ISAIAH 34 COMMENTARY

EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

Judgment Against the Nations

1 Come near, you nations, and listen;

pay attention, you peoples!

Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,

the world, and all that comes out of it!

1.BARNES, “Come near, ye nations, to hear - That is, to hear of the judgments which God was about to execute, and the great purposes which he was about to accomplish. If the supposition be correct, that this and the following chapter contain a summing up of all that the prophet had thus far uttered; a declaration that all the enemies of the people of God would be destroyed - the most violent and bitter of whom was Idumea; and that this was to be succeeded by the happy times of the Messiah, then we see a plain reason why all the nations are summoned to hear and attend. The events pertain to them all; the truths communicated are of universal interest. “And all that is therein.” Hebrew as in Margin, ‘fulness thereof;’ that is, all the inhabitants of the earth.

All things that come forth of it - All that proceed from it; that is, all the inhabitants that

the world has produced. The Septuagint renders it: ‘The world and the people ��λα�ς ho laos) who are therein.’

2. CLARKE, “Hearken “Attend unto me” - A MS. adds in this line the word אלי ali, unto

me, after לאמים leummim; which seems to be genuine.

3. GILL, “Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people,.... Not the people of the Jews, as some, whose utter destruction, after their rejection of the Messiah, is here thought to be prophesied of; and much less are these people called upon to hear the Gospel preached to them, as Cocceius thinks; for not good, but bad news they are called to hearken to, even the account of their utter ruin: let the earth hear, and all that is therein: not the land of Judea, but all the earth, and the inhabitants of it: the world, and all things that come forth of it; which may either be understood of those that dwell in it, as the Targum interprets it; of the people that are in it, as the Septuagint and the Oriental versions; and so the phrase may denote the original of them, being of the earth, earthly, and to which they must return again; and may be designed to humble men, and hide pride from them; or else the fruits of the earth, trees, and everything that spring out of it, which are called upon to hear the voice of the Lord, when men would not; and so is designed to rebuke the stupidity and sluggishness of men to hearken to what is said to them, even from the Lord, when upon the brink of destruction.

4. HENRY, “Here we have a prophecy, as elsewhere we have a history, of the wars of the Lord, which we are sure are all both righteous and successful. This world, as it is his creature, he does good to; but as it is in the interest of Satan, who is called the god of this world, he fights against it.

I. Here is the trumpet sounded and the war proclaimed, Isa_34:1. All nations must hear and

hearken, not only because what God is about to do is well worthy their remark (as Isa_33:13),

but because they are all concerned in it; it is with them that God has a quarrel; it is against them

that God is coming forth in wrath. Let them all take notice that the great God is angry with

them; his indignation is upon all nations, and therefore let all nations come near to hear. The trumpet is blown in the city (Amo_3:6), and the watchmen on the walls cry, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet, Jer_6:17. Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof, for it is the Lord's (Psa_24:1) and ought to hearken to its Maker and Master. The world must hear, and all things that come forth of it, the children of men, that are of the earth earthy, come out of it, and must return to it; or the inanimate products of the earth are called to, as more likely to hearken than

sinners, whose hearts are hardened against the calls of God. Hear, O you mountains! the Lord's controversy, Mic_6:2. It is so just a controversy that all the world may be safely appealed to concerning the equity of it.

5. JAMISON, “Isa_34:1-17. Judgment of Idumea.

The thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth chapters form one prophecy, the former part of which denounces God’s judgment against His people’s enemies, of whom Edom is the representative; the second part, of the flourishing state of the Church consequent on those judgments. This forms the termination of the prophecies of the first part of Isaiah (the thirty-sixth through thirty-ninth chapters being historical) and is a kind of summary of what went before, setting forth the one main truth, Israel shall be delivered from all its foes, and happier times shall succeed under Messiah. All creation is summoned to hear God’s judgments (Eze_6:3; Deu_32:1; Psa_50:4; Mic_6:1,

Mic_6:2), for they set forth His glory, which is the end of creation (Rev_15:3; Rev_4:11).

that come forth of it — answering to “all that is therein”; or Hebrew, “all whatever fills it,” Margin.

6. K&D, “What the prophet here foretells relates to all nations, and to every individual within them, in their relation to the congregation of Jehovah. He therefore commences with the appeal in Isa_34:1-3 : “Come near, ye peoples, to hear; and he nations, attend. Let the earth hear, and that which fills it, the world, and everything that springs from it. For the indignation of Jehovah will fall upon all nations, and burning wrath upon all their host; He has laid the ban upon them, delivered them to the slaughter. And their slain are cast away, and their corpses - their stench will arise, and mountains melt with their blood.” The summons does not invite them to look upon the completion of the judgment, but to hear the prophecy of the future judgment; and it is issued to everything on the earth, because it would all have to endure the

judgment upon the nations (see at Isa_5:25; Isa_13:10). The expression qetseph�layeho�va�h

implies that Jehovah was ready to execute His wrath (compare yo�m�layeho�va�h in Isa_34:8 and Isa_2:12). The nations that are hostile to Jehovah are slaughtered, the bodies remain unburied, and the streams of blood loosen the firm masses of the mountains, so that they melt away. On

the stench of the corpses, compare Eze_39:11. Even if cha�sam, in this instance, does not mean “to take away the breath with the stench,” there is no doubt that Ezekiel had this prophecy of Isaiah in his mind, when prophesying of the destruction of Gog and Magog (Ezek 39).

7. CALVIN, “1.Draw near, ye nations. Hitherto the Prophet, intentding to comfort the children of God,

preached, as it were, in the midst of them; but now, directing his discourse to the Gentiles, he pursues the

same subject, but in a different manner. Having formerly shewn (Isa_33:6) that the Lord takes such care

of his people as to find out the means of preserving them, he now likewise adds, what we have often

seen in earlier parts of this book, that, after having permitted wicked men to harass them for a time, he

will at length be their avenger, He therefore pursues the same subject, but with a different kind of

consolation; for he describes what terrible vengeance the Lord will take on wicked men who had injured

his people.

Hearken, ye peoples. In order to arouse them the more, he opens the address by this exclamation, as if

he were about to discharge the office of a herald, and summon the nations to appear before the

judgmentseat of God. It was necessary thus to shake off the listlessness of wicked men, who amidst ease

and prosperity despise all threatenings, and do not think that God will take vengeance on their crimes.

Yet amidst this vehemence he has his eye principally on the Church; for otherwise he would have spoken

to the deaf, and without any advantage.

Let the earth hear. He addresses the Edomites who would haughtily despise these judgments, and

therefore he calls heaven and earth to bear witness against them; for he dedares that the judgment will

be so visible and striking, that not only all the nations but even the dumb creatures shall behold it. It is

customary with the prophets thus to address the dumb creatures, when men, though endued with reason

and understanding, are stupid, as we have formerly seen. (Isa_1:2; Deu_32:1.)

8.PULPIT, “Isa_34:1-17 and Isa_35:1-10. are generally recognized as constituting a distinct prophecy, complete in itself, and only slightly connected with what precedes. The passage is, as Bishop Lowth observes, "an entire, regular, and beautiful poem, consisting of two parts, the first (Isa_34:1-17.) containing a denunciation of Divine vengeance against the enemies of God; the second (Isa_35:1-10.) describing the flourishing state of the Church of God, consequent upon the execution of those judgments." The present chapter, which forms the first half of the poem, is wholly denunciatory. Its theme is vengeance on God's enemies generally; but, as a typical specimen, the Edomites are selected, and their punishment is depicted in the strongest colors. The awful picture, with its dark and lurid hues, prepares the way for the soft and lovely portraiture of the blest condition of the Church triumphant, which is contained in the ensuing chapter. Isa_34:1

Ye people; rather, ye peoples. The address is couched in the widest possible terms, so as to include the whole of humankind. The earth and all that is therein; literally, the earth, and the fullness thereof. The inhabitants are no doubt intended.

God's dealing with one nation for the sake of many.

"Let the earth hear." This chapter, with the following one, constitutes a distinct prophecy, and forms the completion of the first part of Isaiah's work. This chapter further illustrates the point which has been again and again enforced, that "no man liveth unto himself;" a man's successes, achievements, failures, losses, troubles, are all for the sake of others. Every man's life is really vicarious, and this truth is pictured for us in the history and relations of nations. It is plain that no nation liveth unto itself; it is inspiration or warning to other nations around. A man's experience, and a nation's experience, can only to a very limited extent help the man or the nation; but it can most materially help other men and other nations. Therefore "let the earth hear" what God will do unto Edom. For Edom is principally referred to here, as the peculiarly inveterate and malignant enemy of ancient Israel. As we know that Edom submitted to Assyria, it is quite possible that they played a part in Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, in his attack on Jerusalem; so the prophet foresees Divine judgments falling on Edom as soon as Sennacherib is removed. The historical relations of Edom and Israel should be carefully studied. It is thought that from the historical reference to one nation the prophetic vision advances to the end of the world and the final judgment. We may keep to the lessons which arise out of the purely historical association. Dealing with one or with a few, for the sake of the many, has been God's universal law of relationship with men. It is the law of elections, or rather selections, the calling out of specially fitted ones to be workers for, or examples to, all. We readily recognize this law, as the responsibility of talents, positions, or opportunities; but it is less usual to see that it equally applies to disabilities, failures, and judgments. Men work for others, and men suffer for others. Nations gain power for the sake of others; nations are crushed and humbled for the sake of others. Illustration of this point may run along three lines. I. A MAN'S OR A NATION'S GENIUS IS NOT FOR SELF. "The earth must hear," and know about it. All gifts are trusts. II. A MAN'S OR A NATION'S SUFFERINGS ARE NOT FOR SELF. The most striking illustration in a man is Job; in a nation, the people of Israel. All sufferers bear their part in the moral education, the redemption, of the race. III. A MAN'S OR A NATION'S JUDGMENTS ARE NOT FOR SELF. We are not punished for our own sakes alone. Judgments follow us for the sake of the on-lookers.—R.T.

9. BI, “The subject is, as in chap. 13., the Lord’s judgment upon all the nations; and as chap 13. singled out

Babylon for special doom, so chap. 34, singles out Edom. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D,D.)

Edom

Edom represents here all the powers hostile to the Church of God as such, and is thus an idea of the profoundest and widest cosmical significance. (F. Delitzsch.)

Edom’s punishment

The eternal punishment falling on the Edomites is depicted (Isa_34:8-10) in figures and colours suggested by the nearness of Edom to the Dead Sea, and the volcanic character of this mountain-land; it suffers the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jer_49:18). (F. Delitzsch.)

Isa_34:1-17; Isa_35:1-10

These are two wonderful chapters, and great use is made of them by Jeremiah and by Zephaniah. This use of the Bible by the Bible is of great consequence; not only is it interesting as a literary incident, but it is full of suggestion as to the range and certainty and usefulness of inspiration. (J. Parker, D. D.)

10. KRETZMANN, “Just as an earlier section of Isaiah is concluded by a graphic description of

the eternal judgment in Isaiah 27, so here, having concluded his prophecies regarding the

invasion of Sennacherib, the Lord here, through Isaiah, again made strong reference to the final

judgment; and, in both instances, the Edomites are brought in especially as a people judged and

condemned. It seems evident that Edom in both cases is singled out as a representative of all the

wicked nations on earth, there being no evidence that the destruction of Edom on the last day

will exceed in any manner the judgment that shall fall upon all the wicked.

Many scholars have discerned this:

"The theme here is judgment upon God's enemies generally; but the Edomites were selected as a

typical specimen.[1] Edom is not merely a historical entity, but a symbol of all the nations that are

hostile to God.[2] By a figure very common in the prophetic writings, any city, or people,

remarkably distinguished as enemies of God is put for those enemies in general.[3] Most

commentators agree that Edom represents all the nations hostile to God."[4]

As a matter of fact, no more appropriate representative of all the enemies of God could have

been chosen. The ancestor of this people was Esau, the profane, adulterous, pagan brother of

Jacob. He hated his brother continually. "He cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually,

and he kept his wrath forever" (Amos 1:11). The Edomites even aided Nebuchadnezzar in the

destruction of Jerusalem (Obadiah 1:1:10ff); and they were relentless enemies of Israel

throughout their history. When Israel desired to pass through their borders on the way to

Palestine, they would not allow it; and they sold Israelites as slaves to Tyre, etc., etc. Nor did it

end in the Old Testament. When the Son of God was born, who attempted to kill him? who

slaughtered the innocents of Judaea? It was Herod the Great, the savage Idumean (and that word

means Edomite). One of his Edomite descendants murdered the apostle James and intended to

kill all of the apostles until God struck him dead; another presided over one of the mock trials of

the Son of God; and his descendants filled the New Testament with their shameful names. One

of them murdered John the Baptist; and two of Herod's posterity, the dissolute Drusilla and

Bernice, were thoroughly evil. How fitting it was, therefore, that the Edomites should have been

chosen here as a symbol for all the Gentile wickedness on earth.

2 The Lord is angry with all nations;

his wrath is on all their armies.

He will totally destroy[a] them,

he will give them over to slaughter.

1.BARNES, “For the indignation of the Lord - Yahweh is about to express his wrath against all the nations which are opposed to his people.

He hath utterly destroyed them - In his purpose, or intention. The prophet represents this as so certain that it may be exhibited as already done.

2. COFFMAN, “Just as an earlier section of Isaiah is concluded by a graphic description of the eternal judgment in Isaiah 27, so here, having concluded his prophecies regarding the invasion of Sennacherib, the Lord here, through Isaiah, again made strong reference to the final judgment; and, in both instances, the Edomites are brought in especially as a people judged and condemned. It seems evident that Edom in both cases is singled out as a representative of all the wicked nations on earth, there being no evidence that the destruction of Edom on the last day will exceed in any manner the judgment that shall fall upon all the wicked.

Many scholars have discerned this:

"The theme here is judgment upon God's enemies generally; but the Edomites were selected as a typical specimen.[1] Edom is not merely a historical entity, but a symbol of all the nations that are hostile to God.[2] By a figure very common in the prophetic writings, any city, or people, remarkably distinguished as enemies of God is put for those enemies in general.[3] Most commentators agree that Edom represents all the nations hostile to God."[4]

As a matter of fact, no more appropriate representative of all the enemies of God could have been chosen. The ancestor of this people was Esau, the profane, adulterous, pagan brother of Jacob. He hated his brother continually. "He cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever" (Amos 1:11). The Edomites even aided Nebuchadnezzar in the destruction of Jerusalem (Obadiah 1:1:10ff); and they were relentless enemies of Israel throughout their history. When Israel desired to pass through their borders on the way to Palestine, they would not allow it; and they sold Israelites as slaves to Tyre, etc., etc. Nor did it end in the Old Testament. When the Son of God was born, who attempted to kill him? who slaughtered the innocents of Judaea? It was Herod the Great, the savage Idumean (and that word means Edomite). One of his Edomite descendants murdered the apostle James and intended to kill all of the apostles until God struck him dead; another presided over one of the mock trials of the Son of God; and his descendants filled the New Testament with their shameful names. One of them murdered John the Baptist; and two of Herod's posterity, the dissolute Drusilla and Bernice, were thoroughly evil. How fitting it was, therefore, that the Edomites should have been chosen here as a symbol for all the Gentile wickedness on earth.

3. GILL, “For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations,.... All the nations of the earth, which have committed fornication with the whore of Rome, or have given in to her false worship, superstition, and idolatry; which is the reason of God's wrath and indignation against them, and of such severe punishment being inflicted on them; see Rev_18:3, and his fury upon all their armies; the armies of the kings of the earth, gathered together at Armageddon, to make war with Christ, and those that follow him; see Rev_16:14, he hath utterly destroyed them; not only devoted them to destruction, but actually destroyed them, with "Cherem", an utter destruction; one of the words of which Armageddon is compounded, and so points at the place, as well as the nature and manner, of the destruction: he hath delivered them to slaughter; to be slain with the sword of him that sitteth on the white horse, which proceeds out of his mouth, Rev_19:21.

4. HENRY, “1. Whom he makes war against (Isa_34:2): The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations; they are all in confederacy against God and religion, all in the interests of the devil, and therefore he is angry with them all, even with all the nations that forget him. He has long suffered all nations to walk in their own ways (Act_14:16), but now he will no longer keep silence. As they have all had the benefit of his patience, so they must all expect now to feel his resentments. His fury is in a special manner upon all their armies, (1.) Because with them they have done mischief to the people of God; those are they that have made bloody work with them, and therefore they must be sure to have blood given them to drink. (2.) Because with them they hope to make their part good against the justice and power of God they trust to them as their defence, and therefore on them, in the first place, God's fury will come. Armies before God's fury are but as dry stubble before a consuming fire, though ever so numerous and courageous.

5. JAMISON, “utterly destroyed — rather, “doomed them to an utter curse” [Horsley].

delivered — rather, “appointed.”

6. MEYER, “REAPING THE WHIRLWIND

Isa_34:1-17

This chapter is one prolonged description of the judgments which were to befall the nations at the hand of Assyria and Babylon. The imagery employed is borrowed from the destruction of the cities of the plain. Streams of pitch; dust of brimstone; the ever-ascending smoke of a furnace; the scream of the eagle, hawk, and owl; the invasion of palaces by the thistle; the howl of the wolf; the call of the jackal; the arrow-snakes nest; the kite with its mate-such are the illustrations employed to depict the scorching desolations which were impending. Edom is especially mentioned as suffering these awful desolations because of her long-standing hatred of Israel. See Psa_137:7; Eze_36:5; Lam_4:21-22. These terrible and graphic predictions have been literally fulfilled, but they foreshadow those further and eternal disasters which must overtake willful and designed rejection of the divine purposes and laws. Are not all nations at this hour standing before the Son of man and being judged? See Mat_25:31.

7. CALVIN, “2.For the indignation of Jehovah is on all the nations. He undoubtedly means “ nations”

which were hostile to the Jews, and at the same time were contiguous to them; for, being surrounded on

all sides by various nations, they had almost as many enemies as neighbors. Though this hatred arose

from other causes, such as envy, yet the diversity of religion very greatly inflamed their rage, for they

were exceedingly offended at having their superstitions condemned. So much stronger was the reason

why God proraised that he would be a judge and avenger.

On all their army. This is added because the Jews were few in number when compared with the rest of

the nations. Although, therefore, “ nations” were proud of their vast numbers, and despised the Jews

because they were few, yet he declares that God will easily diminish and crush them, in order to

preserve, his little flock, of which he is the guardian.

He hath destroyed them. Though he speaks of future events, yet he chose to employ the past tense, in

order to place the event immediately before the eyes of those who were lying low and overwhelmed with

adversity. These predictions were made, as I briefly noticed a little before, not on account of the

Edomites, who paid no regard to this doctrine, but for the sake of the godly, whom he wished to comfort,

because they were wretchedly harassed by their enemies.

8. PULPIT, “Divine indignations.

It is important that we use the words which express the severe side of Divine dealings with great

judgment and carefulness. We should resist the tendency of modern times to eliminate all the severer

features from the conception of the Divine Being. Dr. Bushnell thus expresses it: "Our age is at the point

of apogee from all the robuster notions of Deity." Our fathers made too much of t he Divine "wrath;" but

we are in danger of making too little. There is a considerable variety of words that we may use to express

this sterner side of the Divine dealing—'wrath,' 'anger,' 'indignation,' 'fury,' 'vengeance,' 'judgment,'

'justice,' and the like, but they are all more or less defective. Wrath is the term most commonly used in our

translation, and it is really the best, if only we can hold it closely enough to the idea of a moral, in

distinction from a merely animal, passion; else, failing in this, it will connect associations of unregulated

temper that are painful, and as far as possible from being sacred. It requires in this view, like the safety-

lamps of the miners, a gauze of definition round it, to save it from blazing into an explosion too fierce to

serve the purposes of light." Indignation is the most unexceptionable word, and it is to one point in

connection with it that attention is now invited. It is especially suited to express the feeling of God,

because it applies to wrong-doers rather than to wrong actions. It links on to the view that the essence of

sin is not a wrong thing done, but the wrong will out of which the doing came. We cannot get up

indignation merely at things done; our feeling settles and centers on the bad doers. In all cases of sin we

should keep quite clearly before us that the Divine concern is not, supremely, the disturbed

circumstances, but the sinners and the sufferers. Divine power can readjust and rearrange all our

conditions and circumstances, just as that power can preserve the order, and put straight the broken or

deflected order, of creation. It is God's own condition, laid upon himself, that moral states can only be

reached by moral means. Divine indignations, as they concern moral beings, find expression in the

persuasions of Divine judgments; these fall on the man himself, or they may fall on his substitute and

representative; and so is opened up for treatment the mystery of Divine indignations resting on Christ for

us, for our sakes.—R.T.

3 Their slain will be thrown out,

their dead bodies will stink;

the mountains will be soaked with their blood.

1.BARNES, “Their slain also shall be cast out - They would lie unburied. The slaughter Would be so extensive, and the desolation would be so entire, that there would not remain enough to bury the dead (compare the notes at Isa_14:19).

And the mountains shall be melted with their blood - The expression here is evidently hyperbolical, and means that as mountains and hills are wasted away by descending showers and impetuous torrents, so the hills would be washed away by the vast quantity of blood that would be shed by the anger of Yahweh.

2. PULPIT, “Cast out; i.e. refused burial—thrown to the dogs and vultures

(comp. Jer_22:19; Jer_36:30). Such treatment of the dead was regarded as a shame and a disgrace. It

was on some occasions an intentional insult (Jer_22:19); but here the idea is rather that it would be

impossible to bury the slain on account of their number. In ancient times corpses often lay unburied on

battle-fields (Herod; Isa_3:12). The mountains shall be molted with their blood. When the feelings of

the prophet are excited, he shrinks from no hyperbole. Here he represents the blood of God's enemies as

shed in such torrents that mountains are melted by it.

3. GILL, “Their slain also shall be cast out,.... Upon the open fields, and there lie unburied, and become meat for the fowls of heaven, who are invited to them as to a supper, even the supper of the great God, Rev_19:17, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses; so that they shall become loathsome and abominable to the living, and none shall care to come near thereto bury them; an emblem of their loathsome and abominable sins, the cause of this destruction: and the mountains shall be melted with their blood; an hyperbolical expression, denoting the great number of the slain upon the mountains, and the great quantity of blood shed there; which should run down in large streams, and carry part of them along with it, as large and hasty showers of rain wash away the earth, and carry it along with them; such an hyperbole see in Rev_14:20.

4. HENRY, “See what bloody work will be made: The land shall be soaked with blood, as with the rain that comes often upon it and in great abundance; and their dust, their dry and barren land, shall be made fat with the fatness of men slain in their full strength, as with manure. Nay even the mountains, which are hard and rocky, shall be melted with their blood, Isa_34:3. These expressions are hyperbolical (as St. John's vision of blood to the horse-bridles, Rev_14:20), and are made use of because they sound very dreadful to sense (it makes us even

shiver to think of such abundance of human gore), and are therefore proper to express the terror

of God's wrath, which is dreadful beyond conception and expression. See what work sin and

wrath make even in this world, and think how much more terrible the wrath to come is, which

will bring down the unicorns themselves to the bars of the pit.

5. JAMISON, “cast out — unburied (Isa_14:19).

melted — washed away as with a descending torrent.

6. COKE, “Isaiah 34:2-4. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations— For the wrath

of JEHOVAH is kindled against all the nations; and his anger against all the orders thereof; he hath

devoted them; he hath given them up to slaughter; and their slain shall be cast out; and from their

carcases their stink shall ascend; and the mountains shall melt down with their blood. Lowth. This

sentence upon the nations is sufficient to strike terror into every hearer. It exhibits a kind of general

judgment, to be executed upon the enemies of the kingdom of God by the sword of God; that is to say, by

the princes and heroes to be raised up by God for the destruction of the enemies of his church: this is

repeated, Isaiah 34:5. But further the prophet sets before our eyes a horrid tempest, raging furiously;

whereby the heavens contract blackness, the sun disappears, the stars seem to fall to the earth, as if the

whole body of the heavens was about to be utterly dissolved. We have had occasion frequently to

observe, that in the prophetic language the heavenly luminaries represent kings and empires. It is not

improbable, that the prophet here refers to that destruction of the Jewish state and polity, which our

Saviour foretold under the same figures.

7. CALVIN, “3.Their slain shall be cast out. By this circumstance he shews that it will be a great

calamity, for if a few persons are “” they are committed to the earth; but when so great a multitude is slain

at one time, that there are not left as many as are necessary for burying them, there is no thought of

interment, and therefore the air is polluted by the stench of their carcases. Hence it is evident, that God is

sufficiently powerful to lay low innumerable armies. Perhaps, also, the Prophet intended to heighten the

picture of the judgment of God, because to the slaughter of the nations there will be added shame and

disgrace, so that they shall be deprived of the honor and duty of burial

And the mountains shall melt on account of their blood. Another figure of speech is employed to shew

more fully the extent of the slaughter, for the “” will flow from “ mountains,” as if the very mountains were

melted, just as when the waters run down violently after heavy showers, and sweep away the soil along

with them. Thus, also, he shows that there will be no means of escape, because the sword will rage as

cruelly on the very mountains as on the field of battle.

4 All the stars in the sky will be dissolved

and the heavens rolled up like a scroll;

all the starry host will fall

like withered leaves from the vine,

like shriveled figs from the fig tree.

1.BARNES, “And all the host of heaven - On the word ‘host’ (צבא tsa�ba�'), see the note at Isa_1:9. The heavenly bodies often represent kings and princes (compare the note at Isa_24:21).

Shall be dissolved - (ינמקו vena�maqqu�. This figure Vitringa supposes to be taken from the common prejudice by which the stars appear to be crystals, or gems, set in the azure vault of heaven, which may melt and flow down by the application of heat. The sense is, that the princes and nobles who had opposed God and his people would be destroyed, as if the sparkling stars, like gems, should melt in the heavens, and flow down to the earth.

And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll - The word ‘scroll’ here (ספר se�

pher) means a roll, or a book. Books were made of parchment, leaves, etc., and were rolled together instead of being bound, as they are with us. The figure here is taken from what strikes

the eye, that the heaven above us is “an expanse” (רקיע ra�qı.ya‛) Gen_1:8; Psa_104:2,) which is spread out; and which might be rolled together, and thus pass away. It is possible that there may be a reference also to the fact, that in a storm, when the sky is filled with dark rolling clouds, the heavens seem to be rolled together, and to be passing away. The sense is, that there would be great destruction among those high in office and in power - a destruction that would be well represented by the rolling up of the firmament, and the destruction of the visible heavens and their host, and by leaving the world to ruin and to night.

And all their host shall fall down - That is, their stars; either by being as it were melted, or by the fact that the expanse in which they are apparently located would be rolled up and removed, and there being no fixtures for them they would fall. The same image occurs in Rev_6:13. One somewhat similar occurs in Virgil, Georg. i. 365ff.

As the leaf falleth off from the vine ... - That is, in a storm, or when violently shaken.

2. CLARKE, “And all the host of heaven See note on Isa_24:21, and De Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum, Prael. ix.

3. GILL, “And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved,.... "Pine away" (i), as with sickness, grow languid, become obscure, lose their light, and be turned into blood and darkness; this figure is used to express the horror of this calamity, as if the very heavens themselves, and the sun, and moon, and stars, were affected with it; see Isa_13:10. and the heavens shall be rolled gether as a scroll; a book, or volume, which when rolled up, one letter of it could not be read; and it was the manner formerly of making and writing books in the form of a roll; hence the word volume; and here it signifies that there should be such a change in the heavens, as that not a star should be seen, much less the sun or moon; and may signify the utter removal and abolition of all dignities and offices, supreme and subordinate, civil and ecclesiastical, in the whole Roman jurisdiction; thus the destruction of Rome Pagan is described in Rev_6:14 as the destruction of Rome Papal is here; from whence the language seems to be borrowed: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree; that is, the stars should fall down: by whom may be meant persons in office, that made a considerable figure; who shall fall from their stations, in which they shone with much splendour and grandeur, as leaves fall from trees in autumn, particularly the vine; or as unripe and rotten figs fall from the fig tree when shaken by a violent wind; the same metaphor is used in Rev_6:13.

4. HENRY, “The effect and consequence of this slaughter shall be universal confusion and desolation, as if the whole frame of nature were dissolved and melted down (Isa_34:4): All the

host of heaven shall pine and waste away (so the word is); the sun shall be darkened, and the moon look black, or be turned into blood; the heavens themselves shall be rolled together as a scroll or parchment when we have done with it, and lay it by, or as when it is shrivelled up by the heat of the fire. The stars shall fall as the leaves in autumn; all the beauty, joy, and comfort, of the vanquished nation shall be lost and done away, magistracy and government shall be abolished, and all dominion and rule, but that of the sword of war, shall fall. Conquerors, in those times, affected to lay waste the countries they conquered; and such a complete desolation is here described by such figurative expressions as will yet have a literal and full accomplishment in the dissolution of all things at the end of time, of which last day of judgment the judgments which God does now sometimes remarkably execute on sinful nations are figures, earnests, and forerunners; and by these we should be awakened to think of that, for which reason these expressions are used here and Rev_6:12, Rev_6:13. But they are used without a metaphor, 2Pe_3:10, where we are told that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the earth shall be burnt up.

5. JAMISON, “(Psa_102:26; Joe_2:31; Joe_3:15; Mat_24:29).

dissolved — (2Pe_3:10-12). Violent convulsions of nature are in Scripture made the images of great changes in the human world (Isa_24:19-21), and shall literally accompany them at the winding up of the present dispensation.

scroll — Books were in those days sheets of parchment rolled together (Rev_6:14).

fall down — The stars shall fall when the heavens in which they are fixed pass away.

fig tree — (Rev_6:13).

6. K&D, “The judgment foretold by Isaiah also belongs to the last things; for it takes place in connection with the simultaneous destruction of the present heaven and the present earth.”And all the host of the heavens moulder away, and the heavens are rolled up like a scroll, and all their host withers as a leaf withers away from the vine, and like withered leaves from the fig-

tree” (Na�maq, to be dissolved into powdered mother (Isa_3:24; Isa_5:24); na�go�l (for na�gal, like

na�zo�l in Isa_63:19; Isa_64:2, and na�ro�ts in Ecc_12:6), to be rolled up - a term applied to the cylindrical book-scroll. The heaven, that is to say, the present system of the universe, breaks up into atoms, and is rolled up like a book that has been read through; and the stars fall down as a withered leaf falls from a vine, when it is moved by even the lightest breeze, or like the withered leaves shaken from the fig-tree. The expressions are so strong, that they cannot be understood in any other sense than as relating to the end of the world (Isa_65:17; Isa_66:22; compare Mat_24:29). It is not sufficient to say that “the stars appear to fall to the earth,” though even Vitringa gives this explanation.

When we look, however, at the following kı (for), it undoubtedly appears strange that the

prophet should foretell the passing away of the heavens, simply because Jehovah judges Edom. But Edom stands here as the representative of all powers that are hostile to the church of God as such, and therefore expresses an idea of the deepest and widest cosmical signification (as Isa_24:21 clearly shows). And it is not only a doctrine of Isaiah himself, but a biblical doctrine universally, that God will destroy the present world as soon as the measure of the sin which culminates in unbelief, and in the persecution of the congregation of the faithful, shall be really full.

7. PULPIT, “All the host of heaven shall be dissolved. A dissolution of the material frame of the

heavens, in which the moon and stars are regarded as set, seems to be intended

(comp. Mat_24:29; 2Pe_3:10). The slaughter of God's enemies is here connected with the cud of the

world, as in the Book of Revelation (Rev_19:11-21). The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll;

literally, as a book. Ancient books were written on long strips of paper or parchment, which, when

unrolled, extended to many yards in length, but which might be rolled together "by means of one or two

smooth round sticks into a very small compass." Such a rolling together of the widely extended heavens

is here intended, not a shriveling by means of heat (comp. Rev_6:14). All their host shall

fall (comp. Mat_24:29, "The stars shall fall from heaven").

8. CALVIN, “4.And all the armies of heaven shall fade away. Isaiah employs an exaggerated style, as

other prophets are accustomed to do, in order to represent vividly the dreadful nature of the judgment of

God, and to make an impression on men’ hearts that were dull and sluggish; for otherwise his discourse

would have been deficient in energy, and would have had little influence on careless men. He therefore

adds that “ stars” themselves, amidst such slaughter, shall gather blackness as if they were ready to faint,

and he does so in order to show more fully that it will be a mournful calamity. In like manner, as in a dark

and troubled sky, the clouds appear to be folded together, the sun and stars to grow pale and, as it were,

to faint, and all those heavenly bodies to totter and give tokens of ruin; he declares that thus will it happen

at that time, and that everything shall be full of the saddest lamentation.

These statements must be understood to relate to men’ apprehension, for heaven is not moved out of its

place; but when the Lord gives manifestations of his anger, we are terrified as if the Lord folded up or

threw down the heavens; not that anything of this kind takes place in heaven, but he speaks to careless

men, who needed to be addressed in this manner, that they might not imagine the subject to be trivial or a

fit subject of scorn. “ will be seized with such terror that you shall think that the sky is falling down on your

heads.” It is the just punishment of indifference, that wicked men, who are not moved by any fear of God,

dread their own shadow, and tremble “ the rustling of a falling leaf,” (Lev_26:36,) as much as if the sun

were falling from heaven. Yet it also denotes a dreadful revolution of affairs, by which everything shall be

subverted and disturbed.

5 My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;

see, it descends in judgment on Edom,

the people I have totally destroyed.

1.BARNES, “For my sword shall be bathed in heaven - A sword is an instrument of vengeance, and is often so used in the Scriptures, because it was often employed in capital punishments (see the note at Isa_27:1). This passage bas given much perplexity to commentators, on account of the apparent want of meaning of the expression that the sword would be bathed in heaven. Lowth reads it:

For my sword is made bare in the heavens;

Following in this the Chaldee which reads תתגלי tı.thgallı.y, ‘shall be revealed.’ But there is no authority from manuscripts for this change in the Hebrew text. The Vulgate renders it, Quoniam inebriatus est in coelo gladius meuse - ‘My sword is intoxicated in heaven.’ The Septuagint

renders it in the same way, 1µεθύσθη�8�µάχαιρά�µον�?ν�τA�οBρανA Emethusthe� he� machaira mou en

to� ourano�; and the Syriac and Arabic in the same manner. The Hebrew word רותה riveta�h, from

ra�va�h, means properly to drink to the full; to be satisfied, or sated with drink; and then to be רוהfull or satiated with intoxicating liquor, to be drunk. It is applied to the sword, as satiated or made drunk with blood, in Jer_46:10 :

And the sword shall devour, And it shall be satiate, and made drunk with their blood.

And thus in Deu_32:42, a similar figure is used respecting arrows, the instruments also of war and vengeance:

I will make mine arrows drunk with blood; And my sword shall devour flesh.

A similar figure is often used in Oriental writers, where the sword is represented as glutted, satiated, or made drunk with blood (see Rosenmuller on Deu_32:42). Thus Bohaddinus, in the lift of Saladin, in describing a battle in which there was a great slaughter, says, ‘The swords drank of their blood until they were intoxicated.’ The idea here is, however, not that the sword of the Lord was made drunk with blood in heaven, but that it was intoxicated, or made furious with wrath; it was excited as an intoxicated man is who is under ungovernable passions; it was in heaven that the wrath commenced, and the sword of divine justice rushed forth as if intoxicated, to destroy all before it. There are few figures, even in Isaiah, that are more bold than this.

It shall come down upon Idumea - (see the Analysis of the chapter for the situation of Idumea, and for the causes why it was to be devoted to destruction).

Upon the people of my curse - The people devoted to destruction.

2. CLARKE, “For my sword shall be bathed in heaven “For my sword is made bare in the heavens” - There seems to be some impropriety in this, according to the present reading: “My sword is made drunken, or is bathed in the heavens; “which forestalls, and expresses not in its proper place, what belongs to the next verse: for the sword of Jehovah was not to be bathed or glutted with blood in the heavens, but in Botsra and the land of Edom. In the heavens it was only prepared for slaughter. To remedy this, Archbishop Secker proposes to read,

for בשמים bashshamayim, בדמם bedamim; referring to Jer_46:10. But even this is premature, and

not in its proper place. The Chaldee, for רותה rivvethah, has תתגלי tithgalli, shall be revealed or

disclosed: perhaps he read תראה teraeh or נראתה nirathah. Whatever reading, different I presume from the present, he might find in his copy, I follow the sense which he has given of it.

3. GILL, “For my sword shall be bathed in heaven,.... That is, the sword of the Lord, as it is called in the next verse Isa_34:6, and it is he that is speaking; it designs the vengeance of the Lord, the punishment he will inflict on the wicked, said to be "bathed in heaven", because determined and prepared there; the allusion may be to the bathing of swords in some sort of liquor, to harden or brighten them, and so fit them for use. Kimchi renders it, "my sword" which is "in heaven shall be bathed", that is, in the blood of the slain; "heaven" may denote the whole Roman Papal jurisdiction, as it does the whole Roman Pagan empire in Rev_12:7 and may design the principal men in it, those that are in the highest places and offices, in whom the sword of the Lord shall be first drenched, and be as it were satiated and inebriated with the blood of them: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea; with great weight, force, and vengeance, having a commission from heaven to execute. Idumea is here particularly mentioned, because the Edomites were implacable enemies to the Jews, and so are here put for all the enemies of God's church and people, all the antichristian states, particularly Rome, which the Jews, as Jerom observes, understand by Edom or Idumea here: upon the people of my curse to judgment; a very descriptive character of the Papists, the people of God's curse, and righteously so; those who have anathematized his people, and cursed them with bell, book, and candle, are anathematized by him, devoted to destruction, and doomed to be accursed, sentenced to ruin, and on whom judgment shall pass, and shall be executed; they shall hear, "go, ye cursed", both here and hereafter, at the fall of Babylon, and at the general judgment. The Targum is, "because my sword is revealed in heaven; behold, upon Edom it is revealed, and upon the people whom I have condemned to judgment.''

4. HENRY, “Here are the operations of the war, and the methods of it, settled, with an infallible assurance of success. 1. The sword of the Lord is bathed in heaven; this is all the preparation here made for the war, Isa_34:5. It may probably allude to some custom they had then of bathing their swords in some liquor or other, to harden them or brighten them; it is the same with the furbishing of it, that it may glitter, Eze_21:9-11. God's sword is bathed in heaven, in his counsel and decree, in his justice and power, and then there is not standing before it. 2. It shall come down. What he has determined shall without fail be put in execution. It shall come down from heaven, and the higher the place is, whence it comes, the heavier will it fall. It will come down upon Idumea, the people of God's curse, the people that lie under his curse and are by it doomed to destruction. Miserable, for ever miserable, are those that have by their sins made themselves the people of God's curse; for the sword of the Lord will infallibly attend the curse of the Lord and execute the sentences of it; and those whom he curses are cursed indeed. It shall come down to judgment, to execute judgment upon sinners. Note, God's sword of war is always a sword of justice. It is observed of him out of whose mouth goeth the sharp sword that

in righteousness he doth judge and make war, Rev_19:11, Rev_19:15. 3. The nations and their armies shall be given up to the sword (Isa_34:2): God has delivered them to the slaughter, and then they cannot deliver themselves, nor can all the friends they have deliver them from it. Those only are slain whom God delivers to the slaughter, for the keys of death are in his hand; and, in delivering them to the slaughter, he has utterly destroyed them; their destruction is as sure, when God has doomed them to it, as if they were destroyed already, utterly destroyed. God has, in effect, delivered all the cruel enemies of his church to the slaughter by that word (Rev_13:10), He that kills with the sword must be killed by the sword, for the Lord is righteous.

5. JAMISON, “sword — (Jer_46:10). Or else, knife for sacrifice for God does not here appear as a warrior with His sword, but as one about to sacrifice victims doomed to slaughter [Vitringa]. (Eze_39:17).

bathed — rather “intoxicated,” namely, with anger (so Deu_32:42). “In heaven” implies the place where God’s purpose of wrath is formed in antithesis to its “coming down” in the next clause.

Idumea — originally extending from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea; afterwards they obtained possession of the country east of Moab, of which Bozrah was capital. Petra or Selah, called Joktheel (2Ki_14:7), was capital of South Edom (see on Isa_16:1). David subjugated Edom (2Sa_8:13, 2Sa_8:14). Under Jehoram they regained independence (2Ch_21:8). Under Amaziah they were again subdued, and Selah taken (2Ki_14:7). When Judah was captive in Babylon, Edom, in every way, insulted over her fallen mistress, killed many of those Jews whom the Chaldeans had left, and hence was held guilty of fratricide by God (Esau, their ancestor, having been brother to Jacob): this was the cause of the denunciations of the prophets against Edom (Isa_63:1, etc.; Jer_49:7; Eze_25:12-14; Eze_35:3-15; Joe_3:19; Amo_1:11, Amo_1:12; Oba_1:8, Oba_1:10, Oba_1:12-18; Mal_1:3, Mal_1:4). Nebuchadnezzar humbled Idumea accordingly (Jer_25:15-21).

of my curse — that is, doomed to it.

to judgment — that is, to execute it.

6. K&D, “If we bear this in mind, we shall not be surprised that the prophet gives the following reason for the passing away of the present heavens. “For my sword has become intoxicated in the heaven; behold, it comes down upon Edom, and upon the people of my ban to judgment. The sword of Jehovah fills itself with blood, is fattened with fat, with blood of lambs and he-goats, with kidney-fat of rams; for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. And buffaloes fall with them, and bullocks together with bulls; and their land become intoxicated with blood, and their dust fattened with fat.” Just as in chapter 63 Jehovah is represented as a treader of the wine-press, and the nations as the grapes; so here He is represented as offering sacrifice, and the nations as the animals offered

(zebhach: cf., Zep_1:7; Jer_46:10); Eze_39:17.: all three passages founded upon this). Jehovah does not appear here in person as judge, as He does there, but His sword appears; just as in Gen_3:24, the “sword which turned every way” is mentioned as an independent power standing by the side of the cherub. The sword is His executioner, which has no sooner drunk deeply of

wrath in heaven, i.e., in the immediate sphere of the Deity (rivvetha�h, an intensive form of the

kal, like pitte�aIch, Isa_48:8; Ewald, §120, d), than it comes down in wild intoxication upon Edom, the people of the ban of Jehovah, i.e., the people upon whom He has laid the ban, and there, as

His instrument of punishment, fills itself with blood, and fattens itself with fat. שנהNה is the

hothpaal = שנהNהת, with the ת of the preformative syllable assimilated (compare וPQה in Isa_1:16,

and הTNא in Isa_14:14). The penultimate has the tone, the na�h being treated as in the plural

forms of the future. The dropping of the dagesh in the ש�eht�ni�hse is connected with this. The

reading מחלב, in Isa_34:6, is an error that has been handed down in modern copies (in

opposition to both codices and ancient editions); for חלב (primary form, chilb) is the only form met with in the Old Testament. The lambs, he-goats, and rams, represent the Edomitish nation, which is compared to these smaller sacrificial animals. Edom and Bozrah are also placed side by side in Isa_63:1. The latter was one of the chief cities of the Edomites (Gen_36:33; Amo_1:12;

Jer_49:13, Jer_49:22) - not the Bozrah in Auranitis (Haura�n), however, which is well known in church history, but Bozrah in the mountains of Edom, upon the same site as the village of Buzaire (i.e., Minor Bozrah), which is still surrounded by its ruins. In contrast with the three names of the smaller animals in Isa_34:6, the three names of oxen in Isa_34:7 represent the

lords of Edom. They also will fall, smitten by the sword (ya�redu�: cf., Jer_50:27; Jer_51:40; also Jer_48:15). The feast of the sword is so abundant, that even the earth and the dust of the land of Edom are satiated with blood and fat.

7. PULPIT, “My sword shall be bathed in heaven; rather, has been bathed, or has been made

drunken ( ἐνεθύσθη , LXX.) in heaven. Some suppose a reference to the old" war in heaven," when the

sword of Divine justice was drawn against the devil and his angels. Others regard the sword now to be

used against the Idumeans as first, in heaven, "made drunken" with the Divine anger. It shall come

down upon Idumea (comp. Isa_63:1-6). The Edomites first showed themselves enemies of Israel when

they refused to allow the Israelites, under Moses, "a passage through their border" (Num_20:14-21).

David subdued them (2Sa_9:1-13 :14); but they revolted from Jehoram (2Ch_21:8-10), and were

thenceforward among the most bitter adversaries of the southern kingdom. They "smote Judah" in the

reign of Ahaz (2Ch_28:17), and were always ready to "shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force

of the sword in the time of their calamity" (Eze_35:5). Amos speaks of them very much in the same tone

as Isaiah (Amo_1:11, Amo_1:12). They ultimately "filled up the measure of their iniquities" by open

rejoicing when Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people led away captive by Nebuchadnezzar

(Psa_137:7; Oba_1:10-14; Lam_4:21, Lam_4:22; Eze_35:10-13). In the present passage we must regard

the Edomites as representative of the enemies of God's people generally (see the introductory

paragraph). The people of my curse; i.e. "the people on whom I have laid a curse"—the Edomites. Esau

was to "serve" Jacob (Gen_25:23; Gen_27:40), Edom to be "a possession" for Judah (Num_24:18). God

had said of Edom, probably before Isaiah uttered the present prophecy, "For three transgressions of

Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof R but I will send a fire upon Teman, which

shall devour the palaces of Bozrah" (Amo_1:11, Amo_1:12). Thus Edom was under a curse.

8. CALVIN, “5.For my sword is made drunken in the heavens. He says that the “” of the Lord is bloody,

as extensive slaughter makes the “” wet with gore; and, in order to give greater weight to his style, he

represents the Lord as speaking. But why does he say that it is in heaven? for God does not call men to

heaven to inflict punishment on them, but executes his judgments openly in the world, and by the hand of

men. (16) Here the Prophet looks at the secret decree of God, by which he appoints and determines

everything before it is executed; and he does not mean the act itself, but extols the efficacy of the

prediction, because the certainty of the effect is manifest from the unchangeable purpose of God; that

unbelievers may know that the Lord in heaven takes account of the crimes of wicked men, although for a

time they may pursue their career of iniquity without being punished, and that, although they enjoy

profound peace, still the sword by which they shall be slain is even now bloody in the sight of God, when

he determines to inflict punishment on them. In like manner Sodom (Gen_19:28) was already burning in

the sight of God, while it freely indulged in wine and feasting, and in satisfying its lust; and the same thing

must be said of other wicked men, who, while they are wallowing in pleasures, are held as appointed by

God to be slain. We ought not, therefore, to fix our attention on the present state when we see wicked

men enjoy prosperity and do everything according to their wish. Though no one annoys them, still they

are not far from destruction when God is angry with them and is their enemy.

So it shall come down on Edom. He expressly mentions the Edomites, who were hostile to the people of

God, though related to them by blood, and distinguished by the same mark of religion; for they were, as

we have formerly mentioned, (17) descended from Esau, (Gen_36:8,) and were the posterity of Abraham.

At the present day, in like manner, we have no enemies more deadly than the Papists, who have publicly

received the same baptism with ourselves, and even profess Christ, and yet cruelly persecute and would

wish utterly to destroy us, because we condemn their superstitions and idolatry. Such were the Edomites,

and therefore the Prophet has chiefly selected them out of the whole number of the enemies.

On the people of my curse. By giving them this appellation he confirms the sentence which he had

pronounced, for in vain would they endeavor to escape that destruction to which they were already

destined and devoted. By this term he declares that they are already destroyed by a decree of heaven, as

if they had been already separated and cut off from the number of living men. That it may not be thought

that God has done it unjustly, he adds, to judgment; for there is nothing to which men are more prone

than to accuse God of cruelty, and the greater part of men are unwilling to acknowledge that he is a

righteous judge, especially when he chastises with severity. Isaiah, therefore, shews that it is a just

judgment, for God does nothing through cruelty or through excessive severity.

(16) Nothing is more customary among Eastern poets than to employ a ‘ drunken with blood’ to denote

extensive slaughter. (Schurrer on Hab_3:9.) Or, perhaps, in this verse the sword in heaven ought rather

to be understood to be drunk with the divine anger, before it is let down on the earth to be glutted with the

blood of enemies; in which case the following verse would fifty describe that sword as glutted with blood

in the land of the Edomites.” — Rosenmuller.

6 The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood,

it is covered with fat—

the blood of lambs and goats,

fat from the kidneys of rams.

For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah

and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

1.BARNES, “The sword of the Lord is filled with blood - The idea here is taken from the notion of sacrifice, and is, that God would devote to sacrifice, or to destruction, the inhabitants of Idumea. With reference to that, he says, that his sword, the instrument of slaughter, would be satiated with blood. “It is made fat with fatness.” The allusion here is to the sacrifices which were made for sin, in which the blood. and the fat were devoted to God as an offering (see Lev. 7)

With the blood of lambs and goats - These were the animals which were usually offered in sacrifice to God among the Jews. and to speak of a sacrifice was the same as to speak of the offering of rams, lambs, bullocks, etc. Yet it is evident that they denote here the people of Idumea, and that these terms are used to keep up the image of a sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice was always connected with that of slaughter, as the animals were slaughtered before they were offered. So here, the idea is, that there would be a great slaughter in Idumea; that it would be so far of the nature of a sacrifice that they would be devoted to God and to his cause. It is not probable that any particular classes of people are denoted by the different animals mentioned here, as the animals here mentioned include all, or nearly all those usually offered in sacrifice, the expressions denote simply that all classes of people in Idumea would be devoted to the slaughter. Grotius, however, supposes that the following classes are intended by the animals specified, to wit, by the lambs, the people in general; by the goats, the priests; by the rams, the opulent inhabitants.

For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah - Bozrah is mentioned here as one of the chief cities of Idumea. It was a city of great antiquity, and was known among the Greeks and Romans by the name of Bostra. It is generally mentioned in the Scriptunes as a city of the Edomites Isa_63:1; Jer_49:13, Jer_49:22; Amo_1:12; but once it is mentioned as a city of Moab Jer_48:24. It probably belonged at different periods to both nations, as in their wars the possession of cities often passed into different hands. Bozrah lay southeast of Edrei, one of the capitals of Bashan, and was thus not properly within the limits of the Edomites, but was north of the Ammonites, or in the region of Auranitis, or in what is now called tho Houran. It is evident, therefore, that in the time of Isaiah, the Edomites had extended their conquests to that region.

According to Burckhardt, who visited the Houran, and who went to Bozrah, it is at this day one of the most important cities there. ‘It is situated,’ says he, ‘in the open plain, and is at present the last inhabited place in the southeast extremity of the Houran; it was formerly the capital of the Arabia Provincia, and is now, including its ruins, the largest town in the Houran. It is of an oval shape, its greatest length being from east to west; its circumference is three quarters of an hour. It was anciently encompassed with a thick wall, which gave it the reputation of great strength Many parts of this wall, especially on the west side, remain; it was constructed of stones of moderate size, strongly cemented together. The south, and southeast quarters are covered

with ruins of private dwellings, the walls Of many of which are still standing, but the roofs are fallen in. The style of building seems to have been similar to that observed in all the other ancient towns of the Houran. On the west side are springs of fresh water, of which I counted five beyond the precincts of the town, and six within the walls; their waters unite with a rivulet whose source is on the northwest side, within the town, and which loses itself in the southern plain at several hours’ distance; it is called by the Arabs, El Djeheir. The principal ruins of Bozrah are the following: A square building which within is circular, and has many arches and niches in the wall.

The diameter of the arounda is four paces; its roof has fallen in, but the walls are entire. It appears to have been a Greek church. An oblong square building, called by the natives Deir Boheiry, or the Monastery of the priest Boheiry. The gate of an ancient house com municating with the ruins of an edifice, the only remains of which is a large semicircular vault. The great mosque of Bozrah, which is certainly coeval with the first era of Mahometanism, and is commonly ascribed to Omar el Khattah. The walls of the mosque are covered with a fine coat of plaster, upon which are many Curie inscriptions in bas-relief, running all round the wall The remains of a temple, situated on the side of a long street which runs across the whole town, and terminates at the western gate,’ etc. Of these, and other magnificent ruins of temples, theaters, and palaces, all attesting its former importance, Burckhardt has given a copious description in his Travels in Syria, pp. 226-235, Quarto Ed. LoRd. 1822.

2. CLARKE, “The Lord hath a sacrifice “For Jehovah celebrateth a sacrifice” - Ezekiel, Eze_39:16, Eze_39:17, has manifestly imitated this place of Isaiah. He hath set forth the great leaders and princes of the adverse powers under the same emblems of goats, bulls, rams, fatlings, etc., and has added to the boldness of the imagery, by introducing God as summoning all the fowls of the air, and all the beasts of the field, and bidding them to the feast which he has prepared for them by the slaughter of the enemies of his people: -

“And thou, son of man, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Say to the bird of every wing, And to every beast of the field: Assemble yourselves, and come; Gather together from every side, To the sacrifice which I make for you, A great slaughter on the mountains of Israel. And ye shall eat flesh and drink blood: The flesh of the mighty shall ye eat, And the blood of the lofty of the earth shall ye drink; Of rams, of lambs, and of goats, Of bullocks, all of them the fat ones of Bashan; And ye shall eat fat, till ye are cloyed, And drink blood, till ye are drunken; Of my slaughter, which I have slain for you.”

The sublime author of the Rev_19:17, Rev_19:18, has taken this image from Ezekiel, rather than from Isaiah.

3. GILL, “The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,.... Multitudes being slain by it; the "Lord" here is that divine Person that is described as a warrior, as a General of an army, with a sharp sword, by whom many are slain, such a number as that it is filled with the blood of them, Rev_19:11, it is made fat with fatness: not only filled with the blood, but fattened by it; the allusion is to ravenous creatures gorged and sated with the blood of others, and thereby made fat; perhaps this may refer to Christian princes, the sword in the hand of the Lord, who shall be enriched with the plunder and spoil of the antichristian states: and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. The Targum is, "with the blood of kings and governors, with the fat of the kidneys princes;'' and Jarchi interprets them, of princes and rulers; but rather the common people are designed, or the common soldiers in the army, or however the inferior officers of it; kings, princes, and generals, being intended in the following verse Isa_34:7. It denotes the great carnage of all sorts and ranks of men made at this time, and which is described in Rev_19:18, for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea: there seems to be two Bozrahs the Scripture speaks of, the one in Moab, Jer_48:24 and another in Edom, Isa_63:1 which is here meant, and was a chief city of the Edomites, and signifies a fortress, being no doubt a place well fortified; this is the Bostra of Ptolemy (k), and which he places in Arabia Petraea. Aben Ezra says that some interpret it of Constantinople, the metropolis of the Ottoman empire; but it is best to understand it of Rome, as Menasseh ben Israel (l) does, and Idumea of the whole Roman jurisdiction; Rome being the chief city of the antichristian states, that great city, which John in his Revelation describes as reigning over the kings of the earth; here and in all the antichristian kingdoms will be a great "slaughter" of men, called a "sacrifice" of the Lord, because by his order and direction, and for the honour of his justice, and being acceptable to him; and perhaps there may be an allusion to the blood sacrifices being the Lord's; this slaughter and sacrifice is called the supper of the great God, Rev_19:17.

4. HENRY, “Pursuant to the sentence, a terrible slaughter shall be made among them (Isa_34:6): The sword of the Lord, when it comes down with commission, does vast execution; it is filled, satiated, surfeited, with blood, the blood of the slain, and made fat with their fatness. When the day of God's abused mercy and patience is over the sword of his justice gives no quarter, spares none. Men have by sin lost the honour of the human nature and made themselves like the beasts that perish; they are therefore justly denied the compassion and respect that are owing to the human nature and killed as beasts, and no more is made of slaying an army of men than of butchering a flock of lambs or goats and feeding on the fat of the kidneys of rams. Nay, the sword of the Lord shall not only dispatch the lambs and goats, the infantry of their armies, the poor common soldiers, but (Isa_34:7) the unicorns too shall be made to come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls, though they are ever so proud, and strong, and fierce (the great men, and the mighty men, and the chief captains Rev_6:15), the sword of the Lord will make as easy a prey of as of the lambs and the goats. The greatest of men are nothing before the wrath of the great God. See what bloody work will be made: The land shall be soaked with blood, as with the rain that comes often upon it and in great abundance; and their dust, their dry and barren land, shall be made fat with the fatness of men slain in their full strength,

as with manure. Nay even the mountains, which are hard and rocky, shall be melted with their blood, Isa_34:3. These expressions are hyperbolical (as St. John's vision of blood to the horse-bridles, Rev_14:20), and are made use of because they sound very dreadful to sense (it makes us even shiver to think of such abundance of human gore), and are therefore proper to express the terror of God's wrath, which is dreadful beyond conception and expression. See what work sin and wrath make even in this world, and think how much more terrible the wrath to come is, which will bring down the unicorns themselves to the bars of the pit. 5. This great slaughter will be a great sacrifice to the justice of God (Isa_34:6): The Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah; there it is that the great Redeemer has his garments dyed with blood, Isa_63:1. Sacrifices were intended for the honour of God, to make it appear that he hates sin and demands satisfaction for it, and that nothing but blood will make atonement; and for these ends the slaughter is made, that in it the wrath of God may be revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, especially their ungodly unrighteous enmity to his people, which was the sin that the Edomites were notoriously guilty of. In great sacrifices abundance of beasts were killed, hecatombs offered, and their blood poured out before the altar; and so will it be in this day of the Lord's vengeance. And thus would the whole earth have been soaked with the blood of sinners if Jesus Christ, the great propitiation, had not shed his blood for us; but those who reject him, and will not make a covenant with God by that sacrifice, will themselves fall as victims to divine wrath. Damned sinners are everlasting sacrifices, Mar_9:48, Mar_9:49. Those that sacrifice not (which is the character of the ungodly, Ecc_9:2) must be sacrificed. 6. These slain shall be detestable to mankind, and shall be as much their loathing as ever they were their terror (Isa_34:3): They shall be cast out, and none shall pay them the respect of a decent burial; but their stink shall come up out of their carcases, that all people by the odious smell, as well as by the ghastly sight, may be made to conceive an indignation against sin and a dread of the wrath of God. They lie unburied, that they may remain monuments of divine justice. 7.

5. JAMISON, “filled — glutted. The image of a sacrifice is continued.

blood ... fat — the parts especially devoted to God in a sacrifice (2Sa_1:22).

lambs ... goats — sacrificial animals: the Idumeans, of all classes, doomed to slaughter, are meant (Zep_1:7).

Bozrah — called Bostra by the Romans, etc., assigned in Jer_48:24 to Moab, so that it seems to have been at one time in the dominion of Edom, and at another in that of Moab (Isa_63:1; Jer_49:13, Jer_49:20, Jer_49:22); it was strictly not in Edom, but the capital of Auranitis (the Houran). Edom seems to have extended its dominion so as to include it (compare Lam_4:21).

6. PULPIT, “The sword of the Lord is filled; or, glutted (Lowth). The tense is "the perfect of prophetic

certainty." It is made fat with fatness. "Fed, as it were, on the fat of sacrifices" (see

Le Isa_3:3, Isa_3:4, Isa_3:9, Isa_3:10, Isa_3:15; Isa_7:3, etc.). Lambs goats rams. The lesser

cattle represent the lower classes of those about to be slain, while the "unicorns" and

"bullocks" of Isa_34:7 represent the upper classes—the great men and leaders. The Lord hath a

sacrifice in Bozrah. This Bozrah, one of the principal cities of Idumaea, is to be distinguished from

"Bozrah of Moab," which was known to the Romans as "Bostra." It lay in the hilly country to the south-cast

of the Dead Sea, about thirty-five miles north of Petra, and was one of the earliest settlements of the

descendants of Esau, being mentioned as a well-known place in Gen_34:1-31 :33). The threats here

uttered against it are repeated by Jeremiah (Jer_49:13), who says that "Bozrah shall become a

desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; all the cities thereof [i.e. the dependent cities] shall be

perpetual wastes." Bozrah is probably identified with the modern El-Busaireh, a village of about fifty

houses, occupying a site in the position above indicated, amid ruins which seem to be those of a

considerable city.

7. CALVIN, “6.The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood. He follows out the same statement, but by a

different description, which places the matter in a much stronger light, in order to shake off the

drowsiness of wicked men, who are wont to laugh and scoff at all doctrine, as we have formerly

remarked. It is therefore necessary that the judgments of God should be set forth as in a lively picture:,

that it may not only make a deep impression on their dull minds, but may encourage believers by holy

confidence, when they learn that the pride and rebellion of their enemies cannot at all hinder them from

being dragged like cattle to the slaughter, whenever it shall be the will of God.

He compares it to sacrifices, for animals are slain in sacririce for the worship and honor of God, and in like

manner the destruction of this people will also tend to the glory of God. And here he confirms what was

formerly said about judgment, for when God executes his judgments, he shews forth his glow; so that the

destruction of wicked men is justly compared to “” which belonged to his worship. “” indeed, were

undoubtedly not very pleasant and agreeable to behold, for the revolting act of taking away life, the

reeking blood, and the stencil of the smoke, might have a repulsive effect; and yet in these things the

honor of God shone brightly. Thus, also, this slaughter was hideous to behold, and little fitted to obtain

regard; but believers, in order that they may hallow the name of God in this respect, are commanded to

lift up their eyes to heaven; because, in executing such punishment, God erects altars to himself for

slaying sacrifices. Because they unjustly oppressed the Church of God, and, forgetful of all humane

feelings, treated the children of God with cruelty, Isaiah declares that in their blood is offered a sacrifice of

sweet savor, and highly acceptable to God, because he executes his judgment.

With the blood of lambs and of goats. Under this appellation he describes metaphorically the people that

were to be slain, and, alluding to the various kinds of victims, includes not only all men of ordinary rank,

but all the nobles, in order to intimate that the Lord will punish his enemies in such a manner that no man

of any class whatever shall be exempted he mentions Bozrah, the chief city and metropolls, as it were, of

the nation, where the greatest slaughter shall take place; and next, he adds, the country of Edom, through

the whole of which this calamity shall take its course. (18)

(18) “Au travers de la quelle ceste desconfiture passera sans espargner endroit quelconque.” “ which this

overthrow shall pass without sparing any place whatever.”

7 And the wild oxen will fall with them,

the bull calves and the great bulls.

Their land will be drenched with blood,

and the dust will be soaked with fat.

1.BARNES, “And the unicorns - Margin, ‘Rhinoceros’ (ראמים re'e�mı.ym from ראם re'e�m). This was evidently an animal well known in Palestine, since it is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament (Num_23:22; Deu_33:17; Job_39:9-10; Psa_22:21; Psa_29:6; Psa_92:10, in all which places it is translated unicorn, or unicorn). The derivation of the word is uncertain, and it has been regarded as doubtful what animal is intended. The corresponding Arabic word denotes the oryx, a large and fierce species of the antelope. Gesenius, Schultens, De Wette, and Rosenmuller suppose that the buffalo is intended by the word. Bochart regards it as denoting the gazelle, or a species of the antelope. It can hardly, however, be regarded as so small an animal as the gazelle. The gazelle is common in the neighborhood of mount Sinai; and when Laborde passed through that region his companions killed four, ‘the father and mother, and two little animals a fortnight old.’ He says of them: ‘These creatures, which are very lively in their movements, endeavored to bite when they were caught; their hair is a brown yellow, which becomes pale and long as the animals grows old.

In appearance they resemble the Guinea pig. Their legs are of the same height, but the form of their feet is unique; instead of nails and claws, they have three toes in front and four behind, and they walk. like rabbits, on the whole length of the foot. The Arabs call it El Oueber, and know no other name for it. It lives upon the scanty herbage with which the rain in the neighborhood of springs supplies it. It does not burrow in the earth, its feet not being calculated for that purpose; but it conceals itself in the natural holes or clefts which it finds in the rocks.’ (Journey through Arabia Petrea, pp. 106, 107. Lond. 8vo. 1836.) Taylor (Heb. Con.) supposes it means the rhinoceros; a fierce animal that has a single horn on the nose, which is very strong, and which sometimes grows to the height of thirty-seven inches. The ancient versions certainly regarded the word as denoting an animal with a single horn. It denotes here, evidently, some strong, fierce, and wild animal that was horned Psa_22:21, but perhaps it is not possible to determine precisely what animal is meant. For a more full investigation in reference to the kind of animal denoted by the word reem, see the notes at Job_39:9. Here it represents that portion of the people which was strong, warlike, and hitherto unvanquished, and who regarded themselves as invincible.

Shall come down - Shall be subdued, humbled, destroyed.

With them - With the lambs and goats mentioned in Isa_34:6. All classes of the people shall be subdued and subjected to the slaughter.

And the bullocks with the bulls - The young bulls with the old. All shall come down together - the fierce and strong animals representing the fierce and strong people.

And their land shall be soaked with blood - Margin, ‘Drunken;’ the same word which is rendered ‘bathed’ in Isa_34:5.

Their dust made fat - Their land manured and made rich with the slain. A battlefield is usually distinguished afterward for its fertility. The field of Waterloo has thus been celebrated, since the great battle there, for producing rank and luxuriant harvests.

2. CLARKE, “The unicorns shall come down - ראמים reemim, translated wild goats by

Bishop Lowth. The ראם reem Bochart thinks to be a species of wild goat in the deserts of Arabia. It seems generally to mean the rhinoceros.

With blood “With their blood” - מדמם middamam; so two ancient MSS. of Kennicott’s the Syriac, and Chaldee.

3. GILL, “And the unicorns shall come down with them,.... With the lambs, goats, and rams; that is, either the rhinoceros, as some, there being no such creature as the unicorn; or the buffaloes, as (m) others; these "shall fall", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it, they shall be slain, as well as the rest; meaning, that along with the common soldiers, and inferior officers, the general officers should fall; and so the Targum, "and the mighty shall be slain with them.''

R. Abraham Seba says (n) he read in a certain book, that the word here should not be read ראמים,

"unicorns", but רומיים, "the Romans shall come down", &c.: and the bullocks with the bulls: or, as the Targum, "and the rulers with the princes;'' the same with the kings, captains, and mighty men in Rev_19:18, and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness; Or, "their land shall be inebriated" (o), or made drunk, with blood; and the dust thereof thickened by it, and made clods of with it, as the parched earth is watered with a plentiful shower, and the dust laid with it: this is a just retaliation to the whore of Rome, who has been made drunk with the blood of the saints, and now blood shall be given her to drink, even her own, with which she shall be filled, and welter and wallow in the clods of it, Rev_17:6.

4. PULPIT, “The unicorns; Bishop Lowth renders ream by "wild goats;" Mr. Cheyne by "buffaloes."

Probably the wild ox, a native of the trans-Jordanic region, is intended. Shall come down; rather, shall go

down; i.e. shall fall and perish (comp. Jer_1:1-19 :27

5. JAMISON, “unicorns — Hebrew, reem: conveying the idea of loftiness, power, and pre-eminence (see on Job_39:9), in the Bible. At one time the image in the term answers to a reality in nature; at another it symbolizes an abstraction. The rhinoceros was the original type. The Arab rim is two-horned: it was the oryx (the leucoryx, antelope, bold and pugnacious); but when accident or artifice deprived it of one horn, the notion of the unicorn arose. Here is meant the portion of the Edomites which was strong and warlike.

come down — rather, “fall down,” slain [Lowth].

with them — with the “lambs and goats,” the less powerful Edomites (Isa_34:6).

bullocks ... bulls — the young and old Edomites: all classes.

dust — ground.

6. COKE, “Isaiah 34:5-8. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven— The meaning of this period is,

that on a certain day of judgment, which is elsewhere called the great day of the Lord's vengeance, a

mighty slaughter shall be made of the hardened enemies of the church, a long time oppressed and

afflicted by them, with the effusion of much blood, and the destruction of many great, noble, and powerful

men. The figure is taken from the master of a family, who, preparing a great feast, and a sacrifice, finds it

necessary to slay many lambs, rams, and fatted animals, so that his knife may be said to

be inebriated with the blood and fat of the slain. The passage is clear enough in this view. The meaning of

the phrase, My sword shall be bathed, or inebriated in heaven, is, "It shall be sharpened or made ready in

heaven, to bathe itself on earth." The verse may be rendered, When my sword in heaven is bathed,

behold, it shall sink deep into Idumaea, into the people whom I have devoted to destruction. In Isaiah

34:7 instead of unicorns, Bishop Lowth reads wild goats, which, together with the bullocks, &c. should

come down to be sacrificed in the land of Idumaea. The place of this sacrifice is said to be Bozrah, which

was a city of Edom, (see ch. Isaiah 63:1.) and both Bozrah and Idumaea are, as the whole context

shews, to be taken figuratively. SeeRevelation 6:15; Revelation 19:17-18. Vitringa is of opinion, as we

before remarked, that Rome and the Roman power are here meant; and he observes, that Rome, which

in the Hebrew signifies fortification,well answers to Bozrah, which signifies a fortified

city. See Deuteronomy 3:5 in the Hebrew. Instead of, for the controversy of Zion, some read, for the

avenging of, or to avenge Zion.

7. CALVIN, “7.And the unicorns shall come down with them. This verse is closely connected with the

former, for he adds nothing new, but proceeds with the same figure, amplifying what he had said about “”

and “” to which he adds not only bullocks but wild and savage beasts. It amounts to this, that the

vengeance of heaven will be so unrelenting as to spare neither age nor rank, and to mark; for slaughter

even cruel giants, notwithstanding their silly fierceness, just as if one were preparing a sacrifice which

consisted indiscriminately of every kind of animals. It ought not to be thought strange that lambs are

mingled with cruel beasts, for the term “” is not employed in commendation of their mildness or

harmlessness, but is applied comparatively to those who are feeble and who belong to the ordinary rank,

which lays them under the necessity of having some appearance of modesty.

Although God may appear to be harsh in thus directing his hostility against all classes, yet, by the use of

the word “” he claims for himself the praise of justice; and indeed no man, when he comes to the trial, will

be found to be without blame, so that on good grounds all, without exception, are irrecoverably ruined.

Such is the destruction which awaits all the reprobate, who of their own accord refuse to devote

themselves to the service of God; irreligious hands shall offer them in sacrifice. (19)

is translated strong by some commentators; I have preferred to follow those who explain it (abbirim) אברים

to mean bulls, which it means also in Psa_50:13, though in this passage the Prophet employs the

word bulls to denote metaphorically those who are very strong and powerful.

(19) “Ils seront sacrifiez par les mains d’ mecans qn’.” “ shall be sacrificed by the hands of persons as

wicked as themselves.”

8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,

a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.

1.BARNES, “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance - A time when Yahweh will take vengeance.

The year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion - The time when he will recompense, that is, punish those who have had a controversy with Zion.

2. CLARKE, “The year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion “The year of

recompense to the defender of the cause of Zion” - As from דון dun, דין din, a judge; so

from רוב rub, ריב rib, an advocate, or defender; Judici Sionis: Syriac.

3. GILL, “For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance,.... The time which he has appointed to take vengeance on antichrist, his 1260 days, or years; being up, in which he is to reign; these being expired, the time is come for the Lord to avenge the blood of his saints; see Rev_18:20, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion; the church of God, which has been for many ages abused and injured by the antichristian powers, for which the Lord will have a controversy with them; he will appear in favour of his people, and plead the cause of Zion, and recompense their enemies for all the injuries they have done them; then they that have led into captivity shall go into captivity, and they that have killed with the sword shall be killed with it, Rev_13:10 this will be a time of double recompence; and therefore perhaps the word is used in the plural number; it will be the time of rewarding antichrist as he has rewarded others; and it will be the time of the dead, that they shall be judged, and rewards given to God's servants the prophets, Rev_18:6. The Targum is, "the year of recompence, to take vengeance of judgment for the injury of Zion.''

4. HENRY, “Whom he makes war for, and what are the grounds and reasons of the war (Isa_34:8): It is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and he it is to whom vengeance belongs, and who is never unrighteous in taking vengeance, Rom_3:5. As there is a day of the Lord's patience, so there will be a day of his vengeance; for, though he bear long, he will not bear

always. It is the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. Zion is the holy city, the city of our solemnities, a type and figure of the church of God in the world. Zion has a just quarrel with her neighbours for the wrongs they have done her, for all their treacherous and barbarous usage of her, profaning her holy things, laying waste her palaces, and slaying her sons. She has left it to God to plead her cause, and he will do so when the time, even the set time, to favour Zion shall have come; then he will recompense to her persecutors and oppressors all the mischiefs they have done her. The controversy will be decided, that Zion has been wronged, and therein Zion's God has been himself abused. Judgment will be given upon this decision, and execution done. Note, There is a time prefixed in the divine counsels for the deliverance of the church and the destruction of her enemies, a year of the redeemed, which will come, a year of recompences for the controversy of Zion; and we must patiently wait till then, and judge nothing before the time.

5. JAMISON, “recompenses for the controversy of Zion — that is, the year when God will retaliate on those who have contended with Zion. Her controversy is His. Edom had thought to extend its borders by laying hold of its neighbor’s lands and has instigated Babylon to cruelty towards fallen Judah (Psa_137:7; Eze_36:5); therefore Edom shall suffer the same herself (Lam_4:21, Lam_4:22). The final winding up of the controversy between God and all enemies of Him and His people is also foreshadowed (Isa_61:2; Isa_63:4; Isa_66:14-16; Mal_4:1, Mal_4:3; 2Th_1:7, 2Th_1:8, 2Th_1:9; Rev_11:18; Rev_18:20; Rev_19:2).

6. K&D, “Thus does Jehovah avenge His church upon Edom. “For Jehovah hath a day of vengeance, a year of recompense, to contend for Zion. And the brooks of Edom are turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone, and its land becomes burning pitch. Day and night it is not quenched; the smoke of Edom goes up for ever: it lies waste from generation to generation; no one passes through it for ever and ever.” The one expression, “to contend for Zion,” is like a flash of lightning, throwing light upon the obscurity of prophecy, both backwards and forwards. A day and a year of judgment upon Edom (compare Isa_61:2; Isa_63:4) would do justice to Zion

against its accusers and persecutors (rıbh, vindicare, as in Isa_51:22). The everlasting

punishment which would fall upon it is depicted in figures and colours, suggested by the proximity of Edom to the Dead Sea, and the volcanic character of this mountainous country. The unquenchable fire (for which compare Isa_66:24), and the eternally ascending smoke (cf., Rev_19:3), prove that the end of all things is referred to. The prophet meant primarily, no doubt, that the punishment announced would fall upon the land of Edom, and within its geographical boundaries; but this particular punishment represented the punishment of all nations, and all men who were Edomitish in their feelings and conduct towards the congregation of Jehovah.

7. PULPIT, “The day of the Lord's vengeance (comp. Isa_61:2 and Isa_63:4). In all three places the

"day" of God's vengeance is contrasted with the "year" of his recompense, to show how infinite is his

mercy, how short-lived, comparatively speaking, his auger. Mr. Cheyne well compares the concluding

clauses of the second commandment, where "retribution is declared to descend to the third and fourth

generation, but mercy to the thousandth." Recompenses for the controversy of Zion; rather, for the

vindication of Zion; i.e. for the maintenance of her right in the quarrel between her and her enemies.

8. PULPIT, “The Lord's controversy.

"The year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." Fausset says, "When Judah was captive in

Babylon, Edom in every way insulted over her fallen mistress, and killed many of those Jews whom the

Chaldeans had left, and hence was held guilty of fratricide by God (Esau, their ancestor, having been

brother to Jacob): this was the cause of the denunciations of the prophets against Edom

(Isa_63:1; Jer_49:7; Eze_25:12-14; Eze_35:3-

15; Joe_3:19; Amo_1:11, Amo_1:12; Oba_1:8, Oba_1:10, Oba_1:12-18; Mal_1:3, Mal_1:4).' The

Israelites were familiar with the law of retaliation. It was the pervading law of men as gathered into tribes,

and their basis-idea of justice. Moses adopted it for his legal system, but qualified its operation, preparing

the way for an entire change from personal retaliation for offences, to a calm, unbiased, systematic

consideration of the case of all wrong-doers, and adjustment of punishments on a fixed scale. So far as

the idea of retaliation was right as between men, it may be applied as between God and men, and it is

introduced in this verse. Edom took advantage of Israel's weakness to act unbrotherly, and to encroach.

Therefore the Lord has a controversy with Edom; and he will surely retaliate, bringing judgments upon

them.

I. RETALIATION AS A PRIMITIVE IDEA OF JUSTICE, "It was an ethical maxim, extensively accepted

among ancient nations, that men must suffer the same pains that they have inflicted on others. The later

Greeks called this the Neoptolemictisis, from the circumstance that Neoptolemus was punished in the

same way in which he had sinned. He had murdered at the altar, and at the altar he was murdered."

Show how natural the retaliatory idea seems to children. The old sentiment still lingers in men's minds, so

that we have great satisfaction in hearing of cases wherein Providence deals the blow to men which they

have dealt to others.

II. RETALIATION DANGEROUS BECAUSE OF THE CHARACTER OF AVENGERS. It would be a safe

working principle if men were good, and not subject to unworthy passions. These make men do more

than retaliate.

III. RETALIATION AS A PART OF DIVINE DEALING. He has a "year of recompenses"—a time when he

will make a man's violent doing fall upon his own pate. All sin is wrong done to him; it calls for due

recompense. It must be precisely shown how far the idea of retaliation may be applied to God.

IV. RETALIATION BY GOD IS GUARANTEED BY THE CHARACTER OF GOD. It can never be the

expression of personal feeling. It can never be unqualified or excessive. It can never be without its own

aim to secure the final good of those on whom it must fall.—R.T.

9. CALVIN, “8For it is the day of vengeance of Jehovah. This verse must be viewed as closely

connected with the preceding verses, for it points out the object which the Lord has in view in punishing

the Edomites with such severity; and that object is, that he wishes to avenge his people and defend their

cause. If, therefore, he had not also assigned this reason, the former statements might have appeared to

be obscure or inappropriate; for it would, have been an uncertain kind of knowledge if we did not consider

that God, in punishing wicked men, testifies his unceasing affection and care to preserve his own people.

What was formerly said about the Edomites must undoubtedly be extended to the enemies of the Church,

for all of them were included by the Prophet under a particular class; and, therefore, in adversity our

hearts ought to be supported by this consolation:, that the attacks which we now suffer shall come into

judgment before God, who justly claims for himself this office. The Prophet does not only mean that it is in

his power to punish wicked men whenever he thinks proper, but, that he reigns in heaven, in order to

punish every kind of injustice at the proper time.

But we must attend to the words day and year, by which he reminds us that God does not sleep in

heaven, though for a little time he does not come forth, but delays his vengeance till a fit season, that

believers may in the meantime “ their souls in patience,” (Luk_21:19,) and may leave him to govern

according to his inscrutable wisdom.

9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,

her dust into burning sulfur;

her land will become blazing pitch!

1.BARNES, “And the streams thereof - The idea here is, that there would be as great and awful a destruction as if the streams everywhere should become pitch or resin, which would be set on fire, and which would fill the land with flame. This image is very striking, as we may see by supposing the rivers and streams in any land to flow not with water, but with heated pitch, turpentine, or tar, and that this was all suddenly kindled into a flame. It cannot be supposed that this is to be taken literally. The image is evidently taken from the destruction of Sodom and Gamorrah (Gen_19:25-28), an image which is more fully used in reference to the same subject in Jer_49:17-18 : ‘And Edom shall be a desolation;... as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.’

And the dust thereof into brimstone - The ruin shall be as entire as if all the soil were turned into brimstone, which should be ignited and left burning.

2. PULPIT, “And the streams thereof; i.e. "the streams of the land of Edom." Though Edom has no

perennial rivers, it has numerous torrent-courses to carry off the winter rains (see 2Ki_3:20-22). These

should run with pitch, instead of water. The general idea is that Edom should be visited with a destruction

like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen_19:24; comp. Jer_49:18). But the prophet scarcely intends his

words to be taken literally; he is making Edom a type or representation of God's enemies, and the gist of

his teaching is that a dreadful vengeance, an utter destruction, will come upon all who set themselves up

against the Most High. In the next verse he declares that the vengeance will be eternal

(comp. Isa_66:24).

3. GILL, “And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch,.... The Septuagint render it, "the valleys"; the word signifying both rivers and valleys, most render it rivers or streams. The Targum is express, "the rivers of Rome shall be turned into pitch;'' by which may be meant the maritime places belonging to the Romish jurisdiction, the same on which the third vial will be poured, by which the rivers and fountains of waters will become blood; and which refers to this very time, when blood shall be given to the whore of Rome to drink, Rev_16:4. The allusion, in this and some following clauses, is to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; see Jer_49:17, and the dust thereof into brimstone; and so easily take fire: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch: plainly pointing to the destruction of Rome by fire, Rev_17:16.

4. HENRY, “This prophecy looks very black, but surely it looks so further than upon Edom and Bozrah. 1. It describes the melancholy changes that are often made by the divine Providence, in countries, cities, palaces, and families. Places that have flourished and been much frequented strangely go to decay. We know not where to find the places where many great towns, celebrated in history, once stood. Fruitful countries, in process of time, are turned into barrenness, and pompous populous cities into ruinous heaps. Old decayed castles look frightful, and their ruins are almost as much dreaded as ever their garrisons were. 2. It describes the destroying judgments which are the effects of God's wrath and the just punishment of those that are enemies to his people, which God will inflict when the year of the redeemed has come, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. Those that aim to ruin the church can never do that, but will infallibly ruin themselves. 3. It describes the final desolation of this wicked world, which is reserved unto fire at the day of judgment, 2Pe_3:7. The earth itself, when it, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up, will (for aught I know) be turned into a hell to all those that set their affections on earthly things. However, this prophecy shows us what will be the lot of the generation of God's curse. I. The country shall become like the lake of Sodom, Isa_34:9, Isa_34:10. The streams thereof, that both watered the land and pleased and refreshed the inhabitants, shall now be turned into pitch, shall be congealed, shall look black, and shall move slowly, or not at all. Their floods to lazy streams of pitch shall turn; so Sir R. Blackmore. The dust thereof shall be turned into brimstone; so combustible has sin made their land that it shall take fire at the first spark of God's wrath struck upon it; and, when it has taken fire, it shall become burning pitch; the fire

shall be universal, not a house, or town, on fire, but a whole country; and it shall not be in the

power of any to suppress or extinguish it. It shall burn continually, burn perpetually, and shall not be quenched night nor day. The torment of those in hell, or that have a hell within them in their own consciences, is without interruption; the smoke of this fire goes up for ever. As long as there are provoking sinners on earth, from one generation to another, an increase of sinful men, to augment the fierce anger of the Lord (Num_32:14), there will be a righteous God in heaven to punish them for it. And as long as a people keep up a succession of sinners God will have a

succession of plagues for them; nor will any that fall under the wrath of God be ever able to

recover themselves. It will be found, how light soever men make of it, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. If the land be doomed to destruction, none shall pass through it, but travellers will choose rather to go a great way about than come within the smell

of it.

5. JAMISON, “Images from the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen_19:24-28; so Deu_29:23; Jer_49:17, Jer_49:18).

6. COFFMAN, “"Streams into pitch ... dust into brimstone ..." (Isaiah 34:9). "These words, along with the haunted ruins of Isaiah 34:11ff bring both Sodom and Babylon to mind";[6] and they provide part of the evidence here that the final judgment is the theme. However, it is evident that both the earthly judgments against Edom and that of the Final Day are mingled in the description. This is true because other pictures of the final destruction of Adam's race declare that "no living thing whatever" will be left (Zephaniah 1:1-3).

The judgments against Sodom and Gomorrah and that of Babylon are both typical of the Final Day; and for that reason, the comparison suggested here enables us to classify the judgment against Edom in the same way. Like Babylon, Edom will be nothing but a waste land generation after generation. This, of course, has already happened.

The word rendered "night-monster" in Isaiah 34:14 comes from a proper name in the Hebrew, Lilith, which is of uncertain interpretation.[7] There is some possibility that it might refer to a demon. Peake believed that all of the creatures mentioned here as dwelling in deserted and wasted Edom were "Satyrs,"[8] that is, "gods, or gods that looked like goats, demonic creatures."[9]

"Isaiah 34:15, then is meant to mirror the total absence of any human beings."[10] And, in view of the first three verses of Zephaniah, where God promised to destroy every living creature, it could be that only spiritual beings such as demons in the service of the devil would inhabit places such as Babylon and Edom were doomed to be.

7. COKE, “Isaiah 34:9-15. And the streams thereof, &c.— The prophet, whose copiousness of

speaking is every where inexhausted, paints, in the most chosen figures, an image of the land and city

desolated by war, wasted by fire, and devoted to eternal devastation, by the divine judgment; which

should not only be deprived of its inhabitants, and left to impure beasts and birds, accustomed to dwell in

desarts and desolate places, but also, by the desolation brought upon it, should be

rendered uninhabitable, and present the appearance of the infernal flame, like another Sodom and

Gomorrah, sending forth continually black smoke and horrid smells. This is the sense of the period, as

must be plain to every one. See ch.Isaiah 13:19, &c. where the desolation of Babylon is set forth in similar

terms. Though Rome pagan, and the Roman powers, have already suffered great desolation from the

Goths and others, yet Vitringa is of opinion, that this prophesy has not yet had its full completion, but will

hereafter have it in the destruction of papal Rome. The state of Italy, and the sulphureous soil in the

vicinity of Rome, render the probability of this devastation greater.

8. CALVIN, “9.And its streams shall be turned into pitch. What the Prophet now adds contains nothing

new, but describes more fully this desolation. We have formerly explained the reason wily the prophets

employ these lively pictures in representing the judgments of God. It is for the purpose of leading men to

view them as actually present, and of compelling them to acknowledge those things which their eyes and

minds do not discern, or which, as soon as they are beheld and known, are immediately forgotten. But it

ought also to be observed that the Prophets spoke of things which were dark and secret, and which were

generally thought to be incredible; for many persons imagined that the Prophets uttered them at random.

It was, therefore, necessary to add many confirmations, such as those which he employs in this and in

other passages; and thus he denotes a horrible change, which shall destroy the whole face of Judea.

Moreover, he alludes to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, (Gen_19:24,) as the prophets very

frequently do. In that destruction, as Jude informs us, we have a perpetual representation of the wrath of

God against the reprobate, (Jud_1:7;) and it is not without good reason that the prophets call it to our

remembrance, that all may learn to dread the judgments of God. To the same purpose is what he adds,

—

10 It will not be quenched night or day;

its smoke will rise forever.

From generation to generation it will lie desolate;

no one will ever pass through it again.

1.BARNES, “It shall not be quenched night nor day - That is, the burning brimstone and pitch Isa_34:9, the emblem of perpetual and entire desolation, shall not be extinguished.

The smoke thereof shall go up for ever - Every river and rivulet is Supposed to be heated pitch, and every particle of dust sulphur, and a 1 on fire, sending up from an extended region dense columns of smoke to heaven. No idea of ruin could be more sublime; no idea of the vengeance of God more terrible. This image has been copied by John to describe the future woes of the wicked Rev_14:11, and of mystical Babylon Rev_18:9, Rev_18:18; Rev_19:2-3.

From generation to generation it shall lie waste - Full confirmation of this may be seen in the travels of Seetsen, of Burckhardt, of Volney, of Irby, and Mangles, extracts of which have been collected and arranged by Keith (Evidences of Prophecy, pp. 135-168). Thus Volney says, ‘From the reports of the Arabs as of Bakir, and the inhabitants of Gaza, who frequently go to Maan and Karak, on the road of the pilgrims, there are to the southeast of the lake Asphaltites (Dead Sea), within three days’ journey, upward of thirty ruined towns, absolutely deserted.

Several of them have large edifices, with columns that may have belonged to the ancient temples, or at least to Greek churches. The Arabs sometimes make use of them to fold cattle in; but, in general, avoid them on account of the enormous scorpions with which they swarm.’ (Volney’s Travels, vol. ii. pp. 344-346.) It is remarkable that an infidel, as Volney was, should in this, as in numerous other instances, have given a minute confirmation of the ancient prophecies.

Seetsen says (Travels, p. 46), that he was told, that, ‘at the distance of two days and a half from Hebron he would final considerable ruins of the ancient city of Abde, and that for all the rest of the journey be would see no place of habitation; he would meet only with a few tribes of wandering Arabs.’ Burckhardt has given the following description on of the eastern boundary of Edom, and of the adjoining part of Arabia Petrea: ‘It might with truth be called Petrea, not only on account of its rocky mountains, but also of the elevated plain already described (that is, Shera (Seir), the territory of the Edomites, Travels, pp. 410, 435), ‘which is so much covered with stones, especially flints, that it may with great propriety be called a stony desert, although susceptible of culture; in many places it is grown over with wild herbs, and must once have been thickly inhabited, for the traces of many towns and villages are met with on both sides of the Hadj road between Maan and Akaba, as well as between Mean and the plains of Houran, in which direction also are many springs.

At present all this country is a desert, and Maan is the only inhabited place in it.’ (Burckhardt’s Travels, p. 436.) Of the remains of ancient cities still exposed to view in different places throughout Idumea, Burckhardt describes the ruins of a large town, of which nothing remains but broken walls anti heaps of stones; the ruins of several villages in its vicinity (p. 418); the ruins of an ancient city, consisting of large heaps of hewn blocks of siliceous stone; and the extensive ruins of Arindela, an ancient town of Palestina Terria (p. 441). ‘The following ruined places are situated in Djebal Shera (Mount Seir), to the south and southwest of Wady Musa - Kalaat Beni Madha, Djerba, Basta, Eyl, Ferdakh, Anyk, Bir el Beytar, Shemakh, and Syk’ (p. 444). Burckhardt also gives a most interesting description of the ruins of the ancient Petra which he discovered, the ancient capital of Edom, but which is too long to be transcribed here (see his Travels, pp. 422-432; compare the note at Isa_16:1).

None shall pass through it forever and ever - That is, it shall not be a country through which caravans shall pass; there shrill be no roads, and it shall not be deemed safe to travel through it. It will be recollected that the original source of all their calamities, and the cause of all the judgments that came upon them, was the fact that they would not let the children of Israel pass peaceably through their land on their way to Canaan (see the Introduction to the chapter). As a punishment for this, God now says that their land shall not be passed through; it shall not be a thoroughfare; there shall be no travelers in it. God usually directs his punishment of individuals and of nations in the line of their offences, and thus his judgments become commonly a recompence in kind. Thus in 2Sa_22:26-27, it is said:

With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful; And with the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; And with the froward thou wilt show thyself unsavory.

In accordance with this prediction that no one should pass through Edom, Volney (Travels, vol. ii. p. 344) says, ‘The country has not been visited by any traveler, but it well merits Such an attention.’ Thus Burckhardt (Travels, p. 421) says, after he had entered, on the northeast, the territories of the Edomites, that he ‘was without protection in the midst of a desert where no traveler had ever before been seen. It was then,’ he adds, ‘that for the first time he had ever felt fear during his travels in the desert, and his route thither was the most dangerous he had ever traveled’ (p. 400). ‘Seetsen, on a piece of paper pasted against the wall, notified his having

penetrated the country in a direct line between the Dead Sea and Mount Sinai (through Idumea), a route never before accomplished.’ (Burckhardt’s Syria, p. 553.) Burckhardt had determined to attempt to pass the same way as being the shortest way to Jerusalem; but he was repeatedly told it was impossible; and the difficulty of the journey is illustrated in the Travels of Captains Irby and Mangles. They offered five hundred piastres to an Arab tribe if they would conduct them to Wady Musa, but nothing would induce them to consent. ‘They said they would not go if we would give them five thousand piastres, observing that money was of no use to a man if he lost his life’ (p. 349). So strikingly has this prediction been fulfilled.

2. PULPIT, “None shall pass through it forever and ever. There was a literal fulfillment of the

prophecies against Edom to a considerable extent. Malachi, writing three hundred years after Isaiah, says

that the "mountains and the heritage of Esau were laid waste for the dragons of the wilderness"

(Mal_1:3); and he makes the Edomites themselves exclaim, "We are impoverished, but we will return and

build the desolate places" (Isa_1:4). A certain amount of recovery must have followed; and in the

Maccabee period Edom appears once more as an adversary of Israel, and an adversary of some

importance (1 Macc. 5:3, 65). Gradually, however, she had to yield to the superior power of Judaea, and

was even ruled by viceroys, whom the Maccabee princes nominated. One of these, Antipater, was the

father of Herod the Great. From his time Idumea languished until, in the seventh century after Christ, it

was overrun dud conquered by the Mohammedan Arabs, who completed its ruin. It is now, and has been

for above a thousand years, one of the most desolate tracts upon the earth's surface.

3. GILL, “It shall not be quenched night nor day,.... It will be long burning, and shall not be extinguished until it is utterly consumed. The burning of Rome will continue long, especially the smoke of it; the kings of the earth, and others, are represented as standing and looking at it, and lamenting for it, Rev_18:9, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; this very phrase is what will be used by the saints in their "allelujahs", at the burning of Rome, Rev_19:3 with which compare Rev_14:11, from generation to generation it shall lie waste; the land shall be no more manured and cultivated, nor the city rebuilt; when Babylon is once fallen, it shall never be raised up again, but always remain desolate, Rev_18:2, none shall pass through it for ever and ever; no inhabitant in it, nor traveller through it; it will be so horrible and terrible, as none will care to dwell there, yea, not so much as to travel through it; see Jer_49:18.

4. JAMISON, “It — The burning pitch, etc. (Isa_34:9).

smoke ... for ever — (Rev_14:11; Rev_18:18; Rev_19:3).

generation to generation — (Mal_1:4).

none ... pass through — Edom’s original offense was: they would not let Israel pass through their land in peace to Canaan: God recompenses them in kind, no traveler shall pass through Edom. Volney, the infidel, was forced to confirm the truth of this prophecy: “From the reports of the Arabs, southeast of the Dead Sea, within three days’ journey are upwards of thirty ruined towns, absolutely deserted.”

5. CALVIN, “10.By night and by day it shall not be quenched. The Prophet’ language is undoubtedly

hyperbolical; but the Lord is compelled to act towards us in this manner, for otherwise plain words would

produce no impression on us. When he declares that the wrath of God against the Edomites will resemble

a fire that burns continually, he cuts off from them all hope of pardon, because, having never ceased to

provoke God, they find that he is implacable; and Malachi also pronounces this expression of reprobation,

that the curse of God will for ever rest on that nation. (Mal_1:4.) The contrast must be supplied, because

some mitigation is always held out to the people of God for their comfort. But this does not need a

lengthened interpretation. It is enough that we understand the meaning and design of the Prophet.

11 The desert owl[b] and screech owl[c] will possess it;

the great owl[d] and the raven will nest there.

God will stretch out over Edom

the measuring line of chaos

and the plumb line of desolation.

1.BARNES, “But the cormorant - This and the following verses contain a description of the desolations of Edom in language remarkably similar to that employed in the account of the

destruction of Babylon Isa_13:20-22; Isa_14:23. The word here translated ‘cormorant’ (קאת qa�

'ath), occurs in this place and in Zep_2:14, where it is rendered ‘cormorant,’ and in Lev_11:18; Deu_14:17; Psa_102:6, where it is rendered ‘pelican.’ Bochart supposes it is the ardea stellaris, or bitourn, which frequents watery places in deserts, and makes a horrible noise. The pelican is a sea-fowl, and cannot be intended here. The cormorant or water raven is a large fowl of the pelican kind, which occupies the cliffs by the sea, feeds on fish, and which is extremely voracious, and which is the emblem of a glutton. It is not certain what fowl is intended here, but the word properly denotes a water-fowl, and evidently refers to some bird that inhabits desolate places.

And the bittern shall possess it - For a description of the bittern, see the note at Isa_14:23.

The owl also and the raven - Well known birds that occupy deserts, and old ruins of houses or towns. The image here is that of desolation and ruin; and the sense is, that the land would be reduced to a waste that would not be inhabited by man, but would be given up to wild

animals. How well this agrees with Edom, may be seen in the Travels of Burckhardt, Seetsen,

and others. In regard to the fact that the cormorant (קאת qa�'ath) should be found there, it may be proper to introduce a remark of Burckhardt, who seems to have had no reference to this prophecy. ‘The bird katta,’ says he, ‘is met with in immense numbers. They fly in such large flocks that the boys often kill two or three of them at a time, merely by throwing a stick among them.’ So also in regard to the fact that the owl and the raven shall dwell there, the following statements are made by travelers: Captain Mangles relates thatwhile he and his fellow-travelers were examining the ruins and contemplating the sublime scenery of Petra, ‘the screaming of the eagles, hawks, and owls, which were soaring above their heads in considerable numbers, seemingly annoyed at anyone approaching their lonely habitation, added much to the singularity of the scene.’ So says Burckhardt: ‘The fields of Tafyle (situated in the immediate vicinity of Edom) are frequented by an immense number of crows.’

And he shall stretch out upon it - This is an illusion to the fact that an architect uses a line, which is employed to lay out his work (see the note at Isa_28:17).

The line of confusion - A similar expression occurs in 2Ki_21:13 : ‘I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab;’ that is, I will apply the same measure and rule of destruction to Jerusalem that has been applied to Samaria. So Edom would be marked out for desolation. It was the work which God had laid out, and which he intended to perform.

And the stones of emptiness - Probably the plummet which the architect commonly employed with his line (see the note at Isa_28:17). It is a fact, however, that Edom is at present an extended waste of stones and barren rocks. ‘We had before us an immense expanse of dreary country, entirely covered with black flints, with here and there some hilly chain rising from the plain.’ (Burckhardt’s Travels in Syria, p. 445.)

2. CLARKE, “The cormorant - קאת kaath, the pelican, from the root קיא ki, to vomit, because it is said she swallows shell-fish, and when the heat of her stomach has killed the fish, she vomits the shells, takes out the dead fish, and eats them.

The bittern - קפד kippod, the hedge-hog, or porcupine.

The owl - ינשוף yanshoph, the bittern, from נשף nashaph, to blow, because of the blowing noise it makes, almost like the lowing of an ox. My old MS. Bible renders the words thus: - The foule in face like an asse, and the yrchoun, and the snyte (snipe.)

The line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness “The plummet of emptiness

over her scorched plains” - The word חריה choreyha, joined to the 12th verse, embarrasses it, and makes it inexplicable. At least I do not know that any one has yet made out the construction, or given any tolerable explication of it. I join it to the 11th verse, and supply a letter or two,

which seem to have been lost. Fifteen MSS. five ancient, and two editions, read חוריה choreyha;

the first printed edition of 1486, I think nearer to the truth, חריה�חור chor�choreyha. I read בחרריה

becharereyha, or חרריה�על al�chorereyha; see Jer_17:6. A MS. has חדיה chodiah, and the Syriac

reads חדוה chaduah, gaudium, joining it to the two preceding words; which he likewise reads

differently, but without improving the sense. However, his authority is clear for dividing the

verses as they are here divided. I read שם shem, as a noun. They shall boast, יקראו yikreu; see Pro_20:6.

3. GILL, “But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it,.... The word for "cormorant" is rendered a "pelican", in Psa_102:6 they were both unclean fowls according to the law, of which see Lev_11:17 and See Gill on Isa_14:23, the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it; which were likewise unclean creatures; and these, with the former, and other creatures after mentioned, delight to dwell in desolate and ruinous places; and so Babylon or Rome being destroyed, will become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, Rev_18:2, and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness; "he", that is, God, as Kimchi interprets it; the allusion is to builders, that make use of the line and plummet, as to build, so to pull down, that they may know what is to be pulled down, and how far they are to go; see 2Ki_21:13 and hereby it is signified, that as the destruction should be entire, nothing should be left but confusion and emptiness; and all should become "tohu" and "bohu", which are the words used here; and are the same that are used to express the confused chaos, the unformed and empty earth, Gen_1:2 so likewise that it should be by line and level, by rule and measure; or according to the rules of justice and equity.

4. HENRY, “The cities shall become like old decayed houses, which, being deserted by the owners, look very frightful, being commonly possessed by beasts of prey or birds of ill omen. See how dismally the palaces of the enemy look; the description is peculiarly elegant and fine. 1. God shall mark them for ruin and destruction. He shall stretch out upon Bozrah the line of confusion with the stones or plummets of emptiness, Isa_34:11. This intimates the equity of the sentence passed upon it; it is given according to the rules of justice and the exact agreeableness of the execution with the sentence; the destruction is not wrought at random, but by line and level. The confusion and emptiness that shall overspread the face of the whole country shall be like that of

the whole earth when it was Tohu and Bohu (the very words here used) - without form and void.

Gen_1:2. Sin will soon turn a paradise into a chaos, and sully the beauty of the whole creation. When there is confusion there will soon be emptiness; but both are appointed by the governor of the world, and in exact proportions. 2. Their great men shall be all cut off, and none of them shall dare to appear (Isa_34:12): They shall call the nobles of the kingdom to take care of the arduous affairs which lie before them, but none shall be there to take this ruin under their hand, and all her princes, having the sad tidings brought them, shall be nothing, shall be at their wits' end, and not be able to stand them in stead, to shelter them from destruction.

III. Even the houses of state, and those of strength, shall become as wildernesses (Isa_34:13); not only grass shall grow, but thorns shall come up, in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof, and there shall be none to cut them up or tread them down. We sometimes see ruined buildings thus overgrown with rubbish. It intimates that the place shall not only be uninhabited and unfrequented where a full court used to be kept, but that it shall be under the curse of God; for thorns and thistles were the production of the curse, Gen_3:18.

IV. They shall become the residence and rendezvous of fearful frightful beasts and birds, which usually frequent such melancholy places, because there they may be undisturbed, and, when they are frightened thither, they help to frighten men thence. This circumstance of the

desolation, being apt to strike a horror upon the mind, is much enlarged upon here, Isa_34:11. The cormorant shall possess it, or the pelican, which affects to be solitary (Psa_102:6); and the bittern, which makes a hideous noise, the owl, a melancholy bird, the raven, a bird of prey, invited by the dead carcases, shall dwell there (with all the ill-boding monsters of the air, Sir R. B.), all the unclean birds, which were not for the service of man, Isa_34:13. It shall be a habitation for dragons, which are poisonous and hurtful.

And in their lofty rooms of state, Where cringing sycophants did wait, Dragons shall hiss and hungry wolves shall howl; In courts before by mighty lords possess'd The serpent shall erect his speckled crest, Or fold his circling spires to rest. - Sir R. Blackmore

5. JAMISON, “cormorant — The Hebrew is rendered, in Psa_102:6, “pelican,” which is a

seafowl, and cannot be meant here: some waterfowl (katta, according to Burckhardt) that tenants desert places is intended.

bittern — rather, “the hedgehog,” or “porcupine” [Gesenius] (Isa_14:23).

owl — from its being enumerated among water birds in Lev_11:17; Deu_14:16. Maurer thinks rather the heron or crane is meant; from a Hebrew root, “to blow,” as it utters a sound like the blowing of a horn (Rev_18:2).

confusion — devastation.

line ... stones — metaphor from an architect with line and plummet-stone (see on Isa_18:2; see on Isa_28:17); God will render to it the exact measure of justice without mercy (Jam_2:13; 2Ki_21:13; Lam_2:8; Amo_7:7, Amo_7:8).

emptiness — desolation. Edom is now a waste of “stones.”

6. K&D, “The land of Edom, in this geographical and also emblematical sense, would become a wilderness; the kingdom of Edom would be for ever destroyed. “And pelican and hedgehog take possession of it, and eared-owl and raven dwell there; and he stretches over it the measure of Tohu and the level of Bohu. Its nobles - there is no longer a monarchy which they elected; and all its princes come to nought.” The description of the ruin, which commences in Isa_34:11 with a list of animals that frequent marshy and solitary regions, is similar to the one in Isa_13:20-22; Isa_14:23 (compare Zep_2:14, which is founded upon this). Isaiah's was the

original of all such pictures of ruin which we meet with in the later prophets. The qippo�d is the

hedgehog, although we find it here in the company of birds (from qa�phad, to draw one's self

together, to roll up; see Isa_14:23). ק\ת is written here with a double kametz, as well as in

Zep_2:14, according to codd. and Kimchi, W.B. (Targ. qa�th, elsewhere qa�q; Saad. and Abulwalid,

qu�q: see at Psa_102:7). According to well-established tradition, it is the long-necked pelican,

which lives upon fish (the name is derived either from קוא, to vomit, or, as the construct is ק^ת,

from a word ק\ה, formed in imitation of the animal's cry). Yanshu�ph is rendered by the Targum

qıppo�phın (Syr. kafu�fo), i.e., eared-owls, which are frequently mentioned in the Talmud as birds

of ill omen (Rashi, or Berachoth 57b, chouette). As the parallel to qa�v, we have בני^ (stones) here

instead of משקלת, the level, in Isa_28:17. It is used in the same sense, however - namely, to

signify the weight used in the plumb or level, which is suspended by a line. The level and the measure are commonly employed for the purpose of building up; but here Jehovah is represented as using these fore the purpose of pulling down (a figure met with even before the time of Isaiah: vid., Amo_7:7-9, cf., 2Ki_21:13; Lam_2:8), inasmuch as He carries out this negative reverse of building with the same rigorous exactness as that with which a builder carries out his well-considered plan, and throws Edom back into a state of desolation and desert,

resembling the disordered and shapeless chaos of creation (compare Jer_4:23, where to�hu��va�bho�

hu� represents, as it does here, the state into which a land is reduced by fire). תהו has no dagesh

lene; and this is one of the three passages in which the opening mute is without a dagesh, although the word not only follows, but is closely connected with, one which has a soft consonant as its final letter (the others are Psa_68:18 and Eze_23:42). Thus the primeval kingdom with its early monarchy, which is long preceded that of Israel, is brought to an end

(Gen_36:31). חריה� stands at the head as a kind of protasis. Edom was an elective monarchy; the hereditary nobility electing the new king. But this would be done no more. The electoral princes of Edom would come to nothing. Not a trace would be left of all that had built up the glory of Edom.

7. PULPIT, “The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it. Compare the prophecy against Babylon

in Isa_14:23. The Hebrew word translated "cormorant," is now generally regarded as designating the

"pelican," while the one rendered "bittern" is thought by some to mean "hedgehog" or "porcupine."

Animals that delight in solitude are certainly meant, but the particular species is, more or less, matter of

conjecture. He shall stretch out upon it; rather, and one shall stretch out upon it. The verb is used

impersonally. The line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness; rather, the line of desolation, and

the plummet of emptiness. The destruction of cities was effected by rule and measure, probably because

different portions of the task were assigned to different sets of laborers, and, if the work was to be

completely done, it required to be done systematically. Here, the measuring-tape and the plumb-line are

to be these of tohu and vohu, or of the eternal chaos out of which God, by his word, produced order

(Gen_1:2).

8. CALVIN, “11.Therefore the pelican and the owl shall possess it. As to these animals there are

various opinions, and Hebrew commentators are not agreed about them; but the design of the Prophet is

evident, which is, to describe a desert place and an extensive wilderness. He undoubtedly mentions

dreadful beasts and hideous monsters, which do not dwell with men, and are not generally known by

them, in order to shew more fully how shocking will be this desolation. The former clause therefore is

plain enough, but the latter is attended by some difficulty.

He shall stretch over it the cord of emptiness. Some view the phrase “ empty cord” as bearing an opposite

sense, and apply it to the Jews; but I take a more simple view, and think that, like all the preceding

statements, it must relate to the Edomites. Anti to make it more clear that this is Isaiah’ natural meaning,

we read the same word in the Prophet Malachi, who lived a long time afterwards. That passage may be

regarded as an approbation of this prophecy.

“ Edom shall say, We have been diminished, we shall therefore return and rebuild the desolate places;

thus saith the Lord of Hosts, They shall indeed build, but I shall pull down, and they shall call them the

borders of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord is angry for ever. And your eyes shall see,

and ye shall say, Let the Lord be magnified on the borders of Israel.” —

(Mal_1:4.)

What Isaiah had foretold more obscurely, Malachi explains with greater clearness. The latter declares that

“ Edomires shall build in vain,” and the former that “ shall stretch an empty cord.” As if he had said, “ vain

shall the masterbuilders bestow their exertions on rebuilding the cities;” for builders make use of cords

and plummets in all their measurements. He therefore shews that the efforts of those who shall intend to

restore the land of Edom will be fruitless; for his meaning is, that they shall be destroyed in such a

manner that they cannot at all recover from that destruction, though God usually alleviates other

calamities by some consolation.

And hence we ought to draw a very profitable doctrine, that when cities are in some measure restored

after having been thrown down, this arises from the distinguished kindness of God; for the efforts of

builders or workmen will be unavailing, if he do not put his hand both to laying the foundation and to

carrying forward the work. Fruitless and unprofitable also will their work be, if he do not conduct it to the

conclusion, and afterwards take it under his guardianship. In vain shall men bestow great expense, and

make every possible exertion, if he do not watch over and bless the work. It is only by the blessing of

God, therefore, that we obtain any success; and hence also it is said that “ hands have built Jerusalem.”

(Psa_147:2; Isa_14:32.) What Isaiah threatens in this passage against the Edomites, the Holy Spirit

elsewhere declares as to the house of Ahab, meaning that it shall be razed to the very foundation.

(2Kg_21:13.)

12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a

kingdom,

all her princes will vanish away.

1.BARNES, “They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom - A more correct rendering of this would be, ‘As to the nobles, they shall call them, but there shall be there no kingdom.’ The idea is, that the kingdom would be desolate; there would be no people to rule. Or,

there will be no nobles there who shall survive the destruction, and who can undertake the government of the state. The idea is taken from a government or constitution where the monarch is chosen from the ranks of the nobility. Idumea was formerly governed, as we have seen (see the Introduction to the chapter), by dukes or princes; and it is probable that when it became a monarchy it was a part of the constitution that the sovereign should be chosen from their ranks. The idea here is, that none would be left who could be called to the throne; or if any were left, they would be unwilling to undertake the government of a country where all was disorder and confusion.

And all her princes shall be nothing - Long since Idumea has ceased to be a kingdom, and there are neither nobles nor princes there, nor are there any remains of an organized and independent government.

2. PULPIT, “They shall call the nobles, etc.; rather, as for her nobles, there shall be none there for

them to call to the kingdom. The nobles are termed horim, probably because the right of succession to

the kingdom was vested in the descendants of the Horites, from whom the Edomites took their territory

(Gen_36:20, Gen_36:29,Gen_36:30). These having died out, there would be no one to appoint as king.

3. GILL, “They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there,.... They shall call them to take upon them the kingdom and government, and there shall be none to do it, or that will care to do it; or rather there will be no kingdom to take unto them. The words may be rendered either, "as for the nobles thereof, not there a kingdom shall they be called" (p); or, "the nobles shall call"; or, "they shall call the nobles", and "there shall be no kingdom" (q); the kingdom of the beast, as it is called, Rev_16:10 shall be no more; and though the cardinals, who are like to nobles, may call for it, and expect it, or be called to it, yet to no purpose; this kingdom will not only be full of darkness, but utterly destroyed: and all her princes shall be nothing; shall come to nothing; the above mentioned cardinals, who are clothed and live like princes, these shall be no more; the same with the merchants of the earth, which like the merchants of Tyre are princes, Rev_18:3.

4. HENRY, “Their great men shall be all cut off, and none of them shall dare to appear

(Isa_34:12): They shall call the nobles of the kingdom to take care of the arduous affairs which lie before them, but none shall be there to take this ruin under their hand, and all her princes,

having the sad tidings brought them, shall be nothing, shall be at their wits' end, and not be able

to stand them in stead, to shelter them from destruction.

5. JAMISON, “Rather, “As to her nobles, there shall be none there who shall declare a kingdom,” that is, a king [Maurer]; or else, “There shall be no one there whom they shall call to the kingdom” [Rosenmuller] (Isa_3:6, etc.). Idumea was at first governed by dukes (Gen_36:15); out of them the king wan chosen when the constitution became a monarchy.

6. COKE, “Isaiah 34:9-15. And the streams thereof, &c.— The prophet, whose copiousness of

speaking is every where inexhausted, paints, in the most chosen figures, an image of the land and city

desolated by war, wasted by fire, and devoted to eternal devastation, by the divine judgment; which

should not only be deprived of its inhabitants, and left to impure beasts and birds, accustomed to dwell in

desarts and desolate places, but also, by the desolation brought upon it, should be

rendered uninhabitable, and present the appearance of the infernal flame, like another Sodom and

Gomorrah, sending forth continually black smoke and horrid smells. This is the sense of the period, as

must be plain to every one. See ch.Isaiah 13:19, &c. where the desolation of Babylon is set forth in similar

terms. Though Rome pagan, and the Roman powers, have already suffered great desolation from the

Goths and others, yet Vitringa is of opinion, that this prophesy has not yet had its full completion, but will

hereafter have it in the destruction of papal Rome. The state of Italy, and the sulphureous soil in the

vicinity of Rome, render the probability of this devastation greater.

7. CALVIN, “12.They shall call her nobles without a kingdom. This passage has received various

interpretations, which I do not quote, because it would be tedious to refute them. One of the most

probable is, “ shall call his nobles to reign, but in vain.” As if he had said, “ their wretched condition none

will be found willing to rule over them, and to undertake the charge of the commonwealth.” A statement of

the same kind is found elsewhere, and we have formerly (Isa_3:6) seen one that is almost alike; but the

words do not correspond. When the Prophet speaks thus, “ shall call her nobles, and they shall not be

there,” he employs, I doubt not, witty raillery to censure the pride of that nation which had been cherished

by longcontinued peace and abundance. When the Edomites, therefore, out of their mountains breathed

lofty pride, the Prophet declares that they shall be disgracefully cast down, so that they shall have no

nobility and no government; just as, when a kingdom has been overturned, government is taken away, so

that the general mass of the people resembles a maimed or disfigured body, and there is no distinction of

ranks. To those stately nobles who vaunted themselves so much, he says in mockery, that they shall be

princes without subjects.

And all her princes shall be nothing. The meaning of the former clause is still more evident from this

second clause, in which he adds for the sake of explanation, that her princes “ be reduced to nothing.’ It

amounts to this, that the land of Edom shall resemble a mutilated body, so that nothing shall be seen in it

but shocking confusion. This is the utmost curse of God; because, if men have no political government,

they will hardly differ at all from beasts. Indeed, their condition will be far worse, for beasts can dispense

with a governor, because they do not make war against their own kind; but nothing call be more cruel

than man, if he be not held by some restraint, for every one will be driven by the furious eagerness of his

own passions to every kind of vicious indulgence.

13 Thorns will overrun her citadels,

nettles and brambles her strongholds.

She will become a haunt for jackals,

a home for owls.

1.BARNES, “And thorns ... - (see the note at Isa_5:6)

It shall be an habitation of dragons - On the meaning of the word ‘dragons,’ see the note at Isa_13:22.

Court for owls - A place of resort, a residence of owls. The word rendered ‘court’ (חציר cha�

tsı.yr) means a dwelling-place, a habitation, as well as an enclosure or court. The margin is, ‘Daughters of the owl,’ or ‘ostriches’ (see the note at Isa_13:21). ‘I would,’ says Stephens, when standing amidst the ruins of Petra, the capital of Idumea (see the note at Isa_16:1), and with this passage of Isaiah in his eye, ‘I would that the sceptic could stand as I did, among the ruins of this city among the rocks, and there open the sacred book, and read the words of the inspired penman, written when this desolate place was one of the greatest cities in the world. I see the scoff arrested, his cheek pale, his lip quivering, and his heart quaking with fear, as the ancient city cries out to him in a voice loud and powerful as one risen from the dead; though be would not believe Moses and the prophets, he believes the hand-writing of God himself, in the desolation and eternal ruin around him.’ (Incidents of Travel in Egypt, etc., vol. ii. p. 76.)

2. CLARKE, “And thorns shall come up in her palaces - בארמנותיה�ועלו vealu�

bearmenotheyha; so read all the ancient versions.

A court for owls - יענה yaanah, the ostrich, from ענה anah, to cry, because of the noise it makes. “They roar, “says Dr. Shaw, “sometimes like a lion - sometimes like a bull. I have often heard them groan as if in the utmost distress.”

3. GILL, “And thorns shall come up in her palaces,.... Where their kings and princes dwelt, and kept their courts, popes and cardinals; here will be the tokens of God's curse, as thorns are, these being the people of his curse, as in Isa_34:5, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; alluding to "Bozrah" which signifies a fortress; referring to the towers and fortifications of the city of Rome, and all other fortified cities within its jurisdiction: and it shall be a habitation of dragons; literally, as it figuratively had been the seat of the old dragon, the devil, and of the beast to whom the dragon gave his power, seat, and authority; and who, though he looked like a lamb, spoke like a dragon, Rev_12:3, and a court for owls; or, "daughters of the owl"; or "ostriches", as some render it.

4. HENRY, “Even the houses of state, and those of strength, shall become as wildernesses (Isa_34:13); not only grass shall grow, but thorns shall come up, in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof, and there shall be none to cut them up or tread them down. We sometimes see ruined buildings thus overgrown with rubbish. It intimates that the place

shall not only be uninhabited and unfrequented where a full court used to be kept, but that it shall be under the curse of God; for thorns and thistles were the production of the curse, Gen_3:18.

5. JAMISON, “dragons — (See on Isa_13:21; see on Isa_13:22).

court for owls — rather, “a dwelling for ostriches.”

6. K&D, “The allusion to the monarchy and the lofty electoral dignity leads the prophet on to the palaces and castles of the land. Starting with these, he carries out the picture of the ruins in Isa_34:13-15. “And the palaces of Edom break out into thorns, nettles and thistles in its castles; and it becomes the abode of wild dogs, pasture for ostriches. And martens meet with jackals, and a wood-devil runs upon its fellow; yea, Liiliith dwells there, and finds rest for itself. There the arrow-snake makes its nest, and breeds and lays eggs, and broods in the shadow there; yea, there vultures gather together one to another.” The feminine suffixes refer to Edom, as

they did in the previous instance, as ת־אדוםc or ץאר� אדום . On the tannım, tsiyyım, and 'iyyım, see at

Isa_13:21-22. It is doubtful whether cha�tsır here corresponds to the Arabic word for an enclosure

as Gesenius, Hitzig, and others suppose, as elsewhere to the Arabic for green, a green ,(חצר =)field, or garden vegetable. We take it in the latter sense, viz., a grassy place, such as was

frequented by ostriches, which live upon plants and fruits. The word tsiyyim (steppe animals) we have rendered “martens,” as the context requires a particular species of animals to be named. This is the interpretation given by Rashi (in loc.) and Kimchi in Jer_50:39 to the Targum word

tamva�n. We do not render 'iyyım “wild cats” (chattu�ilin), but “jackals,” after the Arabic. קרא with על

we take in the sense of קרה (as in Exo_5:3). Lılıth (Syr. and Zab. lelitho), lit., the creature of the

night, was a female demon (she�da�h) of the popular mythology; according to the legends, it was a malicious fairy that was especially hurtful to children, like some of the fairies of our own fairy tales. There is life in Edom still; but what a caricature of that which once was there! In the very spot where the princes of Edom used to proclaim the new king, satyrs now invite one another to dance (Isa_13:21); and there kings and princes once slept in their palaces and country houses,

the lılıth, which is most at home in horrible places, finds, as though after a prolonged search, the most convenient and most comfortable resting-place. Demons and serpents are not very far distant from one another. The prophet therefore proceeds in Isa_34:15 to the arrow-snake, or

springing-snake (Arabic qiffa�ze, from qa�phaz, related to qa�phats, Son_2:8, to prepare for

springing, or to spring; a different word from qippo�d, which has the same root). This builds its

nest in the ruins; there it breeds (mille�t, to let its eggs slide out) and lays eggs (ba�qa‛, to split, i.e.,

to bring forth); and then it broods in the shade (da�gar is the Targum word in Job_39:14 for

chimme�m (ithpael in Lam_1:20 for חמרמר), and is also used in the rabbinical writings for fovere, as Jerome renders it here). The literal sense of the word is probably to keep the eggs together

(Targum, Jer_17:11, עיןc שfמכ, lxx συνήγαγεν), since גרN (syn. רTח) signifies “to collect.” Rashi has therefore explained it in both passages as meaning glousser, to cluck, the noise by which a fowl

calls its brood together. The dayya�h is the vulture. These fowls and most gregarious birds of prey also collect together there.

7. PULPIT, “Thorns shall come up in her palaces. The "palaces" of Bozrah are mentioned also by

Amos (Amo_1:12), and are threatened with destruction by fire. Amid their ruins should grow up thorns

and briars. It shall be an habitation of dragons; or, of jackals (see the comment on Isa_13:22). Owls;

literally, daughters of screaming—adescription better suited to the owl than to the ostrich, which some

regard as the bird meant.

8. PULPIT 13-15, “The witness of desolate lands.

In every age there have been such. In the forefront of the world's history there was desolated Sodom and

Gomorrah, witnessing to Israelites, and witnessing to all the world. Our Lord, as a Teacher, called

attention to its message. Attention may be directed to Babylon, Tyre, Palestine; and for modern times, to

the decay of the commercial cities of Italy, to Holland, etc.—countries which may be spoken of as

"desolate" when compared with former prosperities. Edom, or Idumea, is the country alluded to by the

prophet, and travelers describe very forcibly the completeness of its desolation. "Captains Irby and

Mangles tell us that the Arabs about Akaba are a very bad people, notorious robbers, and at war with all

others. The desolation of the land is utter and perpetual—a terrible monument of the Divine displeasure

against wickedness and idolatry. The whole land lies under a curse; the ruins of its cities of rock, and the

remains of architectural skill and ingenuity, attest its former greatness, while they set forth the solemn fact

that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Dr. Robinson says, "A more frightful desert

it had hardly been our lot to behold. Now and then a lone shrub of the Ghudah was almost the only trace

of vegetation. The mountains beyond presented a most uninviting and hideous aspect; precipices and

naked conical peaks of chalky and gravelly formation rising one above another without a sign of life or

vegetation." Dr. Olin speaks of it as in "a state of desolation and ruin the most absolute and irretrievable,

such as probably no portion of the globe once populous and fertile now exhibits." What, then, is the

message which such a desolate land bears for all the world and for us? This may be worked out and

illustrated under the following divisions.

I. IT WITNESSES FOR GOD. "He is known by the judgments which he executeth." There is evidently

more than a mere operation of natural forces—there is Divine direction of natural forces to effect Divine

ends. This may get more familiar illustration from Palestine, which is a country with God's curse on it.

II. IT WITNESSES FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. "Righteousness exalteth a nation." Righteousness is sure

defense, security, stability. If a land is desolate, it calls to all other lands, saying, "Hold fast by

righteousness." Lands fall through the iniquity of the peoples.

III. IT WITNESSES FOR JUDGMENT. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished."

Sooner or later every kingdom, every nation, will find that God will arise and vindicate himself, and render

a reward to the proud.—R.T.

9. CALVIN, “13.In her palaces she shall bring forth thorns. He pursues the same subject; for he

describes a frightful desolation, by which splendid houses and palaces are levelled to the ground, or

reduced to a state so wild that they are of no use to men, but produce only briers,

thorns, and nettles; which is more disgraceful than if they had been turned into fields and meadows. In

this manner does the Lord punish the insolence of those who built lofty and magnificent houses and

costly palaces, that the remembrance of them might be handed down to the latest posterity. Having

banished men, he turns those dwellings into nests of birds and dens of wild beasts, that, instead of being,

as they expected, the trophies of their name and renown, they may stand as monuments of foolish

ambition. Thus the place of men is nearly supplied by beasts, which represent the dispositions of those

who reared those goodly edifices. This overthrow of order is likewise a sad token of the wrath of God,

when the earth, which was created for the use of man, beholds its natural lords banished, and is

compelled to admit other inhabitants; for then, undoubtedly, it is cleansed from the defilements with which

it was polluted.

14 Desert creatures will meet with hyenas,

and wild goats will bleat to each other;

there the night creatures will also lie down

and find for themselves places of rest.

1.BARNES, “The wild beasts of the desert - There is in the original here a paronomasia,

which cannot be conveyed in a translation. The word rendered, ‘wild beasts of the desert’ (ציים

tsı.yı.ym), is rendered by the Septuagint, δαιµόνια daimonia, ‘demons.’ On the meaning of the word, see the note at Isa_13:21.

The wild beasts of the island - Margin, ‘Ijim.’ Hebrew, יםmא 'ı.yym (see the note at Isa_13:22). Probably the term denotes the jackal. Gesenius supposes it is so called from its howl, or nocturnal cry - from an Arabia word signifying to howl.

And the satyr - (see the note at Isa_13:21).

Shall cry to his fellow - A most striking description of the desolation, when all that is heard among the ruins shall be the doleful cry of wild beasts.

The screech-owl - Margin, ‘Night-monster.’ The word לילית lı.ylı.yt (from ליל layil, night) properly denotes a night-spectre - a creature of Jewish superstition. The rabbis describe it in the form of a female elegantly dressed that lay in wait for children at night - either to carry them off,

or to murder them. The Greeks had a similar idea respecting the female nµπουτα empouta, and this idea corresponds to the Roman fables respecting the Lamice, and Striges, and to the Arabic notions of the Ghules, whom they described as female monsters that dwell in deserts, and tear

men to pieces (see Gesenius, Com. in loc; and Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 831). The margin in our version expresses the correct idea. All this is descriptive of utter and perpetual desolation - of a land that should be full of old ruins, and inhabited by the animals that usually make such ruins their abode.

2. CLARKE, “The weld beasts of the desert - ציים tsiyim, the mountain cats. - Bochart.

Wild beasts of the island - איים aiyim, the jackals.

The satyr - שעיר seir, the hairy one, probably the he-goat.

The screech owl - לילית lilith, the night-bird, the night-raven, nyctycorax, from ליל layil, or

.lailah, the night לילה

3. GILL, “The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the islands,.... In Rome, and take up their abode there; of these creatures, the first of which the Targum renders monstrous ones, and the latter wild cats; see Gill on Isa_13:22, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; or the "hairy" one (r); from which word the goat has its name; and these creatures are described by the ancients as half goats and half men; of which See Gill on Isa_13:21. The Targum renders it demons; and with this well agrees the account of Babylon or Rome as fallen, that it shall be the habitation of, devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, Rev_18:2, the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest; there being no inhabitants to disturb her. By the name "Lilith", it appears to be a night bird, which flies and is heard in the night. The Jews call a she demon by this name, which, they say (s), has a human face, and has wings, and destroys children as soon as born; and therefore the Jews, especially in Germany, write upon the four corners of the bed of a new mother, Adam, Eve, out Lilith (t); the same with the Lamia of the Romans; and so the Vulgate Latin here renders it.

4. HENRY, “That which was a court for princes shall now be a court for owls or ostriches, Isa_34:14. The wild beasts of the desert, the dry and sandy country, shall meet, as it were by appointment, with the wild beasts of the island, the wet marshy country, and shall regale themselves with such a perfect desolation as they shall find there.

Leopards, and all the rav'ning brotherhoods That range the plains, or lurk in woods, Each other shall invite to come, And make this wilder place their home. Fierce beasts of every frightful shape and size Shall settle here their bloody colonies. - Sir R. Blackmore

5. JAMISON, “wild beasts of the desert ... island — rather, “wild cats ... jackals” (Isa_13:21).

screech owl — rather, “the night specter”; in Jewish superstition a female, elegantly dressed, that carried off children by night. The text does not assert the existence of such objects of superstition, but describes the place as one which superstition would people with such beings.

6. PULPIT, “Wild beasts of the desert R wild beasts of the island. In the original, tsiyim and 'iyim—

"wailers" and "howlers"—probably jackals and wolves, or wolves and hyenas." The satyr (see the

comment on Isa_13:21). The screech owl The word here used, lilith, occurs only in this place. It may be

doubted whether any bird, or other animal, is meant. Lilit was the name of a female demon, or wicked

fairy, in whom the Assyrians believed—a being thought to vex and persecute her victims in their sleep.

The word is probably a derivative from leilah, night, and designates" the spirit of the night"—a

mischievous being, who took advantage of the darkness to play fantastic tricks. A Jewish legend made

Lilith the first wife of Adam, and said that, having pronounced the Divine Name as a charm, she was

changed into a devil. It was her special delight to murder young children (Buxtorf, 'Lex. Rabbin.,' ad

voc.). The prophets, when they employ poetic imagery, are not tied down to fact, but are free to use the

beliefs of their contemporaries in order to heighten the force of their descriptions.

7. CALVIN, “14.And the wild beasts shall meet with the satyrs. (20) These animals are thought by

some commentators to mean fauns, by others screechowls or goblins, and by others satyrs; and it is not

fully agreed what is the exact meaning of the Hebrew words; but it would serve no good purpose to give

ourselves much uneasiness about them, for it is quite enough if we understand the meaning and design

of the Prophet. He draws a picture of frightful desolation, as if he had said that Idumea shall be destroyed

so as to be without inhabitants, and instead of men it shall be inhabited by frightful beasts. This reward is

most justly reaped by the ambition of those who built costly palaces to be, as we have already said,

monuments of their name and reputation. Yet this is also a punishment threatened against the cruelty of a

wicked nation, which was eagerly bent on the oppression of neighbours and brethren.

Though we cannot absolutely determine whether the Prophet means witches, or goblins, or satyrs and

fauns, yet it is universally agreed that these words denote animals which have the shape of men. We see

also what various delusions are practiced by Satan, what phantoms and hideous monsters are seen, and

what sounds and noises are heard. But of these we have already spoken under the thirteenth

chapter. (21)

The sin which God punished so severely in a single nation, is common to almost every nation; for hardly

ever are those splendid buildings reared without committing much violence and injustice against the poor,

and giving great and numerous annoyances to others; so that the lime, and stones, and timber, are filled

with blood in the sight of God. Therefore, as Habakkuk says,

“ stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall bear witness to it.” (Hab_2:11.)

Let us not wonder, therefore, at those dreadful changes, when ambition lays hold on plunder and wicked

extortions, but let us contemplate the righteous judgments of God.

(20) “Les bestes sauvages (assavoir Ziim avec Iim,) s’ rencontreront.” “ wild beasts (that is, the Ziim with

the Iim) shall meet there.”

(21) [unclear Commentary on Isaiah, ] [unclear vol 1, p. 429 ] [unclear ]

15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs,

she will hatch them, and care for her young

under the shadow of her wings;

there also the falcons will gather,

each with its mate.

1.BARNES, “There shall the great owl - (קפוז qı.po�z). Gesenius supposes that this is the arrow-snake, so called from its darting or springing, in the manner of the rattle-snake - from an obsolete root to draw oneself together, to contract. Bochart (Hieroz. ii. 3. 11. 408-419) has examined the meaning of the word at length, and comes to the conclusion that it means the serpent which the Greeks called acontias, and the Latins, jaculus - the arrow-snake. The serpent is oviparous, and nourishes its young. The ancient versions, however, understand it in the same

sense as the קפד qippo�d in Isa_34:11 - the hedgehog or porcupine.

Under her shadow - This might be done by the serpent that should coil up and cherish her young.

The vultures ... - The black vulture, according to Bochart; according to Gesenius, the kite, or falcon so called from its swift flight. Either of them will suit the connection.

Also be gathered, every one with her mate - They shall make their nests there; that is, this shall be their secure, undisturbed retreat.

2. CLARKE, “The great owl - קפוז kippoz, the ακοντιας, or darter, a serpent so called because of its suddenly leaping up or darting on its prey. Probably the mongoose or ichneumon may be intended.

The vultures - דיות daiyoth, the black vultures. My old MS. Bible renders these names curiously: And ageyn cumen schul devylis: the beste, party of an asse, and party of a mam: and the wodwose, the tother schal crien to the tother. There schal byn lamya, that is, thrisse, or a beste, havynge the body liic a woman, and hors feet. Ther hadde dichis, the yrchoun, and nurshide out littil chittis. There ben gadred kiitis, the top to the top. What language!

Every one with her mate - A MS. adds אל el after אשה ishshah, which seems necessary to

the construction; and so the Syriac and Vulgate. Another MS. adds in the same place את eth, which is equivalent.

3. GILL, “There shall the great owl make her nest,.... Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, say that "kippoz" here is the same with "kippod", rendered "bittern" in Isa_34:11 but Aben Ezra takes them to be two different birds; it is hard to say what is designed by it. Bochart thinks that one kind of serpent is here meant, so called from its leaping up, and which may be said to make nests, lay eggs and hatch them, as follows: and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow; lay its eggs, sit upon them, and hatch them; or "break" them (u), that is, the eggs, by sitting on them, when the young ones spring out of them; and then being hatched, and running about, gather them under their wing, especially when in any danger: there shall the vultures also be gathered, everyone with her mate; which creatures usually gather together where dead carcasses lie.

4. HENRY, “The satyr shall cry to his fellow to go with him to this desert place, or, being there, they shall please themselves that they have found such an agreeable habitation. There shall the screech-owl rest, a night-bird and an ominous one. The great owl shall there make her nest (Isa_34:15) and lay and hatch; the breed of them shall be kept up to provide heirs for this desolate place. The vultures which feast on carcases, shall be gathered there, every one with his mate. Now observe, 1. How the places which men have deserted, and keep at a distance from, are proper receptacles for other animals, which the providence of God takes care of, and will not neglect. 2. Whom those resemble that are morose, unsociable, and unconversable, and affect a melancholy retirement; they are like these solitary creatures that take delight in desolations. 3. What a dismal change sin makes; it turns a fruitful land into barrenness, a frequented city into a wilderness.

5. JAMISON, “great owl — rather, “the arrow snake,” so called from its darting on its prey [Gesenius].

lay — namely, eggs.

gather under her shadow — rather, “cherishes” her young under, etc. (Jer_17:11).

6. PULPIT, “The great owl; rather, the arrow-snake (Serpens jaculus). Gather under her

shadow; i.e. "gather her young ones under her." There shall the vultures also be gathered; rather, there verily

shall the vultures assemble.

16 Look in the scroll of the Lord and read:

None of these will be missing,

not one will lack her mate.

For it is his mouth that has given the order,

and his Spirit will gather them together.

1.BARNES, “Seek ye out - Lock carefully at the prediction, and its fulfillment. This seems to be addressed to the inhabitants of that land, or to any who might doubt, or be disposed to examine. They were invited to compare the prediction with the fulfillment, and see how literally all would be fulfilled - an examination which may be made now, and the prediction will be seen to have been accomplished with most surprising particularity and accuracy.

The book of the Lord - The book of Yahweh, which he has caused to be written, referring, perhaps, especially to what Isaiah has here recorded; including also what had been uttered by the other prophets in regard to Edom. The main reference is, however, doubtless, to what Isaiah has written; and the invitation is to compare his predictions with the certain and remarkable evidence of the fulfillment. ‘The prophet evidently contemplated the insertion of his prophecy among the sacred books of the Jews, from which those that followed him might judge of the correctness of the prophecy’ (Noyes). That a collection of the various prophetic books was made, constituting one book or volume, and regarded as the work of inspiration, is well known, and is referred to during the captivity in Babylon by Daniel Isa_9:2. The direction to search that book accords with the command of the Saviour Joh_5:39, and the direction of Nicodemus Joh_7:32, to search the Scriptures.

No one of these shall fail - Not one of these predictions, or these things which have been spoken.

None shall want her mate - That is, none of the things which I have spoken shall want a fulfillment as its companion. The language is here evidently taken from the pairing of animals,

and denotes that all that is spoken shall be entirely fulfilled. Some have understood tilts as referring to the wild animals of which he had spoken, and as meaning that in desolate Idumea they should be appropriately paired, and should breed and increase in abundance. But the more natural interpretation is to refer it to the predictions of the prophet, as meaning that no one thing which he had uttered should want a complete fulfillment.

For my mouth - The word ‘my’ is not in the Hebrew. The Hebrew phrase is כי־פי הוא kı.y-

pı.y hu�', ‘For the mouth, he hath commanded.’ The word הוא hu�' stands for “He,” that is, Yahweh, and the phrase means the same as his mouth, that is, the mouth of God. The Septuagint renders it, ‘For the Lord hath commanded them.’ Lowth renders it, ‘For the mouth of Jehovah,’ changing

yehova�h in accordance with five manuscripts and the translation of the יהוה hu�' into הואSeptuagint.

And his spirit - The Spirit of God; that is, Yahweh himself.

Hath gathered them - Will collect, or assemble; that is, the wild beasts spoken of in the previous verses that shall occupy desolate Idumea. It shall be the agency of God that shall bring them up upon the land to occupy it forever.

2. CLARKE, “My mouth “For the mouth of Jehovah” - For הוא hu, five MSS., (three

ancient), read יהוה Jehovah, and another is so corrected; so likewise the Septuagint. Two editions

have צום tsivam; and so the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Arabic, with the edition of 1486, and a MS.

has קבצם kebatsam, with the masculine pronoun instead of the feminine: and so in the next

verses it is להם lahem, instead of להן lahen, in fourteen MSS., six of them ancient. - L. To see the importance of these various readings, the Hebrew Bible must be consulted.

3. GILL, “Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read,.... Joseph Kimchi interprets this of the book of the law of Moses; which being consulted, it will appear that punishment was threatened to be inflicted on the enemies of God's people, particularly the Edomites. Jarchi thinks the book of Genesis is intended; in which we may read how every creature, with its mate, at the time of the flood, was gathered to Noah in the ark. Aben Ezra supposes the book of God's decrees is meant; in which, could it be seen, might be read all the particulars of this prophecy. But it seems best to understand it of this book of the prophecy of Isaiah; which being sought to, and read at the time when these predictions will be fulfilled, it will be easily seen, by comparing events with prophecies, how everything will be exactly accomplished; from whence may be concluded, this book being called the book of the Lord, that it was written by divine inspiration, as all other parts of the Bible are; which is a recommendation of them, and is a reason why they should be constantly applied unto, and diligently read. It may deserve some consideration, whether the book of the Revelation may not be designed; which, at the destruction of Babylon or Rome, will be proper to be looked into afresh, to see the agreement between the prophecies in it, and the then state of things respecting it, when it will be an habitation of devils and unclean birds:

not one of these shall fail: not one of these beasts or birds before mentioned shall be wanting here, or be "deprived" of its prey: none shall want her mate; the satyr, or vulture, or any other, which will engage their continuance, and by which means there will be a fresh brood of them in succession for after ages: for my mouth, it hath commanded them; these beasts and birds, to assemble in the above mentioned place: and his spirit, it hath gathered them; the Spirit of the mouth of the Lord, his power, and his providence; as he gathered all creatures to Adam, to give them names; and to Noah, to be preserved with him in the ark; so, by a secret instinct; will he gather together these creatures, to inhabit the desolate places of Edom or Rome. The Targum is, "for by his word they shall be gathered, and by his will they shall draw near.'' So Ben Melech interprets it of his will and pleasure.

4. HENRY, “Here is an assurance given of the full accomplishment of this prediction, even to the most minute circumstance of it (Isa_34:16, Isa_34:17): “Seek you out of the book of the Lord and read. When this destruction comes compare the event with the prediction, and you will find it to answer exactly.” Note, The book of the prophets is the book of the Lord, and we ought to consult it and converse with it as of divine origin and authority. We must not only read it, but see out of it, search into it, turn first to one text and then to another and compare them together. Abundance of useful knowledge might thus be extracted, by a diligent search, out of the scriptures, which cannot be got by a superficial reading of them. When you have read the prediction out of the book of the Lord then observe, 1. That according to what you have read so you see; not one of these shall fail, either beast or fowl: and, it being foretold that they shall possess it from generation to generation, in order to that, that the species may be propagated, none shall want her mate; these marks of desolation shall be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the land. 2. That God's mouth having commanded this direful muster his Spirit shall gather them, as the creatures by instinct were gathered to Adam to be named and to Noah to be housed. What God's word has appointed his Spirit will effect and bring about, for no word of God shall fall to the ground. The word of God's promise shall in like manner be accomplished by the operations of the Spirit. 3. That there is an exact order and proportion observed in the accomplishment of this threatening: He has cast the lot for these birds and beasts, so that each one shall know his place as readily as if it were marked by line. See the like, Joe_2:7, Joe_2:8, They shall not break their ranks, neither shall one thrust another. The soothsayers among the heathen foretold events by the flight of birds, as if the fate of men depended on them. But here we find that the flight of birds is under the direction of the God of Israel: he has cast the lot for them. 4. That the desolation shall be perpetual: They shall possess it for ever. God's Jerusalem may be laid in ruins; but Jerusalem of old recovered itself out of its ruins, till it gave place to the gospel Jerusalem, which may be brought low, but shall be rebuilt, and shall continue till it give place to the heavenly Jerusalem. But the enemies of the church shall be for ever desolate, shall be punished with an everlasting destruction.

5. JAMISON, “book of the Lord — the volume in which the various prophecies and other parts of Scripture began henceforward to be collected together (Isa_30:8; Dan_9:2).

Seek — (so Isa_8:16, Isa_8:20; Joh_5:39; Joh_7:52).

no one ... fail — of these prophecies (Mat_5:18).

none shall want ... mate — image from pairing of animals mentioned, Isa_34:15 (“mate”); no prediction shall want a fulfillment as its companion. Or rather, “none of these wild animals (just spoken of) shall be wanting: none shall be without its mate” to pair and breed with, in desolate Idumea.

my ... his — Such changes of person are frequent in Hebrew poetry. them — the wild beasts.

6. K&D, “Whenever any one compared the prophecy with the fulfilment, they would be found to coincide. “Search in the book of Jehovah, and read! Not one of the creatures fails, not one misses the other: for my mouth - it has commanded it; and His breath - it has brought them together. And He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has assigned it (this land) to them by measure: they will possess it for ever; to generation and generation they will dwell therein.”

The phrase תב עלP is used for entering in a book, inasmuch as what is written there is placed

upon the page; and רש מעלN for searching in a book, inasmuch as a person leans over the book

when searching in it, and gets the object of his search out of it. The prophet applied the title “The Book of Jehovah” to his collection of the prophecies with which Jehovah had inspired him, and which He had commanded him to write down. Whoever lived to see the time when the judgment should come upon Edom, would have only to look inquiringly into this holy scripture; and if he compared what was predicted there with what had been actually realized, he would find the most exact agreement between them. The creatures named, which loved to frequent the marshes and solitary places, and ruins, would all really make their homes in what had once been

Edom. But the satyrs and the lılıth, which were only the offspring of the popular belief - what of them? They, too, would be there; for in the sense intended by the prophet they were actual devils, which he merely calls by well-known popular names to produce a spectral impression. Edom would really become a rendezvous for all the animals mentioned, as well as for such unearthly spirits as those which he refers to here. The prophet, or rather Jehovah, whose temporary organ he was, still further confirms this by saying, “My mouth hath commanded it, and His breath has brought them (all these creatures) together.” As the first creating word proceeded from the mouth of Jehovah, so also does the word of prophecy, which resembles such a word; and the breath of the mouth of Jehovah, i.e., His Spirit, is the power which accomplishes the fiat of prophecy, as it did that of creation, and moulds all creatures and their history according to the will and counsel of God (Psa_33:6). In the second part of Isa_34:16 the prophet is speaking of Jehovah; whereas in the first Jehovah speaks through him - a variation

which vanishes indeed if we read יוs (Olshausen on Job_9:2), or, what would be better, יהוs, but which may be sustained by a hundred cases of a similar kind. There is a shadow, as it were, of

this change in the להם, which alternates with להן in connection with the animals named. The

suffix of chilleqatta�h (without mappik, as in 1Sa_1:6) refers to the land of Edom. Edom is, as it were, given up by a divine lot, and measured off with a divine measure, to be for ever the horrible abode of beasts and demons such as those described. A prelude of the fulfilment of this swept over the mountainous land of Edom immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem (see Köhler on Mal_1:2-5); and it has never risen to its previous state of cultivation again. It swarms with snakes, and the desolate mountain heights and barren table-lands are only inhabited by wild crows and eagles, and great flocks of birds. But the ultimate fulfilment, to which the appeal

in Isa_34:16 refers, is still in the future, and will eventually fall upon the abodes of those who spiritually belong to that circle of hostility to Jehovah (Jesus) and His church, of which ancient Edom was merely the centre fixed by the prophet.

7. PULPIT, “Seek ye out of the book of the Lord. By "the book of the Lord" some understand a

collected volume of Moses and the prophets, psalmists, etc; previous to Isaiah's time, which they suppose

to have existed in his day. But there is no evidence of any such collection. It is better to understand the

expression of Isaiah's own prophecies, or of such a collection of them as he had made previously to the

composition of the present chapter. Nothing contained in the entire book should, he says, fail of its

accomplishment. Even the minutiae of the present chapter should, each and all, have their fulfillment,

though not, perhaps, in every case a literal one. My mouth his Spirit. The "mouth" of the prophet and

the "Spirit" of God, which dictates to him what he is to write, are in accord; and the Spirit will bring to pass

what the mouth inspired by him has "commanded."

8. PULPIT, “Appeal to the Word.

"Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read." Literally, the word is "from upon the book," meaning,

"Search it from the top to the bottom; and in so doing you will find abundant illustrations of Divine

threatenings faithfully executed." "Be sure that the desolation which is here preannounced to the literal

Edom, and which is foretold in other parts of Scripture, as the doom of God's enemies, will be exactly

fulfilled in all those who imitate their temper, in rebellion against God, and in cruelty and treachery to

Israel."

I. ALL GOD'S WRITTEN WORD WILL BE FOUND TO AGREE TOGETHER. It is the exceeding marvel

of it, the best evidence of Divine inspiration, that, though written by different men, at different times, and in

different lands, on all main points of revelation it is at absolute agreement; and contradictions, which men

may fancy they find, gain easy solution. Moral principles, religious teachings, representations of Divine

dealings, are the same throughout. This may be illustrated in specific eases. Take the idea of God as

One, and as a Spirit; or take the Divine relation to idolatry; or take the response of God to penitence; in

each instance search the book, and you will surely find a uniform and harmonious testimony. Or take the

case of the text, and show the certainty that judgment will follow threatening, if penitence do not

intervene.

II. ALL GOD'S WRITTEN WORD IS IN HARMONY WITH HIS SPOKEN WORD. This seems to be the

point of Isaiah's appeal, tie spoke this denunciation of Edom by word of mouth; it had not yet been written

down, so he pleads thus: "Test it as much as you please by the written Word that you possess: it is all

one; God spoke then; God speaks by me. The vision is true. The judgment is sure." The condition of

listening to any one who professes to have a message and revelation from God is that they shall speak in

harmony with the Word of God which we possess. "If they speak not according to this Word, it is because

there is no light in them." Distinction may wisely be made between the mere details of the Word, and the

great truths and principles of the Word. These latter alone can be used as tests; and very much of the

sect-separation of Christianity has come through overvaluing, and unskillfully using, mere biblical details.

All doctrine, all morals—but no science—can be, and should ever be, fully tested by scriptural

principles.—R.T.

9. CALVIN, “16.Inquire at the book of Jehovah. By “ book of the Lord” some understand this

prophecy, as if he had enjoined them to read attentively this prediction; for not even in the minutest point

will it fail at the appointed time, as he will afterwards add. Others explain it more ingeniously as denoting

the eternal decree of God; “ if such be not the purpose of God;” but this exposition is not sufficiently

natural. I willingly interpret it as denoting the Law itself, which by way of eminence is called “ book of the

Lord;” for from the Law, as from its source, the Prophets drew their doctrine, as we have frequently

remarked.

Lest the strangeness of the event should prevent the prediction from being believed, Isaiah says that the

Jews had been warned of it long before; and thus he indirectly censures the unbelief of those who stared

at the announcement, as. if it had been something uncommon. He appropriately brings them back to the

Law, in which God frequently declares that he will take care of his people, and that he will punish the

wicked and reprobate. Moses having long ago spoken in this manner, the Prophet says that there is no

reason why it should be difficult to believe what he foretells, since he brings forward nothing new, but only

confirms now what Moses declared and testified. Such appears to me to be the natural meaning of the

Prophet, and by these words he intended to fortify the Jews, patiently to look for what the Lord promised,

and fully to believe that all that had. been foretold about the Edomites and the other adversaries of the

Church would at length be actually fulfilled, since Moses was a credible witness, that God would always

be the avenger of his people. Besides, it was proper that they should be reminded of this, in order that,

when these things should befall the Edomites, they might not think that they had happened by chance,

but might know that they were brought about by the judgment of God. Such is the rebellion of men, that

they do not believe God when he forewarns them, and what afterwards takes place by the judgment of

God is ascribed by them to fortune. Isaiah therefore meets this, and bids them inquire at Moses, whose

authority they all revered.

Not one of those; that is, of the animals; for the Hebrew writers employ these

terms, איש (ish) and אשה, (ishshah,) not only for men and women, but for males and females of any

species.

For his mouth hath commanded. He confirms what he formerly said; for although the works of God are

sufficiently plain, yet by his mouth, that is, by the word, he makes them plainer to us, that we may see

them more clearly. And this is the true contemplation of the works of God, when we keep our eye fixed on

the mirror of the word; for otherwise our boldness is carried to excess, and we tke greater liberty than is

proper, if heavenly doctrine do not guide us like a lamp. This ought therefore to restrain the boldness and

rashness of men, who, despising the doctrine of the word, wish to dispute and form opinions about the

judgments of God and all his worlds. If they “ at the book,” and asked at the mouth of the Lord, we should

see greater piety and religion among them.

Yet by “ mouth of the Lord” the Prophet intended to confirm the vengeance which he had foretold,

because nothing that has come out of God’ holy mouth can fail of its effect. Isaiah affirms that what God

has once decreed, and published in his own name, cannot be reversed. By this shield he thus wards off

all the doubts which quickly arise, whenever the promises of God go beyond our senses. Sometimes,

indeed, he threatens conditionally, as he threatened the Ninevites, (Jon_1:2,) Pharaoh, (Gen_12:17,) and

Abimelech, (Gen_20:3,) whom he spared, because they repented; but when he has once determined to

revenge and punish, he gives actual proof that he is not less true and powerful than when he promised

salvation to his people. The agreement of the words Mouth and Spirit makes it still more evident.

And his Spirit hath gathered them. Although “ breath of the mouth” often means the same thing as “” and

although it is customary with the Hebrew writers to repeat the same thing twice, yet here he alludes

elegantly to the breath, from which the words proceed, and by which they are formed; as if he had said

that this prediction is abundantly powerful, because the same God who by his voice commanded the

brute animals to possess the land of Edom, will bring them by merely breathing. He speaks of a secret

influence; and we ought not to wonder that the slightest expression of the will of God causes all the

animals to assemble, as happened at the flood, (Gen_7:15,) and likewise at the very creation of the

world, when, as Moses relates, all the animals were gathered together, by the command of God, to the

first man, that they might be subject to his authority. (Gen_2:19.) And undoubtedly they would have

continued to be subject and obedient to him, had not his own rebellion deprived him of that power and

authority; but when he revolted from God, the animals at the same time began to refuse subjection and to

attack him.

10. COFFMAN, “What is this "book of Jehovah" that Isaiah here invited his audience to seek out and read? It can be none other than the book of the sacred Old Testament, including such things as the writings of Moses in the Pentateuch and that of any of the minor prophets who had preceded Isaiah, and also such other of the sacred writings that then existed; and this line here in Isaiah 34:16 shows that Isaiah knew that his own writings would be attached to that "book" and become a part of it. We do not believe that when Isaiah wrote this that he was, in any sense, suggesting that his prophecy alone was "the book of Jehovah."

"Jehovah himself has cast the lot determining that this land shall belong to the wild animals (or demons). "They shall possess it forever" (Isaiah 34:17). For lo these two thousand years the land of Edom has been the possession of creatures that inhabit the desert and ruins left by man."[11]

The great theme here has been the final judgment, due to fall eventually upon Adam's rebellious and headstrong race. God's indignation has not diminished, and the eternal justice of this was commented upon thus by Payne:

"Every foe of God will one day be utterly banished from the scene. God's children cannot be forever at the mercy of their enemies, here epitomized as Edom. Those who have hounded and harassed them cannot remain forever unpunished. The day of recompense and vengeance is sure to come."[12]

God also has a score to settle with men who fully deserve the indignation and vengeance of our Heavenly Father. He created us in harmonious fellowship with himself in the Paradise of Eden; but man decided to become a servant of Satan, lost his estate and his glorious inheritance, and then set about to take away even the knowledge of God's existence from his posterity. That resulted in a world filled with violence, which God terminated in the Great Deluge.

Beginning over again in the family of Noah, the very knowledge of God was once more in danger of disappearing from the earth, as indicated by the Tower of Babel, which situation God terminated again by confounding the languages of men and by the selection of a "chosen people" who were commissioned to keep alive the name and knowledge of the Heavenly Father until the Messiah would be born.

But the Jews failed to live up to their assignment, and proved to be no better than the Gentiles, from whom God had separated them. As Paul wrote in the first two chapters of Romans they were in no way

superior morally to the Gentiles; and when the promised Messiah finally came, they hated him and arranged his murder.

In the current dispensation, the "fullness of the Gentiles" is in the process of having come in; and then the great calamities of that awful period preceding the final judgment will come to pass according to the prophecies; and then will appear that "Day which God has appointed, upon which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has appointed, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he raised him from the dead!" (Acts 17:31).

17 He allots their portions;

his hand distributes them by measure.

They will possess it forever

and dwell there from generation to generation.

1.BARNES, “And he hath cast the lot for them - He hath assigned to them the land of Edom to be occupied by them as their portion. This language is taken from the fact that countries were commonly apportioned, particularly among conquerors, by the lot. In this way Judea was divided among the tribes of Israel Num_26:55-56.

His hand hath divided it unto them by line - He has marked out, as a surveyor does, the land of Edom as the dwelling-place of the beasts of the forest. A land was usually surveyed and divided into proper parts or portions before the lot was cast Jos_18:4-6.

They shall possess it - The wild beasts mentioned in the previous verses. The testimony of all travelers demonstrates that thus far this prediction has been strikingly fulfilled.

2. PULPIT, “He hath cast the lot for them. God, who allots to all the nations of the earth their several

countries, has now allotted Idumea to the unclean beasts and birds and reptiles which have been

mentioned; henceforth it is formally assigned to them as their habitation. It is throughout to be understood

that Idumea stands for the world power, which resists God and will be finally abased and put to shame.

3. GILL, “And he hath cast the lot for them,.... The Targum adds,

"by his word:'' and his hand hath divided it unto them by line; the same adds, "by his will.'' The allusion is to the dividing of the land of Canaan by lot and line, to the children of Israel, for their inheritance and possession; and in like manner, it is suggested, shall Rome and its territories be distributed to those wild beasts and birds of prey, and everyone shall know and take its proper place and portion: they shall possess it for ever; as their inheritance, allotted and appointed to them: from generation to generation shall they dwell therein: See Gill on Isa_34:10 where Jarchi, out of the Derash, has this note, "this is the curse of Moses; the war of the Lord against Amalek, from generation to generation; from the generation of Moses to the generation of Saul; from thence to the generation of Mordecai; and from thence to the generation of the King Messiah.''

4. PULPIT, “The Divine Word and human woe.

These words are called forth by—

I. ANTICIPATED INCREDULITY. The prophet thinks that the solemn threatenings he has uttered will not

be credited. He seems to say, "You heard these awful utterances, but you will not heed them; you will

indulge the thought that they are nothing more than a fanatic's dream; you think in your hearts that they

will never be fulfilled; you imagine that you can afford to disregard them; but you are mistaken, there will

be the closest correspondence between what is written in 'the book of the Lord' and what shall one day

be witnessed in the experiences of Edom." There is a great deal of unwarranted incredulity in the hearts

of men respecting the penal purposes of God. He has spoken, has warned men, has clearly intimated

what will be the consequences of crime, of vice, of ungodliness, of the rejection of the gospel of Christ, of

unfaithfulness and disloyalty in the Christian life. But men's hearts are hard, their understanding is veiled

so that they do not see.

1. They delude themselves with the thought that, though other men suffer the penalty of their sin or folly,

they will, in some way, escape.

2. Or they deceive themselves by holding up before their minds one-half only of the truth; they dwell on

the graciousness and mercy of God, and act as if he were not as righteous as he is tender, as pure as he

is pitiful.

3. Or they misrepresent the character of their misdeeds to their own minds, persuading themselves that

they are slight and venial, however serious they may be in the sight of God. It is a melancholy fact, calling

for utmost vigilance, that the frequent repetition of sin and ultimate familiarity with it reduce its apparent

guiltiness to the smallest fraction.

II. THE PROPHETIC ASSURANCE. The prophet says, "Compare what is written in the 'book of the Lord'

with the facts, and they shall tally with one another—not one shall fail; for the command shall go from

heaven, and these wild beasts, whose presence has been threatened as a dire scourge and as the mark

of saddest degeneracy, shall possess the holy land, and 'from generation to generation shall dwell

therein;' the very worst that has been foretold shall happen, and what the Divine Word has predicted shall

be endured in its most grievous form." They who now speak for God have to give similar assurance: they

have to warn men that the worst must be expected if they remain impenitent and disobedient; they have

to insist upon it, sorrowfully but emphatically, that everything threatened in the "book of the Lord" will

compare with the experiences of the persistently obdurate and disloyal. It is their duty to show:

1. That, sooner or later, men may expect the righteous retribution of God to overtake them; "the sword of

heaven is not in haste to smite, nor yet doth linger;" that, though God keeps silence long, he will reprove

men, and set their sins in order before their eyes (Psa_1:1-6 :21).

2. That, if not here, yet hereafter, the judgments of God will reach the guilty, and then, if not now, "every

one will receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

3. That Divine retribution will take some other form if it come not in the one men have expected. There

are other "wild beasts," and worse, than those which are here referred to (Isa_34:14, Isa_34:15). There

are other evils, and worse, than the poverty, the diseases, the mortality, from which sinners shrink and

from which they may long escape. There are evils which haunt the heart, calamities which afflict the soul,

ruin which reaches the character, death which overtakes the man himself,—judgments which God in

righteousness "hath commanded," and which more than fulfill the saddest and strongest word he has

instructed his spokesmen to employ.—C.

5. JAMISON, “cast ... lot — As conquerors apportion lands by lot, so Jehovah has appointed and marked out (“divided”) Edom for the wild beasts (Num_26:55, Num_26:56; Jos_18:4-6).

6. COKE, “Isaiah 34:16-17. Seek ye out of the book, &c.— This period contains the confirmation of the preceding sentence; wherein the prophet, to convict the hypocrites, and confirm the pious, assures them of the certain completion of this prophesy. The scene of his discourse is so constructed, as if the prophesy was now fulfilled; when the prophet, supposing that his prophesy would still be extant at the time of the completion, invites all men of doubtful faith to seek into and consider this book or prophesy in all its parts, and to compare it with the completion. This is the sum of the period, which should be rendered, Search ye from the whole of the book of the Lord, and read; not one of these things shall fail: [no, not so much as the minutest circumstance, even respecting the impure beasts;] one shall not want the other; because the month of Jehovah hath commanded and his Spirit shall gather them.

REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have in this chapter,

1. The awful summons sent forth to the nations of the world; yea the earth and all things therein are called upon to hearken, as if the irrational inanimate creatures were more attentive than hardened sinners.

2. The universality of the approaching judgments of God is declared against all the nations and their armies who have committed fornication with the great whore. See Revelation 18:3 and therefore are doomed to utter destruction, Revelation 19:21.

3. The execution of this terrible doom is displayed in the most awful colours: the carcases of the slain will be unburied, and send forth pestilential vapours; the very mountains are melted with blood, like rivers running down; the hosts of heaven, sun, moon, and stars, dropping as untimely figs, and the firmament wrapped up as a scroll, representing the utter ruin of the states and kingdoms of the followers of the man of sin, with their princes and mighty men (compare Revelation 19:17-18. Revelation 14:20. Revelation 6:13-17.). And this is effected by the sword of the Lord, bathed in heaven, well-tempered, and descending with fury irresistible on Idumaea, probably the Romish state, the implacable enemy of the church of Christ, as the Edomites were of the Jews, and therefore called the people of my curse, lying under it, and doomed to this dire judgment. Before this sword the armies of Antichrist, the common soldiers, as lambs and goats, like hecatombs at the altar, fall sacrifices to divine justice at Bozrah, representing Rome, the capital of the antichristian powers: and their chief captains, fierce as bulls and strong as unicorns, shall perish together, and the land be soaked with their blood and fattened, or made drunk, as with showers of rain, such vast quantities should be shed, see Revelation 16:6; Revelation 17:6; Revelation 14:20.

Note; (1.) Miserable, eternally miserable, are they who, by their sins provoking God's curse, awaken his sword of judgment. (2.) If it be terrible but to hear the report, sinner, how wilt thou endure when this great day of his wrath shall come? (3.) The sinners in hell are eternal sacrifices to God's justice; and therefore, when the smoke of their torment ascends, his saints adore him. (4.) However long triumphant, and cruelly oppressive, the enemies of God's people may have been, their doom is determined, and God will give them blood to drink.

4. The equity of the procedure is remarked; this day of vengeance is the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion, when the church of God, and every persecuted member of it, will find a righteous judge espousing their quarrel, and recompensing to the full the injuries they have endured. See Revelation 13:10; Revelation 11:18. Note; When we are suffering for the testimony of the truth and a good conscience, we should be comforted in patient hope that the year of recompence is at hand for Zion's friends and Zion's enemies.

2nd, Awful and most awakening are the images here used to display the utter ruin and desolations of the enemies of Christ and his people; and which seem to look forward to the fall of Antichrist, and may also be applied to that great and terrible day of the Lord, when the sinner's torment in body and soul will be completed.

1. Their land is described as the land of Sodom. Since sin hath rendered it as fuel for the flames, the wrath of God shall kindle the inextinguishable burnings; and their cities deserted, desolate, ruinous, shall become the abode of every unclean bird and ravenous beast; the elegance and dignity of which description cannot be equalled, and which every comment must debase. Only we may observe, [1.] The dreadful evil of sin, the cause of all those desolations. [2.] The folly and madness of attempting to fix our abode on earth, doomed so shortly, with all the works on it, to be burnt up. [3.] The terrible end of the ungodly, when wrath to the uttermost shall be poured out upon them, and they shall be cast into the lake of brimstone and fire which burneth for ever and ever.

2. An assurance is given of the most minute fulfilment of the prophesy. And when the destruction cometh, they are commanded to compare the event with the prediction, and not a tittle will be found to fail. Since God's word hath commanded, his Spirit will accomplish it; collecting in exact order, as at the deluge, these monsters with their mates to their appointed abode; and, according to the dictates of justice, dooming the place to everlasting ruin. There, with the correspondent prophesies in the book of Revelations, are yet in the womb of time; but shall as surely be accomplished in their season, as those which we have seen already fulfilled. And when we read in the book of the Lord, the sure expectation thereof should comfort and support the suffering saints of God.

7. CALVIN, “17.And he hath cast the lot for them. He says that to those wild beasts and monsters

there hath been granted a secure and permanent habitation, from which they cannot be easily banished

or driven out; because God hath allotted it to them as.their portion by inheritance. This means that the

whole of Idumea is at the disposal of the Lord, to drive out the inhabitants, and to grant possession of it to

whomsoever he pleases, either wild beasts, or birds, or monsters.

Hence infer that it is vain for men ever to promise themselves a permanent abode, unless so far as every

person has obtained his place “ lot,” and on the express condition that he shall instantly leave it,

whenever God calls. We lead a dependent life wherever he supports us; and either on our native soil, or

at a distance from our fatherland, we are strangers. If he shall be pleased to give us a peaceable

habitation for a long time in one place, it will only be by his special favor that we shall dwell there; and as

soon as he thinks proper, he will constrain us to change our abode. Besides, if we acknowledge that a

residence in this or that country has been appointed to us by God, we may dwell in it with safety and

composure; for if he keeps wild beasts in possession of the place which he has allotted to them, how

much more will he preserve men, for whose sake he created heaven, earth, the seas, and all that they

contain?

Footnotes:

Isaiah 34:2 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of

things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in

verse 5.

Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.

Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.

Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.

New International Version (NIV)

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