Isaiah 48:20 - Exposition

Go ye forth of Babylon . A sudden transition from expostulation to exhortation. It might have seemed that no exhortation would be needed; that, as soon as the prison-doors were set open, there would be a general rush to escape. But, when the time came, it was not so. Those only availed themselves of the edict of Cyrus "whose spirit God had raised to go up and build his house" ( Ezra 1:5 ). The wealthier classes, Josephus tells us ('Ant. Jud.,' Isaiah 11:1 ), remained. The very poor, it is probable, could not leave. Motives of various kinds detained others. The result was that probably a larger number elected to continue in the country than to return to Palestine. Hence the exhortation to "go forth from Babylon and flee from the Chaldeans" was far from being superfluous. Flee ye from the Chaldeans . Not "flee before them" (see Isaiah 52:12 ), as enemies to be feared; but quit them hastily, as corrupters to be avoided. With a voice of singing; rather, with a voice of shouting (Delitzsch), or with a ridging cry (Cheyne). The cry was to reach even to the end of the earth. All the nations were to be informed of the great event, in which they might not feel , but in which they were, deeply interested—the deliverance of Israel out of Babylon, which was "the prelude of, and a preparation for, the world's redemption" (Kay).