40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Isaiah 46:1-47:15 (Episode 488)

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

A god that can be taken captive is no god at all. God will bring His righteousness near to a people of stubborn heart. And clinging to your enchantments and sorceries will not help you. Have a listen. Show Notes: Support 1517 Podcast Network 1517 Podcasts 1517 on Youtube 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts 1517 Events Schedule 1517 Academy - Free Theological Education What's New from 1517: Coming Home for Christmas: 1517 Advent Devotional Face to Face: A Novel of the Reformation by Amy Mantravadi Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of Psalms by Chad Bird Remembering Your Baptism: A 40-Day Devotional by Kathryn Morales Sinner Saint by Luke Kjolhaug More from the hosts: Daniel Emery Price Chad Bird

Welcome to another episode of 40 Minutes in the Old Testament. 40 Minutes in the Old Testament is a 1517 podcast network podcast. You can go to 1517.org slash podcast. Check out all the other podcasts that are living over there. And while you're over there, check out everything else that 1517 is doing. One of the things that 1517 is doing right now, Chad, is a year-end campaign. You know what that means? That means we're trying to raise some funds so we can keep doing this next year.

That's what we're trying to do. You've got to raise some money at the end of this year so you can keep going into 2026. And, hey, we would love your help with that. So we've got some goals. If you are somebody who is able to help us reach those goals, any amount would be appreciated. You can go over the donate link on the website or in the show notes. Click on that and help us get to where we need to be, and we appreciate that very much. We are in Isaiah chapter 46.

We just got done hearing a lot about Cyrus, you know, the anointed one of God, the unlikely shepherd. I think that would be a safe way to describe Cyrus. God says, I'm raising them up, man. He's going to subdue some nations and stuff, but it's going to be good for you. You probably aren't going to like it because, as we discovered last episode, these people never liked their saviors. It doesn't matter how they show up. Whoever God's using, they don't like them. That's not the one they want.

And this doesn't change when Jesus shows up either. You know, it's almost like Jesus told a parable about this, that they will just keep rejecting the ones I send to them until finally, I think, surely, when I send the real deal, God in flesh, my own son, they'll respect him. Nope, they won't do that. And so they'll respect Jesus. They won't like Cyrus. They won't like Moses. They won't like any of that. So we ended there where God said, hey, listen, don't get it mistaken.

I'm a God who hides behind things. And so, you know, while you have deliverers, I'm the one that's doing the delivering. And guess what? Here in chapter 46, we get some more talk about idols. The pendulum is swinging, man. We're going back and forth, back and forth. Yeah, shocking. We're hearing more about idols in Isaiah.

First time for everything, though, right? So we're going to hear about two of these right away, Bel and Nebo. We'll talk about them in just a second. And we're going to have a contrast that's set up here between these pseudo-gods who had to be carried around, toted here and there, and can't even do anything for these poor animals that are forced to carry them. They can't even save the animals. And then that's contrasted with God, who is the one who is not carried, but actually carries, who bears his people from literally the cradle to the grave. So that's the way it's going to start out. And then we'll go on from there.

Pretty short chapter. Isaiah 46 is only 13 verses. So we will definitely finish that and then see what chapter 47 holds also. Here's how it starts out. First two verses. Bell, that's B-E-L. Bell bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are on beast and livestock. These things you carry are born as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop, they bow down together. They cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity. Well, so much for these gods. Talk about ineptitude. These gods themselves go into captivity. So we started here with a couple of named gods. The first one is Bel, and the second one is Nebo. So this is in the Babylonian theology, this is a paternal deity, a father deity, Bel, and then a son, Nebo. So this is father and son

we're talking about here. Bel is, in Akkadian, I don't know why I didn't know this before, but I just learned this, that Bel is the equivalent in Akkadian of Baal or Baal. So they both mean Lord. So when you think of Baal in kind of your Canaanite mythology, think of Bel in your more Mesopotamian or Babylonian theology. So Bel bows down. Bel is kind of the, he's also known as Marduk. This is the chief god in the Babylonian hierarchy. Kind of, I guess, the equivalent of Zeus, we would say, in Greek mythology.

And he is, he's the guy who was kind of the savior. They have, of course, all these cultures have their creation myths. And typically they involve some kind of combat among the deities and among the Babylonians, it was no different. You had Marduk, who was the god who saved all the younger gods in Mesopotamia from Tiamat, who was this kind of creation monster. So he's named king of the gods. So Marduk, Bel, same guy. So what does he do here, though? He bows down.

You're supposed to bow down to these false gods, right? But no, Bel bows down. Nebo is his son in this pantheon He was associated with another Babylonian city named Borsippa Which was just a few miles from Babylon And so he's doing the same thing, he's stooping So these idols, they're carried around on beasts and livestock They're born as birds on weary beasts

And they can't even save the animals that are carrying them into captivity So the historical background here is that, well, Babylon is going to be conquered. I mean, we heard about Cyrus, right, in chapter 45. He's the Lord's anointed. He's not the Babylonian. He's the Persian ruler. And Cyrus is going to come in with his other Persians, and they're going to beat up the Babylonians. And as a result, the Babylonian deities are going to be conquered because that's the way it worked in the mindset.

If you lose, your God loses. And so Bel and Nebo are both going to be casualties of war and themselves are going to be exiled. They're going to go into captivity, unable to save the people who had worshipped them. Yeah, you don't want a god that can be taken captive along with you. In fact, the god is the easiest thing. It doesn't do anything. It's just lift it up off the cart, put it onto your cart, take it away into captivity. This is not the kind of god you want.

This is one of the sort of preposterous things about a God who is a graven image or whatever, right, is that, yeah, someone can steal it from you as opposed to a God who speaks to you but does not have an image. Like when you go into captivity, what can he do? Well, he can save you because he himself is not captive along with you. So, yeah, this whole scene reminds me of one of the funniest narratives in the Bible, and that's when the Ark of the Covenant is taken by the Philistines. It, you know, technically goes into captivity, but of course, when it gets there, you have the Philistine God, like, falling down on his face before the Ark of the Covenant. They set him back up. The next day you walk in, his heads and hands are cut off. so yeah you don't want to try and take god the the true god into captivity because he's

he's just letting you think he's a pow because when he gets there he's going to declare a war against you and so the philistines have to ship back the ark of the covenant as fast as they can so it's it's quite a quite a humorous story and even even that is like an example of like hey don't mess with the one true god's holy things there's no illusion that the ark of the covenant it is god right that's right that's not what it is but uh but now you've gone and messed with his holy stuff and uh and since that hold that ark isn't god it just belongs to him you think you've taken god but you haven't you've just stolen from him and now you gotta and now you're gonna have to pay for that yeah well same thing happens of course in the book of daniel when they

they're having their feast and they bring out the holy utensils from god's temple and start using those in their party that they're having, and that's when you have the handwriting on the wall, right? Yeah. You have been weighed, and this is not a good thing. So yeah, don't mess with God's holy things. We can list Bible example after Bible example where that will not end well for you. And don't think because you've taken captive God's holy things that somehow you've taken

Him captive. This is not how this works Does not work that way So he Verse 3 he's going to continue Saying giving us one of these listen ups So listen to me O house of Jacob

All the remnant of the house of Israel Who have been born By me from before your birth Carried from the womb Even to your old age I am he And to gray hairs I will carry you. I've made you and I will bear and I will carry and I will save. Well, there you go. There's

your whole string of God doing all the verbs, right? He's going to carry you. He's born you from before your birth. He carried you from the womb. So you are a little bitty baby. He's carrying you around and he's not going to stop. You're going to get old. You're going to get all this wrinkled skin and gray hair. Maybe you lose all your hair, but he's still going to be carrying you why because he made you and he's going to carry you and he's going to he's going to save you so you can't get you can't get a more diametric opposite from the bells and the nebos of this world than the one true god these idols have to be carried around they go into captivity why well because they're nothing they're silver and gold the work of man's hands

but the one who made people the true maker the true savior well he he does the opposite he carries you he's gonna he carried israel from the womb he carries us from the womb that's what the one true god does he's not carried around he does the caring and he does the bearing and he does of course the saving as well yeah this is this is a great contrast right that you have a god who can't be carried off but even when you are carried off good news like i'm a i'm a saving god right so This is great. And no matter how long you're there, your hair might get very gray and very long. I am a promise maker and a promise keeper.

And so I will deliver on my word. And then he says, so on the basis of all this, who are you going to compare me to then, right? Verse 5, to whom then? So if I'm like this, which I am, to whom then will you liken me and make me equal? and compare me that we may be alike. I mean, who's my peer, right? There is no peer. And then he kind of throws out this ludicrous example, basically saying, are you going to compare me to the gold and silver idols? Those who lavish gold, so verse six, those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh out silver in the scales, they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into

a god and then they fall down and worship they lift it to their shoulders there's that word for lift again that we saw earlier they lift at their shoulders they carry it they set it in its place and it stands there it can't move from its place and if one cries to it it doesn't answer or save him from from his trouble so god's like oh who are you going to compare me to you're going to compare me to like this person who gets a little gold a little silver he weighs it out on the on the scales you know and then he's got to hire a specialist you know i gotta look up the goldsmith on the yellow pages look and google him find a goldsmith so he can make me this god and then once he makes it i'm gonna fall down and worship i'm gonna carry it i got a little place for it

you know i put it in its spot it can't move of course but it's gonna just stand there the whole scene is is is nuts you're doing all this and then the thing can't even move it can't listen but you're crying to it you're praying to it this thing that cannot hear and cannot save yeah yeah that's the the conclusion of this is and as you cry out to it in your time of trouble he's pretty silent that mouth is not moving no word coming from this idol so So bearing all of that in mind, he says, remember, verse 8, so remember this and stand firm. Recall it to mind. The Hebrew there is literally cause it to return to your heart.

I always get the idea of like this, remember, it's kind of starts slowly slipping away from your heart and you got to reel it back in. So recall it to mind, call it back, cause it to return to your heart. you transgressors he says that's such a funny way to say that right yeah don't forget you transgressors hey remember this you god hater yeah so pull that back to your heart you transgressors remember the former things of old for this is such an isaiah phrase i am god and there is no other i am god and there is none like me. And you can almost guess what he says next because he said this so many times

already. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done. Saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. And then I'll finish up with verse 11 here. Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country i have spoken and i will bring it to pass i have purposed it and i will do it so here's what i want you to do israel remember i don't i don't want you i don't want you to forget this i want you to remember this and not just to remember it in your head but to let this remembrance affect the way you talk the way you act the way you conduct yourself so remembrance wedded to action Remember this and stand firm and recall this to mind, you transgressors.

What are we remembering? Well, all the things that God has promised beforehand, the things of old. I mean, this is kind of a vague, vague statement. So what things of old? Well, just fill in the blank. I mean, there's a lot you can put in there, right? Creation? Yeah, I remember that.

The patriarchs? Yes, remember that. Exodus? Yeah, I remember that. Remember all the things that God has done for you. And there's, who are you going to compare him to? There's nobody to compare him to. So he's, from the beginning, he's already told you the end.

So you know what's coming. And then he gets real specific. He says, I've got this counsel and this purpose. And one part of that is I've got this, I love this image. I think it's unique in the Bible. In fact, calling a bird of prey from the East. So, I mean, there's a little bit of dispute over this, but I don't know how this couldn't be Cyrus given the context here. So this bird of prey is Cyrus, you know, however you want to think of him.

Is he a hawk? Is he an eagle? But either way, Cyrus the eagle, Cyrus the hawk, you might say, he's a bird of prey. He's going to swoop in from the east, from a far country. God spoke, and because God spoke, it is going to happen. This is what's going to go down, because God has promised, and like you said, he is not just a promise maker, he's a promise keeper. Yeah.

Yeah, I love this, too, that, like, you're not just remembering, of course, you are doing this, but not only remembering the things that God has done. So, as you said, creation, the exodus, the patriarchs, all these things, but also things that God has said that have not yet happened. And it's like, well, you see all this evidence of how I've acted. Now, I've also said certain things that haven't happened yet. So what do you think? You think those things are going to happen or no? And the answer, of course, is those are going to happen too. So you need to remember me making good on promises, and you need to remember the promises that I haven't fulfilled yet, because that's coming.

Yeah, lots coming. And I mean, he's already told us something that is quite a ways down the road, Cyrus, right? Yeah. And so, yeah, it happened. And those of us who are now reading this, of course, far removed historically from Isaiah's time, can read this and be like, oh, yeah, well, that's a pretty good example of that. He said it was going to happen. It did happen. In fact, he said a lot of things were going to happen, and they did happen.

Just look at the life of Jesus. Prophecy fulfilled, prophecy fulfilled, prophecy fulfilled. So, you know, if there's any doubt as to whether God's got the future under his control, well, obviously, he's been doing this for a long time. He's got everything—everything is planned out, and everything is going to happen just the way that he said was going to happen. Yeah, but if you thought that he was done referring to them with insults, you're wrong. No, he's got a little bit more, a little bit more to go. So wrapping up the chapter, verse 12 and 13, he says, Listen up, listen to me, you stubborn of heart.

i don't know the uh stuff do we talk about people stubborn of heart maybe we say they're headstrong right hard-headed so you you heart you stubborn of heart are you hard-headed listen up you who are far from righteousness i will bring near my righteousness it is not far off and my salvation will not delay. I will put my salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. So yeah, listen up. Things are coming. You hard of heart, you headstrong. Don't be saying this is not going to happen because my righteousness and my glory, my salvation, they're not far off. They are coming. That day is approaching. And in fact, I would argue this is exactly what he's pointing. He's pointing to the kingdom that is talked about all over Isaiah, the kingdom of the Messiah,

where you have the God's glory revealed. Of course, his salvation is put in Zion through the work of the Messiah. It is going to happen, and from our perspective, it already has happened. But from Isaiah and his hearer's perspective, it was coming and would not delay. Well, also, I mean, how instructive is this? You might think if God's going to talk to you and say, hey listen to me you old stubborn heart out there being far away from righteousness i'm going to need you to get closer to righteousness that's what's going to need

to happen here okay so you need to be doing that that's not what he says because god knows that you're uh you are in fact stubborn of heart and that's not going to happen and god always ends up having to do everything himself god is a god that does like things done right and so he is a God who does them himself. And so he says, I bring near my righteousness. So who's doing the moving here? The idea is that you're far from righteousness, and God's going to have to come to you because you're never going to come to him. Right. Yeah. And just kind of piggybacking off of that. So the last line here, I will put salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. That's a pretty common translation for the Hebrew verb natan, which means literally to give. But I

would almost translate this literally here. I will give salvation in Zion. I mean, put is fine. And oftentimes that's the way the verb is used. But I love the gift language here. What am I going to do with my salvation in Zion, I'm going to give it. I'm going to put it there. I'm going to give it to you. It's not something you're going to earn. It's not something you're going to somehow find or bring near yourself. I'm going to do all the action required to make sure that my righteousness is brought near and my salvation is gifted in Zion and my glory, which is always God's glory is always revealed chiefly in showing mercy. so his mercy and his salvation are going to happen in zion for his people yeah that's good news all

right so wow halfway through an episode and we've already finished a chapter of course it helps when it's only 13 verses long so our next uh our next chapter is a little bit longer not much longer kind of in some short chapters here in isaiah it's 15 verses long and uh starting out here with Isaiah 47. We're going to have an address, which is, you have this a lot in the prophets where they will address, the prophet will, at least in the words as they stand, will address a foreign power. So yeah, we've seen this with Isaiah and the oracles against the nations, right? Whether it's Ammon or Moab or Babylon or Egypt or Assyria or whoever it might be, this is all over the prophets jeremiah does this the minor prophets do this and isaiah does this so don't

but don't picture this as like okay isaiah's got to like you know take take the train to babylon he's going to preach the sermon in babylon it's not the way it works this these words are addressed to his people to the israelites addressed in such a way as to give them hope and maybe warning or whatever it might be, but the rhetorical addressee, we might say, is a foreign power, right? So in this case, the foreign power being addressed is Babylon. But the comfort from the words is really to the very people that Isaiah is preaching to. So here's how it starts out. Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon.

Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind flour. Put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers. Your nakedness shall be uncovered and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance and I will spare no one. Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, is the Holy One of Israel. So you have Babylon who is personified here in different sorts of ways. You've got in this chapter alone, you got Babylon pictured as a daughter as a virgin as a mistress or queen and then as as a widow so all of course female female images and this fits with of course a lot of other descriptions that you have both of nations

and cities i mean think of of course revelation is what comes immediately to mind the the whore babylon right which features so prominently in in revelation so here you have female images also that are applied to her. And basically this is, to sum up these verses, everything that Babylon thought that she had that would never be taken away from her is going to be taken away from her and her entire life is going to be turned upside down. So she sits on the throne, but her throne is going to be taken away from her. And now she's going to sit in the dust. and she beforehand was just how we get this picture of uh you know you think of royalty kind of being spoiled right they got everything at their beck and call what do you need everything's

gonna be handed to you so she's described as tender and and delicate so this is what she enjoys well all that's gone no more throne sit in the dust in fact we want you to basically do the most menial of jobs, take the millstones and grind flour. There were different kinds of millstones. Some of these were just like hand stones that you would use in your house, right? You take your grain, you grind it up and you use that to make flour or you bake your bread. So do this job that ordinary people do. In fact, even worse than that, you're going to be stripped of your clothing and you're going to pass through the rivers. It's the idea of like, You're going into exile, so you've got to take your clothes off or at least pull some of your clothes up to wade through the rivers, and now your nakedness is uncovered, your disgrace is seen.

So the ESV titles this chapter The Humiliation of Babylon, which is probably a pretty good way to summarize it. You can call it, say, the fall or the humiliation of Babylon, and that's the way he starts it out with all these images of reversal for Babylon. Yeah. I mean, this is kind of the same stuff. You have this dance that happens that I know is difficult. My wife follows some guy on social media that has no church background and has decided, I'm going to read the Bible. And then they document, like, what I think. And, man, this poor guy doesn't know what's going on. And now I'll give him credit. He is, like, he's been doing this, like, for a year or something. And he's been, you know, faithful to the task.

Yeah. But the questions he has are, like, they're not, like, stupid questions. They're, like, they're understandable if you just have no idea what's going on. you know so one of the things that he first gets upset about is like why didn't god accept cain's offering like this seems like a i got like this seems ridiculous like he didn't have any instructions that i could see this seems like god's just holding him accountable for something he didn't know um but uh but yeah then you get into like stuff like this and he didn't reference his exact text but there is this very much like what is happening here like is god going to save

people or is he punishing people what's what is the deal and and this is what you have like we just got through all this like oh man like god's a promise keeper and like he's gonna draw near and he's gonna be doing the saving and well if you're gonna be you know saved and delivered you gotta be saved and delivered from something and sometimes god's in charge of that too yeah yeah that's a great point i that would probably be a pretty fun account to follow to follow actually that she's following but yeah i think i think part of the part of the challenge uh for for folks who have i've been reading the bible i mean like you and i i can't remember when i wasn't yeah and i was raised in church right so i've always been exposed to to bible stories

and of course we we grow in our understanding of the scriptures without a doubt i mean i only i learned something new about the bible every day i mean no exaggeration every day but when it's a new text, like, yeah, you see this and you're like, what is going on with this? What is this all about? What did Babylon do? Why is their situation so reversed? I mean, it does help when you begin to understand not just the Bible, but, you know, the whole history of what was going on back then. I mean, yeah. If you think like, just take a modern example, if you think America is proud, I mean, Babylon would probably give you pretty good money for, run for the money as far national pride goes yeah yeah i mean what syria babylon rome you talk about prideful yeah well

it was and it wasn't just pride too it was pride wedded to idolatry and uh as we'll hear in this chapter to abuse of the people of god uh i mean they had a long long list of misdeeds and so god is basically saying, Oh, what you did, uh, is, is now going to come right back on you. Uh, it's going to, it's going to boomerang back and you're going to suffer the consequences. So he's going to continue with this by, uh, saying, sit in silence. We got this Hebrew verb for sit, which is Yashav several times here, sit in the dust, sit in the ground. Now verse five, sit in silence and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. You have this idea of, you know, she's the head of all these kingdoms who are

around her, which was pretty typical. You know, you had client states in that part of the world. Rome had that. Babylon had that. So no longer are you going to be the mistress of these kingdoms. And then God says this in verse 6 I was angry with my people And I profaned my heritage I gave them into your hands So God is saying, listen I was angry with my people

Why? Well, because they turned their back on me, right? They broke the covenant They did all the idolatrous things And so I profaned my heritage I gave them into your hand So God's acknowledging, yeah I let you conquer them

I let you take them into exile, but here's how he ends. You showed them no mercy. Even on the aged, even on the elderly, you made your yoke exceedingly heavy. You said, I shall be mistress forever, so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end. This is the kind of stuff I love that God does where he's like, listen, my people were bad. okay they were bad people uh they were not they're not they were not uh you know i was their god they didn't want to be my people so i kind of turned them over to you but they're still my people and man did i really not like how you treated them and so both things are sort of true at the

same time where god punishes his people by turning them over and then it's like really upset about about how they're treated by these other people. Almost like he's like, do you not understand those are my people? That's the hubris on you to treat them that way. Yeah, we've seen this so many times in the Old Testament where that is the case, right? You do it with Assyria, he does it with Babylon. So yeah, never forget, when I hand my people over to you so you can be the rod of justice, never forget who you're messing with here.

These are my people, and I've seen how you treat them. Now, therefore, he continues with verse 8. Hear this, you lovers of pleasure. I think one paraphrase of the Bible calls it, you pleasure-crazy kingdom, which I kind of like. Listen up, you pleasure-crazy kingdom, who sit securely. There's your Hebrew word for sit once more. who sit securely who say in your heart oh this is this is golden here this is what they say in their heart i am and there is no one besides me i want to say that do not no don't say that that's

that is not going to go well for you i shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children man so he he follows it up with verse nine and says oh yeah these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments so this is the uh the height of of human hubris right i mean i am and there is no other i'm not going to experience widowhood. I'm not going to lose my children. I've got everything figured out. I'm safe and secure. Nothing ever could ever happen to me because I am at the pinnacle of human existence. I've got all the power, all the pleasure. And God comes along and says, yeah, well, watch this. And one day

you're going to lose it all. Children, widow, you're going to be a widow. It's all going to, And your sorceries and the power of your enchantments, your, you know, whatever powers that you think you have, maybe they're occult powers or your magical ability to predict the future or control events. Well, that's not going to get you anywhere. Yeah, that part seems a little sarcastic, right? In spite of the great many sorceries and the great power of these enchantments, despite all that, I'm going to have to overcome all those things to make this happen. Yeah, definitely sarcastic. He's going to bring him up again in verse 12, where he basically is going to say, yeah, keep trying that. Let's see how it goes for you.

Just keep on doing that, and let's see how it helps you. Yeah. And you wave a magic wand at God, and God is very much like, ooh. Scared, scared. So verse 10 to 11 go this way. You felt secure in your wickedness. You said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray.

And you said in your heart, here we go again, I am, and there is no one besides me. So they felt secure in their, in Hebrew, it's in their ra'ah, in their wickedness. Now that same word ra'ah is going to occur in verse 11. But evil, that is wickedness, for some reason ESV thinks they have to translate the same Hebrew word, two different English words, two verses apart. But anyway, you felt secure in your wickedness, but wickedness shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away. disaster shall fall upon you for which you will not be able to atone and ruin shall come upon you suddenly of which you know nothing so great uh triad of phrases there which you don't know how to charm away which you will not be able to atone for and of which you know nothing so however

secure that you think you are in your wickedness, know that your security is fragile always when you are leading a life of rebellion against God. Yeah, I mean, you're not going to be able to charm this away because, you know, all your sorceries and enchantments are nothing, right? They're not real. They're fictitious. You're not going to be able to atone for this because you don't have a god that that forgives sins or anything like that you're you don't have that uh and you don't know anything about the judgment of this god because you don't know anything about him right so you know nothing about any of this yeah so uh he'll kind of continue the same thinking in verse 12 by saying you've got your enchantments and your sorceries okay well stand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries. That's all you got. Yeah, that's all you got. I guess you better hold on to them. You have labored in these from your youth. I love this. There's always, this is perhaps is always kind of sarcastic.

Perhaps you may be able to succeed. Perhaps you may inspire terror. You are wearied with your many counsels. Let them stand forth and save you. Those who divide the heavens. uh i think mater described this as like divide the heavens in the sense of like you're the zodiacs zodiac signs so you're dividing various heavens gazing at the stars who are the new moons make known what shall come upon you so keep on with your magic keep on with your sorceries keep on

with your zodiac keep on trying to look at the the astral signs and figure out okay here's what we need to do here's what's going to save us all this stuff well hey uh maybe that's going to save you, right? Maybe that's going to inspire terror. It's kind of a sarcasm here in the perhaps you may be able to succeed. Perhaps you may inspire terror. And then he wraps it up with two more verses at the end of the chapter. Behold, they are like stubble. The fire consumes them. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before. So they're not only like stubble, but even the fire that they have is not enough to warm them. And kind of a hint here of a fire of destruction, which is to come.

And then he finishes with verse 15. Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth. They wonder about each in his own direction. there is no one to save you. So Babylon can do everything she wants with her magic and charms and her self-confidence, but in the end, it will all collapse around her. There's this real picture of them groping around in the dark for a savior, right? And everything, nothing's working. Fires aren't keeping you warm. There's no one to deliver you uh it's you're just wandering about like everyone's just grasping at anything but there is no savior anywhere yeah that's a yeah that's the perfect image for what's going on here

they're trying everything except the one thing which actually they could count on and that's the that's the one true god yeah yeah and now you said this is this is a weird contrast that you have where it's on one hand uh god has turned you over to these people but then on the other hand He's very upset about how they've treated you now that he's turned you over to them. Yeah. Well, I think we're out of time. We wrapped up two chapters today. Hey, that might be a record for Isaiah.

Two chapters in one episode might be the record for Isaiah. But we'll be back because there's more chapters in Isaiah for us to go over. So we'll be back next episode for Chapter 48. Chad, I will see you then. All right. See you then. We'll see you next time.