อิสยาห์ 47:3 วิจารณ์

Infinite Wisdom could have ordered things so that Israel might have been released and yet Babylon unhurt; but if they will harden their hearts, and will not let the people go, they must thank themselves that their ruin is made to pave the way to Israel's release. That ruin is here, in this chapter, largely foretold, not to gratify a spirit of revenge in the people of God, who had been used barbarously by them, but to encourage their faith and hope concerning their own deliverance, and to be a type of the downfall of that great enemy of the New Testament church which, in the Revelation, goes under the name of "Babylon." In this chapter we have, I. The greatness of the ruin threatened, that Babylon should be brought down to the dust, and made completely miserable, should fall from the height of prosperity into the depth of adversity (Isa 47:1-5). II. The sins that provoked God to bring this ruin upon them. 1. Their cruelty to the people of God (Isa 47:6). 2. Their pride and carnal security (Isa 47:7-9). 3. Their confidence in themselves and contempt of God (Isa 47:10). 4. Their use of magic arts and their dependence upon enchantments and sorceries, which should be so far from standing them in any stead that they should but hasten their ruin (Isa 47:11-15).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 47 This chapter is a prophecy of the destruction of Babylon, and of the Chaldeans, and declares the causes of it. The mean, low, ignominious, and miserable condition Babylon and the Chaldeans should be brought into by the Lord, the Redeemer of his people, is described, Isa 47:1, the causes of it are their cruelty to the Jews, Isa 47:6, their pride, voluptuousness, and carnal security, Isa 47:7 their sorceries and enchantments, and trust in their own wisdom, Isa 47:9, wherefore their destruction should come suddenly upon them, and they should not be able to put it off, Isa 47:11, their magic art, and judiciary astrology, which they boasted of, by them they could neither foresee nor withstand their ruin, which would be of no avail unto them, Isa 47:12, nor their merchants either, Isa 47:15.

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen,.... Not only stripped of their garments, and have nothing to cover their naked bodies, being spoiled of all by the soldiers; but should have nothing to cover those parts which women are most ashamed should be exposed to view, and which is often the case of such who fall into the hands of the conquerors. It is said of the whore of Rome, of mystical Babylon, that the kings of the earth should hate her, and make her desolate and naked, Rev 17:16, I will take vengeance; for though the Medes and Persians were the instruments, the destruction was of the Lord, who took vengeance of the Chaldeans, for their ill usage of his people; as he will on mystical Babylon, Rev 18:20, and I will not meet thee as a man; in a humane way, with lenity, tenderness, and compassion, but with inflexible wrath and fury; not with human strength, which is but weakness, but with the strength of the mighty God; as is said of mystical Babylon, strong is the Lord God that judgeth her, Rev 18:8 or it may be rendered, "I will not meet a man" (d); or a man shall not meet me, to stop or hinder me, by strength or might, or by prayers and entreaties. So some give the sense, "I will not receive the "intercession of any man for thee"; which is observed by Kimchi. The Targum is, "I will change "thy judgment from the children of men"; which agrees with the first sense. (d) "et non occurram homini", Cocceius; so some in Vatablus; "neque feram obstare quenquam mihi", Junius & Tremellius. So Ben Melech, "I will not receive the request of a man, his supplication for them."

(Chapter 47, verses 1 and following) Descend, sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon: sit on the ground, there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. Take a millstone and grind flour: uncover your nakedness, uncover your shoulder, reveal your legs, cross the rivers. Your shame will be exposed, and your disgrace will be seen; I will take vengeance, and no one will be able to resist me. 70: Descend, sit on the ground, virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground. There is no throne of the daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called delicate and tender. Take the millstone, grind the flour. Uncover your head, strip off your hair, uncover your legs, cross the rivers; your shame will be uncovered, your disgrace will be seen. What is right about you, I will take away; I will not deliver you to men anymore. Just as in Ezekiel under the figure of a ship and all its instruments, the adornments of Tyre are set forth, which were devoted to trading (Ezek. 26), and because of the abundance of water, the king of Egypt is called a dragon, and its scales, reeds, and papyrus, and its fish are described, and Jerusalem, together with idols, testifies to the fornication of harlots and the likeness of a brothel: so in this present place, under the person of a captive woman, who once was a queen, the servitude of Babylon is indicated; and she is told to descend from the pride of her kingdom and to sit on the dust. But she is also called a virgin and a daughter, either because all human beings are creatures of God and therefore not damnable by nature like the heretics of Babylon, or because of the luxury and splendor of the once most powerful city, which, as it grew old and approached its decline, boasted of being a maiden and a girl. Although some interpret the daughter of Babylon, as written in the Septuagint, as not referring to Babylon itself but to the city of Rome, which is specifically called Babylon in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 14) and in the Epistle of Peter (2 Pet. 5), and all that is now said about Babylon testifies to its ruins, it must be understood as the bird and the justice of God. After Zion, that is, the Church, is saved, Babylon should perish forever. Therefore, it is said that the queen and daughter of the Chaldeans (for she was founded by the Chaldeans) is no longer called soft and tender, and abundant in luxuries, which was carried in the hands of all nations; so much so that she could barely leave footprints on the ground: and it is ordered that she removes the mill, and grinds grain, which is a sign of hard captivity and extreme servitude; so that she, who was once a queen, may now serve the work of grinding flour. But because it follows: Strip off your shamefulness, even the mill is understood figuratively by the Hebrews, namely that it should be open to the lust of the conquerors, like a prostitute. And what is written in the Book of Judges about Samson (Judg. 16), that he was condemned by the Philistines to the mill, they want to signify that he was compelled to do this to foreign women as the most powerful of men for offspring. In the place where we have interpreted 'strip off your shamefulness', for which the LXX translated 'reveal your covering', Theodotion put the Hebrew word Samthech; Aquila Semmathech; Symmachus τὸ σιωπηλόν σου: which we can express as 'your silence', which should be kept silent out of shame. Indeed, we also read this in the Song of Songs, where the beauty of the bride is described: at the end it says, 'Without your silence' (Song 4). Those who were unwilling to translate the name, which in Holy Scripture signifies shamefulness, made a valid point. And rightly so, it uses indecent names against Babylon (even though there is no shame in calling a part of the human body by its proper name), to whom it is commanded to bare the breasts, and to open the thighs and expose the woman, and to go into captivity, so that her shame may be seen and her disgrace may be forever exposed. And the Lord says that He has done this in order to take vengeance on her who oppressed His people, and that no one should hear her prayers, who tries to appease the anger of the Lord with their presence. But the angel of the nation of Babylon, who speaks with the other angels, signifies: We took care of Babylon, but she was not healed. And what the Seventy translated as 'I will take away what is just from you' is understood to mean Babylon: or at least this, that what is just has been taken away from Babylon. The Stoic disputants argue that many things that are considered shameful and wrong by human convention are actually morally good, such as parricide, adultery, murder, incest, and other similar acts. Conversely, things that are considered morally good appear shameful in name only, such as procreating children, relieving a swollen stomach with flatulence, emptying the bowels with feces, and urinating to relieve the bladder: in short, we cannot, as we say, turn up our nose at a fart. Therefore, that which Aquila set up, as we have said, is called the venerable woman. Its etymology among them signifies, 'thirsty yours,' indicating the unquenchable pleasure of Babylon.

“Bare your legs and cross the rivers. Your shame will be uncovered and your disgrace shown.” For she was once led into captivity. She was taken from her own land into that of the victors. Being between the two rivers, they had to cross on their feet and uncover themselves. What decorum the women had was lost, and out of necessity even the private parts of their bodies were exposed to many.

“Come down, sit on the ground, virgin daughter of Babylon.” Isaiah calls her “virgin” not because she was chaste—in fact she was corrupt and shameless—but because she was dressed in the manner of a virgin. “Sit down on the ground; it is not a throne.” You have been deprived of royalty, he says; you have changed place with a slave. “Sink down into the shades, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no more be called tender and luxurious.” You have lost your good fortune of former times; you do not revel in the misfortunes of others.… The one who has redeemed you has the name “the Lord of Hosts.” If anyone wants to understand this passage as applying equally to Babylon, one should recognize that through its punishment it has been spared from sinning more. Because Babylon no longer was in power, it no longer sinned and gained the benefit of avoiding greater sins.

And he shows the author of this ignominy: I will take vengeance, however powerful you may be.

Among the nations doomed to suffer from the hostilities of Nebuchadnezzar are the Philistines, (see Jer 25:20.) And the calamities predicted in this chapter befell them probably during the long siege of Tyre, when their country was desolated to prevent their giving Tyre or Sidon any assistance, Jer 47:1-5. The whole of this chapter is remarkably elegant. The address to the sword of Jehovah, at the close of it, is particularly a very beautiful and bold personification, Jer 47:6, Jer 47:7.

I will not meet thee as a man "Neither will I suffer man to intercede with me" - The verb should be pointed, or written, אפגיע aphgia, in Hiphil.

THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON IS REPRESENTED UNDER THE IMAGE OF A ROYAL VIRGIN BROUGHT DOWN IN A MOMENT FROM HER MAGNIFICENT THRONE TO THE EXTREME OF DEGRADATION. (Isa. 47:1-15) in the dust--(See on Isa 3:26; Job 2:13; Lam 2:10). virgin--that is, heretofore uncaptured [HERODOTUS, 1.191]. daughter of Babylon--Babylon and its inhabitants (see on Isa 1:8; Isa 37:22). no throne--The seat of empire was transferred to Shushan. Alexander intended to have made Babylon his seat of empire, but Providence defeated his design. He soon died; and Seleucia, being built near, robbed it of its inhabitants, and even of its name, which was applied to Seleucia. delicate--alluding to the effeminate debauchery and prostitution of all classes at banquets and religious rites [CURTIUS, 5.1; HERODOTUS, 1.199; BARUCH, 6.43].

not meet . . . as a man--rather, "I will not meet a man," that is, suffer man to intercede with me--give man an audience [HORSLEY]. Or, "I will not make peace with any man," before all are destroyed. Literally, "strike a league with"; a phrase arising from the custom of striking hands together in making a compact [MAURER], (see on Pro 17:18; Pro 22:26; Pro 11:15, Margin). Or else from striking the victims sacrificed in making treaties.

From the gods of Babylon the proclamation of judgment passes onto Babylon itself. "Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O Chaldaeans-daughter! For men no longer call thee delicate and voluptuous. Take the mill, and grind meal: throw back they veil, lift up the train, uncover the thigh, wade through streams. Let thy nakedness be uncovered, even let thy shame be seen; I shall take vengeance, and not spare men. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is His name, Holy One of Israel." This is the first strophe in the prophecy. As v. 36 clearly shows, what precedes is a penal sentence from Jehovah. Both בּת in relation to בּתוּלת (Isa 23:12; Isa 37:22), and בּבל and כּשׂדּים in relation to בּת, are appositional genitives; Babel and Chaldeans (כשׂדים as in Isa 48:20) are regarded as a woman, and that as one not yet dishonoured. The unconquered oppressor is threatened with degradation from her proud eminence into shameful humiliation; sitting on the ground is used in the same sense as in Isa 3:26. Hitherto men have called her, with envious admiration, rakkâh va‛ânuggâh (from Deu 28:56), mollis et delicata, as having carefully kept everything disagreeable at a distance, and revelled in nothing but luxury (compare ‛ōneg, Isa 13:22). Debauchery with its attendant rioting (Isa 14:11; Isa 25:5), and the Mylitta worship with its licensed prostitution (Herod. i. 199), were current there; but now all this was at an end. תוסיפי, according to the Masora, has only one pashta both here and in Isa 47:5, and so has the tone upon the last syllable, and accordingly metheg in the antepenult. Isaiah's artistic style may be readily perceived both in the three clauses of Isa 47:1 that are comparable to a long trumpet-blast (compare Isa 40:9 and Isa 16:1), and also in the short, rugged, involuntarily excited clauses that follow. The mistress becomes the maid, and has to perform the low, menial service of those who, as Homer says in Od. vii. 104, ἀλετρεύουσι μύλης ἔπι μήλοπα καρπόν (grind at the mill the quince-coloured fruit; compare at Job 31:10). She has to leave her palace as a prisoner of war, and, laying aside all feminine modesty, to wade through the rivers upon which she borders. Chespı̄ has ĕ instead of ĭ, and, as in other cases where a sibilant precedes, the mute p instead of f (compare 'ispı̄, Jer 10:17). Both the prosopopeia and the parallel, "thy shame shall be seen," require that the expression "thy nakedness shall be uncovered" should not be understood literally. The shame of Babel is her shameful conduct, which is not to be exhibited in its true colours, inasmuch as a stronger one is coming upon it to rob it of its might and honour. This stronger one, apart from the instrument employed, is Jehovah: vindictam sumam, non parcam homini. Stier gives a different rendering here, namely, "I will run upon no man, i.e., so as to make him give way;" Hahn, "I will not meet with a man," so destitute of population will Babylon be; and Ruetschi, "I will not step in as a man." Gesenius and Rosenmller are nearer to the mark when they suggest non pangam (paciscar) cum homine; but this would require at any rate את־אדם, even if the verb פּגע really had the meaning to strike a treaty. It means rather to strike against a person, to assault any one, then to meet or come in an opposite direction, and that not only in a hostile sense, but, as in this instance, and also in Isa 64:4, in a friendly sense as well. Hence, "I shall not receive any man, or pardon any man" (Hitzig, Ewald, etc.). According to an old method of writing the passage, there is a pause here. But Isa 47:4 is still connected with what goes before. As Jehovah is speaking in Isa 47:5, but Israel in Isa 47:4, and as Isa 47:4 is unsuitable to form the basis of the words of Jehovah, it must be regarded as the antiphone to Isa 47:1-3 (cf., Isa 45:15). Our Redeemer, exclaims the church in joyfully exalted self-consciousness, He is Jehovah of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel! The one name affirms that He possesses the all-conquering might; the other that He possesses the will to carry on the work of redemption - a will influenced and constrained by both love and wrath.