5 Prepare H6186 the table, H7979 watch H6822 in the watchtower, H6844 eat, H398 drink: H8354 arise, H6965 ye princes, H8269 and anoint H4886 the shield. H4043
6 For thus hath the Lord H136 said H559 unto me, Go, H3212 set H5975 a watchman, H6822 let him declare H5046 what he seeth. H7200
7 And he saw H7200 a chariot H7393 with a couple H6776 of horsemen, H6571 a chariot H7393 of asses, H2543 and a chariot H7393 of camels; H1581 and he hearkened H7181 diligently H7182 with much H7227 heed: H7182
8 And he cried, H7121 A lion: H738 My lord, H136 I stand H5975 continually H8548 upon the watchtower H4707 in the daytime, H3119 and I am set H5324 in my ward H4931 whole nights: H3915
9 And, behold, here cometh H935 a chariot H7393 of men, H376 with a couple H6776 of horsemen. H6571 And he answered H6030 and said, H559 Babylon H894 is fallen, H5307 is fallen; H5307 and all the graven images H6456 of her gods H430 he hath broken H7665 unto the ground. H776
10 O my threshing, H4098 and the corn H1121 of my floor: H1637 that which I have heard H8085 of the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 the God H430 of Israel, H3478 have I declared H5046 unto you.
11 The burden H4853 of Dumah. H1746 He calleth H7121 to me out of Seir, H8165 Watchman, H8104 what of the night? H3915 Watchman, H8104 what of the night? H3915
12 The watchman H8104 said, H559 The morning H1242 cometh, H857 and also the night: H3915 if ye will enquire, H1158 enquire H1158 ye: return, H7725 come. H857
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 21
Commentary on Isaiah 21 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 21
In this chapter we have a prophecy of sad times coming, and heavy burdens,
These and other nations which the princes and people of Israel had so much to do with the prophets of Israel could not but have something to say to. Foreign affairs must be taken notice of as well as domestic ones, and news from abroad enquired after as well as news at home.
Isa 21:1-10
We had one burden of Babylon before (ch. 13); here we have another prediction of its fall. God saw fit thus to possess his people with the belief of this event by line upon line, because Babylon sometimes pretended to be a friend to them (as ch. 39:1), and God would hereby warn them not to trust to that friendship, and sometimes was really an enemy to them, and God would hereby warn them not to be afraid of that enmity. Babylon is marked for ruin; and all that believe God's prophets can, through that glass, see it tottering, see it tumbling, even when with an eye of sense they see it flourishing and sitting as a queen. Babylon is here called the desert or plain of the sea; for it was a flat country, and full of lakes, or loughs (as they call them in Ireland), like little seas, and was abundantly watered with the many streams of the river Euphrates. Babylon did but lately begin to be famous, Nineveh having outshone it while the monarchy was in the Assyrian hands; but in a little time it became the lady of kingdoms; and, before it arrived at that pitch of eminency which it was at in Nebuchadnezzar's time, God by this prophet plainly foretold its fall, again and again, that his people might not be terrified at its rise, nor despair of relief in due time when they were its prisoners, Job 5:3; Ps. 37:35, 36. Some think it is here called a desert because, though it was now a populous city, it should in time be made a desert. And therefore the destruction of Babylon is so often prophesied of by this evangelical prophet, because it was typical of the destruction of the man of sin, the great enemy of the New-Testament church, which is foretold in the Revelation in many expressions borrowed from these prophecies, which therefore must be consulted and collated by those who would understand the prophecy of that book. Here is,
Isa 21:11-12
This prophecy concerning Dumah is very short, and withal dark and hard to be understood. Some think that Dumah is a part of Arabia, and that the inhabitants descended from Dumah the sixth son of Ishmael, as those of Kedar (v. 16, 17) from Ishmael's second son, Gen. 25:13, 14. Others, because Mount Seir is here mentioned, by Dumah understand Idumea, the country of the Edomites. Some of Israel's neighbours are certainly meant, and their distress is foretold, not only for warning to them to prepare them for it, but for warning to Israel not to depend upon them, or any of the nations about them, for relief in a time of danger, but upon God only. We must see all creature confidences failing us, and feel them breaking under us, that we may not lay more weight upon them than they will bear. But though the explication of this prophecy be difficult, because we have no history in which we find the accomplishment of it, yet the application will be easy. We have here,
Isa 21:13-17
Arabia was a large country, that lay eastward and southward of the land of Canaan. Much of it was possessed by the posterity of Abraham. The Dedanim, here mentioned (v. 13), descended from Dedan, Abraham's son by Keturah; the inhabitants of Tema and Kedar descended from Ishmael, Gen. 25:3, 13, 15. The Arabians generally lived in tents, and kept cattle, were a hardy people, inured to labour; probably the Jews depended upon them as a sort of a wall between them and the more warlike eastern nations; and therefore, to alarm them, they shall hear the burden of Arabia, and see it sinking under its own burden.