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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 21:11 - 21:17
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Against Edom and Arabia
v. 11. The burden of Dumah, that is, Idumea, the land of Edom, the land of the night and stillness of death: He calleth to me out of Seir, which is the country of Edom, between the Dead Sea and the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea, Watchman, what of the night? Is there any hope for the dawn of deliverance? Watchman, what of the night? the repetition of the call showing the eagerness of the people of Idumea to be delivered from the night of their calamity which, as the text implies, has now come upon them.
v. 12. The watchman, that is, the prophet to whom they turned in their affliction, said, The morning cometh and also the night, that is, no sooner would the morning dawn than it would be devoured once more by night and destruction; if ye will enquire, enquire ye, namely, in vain, as long as they continued in their enmity against the Lord. Return, come! For only by being converted to the God of Israel would they escape the threatened misfortune. This prophecy was exactly fulfilled, for Idumea was plunged from one affliction into the next, with barely a dawn of better days to relieve the night. The way of salvation for Edom as for all other people is that of repentance.
v. 13. The burden upon Arabia, concerning the punishment which would strike this great country of many nomadic tribes: In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, in the thick undergrowth, or mesquite, of the wilderness, as in our own Southwest, O ye traveling companies of Dedanim, caravans of the nomadic tribes in the northwestern part of the peninsula.
v. 14. The inhabitants of the land of Tema, a province with its capital city in this section of Arabia, brought water to him that was thirsty, to the fugitives of Dedan; they prevented with their bread him that fled, thus anticipating the wants of those who were in need and giving them the food which they needed for their support now that they were fugitives before the enemy.
v. 15. For they fled from the swords, as the enemy advanced upon Dedan, from the drawn sword and from the bent bow and from the grievousness of war, which was rolling over them like a mighty giant.
v. 16. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, most carefully measured, 16:14, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail, the name here including all the tribes of Arabia, which represented a nation, but only in a loose federation;
v. 17. and the residue of the number of archers, the remnant of the Arab warriors, noted for their skill with the bow, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, celebrated for their warlike nature, shall be diminished, only a very few of them remaining; for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it. In His hands are the fortunes of all nations, and His Word is the eternal truth.