The Humiliation of Babylon
“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams. Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.” Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name—is the Holy One of Israel. “
Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of Chaldea. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms. I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke. You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.
So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’ These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.
You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly. So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you—your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate. Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside. This is what they are to you—those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.”
This passage clearly describes the suffering women of conquered cities would undergo. “Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams. Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”
“So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’ These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.”
Babylon was a very wealthy city, and many of the ladies enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle. When the Babylonians conquered Israel, they abused their captives, including the elderly. The Babylonians assumed that they would always remain in power and never suffer the loss of their families to a conquering army. The people of Babylon practiced sorceries and witchcraft in hopes of maintaining power and avoiding suffering and bereavement. But God was watching all the time those people were casting those spells and He was not impressed.
“You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly. So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you—your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate. “
APPLICATION: God sees all, knows all, hears all, and understands far more than any of us can possibly imagine. The Babylonians practiced full – bore sorcery, and astrologers gave advice on important matters. At the same time, when the Babylonians conquered anyone, they abused their captives. God is rebuking the Babylonians on both these points. God is promising the Babylonians that nobody will come to save them from their enemies.
We take on the qualities of whatever we worship. The Babylonians worshiped demons and consulted the stars, trusting in their own efforts at casting spells. There were Jews living in Babylon, and the Babylonians could have learned about the God of Israel if they had wanted to do so. After giving the Babylonians multiple chances to repent, God eventually allowed Babylon to be destroyed.
We want to believe that we control our own lives and that we have plenty of time to choose or reject God. But really, if we are not serving God whole – heartedly, we have already rejected Him. And none of us controls anything. The nation of America was driven to prayer recently as they watched Damar Hamlin, a big strong football player, go into cardiac arrest when he was hit in the chest by another player. One of the trainers immediately initiated CPR, saving Mr. Hamlin’s life. While Mr. Hamlin is recovering well, this accident emphasizes the fact that even strapping young men can die suddenly. In the wake of this incident, others have come forward, telling stories of those who suffered similar injuries and who did not survive.
Years ago, there was a Christian play making the rounds of many churches entitled “A Thief in the Night.” The play was based on 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” The play depicted several different people, each of whom thought he or she had plenty of time to live without God’s interference, who then died by accident, heart attack, or other kinds of illness. Those who had repented and chosen to serve God found themselves welcomed into heaven, while those who had refused to serve God by outright refusal or by delay found themselves in hell.
We have no other time in which to make a decision apart from now! Now is the day of salvation! Now is the time to serve the Living God. The Babylonians kept engaging in spells and rituals, attempting to control their destinies and to learn the future, rather than serving the God of Israel, who might have saved them. Would Babylon have fallen had the Babylonians chosen to serve the God of Israel? Probably not. Such a choice might have changed the course of history in the Middle East. But the Babylonians missed their chance, and the Medes and Persians moved in to bring about the fate already predicted by Isaiah.
Today, each of us has a choice. We can choose to serve the One True Living God, the One who gave Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, or we can go our own way. The choice may be ours, but the outcome of our choices is already fixed: heaven or hell. Which will you choose?
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to choose to follow You, knowing that You will never leave us or forsake us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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