Oracles on Babylon, Edom and Arabia These three short and difficult oracles form together one of the most singular passages in prophecy. Common to all three are (_a_) the obscure oracular utterance, in striking contrast to the terse lucidity of Isaiah's style, (_b_) the strongly-marked visionary el... [ Continue Reading ]
_The burden of the desert of the sea_ Perhaps, THE ORACLE, "DESERT OF THE SEA." The first of a series of enigmatic headings, all but peculiar to this section of the book: Isaiah 21:11; Isaiah 21:13; Isaiah 22:1 (cf. Isaiah 30:6). In the majority of cases they are to be explained as catchwords, taken... [ Continue Reading ]
The "hard vision" of Babylon's fate.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A grievous_(lit. "hard") _vision is declared unto me_ by the "watchman," Isaiah 21:6. "Hard" may mean either "calamitous" (1 Kings 14:6) or "difficult," "hard of interpretation" (John 6:60). _the treacherous dealer … spoileth_ Cf. ch. Isaiah 24:16. It is difficult to decide whether this is a descri... [ Continue Reading ]
_are my loins filled with pain_ Nahum 2:10. _I was bowed down at the hearing_ or, as R.V. I AM PAINED SO THAT I CANNOT HEAR, &c. Similar metaphorical descriptions of mental anguish are frequent.... [ Continue Reading ]
The agitation and terror of the prophet.... [ Continue Reading ]
_My heart panted_ lit. STRAYETH; as we should say "my reason reels." "Heart," as often, is used of the intellect. _fearfulness_ R.V. HORROR. _the night of my pleasure_ i.e. "my pleasant evening hours," favourable for visionary communications and therefore dear to a prophet. (Job 4:13). _hath he tu... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet contrasts his own lonely vigils with the careless security of the Babylonian revellers (cf. Daniel 5; Jeremiah 51:39; Isaiah 14:11). _Prepare the table, &c._ Render as in R.V. THEY PREPARE THE TABLE, THEY SET THE WATCH (the only measure of precaution adopted by the revellers), THEY EAT,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go, set, &c._ Render, GO SET THE WATCHMAN, WHAT HE SEETH HE SHALL DECLARE.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hitherto the prophet has spoken of his vision as a thing "announced" to him; now he proceeds to describe, in a very interesting passage, the method of its communication. The delineation is figurative, but seems in some sense to imply a dual consciousness of the writer. The watchman is the prophet hi... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse reads: AND IF HE SEE A TROOP, HORSEMEN IN PAIRS (1 Kings 9:25), A TROOP OF ASSES, A TROOP OF CAMELS, THEN LET HIM HEARKEN, HEARKEN HARD. This apparently is the expected sign that great events are on foot; when the riders are seen the watchman is to listen intently to discover who they are... [ Continue Reading ]
If the text be right, the first clause must read: AND HE CRIED (LIKE) A LION (Revelation 10:3). _My lord_ The A.V. seems here to assume that the prophet is addressed by his watchman. R.V. and most interpreters render "O Lord" (addressed to Jehovah). Nevertheless A.V. may be right, although it requi... [ Continue Reading ]
Hardly has he spoken when the appointed vision appears: AND, BEHOLD, HERE COMETH A TROOP OF MEN, HORSEMEN IN PAIRS (see Isaiah 21:7). And in the same breath the watchman declares its significance: BABYLON IS FALLEN, &c. (proph. perf.). Cf. Revelation 18:1 f.... [ Continue Reading ]
The application to Israel, addressed as MY THRESHING (i.e. threshed one) AND MY CHILD OF THE THRESHING-FLOOR forcible figurative epithets of Israel as a nation crushed and down-trodden by the brutal tyranny of Babylon (cf. ch. Isaiah 41:15; Micah 4:12 f.; Jeremiah 51:33, &c.).... [ Continue Reading ]
_The burden of Dumah_ The best known place of this name is the _Dûmat el-Jendel_("rocky Dumah") of the Arabian geographers (mentioned in Genesis 25:14). It lay to the north of Tema (Isaiah 21:14) and south-east of Seir. Jerome is the sole authority for the statement that there was a Dumah in the lan... [ Continue Reading ]
The oracle on Edom. Isaiah 21:11 The prophet hears (whether in reality or in imagination it is impossible to say) an urgent cry from Seir, inquiring whether the night of distress is nearly over (Isaiah 21:11). His reply (Isaiah 21:12) is equivocal and confessedly incomplete; at a later time he may... [ Continue Reading ]
_The morning cometh, and also the night_ The watchman's answer is designedly obscure. It may mean either that the seer has obtained no clear vision of the destiny in store for Edom; or that he foresees a transient gleam of prosperity to be followed by a new night of distress; or that hope is dawning... [ Continue Reading ]
_The burden upon Arabia_ THE ORACLE "IN ARABIA " (or, " IN THE EVENING "). The catchword of the heading is taken from the second word of the oracle. LXX. omits the title and in the text renders, with a different pointing, "in the evening," which gives a good sense (Psalms 30:5). The Massoretic readi... [ Continue Reading ]
The oracle on Arabia, Isaiah 21:13 A vision (Isaiah 21:13) and its interpretation (Isaiah 21:16). A caravan of the merchant-tribe of Dedan is seen driven by stress of war from the regular route, and lurking in solitary places, destitute of food and water. The travellers are succoured by the hospita... [ Continue Reading ]
The caravans are reduced to the direst straits through having to shun the stations on the regular route where alone their stock of food and water could be replenished. The prophet calls on the inhabitants of Tema to supply their necessities. The verse should be rendered: TO THE THIRSTY BRING WATER,... [ Continue Reading ]
The caravans have deserted the frequented paths, because of armed bands scouring the country. 16 F. The interpretation of the vision is regarded by many commentators as a later appendix similar to ch. Isaiah 16:13 f. There is certainly a surprising resemblance between the two passages, which may su... [ Continue Reading ]
_according to the years of a hireling_ See on Isaiah 16:14. _Kedar_ a tribe of pastoral nomads (Isaiah 60:7; Ezekiel 27:21) in the Syrian desert (Jeremiah 2:10), is here apparently a comprehensive designation of the north Arabian tribes (cf. Song of Solomon 1:5; Psalms 120:5).... [ Continue Reading ]
_the number of archers_ Lit. "of the bows." The bow was the chief weapon of the Northern Arabs, as of their progenitor Ishmael, Genesis 21:20.... [ Continue Reading ]