Isaiah 34:Judgment against the nations & Edom

Context

• 1.4 Warnings & Jerusalem’s hope Ch.28-35
• 1.4.1 Warnings
  • Ch.28 – Woe to the leaders of Ephraim and Judah
  • Ch.29 – Woe to Jerusalem
  • Ch.30 – Woe to Israel for obstinate rejection of God
  • Ch.31 – Woe to Israel relying on Egypt for deliverance from the Assyrians
• 1.4.2 Judgments with Hope
  • Ch.32 – The Coming of Disaster then a new era of Righteousness & Blessing
  • Ch.33 – Judgment on the Invader (Assyria), blessing on Jerusalem
  • Ch.34 – Judgment against the nations & Edom
  • Ch.35 – Transformation for the returning redeemed

Chapter 34

• PART ONE: v.1-4: A General Warning to the whole world
• PART TWO: v.5-17: A Specific Warning to Edom

[Preliminary Comment: See the progression:

Part 1: The chapter opens with the Lord warning the whole world [v.1] that He is angry with them [v.2] and will destroy them [v.2,3] and wind up creation [v.4]. It is thus a summary of the end of the present world.

Part 2: The remaining three-quarters of the chapter focuses this destruction on one land or one people, so it is important to note something of them. Edom was another name for Esau (Gen 36:1) and so the Edomites were descendants of Esau, who had clearly migrated there very early on (Gen 32:3, 36:1-8), absorbing the Horites who already lived there (Gen 14:6).  Saul had fought against them when he came to rule (1 Sam 14:47), David subsequently conquered them (2 Sam 8:13,14). Later in Jehoshaphat’s time they joined with the Moabites and Ammonites to fight against the southern kingdom. In the reign of Jehoram in the south they rebelled (2 Kings 8:20-22). They were thus an opposition in the south mostly against the southern kingdom. In this context, they may thus be seen as symbolic of the world that rebels against God, again His plans and against His people. The picture in these verses is of a land being taken from mankind and returned to ‘nature’.]

PART ONE: v.1-4: A General Warning to the whole world

v.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!

v.2  The Lord is angry with all nations;
    his wrath is on all their armies.
He will totally destroy them,
    he will give them over to slaughter.

v.3  Their slain will be thrown out,
    their dead bodies will stink;
    the mountains will be soaked with their blood.

v.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 shrivelled figs from the fig-tree.

[Notes: The Lord calls to the world; He declares His anger and His intent. He will bring death. He will wind up creation.]

PART TWO: v.5-17: A Specific Warning to Edom

v.5-7 Judgment is coming on Edom

v.5 My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
    see, it descends in judgment on Edom,
    the people I have totally destroyed.

v.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.

v.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.

v.8 This will be a day of pay-back for Israel’s sake

v.8  For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
    a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.

v.9-11 Fire will devastate Edom for ever, leaving it to the wild animals

v.9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
    her dust into burning sulphur;
    her land will become blazing pitch!

v.10 It will not be quenched night or day;
    its smoke will rise for ever.
From generation to generation it will lie desolate;
    no one will ever pass through it again.

v.11 The desert owl and screech owl will possess it;
    the great owl and the raven will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom
    the measuring line of chaos
    and the plumb-line of desolation.

v.12-15 Yes people will be gone, only wild creatures left

v.12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
    all her princes will vanish away.

v.13 Thorns will overrun her citadels,
    nettles and brambles her strongholds.
She will become a haunt for jackals,
    a home for owls.

v.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.

v.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.

v.16,17 Understand this is the decree and work of the Lord

v.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.

v.17 He allots their portions;
    his hand distributes them by measure.
They will possess it for ever
    and dwell there from generation to generation.

[Notes: Let there be no misunderstanding, Edom is going to be destroyed and it’s people removed.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: