II. PROPHECIES AGAINST OTHER NATIONS WHICH DO NOT TRUST IN THE LORD OF HOSTS (15:1-23:18) (CONTINUED)
D. The Oracle (Burden) Against Babylon, Edom, And Arabia (21:1-16)
1. Babylon will be besieged by the Persians (Elam and Media) (21:1-10) - Babylon achieved complete independence from Assyria in 626 B.C., when Nabopolassar ascended to the throne. Fourteen years later, Babylon took and destroyed Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. Babylon remained a world power until the coming of the Medes and the Persians (under Cyrus) in 539 B.C. Babylon never regained prominence, but did exist as a city at least until the time of Peter (1 Pet. 5:13).
a. The hard vision (vv. 1-5)
(1) Babylon is designated the desert of the sea because it will become desolate and as an indication that the number of her people are as the waters of the ocean - innumerable (Jer. 51:13, 42,43; 50:38; Rev. 17:15). As a whirlwind from the Negeb, that which was coming against Babylon would fulfill the prophecy that follows.
(2) Elam and Media will come against Babylon and destroy her. Judgment against Babylon will provide deliverance for God's people.
(3,4) Commentators cannot agree whether these verses refer to the sympathy that Isaiah felt for the destroyed people or actual, physical pains suffered as a sign. Nevertheless, the effect upon Isaiah was probably not what he expected. There was no happiness in him at the thought of Babylon's destruction.
(5) Babylon will not be prepared for the siege that will come against her. Isaiah vividly depicts the ultimate destruction that will come upon the city.
b. The watchman and his mission (vv. 6-10)
(6) In his vision, Isaiah is told to set a watchman to report what is happening in Chaldea and beyond.
(7) The watchman was to look diligently for the signs of military movement.
(8) The Dead Sea Scrolls omit the word lion from Isaiah. The watchman is on duty both day and night.
(9) The watchman sees what he was set to see, troop movement, the downfall of Babylon and her idols. This prophecy could very well be a foreshadowing of chapters 40-66 - the final downfall of the heathen idols and the triumph of God's cause.
(10) Here my threshing seems to refer to Judah (Jer. 51:33), while the floor refers to Babylon. When Jehovah is through threshing Judah, He will destroy the floor (Babylon). The prophet declares the fulfillment of his duties in this matter.
2. Dumah (Edom) Will Call Out To The Watchman (21:11,12)
(11) Dumah (Hebrew for "silence", Ps. 94:17; 115:17) is Edom. Seir is a mountain range west of Arabah. Seir (or Mt. Seir) also has come to designate Edom. The Edomites cry out in anguish, "How much of this night still remains?"
(12) When morning does come for Edom, it will not amount to much. It will not bring them relief from their despair. Their only hope was to come to Zion (Obad. 17) The final remnant of Edom was destroyed at the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
3. All the glory of Arabia shall fall (21:13-17)
(13) Arabia is the largest peninsula in the world, covering one million square miles. The people of Arabia were renowned for their wisdom (Obad. 8; Judg. 6:3; 7:12; Job). Unrest in Arabia would cause the traveling caravans to take refuge in an oasis.
(14,15) Friends from larger areas of water would supply them as they hid from the overwhelming number of invaders.
(16) Kedar was once a powerful tribe of northern Arabia, but it too would fall at the hands of the invaders within a definite period of time.
(17) While a small remnant would be spared, the majority would be lost. What the Assyrians began, the Babylonians would finish (Jer. 49:28). [TOP OF THIS CHAPTER]
E. The Oracle (Burden) Against Jerusalem (22:1-25) - If God's people are going to behave like heathens, then they will need an oracle as well. There is much disagreement among the commentators as to the time of the fulfillment of this prophecy, but the majority of the conservatives hold that it refers to Sennacherib's attack on the city (701 B.C.). Young's view that the prophecy concerns the general decline and ultimate destruction of the city (586 B.C.)has its merits as well.
1. An attitude of frivolity and irreverence will bring death (22:1-14)
(1) Valley of vision indicates Jerusalem, the seat of God's prophecy. Though danger is on its way, the people carelessly go up on the housetops ( a place of relaxation) as if nothing is wrong. This attitude would characterize the people of Jerusalem from the siege of the Assyrians until they are finally destroyed by the Babylonians.
(2) The Lord would finally tread down the city because they would not repent. "Jerusalem appeared bent on forestalling her deliverance by (committing) moral suicide," (Smith).
(3) The rulers and judges will fail the people (Jer. 52:7-11) a fulfillment of Jehovah's earlier prophecies (Lev. 26:14-45; Deut. 28:15-68).
(4) The prophet will weep openly among the people, but he will not be comforted. The cause: the attitude of the people.
(5) This day of the Lord will include: rout, overthrow, a treading down, and perplexity. Their cries are too late, they will not be heard.
(6) It seems that the warriors of Elam and Kir (not the same Kir as in 15:1) were mercenaries who fought for the Assyrians and later the Babylonians and still later in rebellion against Babylon with the Medes and the Persians. The emphasis here is not on the particular nations but the great distance from which these warriors came (beyond Babylon).
(7) Isaiah speaks as if these things have already occurred. The conquerors will come in great numbers, their forces will fill the valleys.
(8) The covering of Judah refers to the removal of God's protection, allowing the Babylonians free reign among the people. Left solely to their own means the people looked to Solomon's armory (1 Ki. 7:2; 10:17) for weapons to defend themselves.
(9-11) The city of David would become weak ­ literally and morally. The effort of the people to fortify the city would be "too little, too late." They still refused to return to Jehovah their only hope; the source of protection and deliverance (Deut. 28:15-68).
(12) In that day Jehovah will call for the repentance of the people through the acts of contrition listed here.
(13) There will be no repentance, but only the love of mortal life and the love of the sensual things of this world that accompany those that are estranged from their God.
(14) Their scoffing would bring forth death - of their nation and themselves at the hands of Babylon.
2. Shebna illustrates the attitude God will remove while Eliakim illustrates that which God blesses (22:15-25)
(15) These verses contain the only part of Isaiah's prophecy brought against a specific individual. Shebna was the steward of the whole house , an office created by Solomon (1 Ki. 4:6; 2 Ki. 15:5).
(16) Shebna had misused his office to prepare himself a wonderful tomb, of which the prophet makes clear he was unworthy.
(17) Man's best laid plans are often thwarted, in this instance by Jehovah. Shebna fully expected to be laid to rest in Jerusalem, but the Lord had other plans.
(18) Shebna will be wound up and tossed out, like a ball. His resting place will be in a foreign country. His ostentatious style of living will bring him nothing but a shameful death.
(19) As often shown in scripture, it is the Lord who raises men up, and also brings men down.
(20,21) Eliakim is ready to assume the duties of Shebna. Later, Eliakim will meet the Rabshakeh of the Assyrian army and will hold the rank that once belonged to Shebna, while Shebna will be called a "scribe" (Isa. 36:3; 37:2). Eliakim will be as a father to the people.
(22) The key of the house of David refers to the responsibility and power given to Eliakim as opposed to a literal key. While this prophecy is not necessarily Messianic, Jesus did use similar phrasing while referring to Himself (Rev. 3:7). Jesus holds absolute power, while Eliakim is subject to his King.
(23,24) Danger will come to Eliakim from his family. He must refrain from nepotism. Some will try and "ride his coattails." He will hold a position on which the people will lean heavily.
(25) Whether the office in question is held dishonorably (Shebna) or honorably (Eliakim) does not matter. The entire system will be brought down. The coming of the Messiah will alleviate the need for the man-held office. This chapter gives a generic burden against the city. It pictures a final judgment on Jerusalem and an end to all of its rulers ­ bad or good. [TOP OF THIS CHAPTER]
F. The Oracle (Burden) Against Tyre (23:1-18) - This chapter concludes Isaiah's prophecies against the individual nations. These nations have received an oracle because they were not in a right relationship with God. This enmity with God was generally caused by one or more of the following: misuse of military power, idolatry, or misuse of commerce. It was this last sin that would be the downfall of Tyre. Tyre was the chief city-state of Phoenicia. The city was located on the mainland with an island fortress in the Mediterranean Sea guarding its harbors. The people of Tyre had colonized places as far away as: Carthage (North Africa) and Tarshish (Spain). Their ships had been beyond the straits of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic Ocean. While commerce in and of itself is not a sin, it has no other purpose other than worldly gain. When this pursuit of gain develops into lust, greed, and spiritual, moral and governmental decay, it becomes sin. No other nation of Old Testament times had this sinful mercenary spirit to the extent of Phoenicia. While Tyre was indeed under persecution during the Assyrian and Babylonian periods, it was the Greeks of Alexander (322 B.C.) that would finally destroy them (Jer. 25:22; Ezek. 26:1-28:19; Amos 1:9-10).
1. The merchant city of Tyre will fall (23:1-7)
(1) The news of the fall of Tyre will reach as far as their Tarshish colony. The sea-going merchants will howl in despair at the destruction of their harbor.
(2) The people of the Mediterranean coast will be astonished as well. Sidon is mentioned because it was the mother city of Tyre.
(3) Shihor could represent the Nile which in turn would represent Egypt. The seed would be the grain that was shipped from Egypt as a profit making venture for both Egypt and Tyre.
(4) The Lord condemns Phoenicia for her arrogance, pride and greed. Her profit and gain would pass away, nothing they accomplished would last.
(5) Egypt will feel the pain of Tyre's destruction - in their own pocketbook.
(6) No matter where the refuges of Tyre would go, they would take the news of the fall of their city and wail and mourn its loss.
(7) Tyre had prosperity as long as her trading machine was in place. Without the ability to trade, the city had nothing. Her fall would affect not only herself but all the nations that traded with her.
2. The ruin of Tyre was according to the purpose and work of the Lord (23:8-18)
a. Jehovah, the Executioner of the Judgment (vv.8-12)
(8) Through her economic power, Tyre had controlled the politics of not only her own colonies, but probably other countries as well.
(9) Only the Lord would seek to overthrow such a commercial power as this. Things honorable in the sight of the world are nothing in the sight of the Lord.
(10) The restraints placed on the colonies by the mother city are now removed.
(11) The Lord's judgment will not only affect the land and those who profit by it, but also the sea and those who profit by it.
(12) The days of rejoicing for Tyre and Sidon are over. Even as far as Cyprus (another of their colonies) there will be no rest from the judgment of God.
b. The fate of Phoenicia: though cast down, Tyre's prosperity shall be restored (vv. 13-18)
(13) The commentators disagree as to the full meaning of this verse, but it appears that the topic is the partial ruin that Tyre will come under at the hands of the Babylonians (13 years of siege).
(14,15) During the time of one king (kingdom) the city will lie dormant 70 years. This time period probably began with Nebuchadnezzar's siege (v. 13).
(16) As an old harlot might sing songs to entice former customers to return, Tyre will try to restart its commercial trade. The symbol of the harlot shows the depths of evil excesses to which commerce can slide.
(17) Tyre will not learn her lesson. Even when the Lord allows her to return to her trade, she will play the harlot again.
(18) We have no evidence that this prophecy was literally fulfilled. That is, history does not bear out that the commerce of Tyre was ever used directly to help God's people. In general however, God uses commerce (as He uses everything) to benefit His people.