Isaiah 21

Isa 21:1-10.

REPETITION OF THE

ASSURANCE

GIVEN IN THE

THIRTEENTH AND

FOURTEENTH

CHAPTERS TO THE

JEWS

ABOUT TO

BE

CAPTIVES IN

BABYLON, THAT

THEIR

ENEMY

SHOULD

BE

DESTROYED AND

THEY

BE

DELIVERED.

He does not narrate the event, but graphically supposes himself a

watchman in Babylon, beholding the events as they pass.

1. desert--the champaign between Babylon and Persia; it was once a

desert, and it was to become so again.

of the sea--The plain was covered with the water of the Euphrates

like a "sea"

(Jer 51:13, 36; so

Isa 11:15,

the Nile), until Semiramis raised great dams against it. Cyrus removed

these dykes, and so converted the whole country again into a vast

desert marsh.

whirlwinds in the south--

(Job 37:9;

Zec 9:14).

The south wind comes upon Babylon from the deserts of Arabia, and its

violence is the greater from its course being unbroken along the plain

(Job 1:19).

desert--the plain between Babylon and Persia.

terrible land--Media; to guard against which was the object of

Nitocris' great works [HERODOTUS, 1.185]. Compare

as to "terrible" applied to a wilderness, as being full of unknown

dangers,

De 1:29.

2. dealeth treacherously--referring to the military stratagem

employed by Cyrus in taking Babylon. It may be translated, "is repaid

with treachery"; then the subject of the verb is Babylon. She is

repaid in her own coin;

Isa 33:1;

Hab 2:8,

favor this.

Go up--Isaiah abruptly recites the order which he hears God giving

to the Persians, the instruments of His vengeance

(Isa 13:3, 17).

Elam--a province of Persia, the original place of their settlement

(Ge 10:22),

east of the Euphrates. The name "Persia" was not in use until the

captivity; it means a "horseman"; Cyrus first trained the Persians in

horsemanship. It is a mark of authenticity that the name is not found

before Daniel and Ezekiel [BOCHART].

thereof--the "sighing" caused by Babylon

(Isa 14:7, 8).

3. Isaiah imagines himself among the exiles in Babylon and cannot

help feeling moved by the calamities which come on it. So for Moab

(Isa 15:5; 16:11).

pain--(Compare

Isa 13:8;

Eze 30:4, 19;

Na 2:10).

at the hearing--The Hebrew may mean, "I was so bowed down that

I could not hear; I was so dismayed that I could not see"

(Ge 16:2;

Ps 69:23)

[MAURER].

4. panted--"is bewildered" [BARNES].

night of my pleasure--The prophet supposes himself one of the

banqueters at Belshazzar's feast, on the night that Babylon was about to

be taken by surprise; hence his expression, "my pleasure"

(Isa 14:11;

Jer 51:39;

Da 5:1-31).

5. Prepare the table--namely, the feast in Babylon; during which

Cyrus opened the dykes made by Semiramis to confine the Euphrates to one

channel and suffered them to overflow the country, so that he could

enter Babylon by the channel of the river. Isaiah first represents the

king ordering the feast to be got ready. The suddenness of the irruption

of the foe is graphically expressed by the rapid turn in the language to

an alarm addressed to the Babylonian princes, "Arise," &c. (compare

Isa 22:13).

MAURER translates, "They prepare the

table," &c. But see

Isa 8:9.

watch in . . . watchtower--rather, "set the watch." This done, they

thought they might feast in entire security. Babylon had many

watchtowers on its walls.

anoint . . . shield--This was done to prevent the leather of the

shield becoming hard and liable to crack. "Make ready for defense";

the mention of the "shield" alone implies that it is the Babylonian

revellers who are called on to prepare for instant self-defense.

HORSLEY translates, "Grip the oiled shield."

6. Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth--God's direction

to Isaiah to set a watchman to "declare" what he sees. But as in

Isa 21:10,

Isaiah himself is represented as the one who "declared." HORSLEY makes him the "watchman," and translates,

"Come, let him who standeth on the watchtower report what he

seeth."

7. chariot, &c.--rather, "a body of riders," namely, some riding in

pairs on horses (literally, "pairs of horsemen," that is, two abreast),

others on asses, others on camels (compare

Isa 21:9;

Isa 22:6).

"Chariot" is not appropriate to be joined, as English Version

translates, with "asses"; the Hebrew means plainly in

Isa 21:7,

as in

Isa 21:9,

"a body of men riding." The Persians used asses and camels for war

[MAURER]. HORSLEY

translates, "One drawn in a car, with a pair of riders, drawn by an

ass, drawn by a camel"; Cyrus is the man; the car drawn by a camel and

ass yoked together and driven by two postilions, one on each, is the

joint army of Medes and Persians under their respective leaders. He

thinks the more ancient military cars were driven by men riding on the

beasts that drew them;

Isa 21:9

favors this.

8. A lion--rather, "(The watchman) cried, I am as a lion"; so

as is understood

(Isa 62:5;

Ps 11:1).

The point of comparison to "a lion" is in

Re 10:3,

the loudness of the cry. But here it is rather his

vigilance. The lion's eyelids are short, so that, even when

asleep, he seems to be on the watch, awake; hence he was painted on

doors of temples as the symbol of watchfulness, guarding the place

(Hor. Apollo) [HORSLEY].

9. chariot of men--chariots with men in them; or rather, the same

body of riders, horsemen two abreast, as in

Isa 21:7

[MAURER]. But

HORSLEY, "The man drawn in a car with a pair of riders." The first half

of this verse describes what the watchman sees; the second half,

what the watchman says, in consequence of what he sees. In the

interval between

Isa 21:7

and Isa 21:9,

the overthrow of Babylon by the horsemen, or man in the car, is

accomplished. The overthrow needed to be announced to the prophet by

the watchman, owing to the great extent of the city. HERODOTUS (1.131) says that one part of the city was

captured some time before the other received the tidings of it.

answered--not to something said previously, but in reference to

the subject in the mind of the writer, to be collected from the

preceding discourse: proclaimeth

(Job 3:2,

Margin;

Da 2:26;

Ac 5:8).

fallen . . . fallen--The repetition expresses emphasis and certainty

(Ps 92:9; 93:3;

compare

Jer 51:8;

Re 18:2).

images--Bel, Merodach, &c.

(Jer 50:2; 51:44, 52).

The Persians had no images, temples, or altars, and charged the makers

of such with madness [HERODOTUS 1.131]; therefore

they dashed the Babylonian "images broken unto the ground."

10. my threshing--that is, my people (the Jews) trodden down by

Babylon.

corn of my floor--Hebrew, "my son of the floor," that is, my

people, treated as corn laid on the floor for threshing; implying, too,

that by affliction, a remnant (grain) would be separated from the

ungodly (chaff) [MAURER].

HORSLEY translates, "O thou object of my

unremitting prophetic pains." See

Isa 28:27, 28.

Some, from

Jer 51:33,

make Babylon the object of the threshing; but Isaiah is plainly

addressing his countrymen, as the next words show, not the

Babylonians.

Isa 21:11, 12.

A

PROPHECY TO THE

IDUMEANS

WHO

TAUNTED THE

AFFLICTED

JEWS IN THE

BABYLONISH

CAPTIVITY.

One out of Seir asks, What of the night? Is there a hope of the dawn of

deliverance? Isaiah replies, The morning is beginning to dawn (to us);

but night is also coming (to you). Compare

Ps 137:7.

The Hebrew captives would be delivered, and taunting Edom punished. If

the Idumean wish to ask again, he may do so; if he wishes an answer of

peace for his country, then let him "return (repent), come" [BARNES].

11. Dumah--a tribe and region of Ishmael in Arabia

(Ge 25:14;

1Ch 1:30);

now called Dumah the Stony, situated on the confines of Arabia

and the Syrian desert; a part put for the whole of Edom. VITRINGA thinks "Dumah," Hebrew, "silence," is

here used for Idumea, to imply that it was soon to be reduced to

silence or destruction.

Seir--the principal mountain in Idumea, south of the Dead Sea, in

Arabia-Petræa. "He calleth" ought to be rather, "There is a call from Seir."

to me--Isaiah. So the heathen Balak and Ahaziah received oracles

from a Hebrew prophet.

Watchman--the prophet

(Isa 62:6;

Jer 6:17),

so called, because, like a watchman on the lookout from a tower, he

announces future events which he sees in prophetic vision

(Hab 2:1, 2).

what of the night--What tidings have you to give as to the state of

the night? Rather, "What remains of the night?" How much of it is

past? [MAURER]. "Night" means calamity

(Job 35:10;

Mic 3:6),

which, then, in the wars between Egypt and Assyria, pressed sore on

Edom; or on Judah (if, as BARNES thinks, the

question is asked in mockery of the suffering Jews in Babylon). The

repetition of the question marks, in the former view, the

anxiety of the Idumeans.

12. Reply of the prophet, The morning (prosperity)

cometh, and (soon after follows) the night (adversity).

Though you, Idumeans, may have a gleam of prosperity, it will soon be

followed by adversity again. Otherwise, as BARNES,

"Prosperity cometh (to the Jews) to be quickly followed by adversity

(to you, Idumeans, who exult in the fall of Jerusalem, have seized on

the southern part of their land in their absence during the captivity,

and now deride them by your question)"

(Isa 34:5-7).

This view is favored by

Ob 10-21.

if ye will inquire, inquire--If ye choose to consult me again, do so

(similar phrases occur in

Ge 43:14;

2Ki 7:4;

Es 4:16).

return, come--"Be converted to God (and then), come"

[GESENIUS]; you

will then receive a more favorable answer.

Isa 21:13-17.

PROPHECY THAT

ARABIA

WOULD

BE

OVERRUN BY A

FOREIGN

FOE WITHIN A

YEAR.

Probably in the wars between Assyria and Egypt; Idumea and Arabia lay

somewhat on the intermediate line of march.

13. upon--that is, respecting.

forest--not a grove of trees, but a region of thick underwood, rugged

and inaccessible; for Arabia has no forest of trees.

travelling companies--caravans: ye shall be driven through fear of

the foe to unfrequented routes

(Isa 33:8;

Jud 5:6;

Jer 49:8

is parallel to this passage).

Dedanim--In North Arabia

(Ge 25:3;

Jer 25:23;

Eze 25:13; 27:20;

a different "Dedan" occurs

Ge 10:7).

14. Tema--a kindred tribe: an oasis in that region

(Jer 25:23).

The Temeans give water to the faint and thirsting Dedanites; the

greatest act of hospitality in the burning lands of the East, where

water is so scarce.

prevented--that is, anticipated the wants of the fugitive Dedanites

(Ge 14:18).

their bread--rather, "his (the fugitive's) bread"; the bread

due to him, necessary for his support; so "thy grave"

(Isa 14:19),

[MAURER].

15. they--the fugitive Dedanites and other Arabs.

16. years of . . . hireling--(See on

Isa 16:14).

Kedar--a wandering tribe

(Ps 120:5).

North of Arabia-Petræa, and south of Arabia-Deserta; put for

Arabia in general.

17. residue . . . diminished--The remnant of Arab warriors, famous in

the bow, left after the invasion, shall be small.