Isaiah 21
McGeeCHAPTER 21THEME: Three burdens: Babylon “desert of the sea,” Edom “Dumah,” and ArabiaIsaiah is enumerating eleven “burdens,” or judgments. In this chapter we are going to consider burdens seven, eight, and nine, which are against Babylon, Edom, and Arabia. These burdens are set forth by expressive symbols, and in the day they were given I am sure they were as clear to the people as the noonday sun. In fact, they were as clear to the people in Isaiah’s day as the expressions “stars and stripes” and “Old Glory” are to every American. The insignia in this chapter are not quite so clear to us today, and as a result there has been some disagreement among Bible expositors about their meaning. They can be identified as Babylon, Edom, and Arabia, and each one will be considered separately as we go through this chapter.
All were enemies or potential enemies of Israel. Each brought a particular misery upon God’s people. Each has been judged in time. This chapter is a neglected part of the Word of God. To prove this, let me ask you a question. When was the last time you heard a sermon or Bible study on this chapter of the Bible? I have a notion that you have never heard a study on Isaiah 21. This is another section of Scripture which confirms my position of a premillennial, pretribulation, dispensational interpretation of the Word of God. It is the only interpretation which would satisfy a passage like this, which is the reason all other systems stay clear of this chapter and other portions of God’s Word with like teaching. The remarkable thing in this chapter is that symbols are used. Now I believe in a literal interpretation of Scripture, but when symbolism is used, it always pictures reality. That is an important thing to remember. Many expositors call a teaching of Scripture symbolism in an attempt to make it disappear. Like a magician says, “hocus-pocus,” and it’s goneso don’t worry about it. My friend, let’s not try to evaporate this section of Scripture, but let’s study it to see what God is saying.
Isaiah 21:1
“The desert of the sea” is a strange expression. It is like saying “the dryness of the water” or “how dry the water is.” This may not be too peculiar to us since we have “dry ice” and “cold heat.” Dr. F. C. Jennings translates this verse, “As sweep the whirlwinds through the south, so comes it from the desert, from the land that strikes with terror.” This is a good interpretation of the verse, but it does not identify the nation. But if you keep reading, the nation is identified in verse Isa_21:9: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” So we know “the desert of the sea” is Babylon.
Before Babylon became a world power, her doom was again predicted. We have already seen that. The first burden in chapters 13-14 was against Babylon. Babylon became so awe-inspiring and frightful, and represented so much in Scripture, that we have this further word concerning its doom. It was the first place of united rebellion against God at the Tower of Babel, and it represents the last stronghold of rebellion against God. We find this in Revelation 17 and 18.
Religious Babylon is presented in Revelation 17, and commercial Babylon is set forth in Revelation 18. The expression, “desert of the sea,” is a paradoxical phrase. Babylon was geographically located on a great desert plain beside the Euphrates River. It was irrigated by canals from the river. Jeremiah gives this description of Babylon, “O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness” (Jer_51:13). The desert and the sea form a weird amalgamation here. This same fusion of desert and sea is made by John in Revelation. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns” (Rev_17:3).
This is the desert where John beheld the mystery Babylon: “…Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters” (Rev_17:1). It was in the desert that John saw the “many waters.” These two verses are symbolic, but they carry through the same pattern. We will find it again in Jeremiah. Babylon, with its glitter and glamour and as the fountainhead of idolatry and false religion, was a mirage upon the desert. Isn’t this tremendous!“desert of the sea"what a picture! Babylon was not a wonderful place. It was a mirage in the desert. It wasn’t a spring or an oasis at all, but a place filled with idols and false religion. There was no life-giving water there for the souls of men. This is something that every pastor, every radio preacher, every church, and every church member ought to turn over in his mind. Is my church or am I a life-giving fountain, or am I just a mirage upon the desert of life?
Isaiah 21:2
God commands the twofold nation of Media-Persia to destroy and spoil the city. “Go up, O Elam [Persia]: besiege, O Media.” That is exactly what happened. This is a prophecy that was given before the invasion took place.
Isaiah 21:3
Once again Isaiah is moved with great feeling and emotion when he learns of the coming devastation. This is the heart of God revealed, desiring to show mercy and loath to judge even so frightful a foe. God’s love is as evident here as in the tears of Jeremiah. No one can rejoice in the judgment of God. God says that His judgment is His “strange” work. He does want to judge you; He wants to save you, but the choice is yours. He doesn’t want to judge nations either, and that choice is up to them.
Isaiah 21:5
This verse reads as if it were an eyewitness account of the destruction of Babylon as recorded by Daniel (see Dan. 5). Remember, this was recorded about two hundred years before it transpired. In the midst of the banquet of Belshazzar, the Median general, Gobryas, detoured the river that flowed through the city and marched his army on the dry river bed underneath the walls of the city. He took the city by surprise and shock. This is something that God said would take place.
Isaiah 21:8
The watchman on the walls of the city tells the people inside what he sees. He says, “As I look out on the desert, here comes a chariot of men, with a couple of horses.” They are messengers, and their message is “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” The watchman brings word to the king of Babylon that it has fallen (see Jer_51:31-33). All of Babylon’s graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground. This is a sigh of sorrow as well as relief. Babylon was the source of all idolatry.
Isaiah 21:10
Harvest is the time of judgment. In Joh_4:35 our Lord said, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” Our Lord said this at the end of the age of law, when judgment was coming against Israel who had had the Law for almost fifteen hundred years. Harvest is the time of judgment. There is a book I would like to recommend to you at this point, because we are going to study more about Babylon in the Books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Hislop’s book The Two Babylons, would be a valuable addition to your library.
Isaiah 21:11
BURDEN OF EDOMWho is “Dumah”? Dumah is a symbolic word. Isaiah played upon words to bring out a deeper meaning. We have already seen that. He used words to carry a message to the people. “Dumah” is Edom with the E removed. You take the E off Edom, and you have Dumah which means “silence.” Our word dumb is closer to the intent and purpose of Isaiah. Edom is still a land of deathlike silence. Seir means “rough or hairy.” Esau was the first Seir man (see Gen_25:25). He was hairy, and he dwelt in Mount Seir (see Gen_36:8). Seir also means “storms.” It was a land swept with storms. “Silence and Storm.” What a play on words, and what a message! Edom is obviously the country involved. Out of the land of silence and storm comes this inquiry, which is twice repeated: “Watchman, what of the night?” In other words, “How much of the night is gone?” How long will it be before God’s glory will be revealed when the “…Sun of righteousness [shall] arise with healing in his wings …” (Mal_4:2)?
Isaiah 21:12
You see, both morning and night are coming. What will be glory for some will be doom for others. What will be light for God’s people will be night for Edomites, the men of the flesh who have rejected God.
Isaiah 21:13
BURDEN OF ARABIA"Arabia” seems clear enough, but again this is a word with a double meaning. It can be made to mean evening by changing the vowel points. The Hebrew language is a language of consonants with no vowels. Instead it had vowel points, which are little marks above the consonants. Scholars have added vowels to the Hebrew words to make them more readable. In this verse the meaning is quite obvious: it was evening in the history of Arabia.
It was later than they thought. Arabia was the land of the Ishmaelites, the Bedouin tribes of the desertthe modern Arabs. It is interesting that God speaks of them. Abraham’s sons, Ishmael and Isaac, never did get along. Their descendants don’t get along today either. The Arabs and the Jews are still at each other’s throats.
If Abraham could see what is going on now, I wonder if he would think the sin he committed was a small sin. My friend, sin never ceases working itself out in the human story.
Isaiah 21:14
There was a coming judgment upon this land and its people. This chapter of poetic beauty and heart sorrow should not end on this note. It may be “evening” here, but God’s day is reckoned “the evening and the morning”"…the evening and the morning were the first day" (Gen_1:5). The morning is coming; the night of weeping will soon be over, and the new day will dawn. Man’s evening of failure, sin, and darkness will end, and God’s morning will be ushered in by the coming of the Sun of Righteousness.