Isaiah 21

THE burden of the desert of the sea Of Babylon, as is evident both from her destroyers, the Medians, v. 2. and especially from v. 9. where she is named. She seems to be called Desert Prophetically, to intimate, that although she was now a most Popular City and Kingdom, yet shortly she should be turned into a Desolate Wilderness, as was threatned ch. 13. 19. &c. But the Word here rendred Desert sometime signifies a Plain, as a very learned Interpreter has observed, and thus it most properly agrees to Babylon and the Land about it, which Geographers note to be a very plain Country, without any Considerable Mountains in it. It is called the Desert of the Sea, because it is scituate by the Sea, as the Isles of the Sea, Est. 10. 1. are those Countries which were beside the Sea. And the Title of the Sea might well be given to the Waters of Babylon, because of the great plenty and multitude of them, the great Channel of Euphrates, and the several lesser Channels cut out, and the vast Lakes of Water; in which respects it is said to sit upon many waters, Ier. 51. 13. the Name of sea being given by the Hebrews to every great Collection of Waters.. As whirlewinds in the south In those Parts which lay Southward from Iudea, where there were many and great Desarts, in which the Winds have greater force. See Iob 1. 19. Ier. 4. 11. pass through As meeting with no stop or opposition., so it The Burden or Judgment. Or, he, the Median, as it is in the next Verse. cometh from the desert From Media and Persia; thus expressed, either because those Countries were full of Desarts, or because a great Desart lay between them and Chaldaea, as Geographers and Historians report., from a terrible land From the Medes, a warlike and formidable People, as appears both from Sacred and Prophane Writers..

A grievous vision A Vision or Prophecy, containing dreadful Calamities which were to fall upon Babylon. is declared unto me, the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth This is spoken either, 1. of the Chaldeans, as their Sin, for which God sends the following Judgment: So the sense is, The Chaldeans still persist in the Practice of Treachery and Rapine, to which they have been so long accustomed: Or, 2. of the Medes and Persians, who are here noted to pay the Babylonians in their own Coin, and to use the same Treachery and Violence towards them, which they had done to others. To which purpose the Words are and may well be rendred otherwise, either thus, The treacherous dealer has found a treacherous dealer, and the spoiler has found a spoiler: or thus, O thou that dealest treacherously with the treacherous dealer, and that spoilest the spoiler, go up, O Elam, &c. as it followeth. These Words will be much illustrated by comparing them with Isa. 33. 1. There is no doubt to be made, but the Medes and Persians used Treachery as well as Force against Babylon: And besides other Instances now unknown, we have one upon Record, of their entertaining those two Traytors, Gadatas and Gobrias, and following their Counsel and Conduct in taking the City, which made them Partakers of their Treason.: Go up To fight against her. These are God's Words, either giving them Command and Commission to do so, or rather foretelling what they would do; which is oft done in this form of Speech., O Elam Persia, called Elam Synechdochically, because Elam was an eminent Province of Persia, bordering upon the Medes.; Besiege To wit, Babylon, v. 9., O Media; all the sighing thereof Either, 1. Babylons sighing, which shall cease, because they shall have no time to sigh, or lament their Miseries, being suddenly surprised, and cut off in a moment, as they were. As God is said to seek out the wickedness of wicked men till he find none, Psal. 10. 15. when he utterly destroyeth them in or with their Sins: Or, 2. the sighing and groanings of God's People, and other Nations under the heavy Oppressions of that potent and cruel Empire; the Pronoun her, or thereof, being taken here not passively, as commonly it is; but actively, or efficiently, as sometimes it is, as Deut. 11. 25. your fear, i. e. the fear of you; and Iob 33. 7. my terrour, i. e. the terrour or dread of me upon thee. have I made to cease.

Therefore are my Ioins Which he mentions with respect to the following Similitude of childbearing, in which the loins are sorely pained. And this the Prophet speaks,... ither 1. in the Name and Person of the Babylonian. Or rather, 2. in his own Name; which is most natural, and agrees best with the last clause of the Verse, which plainly speaks of the torment which he had in the mere hearing of the Word, and seeing the Vision, and not of that which they had in the feeling of it; although the latter is implied in the former; and the Prophet expresseth his horrour in hearing and seeing, to intimate the dreadful horrour which should seize upon them when it came upon them. filled with pain; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travelleth Sharp and grievous pains. I was bowed down at the hearing of it, I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

My heart panted, fearfulness afrighted me: the night of my pleasure The night, in which I used to have a sweet Repose and Sleep. He seems to have had this Vision in a night. But withal this horrour of the Prophet by night was Typical, and did signifie that grievous horrour and destruction, which should befal the Babylonians in a night of great Feasting and Jollity, as it did Dan. 5. 1, 30. has he God, who showed him that Vision. turned into fear Into a time and matter of fear. unto me.

Prepare the table Furnish it with Meats and Drinks, as it follows. The Prophet foretells what the Babylonians would be doing when their Enimies were at their Doors, that they would give up themselves to Feasting and Security., watch in the watch-tower To give us notice of any approaching danger, that in the mean time we may more securely indulge our selves in Mirth and Pleasures., eat, drink: arise, ye Princes Either, 1. ye Medes and Persians: Whilst your Enemies the Babylonian's are feasting securely, prepare to make your Assault. Or, 2. ye Princes of Babylon: Arise from the Table and run to your Arms. Which sudden alarm and change of their Posture proceeded from Tidings out of the Watch-tower, as may be gathered from the former Clause, and is more fully expressed in the following Verses., and anoint the shield Prepare your selves and your Arms for the Battel approaching. The shield is put for all their weapons of Offence and Defence. They used to Anoint their Shields with Oyl, partly to preserve and polish them; and partly to make them slippery, that their Enemies Darts might not fasten in them, but slide off from them..

For thus has the Lord said unto me I speak not my own fancies, but what God has made me to see and hear in a Vision; the Particulars whereof are related in the following Verses., Go, set a watchman Either, 1. a Prophet; such being oft so called, as Ezek. 3. 17. & 33. 2. Or rather, 2. a Military Watchman. For this was now done only in a Vision, which yet did foresignifie what should be done really afterwards., let him declare To thee in Vision, to them Really. what he seeth.

And he saw A short Speech, for, He told me that he saw. a chariot Not for Burden, but for War, in which Chariots were then much used. with a couple of horsemen Attended with two Horse-men. So there were both Chariots and Troops of Horsemen. Or, with a couple of horses, as this Word is sometimes used, as 1 Sam.. 8. 11. 2 Sam. 1. 6. The Chariot was drawn with two Horses., a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels Two Chariots, one drawn by Asses, (under which Title some understand Mules, as being engendred of Asses) and the other by Camels. Whereby he signifies the Variety and Abundance of Warlike Provisions which the Medes and Persians should have for this Expedition, and particularly of Chariots, whereof some were for the Carriage of Necessary Things, and others for the Battel.; and he hearkned diligently He carefully observed what he saw, and what he could further discover. with much heed.

And he cried, A lion The sense of the Words thus rendred is this, The Watchman cried out, I see also a Lion, to wit, marching before the Horsemen and Chariots already mentioned: which they suppose to represent Cyrus or Darius marching in the Head of their Armies.: my lord Or, as it is rendred in the Margin, and by divers others, he cried as (which Particle is oft understood, as has been formerly and frequently noted) a lion, with a terrible Cry, as being affrighted with the Vision, and withal signifying the dreadfulness of that Judgment which was here represented as coming upon Babylon. The Watchman speaks these Words either to God, or to the Prophet, who by command from God had set him in this Place and Station; to whom therefore he gives the following Account of his Discharge of the Work wherewith he was intrusted., I stand continually upon the watch-tower in the day-time, and I am set in my ward whole nights According to thy Command I have stood, and do yet stand continually, both day and night, upon my Watch-Tower..

And behold The sum of what I have discovered is this., here cometh a chariot of men Not filled with Goods, as Chariots of Burden use to be; but providen with Men, to fight from or with them., with a couple of horsemen Understand, and a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; which is easily understood from v. 7. where they are expressed.: and he The Prophet Isaias, who set the Watchman; or the Lord, by whose Command he was set, v. 6. who here gives an Explication of the Vision. answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen: and all the graven images of her gods Which is mentioned as an Evidence that she was fully conquered, because otherwise they would not have suffered their Idols to have been thrown to the Ground. he God, by the Hands of Cyrus, his Instrument. Or, it is an indefinite Speech, he has broken, &c. for they are broken, &c. has broken unto the ground.

O my threshing Threshing is here put for the Corn threshed, as it is explained in the following Words, the Act being frequently put for the Object, as captivity for the Captives, fear for the thing seared, &c. as has been noted before. And the Corn threshed is here metaphorically put for People sorely afflicted and punished, which is oft expressed by Threshing, as Isa. 25. 10. & 41. 15. Mich. 4. 13. &c. This is spoken either, 1. of the Iews, to whom he now turneth his Speech, whom God did grievously thresh and afflict by the Babylonians, and whom he here comforts with these Tidings, as if he had said, Though thou wilt be threshed first, yet Babylon shall be threshed last, and most dreadfully, and their Threshing shall be thy Deliverance. This Interpretation is thought necessary, because of the latter Clause of the Verse, wherewith this is to be joined. Or 2. of Babylon. O my threshing: or, thou art my threshing, whom I have undertaken to thresh and punish. And so this is fitly mentioned here, to assure them that this Prophecy of Babylons Fall must necessarily be accomplished, because the Almighty was engaged in the Work. And this Interpretation seems not to be inconsistent with the rest of the Verse, as we shall see., and the corn of my floor The Corn which I will cause to be threshed upon the Floor. Heb. the son of my floor. For the Title of son is oft given to lifeless things, as Arrows are called the sons of the bow, or of the quiver, Iob 5. 7. &. 41. 28. &c.: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared What I have foretold is not my own Invention, but the Word of God, and therefore shall infallibly come to pass. unto you Either, 1. unto you my People, or Hearers; for all the Prophecies, even concerning other Nations, were published to them, and for their Use and Comfort: Or, 2. Unto (or, Concerning, as this Hebrew Particle is sometimes used, as the Learned know) you Babylonians, to whom this was in some sort declared, because it was published amongst the Iews, and by their means might easily come to the knowledge of other People, and consequently of the Babylonians, Nor is it unusual for the Prophets, in their Prophecies delivered to God's People concerning Babylon, by an Apostrophe to turn their Speech to the Babylonians themselves; of which we have Instances, Ier. 50. 24, 31. & 51. 13, 14, 25, 26..

The burden of Dumah Either, 1. of a part of Arabia, so called from Dumah, one of Ismael's Race, Gen. 25. 14. 1 Chron. 1. 30. Or rather, 2. of Edom or Idumea, as seems most probable from the mention of Mount Seir, which was a part of Edom; which may be here called Dumah, either by an abbreviation, or cutting off the first Letter from Idumea, as Ram is put for Aram, 1 Chron. 2. 9. Iob 32. 2. or rather prophetically and sarcastically; for Dumah signifies silent: Whereby he intimates, That Edom, which was much given to vain boasting and railing against God, and against his People, as we read elsewhere, should be brought to silence and utter ruine. And such new, and enigmatical and significant Names are elsewhere given by the Prophets to divers known Places, as Babylon is called Sheshach, Ier. 25. 26. and Egypt, Mazer, Mich. 7. 12. &c.. He To wit, Dumah, or the People of Dumah, of whom he speaks, or one of them in the name and by the appointment of the rest. calleth to me To the Watchman, as appears by the following Words: For the Prophet delivers his Prophecy in the form of a Dialogue between the People and the Watchman. out of Seir Out of Edom, which is frequently called Seir, as Gen. 32. 3. & 36. 8. 2 Chron. 20. 20, &c. & 25. 11., Watchman Whereby he means either, 1. the Prophet Isaiah, whom they call watchman, either seriously, or in scorn, because the Prophets were so called by God, and by the People of the Jews: Or, 2. the Watchman of Edom, whom they had set as People use to do in Times of great Danger., what of the night The night is taken either, 1. metaphorically, for a time of Tribulation. So they ask the Prophet what he has to say concerning that Night of Calamity which he had so long and oft threatned to them, whereof as yet they saw no appearance: Or, 2 properly; the night being the proper and chief time in which the Watchman's Care is most necessary, because then their Enemies had opportunity to do them most harm. So the People are supposed to come to him very early in the morning, to inquire what has hapned in the Night; which shows a State of great Perplexity and Fear: which might well be called a burden, both because Fear in it self is a great Torment, and because this Fear was a Sign and Presage of their approaching Miseries.? watchman, what of the night The repetition of the same Words, shows the greatness of their Solicitude and Fear.?

The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night The Night is past without any great mischief to you, and the comfortable Light of the Morning is approaching, which freeth mens Minds from the Terrours of the Night; but although the Morning be coming it will be gone, and the Night will return, and your Fears with it. The night seems to be here taken properly, as the morning is; yet so, that he alludes to the Metaphorical Signification of the Word, and intimates, that the Night of Affliction was coming upon them.: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come If this Watchman be the Prophet Isalas, then the sense of these Words is this, If you will be enquiring, enquire sincerely and seriously of God, by me, concerning your Danger, and the way to prevent it; return unto the Lord by true Repentance, who alone can secure you, and come unto me for Direction. But if it be their own Watchman, which, with submission, I conceive most probable, the sense is, If you will enquire, enquire; I perceive, by what I have observed this Night, that your Danger is not past, and there will be occasion for further Enquiries from time to time; and therefore return, come, i. e. either return to them that sent you with this Message, and then come to me for further Tydings; or, come again, as return, lie down, is put for lie down again, 1 Sam. 3. 5. come to me the next Morning, as you have reason to do, and so from Morning to Morning; for I see every Night is likely to bring some evil Tidings to you..

The burden upon Arabia. In the forest Not, as you used to do, in the Houses or Tents of the Arabians: Whereby he implies, That that Populous Country should be turned into a desolate Wilderness. in Arabia shall ye lodg, O ye travelling companies In those Parts Travellers then did, and still do go together in Companies. See Gen. 37. 25, 28. Iob 6. 19. of Dedanim Or, Dedamites; of whom see on Gen. 25. 3. Ier. 25. 23, 24. & 49. 7, 8. These were Merchants, and used to Trade with Tyre, Ezek. 27. 20. & 38. 13. and their Way lay thorow the same Parts of Arabia..

The inhabitants of the land of Tema A part of Arabia; of which see Iob 6. 19. Ier. 25. 23. brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled Whereby he implies, That those other Arabians, against whom this Prophecy is principally directed, should be reduced to great scarcity of all necessary Provisions, and forced to flee for their Lives, from a bloody Enemy, as is more fully expressed in the next Verse..

For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.

For thus has the Lord said unto me, Within a year From the time of this Prophecy., according to the years of an hireling To wit, an exact Year; for Hirelings diligently observe and wait for the end of the Year, when they are to receive their wages., and all the glory Their Power, and Riches, and all things wherein they used to glory. This was executed by the Assyrians. of Kedar Of whom see on Psal. 120. 5. Ier. 49. 28. shall fail.

And the residue of the number of archers Bows and Arrows were their chief Weapons, and they were expert in the Use of them, both against Beasts and Men, as occasion required., the mighty men of the children of Kedar q, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it.