Isaiah · chapter 21 of 66
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Isaiah 21 gathers three oracles. The first describes a harsh vision of Babylon's fall to Elam and Media, and the watchman announces that it has fallen. The second, about Dumah, presents a watchman who says morning is coming, and also night. The third announces that within a year the glory of Kedar, in Arabia, will end.
This chapter continues the oracles against the nations with three short messages, each headed by an enigmatic title. The words about Babylon show a prophet who nearly faints at what he sees, and the watchman, who appears twice, is the figure linking the first two oracles.
The first oracle, about the wilderness of the sea, is a harsh vision. Like whirlwinds in the Negeb, something comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. The traitor betrays and the destroyer destroys. The Lord gives the order: go up, Elam; lay siege, Media. All the sighing has been brought to an end. So Isaiah's body is filled with pain, and pangs seize him like those of a woman in labor. He is bewildered by what he hears, dismayed by what he sees. His heart staggers and horror overwhelms him; the twilight he longed for has become terror. They prepare the table, spread the rugs, eat and drink, and suddenly comes the command: arise, O princes, oil the shield.
The Lord tells him to post a watchman to report what he sees. The watchman sees chariots and horsemen and listens closely. He cries out like a lion on the watchtower, day and night. Then a man comes in a chariot with a team of horses and says: fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground. Isaiah tells his people, threshed like grain on the threshing floor, that he has heard it from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.
The second oracle, about Dumah, is short. Someone calls to him from Seir: watchman, what of the night? The watchman answers that morning comes, and also the night, and that if they would ask, they should ask and come back again.
The third is about Arabia. In the thickets of Arabia the caravans of the Dedanites will lodge. The inhabitants of Tema bring water to the thirsty and meet the fugitive with bread, for they flee from swords and from the bent bow. For the Lord has said that within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end, and the remnant of the archers of the mighty men of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Isaiah receives a harsh vision: the traitor betrays and the destroyer destroys. The Lord orders Elam and Media to go up against the city, and with that the suffering Babylon had caused comes to an end.
The prophet confesses that his heart staggers and horror overwhelms him; the twilight he longed for has become terror. Isaiah is not a cold observer: he trembles at seeing judgment, even when it is just.
Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground. The city's fall is also the defeat of its idols. Revelation 14:8 and 18:2 take up these words.
The watchman answers that morning comes, and also night. The answer is ambiguous: there is hope and there is danger, and people are invited to ask again. It is an invitation to keep seeking God's word.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Elam and Media. — Isaiah 21:2
Answer: He is filled with pain and anguish, his heart staggers and horror overwhelms him. — Isaiah 21:3-4
Answer: Post a watchman to report what he sees. — Isaiah 21:6
Answer: That Babylon has fallen and the images of her gods are shattered. — Isaiah 21:9
Answer: That morning comes, and also night. — Isaiah 21:11-12
Answer: Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker. — Isaiah 21:16
Isaiah 21 shows us a prophet who deeply feels what he sees and hears. God's judgment on the nations is not a subject to be handled coldly. In a small group, we can talk about how to pray and react to news of war and suffering without losing compassion.
The figure of the watchman teaches us to keep watch and wait for the Lord's word, even when the answer is not completely clear. We live between morning and night, and we are invited to keep asking and to stay attentive to what God says.
Isaiah 21 concludes three brief oracles, one of them with the fall of Babylon. Chapter 22 turns to Jerusalem, called the valley of vision, and to an official named Shebna.
It is the enigmatic title of the first oracle, which the text itself applies to Babylon in verse 9. It may allude to the low, marshy plain of southern Mesopotamia, by the Persian Gulf, which the ancients called the land of the sea.
Revelation 14:8 and 18:2 repeat the phrase fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. The New Testament uses Babylon as an image of a power opposed to God and announces its final fall, so Isaiah's text is read as a model of judgment on all arrogance.
Interpreters do not agree. It may mean that Edom will have a brief relief followed by new oppression, or the alternation of judgment and hope. What matters is that the text invites people to ask again, that is, to keep seeking God.