Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 21:13
The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye traveling companies of Dedanim.
13. The burden upon Arabia ] The Oracle “In Arabia ” (or, “ In the evening ”). The catchword of the heading is taken from the second word of the oracle. LXX. omits the title and in the text renders, with a different pointing, “in the evening,” which gives a good sense (Psa 30:5). The Massoretic reading may be translated “in Arabia” (Jer 25:24) or “in the desert,” although the word occurs nowhere else in this sense. Forest must here mean either “scrub” or (like the corresponding Arab. wa‘r) “rough, stony ground.”
travelling companies ] caravans, as Gen 37:25.
Dedanim ] Dedanites (R.V.). Dedan (Gen 10:7; Gen 25:3) was an important trading tribe of Arabia (Eze 27:20; Eze 38:13). Since it is mentioned in connexion with Edom (Jer 49:8; Eze 25:13), its possessions were probably somewhere near the north end of the Gulf of Akaba.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The oracle on Arabia, Isa 21:13-17
A vision ( Isa 21:13-15) and its interpretation ( Isa 21:16-17). A caravan of the merchant-tribe of Dedan is seen driven by stress of war from the regular route, and lurking in solitary places, destitute of food and water. The travellers are succoured by the hospitality of the neighbouring tribe of Tema ( Isa 21:13-15). This vision symbolises a great destruction within a short time of the nomadic Arabs, purposed by Jehovah the God of Israel (16 f.). Here again positive indications of date are wanting. If the oracle belongs to the same group as the two which precede, the enemy would be the Persian conquerors of Babylonia, who are represented as attacking the Arabian caravans that traded under its auspices. A similar threat against Dedan forms part of a prophecy of Jeremiah against Edom in the time of Nebuchadnezzar (Isa 49:7 f.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Analysis of Isa 21:13-17. – Vision 18. Arabia.
The remainder of this chapter is occupied with a single prophecy respecting Arabia. It was probably delivered about the time that the former was uttered – during the reign of Hezekiah, and before the invasion of Sennacherib. It had reference, I suppose, to Sennacherib; and was designed to foretell the fact that, either in his march to attack Judea, or on his return from Egypt, he would pass through Arabia, and perhaps oppress and overthrow some of their clans. At all events, it was to be fulfilled within a year after it was uttered Isa 21:16, and refers to some foreign invasion that was to conic upon their land. Rosenmuller supposes that it relates to the same period as the prophecy in Jer 49:28, following, and refers to the time when Nebuchadnezzar sent Nebuzaradan to overran the lands of the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the Arabians, the Idumeans, and others who had revolted from him, and who had formed an alliance with Zedekiah.
The sentiment of the prophecy is simple – that within a year the country of Arabia would be overrun by a foreign enemy. The form and manner of the prophecy is highly poetic and beautiful. The images are drawn from customs and habits which pertain to the Arabians, and which characterize them to this day. In Isa 21:13, the prophecy opens with a declaration that the caravans that were accustomed to pass peacefully through Arabia would be arrested by the apprehension of war. They would seek a place of refuge in the forests and fastnesses of the land. Thither also the prophet sees the Arabians flocking, as if to exercise the rites of hospitality, and to minister to the needs of the oppressed and weary travelers. But the reasons why they are there, the prophet sees to be that they are oppressed and driven out of their land by a foreign invader, and they also seek the same places of security and of refuge Isa 21:14-15. All this would be accomplished within a year Isa 21:16; and the result would be, that the inhabitants of Arabia would be greatly diminished Isa 21:17.
Isa 21:13
The burden – (see the note at Isa 13:1).
Upon Arabia – ( baarab). This is an unusual form. The title of the prophecies is usually without the (b) rendered upon. Lowth supposes this whole title to be of doubtful authority, chiefly because it is missing in most MSS. of the Septuagint. The Septuagint connects it with the preceding prophecy respecting Dumab, and makes this a continuance of that. The preposition (b) – upon, means here respecting, concerning, and is used instead of al as in Zec 9:1. Arabia is a well-known country of western Asia, lying south and southeast of Judea. It was divided into three parts, Arabia Deserta, on the east; Arabia Petrea, lying south of Judea; and Arabia Felix, lying still further south. What part of Arabia is here denoted it may not be easy to determine. It is probable that it was Arabia Petrea, because this lay between Judea and Egypt, and would be exposed to invasion by the Assyrians should they invade Egypt; and because this part of Arabia furnished, more than the others, such retreats and fastnesses as are mentioned in Isa 21:13-15.
In the forest – ( bayaar). The word ( yaar) forest usually denotes a grove, a collection of trees. But it may mean here, any place of refuge from a pursuing foe; a region of thick underwood; an uncultivated, inaccessible place, where they would be concealed from an invading enemy. The word rendered forest is commonly supposed to mean a forest in the sense in which that word is now used by us, meaning an extensive wood – large tract of land covered with trees. It is doubtful, however, whether the word is so used in the Bible. The Rev. Eli Smith stated to me that he had visited several of the places in Palestine to which the word ( yaar) forest or grove is given, and that he was satisfied that there never was a forest there in our use of the word. The same word yaar – the (y) not being used to begin a word in Arabic, but the (v) being used instead of it – occurs often in Arabic. It means, as used by the Arabs, a rough, stony, impassable place; a place where there are no roads; which is inaccessible; and which is a safe retreat for robbers – and it is not improbable that the word is so used here.
In Arabia – ( baarab). The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Chaldee, understand this of the evening – In the evening. The word ereb, with different points from those which the Masorites have used here, means evening, but there is no necessity of departing from the translation in our English version. The sense would not be materially affected whichever rendering should be preferred.
Shall ye lodge – Shall you pass the night. This is the usual signification of the word. But here it may be taken in a larger sense, as denoting that they would pitch their tents there, or that they would seek a refuge there. The sense I suppose to be this: O ye traveling caravans of Dedan! Ye were accustomed to pass through Arabia, and to find a safe and hospitable entertainment there. But now, the Arabians shall be overrun by a foreign enemy; they shall be unable to show you hospitality, and to insure your safety in their tents, and for fear of the enemy still in the land you will be obliged to seek a lodging in the inaccessible thickets of the forests. The passage is intended to denote the change that had taken place, and to show the insecurity for caravans.
O ye traveling companies – Ye caravans ( ‘orechot). This word usually signifies ways, paths, cross roads. But it is used here evidently to denote those who traveled in such ways or paths; that is, caravans of merchants. So it is used in Job 6:19 : The caravans of Tema. It is well known that in the East it is usual for large companies to travel together, called caravans. Arabia Petrea was a great thoroughfare for such companies.
Of Dedanim – Descendants of Dedan. There are two men of this name mentioned in the Old Testament – the son of Raamah, the son of Cush, mentioned in Gen 10:7; and the son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah Gen 25:3. The descendants of the latter settled in Arabia Petrea, and the descendants of the former near the Persian Gulf. It is not easy to determine which is here intended, though most probably those who dwelt near the Persian Gulf, because they are often mentioned as merchants. They dealt in ivory, ebony, etc., and traded much with Tyre Eze 27:21, and doubtless also with Egypt. They are here represented as passing through Arabia Petrea on their way to Egypt, and as compelled by the calamities in the country to find a refuge in its fastnesses and inaccessible places.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 21:13-17
The burden upon Arabia
Arabia
The term Arabia, in the Old Testament, is not used in such a wide sense as in modern English, and denotes merely a particular, tribe, having its home in the northern part of what is now known as the Arabian peninsula, and mentioned in Eze 27:20-21, by the side of Dedan and Kedar as engaged in commerce with Tyre.
Isaiah lines a tide of invasion about to overflow the region inhabited by these tribes, and addresses the Dedanite caravans, warning them that they will have to turn aside from their customary routes and seek concealment in the forest. In verse 14, he sees in imagination the natives of Tema bringing food and water, to the fugitive traders. Tema was the name of a tribe settled in the same neighbourhood, about 250 miles S.E. of Edom, on the route between Damascus and Mecca, in a locality in which some interesting inscriptions have recently been discovered. Within a year, the prophet concludes, the glory of the wealthy pastoral (Isa 9:7) tribe of Kedar–here used so as to include by implication its less influential neighbours–will be past, and of its warriors only an insignificant remnant will survive. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
The Bedawin
These were the carriers of the worlds commerce in the days before railways were introduced. As country after, country was feeling the consequences of the advance of Nineveh, these merchantmen would be the first to hear the news wire rearm, and in many cases to give timely assistance. But these weakly defended caravans would not stand long before the armies of Sargon. (B. Blake, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. The burden upon Arabia – “The oracle concerning Arabia”] This title is of doubtful authority. In the first place, because it is not in many of the MSS. of the Septuagint; it is in MSS. Pachom. and I. D. II. only, as far as I can find with certainty. Secondly, from the singularity of the phraseology; for massa is generally prefixed to its object without a preposition, as massa babel; and never but in this place with the preposition beth. Besides, as the word baarab occurs at the very beginning of the prophecy itself, the first word but one, it is much to be suspected that some one, taking it for a proper name and the object of the prophecy, might note it as such by the words massa baarab written in the margin, which he might easily transfer to the text. The Septuagint did not take it for a proper name, but render it , “in the forest, in the evening,” and so the Chaldee, which I follow; for otherwise, the forest in Arabia is so indeterminate and vague a description, that in effect it means nothing at all. This observation might have been of good use in clearing up the foregoing very obscure prophecy, if any light had arisen from joining the two together by removing the separating title; but I see no connexion between them. The Arabic Version has, “The prophecy concerning the Arabians, and the children of Chedar.”
This prophecy was to have been fulfilled within a year of the time of its delivery, see Isa 21:16; and it was probably delivered about the same time with the rest in this part of the book, that is, soon before or after the 14th of Hezekiah, the year of Sennacherib’s invasion. In his first march into Judea, or in his return from the Egyptian expedition, he might perhaps overrun these several clans of Arabians; their distress on some such occasion is the subject of this prophecy. – L.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In the forest; not as you used to do, in the houses or tents of the Arabians; whereby he implies that that populous country should be turned into a desolate wilderness.
Travelling companies: in those parts travellers then did and still do go together in companies. See Gen 37:25,28; Job 6:19.
Dedanim; or, Dedamites; of whom see on Gen 25:3; Jer 25:23; 49:8. These were merchants, and used to trade with Tyre, Eze 27:20; 38:13, and their way lay through the same parts of Arabia.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. uponthat is, respecting.
forestnot a grove oftrees, but a region of thick underwood, rugged and inaccessible; forArabia has no forest of trees.
travellingcompaniescaravans: ye shall be driven through fear of the foeto unfrequented routes (Isa 33:8;Jdg 5:6; Jer 49:8is parallel to this passage).
DedanimIn North Arabia(Gen 25:3; Jer 25:23;Eze 25:13; Eze 27:20;a different “Dedan” occurs Ge10:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The burden upon Arabia,…. Which lay heavy upon it, as a burden upon a beast; or “concerning” it, or “against” it, as Kimchi notes; which Arabia, or what part thereof, is meant, may be gathered from the names after mentioned. The Targum is,
“the burden of the cup of cursing, to give the Arabians to drink.”
Ben Melech says, these are the Arabians that dwell in the wilderness:
in the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge; not in their tents and huts, which they had used to carry with them, and set up where they pleased; since now in their fright and flight they would leave them behind them, and so be obliged to take up their lodging in woods and forests; perhaps the desert of Arabia Petraea is meant:
O ye travelling companies of Dedanim; or Dedanites; these were Arabians that descended from Jokshan, a son of Abraham by Keturah,
Ge 25:3 who were either shepherds, who went in companies together with their flocks, and moved from place to place for the sake of pasture; or rather were merchants, who went in caravans and troops with their merchandise from one country to another; see Eze 27:15 and who, because of the ravages of the enemy, would be glad of a lodging in the woods for security.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The heading (the written according to the best codd. with a simple sheva), when pointed as we have it, signifies, according to Zec 9:1 (cf., Isa 9:7), “oracle against Arabia.” But why not m assa Arab , since m assa is followed by a simple genitive in the other three headings? Or again, is this the only heading in the tetralogy that is not symbolical? We must assume that the Beth by which this is distinguished is introduced for the express purpose of rendering it symbolical, and that the prophet pointed it first of all , but had at the same time in his mind. The earlier translators (lxx, Targum, Syr., Vulg., Ar.) read the second like the first, but without any reason. The oracle commences with an evening scene, even without our altering the second . And the massa has a symbolical title founded upon this evening scene. Just as ‘Edom becomes Dumah, inasmuch as a night without a morning dawn falls upon the mountain land of Seir, so will soon be , inasmuch as the sun of Arabia is setting. Evening darkness is settling upon Arabia, and the morning-land is becoming an evening-land. “In the wilderness in Arabia ye must pass the night, caravans of the Dedanians. Bring water to meet thirsty ones! The inhabitants of the land of Tema are coming with its bread before the fugitive. For they are flying before swords, before drawn swords, and before a bent bow, and before oppressive war.” There is all the less ground for making any alteration in , inasmuch as the second Beth (wilderness in Arabia for of Arabia) is favoured by Isaiah’s common usage (Isa 28:21; Isa 9:2; compare 2Sa 1:21; Amo 3:9). Arab , written with pathach , is Arabia (Eze 27:21; arab in pause, Jer 25:24); and yaar here is the solitary barren desert, as distinguished from the cultivated land with its cities and villages. Wetzstein rejects the meaning nemus , sylva , with yaar has been assumed to have, because it would be rather a promise than a threat to be told that they would have to flee from the steppe into the wood, since a shady tree is the most delicious dream of the Beduins, who not only find shade in the forest, but a constant supply of green pasture, and fuel for their hospitable hearths. He therefore renders it, “Ye will take refuge in the Var of Arabia,” i.e., the open steppe will no longer afford you any shelter, so that ye will be obliged to hide yourselves in the Var . Arab. waur for example, is the name applied to the trachytic rayon of the Syro-Hauranitic volcanoes which is covered with a layer of stones. But as the Var in this sense is also planted with trees, and furnishes firewood, this epithet must rest upon some peculiar distinction in the radical meaning of the word yaar , which really does mean a forest in Hebrew, though not necessarily a forest of lofty trees, but also a wilderness overgrown with brushwood and thorn-bushes. The meaning of the passage before us we therefore take to be this: the trading caravans ( ‘ archoth , like hailcoth in Job 6:19) of the Dedanians, that mixed tribe of Cushites and Abrahamides dwelling in the neighbourhood of the Edomites (Gen 10:7; Gen 25:3), when on their way from east to west, possibly to Tyre (Eze 27:20), would be obliged to encamp in the wilderness, being driven out of the caravan road in consequence of the war that was spreading from north to south. The prophet, whose sympathy mingles with the revelation in this instance also, asks for water for the panting fugitives ( , as in Jer 12:9, an imperative equivalent to = ; compare 2Ki 2:3: there is no necessity to read , as the Targum, Dderlein, and Ewald do). They are driven back with fright towards the south-east as far as Tema, on the border of Negd and the Syrian desert. The Tema referred to is not the trans-Hauranian Tm , which is three-quarters of an hour from Dumah, although there is a good deal that seems to favour this,
(Note: See Wetzstein, ut supra , p. 202; compare Job, ii. 425.)
but the Tema on the pilgrim road from Damascus to Mecca, between Tebuk and Wadi el-Kora, which is about the same distance (four days’ journey) from both these places, and also from Chaibar (it is to be distinguished, however, from Tihama, the coast land of Yemen, the antithesis of which is ne’gd , the mountain district of Yemen).
(Note: See Sprenger, Post und Reise-routen des Orients, Heft i. (1864), pp. 118, 119.))
But even here in the land of Tema they do not feel themselves safe. The inhabitants of Tema are obliged to bring them water and bread (“its bread,” lachmo , referring to noded : the bread necessary in order to save them), into the hiding-places in which they have concealed themselves. “How humiliating,” as Drechsler well observes, “to be obliged to practise their hospitality, the pride of Arabian customs, in so restricted a manner, and with such unbecoming secrecy!” But it could not possibly be done in any other way, since the weapons of the foe were driving them incessantly before them, and the war itself was rolling incessantly forward like an overwhelming colossus , as the repetition of the word “before” ( m ipp e ne ) no less than four times clearly implies.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Doom of Arabia. | B. C. 714. |
13 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim. 14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled. 15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. 16 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail: 17 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.
Arabia was a large country, that lay eastward and southward of the land of Canaan. Much of it was possessed by the posterity of Abraham. The Dedanim, here mentioned (v. 13), descended from Dedan, Abraham’s son by Keturah; the inhabitants of Tema and Kedar descended from Ishmael, Gen 25:3; Gen 25:13; Gen 25:15. The Arabians generally lived in tents, and kept cattle, were a hardy people, inured to labour; probably the Jews depended upon them as a sort of a wall between them and the more warlike eastern nations; and therefore, to alarm them, they shall hear the burden of Arabia, and see it sinking under its own burden.
I. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, with a sword, with a drawn sword, with a bow ready bent, and with all the grievousness of war, v. 15. It is probable that the king of Assyria, in some of the marches of his formidable and victorious army, took Arabia in his way, and, meeting with little resistance, made an easy prey of them. The consideration of the grievousness of war should make us thankful for the blessings of peace.
II. The poor country people will hereby be forced to flee for shelter wherever they can find a place; so that the travelling companies of Dedanium, which used to keep the high roads with their caravans, shall be obliged to quit them and lodge in the forest in Arabia (v. 13), and shall not have the wonted convenience of their own tents, poor and weather-beaten as they are.
III. They shall stand in need of refreshment, being ready to perish for want of it, in their flight from the invading army: “O you inhabitants of the land of Tema!” (who probably were next neighbours to the companies of Dedanim) “bring you water” (so the margin reads it) “to him that is thirsty, and prevent with your bread those that flee, for they are objects of your compassion; they do not wander for wandering sake, nor are they reduced to straits by any extravagance of their own, but they flee from the sword.” Tema was a country where water was sometimes a scarce commodity (as we find, Job vi. 19), and we may conclude it would be in a particular manner acceptable to these poor distressed refugees. Let us learn hence. 1. To look for distress ourselves. We know not what straits we may be brought into before we die. Those that live in cities may be forced to lodge in forests; and those may know the want of necessary food who now eat bread to the full. Our mountain stands not so strong but that it may be moved, rises not so high but that it may be scaled. These Arabians would the better bear these calamities because in their way of living they had used themselves to hardships. 2. To look with compassion upon those that are in distress, and with all cheerfulness to relieve them, not knowing how soon their case may be ours: “Bring water to those that are thirsty, and not only give bread to those that need and ask it, but prevent those with it that have need; give it to them unasked.” Those that do so shall find it remembered to their praise, as (according to our reading) it is here remembered to the praise of the land of Tema that they did bring water to the thirsty and relieved even those that were on the falling side.
IV. All that which is the glory of Kedar shall vanish away and fail. Did they glory in their numerous herds and flocks? They shall all be driven away by the enemy. It seems they were famous about other nations for the use of the bow in battle; but their archers, instead of foiling the enemy, shall fall themselves; and the residue of their number, when they are reduced to a small number, shall be diminished (v. 17); their mighty able-bodied men, and men of spirit too, shall become very few; for they, being most forward in the defence of their country, were most exposed, and fell first, either by the enemies’ sword or into the enemies’ hand. Note, Neither the skill of archers (though they be ever so good marksmen) nor the courage of mighty men can protect a people from the judgments of God, when they come with commission; they rather expose the undertakers. That is poor glory which will thus quickly come to nothing.
V. All this shall be done in a little time: “Within one year according to the years of a hireling (within one year precisely reckoned) this judgment shall come upon Kedar.” If this fixing of the time be of no great use to us now (because we find not either when the prophecy was delivered or when it was accomplished), yet it might be of great use to the Arabians then, to awaken them to repentance, that, like the men of Nineveh, they might prevent the judgment when they were thus told it was just at the door. Or, when it begins to be fulfilled, the business shall be done, be begun and ended in one year’s time. God, when he please, can do a great work in a little time.
VI. It is all ratified by the truth of God (v. 16); “Thus hath the Lord said to me; you may take my word for it that it is his word;” and we may be sure no word of his shall fall to the ground. And again (v. 17): The Lord God of Israel hath spoken it, as the God of Israel, in pursuance of his gracious designs concerning them; and we may be sure the strength of Israel will not lie.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verse 13-17: CONCERNING. ARABIA
1. The wandering tribes of Arabia will be greatly affected by the constant warfare between Egypt and Assyria; their trading caravans must hide in the thickets of the desert, (Verse 13).
2. The inhabitants of Tema (capital of the Ishmaelitish district north of Dedan) are to relieve the severity of their hardship by providing bread and water for them, (Verse 14-15).
3. But, within one year, the glory of Kedar (the tribes of North Arabia) will have faded – few of their heroic warriors left, (Verse 16-17a).
4. When this comes to pass Judah may surely know that God has again spoken by the prophet (Verse 17b); his call for Judah to cast her burden fully upon Jehovah must not fall on deaf ears.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13. The burden upon Arabia. He now passes on to the Arabians, and foretells that they too, in their own turn, will be dragged to the judgment-seat of God; so that he does not leave unnoticed any of the nations which were known to the Jews. He declares that they will be seized with such fear that they will leave their houses and flee into the woods; and he states the direction in which they will flee, that is, to “Dedanim.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) The burden upon Arabia.Better, of the evening land. Here, again, the prophet alters the form of the word (Arab into Ereb) so as to convey a mystic meaning. The land of which he is about to speak is a land of shadow and of gloom. Evening is falling on it. It is a question whether the second Arabia is to retain its geographical form or to be translated evening, as before. In any case, of course, Arabia is the country spoken of. The Dedanites appear in Jer. 49:8; Eze. 25:13, and seem from Eze. 27:15 to have been dwelling in the neighbourhood of the Edomites (Jer. 49:8) as a commercial people trading with Tyre in ebony and ivory. The point of the oracle against them is that they shall be compelled by the presence of the Assyrian armies to leave the main lines of their traffic, probably, as before, on their way westward to Tyre, and to take bye-paths, pitching their tents not near towns and villages, but in the low brushwood of the wilderness.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13-15. Burden upon Arabia On critical grounds, both Ewald and Delitzsch make it doubtful that Arabia, as a whole, is meant, but rather think that the oracle relates to the sandy desert, the Arabah, the region over which the ancient caravan trade was carried. Their opinion is not simply plausible, it is reasonable. It is still Arabia, though a specific part. The caravans are called Dedanim, a mixture of Cushites and Ishmaelites. Their roads or camel routes to and from Tyre, and probably Gaza, are invaded by a foreign force, possibly the Assyrian, in its foraging parties, as the army passes toward Egypt or toward Tyre; and the caravans are dispersed from their accustomed track of travel far out into inhospitable deserts.
Forest Forests, properly so-called, do not exist in Arabia. In wide and moist wadies thickets grow, and in these the caravans could conceal themselves when pursued.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Burden Upon Arabia ( Isa 21:13-17 ).
Arabia is not offered such hope. She is rightly apprehensive, and her troops, which had been involved in the alliance, have returned as fugitives. And she has no future. Within one year disaster will come on them. So much for the alliance in which their hopes had been placed.
Analysis.
The burden upon Arabia. You will lodge in the forest in Arabia, O you travelling companions of Dedanites (Isa 21:13).
To him who was thirsty, they brought water. The inhabitants of the land of Temah met the fugitives with their bread (Isa 21:14).
For they fled from the sword, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war (Isa 21:15).
For thus has the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired servant, and all the glory of Kedar will fail. And the residue of the numbers of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few.” For the mouth of Yahweh, the God of Israel has spoken it (Isa 21:16-17).
In ‘a’ he addresses those who were usually caravanners, travelling the trade routes, and warns them that because of what has happened they will have to take refuge in the forest of Arabia, and in the parallel points out that it will be hopeless, for within a year their glory will fail and their numbers will be few, because Yahweh has declared it In ‘b’ the people of Temah bring the fugitives water and bread, and in the parallel it is because they are fugitives from the sword, and from grievous war.
Isa 21:13-15
‘The burden upon Arabia. You will lodge in the forest in Arabia, O you travelling companions of Dedanites. To him who was thirsty, they brought water. The inhabitants of the land of Temah met the fugitives with their bread. For they fled from the sword, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.’
Arabia (or ‘the Arabs’) had been involved in the fighting, and now they fled for their lives. Those who were normally travelling companions (‘caravans’) of Dedanites, fearlessly making their way along the main highways, now hid, ate and slept in the denseness of the thickets in the remote desert scrubland. They dare not come near the regular oases. Sympathisers brought them water, those from the land of Temah brought them bread, for they were without provisions and in hiding and totally dependent on the generosity of others. It was so different from the proud dream that had earlier been theirs. Their fate was a warning to all. You cannot trust in alliances with Babylon or with the world.
The Dedanites were a north Arabian tribe from near Edom (see Jer 49:8; Eze 25:13). Temah was an oasis city in the desert on the main trade route through Arabia.
They were there because they had fled from the drawn sword, the sword drawn ready for battle, and from the bent bow with its arrow fixed ready for the kill, pursued by enemies who were determined on slaughter. But above all they had fled from the grievousness of war. Note the threefold pattern once again, the drawn sword, the bent bow and the grievousness of war indicating the complete nature of their predicament.
Isa 21:16-17
‘For thus has the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired servant, and all the glory of Kedar will fail. And the residue of the numbers of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few. For the mouth of Yahweh, the God of Israel has spoken it.’
But punishment would follow exactly within a year and would fall especially on Kedar, a powerful north Arabian tribe (Isa 42:11; Isa 60:7). It would lose its main resources. Its archers and its fighting men would be decimated until they were few in number. The alliance had failed them. And all this would be at the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
We know that Kedar were paying tribute to Assyria in 738 BC and that in 715 BC Sargon II was campaigning against the tribes near Temah and that in around 703 BC Arabs supported the rebellion of Merodach Baladan and were finally subdued by Sennacherib. Thus they were continually involved with Assyria and in alliances against them, to their cost. Now their reward will come on their own heads.
‘Within a year, according to the years of a hired servant.’ Compare Isa 16:14. Within exactly a year, calculated in accordance with the method used for determining the services of hired servants, it would happen (possibly a 365 day year rather than a twelve moon period year). Their refuge would not save them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 21:13. The burden upon Arabia While God revealed to his prophet the fate of foreign nations, among others he declared that of those Arabians who inhabited the western part of Arabia Deserta or Petraea; that they should be oppressed and driven into flight by the Assyrians, a calamity which should fall upon them within a year. These Arabians bordered upon the Idumaeans. This prophesy, besides the inscription, contains first, an exordial denunciation of the divine judgment; Isa 21:13. Secondly, A figurative declaration thereof, Isa 21:14-15. Thirdly, a confirmation, with a discovery of the time when this judgment should be executed, and of the greatness thereof, to be collected from its consequences. The Arabians here mentioned were the Nabathaean Arabians, so called from Nebaioth, who is said to have been the first-born of Ishmael, Gen 25:13. They are called the children of Kedar, who was the brother of Nebaioth; and also inhabitants of the land of Tema, who was another brother of Nebaioth; and also Dedanim; that is to say, the sons or descendants of Dedan, who was the son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah. See Jer 49:28. The time of the delivery, and that of the completion of this prophesy, it is evident, were closely connected; and Vitringa thinks that it was the same year with that mentioned, chap. Isa 20:1 when Salmanezer, after having possessed himself of the fortified cities of Palestine, and driven away the Egyptians and Ethiopians, or Cushites, the next year invaded the Nabathaean Arabs, who were of their party, that he might prepare his way for the invasion of Egypt. The meaning of the exordial proposition in this verse is, “O ye Dedanites, who used to follow your business securely in the desarts of Arabia Petraea, you will be compelled, through fear of the enemies’ sword, to retire into the inner parts, the forests of Arabia, having left your tents and the furniture behind, and to pass your nights in inhospitable places. See Jer 8:22. Diodorus Siculus says of the Arabians, that when they are attacked by any powerful enemy, they fly into the desart, , as into a place of defence.” The of Diodorus seems to be the same with the iangar of our prophet; that is to say, the interior recesses of the desart.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
C.AGAINST ARABIA
Isa 21:13-17
13The burden upon arabia.
In the forest10 in Arabia shall ye lodge,
O ye11 travelling companies of Dedanim.
14The inhabitants of the land of Tema
12 Brought water to him that was thirsty,
They prevented with their bread him that fled.
15For they fled13 from the swords,
From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow,
And from the grievousness of war.
16For thus hath the Lord said unto me,
Within a year, according to the years of an hireling,
And all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
17And the residue of the number of14 archers,
The mighty men of the children of Kedar,
Shall be diminished:
For the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa 21:13. is ambiguous. Arabia is called ; the pausal form is , which, except in pause, occurs only 2Ch 9:14. The second is clearly the source of the first. In the same way the desert of the sea, Isa 21:1, and the valley of vision, Isa 22:2 (comp. Isa 21:5) have arisen. How else could we explain the prefix which in no other case stands after ? It is doubtful how the second was originally vocalized. The significations in Arabia and in the evening, are both suitable. The old versions give the latter. But the evening is never denoted by . Still it could be. The form would then come from , to be dark, after the analogy of (once for Psa 18:26) etc.. The Prophet can have designedly employed the uncommon form instead of the usual , in order to give the double sense of Arabia and evening, and perhaps to intimate that Arabia should be a land not of the rising, but of the setting sun.
Isa 21:14. can be either perfect or imperative. But it must be taken here as perfect, as the next verb is certainly perfect.
Isa 21:16. Mark the triple alliteration in this verse. First, we have three words beginning with , then three beginning with , then three (or four) whose first letter is a k sound.
Isa 21:17. Mark the accumulation of substantives dependent on a noun in the construct state. No less than five words in the construct state occur together.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Even the free pastoral and martial tribes of the Arabian desert must succumb to a power that crushes all before it. The Prophet vividly describes the fate of those tribes in his own peculiar way by setting before our eyes one effect of the pressure of the great worldly power. The caravans proceeding to the various chief emporiums of trade in ancient times, such as Tyre, Sidon, Babylon, were wont to cross the desert without molestation from mighty foes. But now a force assails them, against which they are unable to defend themselves, as they could against the attacks of the separate plundering tribes of Bedouins (comp. Movers,Phn. II., p. 409). They are forced to give way, and are scattered. The fugitives seek shelter where they can find it. They are fortunate if, far from the regular route, in one of the oses, or on a mountain slope, they can reach a wood which will conceal them from the eyes of their pursuers, and in which they can find pasture and shade for their cattle. Out of this wood they dare not venture. In order, therefore, that they may obtain subsistence, the inhabitants of the neighboring places must bring them bread and water (Isa 21:13-14). From this single circumstance it is easy to infer that the glory of the Arabians who bordered on Syria and Babylon, as whose representatives the Kedarenes are mentioned, is hastening to an end. Within the space of a year, says the Prophet, their power will be reduced to a minimum (Isa 21:16-17).
2. In the forestof war.
Isa 21:13-15. I do not think that we should, as Wetzstein supposes, take in the sense of the Arabic war, i.e. a place covered with fragments of volcanic rock. For the Hebrew word never means anything else than forest. We are simply informed here that the caravans driven from their course sought shelter in some wood; and woods there actually are there, partly in the oses, partly on the slopes of the western mountains. The forest conceals the fugitives, and at the same time furnishes shelter and pasture for the cattle. If they lodge (pass the night) in such a forest, it is a matter of course that evening has arrived. But the remark that the forest was situated in Arabia would likewise be superfluous. For if the occurrence happened in the neighborhood of Tema, that sufficiently indicates that the locality is in Arabia. But the expression , as having the double meaning in Arabia and in the evening, is not superfluous. Dedan is according to Gen 10:7 (1Ch 1:9) a descendant of Cush; according to Gen 25:3 (1Ch 1:32) a grandson of Keturah also bears this name. In Jer 25:23 Dedan is named along with Tema. In Jer 49:8 they appear as belonging to Edom. And so in Eze 25:13. They are marked as a commercial people in Eze 27:15; Eze 27:20; Eze 38:13. Wetzstein (in his excursus in Delitzschs Commentary) finds their abode on the Red Sea, east of the Nile, including the desert to the brook of Egypt or the borders of Edom. He calls them Cushite tribes. However this may be, they are clearly enough denoted in the Old Testament as merchants, a people carrying on the caravan trade, especially with Tyre. If such a caravan has found in a forest shelter and pasture for the cattle, only bread and water for the men would be needed. At the dictate of hospitality the inhabitants of Tema bring these requisites to the fugitives in the forest. Wetzstein (as above) describes the situation of Tema (Jer 25:23; Job 6:19) after careful personal investigations. It lies, according to him, two days journey by dromedary from Dumah north-east of Tebk, a station on the route for pilgrims from Damascus to Mecca. Dumah is marked by him as lying in the osis el–Gof, four days journey by dromedary to the southwest of Babylon. He maintains against Ritter that there are not two places called Tema. Isa 21:15 explains why the Dedanians must flee. War in every form, and with all its terrors, has assailed them.
3. For thus hathspoken it.
Isa 21:16-17. What could be learned inferentially (Isa 21:13-15) from a single fact is now stated directly in general terms. Kedars might and glory must be destroyed. Kedar is, first of all, according to Gen 25:13, a son of Ishmael. But the name stands here, as very frequently in the later rabbinical usage, for the Arabs, i.e., for the inhabitants of Western Arabia, who alone were known to the Jews. In one year, exactly computed (comp. on Isa 16:14), the glory of Kedar shall have an end. As Isaiah beyond a doubt uttered this prediction, its fulfilment must have taken place while the might of Assyria flourished. We know generally that the Assyrians subdued the Arabians, for Sennacherib is called by Herodotus (II., 141) King both of the Arabians and Assyrians, and that while mention is made of his expedition against Egypt. This is not without significance. For when Herodotus states that Sennacherib as King of the Arabians and Assyrians attacked Egypt, he thereby gives us to understand that he marched against Egypt with an army composed of Arabians and Assyrians. And this fact tallies well with our remark on Isa 21:11-12, that the Assyrian in invading Egypt must have cared for the covering of his left flank and line of retreat. This object could be secured only by placing himself free from danger from the inhabitants of Arabia Petraea and Deserta. Our prophecy was therefore delivered before Sennacheribs invasion of Egypt, which according to the Assyrian monuments, must have occurred in the year 700 B. C. (comp. Schrader,The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, p. 196). In accordance with what we have before observed touching the way in which prophecy advances to its complete fulfilment, it is not at all needful that the predicted catastrophe should have come upon the Arabians as a single stroke, which was not afterwards repeated. It would be sufficient to justify our regarding the prophecy as fulfilled, if in the specified time an event occurred, which was a proper beginning of the fulfilment of the prophecy, and therefore guaranteed its complete realization. We must confess that we cannot furnish direct evidence of such a particular event having taken place. The Kedarenes are here characterized as a warlike nation distinguished for the use of the bow. In this latter respect they walk in the footsteps of their ancestor, who is celebrated as an archer (Gen 21:20).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 21:2 God punishes one villain by means of another, and a man is punished by the very sin which he himself commits (Wis 11:17). Thus God punished the Babylonians by the Persians, the Persians by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Romans, the Romans by the Goths, Longobardi, and Saracens.Cramer. [The Persians shall pay the Babylonians in their own coin; they that by fraud and violence, cheating and plundering, unrighteous wars and deceitful treaties, have made a prey of their neighbors, shall meet with their match, and by the same methods shall themselves be made a prey of. Henry. D. M.].
2. On Isa 21:3. The Prophets do not rejoice at the loss suffered by their enemies; but have sympathy for them as for men made in the image of God. We ought not to cast off every humane feeling towards our foes (Mat 5:34).Cramer.
3. On Isa 21:5. Invadunt urbem vino somnoque sepultam. Virgil. We see here how people commonly feel the more secure, the more they indulge their fleshly lusts, although they are drawing nearer their punishment. So was it with the antediluvian world, so is it now also in these last times when the coming of Christ is expected, as He says, Mat 24:38.Renner. The Prophet Isaiah expounded, etc.Stuttgart, 1865, p. 73.
4. On Isa 21:6 sqq. It is a grand, infallible evidence of the prophetic Scriptures, and of their divine inspiration, that they do not speak in general uncertain terms, but describe future things so accurately, and exactly, as if we saw them before our eyes. This serves to establish the authority of the Holy Scriptures.Cramer.
5. On Isa 21:10. Only what the Lord said to him, and all that the Lord said to him, the Prophet declares. Therefore he is sure and certain, even when he has incredible things to announce. Therefore is he firm and courageous, though what he has to proclaim does not please the world. He conceals and keeps back nothing; neither does he add anything. He is a faithful declarer of the mind of God, and does not spare even himself. The proof, fulfilment and accomplishment he leaves to Him who spake through him.
6. On Isa 21:11. He who sets the watch without God, watches in vain (Psa 127:1). And when God Himself is approaching, then no care of the watchmen is of any use, whether it be day or night. For when the day of the Lord begins to burn, even the stars of heaven and his Orion, do not shine brightly. For God covers the heavens, and makes the stars thereof dark, and covers the sun with a cloud (Eze 32:7). For when God the Creator of all things frowns on us, then all creatures also frown on us, and are terrible and offensive to us.Cramer. From this place Christian Friedr. Richter, has composed his fine morning hymn:
Hter, wird die Nacht der Snden
Nicht verschwinden?
[Comp. in English Bowrings well-known hymn:
Watchman, tell us of the night,
What its signs of promise are.D. M.]
7. On Isa 21:14. We ought not to forget to be hospitable towards the needy (Heb 13:1).Cramer.
8. On Isa 21:16. I regard as a true Prophet him who does not declare a matter upon mere imagination and conjecture, but measures the time so exactly that he fixes precisely when a thing shall happen.Cramer.
9. On Isa 22:2 sqq. To see the enemy at the gates, and at the same time to regard him merely with curiosity, and to indulge in mirth and jollity, as if all were well, and this too at a time when Gods servants warn men with tears, as Isaiah did Jerusalem (Isa 22:4), this is blind presumption which God will punish. But when the calamity has burst upon them, and all expedients by which they try to avert it are of no avail, for men to despise then the only one who can help them, and to spend the brief remaining time in sensual pleasure, this is open-eyed defiance, and will lead to judicial blindness, and that sin which will not be forgiven (Mat 12:32).
10. On Isa 22:13. This is the language of swine of the herd of Epicurus, comp. Isa 56:12; Wis 2:6 sqq.; 1Co 15:32.
11. On Isa 22:14. It is true, as Augustine says, that no one should despair of the remission of his sin, seeing that even they who put Christ to death obtained forgiveness, and the blood of Jesus Christ was so shed for the forgiveness of all sins that it could wash away the sins of those by whom it was shedbut that obstinacy, which refuses to see the needed help, excludes itself from grace and forgiveness.
12. On Isa 22:15 sqq. The mission which Isaiah here receives, reminds us strongly of that which Jeremiah had to discharge towards Jehoiakim (Jer 22:1 sqq., esp. Isa 22:19), and also of what he was obliged to say to Pashur (Isa 20:6). A Prophet of the Lord must show no respect of persons. Isaiah indeed seems to have produced the desired effect; for we find 36 and 37. Shebna as Scribe and Eliakim as steward of the house. But Jeremiah received as recompense for the fulfilment of his mission bitter hatred and cruel persecution.
13. On Isa 22:17. The Vulgate translates here: Ecce Dominus asportari te faciet, sicut asportatur gallus gallinaceus. And Jerome in his exposition says: Hebraeus, qui nos in lectione veteris Testamenti erudivit, gallum gallinaceum transtulit. Sicut inquit gallus gallinaceus humero portatoris de allo loco transfertur ad alium, sic te Dominus de loco tuo leviter asportabit. The cock which is never mentioned in the Old Testament, and for which we have no genuine Hebrew word, is in fact called by the Talmudists. Conscience, wanting the word of God, is as a ball rolling on the ground, and cannot rest.Luther.
14. On Isa 22:19. Service at court is not in itself to be condemned, and a good ruler and a worthy prime minister are the gift of God (Sir 4:8; Sir 4:11; Ch. 10). Let him therefore who is called to such an office abide, as the Lord has called him (1Co 7:17), and beware of excessive pomp. For God can quickly depose the proud.Cramer.
15. On Isa 22:21 sqq. The comparison of a magistrate in high position with a father is very appropriate. The whole extent, and the proper measure of a rulers power are involved in this similitude. The authority of a father and that of a ruler have a common root in love. Eliakim in having the keys of the house of David laid on his shoulder that he might open and no one shut, and shut and no one open is (Rev 3:7) viewed as a type of Christ, who is the administrator appointed by God over the house of David in the highest sense, i. e., over the kingdom of God. Christ has this power of the keys in unrestricted measure. The ministers of the Lord exercise the same only in virtue of the commission which they have from Him; and their exercise of it is only then sanctioned by the Lord, when it is in the Spirit which the Lord breathed into the disciples before He committed to them the power of the keys (Joh 20:22 sq.). [The application of the same terms to Peter (Mat 16:19) and to Christ Himself (Rev 3:7) does not prove that they here refer to either, or that Eliakim was a type of Christ, but merely that the same words admit of different applications. Alexander. It is God that clothes rulers with their robes, and, therefore, we must submit ourselves to them for the Lords sake and with an eye to Him (1Pe 2:13). And since it is He that commits the government into their hand,they must administer it according to His will, for His glory. And they may depend on Him to furnish them for what He calls them to; according to the promise here. I will clothe him: and then there follows, I will strengthen him. After HenryD. M.]
16. On Isa 22:25. No one is so exalted or raised to such high dignity as to abide therein. But mans prosperity, office and honor, and whatever else is esteemed great in the world are, like human life, on account of sin inconstant, vain and liable to pass away. This serves as an admonition against pride and security. Cramer.
HOMILETICAL HINTS ON 2122
1. On Isa 21:1-4. Gods judgments are terrible, 1) for him on whom they fall; 2) for him who has to announce them.
2. On Isa 21:6-10. The faithful watchman. 1) He stands upon his watch day and night. 2) He announces only what he has seen and what he has heard from the Lord (Isa 22:9-10). 3) But he announces this as a lion, i. e. aloud and without fear.
3. On Isa 22:11-12. The spiritual night on earth. 1) It is a. a night of tribulation, b. a night of sin. 2) It awakens a longing for its end. 3) It does not entirely cease till the Lord vouchsafes to us a happy end, and graciously takes us from this valley of weeping to Himself in heaven.
4. On Isa 21:14 sq. We may fitly employ this text for a charity sermon on any occasion when an appeal is made to the benevolence of the congregation (especially for exiles, as those banished from the Salzburg territory for their Evangelical faith). What we ought to consider when our contributions are asked. 1) Our own situation (we dwell in the land of Tema, a quite fertile oasis). 2) The situation of those who come to us in their distress. 3) What we have to give them.
5. On Isa 22:1-7. Warning against thoughtlessness. Pride precedes a fall. Blind presumption is often changed into its opposite.
6. On Isa 22:8-14. Blind presumption is bad, but open-eyed obstinacy is still worse. The latter is when one clearly perceives the existing distress, and the insufficiency of our own powers and of the means at our command, and yet refuses to look to Him who alone can help, or to consider the fate which awaits those who die without God, and seeks before the impending catastrophe happens to snatch as much as possible of the enjoyments of this world.
7. On Isa 22:15-19. He who will fly high is in danger of falling low. God can easily cast him down. The waxen wings of lcarus. Shebna illustrates, 1Pe 5:5.
8. On Isa 22:20-25. A mirror for those in office. Every one who has an office, ought 1) to be conscious that he has come into the office legally, and according to the will of God; 2) He ought to be a father to those over whom he is set; 3) He ought so to do everything which he does in his office, that its justice is apparent, and that no one can impugn it. 4) He ought not to be like a nail on which all the relations of his family strive to fasten their hope of success; for that is bad for himself and for those who would so abuse his influence.
Footnotes:
[10]in the evening.
[11]caravans.
[12]Or, Bring ye.
[13]Heb. from the face of.
[14]Heb. bows.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
The Arabians and Dedanims are here brought in for a portion of the calamities now hanging over the countries to be made desolate. It is probable, that the latter were the descendants of Dedan, a son of Abraham, whom Keturah bare him, Gen 25:3 . And as to Kedar, so often spoken of in the word of God, we are not at a loss to trace the origin to Ishmael. The church in her song, speaks of her corruptions by nature, under the figure of the blackness of Kedar while rejoicing in her comeliness, from the comeliness put upon her, by her Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ; Son 1:5 . All these burdens carry with them the same divine signature, that they are not of the prophet’s own mind, but come from the Lord; and are therefore sure and certain.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 21:13 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
Ver. 13. The burden upon Arabia. ] As a burden upon a beast. These Arabians or Hagarens had assisted, likely, Tihakah the Ethiopian against Sennacherib, and are therefore set upon by him. Sure it is they were enemies to the Church. Psa 83:2-12
In the forest shall ye lodge.
O ye travelling companies.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 21:13-15
13The oracle about Arabia.
In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night,
O caravans of Dedanites.
14Bring water for the thirsty,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema,
Meet the fugitive with bread.
15For they have fled from the swords,
From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow
And from the press of battle.
Isa 21:13 A new message (use of the literary transition marker, oracle) is addressed to Arabia. It is unsure who the antagonist is.
1. Assyria (invasion)
2. Kedar (civil war)
It is interesting that Dumah (Isa 21:11) and Seir (Isa 21:11) are also place names in, or close to, Arabia.
the thickets Isaiah uses forestry imagery often. This term (BDB 420) can mean
1. forest
2. thicket
Since Arabia is desert, the second fits best. It would refer to ravines with thick brushy vegetation, where animals hide. Now fugitives, refugees, and caravan traders (i.e., Dedanites were a Bedouin people associated with Sheba) hide there to escape military invasion (cf. Isa 21:15). They could not use the usual roads or resting places.
Isa 21:14 The Arabians are commanded (BDB 87, KB 102, Hiphil IMPERATIVE) to bring water and food for them.
Tema This was a major northern city, home to the worship of the moon goddess. See Special Topic: MOON WORSHIP .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
burden. The seventh and last of the seven burdens
upon Arabia: ba’rab = in Arabia.
in Arabia: or, in the evening, or, at sunset. The name is as significant as “Dumah” (Isa 21:11).
travelling companies = caravans.
Dedanim = Dedanites, Descendants of Abraham by Keturah: Dedan, son of Midian (Gen 25:3. 1Ch 1:32).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 21:13-17
Isa 21:13-17
THE BURDEN OF ARABIA (Isa 21:13-17)
“The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye judge, O ye caravans of Dedanites. Unto him that was thirsty they brought water; the inhabitants of the land of Tema did meet the fugitives with their bread. For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail; and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be few, the God of Israel hath spoken it.”
This is the prophecy of the distress that shall come to the neighboring peoples of Judah when the long-expected assault from Assyria will finally occur in circa 702 B.C. As any marauding army would have done, the invading force here is foreseen as overrunning and destroying such neighbors of Judah as the Edomites and the Arabians. As Lowth said, “The distress of those peoples noted here is the subject of this prophecy.”
“Kedar …” This word is the name of one of the twelve sons of Ishmael (Gen 25:13); but the name was also used as a collective term to describe the desert-dwellers, the Bedouin generally.
Along with Lowth, we identify the fulfillment of this prophecy with the last year prior to Sennacherib’s attempt to sack Jerusalem; and this means that the prophecy was uttered only a year before that. See the line, “As the year of a hireling.” This was a common way of saying “exactly one year.” The hireling would see to it that it was no more than a year; and the master who hired him would see to it that it was no less! If this prophecy was given about 715 B.C., as Payne thought, then the destruction and warfare foreseen took place about a year later in one of the many incursions of Assyria into this part of the Mid-East. In that case, “Sargon’s recorded invasion in 715” would have been the occasion of fulfillment.
The destruction of the majority of the military men of Kedar is merely an example of what happened to all of the countries destroyed by the ruthless Assyrians, “the Breakers,” as they were called throughout the world.
What about the Dedanites mentioned at the head of this paragraph? Norman noted that there is some obscurity about the people called by this name. One such place is the modern Alula, seventy miles south of Taima. “It was once a flourishing caravan city, as now known from cuneiform inscriptions.”
Isa 21:13-17 DESTRUCTION: The Arabians were descendants of Ishmael, half brother of Isaac. Esau married Ishmaels daughter so the Edomites and Arabians were related. Kedar was one of the 12 sons of Ishmael. Arabia was therefore closely related to the Jews. Ishmael began mocking the Jews when he was 16 (Gen 21:9). Their hatred for the Jews was, like Edoms, born of envy, and nurtured over many centuries. Jeremiah tells us something of their desert, nomadic existence (Jer 49:28-33). Their territory was (Kedar) in the northern part of the Arabian desert. The prophet Isaiah describes their coming judgment. Their land will be so thoroughly overrun and occupied by enemy troops that caravans will be unable to travel in safety. They will have to hide in the forests. They will be fugitives in their own country. They will be fed and given water secretly. They will be outlaws in their own land. They will be out numbered and out-gunned. Those mighty archers and horsemen of Arabia, those fierce fighting nomads of the steppes will have to flee from the superior forces of an enemy occupying their lands. Their number will be reduced to few. It is not difficult to see the fulfillment of this. There has long been a darkness over this land with the false religion of Islam. They have been a weak, nomadic, disunited people warring against one another for centuries. This has been due to their irreverence for the deity and exclusiveness of Gods True Prophet, Jesus Christ. Morning can never come to these two brothers of Israel until they turn to Gods Messiah. The Edomites had the audacity to put forth Herod, the Idumean as king of the Jews. The Herod family, in its insolence toward Jehovah, contributed to the crucifixion of Christ. The Arabians had the audacity to declare that Mohammed was a Prophet equal to Jesus. Whoever does not kiss the son will die (Psa 2:11). The insolence and irreverence of these two peoples is the cause of their judgment. Haughtiness toward Gods covenant people is haughtiness toward God Himself, Gods faithful servants are the apple of His eye. Love God, love His children. Those today who haughtily despise the church of Christ will reap Gods judgment.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
burden
(See Scofield “Isa 13:1”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Arabia: 1Ki 10:15, Jer 25:23, Jer 25:24, Jer 49:28-33, Gal 4:25
O ye: Isa 13:20, Gen 25:3, 1Ch 1:9, 1Ch 1:32, Eze 27:15, Eze 27:20, Eze 27:21
Reciprocal: Gen 10:7 – Dedan Isa 13:1 – burden Jer 49:8 – Dedan Act 2:11 – Arabians
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 21:13. The burden of Arabia While God revealed to his prophet the fate of foreign nations, among others he declares that of those Arabians who inhabited the western part of Arabia Deserta, or Petrea, and bordered upon the Idumeans last mentioned. They are here termed the companies of Dedanim, being the descendants of Dedan, the son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah; and travelling companies, because a great number of them used to travel together the same way, as now companies travelling together in those parts are called caravans. In saying, In the forest shall ye lodge, the prophet foretels that they should be driven into flight by the Assyrians, or that that populous country should be turned into a desolate wilderness.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 21:13-17. Oracle on the Dedanites.Date and authorship are unknown. If by Isaiah it may refer to an expected invasion in 720 or 711. Probably Isa 21:16 f, is an appendix, the original oracle, Isa 21:13-15. being from the same hand as Isa 21:1-10 and Isa 21:11 f. The title should probably be rendered oracle in the wilderness. If RV is correct, Arabia is not used in its modern significance, but as the home of an Arabian tribe.
The prophet addresses the Dedanites, an Arabian tribe engaged in the caravan trade. Their caravans, fleeing from the sword, have to leave the ordinary routes and take refuge in the bush of the desert. They cannot get fresh supplies of food and water, so the people of Tema, a tribe about 250 miles S.E. of Edom, are bidden (mg.) show them hospitality. The appendix (cf. Isa 16:13 f.) says that in a year exactly measured Kedar will be decimated. Kedar (Psa 12:05*) was a pastoral tribe of nomads, but seems to be used here for the North Arabian tribes generally.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
21:13 The burden upon Arabia. In {r} the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
(r) For fear, the Arabians will flee into the woods and he appoints the way they will take.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The oracle against Arabia 21:13-17
The preceding oracle promised prolonged recurring trouble for Edom, but this one warns that the Arabians would suffer defeat soon.
"Evening darkness is settling upon Arabia, and the morning-land is becoming an evening-land." [Note: Delitzsch, 1:386.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
"Arabia" describes the territory southeast of Edom, which was also in danger of Assyrian takeover. The Dedanite Arabian caravans would have to hide among the bushes because they were in danger from an enemy.