Chapter Twenty-One

1–10. A prophecy of the fall of Babylon. 11–12. On the fate of Edom. 13–17. And Arabia.

Isa 21:1-10. The prophet sees a violent storm moving over the seacoast desert or Babylon. This storm represents the enemy forces of the Medes and Elamites, who will put an end to the sufferings of the peoples subjugated by Babylon. The disaster that will befall Babylon is so severe that even the prophet himself sympathizes with its inhabitants. Then the prophet describes in detail how God revealed to him the fate of Babylon. The prophecy concludes with the prophet’s joyful exclamation addressed to Israel, freed from Babylon’s yoke.

Isaiah 21:1. A prophecy concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds sweep through the south, it comes from the wilderness, from a land of terror. In chapters 21 and 22, there are prophecies of an emblematic character. Certain countries are not mentioned here by their own names, but receive somewhat cryptic designations. Thus Babylon is called here a seacoast desert. Where does this name come from? In Assyrian records, Babylonia is sometimes called the sea or the land of the sea. This name may have been suggested either because the Euphrates, flowing through Babylonia, spread out in the south like a sea, or because, as modern research shows, in ancient times the Persian Gulf extended almost to Babylon itself, which was thus a coastal city (see Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia, see Babylon). But since in Isaiah’s time both northern and southern Chaldea were united under the scepter of the Assyrian king, the prophet evidently meant that in time all Chaldea or all Mesopotamia would become a desolate wilderness (cf. Isa 14:23). The entire verse can be translated from the Hebrew as follows: “like an irresistible southern gale, this (that is, the vision described next) comes from the wilderness, from the land of terror.” Media is so named because fierce and numerous enemies of Babylon dwelt there. Besides, Media was separated from Babylon by deserts.

Isaiah 21:2. A grievous vision is revealed to me: the plunderer plunders, the destroyer destroys; ascend, Elam, besiege, Media! I will put an end to all the groaning. “The plunderer” – according to Orelli, the Hebrew word here should be translated as “traitor” (bohed). According to this commentator’s observation, this may suggest that the destroyers of Babylon will be the vassal kings who have betrayed her. “Ascend.” Babylon in the Bible is sometimes depicted as a mountain that rises to the heavens (Jer 51:25). Elam (in Assyrian, ilamti) is a country east of the Tigris, standing in the same relations to Babylon as Media. This is not the same as Persia: the Aryan Persians were unknown to the Hebrews in Isaiah’s time.

Isaiah 13:17. “Media” – see Isaiah 13:17. “All the groaning.” The Russian translation ascribes these words to the Almighty, but earlier the prophet was speaking; therefore the translation does not correspond to the context of speech. Moreover, the prophet himself expresses sorrow about the destruction of Babylon later on. Yet this sorrow would not be out of place if at the end of verse 2 the Lord announced the end of the suffering of the Hebrews enslaved by Babylon. Condamin therefore, correcting the word “haschbiti” (I will put an end) to “haschbit” (put an end), and reading “chanenah” (compassion) instead of “anechatan” (groaning), translates this passage as: “have no more compassion!”

Isaiah 21:3. Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered by what I hear; I am terrified by what I see. Isaiah 21:4. My heart palpitates; fear grips me; my night of rest has turned into terror for me. “I am bewildered” can be translated thus: “I am so bewildered that I hear nothing; so terrified that I see nothing!” Even at night, when naturally one should find rest from the day’s worries, the thought of Babylon’s terrible fate gives the prophet no peace.

Isaiah 21:5. They prepare the table, they spread the carpets, – they eat, they drink. “Rise up, princes, oil the shields! In the evening, when the Babylonian princes were dining, a cry of alarm will be heard. “Carpets” – that is, rugs on which the diners sat. “Oil the shields” – smear the shields so that cutting and thrusting blows will glance off them.

Isaiah 21:6. For thus the Lord said to me: Go, set a watchman; let him report what he sees. In this verse the Lord commands the prophet himself to prepare to receive the revelation about Babylon’s fate. That by “watchman” here we must understand not some other person, but Isaiah himself, is evident from verse 11, where Edom addresses Isaiah as a watchman. Thus we find here a special form of poetic metonymy.

Isaiah 21:7. And he saw riders, horsemen in pairs – riders on horses, riders on donkeys, riders on camels; and he listened attentively, with great care, – Isaiah 21:8. and he cried out like a lion: My lord! I stand continually on the watchtower day and night and I remain at my post throughout the nights. Condamin translates the beginning of this verse as: “if he sees...” and the end as: “then let him look carefully, very carefully, and let them cry: ‘I see!’” In place of this last expression in the Russian translation, as in many others, stands the expression “like a lion.” The first translation seems more natural than the second – besides, the expression “areeh” could easily have been changed by the Masoretes to “ariih” (lion): only the letter aleph would need to be replaced by yodh. “I stand on the watchtower.” These are the words of the prophet himself, which clearly show that earlier he understood “watchman” to mean himself.

Isaiah 21:9. And behold, riders came, horsemen in pairs. Then he cried aloud and said: Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all her idols lie shattered on the ground. “Then he cried aloud.” In Condamin’s translation this passage reads: “they raise their voice, they say.” “Her idols shattered.” This served as proof that Babylon had lost her independence – her gods were already shattered, and consequently all her strength, which was concentrated in these gods, was crushed (Hos 8:5).

Isaiah 21:10. O my threshed one and the son of my threshing floor! What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have reported to you. The Babylonians treated Israel, to whom the prophet now addresses his words, as a farmer treats sheaves of grain, threshing them either with a flail or a specially constructed machine.

Isaiah 21:11. A prophecy concerning Dumah. They call to me from Seir: Watchman, how much of the night is left? Watchman, how much of the night is left? Isaiah 21:12. The watchman answers: The morning comes, but also still is the night. If you would inquire, inquire; come again. To Edom the prophet announces that the dawn of liberation from heavy foreign – probably Assyrian – oppression will not shine for him for a long time yet. “Dumah” is a shortened name for Idumea. This name was given to the country lying south of the Dead Sea by Edom (the surname of Esau); however, the reddish tint of the soil in this country may also have given rise to the name Idumea (Edom in Hebrew means: red). In the south, Idumea extended to Elath, which lay at the northern tip of the Gulf of Elath and served as a harbor for Idumean ships. The ancient capital of the Idumeans was the city of Bozrah, but the chief fortress of the country was Sela, more commonly known by its Greek name, Petra. The inhabitants of this country had been hostile to the Judeans from ancient times, but Saul, David, and Solomon subdued them and occupied part of their territory. With the weakening of the kingdom of Israel, the Idumeans not only recovered the cities taken from them by the Hebrews but also began making raids on southern Palestine. Originally the Idumeans were governed by sheikhs, but, beginning to wage war with the Horites, who were the ancient inhabitants of Idumea, the Idumeans began to elect kings for themselves, although the princes of separate tribes continued to retain their power even under the kings (see Exod 15:15). In religion, the Idumeans were idolaters, as is evident from the fact that King Amaziah, having conquered Idumea, brought “the gods of the sons of Seir” into Judea (2 Chr 25:14). The Idumeans built their dwellings principally in caves and grottos hewn into soft sandstone. It should be noted that the expression used by Isaiah, Dumah – in Hebrew “doumah” – literally means: silence. Is there perhaps in the prophet’s mind some allusion to the idea that this Idumea, once so densely populated and bustling, would in time become a land of silence? This would then be parallel to the expression “the land of the shadow of death” which the prophet used of Galilee (Isa 9:2). “From Seir” is another designation of the same Idumea, probably derived from the name Seir the Horite, whose descendants were the first to occupy the Idumean mountains, and who were later settled by the descendants of Esau (see the Commentary on the Bible, vol. 1). These mountains, stretching down to the Gulf of Elath from the Dead Sea, are composed mainly of layers of porphyry, and sometimes have a limestone composition. Among these mountains are many fertile valleys where wheat and grapes grow, as well as various flowers and fruit trees. Only the western slopes of the mountains present a terrifyingly barren place, devoid of all vegetation. The mountains of Seir, most likely, in ancient times referred specifically to the eastern part of the said mountain range. “How much of the night?” – that is, what hour of the night is it? How much longer will the night last? Undoubtedly, the inhabitants of Seir were asking about the nearness of their liberation from heavy Assyrian oppression. Indeed, among the kings who kissed the feet of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, during his campaign against Palestine, the records of Sennacherib mention the king of Edom. The subsequent Assyrian kings, as powerful monarchs, certainly also did not release the Edomite kings from obedience.

Isaiah 21:12. The watchman answers: The morning comes, but also still is the night. If you would inquire, inquire; come again. The prophet says that the morning of liberation for Edom is drawing near, but for now the night still continues, that is, the Edomites will still have to suffer much from the Assyrians. The Edomites could indeed have addressed the Jewish prophet with questions about their future fate, because they saw in the Lord, whom Isaiah served, the national God of the Hebrews, who knew the secrets of the future (cf. 2 Sam 5 and cf. 2 Sam 8 and cf.). The example of the Ninevites, who believed the preaching of Jonah, might also have prompted them to do so. “Return and come” – more precisely from the Hebrew: “you will come again!” In these concluding words the prophet points out that if the Edomites and do obtain relief from their difficult situation after the fall of Nineveh, this relief will be temporary, and they will again have to ask anxiously when they will be freed from the new yoke that awaits them (the Chaldean yoke). Isa 21:13-17. And Arabia will suffer from the invasion of the Assyrians. The Arabian caravans must hide in thickets and seek refuge from enemies among the Arabs of the Syrian desert. The prophet predicts the loss of their former glory by the sons of Kedar.

Isaiah 21:13. A prophecy about Arabia. In the forest of Arabia spend the night, caravans of Dedan! “Arabia” is the great peninsula of western Asia to the southeast of Palestine, between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. But in Isaiah this name (in Hebrew “arav”) evidently denotes not so much a specific country or nationality, but rather the nomadic tribes living partly in the deserts to the east and southeast of the Holy Land, and mainly in the so-called desert Arabia or the Syrian desert (cf. 2 Chr 17:11; 2 Chr 22:1; 2 Chr 26:7). This desert was densely populated in ancient times. Its inhabitants belonged to the Semitic group of peoples, although Cushitic tribes lived in the south. More precisely, according to the book of Genesis, they can be divided into Joktanites, Haturites, and Ishmaelites. (The Arabs in general rarely came into contact with the Hebrews and were not hostile to them.) “In the forest of Arabia” – in Hebrew “bajaar baarav” – “in the thickets, in Arabia.” Such thickets or shrubbery existed in abundance around the edges of the Arabian desert in ancient times. “The caravans of Dedan.” The Dedanites are an Arabian tribe descended from Abraham through Keturah (Gen 25:3). There was another tribe with the same name of Cushitic origin (Gen 10:7), but here evidently the tribe descended from Abraham is meant, which dwelt near Edom, as can be concluded from the fact that the prophet speaks of it immediately after he has spoken of Edom. A trace of this tribe remains in the name of ruins of a city northwest of Akaba called Dayan. This tribe carried on trade with Syria in goods obtained from India and Ethiopia (ivory, carpets, etc.).

Isaiah 21:14. Inhabitants of the land of Tema! Bring water to meet the thirsty; offer bread to those who flee, Isaiah 21:15. because they flee from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the hardship of war. “The land of Tema,” friendly to the Dedanites and other Kedarites, probably represented an oasis located to the southeast of the northern tip of the Gulf of Elath. Here the Arabs fled, taking refuge from the Assyrian forces advancing from the north. The tribe of Tema was of Ishmaelite origin.

Isaiah 21:16. For thus the Lord said to me: In one year, counted as a hireling’s year, all the glory of Kedar will fail, Isaiah 21:17. and the bows of the mighty men of Kedar will be few: thus speaks the Lord, the God of Israel. Isaiah 16:14. “A hireling’s year” – see Isaiah 16:14. “Kedar” is also an Ishmaelite tribe that dwelt partly in tents made from black goat-hair material (Song 1:4), partly in villages (Isa 42:11), and was rich in herds and camels (Isa 60:7). This was a very warlike and at the same time treacherous tribe (Ps 119:5). The place of the pastures of this tribe was the northern part of the Syrian-Arabian desert, lying between Damascus and Babylon. The most decisive defeat of this tribe, which stood at the head of all Arab tribes, was inflicted by the Assyrian king Esarhaddon. When was the prophecy of chapter 21 about the fall of Babylon fulfilled? Some (Smith, Kleinert) see here a prediction of the siege of Babylon by the Assyrian king Sargon (in 701 BCE), while others (Kuenen, Delitzsch, Dillmann) relate the fulfillment of this prophecy to the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus. The latter opinion is more correct because, apart from the fact that Isaiah mentions the Elamites and Medes attacking Babylon, the Hebrews themselves are represented here as a “threshed” people, as they could be called only in the era of the Babylonian captivity, which the prophet probably had in mind here. As for Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Edom and Arabia, the majority of critics see no grounds to consider them inauthentic, although they find no data to determine the time of their utterance. This chapter may be divided into stanzas as follows: 1 – Verses 1–5 – (3, 3, 2) 2 – Verses 6–10 – (3, 3, 2) The prophecy concerning Edom – (verses 11–12) The prophecy concerning Arabia – (verses 13–15) Prose – (verses 16–17)