Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He had promised the Jews at the end of the preceding chapter salvation through Cyrus. Now, since this was to come to them through the destruction of Babylon, He returns to that subject. He therefore introduces Babylon as a queen full of delights, luxury, and pride, ruling far and wide, and predicts that she will be cast from her throne and will undergo the lot of a vile, poor, and captive handmaid. Then He reveals the cause, namely her three sins. First, cruelty toward the Jews, verse 6. Second, pride and arrogance, verse 8. Third, divinations and enchantments, verse 9. Wherefore He predicts that her sorcerers and augurs will profit her nothing, but will be burned together with her.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 47:1-15
1. Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no more be called soft and tender. 2. Take a millstone and grind meal; uncover your shame, bare your shoulder, reveal your legs, pass through the rivers. 3. Your shame shall be revealed, and your reproach shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and no man shall resist Me. 4. Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel. 5. Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. 6. I was angry with My people, I polluted My inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; upon the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy. 7. And you said: I shall be mistress forever; you did not lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember your latter end. 8. And now hear these things, you delicate one, who dwell in confidence, who say in your heart: I am, and there is none besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know barrenness. 9. These two things shall come upon you suddenly in one day: barrenness and widowhood. All things have come upon you, because of the multitude of your sorceries, and because of the exceeding hardness of your enchanters. 10. And you had confidence in your wickedness, and you said: There is none that sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, these have deceived you. And you said in your heart: I am, and besides me there is no other. 11. Evil shall come upon you, and you shall not know its rising; and calamity shall fall upon you, which you shall not be able to expiate; misery shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know. 12. Stand now with your enchanters, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, if perhaps they may profit you, or if you may become stronger. 13. You have failed in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers stand and save you, they that gazed at the stars, and counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that shall come to you. 14. Behold they are become as stubble, fire has burned them: they shall not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame; there are no coals to warm them, nor fire to sit by. 15. So are they become to you with whom you have labored: your merchants from your youth, each one has wandered in his own way; there is none to save you.
Verse 1: COME DOWN (from your monarchical throne and pride, once a queen, now a captive handmaid), SIT IN THE DUST (like a slave), O VIRGIN DAUGHTER OF BABYLON, — that is, O Babylon, tender and delicate like a...
1. COME DOWN (from your monarchical throne and pride, once a queen, now a captive handmaid), SIT IN THE DUST (like a slave), O VIRGIN DAUGHTER OF BABYLON, — that is, O Babylon, tender and delicate like a virgin daughter.
See Canticle 18. Thus Judea, subdued by Vespasian, is depicted on a coin struck by him as a handmaid sitting on the ground. By Babylon he understands the Babylonians, men and women.
SIT ON THE GROUND. — St. Cyril reads, en to skotei, sit in darkness.
THERE IS NO THRONE FOR THE DAUGHTER OF THE CHALDEANS, — that is, for Babylon, which was born, that is, rebuilt, that is, restored, wonderfully enlarged and adorned by Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, so that she seems to be his daughter; for before him Nimrod, and after him Semiramis, first built Babylon: on which see Daniel chapter 4, verse 27.
Secondly, by a simple Hebrew idiom Babylon is called the daughter of the Chaldeans, that is, the Chaldean daughter. Daughter, because tender, as I said; of the Chaldeans, because she was situated in Chaldea. In a similar way she is called the daughter of Babylon, that is, the daughter Babylon, the city of Babylon. For we say: the city of the Venetians, of the Parisians, that is, Venice, Paris; the province of Spain, of Italy, of England, etc., that is Spain itself, Italy, England.
Verse 2: TAKE A MILLSTONE AND GRIND MEAL, — as if to say: You will be captured, O Babylon! You will be condemned to slavery and sent to the mill. For slaves and handmaids were formerly sent to grind at the mil...
2. TAKE A MILLSTONE AND GRIND MEAL, — as if to say: You will be captured, O Babylon! You will be condemned to slavery and sent to the mill. For slaves and handmaids were formerly sent to grind at the mill, as if to a prison workhouse. So Cyril. This phrase therefore signifies the most extreme, vile, and wretched servitude, as is known to captives among the Turks and Moors, and is evident from Exodus 11:5. The Hebrews, and from them St. Jerome, explain this differently, namely of violation and rape.
Morally, St. Gregory expounds all these things at length and in detail, and applies them to the sinful soul, Moralia 6, chapter 11, where among other things he says: "She is ordered to take a millstone and grind meal. A millstone is turned in a circle, and meal is produced. Now every action of this world is a millstone, which, while it heaps up many cares, turns human minds as it were in a circle; and from itself casts forth as it were meal, because the seduced heart always begets the most minute thoughts. She reveals her legs, because she makes manifest by what steps of desire she gapes after the profits of the world. She also crosses rivers, because she insatiably pursues the actions of this age which daily flow toward their end, and while she leaves some, she pursues others, as if she always hastens from river to river."
UNCOVER YOUR SHAME, — not of the pudenda, as St. Jerome explains, and Symmachus supports, when he translates: Uncover your silence, that is, what ought to be kept silent out of shame; but of the head and hair. For the Hebrew tsammat signifies this, Song of Songs 4:1, as if to say: You will be stripped of your hair and made bald, and thus your shame, namely your baldness, will appear. For this is what God threatened to the daughters of Sion, chapter 3:17: "The Lord will make bald the crown of the daughters of Sion." So Sanchez, who with Luis de Leon at Song of Songs 4:1, by tsammat understands the hair or locks veiling the eyes and falling over them.
Secondly, Forerius, Vatablus, and Forsterus more aptly translate the Hebrew tsammat as a binding, or band, by which the hair and curls are restrained from falling loose. Whence Forerius translates, unfold your band; Vatablus, undo your curls, so that with the band or fillet removed, the hair may fall disheveled and loose, as happens with captive handmaids, or rustic women, or mourners. Whence also the Septuagint translates: apokalypson to kalymma sou, reveal your covering; reveal, that is, strip and remove. For the root tsammat means to bind, as is evident from Lamentations chapter 3:53; and Forsterus shows this with many examples, although Pagninus would have it mean to cut off, to cut down. Tsammat therefore is a covering, namely a fillet, ribbon, or band veiling the hair, or the eyes and face. Whence our translator, at Song of Songs 4:1, after saying of the eyes: "Your eyes are like doves'," that is, clear and bright, adds: "Besides what is hidden within"; the Hebrew is tsamma, as if to say: Not only were the eyes, sight, and appearance of the bride elegant from their brightness, but also from "what is hidden within," that is, from the fact that the eyes were concealed beneath a veil (such as noble matrons wear, so that their forehead does not appear, and only their eyes look out through small openings, as through little windows); for from there they seemed to flash like gems or diamonds, and as if from an ambush to assail and wound the unwary: for they had the lights of their eyes so concealed.
BARE YOUR SHOULDER, — both for nakedness and disgrace, and so that you may receive the blows and lashes of the Persians on your bare shoulder and back. For this reason slaves in galleys sit with bare backs.
REVEAL YOUR LEGS, PASS THROUGH THE RIVERS, — as if to say: O Babylon, queen! You will put off your royal and long trailing robe, and put on short garments like a handmaid, so that you may cross on foot the channels of the Euphrates made by Cyrus, and other rivers, when you are led captive into Persia. So St. Cyril.
Verse 3: YOUR SHAME SHALL BE REVEALED. — "Shame," that is, shameful nakedness. Again, "shame," that is, hidden filth, vices, stains, and disgraces. For he alludes to women suffering from menstruation, venereal...
3. YOUR SHAME SHALL BE REVEALED. — "Shame," that is, shameful nakedness. Again, "shame," that is, hidden filth, vices, stains, and disgraces. For he alludes to women suffering from menstruation, venereal disease, or some other disgrace, stench, or vice, or who smell bad, who, to conceal this, are accustomed to wear splendid garments perfumed with musk, and to adorn themselves with them; but when this cosmetic and adornment is removed, their vice and disgrace appears. So Sanchez. For truly the poet said: "He who always smells good does not smell good afterward."
Verse 4: OUR REDEEMER. — These words are to be enclosed in a parenthesis. For the Prophet, having heard of God's vengeance upon the Babylonians, suddenly and incidentally flies to God in his usual manner, rejo...
4. OUR REDEEMER. — These words are to be enclosed in a parenthesis. For the Prophet, having heard of God's vengeance upon the Babylonians, suddenly and incidentally flies to God in his usual manner, rejoicing, as if to say: O Israel! He will execute this vengeance upon Babylon for our sake, so that our God may redeem and free us, whose name is the Holy One of Israel, that is, the God of Israel: for the name of God is Holy. Note here the affection of a benign Father in God toward the Jews; for before the Jews go to Babylon, He predicts their liberation and the destruction of Babylon, as though He could in no way be induced to chastise His Church and His people, unless He at the same time also determines in what way and when He will free them. So Forerius.
Verse 5: SIT IN SILENCE, AND GO INTO DARKNESS. — By silence and darkness, understand captivity and prison, or the state and place of the dead; for this in Hebrew is called duma, that is, silence, and the shado...
5. SIT IN SILENCE, AND GO INTO DARKNESS. — By silence and darkness, understand captivity and prison, or the state and place of the dead; for this in Hebrew is called duma, that is, silence, and the shadow of death. Whence also Virgil, Book 6 of the Aeneid: "O gods, to whom belongs the rule of souls, and you, silent shades, and Chaos, and Phlegethon, places widely silent in the night," etc. So Forerius.
Sanchez explains it differently, thinking that these words signify bereavement; for they allude to a matron once noble and glorious, who now, bereft of husband and children, loves darkness and solitude, and there surrenders herself to perpetual silence and anguish, as the Tragedians relate of Hecuba. St. John alludes to this, Apocalypse 18:7, speaking of the destruction of Babylon: "As much as she glorified herself and lived in delights, so much give her torment and mourning, because she says in her heart: I sit as queen, and am no widow, and shall see no mourning."
Verse 6: I WAS ANGRY WITH MY PEOPLE, — as if to say: I was angry with Israel because of its crimes, and therefore I handed them over to the Chaldeans to be chastised; but they did not chastise them, but slaugh...
6. I WAS ANGRY WITH MY PEOPLE, — as if to say: I was angry with Israel because of its crimes, and therefore I handed them over to the Chaldeans to be chastised; but they did not chastise them, but slaughtered them: therefore I also will not chastise them, but will slaughter them. Here He begins to assign the causes of the destruction of the Babylonians, and here gives the first, namely their cruelty toward the Jews.
I POLLUTED MY INHERITANCE. — "I polluted," first, that is, I declared it polluted through the punishments and captivity which I imposed upon it for its crimes. For thus "to pollute" is used for "to declare polluted," Leviticus 13:20, 25, 27, and 30. Secondly, "I polluted," that is, I exacted deserved punishments from what was polluted, or I polluted with punishment what was polluted by guilt; namely, I stained and marked it with filth, wounds, and blood. So Sanchez. Thirdly, "I polluted," that is, I transferred it from its own holy land to the land of idolaters, so that the people, once faithful and holy, would now be reckoned profane, defiled, and contaminated, because it dwells among the uncircumcised, profane, defiled, and contaminated. So Vatablus. For just as a priest was said to be profaned if he touched an unclean thing, so a holy thing (namely Israel) was considered profaned if it was handled by unclean persons. This sense is very apt. To which add fourthly, "I polluted," or profaned, "My inheritance," My hereditary people, namely
the Jews), that is, I exposed it, as a thing which has lost its sanctity and become public, common, and unclean, to the violence, injury, and slaughter of the unfaithful Babylonians. For the Hebrew chillel means to contaminate, profane, and make common a thing. For when it is holy, it is the property of God and cannot be applied to profane uses; but when it is defiled, it becomes public and common. Hence the Hebrews call "common" that which has lost its sanctity, which is unclean, profane, and polluted. Whence in Acts 10:15 Peter is told: "What God has purified, do not call common (that is, unclean)." And "to communicate," or to make common, is to defile, Mark 7:15: "The things that come out of a man, those are what communicate (that is, defile) a man." And verse 18: "Everything entering a man from outside cannot communicate him," that is, defile him. Similar are verses 20 and 23.
YOU SHOWED THEM NO MERCY. — Without mercy, O Babylon, you treated the Jews; hence in like manner you will be treated by the Persians. You did not spare the elderly, the children, the virgins, no rank, age, or sex, as is evident from Lamentations 5:11, nor will the Persians spare you. He mentions the elderly because grey hairs are venerable and pitiable, and are wont to extort reverence and mercy even from an enraged enemy.
Verse 7: AND YOU SAID: I SHALL BE MISTRESS FOREVER. — This is the second crime of Babylon and the cause of its destruction, namely pride and arrogance, and forgetfulness of God and divine providence (for this...
7. AND YOU SAID: I SHALL BE MISTRESS FOREVER. — This is the second crime of Babylon and the cause of its destruction, namely pride and arrogance, and forgetfulness of God and divine providence (for this usually accompanies pride); as if she were so strong in herself and sat upon so powerful a throne that she could be cast down from it by no force, no arms, not even by God.
YOU DID NOT LAY THESE THINGS TO YOUR HEART, — namely, that Israel was My people and My holy inheritance, and that I had handed them over to you only to be lightly chastised, not to be destroyed, and that if you did otherwise, I would likewise destroy you.
NOR DID YOU REMEMBER YOUR LATTER END. — In Hebrew, "of the latter end of that," that is, of those things, as if to say: You did not remember what was to follow after all that cruelty of yours (whence the translator learnedly, following the sense, renders it "your latter end"), as well as glory and pomp — namely that it would not last forever, as you boasted, but would shortly end and be converted into extreme disgrace and calamity. Whence the Septuagint translates, "you did not remember the last things."
Such is the astonishing thoughtlessness and imprudence of the children of this age, that they do not think about the future, that they do not look ahead to death, hell, and the last things, that they think their fortune, wealth, and joys will last forever.
So men live as if no death would follow, And as if hell were an empty fable.
Rightly therefore will the demons mock them in hell: "O unhappy soul! You knew these things; and when you could easily have done so, you did not avoid them; you did not remember your latter end." We read these things, we believe them; and yet, as if they did not pertain to us, we pass them by, we enter upon the old ways, we do not change our habits and life for the better. O stupor! O blind! O senseless minds of men! And why? Because we do not weigh these things, do not penetrate them, do not grasp them, as the gravity of the matter demands; because with frequent and prolonged meditation we do not turn these things over in our mind, do not revolve them, do not vividly represent them to ourselves. You who are wise, therefore, meditate upon these things constantly. Remember your last things, and you will never sin. THINK UPON ETERNITY.
Verse 8: I AM, AND THERE IS NONE BESIDES ME, — as if to say: There is nothing in the whole world that is wealthy, beautiful, noble, splendid, and glorious that is not in me; there is nothing that anyone could...
8. I AM, AND THERE IS NONE BESIDES ME, — as if to say: There is nothing in the whole world that is wealthy, beautiful, noble, splendid, and glorious that is not in me; there is nothing that anyone could desire to see in the world, once they have seen me; in me is the sum of all elegance, felicity, wealth, delights, dominion, and glory. Truly, to say this belongs to God alone. Therefore a creature wrongly arrogates this to itself, and rightly deserves to be deprived of everything and destroyed. So Forerius.
Secondly, Sanchez thinks Babylon here calls and displays herself as a goddess. For thus God everywhere here calls Himself: "I am the Lord, and there is no other," chapter 43, verse 11; chapter 44, verse 6; chapter 45, verse 5; chapter 46, verse 9, as if to allude to Nebuchadnezzar, who wished to be worshipped as a god in the golden statue, Daniel 3:1, and to Belshazzar, whose words these were, chapter 14, verse 13: "I will ascend into heaven, etc., I will be like the Most High." Thus Rome was called by the Gentiles "the goddess of lands and peoples." And such is Babylon described, Apocalypse 17:5.
Verse 9: THESE TWO THINGS SHALL COME UPON YOU, etc., BARRENNESS AND WIDOWHOOD. — "Barrenness," that is, bereavement, as Vatablus translates, for this is the Hebrew sechol, as if to say: In one day you will be...
9. THESE TWO THINGS SHALL COME UPON YOU, etc., BARRENNESS AND WIDOWHOOD. — "Barrenness," that is, bereavement, as Vatablus translates, for this is the Hebrew sechol, as if to say: In one day you will be deprived at once of your children, that is, your citizens and inhabitants, with whom you were fertile and abundant, and you will be childless; and of your husband, namely King Belshazzar, and you will be a widow. For the king is, as it were, the husband of the state and the kingdom, and the state, when he is dead, is like a widow who has lost her husband, leader, guardian, and protector. So St. Cyril, Forerius, and Vatablus.
ALL THINGS. — In Hebrew, "in perfection," as if to say: A perfect and complete bereavement, as previously described, will come upon you.
BECAUSE OF THE MULTITUDE OF YOUR SORCERIES. — This is the third sin of Babylon and the cause of its destruction, namely that she was given to sorceries and enchantments, and to divination, especially that which is done by observation of the stars. Wherefore the Chaldeans became a proverb, and are the same as astrologers and horoscope-casters, who divine about each person's life and fate from the stars and horoscope. Whence Cato, Book 5, chapter 3: "Let no one wish," he says, "to have consulted an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, or a Chaldean." And Cicero, Book 1, On Divination: "The Chaldeans," he says, "named not from their art but from the name of their nation, are thought to have developed through prolonged observation of the stars a science by which it could be predicted what would happen to each person, and under what fate each was born."
BECAUSE OF THE EXCEEDING HARDNESS OF YOUR ENCHANTERS. — For "hardness" the Hebrew is atsama, that is, strength or fortification. By which, first, Forerius understands density or compactness, namely that astrologers divine not from a single star, but from conjunctions of the stars and the density of constellations. For the name chabarim is said from conjunction or gathering together; for they were entirely occupied in observing and interpreting the conjunctions of the stars.
Secondly, Vatablus by strength understands the multitude of the enchanters.
Thirdly, better, our translator by strength understands hardness, for the multitude was already mentioned. For what is strong is hard; just as conversely, what is weak is soft. Now he understands the hardness by which the enchanters, flattering Babylon and promising her a perennial and invincible empire, fostered, strengthened, and hardened her in her arrogance and tyranny, so that she would dare anything and fear neither kings nor God. So Haymo. Therefore I understand hardness here not so much as passive but as active — the hardness by which the enchanters hardened the Babylonians with their false oracles. Whence follows:
Verse 10: YOU HAD CONFIDENCE IN YOUR WICKEDNESS (as if to say: You confidently perpetrated evils, you did not fear God, nor God's vengeance); YOU SAID (for): THERE IS NONE THAT SEES ME, — as if to say: Either H...
10. YOU HAD CONFIDENCE IN YOUR WICKEDNESS (as if to say: You confidently perpetrated evils, you did not fear God, nor God's vengeance); YOU SAID (for): THERE IS NONE THAT SEES ME, — as if to say: Either He does not see and does not know, or He does not care, or He cannot punish my crimes, nor cast me down from my empire. For thoughtlessness about, or the denial of, God and the providence of the avenging God is the origin of all crimes. Whence the Psalmist, Psalm 13:1, after saying: "The fool has said in his heart: There is no God," immediately adds the effect: "They are corrupt, and have become abominable," etc.
THERE IS NONE THAT SEES ME, — as if to say: There is no one who visits, inspects, examines, condemns, and punishes me and my crimes; for all these things are signified by "sees" through metalepsis. Otherwise the impious care little that they are seen; indeed, they often boast of their impiety before others and display it. Therefore to be seen, that is, to be visited and punished by a judge, is what they fear. So Haymo.
YOUR WISDOM AND YOUR KNOWLEDGE, THESE HAVE DECEIVED YOU, — your judicial astrology, your divination has deceived you. For you thought that the fates of human life and the state depended entirely on the stars; and since you did not see from the stars any evil threatening you, you feared nothing, as though you were safe. So Forerius.
Verse 11: EVIL SHALL COME UPON YOU, AND YOU SHALL NOT KNOW ITS RISING. — For "its rising" the Hebrew is sachra, that is, its dawn, that is, its rising. For the rising of the day is at dawn. He alludes to the Ch...
11. EVIL SHALL COME UPON YOU, AND YOU SHALL NOT KNOW ITS RISING. — For "its rising" the Hebrew is sachra, that is, its dawn, that is, its rising. For the rising of the day is at dawn. He alludes to the Chaldeans, who divined from the stars and their rising, and mocks them, as if to say: O astrologers! In the stars you did not see the storm threatening you, namely your evil and your destruction, and its rising, as if to say: You will suddenly be captured and devastated, O Babylon, so that you will not know whence this evil arises for you; you will be destroyed, and will not know by whom or how. For you feared nothing from the lowly Persians. You will be overthrown before you see the city shaken and invaded, before you know that evil is being created for you. The enemy will secretly penetrate the city through the fords of the Euphrates, and will occupy it before you know he has entered. You will marvel that the city was captured before it was besieged.
Secondly, Sanchez thinks there is an allusion to the king of the Persians, who, crowned with a crown distinguished by rays like the sun, was preceded by fire raised on a spear like a standard, like Lucifer or the dawn-bearer, as if to say: The Persians will be in the city and will occupy it before you see their standards, before you know they are approaching.
CALAMITY WHICH YOU SHALL NOT BE ABLE TO EXPIATE, — that is, to avert by expiation. The ancients used to propitiate the godhead through purifications, that is, expiatory victims, and forestall threatening disasters; but Babylon could not do this, as if to say: Your calamity is inexpiable and unavoidable; for God is inexorable, and He will make the Persians inexorable, so that they will not spare you for prayer or price. This is what He said at chapter 13, verse 12: "A man shall be more precious than gold."
Verse 12: STAND NOW WITH YOUR ENCHANTERS. — This is sarcasm, or hostile mockery, as if to say: Let your enchanters save you, "in whom you have labored," that is, whom you obtained with great labor and expense,...
12. STAND NOW WITH YOUR ENCHANTERS. — This is sarcasm, or hostile mockery, as if to say: Let your enchanters save you, "in whom you have labored," that is, whom you obtained with great labor and expense, over whom you sweated, to whom you entrusted yourself to be taught and governed from your tender years.
Verse 13: LET THE ASTROLOGERS SAVE YOU. — "Augurs" properly are those who divine the future from the chattering and flight of birds. Thence by extension of the word, all diviners were called augurs. Astrologers...
13. LET THE ASTROLOGERS SAVE YOU. — "Augurs" properly are those who divine the future from the chattering and flight of birds. Thence by extension of the word, all diviners were called augurs. Astrologers in Hebrew are called chabarim, that is, "conjoiners" or "combiners," who namely combine and conjoin the stars, and studiously observe the conjunctions, aspects, and oppositions of the heavenly bodies, and divine from them. So Forerius.
THEY COUNTED (in Hebrew modiim, that is, "those who make known," that is, predictors) THE MONTHS. — In Hebrew chodascim, that is, new moons, or the beginnings of months. For the Hebrews had lunar months, from one new moon to the next. Therefore the new moon was for them the first day of the month. It signifies therefore that these astrologers, from their stars, especially from the moon, that is from individual lunations and new moons (being renewals of the moon, and new conjunctions and oppositions with other stars), divined about future events, namely what prosperous or adverse thing would certainly happen to Jerusalem in that month. Thus our astrologers in their Ephemerides do not divine with certainty, but conjecture about the future from new moons (for at that time a notable change of things occurs; for the moon rules over sublunary things, and greatly affects and changes all corporeal things), and sometimes they hit upon the truth, sometimes they err: "For the stars incline, but do not necessitate."
Verse 14: THEY ARE BECOME AS STUBBLE, FIRE HAS BURNED THEM. — He calls fire the Persian devastation, which consumed everything like fire, and with actual fire burned Babylon, as if to say: In the conflagration...
14. THEY ARE BECOME AS STUBBLE, FIRE HAS BURNED THEM. — He calls fire the Persian devastation, which consumed everything like fire, and with actual fire burned Babylon, as if to say: In the conflagration of Babylon, everything and your astrologers will be so burned, like stubble, that they will leave no coals by which people
may warm themselves. Burned wood is useful; for it leaves coals, which are of use to people; but your astrologers will leave no coals at all; for they will be burned up and reduced to ashes. Therefore what is signified here is the utter devastation and complete burning of Babylon. So Hugo, Vatablus, Forerius, Adamus.
The Septuagint translates: you have coals of fire, you shall sit upon them, as if to say: Your astrologers were torches and coals, who set you on fire; they were the cause of your destruction and conflagration. Because therefore you believed them, you will sit upon them, that is, you will be burned with them. St. Jerome notes that this fire was more useful to the Babylonians than the sorcerers were, because, he says, "this fire calls them through pains and punishments to repentance; those lead them through error to pride."
THERE ARE NO COALS TO WARM THEM, — not the astrologers and augurs, for He has already said these are burned; but people, namely the neighbors. For "to warm them" is taken impersonally in the Hebrew manner.
Verse 15: YOUR MERCHANTS. — So He calls the astrologers, because they made profit and gain from their divination; of such Cicero says, Oration 4 against Verres: "A new astrologer, who took more account of chase...
15. YOUR MERCHANTS. — So He calls the astrologers, because they made profit and gain from their divination; of such Cicero says, Oration 4 against Verres: "A new astrologer, who took more account of chased silver than of the heavens." These therefore "wandered in their own way," that is, in their art and divination they "erred," because they falsely predicted prosperity for Babylon, and could not foresee or avert its destruction. And this "from your youth," because this art was born in you, O Babylon, and was as it were born together with you.
Others take "merchants" properly, as if it means that when they heard of the coming of the Persians, they abandoned the city and were dispersed to other trading centers. As if to say: Those who advanced you to these riches from your beginning will now flee, some to the East, some to the West, and will not help you. So Vatablus. St. John has something similar about merchants abandoning Babylon and mourning its destruction, Apocalypse chapter 18:11 and 15.
Forerius for "in his own way" translates "in his transit," and explains it thus, as if to say: Just as merchants who in every transaction, that is, exchange of goods, or in every contract and exchange, suffered loss, were deceived, and erred — driven by some evil spirit, or said to have engaged in trade under an unfavorable star — so your astrologers, who in every transit of the stars, calculation, application, counsel, and divination were deceived, destroyed both themselves and you. For Cicero also teaches that the Chaldeans observed the passages and movements of the stars.