21:1. “The
burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through;
so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.”
The “burden” is an oracle
or message; and “the desert of the sea” is Babylon, so described because of
its situation. It stood near the Euphrates river, the “sea” referring to
the extensive marshy areas and waters of the many dams that had been built
to control the frequent flooding by the river. Beyond that man-controlled
area lay the desert.
Babylon means confusion
(by mixing), the propriety of the name being announced in what Babylon
represents: the great harlot church, Roman Catholic, and apostate Protestant
alike. Both are the fountainhead of deadly error spawned by the mixing
together of Scripture and so-called human wisdom, see Revelation 17,
particularly verse 5, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
Nor would it be easy to
find a more fitting symbol of apostate Christendom, for as Babylon stood in
the midst of a literal desert, so do Romanism and apostate Protestantism
stand in the midst of the spiritual desert of Christendom.
Relative to whirlwinds,
other translations render this, “As whirlwinds sweeping over the Negeb come
from the desert, from a land of horror - a harsh vision has been shown me,”
The Jerusalem Bible; “Disaster is roaring down upon you from the
terrible desert, like a whirlwind sweeping from the Negeb. I see an awesome
vision .... God is telling me what He is going to do,” Taylor. The
immediate performance of what is here foretold typologically was the sack of
Babylon by “the terrible land” Assyria; but the ultimate fulfillment will
occur in the Great Tribulation when the Beast will destroy the apostate
church that will be left on earth following the rapture of the true Church,
and then demand that all worship him or die.
21:2. “A
grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth
treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam (Persia): besiege, O
Media; all the sighing thereof I have made to cease.
Other renderings of this
verse are: “As whirlwinds sweeping over the Negeb come from the desert, from
a land of horror - a harsh vision has been shown me,” Jerusalem Bible;
“Disaster is roaring down upon you from the terrible desert, like a
whirlwind sweeping from the Negeb. I see an awesome vision; oh, the horror
of it all .... God is telling me what He is going to do” Taylor.
The vision is of Babylon’s
destruction, for it was she that had dealt treacherously; she that had
mercilessly spoiled, and oppressed, and pillaged the other nations; and as
discussed already, Babylon represents Roman Catholicism and apostate
Protestantism, both of which will unite in the Tribulation, so that the past
destruction of literal Babylon by Elam (Persia), and Media (the Median
empire), foreshadows the destruction of the false church “the Great Harlot”
by the Beast in the Tribulation, see Revelation 17:5.
“... all the sighing
thereof I have made to cease,” is generally understood to mean that with her
destruction, the misery caused by Babylon would end. So will it be also
with the destruction of the great false church by the Beast in the
Tribulation.
21:3.
“Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as
the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it;
I was dismayed at the seeing of it.”
Widespread wretchedness
would be concomitant with Babylon’s destruction, for it would mean the
collapse of the whole governmental, social, and economic system; and the
prophet’s contemplation of the ensuing misery evoked sorrow in his heart
that was the metaphoric equivalent of a woman’s birth pangs. Isaiah had a
very tender heart.
21:4. “My
heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he
turned into fear unto me.”
Words were inadequate to
convey the measure of the prophet’s distress at what had been revealed to
him relative to Babylon’s destruction. The tranquil twilight hour that had
formerly been a time of quiet meditation in preparation for peaceful sleep,
had been transmuted into one of terror. Did we but grasp more clearly what
it means for a soul to plunge into hell, we too would be less complacent,
far more diligent in our efforts to spread the gospel.
21:5. “Prepare
the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and
anoint the shield.
Isaiah was given a vision
of the careless Babylonians preparing the banquet at which they would sit
unaware of their danger, and of the need to be preparing to defend
themselves, their nonchalance being similar to that of the men of Noah’s
day, relative to which the warning is given the men of our own generation,
“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be,” Matthew 24:37-39.
To “anoint the shield” was
to rub it with oil, thus making the leather “more tenacious, and less
pervious to weapons.” In Ephesians 6:16 we are admonished, “Above all,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked.” That shield of faith is also to be anointed
with “oil,” for oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and it is only as He is
unquenched and ungrieved that we will enjoy is guidance and protection.
21:6. “For
thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he
seeth.”
Taylor’s rendering of this
verse is, “Meanwhile (in my vision) the Lord had told me, ‘Put a watchman on
the city wall to shout out what he sees.’” This command applies also to us,
for as Babylon was about to be sacked that night, so also is this present
evil world about to be devastated by the terrible judgments of the impending
Great Tribulation, and it is our responsibility to be warning men to trust
in Christ as Savior so that they will be caught up to heaven before those
judgments fall.
21:7. “And he
saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot
of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:”
Other translations of this
verse are, “... and when he seeth a troop, horsemen in pairs ... he shall
hearken diligently.” ASV; “When he sees riders in pairs ... tell him, ‘This
is it!’” TAYLOR.
The immediate application
of this is to the destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians, that
overthrow being symbolic of the one that will overtake Jerusalem in the
coming Tribulation era; and only spiritual blindness will obscure the fact
that that destruction is near. We too are to “hearken diligently with much
heed,” for all the signs point to the imminence of that coming catastrophe.
This is the OT counterpart
of Luke 21:20, “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then
know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”
21:8. “And he
cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the
daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:”
The KJ translation of the
first part of this verse is misleading: the correct rendering being “And he
cried as a lion,” i.e., he declared with a loud voice, giving the assurance
that he was assiduous in his task of keeping watch, day and night. We would
do well to emulate his diligence in connection with the work the Lord has
given us to do.
21:9. “And,
behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he
answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen: and all her graven images
of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.”
Even as the watchman
spoke, a company of armed men appeared in a column riding two abreast, one
of whom announced that Babylon had been captured, and all her idols
destroyed. That past destruction of Babylon foreshadows the dissolution of
apostate Christianity, Roman Catholic and Protestant alike, at the hand of
the Beast in the Great Tribulation.
21:10. “O my
threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.”
The Amplified
version reads, “O you, my threshed and winnowed one [my own people the Jews
who must be trodden down by Babylon], that which I have heard from the Lord
of hosts the God of Israel, I have joyfully announced to you - Babylon is to
fall!”
21:11. “The
burden of Dumah (Edom). He calleth me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the
night? Watchman, what of the night?”
“... burden” is variously
rendered, “message concerning Duma; Duma, beware; God’s message to Edom; the
mournful, inspired prediction concerning Dumah (Edom); and “what of the
night?” is also translated, “how far gone is the night? what is left of the
night?” This seems to indicate that the foretold destruction of Babylon was
imminent. The dark spiritual night of her tyrannous rule was about to end.
And so is it relative to the evil system which Babylon represents: the hour
of her destruction is also near.
Seir means shaggy;
hairy; goat-like, but I regret being unable to see the spiritual
significance of its being the place from which the question was asked,
unless it is a type of this present evil world in which God warns men to
prepare themselves for eternity by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as
Savior and Lord. Those who die in unbelief will enter the impenetrable
darkness of an eternal night, first in hell, and ultimately the lake of
fire.
21:12. “The
watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire,
enquire ye: return, come.”
Taylor has translated this
verse, “The watchman replies, ‘Your judgment day is dawning now. Turn again
to God, so that I can give you better news. Seek for Him, then come and ask
again!’” For those who die as believers in Christ, the end of earthly life
introduces them to a morning that will never be followed by a night; but
death takes the unbeliever into a night that will never have a morning.
21:13. “The
burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye traveling
companies of Dedanim.”
Arabia too was to suffer
judgment, the meaning of the name dusky, mixed indicating that it may
represent that vast multitude who are spiritually “dusky” rather than
“white,” i.e., they have not been cleansed by the precious blood of Christ;
and they are mixed - they are of the world, not having been separated from
it by the cross of Christ, as is every true believer, whose condition is
identical to that of Paul who declared, “But God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world,” Galatians 6:14.
Since trees represent men,
the lodging of the Arabians “in the forest” continues to point to them as
being part of the unconverted “forest” of humanity.
Dedanim means their
love: their moving: their proceeding, meanings which would indicate that
they may represent believers, so that their lodging in “the forest in
Arabia” emphasizes the truth that believers dwell in the midst of a world of
unconverted men, their primary business there being to preach the gospel
of salvation through faith in a crucified and risen Christ.
Their being described as
“traveling companies” is the symbolic reminder of the truth declared in
Hebrews 13:14, “For here we have no continuing (permanent, abiding) city,
but we seek one to come.”
21:14. “The
inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they
prevented (helped) with their bread him that fled.”
Tema means southerner,
and has therefore a good connotation, for in Scripture the south is the
direction that speaks of faith, as the north does of human intelligence
(almost invariably opposed to God). The west always speaks of approach to
God, as the east does of departure from Him.
In the present context
“prevented” means that they helped the Dedanites by bringing them food and
water, etc. We too are to minister to the needs of others practically and
spiritually, the latter by giving them the “bread” and “water” of the Word,
for Scripture is the bread for man’s spiritual sustenance, and it is also
the “water” which cleanses and refreshes him.
21:15. “For
they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and
from the grievousness of war.”
In the flight of the
Dedanites from those who sought their lives, we have a typological picture
of the state of all who seek to bear a faithful testimony for the Lord Jesus
Christ, for nothing so provokes the animosity of Satan as such a witness.
The truth is that if we are enjoying the friendship of the world we can be
sure that we are being unfaithful to Christ. The Christian life involves
warfare with Satan and the world, as it is written, “For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand,” Ephesians
6:12-13.
21:16. “For
thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an
hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:”
The description of the
year as being “according to the years of an hireling” means that what was
foretold would happen in exactly a year, not one day less and not one day
more: the time was being specified precisely, for a hireling would not work
beyond the time specified in his contract, nor was it likely that his
employer would permit him to work one day less.
Kedar was the name of a
powerful Arabian tribe at enmity with Israel.
21:17. “And
the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of
Kedar, shall be diminished: for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.”
The diminished ranks of
the Kedarite army would ensure peace for Israel; and it may be that that era
of tranquility typifies conditions that will prevail in the Millennium, the
stamp of certainty being impressed on the promise by the fact that it was
given by “the Lord God of Israel.”
