Deeper Commentary

Isaiah 47:1 Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate- The Ras Shamra texts include a section on the fall and death of Baal, another form of the Babylonian "Bel" of Is. 46:1. Although written in Ugaritic, this section has amazing similarities with the poem of Isaiah 14 about the fall of Babylon – e.g. “The death of Baal” includes lines such as “From the throne on which he sits... how hath Baal come down, how hath the mighty been cast down!”. Isaiah’s message was therefore: ‘Forget those stories about Baal being cast down; what’s relevant for us is that mighty Babylon, which tempts us to trust in her rather than Yahweh God of Israel, is to be cast down, let’s apply the language of Baal’s fall to the kingdoms of this world which we know and live amongst’. Another such example is to be found in Is. 47:1: “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne”. This is almost quoting [albeit through translation] from the ‘Death of Baal’ poem.

The reference to Babylon as a virgin may be summed up best by the GNB paraphrase: "You were once like a virgin, a city unconquered, but you are soft and delicate no longer! You are now a slave!". The idea is that she is about to be raped and lose her virginity; for Babylon had never been captured by another power at that point. Lam. 1 has the same figures used of what the Babylonians did to Jerusalem: virgin daughter Zion has been widowed and her children taken, the princess has become slave,  mocked and abused with none to help her, "Oh how she sits alone, the city full of people" (Lam. 1) is Babylon now sitting in the dirt (Is. 47:1), just as Judah's king and queen had to 'sit' in humiliation, "your beautiful crown has come down" (Jer. 13:18) etc. "You shall no more be called tender and delicate" uses the words of Dt. 28:54,56 about the judgments upon unfaithful Israel. Judah acted like Babylon and therefore received her judgments, just as the rejected of God's people will be "condemned with the world". The judgments had been carried out by Babylon under God's direction, but they were to experience them themselves because they had not only overstepped the limits, but had not shown Divine pity to the sinful and condemned. And the essence of that warning comes through to us.

Isaiah 47:2 Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers-

This was the lowest work; the son of the slave woman who grinds at the mill means the lowest person in society (Ex. 11:5). Babylon was to fall suddenly and be plunged down to the lowest slavery. The suddenness of the fall is stressed later in Is. 47. But the fall of Babylon to Cyrus and his general Darius didn't quite achieve this. As I have noted elsewhere (see on Is. 46:1), the fall of Babylon didn't happen quite as predicted. Darius the Mede actually maintained the Babylonian gods; of whom Bel and Nebo were the popular ones; although "Bel" is the equivalent of Hebrew 'Baal' and may be a generic name. Many within Babylon supported him, and the Babylonians didn't go into captivity across "the rivers", having to lift up their skirts and bare their legs to cross them. And so the potential scenario presented elsewhere, of Babylon falling, being destroyed by the fire of Divine judgment Sodom-style, and the exiles returning to Judah- just didn't come about. The various preconditions involving Judah's repentance weren't in place. And so the 'fall of Babylon' prophecies will in essence, although maybe not in every detail, be fulfilled in the fall of latter day Babylon. And this is how we are to understand this picture of Babylon being led into captivity. Isaiah has earlier spoken of the Jewish exiles passing through the rivers in returning from Babylon to Zion. Surely this must be the same reference; Babylon were to be humbled, and join the Jews in a pilgrimage through the rivers to Zion. But that didn't happen. This prophecy was however to help the exiles see Babylon differently. The apparent greatness and permanence was going to end, and the city was evil in God's eyes. The exiles needed to leave it. And that message stood, regardless of when and how the judgements upon Babylon were fulfilled. We could also see these prophecies against Babylon as being like those of Jonah against Nineveh- the Divine hope was that there would be repentance in the gap between the prophecy and its intended possible fulfilment.

Isaiah 47:3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man- See on :2. This scenario didn't totally come about when Babylon fell to the Medes. The population wasn't destroyed, there was very little bloodshed. But the language of Babylon's judgment here and in :2 is very similar to that of Israel's judgment. The idea is that what Babylon did to Judah was to be done to them, finally. This is the theme of Revelation, where the judgments upon Israel are related to the final judgments upon the beast system which has judged her.

Yahweh is repeatedly presented in Isaiah as the redeemer or go'el of Israel. He therefore paid their debt so that they may be freed from their indentured labour. But another duty of the go'el was to revenge the shedding of the family blood. And here this idea is alluded to, in that Yahweh would "take vengeance" upon the Babylonians. Thus we go on to read in :4 of Yahweh as His people's "redeemer". It was God who had raised up the Babylonians to punish Judah; but He also looked at it another way. He was the redeemer of His people, and so He must take vengeance for their blood. To have Yahweh as your redeemer, the one who will avenge you, is so wonderful- it must remove from us all attempts at vengeance and achieving payback in this life. The natural desire to settle up over past issues must be resigned- and the psychological energy thereby released put to the Lord's service.

"Will spare no man" is an attempt to translate a very difficult original. GNB "and no one will stop me" is a bit better, but the idea seems to be that Yahweh will accept no intercession to stop His vengeance on Babylon, as the redeemer of His people: “Neither will I suffer man to intercede with me”. Vengeance is His for His beloved family member, and nobody will stop Him being the redeemer. And that has wider implications- nobody can stop Yahweh being a redeemer. In this context, the redemption is about serving vengeance; but His redemption has far wider applications.  

The language here is disturbing: of being uncovered and shamed as a man takes vengeance upon the virgin daughter of Babylon. Uncovering or exposure of someone's nakedness is a euphemism for sexual intercourse. This surely suggests rape, the kind of rape performed by victors against the vanquished. But Yahweh appears strongly behind it. We could argue that the language is similar to that of the Lamentations, where these things were done to the daughter of Zion. And the idea would simply be that what Babylon did to Zion was to be done to her- under God's control. Lam. 1 has the same figures used of what the Babylonians did to Jerusalem: virgin daughter Zion has been widowed and her children taken, the princess has become slave,  mocked and abused with none to help her, "Oh how she sits alone, the city full of people" (Lam. 1) is Babylon now sitting in the dirt (Is. 47:1), just as Judah's king and queen had to 'sit' in humiliation, "your beautiful crown has come down" (Jer. 13:18) etc.

Isaiah 47:4 Our Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies is His name, is the Holy One of Israel-

Here we have a voice breaking in, as so often in Isaiah, notably in Is. 40. The voice is that of the exiles. And then the prophecy returns to God speaking directly. The hope was that the exiles would say Yahweh was "our redeemer". This is a fantasy of what God hoped they would say. We find similar fantasy in Hosea, the fantasy of love. And yet it was a redemption refused. God was Israel's "holy one", the unique one, in that He was their saviour: "I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel your Saviour" (Is. 43:3). See on :15. God's abiding, eternal Name is contrasted with how the names of Babylon are removed- "you shall no more be called [named] 'Tender and delicate'... you shall no more be called [named] 'The mistress of kingdoms'" (:1,5). All names and titles, all personality, will ultimately come to nothing. Only Yahweh's Name will endure, centered as it is around His characteristic of eternally saving man. Only the fruits of the Spirit, the characteristics of the Yahweh Name in us, will abide eternally. Your characteristic of [e.g.] impatience will not endure; but your characteristic of [e.g.] pity for sick animals will endure eternally. This points up the supreme importance of character and personality development. For that alone will eternally endure.

The sad thing is that the redemption of Israel made possible through the fall of Babylon wasn't accepted by them; and they remained in exile, for the most part. As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (Hos. 3:1), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el , redeemer (Is. 41:14; Is. 43:14; Is. 44:6,24; Is. 47:4; Is. 48:17; Is. 49:7,26; Is. 54:5,8). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (Lev. 25:25,26, 47-55; Ruth 2:20; Ruth 3:9,12). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (Num. 35:9-28; Josh. 20:3,9). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (Neh. 9:36). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren.

LXX "Thy deliverer is the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel is his name" would suggest that Yahweh was ready to deliver Babylon- this therefore could be read as a call for her to repent, which is also in view in Jer. 51:9. This prophecy against Babylon can therefore be read like the prophesied destruction of Nineveh- to appeal for their repentance in the gap between prophecy and fulfilment.

Isaiah 47:5 Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms- Darkness is the imagery of condemnation. "Mistress" implies she is a whore awaiting judgment. Again, the language of Judah's judgment, 'sitting in silence', is applied now to Babylon (Lam. 2:10; 3:28: "The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep silence, they have cast up dust upon their heads"; likewise Is. 3:26: "And she (Jerusalem) being desolate shall sit upon the ground" (cp. :1,2). "Go into darkness" recalls Judah being sent into the darkness of Babylon; and now Babylon must go through the same. Lam. 3:2 "He has led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light". But the mistress of kingdoms was to be destroyed as Sodom was (Is. 13:19); and that didn't happen at the fall of Babylon to the Medes. This, as noted on Is. 46:1, was a potential scenario that was delayed until the latter day fall of Babylon the whore as described in Revelation. We see that condemnation involved being made to go through [at least mentally] what they had put God's people through. This terrible mental torture is symbolized by the language of fire and burning in Gehenna.

Isaiah 47:6 I was angry with My people, I profaned My inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke- Nebuchadnezzar was God's servant. Babylon were not condemned for executing God's judgments upon Judah; but for their subsequent bloodlust and showing no mercy, and abusing those such as the elderly who were not the primary objects of the Divine judgment. This abuse of the elderly was particularly noted by God (Lam. 4:16; 5:12). It was their subsequent pride and pretending to Yahweh (:7) which were the reasons for judgment falling upon them.

We could read with LXX "You defiled My inheritance". The Jewish exiles accepted Babylonian gods and were thereby defiled, but God blames and punishes Babylon for this. Indeed the Jews had worshipped those gods before the Babylonian invasion. So Yahweh's argument here seems very much biased towards Israel's innocence and Babylon's guilt. His reasoning arose clearly from His great love of His people. And yet this revealing of Babylon for who they were was also a way of appealing to the exiles to come out from her.

But Israel had once been "holy to Yahweh" (Jer. 2:3), but He had profaned them (Is. 43:28 "Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult"). Likewise the suffering of the aged is mentioned in Lamentations as something Yahweh had brought upon His people: "The anger of Yahweh has scattered them; He will no more regard them: He didn’t respect the persons of the priests, nor favour the elderly" (Lam. 4:16 Heb.). But now Babylon is being condemned for not having mercy upon the condemned, especially upon the elderly and priests whom Yahweh had condemned. "You did not have compassion" is the centerpiece of the argument. This was the reason Babylon was to be brutally judged. For Yahweh had said that He would show compassion to Judah- and Babylon were supposed to have figured that and meted out judgment aware of that: "For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land" (Is. 14:1; 54:7,8: "For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you. In overflowing wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting loving kindness will I have mercy on you, says Yahweh your Redeemer"). In the midst of judgment, God would show the compassion of a woman to her own child: "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?" (Is. 49:15). But Madame Babylon, although a woman, failed to have that instinctive female compassion upon a child; the compassion God had, as a woman. And Babylon was condemned for it. This is a profound insight into how God sees things when it comes to those whom He judges for their sins. We are inclined to enthusiastically relish the punishment of the wicked: 'He got what he deserved'; 'I hope he dies in prison'; 'Serves him right', or even 'May he rot in hell'. And theology-gone-wrong has relished in inventing all manner of awful punishments for our own enemies in "hell" and Dante's inferno. But God asks us to instead have pity upon the condemned- for although He was the author of Judah's condemnation and sufferings, He had huge pity for them. It is this pity for the lost and condemned which is an essential part of God's personality, and we like Babylon will be condemned if we fail to have this. This explains why Babylon were the Divinely used instruments for Judah's judgment, and yet were condemned because they didn't have pity upon the Jews. In wrath they didn't remember mercy.  “I was but a little angry and they helped forward the affliction” (Zech. 1:15). There is however no evidence that the Babylonians abused the Jews in captivity. In fact they did very well for themselves. So the criticisms of Babylonian cruelty apply specifically to their actions at the capture of Jerusalem- the kind of cruelty lamented by Jeremiah in Lamentations: "This Nebuchadnezzar has broken his bones" (Jer. 1:17). We can deduce therefore that Yahweh expected the Babylonian soldiers and leadership to have had more mercy upon the Jews when the city was breached. Even though their wrath was that of Yahweh. He wanted them to have remembered mercy in their wrath, just as He did. They didn't, neither did they repent of it, and so in a later generation, Babylon had to fall.  

Isaiah 47:7 You said, ‘I shall be a mistress forever;’ so that you did not lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the latter end of it- This also is the criticism made of Judah (Mal. 2:2). Babylon was intended to reflect and repent; Jer. 51:9 suggests Babylon was only judged because she was offered a chance to repent which she refused. I noted on Is. 46:1 that her fall to the Medes was not executed with the full extent of the judgments then pronounced upon her; and maybe that was because some of them did repent.

Literally, Babylon said that she would be "a lady eternally", a “mistress of eternity”, her blasphemous equivalent to how Messiah would be the “Father of eternity” (Is. 9:6). Babylon's subconscious thinking and self talk is being described. It is that of all men outside of Christ. They assume their eternity, they play God, and thus refuse to accept the reality of judgment to come. It is exactly because of this that Babylon, and all like her, are cruel to others. They refuse to live in the shadow of inevitable judgment to come. They didn't consider the end results of their actions against the Jews. This is the essence of sin, to refuse to consider the end consequence of our actions. Man generally lives like this, smart or foolish, refusing to accept that there is an end consequence for all thought and action.

Isaiah 47:8 Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:’-

This critique of a woman "given to pleasures" mirrors that of Is. 32:9-13 concerning the women of Judah. Judah and Babylon acted the same way and were judged the same way, hence all the connections between Is. 47 about the daughter of Babylon and Lamentations about the daughter of Zion. The language of destruction by burning as chaff in :14 is exactly that of Zion's destruction (Lam. 1:7, 13; 2:3, 4; 4:11). Their sins, the reason for the judgment, were the same. Just as Babylon trusted in her enchanters, "the great abundance of your enchantments" (:9), so had Judah trusted "the clever enchanter" (Is. 3:3). Judah were no better than Babylon, but Isaiah is full of prophecy that she shall gloriously rise again from her judgment. There is no such message for Babylon. In this we see absolute sovereign grace. For God's people are demonstrated to be no intrinsically better than the world of sinners in which they live. But still God would save them. Babylon would sit as a widow bereft of her children; Zion likewise would suffer both widowhood and the loss of her children (Is. 49:20,21; 51:15-20; 54:4). But as Isaiah's prophecies make clear, she would find her husband [Yahweh] again, and be blessed with multiple and eternal children. The descriptions of this in Is. 57 are a parody of the way Babylon permanently loses these things in Is. 47. For Babylon, there was no such promised restoration. She lost her husband [her king?] and her children [vassal states? Inhabitants?]. With only perpetual desolation promised for her future, never to be rebuilt. Babylon had nobody to save them (:15) whereas repeatedly Yahweh is presented as Israel's saviour- by grace alone (Is. 45:21; 46:2,4).

The implication is that Babylon would hear the prophecies of her destruction and mock them; and apply the very language of Isaiah about Yahweh "I am, and there is none else" to themselves (Is. 45:6). For "I am..." is Yahweh's repeated title and Name in second Isaiah (Is. 44:24; 45:3,5,6,7,8,18,19,21,22; 46:4,9). Babylon were condemned for playing God, and we must ask in which ways we are tempted to do this. Not least in our natural tendency to judge others by what we 'say in our heart', our deepest self talk. Likewise Madame Babylon considered she would last "for ever" (:7)- and eternity is Yahweh's unique characteristic (Is. 45:17; 57:15). We must continually remember that these prophecies about Babylon are in order to help the exiles perceive God's take on the society that surrounded them. We too need to realize that society around us is playing God- and will miserably fall as a result. They are not passive in their positions; we must see how God interprets those positions.

We bear the Name of Yahweh / Jehovah, by reason of our baptism into it. His Name is declared as His character- merciful, truthful, judging sin, patient etc. (Ex. 34:5-7). He who will be who He will be, manifesting His characteristics as He does so, must have His way in us too. Babylon and Nineveh were condemned for having the attitude that “I am, and there is none beside me” (Is. 47:8; Zeph. 2:15). Their self-perception was a parody on the Name and being of Yahweh: He alone can say “I am, and there is none else” (Is. 43:11; 44:6; 45:6,21) and seek to be who He is. He alone can seek to articulate the characteristics that make up His Name onto the lives of others, and onto the things that comprise His Kingdom. We are not to be who we are; to ‘just be yourself’; to ‘just do it’, as foolish slogans and adverts encourage us. We are here to show forth His mercy, truth, judgment of sin, patient saving of the weak etc., not our own personality. We are, in the very end, Yahweh manifested to this world, through our imitation of the Lord Jesus.

Isaiah 47:9 but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments- It could be argued that because the level of destruction spoken of here didn't happen to the people and city of Babylon when the Medes took it, therefore the prophecies apply to the king and royal family of Babylon, who were slain by Darius the Mede. The queen was therefore left literally a widow. But even that was but a primary fulfilment; the final fulfilment would be in the destruction of the sorceries of latter day Babylon (Rev. 18:23). But even that will only be because she refuses the invitation to repent of them (Rev. 9:21).

Isaiah 47:10 For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, ‘No one sees me’; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart-

"No one sees me" is the attitude of this world. Man lives as if he is not in fact observed by God, as if Yahweh does not in fact see and know all things, reading the thoughts of every man before he even has them in his mind (Ps. 139). Living in the awareness of God's omniscience changes everything.

The condemnation of Babylon's wisdom and knowledge alludes to the contrast between the wisdom of Daniel in the court of Babylon compared to the false knowledge of Babylon's wise men. God could have condemned Babylon for a whole host of sinful actions; but His essential, repeated reason was because of how they spoke in their hearts (Is. 47:10; Zeph. 2:15; Rev. 18:17). And He gave the same reason for His condemnation of Tyre (Ez. 28:2) and Edom (Obadiah 3).

I am, and there is none else besides me’- Babylon acted as she did because she reasoned that “None seeth me...I am, and there is none else beside me” (Is. 47:10 RV). They appropriated the language of God to themselves, they played God in that they thought their ways were unseen by any higher power. And we all have a terrible, frightening tendency to do this.

Isaiah 47:11 Therefore evil will come on you; you won’t know when it dawns: and mischief will fall on you; you will not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don’t know- This sudden desolation refers only primarily to the sudden fall of Babylon to Darius as described in Dan. 5. As explained on Is. 46:1, the city and people of Babylon weren't suddenly destroyed. According to Jer. 51:43, the king was already deeply concerned at the advance of the Medes and was feeble at the news of the enemy advance. Hence we should give due weight to the discovery by Layard of inscriptions which say that Babylon opened her own gates in surrender. There was much support for Darius the Mede within Babylon; both the Babylonian Chronicles and the Cyrus Cylinder describe Babylon being taken "without battle". So the main fulfilment of this must yet be future.

"Mischief" is literally 'wretchedness'. Paul in Rom. 7:24 felt “wretched” (s.w. LXX). The Greek word is elsewhere used about the feelings of the rejected before God’s judgment (James 5:1; Rev. 3:17), likewise in the LXX (Is. 47:11; Mic. 2:4; Joel 1:15; Zeph. 1:15). Paul feels as if he is even now standing before the judgment seat of God, and is condemned- yet suddenly he rejoices that he is in fact amazingly saved by Christ. This is the very theme of the earlier sections of Romans- that we are suddenly declared right, justified, as we stand condemned in the dock before God. This lends weight to the suggestion that Romans 7 is indeed autobiographical of Paul, declaring the process of his own conversion, yet telling the story, as it were, in terms which present him as personifying every Jew under the Law.

"Put it away" is the word used for atonement. Man in his condemnation will realize his chronic need for atonement. We have had the wisdom to grasp that now in the blood of the Lord.

Isaiah 47:12 Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries in which you have laboured from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail!- See on :13. "Laboured" is literally "wearied", as AV. The way of the flesh is a weariness, both for Babylon and the unfaithful within Judah (Is. 43:22).

Isaiah 47:13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsellors: let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save you from the things that shall come on you- Babylon ought to have learnt from the humiliation of her sorceries and wise men before the Divine wisdom of Daniel. We too see God working in the same way today; lessons are taught to people which they don't learn, and therefore harder judgment comes. The critics like to point out that Isaiah knows much detail about Babylonian practices, implying he was in Babylon. But I have no problem believing that Isaiah was given God's Spirit to foresee these things, just as he predicted Cyrus far ahead of time. But there is also the sad possibility that he knew all about these cultic practices because although Babylon's power was yet future, the Jews were already practicing this kind of things even in Isaiah's time.

Isaiah 47:14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before- The fire would burn so totally that not a live coal would be left (as in Is. 30:14). This suggests a supernatural cataclysm bursting upon Babylon, after the pattern of Sodom's destruction (Is. 13:19). But as explained on :1, this didn't happen when the Medes took Babylon. The prophecy was reapplied to the final fall of Babylon described in Revelation. The image of dry stubble before a spreading fire is used of Judah (Is. 1:31). The judgments on Babylon and upon Judah are so often identical. The rejected of God's people will likewise be "condemned with the world", sent back into the world they had loved to share its judgments.

Isaiah 47:15 Thus shall the things be to you in which you have laboured: those who have trafficked with you from your youth shall wander each one to his place; there shall be none to save you- The idea is that the people from the nations within the Babylonian empire would leave Babylon and return home- including the Jews. But this didn't happen; see on Is. 46:1. The Jews were intended to flee Babylon before she fell (Is. 48:20), but they didn't; and so God put another plan into operation, whereby the fall of Babylon was to lead to all the foreigners there, including the Jews, thereby being freed to return to their ancestral homelands. But still the Jews remained, as the book of Esther testifies. God tried then and tries now, by all means, to bring His chosen people to His Kingdom. Human resistance to His efforts is tragic. He must have pleasure in we weak sinners who have at least said "Yes" to His plans.

"None to save you" is the climax, the end stress of the prophecy. Thus it concludes with the essential point: Only Yahweh saves. The astrologers and idols of Babylon couldn't save. That is the theme that echoes throughout second Isaiah. The Babylonian religion was obsessed with predicting the future, but couldn't save; "those who gaze at the stars, who declare each new moon what will befall you" (:13). This is rather similar to how so much Protestant preaching has been about predictions of the future, through interpretations of Bible prophecy- rather than the simple truth of Yah's salvation in Jesus. Earlier, Yahweh is presented as knowing the future- in that He knows Israel shall be eternally saved by grace, when they finally respond to and trust in His salvation. That is the future, the only future worth knowing. But by contrast, man is fascinated by short term predictions of geopolitical events in his own time. This is in fact the spirit of Babylon, seeking to predict the events of each month by the signs of the zodiac (:13). But prediction is not salvation. And Yah saves. "I am God; and beside me there is no Saviour. I have declared [the future], and have saved" (Is. 43:11,12). See on :4.