For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isa 21:1-10

1 Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland,
    an invader comes from the desert,
    from a land of terror.

2 A dire vision has been shown to me:
    The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.
Elam, attack! Media, lay siege!
    I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

3 At this my body is racked with pain,
    pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;
I am staggered by what I hear,
    I am bewildered by what I see.
4 My heart falters,
    fear makes me tremble;
the twilight I longed for
    has become a horror to me.

5 They set the tables,
    they spread the rugs,
    they eat, they drink!
Get up, you officers,
    oil the shields!

6 This is what the Lord says to me:

“Go, post a lookout
    and have him report what he sees.
7 When he sees chariots
    with teams of horses,
riders on donkeys
    or riders on camels,
let him be alert,
    fully alert.”

8 And the lookout shouted,

“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;
    every night I stay at my post.
9 Look, here comes a man in a chariot
    with a team of horses.
And he gives back the answer:
    ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen!
All the images of its gods
    lie shattered on the ground!’”

10 My people who are crushed on the threshing floor,
    I tell you what I have heard
from the Lord Almighty,
    from the God of Israel.

A. Find Out

• 1. What is going to happen to the next land described? v.1,2
• 2. How does it affect the prophet? v.3,4
• 3. What is the picture before the invasion? v.5
• 4. What does the Lord say to do? v.6,7
• 5. What report does the lookout eventually give? v.8,9
• 6. How does he describe Israel? v.10

B. Think:

• 1. What does he see in verses 1 to 5?
• 2. How do verses 6 to 10 repeat that but differently?

C. Comment:

Because the place is identified in verse 9 we can understand the earlier part of the oracle from that. The desert by the sea (v.1) is the land of Babylonia north of the Persian Gulf. The prophet ‘sees’ an invader coming and total upheaval (v.2) when Elam (the land northeast of the lower Tigris Valley) join with the Medes (the land of modern Iran) and attack Babylon. The level of the devastation of the vision leaves the prophet wrecked (Daniel felt similarly when he had visions – Dan 8:27). There is a feeling of urgency in him as, in his vision, he sees the soldiers of Babylon sitting around and relaxing (v.5). He wants to call them to action because of what is about to come upon them.

But then it is as if the vision ends and he gets a simple word from the Lord (v,6) to set lookouts to report on what they see. When he sees movement (v.7) he will know things are happening as forecast. Eventually the lookout sees a messenger (v.8,9) coming with the news that Babylon has fallen, utterly devastated.

But then (v.10) there is a strange note. He refers to “my people, crushed on the threshing floor”. It is a reference to Israel (my people) who have been disciplined by an enemy, probably Babylon. In this Isaiah sees into the future (as he also does later in the book) and sees Babylon being used by God to chastise Israel and now this word comes as if to say, it’s all right Israel, they’ll get their just deserts!

D. Application:

• 1. Prophetic vision breaks the boundaries of time.
• 2. God knows His plans for the future, however far off to us.

Passage: Isa 21:11-17

11 A prophecy against Dumah:

Someone calls to me from Seir,
    “Watchman, what is left of the night?
    Watchman, what is left of the night?”
12 The watchman replies,
    “Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
    and come back yet again.”

13 A prophecy against Arabia:

You caravans of Dedanites,
    who camp in the thickets of Arabia,
14     bring water for the thirsty;
you who live in Tema,
    bring food for the fugitives.
15 They flee from the sword,
    from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow
    and from the heat of battle.

16 This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end. 17 The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

A. Find Out

• 1. What do they call from Edom? v.11
• 2. What does the watchman reply? v.12
• 3. Who are next addressed? v.13
• 4. What are they told to bring? v.14
• 5. From what are the refugees fleeing? v.15
• 6. Who are they? v.16,17

B. Think:

• 1. What do you think is implied by the watchman of v.12?
• 2. Who are then called to help who?  

C. Comment:

First place names. You’ll see from the note in your Bible that Dumah is wordplay on the quiet nation of Edom. Seir is also another name for Edom (see also Gen 32:3) the country to the south of the Dead Sea. In v.13 the Dedanites are an Arabian tribe of merchants. Tema is an oasis in northern Arabia about 400 miles southwest of Babylon. Kedar is in the Arabian desert.

There are two groups of people mentioned in these short oracles. The first are the people of Edom (v.11) in the south east from Judah. Someone, presumably in a vision, calls to Isaiah as a watchman asking what is left of the night. Night presumably refers to the time of ‘darkness’ when they were suffering under invasions from Assyria. Isaiah’s reply (v.12) is that morning is coming, the darkness of Assyrian oppression is coming to an end, but then adds that night is coming again, possibly an allusion to the coming of the Babylonians. If you want to know more, he adds, come back again.

Isaiah then turns to Arabia (v.13), that large land mass to the south east. His rather oblique word calls to the travelling merchants who know how to hide and avoid invaders to be on the lookout to pick up the refugees who will be fleeing from Kedar. No reason is given beyond the fact that the Lord is very shortly going to bring down their pride and their famous bowmen will be defeated. It’s a time of judgement

D. Application:

• 1. Even small nations out of the way do not escape God’s eye.
• 2. God holds all peoples accountable for their sin.