Isaiah 21:13

The burden upon Arabia,.... Which lay heavy upon it, as a burden upon a beast; or "concerning" it, or "against" it, as Kimchi notes; which Arabia, or what part thereof, is meant, may be gathered from the names after mentioned.

The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim. The burden upon Arabia - i:e., respecting.

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. Travelling companies: in those parts travellers then did and still do go together in companies. See ,28 Job 6:19. Dedanim; or, Dedamites; of whom see on 49:8. These were merchants, and used to trade with Tyre, 38:13, and their way lay through the same parts of Arabia.

Isaiah 21:13 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.Ver. 13. The burden upon Arabia.] As a burden upon a beast. These Arabians or Hagarens had assisted, likely, Tihakah the Ethiopian against Sennacherib, and are therefore set upon by him. Sure it is they were enemies to the Church. In the forest shall ye lodge.] In the wide and wild woods, glad to lurk anywhere for safety - glad to quit your huts. O ye travelling companies.] Ye troops of travellers.

(13) The burden upon Arabia.—Better, of the evening land. Here, again, the prophet alters the form of the word (Arab into Ereb) so as to convey a mystic meaning. The land of which he is about to speak is a land of shadow and of gloom. Evening is falling on it. It is a question whether the second Arabia is to retain its geographical form or to be translated “evening,” as before. In any case, of course, Arabia is the country spoken of. The “Dedanites” appear in Jeremiah 49:8; Ezekiel 25:13, and seem from Ezekiel 27:15 to have been dwelling in the neighbourhood of the Edomites (Jeremiah 49:8) as a commercial people trading with Tyre in ebony and ivory. The point of the oracle against them is that they shall be compelled by the presence of the Assyrian armies to leave the main lines of their traffic, probably, as before, on their way westward to Tyre, and to take bye-paths, pitching their tents not near towns and villages, but in the low brushwood of the wilderness.

Verse 13. The burden upon Arabia - "The oracle concerning Arabia"] This title is of doubtful authority. In the first place, because it is not in many of the MSS. of the Septuagint; it is in MSS. Pachom. and I. D. II. only, as far as I can find with certainty. Secondly, from the singularity of the phraseology; for משא massa is generally prefixed to its object without a preposition, as משא בבל massa babel; and never but in this place with the preposition ב beth. Besides, as the word בערב baarab occurs at the very beginning of the prophecy itself, the first word but one, it is much to be suspected that some one, taking it for a proper name and the object of the prophecy, might note it as such by the words משא בערב massa baarab written in the margin, which he might easily transfer to the text. The Septuagint did not take it for a proper name, but render it εντῳδρυμῳἑσπερας, "in the forest, in the evening," and so the Chaldee, which I follow; for otherwise, the forest in Arabia is so indeterminate and vague a description, that in effect it means nothing at all. This observation might have been of good use in clearing up the foregoing very obscure prophecy, if any light had arisen from joining the two together by removing the separating title; but I see no connexion between them. The Arabic Version has, "The prophecy concerning the Arabians, and the children of Chedar." This prophecy was to have been fulfilled within a year of the time of its delivery, see Isaiah 21:16; and it was probably delivered about the same time with the rest in this part of the book, that is, soon before or after the 14th of Hezekiah, the year of Sennacherib's invasion. In his first march into Judea, or in his return from the Egyptian expedition, he might perhaps overrun these several clans of Arabians; their distress on some such occasion is the subject of this prophecy. - L.

The oracle on Arabia, Isaiah 21:13-17A vision (Isaiah 21:13-15) and its interpretation (Isaiah 21:16-17). A caravan of the merchant-tribe of Dedan is seen driven by stress of war from the regular route, and lurking in solitary places, destitute of food and water. The travellers are succoured by the hospitality of the neighbouring tribe of Tema (Isaiah 21:13-15). This vision symbolises a great destruction within a short time of the nomadic Arabs, purposed by Jehovah the God of Israel (16 f.). Here again positive indications of date are wanting. If the oracle belongs to the same group as the two which precede, the enemy would be the Persian conquerors of Babylonia, who are represented as attacking the Arabian caravans that traded under its auspices. A similar threat against Dedan forms part of a prophecy of Jeremiah against Edom in the time of Nebuchadnezzar (Isaiah 49:7 f.).

Analysis of Isa 21:13-17. - Vision 18. “Arabia.” The remainder of this chapter is occupied with a single prophecy respecting Arabia.

13-15. Burden upon Arabia — On critical grounds, both Ewald and Delitzsch make it doubtful that Arabia, as a whole, is meant, but rather think that the oracle relates to the sandy desert, the Arabah,