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There is a similar statement to this in Zech 1: 14, 15 where the Lord said that He was
very sore displeased with the heathen, for He had been but a little displeased with Israel,
but that these nations had helped forward the affliction.
In Isa. 10: 5-15 the reader will find an exposition of this same principle.
The Assyrian had been the rod of God's anger, and he had been sent in judgment
against Israel:
"Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to
destroy and cut off nations not a few . . . . . wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the
Lord hath performed His whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish
the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks . . . . .
shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?" (Isa. 10: 5-15).
"To their full have they come on thee spite of the mass of thine incantations, spite of
the great throng of thy spells" (Isa. 47: 9, Rotherham).
"Take thy stand I pray thee, with thy spells, and with the throng of thine incantations
. . . . . Peradventure thou mayest be able to profit, peradventure thou mayest strike Me
with terror" (Isa. 47: 12, Rotherham).
The reader will not need any comment on the above passages. "Spite . . . . . Spite",
"Peradventure . . . . . Peradventure" are sufficient indications.
"Astrologers, star-gazers and monthly prognosticators" neither warned Babylon of
this impending doom, nor could they save it when judgment threatened. It is a sad thing
to see how much space is still devoted in the columns of certain newspapers to these
self-same deceivers, who while peddling about with their pettifogging `monthly
prognostications' hopelessly fail in warning the nation concerning the developments of
the great conflicts in which the world is at grips.
"They shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee" (Isa. 47: 15).
As it was said in Isa. 46: 2 "But their own soul into captivity hath departed", so here
in Isa. 47: 14 it says, "They shall not deliver their own soul from the grasp of the
flame". Worshipper and worshipped alike prove utterly futile, the Lord alone is God,
there is none else like Him.