Isaiah 47:13

Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. (THOU ART WEARIED - (Isaiah 57:10; Exodus 24:12.) ASTROLOGERS (Kethibh, hobªreew; Qeri', hobªreey (H1895)) - literally, those who form combinations of the heavens; who watch conjunctions and oppositions of the stars. 'Casters of the configurations of the sky' (Horsley). Gesenius explains it, the dividers of the heavens. In casting a nativity, they observed four signs-the horoscope, or sign which arose at the time one was born; the mid-heaven; the sign opposite the horoscop...

13._Thou hast wearied thyself. _He now declares still more plainly what he had formerly expressed in somewhat obscure language; that all the schemes which Babylon had previously adopted would lead to her ruin; for she nourished within herself a vain confidence arising from a belief of her power and wisdom, as if nothing could do her injury. _In the multitude of thy counsels. _He calls them not only “counsels,” but “a multitude of counsels,” in order to declare that there is no good reason for being puffed up or exalting themselves, whatever may be the ingenuity or skill of their efforts to deceive; because their crafty counsels, the more numerous and the more plausible they are, will give them the greater annoyance. This is a general statement against those who, trusting to their own ability, contrive and form counsels of every sort, and, relying on their prudence, collect all the strata...

7-15 Let us beware of acting and speaking as Babylon did; of trusting in tyranny and oppression; of boasting as to our abilities, relying on ourselves, and ascribing success to our own prudence and wisdom; lest we partake of her plagues. Those in the height of prosperity, are apt to fancy themselves out of the reach of adversity. It is also common for sinners to think they shall be safe, because they think to be secret in wicked ways. But their security shall be their ruin. Let us draw from such passages as the foregoing, those lessons of humility and trust in God which they convey. If we believe the word of God, we may know how it will be with the righteous and the wicked to all eternity. We may learn how to escape the wrath to come, to glorify God, to have peace through life, hope in death, and everlasting happiness. Let us then stand aloof from all delusions....

Verse Isaiah 47:13. _FROM_ THESE THINGS - "What are the events"] For מאשר _measher_, read מה אשר _mah asher_, so the _Septuagint_, "what is to happen to thee....

THOU ART WEARIED - Thou hast practiced so many arts, and practiced them so long, that thou art exhausted in them. The ‘counsels’ here referred to, are those which the astrologers and diviners would take in examining the prognostications, and the supposed indications of future events. LET NOW THE ASTROLOGERS - Call in now the aid of the various classes of diviners on whom thou hast relied to save thee from the impending calamity and ruin. The words rendered here ‘astrologers’ (שׁמים הברי _hob__e__rēy_ _shâmayim_) mean properly “the dividers of the heavens;” those who divided, or cut up the heavens for the purpose of augury, or to take a horoscope (Gesenius). What this art was is not certainly known. It is probable that it referred to their designating certain stars, or constellations, or conjunctions of the planets

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 47:1 A SONG OF TRIUMPH OVER THE FALL OF BABYLON. The song divides itself into four strophes, or stanzas—the first one of four verses (Isaiah 47:1); the second of three (Isaiah 47:5); the third of four (Isaiah 47:8); and the fourth also of four (Isaiah 47:12). The speaker is either Jehovah (see...

THOU ART WEARIED IN THE MULTITUDE OF THY COUNSELS,.... Taken of astrologers, diviners, and soothsayers; who were never able to give any satisfactory answers to questions put to them, or to give good advice in cases of emergency; as appears from Nebuchadnezzar's consultation with them about his dream; and Belshazzar's about the handwriting upon the wall, which was the very night that the city was taken, Daniel 2:2: LET NOW THE ASTROLOGERS; or, "viewers of the heavens" s; not that look upon them, and consider them as the work of God's hands, in order to glorify him; but that examine the face of the skies, and the position of the heavenly bodies, their conjunctions with, and aspects on each other, in order to foretell what shall be below: or, "the dividers of the heavens" t, as it may be rendered, from the use of the word in the Arabic language; who divide the heavens into so many

CHAPTER 47 A Description of the Fall of Babylon 1. _Babylon's degradation announced (Isaiah 47:1)_ 2. _Israel acknowledges the redeemer (Isaiah 47:4)_ 3. _Retribution for Babylon (Isaiah 47:5)_ 4. _The destruction swift and sure (Isaiah 47:8) _ In chapter 14 a similar description of Babylon and the fall of the king of Babylon is recorded. All has its meaning for the future....

A TAUNT-SONG OF TRIUMPH ON THE FALL OF BABYLON. Isaiah 47:1. Babylon, erroneously personified as a virgin, as if never before captured, is bidden descend from the effeminate ease of her throne to the menial task of grinding the hand-mill. The garments of a secluded princess she must lay aside, to wade through the fords. For Yahweh's vengeance is inexorable, and she who queened it over the kingdoms of the earth must go into the darkness of captivity. When Yahweh, angry with His people, suffered His land to be profaned by the invader, and His people to be taken captive to Babylon, she treated them with cruelty, thinking ever to maintain her proud position, unaware that this was Yahweh's doing and that He would control its issue. ISAIAH 47:8. But though she lives in voluptuous ease and, sere

ASTROLOGERS. The scientists of Babylon were divided into three classes: writers of (1) charms to be placed on afflicted persons or houses; (2) formulae of incantations; (3) records of observations which mixed up astronomy with astrology, and resulted, in the case of any two successive or concurrent events, in the conclusion that one was the cause of the other; and, the further conclusion was reached by reasoning from the "particular" to the "general". THE MONTHLY PROGNOSTICATORS. they who make known the future by observing new moons. See the fifth "creation tablet" (British Museum)....