Chapter 47 Babylon Is To Be Destroyed.
If salvation is to triumph, and if righteousness is to be exalted, and if God's people are to be glorious (Isaiah 46:12-13) then it can only come about through the destruction of evil and of idolatry, and from Isaiah's religious viewpoint that means the destruction of Babylon. Until Babylon is dealt with the Servant is restrained.
We should note at once that this destruction of Babylon is not attributed to Cyrus. We can only find such an idea there if we read it into the passage. Nor is it directly related to the return of exiles, although it is partly related to her ill-treatment of God's people. Because she has ill-treated God's people, God will ill-treat her. Indeed He will destroy her. But even that is not given as the main reason for God's destruction of Babylon.
Rather what is to happen is seen as God's judgment on something which is the epitome of evil, just as it was in Chapter s 13-14. It is because Yahweh is the Redeemer of His people (Isaiah 47:4), and as such must deal with the continuous menace of Babylon. It will occur because to Isaiah Babylon is more than just a city. It is because it is an idea. It represents Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). It has been the symbol of rebellion from the beginning, and is the earthly symbol of all enmity against God. And its total end is therefore necessary because this enmity must be dealt with if the Servant is to perform his task. Here therefore it is to be faced up to head on.
In order to fully appreciate the idea here it is necessary to appreciate that to Isaiah Babylon is set over against the Servant. She is the exact opposite of the Servant. She is proud and boastful. She could never be a servant! In her distant splendour she sums up all that is in opposition against God. It is thus she who must be finally dealt with if the Servant's work is to prosper. So while even for Egypt and Assyria there is future hope, there is no future hope for Babylon. John recognised this in the Book of Revelation where again Babylon was depicted as summing up man's opposition to God and His ways, and needing to be destroyed.
Even the nations saw Babylon as exceptional long before it rose to its later period of supremacy, both because of its glory and its proud claims, and because of its past. Conquering kings restored her and treated her with reverence. The world marvelled at her glories and her superlativeness. She was famed for her lascivious lifestyle. If you wanted to really live you went to Babylon. And she was famed for being the home of the occult and of ‘wise men' and of those who could supposedly delve into all mysteries and understood the past and could discern the future. She was the centre of corrupt civilisation. She was the home of mystery. She was the bastion of the gods.
That is why Isaiah saw her destruction as so totally necessary. It would stress God's judgment on all such lascivious behaviour and would indicate the certainty of the final defeat of the gods. They could be seen as congregated there, but they would fail in their attempt to protect it, and in that would be their downfall. And it is surely due to that fact that after this description of the downfall of Babylon, the false gods, which have previously been mentioned constantly, are not again mentioned in the section of Isaiah up to chapter 55. They were seen as doomed along with Babylon.
We saw in Isaiah 46:1-2 the weakness of the gods of Babylon. That was a preparation for this. Now we are to see it manifested in the destruction of Babylon itself, the final proof of the inadequacy of what were even seen as the greatest of gods (Bel/Marduk was highly revered even by the conquerors of Babylon). They can only stand by and do nothing because of what Yahweh has determined.
In fact the reason for Babylon's destruction in context is made clear. It is because she called herself ‘the Lady of the kingdoms' (Isaiah 47:5 compare Isaiah 13:19). It is because she will oppress the people of God (Isaiah 47:6 as threatened in Isaiah 39:6-7). It is because she considered herself eternal (Isaiah 47:7). It is because she saw herself as the incomparable and the invincible (Isaiah 47:8; Isaiah 47:10). It is because she was full of sorcery and enchantments (Isaiah 47:9), because she thought of herself as divine - ‘I am and there is none beside me' (Isaiah 47:10 - previously used regularly of Yahweh in chapter 45. See also Isaiah 46:9). She was the anti-God. That was why she had to be destroyed. She is therefore to lose everything.
This was something that Cyrus' conquest in no way achieved. Indeed the priests of Marduk welcomed him, for he sustained the glory of Babylon and supported its priests with their sorcery and enchantments. Under him they prospered. What is described here is much more extreme than anything that Cyrus did, and awaited Babylon's final end after many humiliations. The activities of Cyrus, if in mind at all, would only be another stage in its demise, for God had determined a more extreme fate for Babylon. The thought here is of its final end. Isaiah was very conscious of the fact that Babylon must be destroyed for ever.