Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 21:2
A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
2. A grievous (lit. “hard”) vision is declared unto me ] by the “watchman,” Isa 21:6. “Hard” may mean either “calamitous” (1Ki 14:6) or “difficult,” “hard of interpretation” (Joh 6:60).
the treacherous dealer spoileth ] Cf. ch. Isa 24:16. It is difficult to decide whether this is a description of the besieging foe or of the conduct of the Babylonians towards their captives. The former view might be defended by Isa 33:1 (assuming that the Assyrians are there alluded to) but it requires us to substitute for “treacherous dealer,” “robber,” which is not the exact sense of the word. The other alternative is supported by the last clause of this verse (see below).
Elam Media ] The dominions of Cyrus. The former lay east of the Tigris and north of the Persian Gulf; Media was the mountainous district adjoining it on the north. Cyrus, according to the Babylonian records, was originally king of Anzan, in the north of Elam; in 549 he conquered Media, uniting the two in one kingdom. The name “Persia” never occurs in pre-exilic books.
all the sighing thereof ] The misery produced by her (Babylon’s) ruthless oppressions. The verb shews that Jehovah is the speaker.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A grievous vision – Margin, as in Hebrew Hard. On the word vision, see the note at Isa 1:1. The sense here is, that the vision which the prophet saw was one that indicated great calamity Isa 21:3-4.
Is declared unto me – That is, is caused to pass before me, and its meaning is made known to me.
The treacherous dealer – ( chaboged). The perfidious, unfaithful people. This is the usual signification of the word; but the connection here does not seem to require the signification of treachery or perfidy, but of violence. The word has this meaning in Hab 2:5, and in Pro 11:3, Pro 11:6. It refers here to the Medes; and to the fact that oppression and violence were now to be exercised toward Babylon. Lowth renders this:
The plunderer is plundered, and the destroyer is destroyed;
But the authority for so rendering it is doubtful. He seems to suppose that it refers to Babylon. The Hebrew evidently means, that there is to be plundering and devastation, and that this is to be accomplished by a nation accustomed to it, and which is immediately specified; that is, the united kingdom of Media and Persia. The Chaldee renders it, They who bring violence, suffer violence; and the plunderers are plundered. Jarchi says, that the sense of the Hebrew text according to the Chaldee is, Ah! thou who art violent! there comes another who will use thee with violence; and thou plunderer, another comes who will plunder thee, even the Medes and Persians, who will destroy and lay waste Babylon. But the Hebrew text will not bear this interpretation. The sense is, that desolation was about to be produced by a nation accustomed to it, and who would act toward Babylon in their true character.
Go up – This is an address of God to Media and Persia (see the note at Isa 13:17).
O Elam – This was the name of the country originally possessed by the Persians, and was so called from Elam a son of Shem Gen 10:22. It was east of the Euphrates, and comprehended properly the mountainous countries of Khusistan and Louristan, called by the Greek writers Elymais. In this country was Susa or Shushan, mentioned in Dan 8:2. It is here put for Persia in general, and the call on Elam and Media to go up, was a call on the united kingdom of the Medes and Persians.
Besiege – That is, besiege Babylon.
O Media – (see the note at Isa 13:17).
All the sighing thereof have I made to cease – This has been very differently interpreted by expositors. Some understand it (as Rosenmuller, Jerome, and Lowth,) as designed to be taken in an active sense; that is, all the groaning caused by Babylon in her oppressions of others, and particularly of Gods people, would cease. Others refer it to the army of the Medes and Persians, as if their sighing should be over; that is, their fatigues and labors in the conquest of Babylon. Calvin supposes that it means that the Lord would be deaf to the sighs of Babylon; that is, he would disregard them and would bring upon them the threatened certain destruction. The probable meaning is that suggested by Jerome, that God would bring to an end all the sighs and groans which Babylon had caused in a world suffering under her oppressions (compare Isa 14:7-8).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth – “The plunderer is plundered, and the destroyer is destroyed.”] habboged boged vehashshoded shoded. The MSS. vary in expressing or omitting the vau, in these four words. Ten MSS. of Kennicott are without the vau in the second word, and eight MSS. are without the vau in the fourth word; which justifies Symmachus, who has rendered them passively: . He read bagud shadud. Cocceius (Lexicon in voce) observes that the Chaldee very often renders the verb bagad, by bazaz, he spoiled; and in this place, and in Isa 33:1, by the equivalent word anas, to press, give trouble; and in Isa 24:16 both by anas and bazaz; and the Syriac in this place renders it by talam, he oppressed.
All the sighing thereof have I made to cease – “I have put an end to all her vexations”] Heb. “Her sighing; that is, the sighing caused by her.” So Kimchi on the place: “It means those who groaned through fear of him: for the suffixes of the nouns refer both to the agent and the patient. All those who groaned before the face of the king of Babylon he caused to rest;” Chald. And so likewise Ephrem Syr. in loc., edit. Assemani: “His groans, viz., the grief and tears which the Chaldeans occasioned through the rest of the nations.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A grievous vision; a vision or prophecy, containing dreadful calamities which were to fall upon Babylon.
The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth: this is spoken either,
1. Of the Chaldeans, as their sin, for which God sends the following judgment. So the sense is, The Chaldeans still persist in the practice of treachery and rapine, to which they have been so long accustomed. Or,
2. Of the Medes and Persians, who are here noted to pay the Babylonians in their own coin, and to use the same treachery and violence towards them which they had done to others. To which purpose the words are and may well be rendered otherwise; either thus, the treacherous dealer hath found a treacherous dealer, and the spoiler hath found a spoiler; or thus, O thou that dealest treacherously with the treacherous dealer, and that spoilest the spoiler, go up, O Elam, &c., as it followeth. These words will be much illustrated by compared them with Isa 33:1. There is no doubt to be made but the Medes and Persians used treachery as well as force against Babylon. And besides brias, and following their counsel and conduct in taking the city, which made them partakers of their treason.
Go up, to fight against her. These are Gods words, either giving them command and commission to do so, or rather foretelling what they would do; which is oft done in this form of speech.
Elam; Persia, called Elam synecdochically, because Elam was an eminent province of Persia, bordering upon the Medes.
Besiege, to wit, Babylon, Isa 21:9. All the sighing thereof; either,
1. Babylons sighing, which shall cease, because they shall have no time to sigh, or lament their miseries, being suddenly surprised, and cut off in a moment, as they were. As God is said to seek out the wickedness of wicked men till he find none, Psa 10:15, when he utterly destroyeth them in or with their sins. Or,
2. The sighing and groanings of Gods people and other nations under the heavy oppressions of that potent and cruel empire; the pronoun her, or thereof, being taken here not passively, as commonly it is; but actively, or efficiently, as sometimes it is, as Deu 11:25, your fear, i.e. the fear of you; and Job 33:7, my terror, i.e. the terror or dread of me upon thee.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. dealeth treacherouslyreferringto the military stratagem employed by Cyrus in taking Babylon.It may be translated, “is repaid with treachery”; then thesubject of the verb is Babylon. She is repaid in her own coin;Isa 33:1; Hab 2:8,favor this.
Go upIsaiah abruptlyrecites the order which he hears God giving to the Persians, theinstruments of His vengeance (Isa 13:3;Isa 13:17).
Elama province ofPersia, the original place of their settlement (Ge10:22), east of the Euphrates. The name “Persia” wasnot in use until the captivity; it means a “horseman”;Cyrus first trained the Persians in horsemanship. It is a mark ofauthenticity that the name is not found before Daniel and Ezekiel[BOCHART].
thereofthe “sighing”caused by Babylon (Isa 14:7;Isa 14:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A grievous vision is declared unto me,…. The prophet; meaning the vision of Babylon’s destruction, which was “hard”, as the word signifies, and might seem harsh and cruel; not to him, nor to the Jews, but to the Chaldeans:
the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth; that is, according to Jarchi, one treacherous dealer deals treacherously with another, and one spoiler spoils another; the Medes and Persians deal treacherously with and spoil the Babylonians, who had dealt treacherously with and spoiled other nations: and to this sense some read the words, “the treacherous dealer hath found a treacherous dealer, and the spoiler one that spoileth” n: some take it to be a compellation of the Medes and Persians, calling upon them, under these characters, to go up and besiege Babylon, as, “O treacherous dealer, O spoiler” o; though the words may be understood of the perfidy and treachery of the Babylonians, of which they had been frequently guilty, and which is given as a reason of their fall and ruin; or rather they suggest the treacherous means by which they should be ruined, even by some from among themselves; particularly, history p informs us, that Gobrias and Gadates, two noblemen of the king of Babylon, being used ill by him, revolted from him, and joined with Cyrus; and when the river Euphrates was drained, went at the head of his army in two parties, and guided them into the city, and took it; or rather Belshazzar king of Babylon himself is meant, who acted, and continued to act, most impiously and wickedly: and therefore,
go up, O Elam; or Elamites, as the Targum and Septuagint; see Ac 2:9 these were Persians, so called from Elam, a province in Persia; who are here called upon by the Lord of armies, through the mouth of the prophet, to go up to war against Babylon; and these are mentioned first, because Cyrus, who commanded the whole army, was a Persian: or if Elam is taken for a province, which was indeed subject to Babylon, of which Shushan was the capital city, Da 8:2 the governor of it, Abradates, revolted from the Babylonians, and joined Cyrus, and fought with him q:
besiege, O Media; or, O ye Medes, join with the Persians in the siege of Babylon; as they did:
all the sighing thereof have I made to cease; either of the army of the Medes and Persians, who, by reason of long and tedious marches, frequent battles, and hard sieges, groaned and sighed; but now it would be over with them, when Babylon was taken; or of the Babylonians themselves, who would have no mercy shown them, nor have any time for sighing, being cut off suddenly, and in a moment; or rather of other people oppressed by them, and particularly the Lord’s people the Jews, who had been in captivity for the space of seventy years, during which they had sighed and groaned, because of the hardships they endured; but now sighing would be at an end, and they should have deliverance, as they had, by Cyrus the Persian. The sighing is not that with which they sighed, but which they caused in others.
n “praevaricator prevaricatorem et vastator, vastatorem [sub.] inveniet”; so some in Vatablus; also Gataker. o “O perfide, perfidus; O vastator, vastator”, De Dieu. p Xenophon. Cyropaedia, l. 4. c. 24. l. 5. c. 11. & l. 7. c. 23. q Ib. l. 6. sect. 7, 8, 9, 26. & l. 7. sect. 4, 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. A harsh vision. As the object was to soothe the grief of the people, it may be thought not to be appropriate to call a vision, which is the occasion of joy, a harsh vision. But this refers to the Babylonians, who, puffed up with their prosperity, dreaded no danger; for wealth commonly produces pride and indifference. As if he had said, “It is useless to hold out the riches and power of the Babylonians, and when a stone is hard, there will be found a hard hammer to break it.”
The spoiler. As Babylon had gained its power by plundering and laying waste other nations, it seemed to be free from all danger. Although they had been a terror to others, and had practiced every kind of barbarity and cruelty, yet they could not avoid becoming a prey and enduring injuries similar to those which they had inflicted on others. The Prophet goes farther, and, in order to obtain credit to his statements, pronounces it to be a righteous retaliation, that violence should correspond to violence.
Go up, O Elam. Elam is a part of Persia; but is taken for the whole of Persia, and on this account also the Persians are called Elamites. It is worthy of observation, that, when Isaiah foretold these things, there was no probability of war, and that he was dead a hundred years before there was any apprehension of this calamity. Hence it is sufficiently evident that he could not have derived his information on this subject from any other than the Spirit of God; and this contributes greatly to confirm the truth and certainty of the prediction.
Besiege, O Mede. By commanding the Medes and Persians, he declares that this will not befall the Babylonians at random or by chance, but by the sure decree of God, in whose name, and not in that of any private individual, he makes the announcement. Coming forward therefore in the name of God, he may, like a captain or general, command his soldiers to assemble to give battle. In what manner God employs the agency of robbers and wicked men, has been formerly explained at the tenth chapter. (66)
I have made all his groaning to cease. Some understand it to mean, that the groaning, to which the Babylonians had given occasion, ceased after they were subdued by the Medes and Persians; for by their tyrannical measures they had caused many to groan, which must happen when wicked and ungodly men possess rank and power. Others approach more closely, perhaps, to the real meaning of the Prophet, when they say, that “the groaning ceased,” because the Babylonians experienced no compassion, having formerly shewn none to others. But I explain it more simply to mean, that the Lord was deaf to their groanings; as if he had said, that there would be no room for their groanings and lamentations, because having been cruel and barbarous, it was just that they should receive back the same measure which they had meted out to others. (Mat 7:2.)
(66) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) A grievous vision . . .The verse contains, as it were, the three tableaux that came in succession before the prophets gaze: (1) The treacherous dealer, the Assyro-Chaldan power, spoiling and oppressing, breaking treaties, and, as its kings boasted (Hab. 2:5; Records of the Past, vii. 42, 44), removing landmarks. (2) The summons to Elam and Media to put an end to this tyranny. (3) The oppressed peoples ceasing to sigh, and rejoicing in their liberation.
Elam appears here as combined with Media, which is named in Isa. 13:17 as the only destroyer of Babylon, and this has been urged as evidence of a later date. As a matter of fact, however, Sargon at this very time was carrying on a fierce war against Elam (Records of the Past, cvii. 41-49) as well as against Media (ibid, p. 37). In Eze. 32:24, Elam is numbered among the extinct nations, but the name, at all events, re-appears as applied to the Persians, though they were of a distinct race. It was, even as a mere forecast, perfectly natural that the two should be associated together as the future destroyers of the Nineveh and Babel empires, which to the prophets eye were identical in character and policy. The advance described as from the wilderness implies a march of part at least of the Medo-Persian army down the Choaspes and into the lowland of Chuzistan, bordering on the great Arabian desert.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. A grievous vision A sad and most afflictive prophetic view is shown.
The treacherous dealer Babylonian tyranny overreaches itself in its cruelties.
Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media Persia and Media are summoned to execute terrible judgment upon the insolent empire. God ordains that the sighs of the oppressed shall cease. This prophecy is uttered probably two centuries before its fulfilment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 21:2. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media! The prophet, in a rapture, had various images succeeding one another before his sight. He had just beheld the Babylonians raging against Asia and Judaea. Presently, this scene being removed, he beholds the city of Babylon itself flourishing in strength and glory; then he observes the motion of a hostile army towards this city, which he understands to consist of the Medes and Persians, raised up by the divine providence to besiege Babylon, and punish it for its pride and wickedness; and he hears at the same moment of time a divine voice, commanding this people to approach and besiege Babylon, with a prediction of undoubted success, which he involves in a short consolatory sentence; All the sighing thereof I have made to cease: that is, “God hath made all that sighing, all those groans and calamities which Babylon had brought upon other nations, and upon the people of God also, to cease and be no more, having determined the destruction of Babylon itself.” Elam was an old name for Persia, for the name of Persia does not appear to have been known in Isaiah’s time. The Persians seem to have taken their name from becoming horsemen in the time of Cyrus. The country is called Paras, and the inhabitants Parasi, which signifies both Persians and horsemen. Babylon was accordingly besieged by the united force of the Medes and Persians under the command of Cyrus the Persian, the nephew and son-in-law of the king of the Medes. If by Elam we understand the province strictly so called, it is no less true that this also, though subject to Babylon, rose up against it on account of the generous behaviour of Cyrus to Panthea. See Bp. Newton and Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 21:2 A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
Ver. 2. A grievous vision. ] Heb., Hard, harsh, tyrannorum speculum: here is hard for hard; God loveth to retaliate. Babylon had been the “maul of the earth”; Jer 51:20 now a hard messenger is sent, a harsh vision is declared against her. They who do what they should not, shall hear what they would not; a burdenous prophecy, a grievous vision. This “treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and this spoiler spoileth,” for so some read the next words.
The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously.
Go up, O Elam,
All the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
a Vatab.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
dealer = one.
sighing. Caused by the oppression of Babylon.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
grievous: Heb. hard, Psa 60:3, Pro 13:15
the treacherous: Isa 24:16, Isa 33:1, 1Sa 24:13, Jer 51:44, Jer 51:48, Jer 51:49, Jer 51:53, Rev 13:10
Go up: Isa 13:2-4, Isa 13:17, Isa 13:18, Jer 50:14, Jer 50:34, Jer 49:34, Jer 51:11, Jer 51:27, Jer 51:28, Dan 5:28, Dan 8:20
all the: Isa 14:1-3, Isa 35:10, Isa 47:6, Psa 12:5, Psa 79:11, Psa 137:1-3, Jer 31:11, Jer 31:12, Jer 31:20, Jer 31:25, Jer 45:3, Jer 51:3, Jer 51:4, Lam 1:22, Mic 7:8-10, Zec 1:15, Zec 1:16
Reciprocal: Gen 10:22 – Elam Gen 14:1 – Elam Lev 6:2 – in fellowship 2Ki 17:6 – the Medes 1Ch 1:17 – Elam Ezr 4:9 – Elamites Est 1:3 – of Persia Isa 1:1 – vision Isa 22:6 – Elam Isa 41:25 – raised Isa 48:8 – I knew Jer 50:9 – I will raise Jer 50:22 – General Jer 51:46 – a rumour shall Jer 51:56 – the spoiler Eze 38:9 – shalt ascend Dan 5:6 – the king’s Dan 5:9 – changed Dan 8:3 – one Hab 1:13 – deal Hab 2:7 – they Act 2:9 – Elamites
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 21:2. A grievous vision is declared unto me A vision or prophecy, predicting dreadful calamities about to fall upon Babylon. The treacherous dealer, &c. In these words the prophet either describes the sin of the Chaldeans, for which God would send the following judgment upon them, namely, they persisted in the practice of treachery and rapine, to which they had been so long accustomed; or he speaks of the Medes and Persians, and represents them as paying the Babylonians in their own coin, and using the same treachery and violence toward them which they had used toward others. The words may be properly rendered, Thou, O Elam, that dealest treacherously with the treacherous dealer, or, that oppressest the oppressor, and spoilest the spoiler, go up, besiege, &c. Babylon had long oppressed and ravaged other countries: and it was now her turn to be oppressed and ravaged. Elam was an eminent province of Persia, bordering upon Media, and is here put for Persia in general. God here gives the Medes and Persians their commission to go up and take Babylon, and thereby to put an end to the sighs and groans of the captive Jews, and of other nations held in bondage, and oppressed by that tyrannical and cruel empire.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:2 A grievous vision is declared to me; the {c} treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O {d} Elam: besiege, O Media; all her sighing have I made {e} to cease.
(c) The Assyrians and Chaldeans who had destroyed other nations will be overcome by the Medes and Persians: and this he prophesied a hundred years before it came to pass.
(d) By Elam he means the Persians.
(e) Because they will find no comfort, they will mourn no more, or I have caused them to cease mourning, whom Babylon had afflicted.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Isaiah received this harsh vision. Treachery and destruction continued to mark the Persian Gulf area. Elam and Media were to go up against this foe to put an end to her evil ways that produced groaning in her victims. Elam ceased to oppose the Mesopotamian powers by 639 B.C., so Isaiah evidently gave this oracle before then, possible as early as the Babylonian Merodach-baladan’s visit to Jerusalem about 701 B.C. (cf. ch. 39).
"Elam and Media were peoples from the Iranian highlands who were becoming active in Mesopotamian affairs near the end of the eighth century . . ." [Note: Watts, p. 272.]