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No.3.
Babylon said, I am and none else
(47:).
pp. 106 - 113
As the analysis of Isaiah considered as a whole was given in The Berean Expositor as
far back as volume XXX, it may not be amiss to give a summary:
A | PRE-ASSYRIAN INVASION (1:-35:).
a | 1:-12: THE REMNANT SHALL RETURN.
b | 13:-27: BURDENS AND BLESSINGS.
c | 28:-35: WOES AND GLORIES.
B | ASSYRIAN INVASION AND DELIVERANCE (36:-39:).
A | POST-ASSYRIAN INVASION (40:-66:).
a | 40:-48: COMFORT AND CONTROVERSY.
b | 49:-60: LIGHT AND PEACE.
c | 61:-66: ACCEPTABLE YEAR AND DAY OF VENGEANCE.
The whole prophecy moves toward the fulfillment of the "Acceptable year of the
Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God", and these two notes are struck in the two
sections of Isa. 40:-48: that await examination.
(1)
"Babylon said, I am and none else."
This brings down upon it the vengeance of God.
(2)
"His servant Jacob, redeemed."
This is the effect of the acceptable year of the Lord.
It is not without significance that the name Babylon occurs exactly thirteen times in
Isaiah, a number significant of rebellion and evil, and that the city is not mentioned in the
closing sections of Isa. 49:-60: and 61:-66:
In the same way, the reader will remember the repeated exposure and denunciation of
idols and false gods that are so characteristic of Isaiah's prophecy. These two come to an
end with the great section now before us.
In place of the blasphemous assumptions of Babylon and the false trust placed in
idols, the closing portions of Isaiah reveal the equally abominable assumption of
righteousness and the false trust in self and its works, that are after all the animating spirit
of all idolatry since the fall of man.
In Isa. 13: the fall of Babylon is anticipated:
"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah" (13: 19).