Isaiah 21
Notes
Transcript
Babylon has Fallen
Babylon has Fallen
This oracle is a prophetic vision of the fall of Babylon.
Now many scholars point toward the time of 539bc,
This could be seen as the time of Babylon’s failure, when the Kingdom fell to the Medo-Persian kingdom.
Do you remember Daniel chapter 5, You have Belshazzar he throws a dinner party and calls for the temple instruments brought in and He praises all these false gods, of wood, stone and so forth… And God shows up and puts the writing on the wall.
I want to share portions of of Daniel 5 with you....
5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.
And then Daniel gives interpretation to the writing that is on the wall...
24 “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. 25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
This my friends is the time of the Medo-Persian kingdom overtaking as Babylon falls...
But lets move on to Isaiah’s text and see what the Lord says...
1 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrible land.
Instead of the imagery of a country or land, you have the sound of the desert by the sea. Southern Babylon was sometimes referred to as the Massa’ the sea land. There were swampy marshes between the Tigress and Euphrates rivers.
2 A stern vision is told to me;
the traitor betrays,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O Elam;
lay siege, O Media;
all the sighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
Isaiah says that this is a harsh difficult vision for him to share, it is from God but there is the sense of hope is lost, defeat is certain.
The betrayer betrays and the destroyer destroys, that is the nature of this person or Kingdom. There is a vile nature ot human backstabbing if you will.
It is like the saying a Tiger doesn’t change its stripes… literally the Tiger is what it is...
There are those who cried out, we will help you by defeating another, but that is like counting your chickens before they hatch. No one except God knows the outcome of a battle, you cannot know until its over..
Elam was a nation like Media that would take up arms but we are uncertain if they are aligned with or against Babylon. But they could be used as a pawn, but in the end, failure comes to those who work and plot contray to the ways of God.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
pangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4 My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
the twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
Isaiah is shocked at what he is allowed to see.
Isaiah says that his stomach, his loins are filled with anguish, what he has seen has twisted is stomach, He is sick at the horror.
He, in reality his heart is hurting with all that His eyes have seen.
He says in verse 4 that he longed for the twilight, the morning that would reveal a new day. But that wasn’t case here. He (Isaiah) longed to see God intervene in the world. But he trembles in what he really sees.
5 They prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
oil the shield!
By contrast, there are those who see this as an opportunity to party, they rejoice in the fact that they believe everything is ok, they think man has achieved a great victory.
They fail to see the larger picture of the world and what is at stake here. Do not look to man but to God.
The phrase ‘oil the shield” is like cleaning and polishing, it is about the show. They feel victorious.
Now lets love to verses 6-7
6 For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees.
7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
Here is a continuation to the vision that Isaiah is receiving from the Lord.
God instructs him to set a watchman to observe all that he sees… like the invading army.
The watchman responsibility was to watch and listen for any sign of movement on the horizon, the reason being it would give people plenty of time to secure the city and prepare for what was about to happen.
The watchman had to be very careful to be able to distinguish between regular traffic like merchants coming to buy, sell or trade and the warriors of an army. The animals would help them know who was approaching...
The watchmen wouldn’t want to sound a false alarm but als he wouldn’t dare sleep while the enemy was quickly approaching.
Now verses 8-9 Isa 21:8-9
8 Then he who saw cried out:
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.
9 And behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
And he answered,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the carved images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”
Suddenly the voice changes, from instructions about the watchman to the voice of the watchman as he gives a report. He has faithfully watched the road, and the watchman has been faithful day and night
As with verse 9, the watchman signals the reports of riders, horsemen in pairs..
As all this is portrayed, the troops are coming in from Babylon, and the message is certain here, the report from the Army is that Babylon has fallen. The gods her citizen worship, Molack and others are of no power, they are unable to help her.
In fact the statues that represented her gods are shattered on the ground, as worthless now as they were to her when the attack arose.
It is hard to hear such a word that such a great nation has fallen. Do you remember when Russia collapsed and all those little nations separated and formed their own governments. People couldn’t believe it.
Now verse 10 Isa 21:10
10 O my threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.
Here you see Isaiah, addressing Judah again when He says O my threshed and winnowed one, literally like calling them the sons of the threshing floor.
When God speaks to them like this, the word is that his people will be trampled upon, like animals who walk on the threshing floor, crushing the stalks and separating the grain from it. So Judah will be trampled upon like grain
So if Babylon will one day fall and if Israel will be trampled upon, the message the people then and now must hear is that we cannot depend on people or nations for our help and strength.
But we can depend on the Lord.
Now we verse 11 a new word or oracle is being put forth, this one concerning Dumah.
11 The oracle concerning Dumah.
One is calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what time of the night?
Watchman, what time of the night?”
12 The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
come back again.”
In thinking of Dumah, Dumah itself isn’t a place persay, like a city or country.. it is a reference to another country, and that being Edom and the reason being is the mention of Seir and mountain range in Edom.
The name Dumah was a name given to one of Ishmael’s sons, as we see in Gen 25, verses 13-15. So the name is really associated with an oasis in the northern part of the Arabian Desert, northeast of Edom.
This was an important spot in the trade route from Mesopotamia to Edom, and it was the traders who would bring word as to what was happening in other areas of the world as well.
So when you look at verse 11 the Edomite people are calling for the watchman or prophet to tell them how much they must endure the darkness of their troubled history … you see the repetition of their question and really how desperate the country to in wanting to know...
And now with verse 12, we find that… the watchman’s words, that morning was coming seems to indicate there was hope for the people, but night will follow which says that trouble will come once again.
So that time of relief was temporary at best. But there is an invitation for those seeking answers to come back and inquire again,
It might seem to say that more information will or could be available later. They will have to wait and see what the Lord says through the watchman.
Now God speaks to Arabia in verses 13-17...
This would seem to be a short word or oracle to those who live in the Arabian dessert. Lets look at the verses...
13 The oracle concerning Arabia.
In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.
14 To the thirsty bring water;
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
15 For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle.
16 For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. 17 And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
So in the opening section, verses 13-15 we see the verses refer to ta caravans of the Dedanites out in the desert, they asked the people from Temp to bring food and water to the refugees fleeing form the war, a enemy has forced them to flee for safety...
Dedan and Tema are about a 100 miles apart in northeast Arabia with Kedar to the north of them.
With the call for food and water one would assume that these who are fleeing have traveled for a very long time. They are moving along the trade routes most likely where camels were often used to carry people and supplies from one area to another.
Now with verse 16 the word changes, the Lord speaks to Isaiah asking him to speak about the desperate nature of the situation.
When God helps describe this scene through the prophet, those listening to Isaiah would see just how bad it was...
God says that within a year, the political power over the region would end, even all the way up to Kedar. its glory will disappear and those left to defend it will be few.
Like the other nations that grew large and were dependent on it warriors, literally trusted in them…they will fall to the attacks of a greater army and will be forced out of the territory.
it’s faulty how people thought they could solve their own issues, they trust self and others instead of learning to trust God.