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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Song of Songs';
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Title = 'The Book of the Prophet Isaiah';
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<p id="Chapter21" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br >CHAPTER 21
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<p id="Isa21_1"><p><a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,'1-10');">Isa 21:1-10</a>. REPETITION OF THE ASSURANCE GIVEN IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CHAPTERS TO THE JEWS ABOUT TO BE CAPTIVES IN BABYLON, THAT THEIR ENEMY SHOULD BE DESTROYED AND THEY BE DELIVERED.
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<p>He does not narrate the event, but graphically supposes himself a watchman in Babylon, beholding the events as they pass.
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<p><b>1. desert</b>—the champaign between Babylon and Persia; it was once a <i>desert,</i> and it was to become so again.
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<br><br><b>of the sea</b>—The plain was covered with the water of the Euphrates like a "sea" (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',51,13,36);">Jer 51:13, 36</a>; so <a onclick="return mV('Isa',11,15);">Isa 11:15</a>, the Nile), until Semiramis raised great dams against it. Cyrus removed these dykes, and so converted the whole country again into a vast desert marsh.
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<br><br><b>whirlwinds in the south</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',37,9);">Job 37:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',9,14);">Zec 9:14</a>). The south wind comes upon Babylon from the deserts of Arabia, and its violence is the greater from its course being unbroken along the plain (<a onclick="return mV('Job',1,19);">Job 1:19</a>).
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<br><br><b>desert</b>—the plain between Babylon and Persia.
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<br><br><b>terrible land</b>—Media; to guard against which was the object of Nitocris great works [HERODOTUS, 1.185]. Compare as to "terrible" applied to a wilderness, as being full of unknown dangers, <a onclick="return mV('Deu',1,29);">Deu 1:29</a>.
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<p id="Isa21_2"><b>2. dealeth treacherously</b>—referring to the <i>military</i> stratagem employed by Cyrus in taking Babylon. It may be translated, "is repaid with treachery"; then the subject of the verb is <i>Babylon.</i> She is repaid in her own coin; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',33,1);">Isa 33:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hab',2,8);">Hab 2:8</a>, favor this.
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<br><br><b>Go up</b>—Isaiah abruptly recites the order which he hears God giving to the Persians, the instruments of His vengeance (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',13,3,17);">Isa 13:3, 17</a>).
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<br><br><b>Elam</b>—a province of Persia, the original place of their settlement (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',10,22);">Gen 10:22</a>), east of the Euphrates. The name "Persia" was not in use until the captivity; it means a "horseman"; Cyrus first trained the Persians in horsemanship. It is a mark of authenticity that the name is not found before Daniel and Ezekiel [BOCHART].
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<br><br><b>thereof</b>—the "sighing" <i>caused</i> by Babylon (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',14,7,8);">Isa 14:7-8</a>).
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<p id="Isa21_3"><b>3.</b> Isaiah imagines himself among the exiles in Babylon and cannot help feeling moved by the calamities which come on it. So for Moab (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',15,5);">Isa 15:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',16,11);">16:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>pain</b>—(Compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',13,8);">Isa 13:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',30,4,19);">Eze 30:4, 19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Nah',2,10);">Nah 2:10</a>).
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<br><br><b>at the hearing</b>—The <i>Hebrew</i> may mean, "I was so bowed down that <i>I could not hear;</i> I was so dismayed that <i>I could not see</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',16,2);">Gen 16:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',69,23);">Psa 69:23</a>) [MAURER].
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<p id="Isa21_4"><b>4. panted</b>—"is bewildered" [BARNES].
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<br><br><b>night of my pleasure</b>—The prophet supposes himself one of the banqueters at Belshazzar's feast, on the night that Babylon was about to be taken by surprise; hence his expression, "<i>my</i> pleasure" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',14,11);">Isa 14:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',51,39);">Jer 51:39</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',5,'1-31');">Dan 5:1-31</a>).
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<p id="Isa21_5"><b>5. Prepare the table</b>—namely, the feast in Babylon; during which Cyrus opened the dykes made by Semiramis to confine the Euphrates to one channel and suffered them to overflow the country, so that he could enter Babylon by the channel of the river. Isaiah first represents the king ordering the feast to be got ready. The suddenness of the irruption of the foe is graphically expressed by the rapid turn in the language to an alarm addressed to the Babylonian princes, "Arise," etc. (compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',22,13);">Isa 22:13</a>). MAURER translates, "<i>They prepare</i> the table," etc. But see <a onclick="return mV('Isa',8,9);">Isa 8:9</a>.
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<br><br><b>watch in...watchtower</b>—rather, "set the watch." This done, they thought they might feast in entire security. Babylon had many watchtowers on its walls.
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<br><br><b>anoint...shield</b>—This was done to prevent the leather of the shield becoming hard and liable to crack. "Make ready for <i>defense</i>"; the mention of the "shield" alone implies that it is the Babylonian revellers who are called on to prepare for instant <i>self-defense.</i> HORSLEY translates, "Grip the oiled shield."
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<p id="Isa21_6"><b>6. Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth</b>—God's direction to Isaiah to set a watchman to "declare" what he sees. But as in <a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,10);">Isa 21:10</a>, Isaiah himself is represented as the one who "declared." HORSLEY makes <i>him</i> the "watchman," and translates, "Come, let him who standeth on the watchtower report what he seeth."
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<p id="Isa21_7"><b>7. chariot,</b> etc.—rather, "a body of riders," namely, some riding in pairs on horses (literally, "pairs of horsemen," that is, two abreast), others on asses, others on camels (compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,9);">Isa 21:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',22,6);">Isa 22:6</a>). "Chariot" is not appropriate to be joined, as <i>English Version</i> translates, with "asses"; the <i>Hebrew</i> means plainly in <a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,7);">Isa 21:7</a>, as in <a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,9);">Isa 21:9</a>, "a body of men riding." The Persians used asses and camels for war [MAURER]. HORSLEY translates, "One drawn in a car, with a pair of riders, drawn by an ass, drawn by a camel"; 'Cyrus is the man; the car drawn by a camel and ass yoked together and driven by two postilions, one on each, is the joint army of Medes and Persians under their respective leaders. He thinks the more ancient military cars were driven by men riding on the beasts that drew them; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,9);">Isa 21:9</a> favors this.
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<p id="Isa21_8"><b>8. A lion</b>—rather, "(The watchman) cried, I am <i>as</i> a lion"; so <i>as</i> is understood (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',62,5);">Isa 62:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',11,1);">Psa 11:1</a>). The point of comparison to "a lion" is in <a onclick="return mV('Rev',10,3);">Rev 10:3</a>, the <i>loudness</i> of the cry. But here it is rather his <i>vigilance.</i> The lion's eyelids are short, so that, even when asleep, he seems to be on the watch, awake; hence he was painted on doors of temples as the symbol of watchfulness, guarding the place (<i>Hor. Apollo</i>) [HORSLEY].
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<p id="Isa21_9"><b>9. chariot of men</b>—chariots with men in them; or rather, the same body of riders, horsemen two abreast, as in <a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,7);">Isa 21:7</a> [MAURER]. But HORSLEY, "The man drawn in a car with a pair of riders." The first half of this verse describes what the watchman <i>sees;</i> the second half, what the watchman <i>says,</i> in consequence of what he sees. In the interval between <a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,7);">Isa 21:7</a>, the overthrow of Babylon by the horsemen, or man in the car, is accomplished. The overthrow needed to be announced to the prophet by the watchman, owing to the great extent of the city. HERODOTUS (1.131) says that one part of the city was captured some time before the other received the tidings of it.
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<br><br><b>answered</b>—not to something <i>said</i> previously, but in reference to the subject in the mind of the writer, to be collected from the preceding discourse: <i>proclaimeth</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Job',3,2);">Job 3:2</a>, <i>Margin;</i> <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,26);">Dan 2:26</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',5,8);">Act 5:8</a>).
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<br><br><b>fallen...fallen</b>—The repetition expresses emphasis and certainty (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',92,9);">Psa 92:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',93,3);">93:3</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',51,8);">Jer 51:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',18,2);">Rev 18:2</a>).
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<br><br><b>images</b>—Bel, Merodach, etc. (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',50,2);">Jer 50:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',51,44,52);">51:44, 52</a>). The Persians had no images, temples, or altars, and charged the makers of such with madness [HERODOTUS 1.131]; therefore they dashed the Babylonian "images broken unto the ground."
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<p id="Isa21_10"><b>10. my threshing</b>—that is, my people (the Jews) trodden down by Babylon.
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<br><br><b>corn of my floor</b>—<i>Hebrew,</i> "my son of the floor," that is, my people, treated as corn laid on the floor for threshing; implying, too, that by affliction, a remnant (grain) would be separated from the ungodly (chaff) [MAURER]. HORSLEY translates, "O thou object of my unremitting <i>prophetic pains.</i>" See <a onclick="return mV('Isa',28,27,28);">Isa 28:27-28</a>. Some, from <a onclick="return mV('Jer',51,33);">Jer 51:33</a>, make Babylon the object of the threshing; but Isaiah is plainly addressing his countrymen, as the next words show, not the Babylonians.
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<p id="Isa21_11"><a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,11);">Isa 21:11</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,12);">12</a>. A PROPHECY TO THE IDUMEANS WHO TAUNTED THE AFFLICTED JEWS IN THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY.
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<p>One out of Seir asks, What of the night? Is there a hope of the dawn of deliverance? Isaiah replies, The morning is beginning to dawn (<i>to us</i>); but night is also coming (<i>to you</i>). Compare <a onclick="return mV('Psa',137,7);">Psa 137:7</a>. The Hebrew captives would be delivered, and taunting Edom punished. If the Idumean wish to ask again, he may do so; if he wishes an answer of peace for his country, then let him "return (repent), come" [BARNES].
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<p><b>11. Dumah</b>—a tribe and region of Ishmael in Arabia (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',25,14);">Gen 25:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ch',1,30);">1Ch 1:30</a>); now called <i>Dumah the Stony,</i> situated on the confines of Arabia and the Syrian desert; a part put for the <i>whole</i> of Edom. VITRINGA thinks "Dumah," <i>Hebrew,</i> "silence," is here used for Idumea, to imply that it was soon to be reduced to <i>silence</i> or destruction.
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<br><br><b>Seir</b>—the principal mountain in Idumea, south of the Dead Sea, in Arabia-Petraea. "He calleth" ought to be rather, "<i>There is a call</i> from Seir."
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<br><br><b>to me</b>—Isaiah. So the heathen Balak and Ahaziah received oracles from a Hebrew prophet.
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<br><br><b>Watchman</b>—the prophet (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',62,6);">Isa 62:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',6,17);">Jer 6:17</a>), so called, because, like a watchman on the lookout from a tower, he announces future events which he sees in prophetic vision (<a onclick="return mV('Hab',2,1,2);">Hab 2:1-2</a>).
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<br><br><b>what of the night</b>—What tidings have you to give as to the state of the night? Rather, "What <i>remains</i> of the night?" How much of it is past? [MAURER]. "Night" means calamity (<a onclick="return mV('Job',35,10);">Job 35:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mic',3,6);">Mic 3:6</a>), which, then, in the wars between Egypt and Assyria, pressed sore on Edom; or on Judah (if, as BARNES thinks, the question is asked in mockery of the suffering Jews in Babylon). The <i>repetition</i> of the question marks, in the former view, the anxiety of the Idumeans.
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<p id="Isa21_12"><b>12.</b> Reply of the prophet, The <i>morning</i> (prosperity) <i>cometh,</i> and (soon after follows) <i>the night</i> (adversity). Though you, Idumeans, may have a gleam of prosperity, it will soon be followed by adversity again. Otherwise, as BARNES, "Prosperity cometh (to the Jews) to be quickly followed by adversity (to you, Idumeans, who exult in the fall of Jerusalem, have seized on the southern part of their land in their absence during the captivity, and now deride them by your question)" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',34,'5-7');">Isa 34:5-7</a>). This view is favored by <a onclick="return mV('Oba',1,'10-21');">Oba 1:10-21</a>.
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<br><br><b>if ye will inquire, inquire</b>—If ye choose to consult me again, do so (similar phrases occur in <a onclick="return mV('Gen',43,14);">Gen 43:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Ki',7,4);">2Ki 7:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Est',4,16);">Est 4:16</a>).
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<br><br><b>return, come</b>—"Be converted to God (and then), come" [GESENIUS]; you will then receive a more favorable answer.
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<p id="Isa21_13"><a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,'13-17');">Isa 21:13-17</a>. PROPHECY THAT ARABIA WOULD BE OVERRUN BY A FOREIGN FOE WITHIN A YEAR.
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<p>Probably in the wars between Assyria and Egypt; Idumea and Arabia lay somewhat on the intermediate line of march.
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<p><b>13. upon</b>—that is, respecting.
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<br><br><b>forest</b>—not a grove of trees, but a region of thick underwood, rugged and inaccessible; for Arabia has no forest of trees.
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<br><br><b>travelling companies</b>—caravans: ye shall be driven through fear of the foe to unfrequented routes (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',33,8);">Isa 33:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jdg',5,6);">Jdg 5:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',49,8);">Jer 49:8</a> is parallel to this passage).
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<br><br><b>Dedanim</b>—In North Arabia (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',25,3);">Gen 25:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',25,23);">Jer 25:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',25,13);">Eze 25:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',27,20);">27:20</a>; a different "Dedan" occurs <a onclick="return mV('Gen',10,7);">Gen 10:7</a>).
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<p id="Isa21_14"><b>14. Tema</b>—a kindred tribe: an oasis in that region (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',25,23);">Jer 25:23</a>). The Temeans give water to the faint and thirsting Dedanites; the greatest act of hospitality in the burning lands of the East, where water is so scarce.
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<br><br><b>prevented</b>—that is, anticipated the wants of the fugitive Dedanites by supplying bread (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',14,18);">Gen 14:18</a>).
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<br><br><b>their bread</b>—rather, "<i>his</i> (the fugitive's) bread"; the bread <i>due to him,</i> necessary for his support; so "<i>thy</i> grave" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',14,19);">Isa 14:19</a>), [MAURER].
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<p id="Isa21_15"><b>15. they</b>—the fugitive Dedanites and other Arabs.
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<p id="Isa21_16"><b>16. years of...hireling</b>—(See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Isa/Isa016.html#Isa16_14">Isa 16:14</a>).
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<br><br><b>Kedar</b>—a wandering tribe (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',120,5);">Psa 120:5</a>). North of Arabia-Petraea, and south of Arabia-Deserta; put for Arabia in general.
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<p id="Isa21_17"><b>17. residue...diminished</b>—The remnant of Arab warriors, famous in the bow, left after the invasion, shall be small.
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