-47

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Jamison, PTSD therapy

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The context, remember, in chapter 45 God revealed His pan to use Cyrus, the Persian King as a tool, a vehicle, of deliverance for Israel out of Babylon. They’re in Babylon, but God is foretelling that He will raise up this pagan King who will overthrow Babylon and then save Israel. Remember, we looked as at 45, especially v. 8-10, we saw that there was resistance to God’s plan to use Cyrus. As if the clay was saying to the potter: I don’t like your plan! But God is trustworthy and reliable, He has a plan for redeeming His people even through the things, like a pagan king. Chapter 46 carries us further into the vision of Babylon’s fall.

Isaiah 46:1–7 ESV

1 Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. 2 They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity. 3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; 4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. 5 “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? 6 Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! 7 They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.

So much of Isaiah’ prophetic ministry has been a polemic against the idols that surrounded Israel. Isaiah offers, again and again, sharp criticism of the false of gods of the nations. And this chapter is no different. He starts by directly assaulting the Babylonian gods: Bel and Nebo. The image we have of these gods is that they are being carted away, evacuated or exiled themselves (into captivity). These gods have become a burden, they offer no hope, they offer no rescue, they need to be carried as burdens by animals. The setting is that the promise of Cyrus is being fulfilled and these idols have no ability to save this people.

The irony of this whole image is that the gods themselves have become a burden for the people, having to carry them away. Rather than the image you’d want or expect, to have your god rescue you and carry you away on their strength and by their will. Instead these gods, these idols depend on the people to move them!

It’s easy to see this in a literal sense if we think of these false gods as iron or gold statues, but let’s make this a little relevant for us today. Jonathan Haidt, a secular writer, wrote this about the pursuit of happiness and suffering:

If we pursue happiness [In Isaiah’s language, if it becomes an idol] we must be careful because suffering eventually takes everything away. You either never get what you want, you get it and it's taken away, or you get it and it wasn't enough. Read any celebrity biography. "I made it — and it's not enough." Do you see the burden than an idol can become?

I think of idols like the pursuit of money or even the pursuit of knowledge. Will there ever be enough? No, then the pursuit of these things is no longer just an idol but an oppressive burden.

And Isaiah switches in v. 3-4. Isaiah 46:3–4 “3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; 4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.”

Listen to me! Now YHWH is bringing it back to Himself. I am your God, you were carried by me from even before your birth, out of the womb, I carried you, AND even now in your old age I carry you. Over literal centuries God has never grown weary or tired of bearing the weight of His people and their salvation. Israel is a burden on God but not one that he cannot bear. Do you see how the image is reversed? From the false gods that are a burden to a deluded people to the true God who bears the weight and burdens of his people.

And sn’t this all the more true for Jesus, who became like us and then bore the weight of our sin, the burden of our sin on Himself such that we could be saved!

Our passage goes back and forth, as now Isaiah 46:5–7 “5 “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? 6 Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! 7 They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.”

The emphasis here is on gods of their own making, weighed out in silver and golden and then fashioned. These gods cannot move on their own, they need to be carted or carried by the people and then set up so they can be worshiped. Not so with the God of Israel, with YHWH. Think back to the Exodus story, when Israel set out in the wilderness, where was God? Was he in the back of a horse cart? NO! He went before them in the pillar of fire and smoke. Do you see? Our God does not need us in order to move or act in the world. And YHWH goes before us, makes a way for us to follow Him.

When we cry out to Him he hears us and he answers.

Then in Isa 46:8-13

Isaiah 46:8–13 ESV

8 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. 12 “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: 13 I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.”

Here Isaiah offers another appeal to the people: trust in God. Trust in His providence, trust in His plan to rescue you, even if that rescue comes through this pagan king Cyrus.

“Remember this and stand firm…you transgressors.” You see, even in these words , what do we see? Unfaithfulness. Lack of trust, people who do not trust the plan and process of the Lord’s salvation.

God’s message is clear though: I will accomplish my purpose! I will save, whether you think I will or not. God accomplishes His purposes. This can be incredibly encouraging for us, but we recognize that in us there will be that battle, that wrestling over how we can more and more fully trust him. We often don’t, we see the world as it is, or we’re facing some trial or suffering or challenge. Or some grief. Whatever it may be and we think: maybe he won’t save. Maybe he can’t. Maybe he’s not there.

These are the temptations we face and Isaiah gives us a model that we ought to follow: that we would trust God and His sovereign rule, no matter what. Not in a naive blind faith kind of way, but a faith that is actually grounded on something “remember the former things.” God will save!

Now let’s turn to chapter 47 and see the fall of Babylon!

Isaiah 47 ESV

1 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 you shall no more be called tender and delicate. 2 Take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers. 3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one. 4 Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name— is the Holy One of Israel. 5 Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. 6 I was angry with my people; I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand; you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy. 7 You said, “I shall be mistress forever,” so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.

Here we see the vengeance of YHWH—Babylon is humbled and brought low, deprived of her former glory (without a throne).

The theological foundation for this vengeance emerges in verses 5–7. Babylon believed she conquered Judah through her own military power, but she failed to recognize that God was angry with his people and used Babylon as an instrument of his judgment.1 Though God allowed Babylon to execute this role, Babylon exceeded her mandate by showing no mercy to God’s people—a cruelty that exceeded what divine discipline required.

Isaiah 47 ESV

8 Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”: 9 These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments. 10 You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” 11 But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.

Here is the pride of Babylon—

Babylon’s pride manifests in her self-exaltation as “mistress of kingdoms” and her arrogant declaration “I am, and there is no one besides me”—a claim that appropriates divine uniqueness for herself.1 This represents a nation regarding itself as the Supreme Power1, a posture that directly contradicts God’s own identity throughout Isaiah.

The passage exposes multiple dimensions of Babylon’s overconfidence. Babylon believed she could treat Israel’s elderly however she wished because she thought she would remain untouched forever, a conviction that made her unwilling to change her ways.

She prided herself in sorcerers who supposedly told the future through demonic forces, but such supposed knowledge proved unreliable—the sorcerers could not foresee Babylon’s forthcoming calamity and could not conjure it away.3

The theological irony cuts deep: Though Babylon claimed “I am, and there is none besides me,” God alone is the One who is unique, as Isaiah had stated repeatedly throughout the preceding chapters.3 Her pride blinds her to the reality that all her apparent security—military might, wealth, magical knowledge—cannot withstand divine judgment.

Isaiah 47 ESV

12 Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror. 13 You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you. 14 Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before! 15 Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth; they wander about, each in his own direction; there is no one to save you.

Here the impotence of their false religion. All their religion, their sorcerers, their false religion. None of this could save them.