Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Isaiah Chapitre 47

Isaiah 47:3-4. I will take vengeance— These are the words of the God of Israel, whose province it is to take vengeance. The phrase, I will not meet thee as a man, is differently understood. Some suppose, that it signifies, "I will shew thee neither mercy nor pity." Vitringa renders it, "Though I have not a man ready, or before me, who may execute the vengeance which I have determined; for which reason I will raise up Cyrus, whom nobody thinks of, that it may appear to all the world that this is my work, and not the work of man." And he thinks that this interpretation is confirmed by what the church adds in the 4th verse, that their Redeemer was Jehovah; that it was He, and He alone, who could have procured this wonderful deliverance for them.

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Isaiah 47:5. Sit thou silent, &c.— See ch. Isaiah 13:19 Isaiah 14:4. Bishop Newton observes, that after this destruction Babylon never recovered its ancient splendor: From an imperial it became a tributary city; from being governed by its own kings, and governing strangers, it came itself to be governed by strangers; and, the seat of empire being transferred to Shushan, it decayed by degrees, till it was at last reduced to utter desolation. Dissert. vol. 1: p. 293.

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Isaiah 47:6. I was wroth with my people— The metaphor in this verse is taken from a father, who being angry with his children delivers them up to chastisement; but his anger soon subsiding, and his affection reviving, he turns his indignation against those who had executed his commands, in such a manner as to punish them immoderately and severely. The cruelty of the Babylonians is expressed by the strongest term, namely, their oppression of the ancient, the old and feeble, whose venerable grey hairs should be their sufficient protection.

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Isaiah 47:9. These two things shall come to thee— This prophesy was twice fulfilled; having been accomplished the very night that Babylon was taken, when the Persian slew the king himself, and a great number of the Babylonians: and it was fulfilled a second time, when besieged by Darius. Being determined to hold out to the last extremity, they took all their women, and each man choosing one of them whom he liked best out of his own family, they strangled all the rest, that unnecessary mouths might not consume their provisions. By means of this shocking expedient they sustained the siege and all the efforts of Darius for twenty months, and the city was at last taken by stratagem. As soon as Darius had made himself master of the place, he ordered 3000 of the principal men to be crucified, and thus this prophesy was signally fulfilled, both by the hands of the Babylonians themselves, and by the cruelties exercised upon them by the conquerors. Bishop Newton. We may render the latter part of the verse, They shall come upon thee in their perfection, notwithstanding the multitude of thy sorceries, and the force of thy enchantments.

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Isaiah 47:13. Thou art wearied, &c.— Thou art nauseated with the multitude of thy devices.

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Isaiah 47:14. Behold, they shall be as stubble— The judgment to be inflicted upon the professors and encouragers of the vain arts above mentioned is here elegantly and metaphorically described. The prophet says, that all those mentioned in the 13th verse, like stubble, should be set on fire by the divine wrath, and so wholly consumed, that nothing of them should remain which could be serviceable for any purpose whatever; for, as from wood and other fuel, when burned, there remain embers, before which a person may warm himself, and glowing ashes before which one may sit, to drive away the cold; these, on the contrary, should be consumed like stubble, so as to be wholly destroyed, and to leave nothing for any use or service. See Vitringa.

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