Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 21:11
The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
11. The burden of Dumah ] The best known place of this name is the Dmat el-Jendel (“rocky Dumah”) of the Arabian geographers (mentioned in Gen 25:14). It lay to the north of Tema ( Isa 21:14) and south-east of Seir. Jerome is the sole authority for the statement that there was a Dumah in the land of Seir. The word here, however, is probably a play on the name Edom (which is found in the LXX., and in the margin of some Hebr. MSS.), and at the same time an allusion to the mysterious character of the oracle (=“oracle of silence”).
He calleth ] Render as R.V. One calleth.
Watchman, what of the night? ] “How far is the night spent: how long till the morning?” It has been suggested that the phrase may have been used in inquiring the time of night of the city watchmen. The word “watchman” here means “guardian” and differs from that employed in Isa 21:6 (one who is on the look out).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The oracle on Edom. Isa 21:11-12
The prophet hears (whether in reality or in imagination it is impossible to say) an urgent cry from Seir, inquiring whether the night of distress is nearly over ( Isa 21:11). His reply ( Isa 21:12) is equivocal and confessedly incomplete; at a later time he may be able to read the signs of the times with a surer vision. The passage is too short and vague to permit any confident conclusion as to its date; but it contains nothing inconsistent with the supposition that it belongs generally to the same period as Isa 21:1-10. Towards the end of the Exile the Edomites seem to have been on friendly terms with the Babylonians, from whom they had received a considerable extension of territory (Eze 35:10 ff; Eze 36:5 ff.). But the supremacy of Babylon is now threatened by the victorious Cyrus, and Edom is naturally represented as anxious to learn how the unknown issue of the conflict will affect her national and commercial interests.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Analysis of Isa 21:11, Isa 21:12. – VISION 17. Dumah, or Idumea.
This prophecy is very obscure. It comprises but two verses. When it was delivered, or on what occasion, or what was its design, it is not easy to determine. Its brevity has contributed much to its obscurity; nor, amidst the variety of interpretations which have been proposed, is it possible to ascertain with entire certainty the true explanation. Perhaps no portion of the Scriptures, of equal length, has been subjected to a greater variety of exposition. It is not the design of these Notes to go at length into a detail of opinions which have been proposed, but to state as accurately as possible the sense of the prophet. Those who wish to see at length the opinions which have been entertained on this prophecy, will find them detailed in Vitringa and others.
The prophecy relates evidently to Idumea. It stands in connection with that immediately preceding respecting Babylon, and it is probable that it was delivered at that time. It has the appearance of being a reply by the prophet to language of insult or taunting from the Idumeans, and to have been spoken when calamities were coming rapidly on the Jews. But it is not certain that that was the time or the occasion. It is certain only that it is a prediction of calamity succeeding to prosperity – perhaps prosperity coming to the afflicted Hebrews in Babylon, and of calamity to the taunting Idumeans, who had exulted over their downfall and captivity, and who are represented as sneeringly inquiring of the prophet what was the prospect in regard to the Jews. This is substantially the view given by Vitringa, Rosenmuller, and Gesenius.
According to this interpretation, the scene is laid in the time of the Babylonlsh captivity. The prophet is represented as having been placed on a watch-tower long and anxiously looking for the issue. It is night; that is, it is a time of calamity, darkness, and distress. In this state of darkness and obscurity, someone is represented as calling to the prophet from Idumea, and tauntingly inquiring, what of the night, or what the prospect was. He asks, whether there was any prospect of deliverance; or whether these calamities were to continue, and perhaps whether Idumea was also to be involved in them with the suffering Jews. To this the prophet answers, that the morning began to dawn – that there was a prospect of deliverance. But he adds that calamity was also coming; calamity probably to the nation that made the inquiry – to the land of Idumea – perhaps calamity that should follow the deliverance of the Hebrew captives, who would thus be enabled to inflict vengeance on Edom, and to overwhelm it in punishment. The morning dawns, says the watchman; but there is darkness still beyond. Light is coming – but there is night also: light for us – darkness for you. This interpretation is strengthened by a remarkable coincidence in an independent source, and which I have not seen noticed, in the 137th Psalm. The irritated and excited feelings of the captive Jews against Edom; their indignation at the course which Edom pursued when Jerusalem was destroyed; and their desire of vengeance, are all there strongly depicted, and accord with this interpretation, which supposes the prophet to say that the glad morning of the deliverance of the Jews would be succeeded by a dark night to the taunting Idumean. The feelings of the captured and exiled Jews were expressed in the following language in Babylon Psa 137:7 :
Remember, O Jehovah, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem;
Who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation.
That is, we desire vengeance on Idumea, who joined with our enemies when Jerusalem was destroyed; and when Jerusalem shall be again rebuilt, we pray that they may be remembered, and that punishment may be inflicted on them for exulting over our calamities. The watchman adds, that if the Idumean was disposed to inquire further, he could. The result could be easily ascertained. It was clear, and the watchman would be disposed to give the information. But he adds, return, come; perhaps meaning, repent; then come and receive an answer; denoting that if the Idumeans wished a favorable answer, they should repent of their treatment of the Jews in their calamities, and that then a condition of safety and prosperity would be promised them.
As there is considerable variety in the ancient versions of this prophecy, and as it is brief, they may be presented to advantage at a single view. The Vulgate does not differ materially from the Hebrew. The following are some of the other versions:
Septuagint: The vision of Idumea. Unto me he called out of Seir, Guard the fortresses – phulassete epalcheis). I guard morning and night. If you inquire, inquire, and dwell with me. In the grove ( drumo) thou shalt lie down, and in the way of Dedan (n Daidan).
Chaldee: The burden of the cup of malediction which is coming upon Duma. – He cries to me from heaven, O prophet, prophesy; O prophet, prophesy to them of what is to come. The prophet said, There is a reward to the just, and revenge to the unjust. If you will be converted, be converted while you can be converted.
Syriac: The burden of Duma. The nightly watchman calls to me out of Seir. And the watchman said, The morning cometh and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire, and then at length come.
Arabic: A prophecy respecting Edom and Seir, the sons of Esau. Call me from Seir. Keep the towers. Guard thyself morning and evening. If you inquire, inquire.
It is evident, from this variety of translation, that the ancient interpreters felt that the prophecy was enigmatical and difficult. It is not easy, in a prophecy so brief, and where there is scarcely any clue to lead us to the historical facts, to give an interpretation that shall be entirely satisfactory and unobjectionable. Perhaps the view given above may be as little liable to objection as any one of the numerous interpretations which have been proposed.
Verse 11
The burden – (see the note at Isa 13:1). This word burden naturally leads to the supposition that calamity in some form was contemplated in the prophecy. This is also indicated in the prophecy by the word night.
Of Dumah – Dumah ( dumah) is mentioned in Gen 25:14, and 1Ch 1:30, as one of the twelve sons of Ishmael. It is known that those sons settled in Arabia, and that the Arabians derive their origin from Ishmael. The name Dumah, therefore, properly denotes one of the wandering tribes of the Ishmaelites. The Septuagint evidently read this as if it had been ‘edom – Edom or Idumea – Idoumaia Jakut mentions two places in Arabia to which the name Dumah is given, Dumah Irak, and Dumah Felsen. The former of these, which Gesenius supposes is the place here intended, lies upon the borders of the Syrian desert, and is situated in a valley seven days journey from Damascus, according to Abulfeda, in lon. 45 degrees E.; and in lat. 29 degrees 30 N; and about three and a half days journey from Medina. Niebuhr mentions Dumah as a station of the Wehabites (see Gesenius, Commentary in loc.) There can be little doubt that the place referred to is situated on the confines of the Arabian and Syrian deserts, and that it is the place called by the Arabians Duma the stony, or Syrian Duma (Robinsons Calmet). It has a fortress, and is a place of strength Jerome says, Duma is not the whole province of Idumea, but is a certain region which lies toward the south, and is twenty miles distant from a city of Palestine called Eleutheropolis, near which are the mountains of Seir. It is evident from the prophecy itself that Idumea is particularly referred to, for the prophet immediately adds, that the voice came to him from mount Seir, which was the principal mountain of Idumea. Why the name Dumah is used to designate that region has been a matter on which critics have been divided.
Vitringa supposes that it is by a play upon the word Dumah, because the word may be derived from damam to be silent, to be still; and that it is used to denote the silence, or the night, which was about to come upon Idumea; that is, the calamity of which this was a prediction. Kocher supposes that the prophet used the word denoting silence ( dumah) by a paranomasia, and by derision for ‘edom, as if Idumea was soon to be reduced to silence, or to destruction. Idumea, or the country of Edom, is frequently referred to by the prophets (see Jer 49:7-10, Jer 49:12-18; Eze 35:1-4, Eze 35:7, Eze 35:9, Eze 35:14-15; Joe 3:19; Amo 1:11; Obad. 1:2-18; Mal 1:3-4). For a description of Idumea, and of the prophecies respecting it, see the notes at Isa. 34.
He calleth – One calleth; there is a voice heard by me from Seir. Lowth renders it, A voice crieth unto me. But the sense is, that the prophet hears one crying, or calling ( qore’) to him from the distant mountain.
Unto me – The prophet Isaiah.
Out of Seir – The name Seir was given to a mountainous tract or region of country that stretched along from the southern part of the Dead Sea, to the eastern branch of the Red Sea, terminating near Ezion-geber. Mount Hor formed a part of this range of mountains. Esau and his descendants possessed the mountains of Seir, and hence, the whole region obtained the name of Edom or Idumea. Mount Seir was anciently the residence of the Horites Gen 14:6, but Esau made war upon them and destroyed them (compare Gen 36:8-9; Deu 2:5, Deu 2:12). Here it is put for the country of Idumea, and the sense is, that the whole land, or the inhabitants of the land, are heard by the prophet in a taunting manner asking him what of the night.
Watchman – (see the note at Isa 21:6). The prophet Isaiah is here referred to (compare Isa 52:8; Isa 56:10). He is represented as being in the midst of the calamities that had come upon Judea, and as having his station in desolate Jerusalem, and looking for the signs of returning day. The eye is turned toward the east – the source from where light comes, and from where the exiles would return to their own land. Thus anxiously waiting for the indications of mercy to his desolate country, he hears this taunting voice from Idumea, asking him what was the prospect? what evidence there was of returning prosperity?
What of the night? – (compare Hab 2:1). How stands the night? What is the prospect? What have you to announce respecting the night? How much of it is passed? And what is the prospect of the dawn? Night here is the emblem of calamity, affliction, oppression, as it often is in the Scriptures (compare Job 35:10; Mic 3:6); and it refers here probably to the calamities which had come upon Judea. The inquiry is, How much of that calamity had passed? What was the prospect? How long was it to continue? How far was it to spread? The inquiry is repeated here to denote intensity or emphasis, manifesting the deep interest which the inquirer had in the result, or designed to give emphasis and point to the cutting taunt.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 21:11-12
The burden of Dumah
The burden of Dumah
Like Moab, Edom had once formed part of Davids dominions, but in the days of disruption and weakness both had rebelled.
What about Edom now? When Moab was so soon to fall–when the Assyrian was spreading devastation all around–what was to be Edoms fate? The prophet hears the appeal addressed to him as Gods watchman and with anxious repetition. The words, Watchman, what of the night? How much of the night has passed? contain the cry of perplexity and a demand for light and guidance. But the answer is an oracle of silence. Not yet is Edom to be told what is Gods will concerning her future. She is assured that there will be alternations of light and darkness for her as for all in the time of their probation. Meanwhile, patience is to have its perfect work; and after a little while she may inquire again. A later prophecy shows the work of Divine judgment on this land. (Buchanan Blake, B. D.)
Dumah
It lay to the south of Palestine, thus bordering on the inheritance of Judah. It was a wild mountainous district, inhabited by a race whose character reflected the rugged nature of their surroundings. They were constantly at war with their neighbours, especially the Jews, and spent a large portion of their time making inroads into southern Palestine for the sake of plunder and conquest. On account of these invasions, and also because they joined the Chaldeans against the Jews, the most sweeping denunciations were pronounced against them. In course of time these denunciations were followed by disasters, in consequence of which the Edomites became a vanquished people, and were finally incorporated with the Jewish nation. Then, when at a later period the whole of that region passed into the hands of the Greeks and Romans, it became known by the Greek name of Idumea–Dumah being the old Hebrew name. Hence the burden of Dumah means the prophecy concerning the fate of Idumea or Edom. (D. Merson, M. A. , B. D.)
The oracle of Dumah
The land of Edom pleads for some vision to her also. Judah is to be rescued. The prophet has seen the Persian host in its varied array–troops of chariots and horsemen crashing through the brazen gates of idolatrous Babylon, extinguishing its feasts in blood, issuing from it with the cry of victory. It is good news for Judah, but what shall it be for Edom? It is as if the voice of Esau cried out once more, Hast Thou but one blessing, O my Father. Bless me, even me also, O my Father. And as the prophet stands in imagination on the peak of the hill, he hears a voice calling to him out of Seir, the stronghold of the Edomites, a sharp, agitated cry, Watchman, how far in the night? Watchman, what hour of the night? Does the darkness still linger, is the morning near? Well might Edom be in terror; the sons of Esau had behaved to Judah in her hour of affliction with malignant hatred which had wounded her to the heart. In Obadiah, in Amos, in Ezekiel, in Jeremiah, you may read traces of their crime. When the Jews fled before the advances of Nebuchadnezzar, the Edomites, true to their miserable destiny, their hand against every man and every mans hand against them, had cruelly massacred and intercepted the helpless fugitives, and had urged Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the Holy City. It is to this that the sad Psalmist of the Exile alludes when he says: Remember, O Lord, against the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem, how they cried, Down with it, down with it, even to the ground. Naturally, therefore, in the approaching hour of Judahs emancipation, the prophet has not much comfort to bestow on these cruel and treacherous sons of the desert. All he can say to the Edomites at first is a riddling message of which not much can be made. But then, after this stern and dubious answer, as though somewhat relenting, the watchman cries, If ye wish to inquire again, inquire ye, and then, very briefly, Return, come. In other words. The oracle for you, sons of Edom, is no vaticination about a mere earthly future. It may be summed up in two words–in the warning, Repent, and in the invitation, Come. (Dean Farrar, D. D.)
Edomites and Jews: a hostile world attacking the Church
It may help us to the true meaning of this question, if we keep in mind the relation in which the Edomites stood the Jews. That relation was one of the closest, if we have respect to origin or birth; but if we have respect to friendship, then the feelings existing between them were of the most hostile kind. Descended from a common stock, they kept alive the family animosities. The Edomites, who were the descendants of Esau, hated the Israelites on account of the deceitful conduct of Jacob their father. The sight of the prosperity of the sons of Jacob perpetuated the old grudge in the breast of the less favoured sons of Esau; and their seasons of adversity were made the occasions of bitter sneers. These two nations have become associated in our minds, the one with the people of God, the other with their enemies. The sons of Jacob were chosen, in preference to the sons of Esau, to be the medium of carrying the Divine blessings to all nations. The Edomites were in consequence filled with envy and hatred towards their brethren, lost no opportunity of attacking them in the most envenomed spirit, and thus they may justly be regarded as a type of the hostile world attacking the Church of God. Here, then, we seem to have a clue to the interpretation of the passage before us. If we regard the Jewish nation as a type of the Church or people of God, and the Edomites as a type of the hostile world, we have here a question addressed to the Church by the world, and we have the Churchs reply. (D. Merson, M. A. , B. D.)
Eastern watchmen
It was the custom in the regions of the East in ancient times, to erect lofty watchtowers, so high as to be above all surrounding buildings, and to place watchmen on them, who should observe all that came within their view and report accordingly. The design of this custom was to prevent the approach of an enemy unforeseen. The watchman in his lofty tower observed in the distance the gathering of armies and the mustering of hosts; he could see in the far-off horizon the glistening of weapons and the waving of the banners of war; and then he gave warning and the people prepared for the event. There is very frequent allusion to this custom in the Scriptures; and it is in reference to it, that the ministers of the Church of God are described as the Lords watchmen. It is their duty to stand upon the walls and upon the watchtowers of the Church that they may see the approaching danger, and to give warning, that the people perish not (Isa 62:6; Eze 33:2, etc.). (M. H. Seymour, M. A.)
Watchman
A different word from that in Isa 21:6, and signifying not one who spies or looks out, but one who guards or keeps (Psa 130:6). (Prof. Driver, D. D.)
The burden
The burden is in two respects–
1. Of the prophets that bear it. The Word of the Lord is a heavy burden till they are delivered of it; there is no rest to the surcharged conscience. The ministry is a matter of both honour and burden. Are there none that catch at honour, but will not meddle with the burden.
2. Of the people that were to suffer it. The judgments of God are heavy on whomsoever they light. It is true of them what the philosopher said of himself, Perieram nisi periissem,–they are undone that are not undone. Security is the very suburbs of hell. An insensible heart is the devils anvil, he fashioneth all sins on it, and the blows are not felt. (T. Adams.)
The burden of Dumah
I. THE CHARACTER HERE GIVEN OF THE PROPHET.
II. THE IMPORTUNITY OF THE PEOPLE APPLYING TO HIM.
III. HIS ANSWER.
1. We may tender the prophets answer to any who would perplex themselves or others with inquiries respecting the existing state of this worlds affairs.
2. The wicked, walking after their own lusts and counsels, sometimes, in a scoffing manner, inquire of ministers, What of the night? What think ye of my state and prospects? What of the truth of religion? What of the uses and importance of godliness? My wickedness thrives, and you said that it would be my ruin; my vices are pleasant, and you said that they would be bitter; my mind is at ease, and you said that I should be harassed in conscience. Where is the truth of your words? where the severity of judgment?–what evidence of a day of retribution? The awful answer again is, the morning cometh, and also the night.
3. The prophets answer was given to persons in trouble; and thus applied, its import is various. To some who demand of us, in seasons of their distress, Watchman, what of the night? the answer is, Time is fast passing, and your sorrows are fast passing with it. To others, The morning cometh, but as yet it is profound night to you, many and heavy sorrows still await you. Your spiritual condition is such, that our Heavenly Father will seek to bring you to Himself by many grievous visitations; hateful indeed, to the natural will, but most salutary for the souls health. Or else, perhaps, as you have approved yourselves to God in the season of prosperity, it is the Divine pleasure to make experiment of you in the fiery furnace of adversity, to see whether tribulation can separate you from the love of Christ. To others again, the answer is, It is the seventh hour, the midnight of your affliction is already past, and if passed by a little only, you have already suffered the extreme of your earthly portion of endurance; all that follows shall be comparatively light, and work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, if in patience ye possess your souls. (A. Williams, M. A.)
The watchmans report and advice
I. WHO IS THE WATCHMAN REFERRED TO?
II. THE INQUIRY INSTITUTED.
1. The whole state of the world demands of the servants of God that they should prayerfully and diligently regard the signs and movements of the times.
2. There are personal inquiries which ought to press upon all who are rightly impressed with a sense of their responsibility to God. How is the period of my probation passing? What is the progress of the night, which is to be succeeded by a morrow which knows no change or ending? How speeds the night in which my souls salvation is to be determined?
III. THE WATCHMANS REPORT IN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION. The morning cometh, and also the night. This report is most comprehensive, and may convey the following ideas–
1. That there will be nothing settled or permanent: changes may be expected.
(1) There has always been a mixture of light and darkness in the Church–in its perceptions of truth, and in the events connected with it.
(2) So in the case of the individual Christian, in times of sorrow and distress: darkness has appeared to compass his path; yet he has not been without gleams of comfort and light.
2. But the report without doubt is designed to indicate a period of coming joy to believers, of misery and woe to the wicked–to the one the morning cometh, to the other night.
3. There is one other observation in the watchmans report worthy of attention, namely, that the morning and the night are said to come together; the morning cometh, and also the night. It may seem strange to many that these periods should be said to come simultaneously. But if you look at the characters to whom they thus come, the difficulty is removed. That which will be a time of light and comfort to the righteous, will be one of darkness and dismay to the ungodly. Indeed, it is partly so in the present imperfect state of things. The very blessings of the impenitent are turned into curses; their day of mercy and grace becomes a night of darkness and calamity; whilst, on the other hand, all that appear night and trouble to the people of God, are means of increased light and joy to them. Their sorrow is turned into joy; their tribulation worketh patience and experience and hope.
IV. THE ADVICE WHICH THE WATCHMAN GIVES IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE REPORT.
1. Inquiry is the first duty recommended. We look for nothing, and expect nothing so long as there is indifference. It was the great sin of Gods professing people of old, that they would not consider. It is only when we can excite a spirit of serious inquiry that we can hope for lasting good from our efforts.
2. But to diligent inquiry, return to God is recommended. All inquiry in fact is for this purpose, and it would be useless if it did not issue in an actual return to your Father.
3. The prophet closes with one more observation, and it is used by way of encouragement–Come. (T. Dealtry, D. D.)
The watchmans report and advice
I. THE WATCHMANS REPORT.
1. As it may be supposed to respect the public affairs of our country.
2. The state of virtue and piety among us.
II. THE WATCHMANS ADVICE. The doom of Dumah was not inevitably fixed; she would yet be indulged with a morning of opportunities; and the only sure ground of hope was in a returning to God. We have as a nation something of Dumahs morning–some farther space for reflection and repentance. It must be of the greatest moment to know what an offended God expects. Inquire; return; come. The inquiring, returning, coming, so kindly and seasonably urged on Dumah, in her night, are recommended to us on every ground, whether human or Divine.
1. Nothing can be more fit and proper in itself.
2. It is the subject of a Divine command.
3. In the patience and forbearance of God, and in the wonderful method He has devised for the pardon and salvation of a guilty people, we have a loud call and a most powerful motive to inquire, return, and come.
4. And there are important and happy consequences resulting from a sinful peoples inquiring, returning, and coming to God. (N. Hill.)
Watchman, what of the night?
I. CONSIDER THE QUESTION.
1. Some ask the report of the night with utter carelessness as to the reply.
2. Some ask in contempt.
3. Some ask in horror and anguish of heart.
II. WHAT IS STILL THE DUTY OF HIM WHO HOLDS THE MOMENTOUS POSITION OF WATCHMAN IN THE CITY OF GOD?
1. He did not turn away from the question, in whatever spirit it was asked.
2. He uttered with equal assurance a threat and a promise.
3. He pressed the necessity of care in the study and earnest inquiry after the nature of the truth.
4. He summed up all by an anxious, a cordial, and a reiterated invitation to repentance and reconciliation with an offended but pardoning God. Thus, the single verse might be regarded as an abstract of the duties of the ministerial office. (W. Archer Butler, D. D.)
The worlds challenge and the Churchs response
I. This is THE WORLDS CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH. From the midst of that darkness which, by reason of the limitation of our knowledge, encompasses us all; and from thy midst of that double darkness which enwraps those who are untouched and unchanged by the love of Christ Jesus, this challenge is continually coming to the Church. This is–
1. The cry of scepticism. The scepticism of our day is, in some instances, evidently the error of noble but misguided spirits, who, having discovered that in some matters of belief concerning which they had thought themselves very sure, they were wholly in the wrong, and having in other cases been baffled in the search for certainty, have too hastily given up all hope of obtaining saris faction and rest with respect to many of the most momentous questions of human life. There is, however, a shallower scepticism. It addresses the Church in tones of equal incredulity, but breathing the spirit of vanity, hostility, and contempt.
2. The cry of the worlds worldliness. Men who are living for this life only, ask the question. There is a terribly close connection between worldliness and scepticism of the scoffing and contemptuous sort. The tendency of a life in which there is no regard for God and eternity, is to produce an unbelief far more blighting than that disbelief which is the result of misguided thinking. And with all the wild recklessness or supercilious scorn or stolid indifference of old times, they ask, What of the night? You prophets of darkness, who take so gloomy a view of the condition of the world, who warn us of a perpetual darkness for those who live so heedlessly, what of the night? You who profess to believe that your religion can do such great things, where are the signs of its power, and of the accomplishment of its work? What signs of the dissipation of the darkness of which you speak, and of the coming of the day?
3. The cry of the worlds agony. From the darkness of the sin which is shutting out of the life all joy and purity and hope, from the woe which is crushing them, men make their appeal to the Church of God. They ask for the causes of this darkness and for the means by which it may be removed. But there are many who are conscious that the agony they feel is attributable to their sin; and in the sense of their alienation from God they ask of the Church, pleadingly, What of the night? It is not simply the apprehension of darkness, but the consciousness of it, the darkness of being sinful. Oh tell us if there be forgiveness, peace, purity, and rest, for guilty, storm-tossed, polluted, and wearied hearts!
4. The cry of the worlds hope. Many have felt the dawn of a new day in their own hearts, and now they continually pray, Thy kingdom come. Although they have light within, they see the darkness around them. But because of what they have themselves experienced, they cannot despair of the case of humanity.
II. THE RESPONSE WITH WHICH THE CHURCH IS ENTRUSTED, and which she is bound urgently and confidently to deliver. The morning cometh, and also the night.
1. The Churchs message to the world is a message of mingled mercy and severity, of joyous and of sad import. We look at what Christianity has done and is doing in the world; and the result of the examination is a deep and growing conviction that the evidences of Christianity never were so strong or convincing as today.
(1) And this is our answer to scepticism. Account for Christianity. See what it has done for nations, what for a single life!
(2) This, too, is our answer to the cry of the worldly. However blind men may be to the fact, however incapable of reading the signs of the times, assuredly the course of human history proclaims the morning cometh; the morning of a day which shall reveal the falseness of every mode of life which involves forgetfulness of God; the morning of a day when every heart unconsecrated to God shall declare its dissatisfaction, and when every cherished lust of wrong shall reveal its insatiable appetite, by the cry, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
(3) And this is the message of the Church to the agonised: The morning cometh of the day when the wounds of humanity shall be forever healed; when the sorrow of men shall be turned into joy. We see signs of this already, in the present amelioration of mans condition which Christianity produces.
(4) And in the brightness of that morning, which many signs proclaim cometh for the world, the hopeful shall find all, and more than all, for which their hearts have ever yearned, and more than all of which their imagination ever dreamed.
2. But alas! if it be true that the morning cometh, it is not less necessary that we should add, and also the night. The dawning of the day of Christ will leave some in profounder darkness.
3. Therefore, we close with the urgent personal appeal of the prophet: If ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come. Let this be the commencement of an earnest inquiry as to the claims Christianity, and we do not fear for the result. Let the value of the world be estimated, and compared with the value of the favour and the life of God; and there can be but one issue. Let this be the day of earnest seeking for the light, the peace and the pardon of God; and the agony of a troubled heart and the burden of a guilty conscience shall be taken away, and the spirit shall know the life and liberty of Christ Jesus. Inquire ye, and in this truth as it is in Jesus ye shall find all you need. (T. Stephenson.)
The burden of Dumah
I. ENDEAVOUR TO EXPLAIN IT.
II. EXHIBIT THE LESSONS WHICH IT TEACHES; or, apply it to the friends and the foes of God.
1. We have an illustration of the conduct of a taunting world; a world often disposed not to reason, but to make derision of religion; a world always finding occasions, in some peculiar state of the Church, or in some aspect of religion, for the exhibition of irony or scorn.
2. We have in the response of the watchman, The morning cometh, an illustration of the times of light and prosperity in the Church destined to succeed those of calamity. We may apply it to the individual Christian in the midst of calamity. Thus, too, it is of the Church universal. In her darkest hours, it was true that brighter days were to dawn. So it is now. The night of sin is to be succeeded by a long bright day. There is one thing only that is certain in the future history of this world–its conversion to God and to the true religion.
3. In like manner we have an illustration of a third important fact–the night of calamity that is coming on a sinful and scoffing world.
4. There remains one other idea. That is, if you–the despiser–will inquire in a humble manner; if you will come with proper reverence, and will turn from your sins, light will stream along your path; and the sun of prosperity will ride up your sky, and pour down his noontide radiance upon you also. (A. Barnes, D. D.)
Watchman, what of the night?
I. THE WATCHMAN AS TYPICAL OF EVERY TRUE AMBASSADOR OF THE CROSS.
1. He occupied vantage ground. He was selected for the office; placed in an appropriate position–where, unhindered, he could carry on his observations.
2. He possessed knowledge of the ground he surveyed a mere enthusiast would not do, nor a novice, nor an enemy; a patriot would be the best, with a clear head and a warm heart.
3. He would expect implicit obedience to his cries. If he said All well! people might rest; if, To arms! people must be up. Apply these points to the office of the Christian ministry.
II. THE INQUIRER OF THE WATCHMAN AS TYPICAL OF THE ANXIOUS SEEKER AFTER SALVATION.
1. He was painfully conscious of the darkness. Every awakened sinner feels the darkness of ignorance, and danger, and guilt, and wonders what of the night–how, and when will it end?
2. He was anxiously desirous of the light. The anxious seeker after salvation longs for the Light of the world–the light of the glorious Gospel to shine into his heart.
III. THE ANSWER OF THE WATCHMAN AS TYPICAL OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SOUL IN RELIGION.
1. The morning cometh–the morning of day, of newness of life, of glorious opportunity.
2. Also the night. The day will not last forever, let us work while it is called day. (F. W. Brown.)
The worlds interrogation and the Churchs response
I. WHEN NIGHT HANGS HEAVILY ON THE CHURCH, IT HANGS STILL MORE HEAVILY ON THE WORLD. The Assyrian oppression lay like a cloud on Judah, but in lying on Judah it projected a still heavier cloud upon Edom. The world is so bound up with the Church that, consciously or unconsciously, it rises with the Churchs rising, falls with the Churchs falling, rejoices in the Churchs freedom, pines in the Churchs bondage, is lightened by the Churchs sunshine, is shadowed by the Churchs clouds. And this, take the world in what aspect you may, as the world of society, the world of business, the world of pleasure. What is the practical lesson? Do not leave the Church because the Church may be wrapped in adversity; if you do, a deeper adversity is awaiting you in the quarter to which you repair. And the same law holds good in a wider sense. We are compassed with mystery. Some persons, impatient with the obscurities of faith, take refuge in the greater obscurities of unbelief. Restless under the clouds of Judah, they seek relief amidst the heavier clouds of Edom. There never was a greater mistake than to suppose that because Christianity is bound up with problems, the abandonment of belief is the abandonment of mystery.
II. And the fact is, the world realises this; for note as the next thought we deduce from the passage, THAT IN THE MIDST OF THIS COMMON NIGHT, ENVELOPING BOTH CHURCH AND WORLD, THE WORLD TURNS TO THE CHURCH FOR LIGHT. It is very suggestive that in the general pressure of the general gloom the Edomite is represented as appealing to the Jew, a representative of the Jewish God., Was there none to consult nearer home?
Where were the seers of Idumea? Through all ages the principle is the same. Ever, in the midst of the cloud that surrounds us all, the world puts its questions to the Church. Sometimes, indeed, the question is ironical. Sometimes it is curious. Often, however, the question is earnest.
III. And thus we come up to the next plain lesson, THAT WHEN THE WORLD QUESTIONS THE CHURCH, THE CHURCH MUST BE READY TO ANSWER. That implies–
1. That the Church has an answer to give. It is conceivable that, in some cases, professing Christian men may have no answer. When the question comes, they are nonplussed; it embarrasses, puzzles them. What is the reason? With one class, want of perception of the difficulty. And for another class, the reason may be that, while feeling the pressure of the difficulty, they have not obtained a solution for themselves. Wherefore, when face to face with the worlds questions, let us see to it that we have material for an answer.
2. And let us give the answer we have. Let the possession of truth be followed by the communication of it, as often as opportunity arises.
IV. And yet, let it always be remembered that WHILE THE CHURCH SHOULD BE READY TO ANSWER THE WORLDS QUESTIONINGS, THE NATURE OF THE ANSWER MUST BE CONDITIONED BY THE MORAL STATE OF THE QUESTIONER. Look once more at the prophet. So long as the attitude of Edom is an attitude of general inquiry, the prophet has only a general statement. The morning cometh, he says, and also the night. It is when this attitude of general inquiry passes into the attitude of personal repentance, that he promises a personal and particular revelation corresponding. Cleanse your hearts, he says, reform your ways, turn to the Lord, and then come back again, and I will tell you more. And here we turn from the duty and responsibility of those that are questioned to the spirit and character of those that question them. You ask if sorrow will pass, doubt dissolve, providence unfold itself, Scripture become plain, heaven be won. Our answer is, Yes–in the experience of some; whether in your experience we cannot say, until we know more. If yours is the sensitive conscience, the tender heart, the submissive will, if you sorrow for sin, if you turn to righteousness, if you cleave to God, then we can tell. For you the night is departing, but if the night is not vanishing in your own heart, it is useless, it is trifling, to ask how the night goes elsewhere. How apt are some men to divert attention from the state of matters within by directing it to the state of matters without–the prospects of neighbours, the words of Scripture, the controversies of the Church, the mysteries of Providence! He who will know of the doctrine must do the will. (W. A. Gray.)
The coming dawn
(A Christmas homily) (with Rom 13:12):–The night is far spent; the day is at hand. But for the fact which Christmas commemorates, we should have no reply to that question save one: Though the morning cometh, the night cometh also. It is only the advent of Christ, and the prophecy latent in that advent, which enable us to add in the full assurance of faith: The night is far spent, and the day which has no night is at hand.
1. That you may see that both these answers to the question which the world and the Church have so long been asking are true, and in what sense they are true, let us consider how far St. Pauls answer to it has been fulfilled; whether the day which he foresaw did not really come, but also whether this day was not followed by a night and the promise of its dawn overcast. When he stood on his watchtower and surveyed the horizon, he had much reason to believe that the night of heathenism was far spent; that the day of the Lord, the day on which Christ would take to Himself His great power and rule in all the earth, was close at hand. But as we look back on the period to which he looked forward with such confident hope, we can see that the end was not yet, although it seemed so near; that, though a morning came, a night came also. The apostolic day, or age, was hardly over before the night came rushing back; and in a few centuries the dogmas and superstitions, the vices and crimes, of heathenism were to be found in the very Church itself, where, alas, too many of them still linger. Yet even in the dark ages there was a remnant who had light in their dwellings, and did not altogether lose hope. And when the day of the Reformation dawned on Europe, Luther and his compeers had little doubt that the true day of the Lord had come at last, that a light had arisen which would speedily renew the face of the earth. And a day had come, but not the great day of Christ. The end was not even yet. Over its larger spaces, even Europe still lies in darkness, the darkness of superstition, or sensuality, or indifference; while in Africa, Asia with its teeming millions, and South America, we can discern only distant and twinkling points of light which are all but lost in the surrounding darkness. So that when we in our turn ask, Watchman, what of the night? Is it almost gone? Will it soon pass? we, too, can often hear none but the old reply, If a morning is coming, so also is a night. We try to hope, but the verdict of history is against us. Analogy is against us. How long it took to make the world! how slowly it was built up, inch by inch, before it was ready for the foot of man! And how intolerably slow is mans growth and development! Reason and experience are against us. Think what the world is like,–how nation makes war on nation, and class on class, how common and unblushing vice is even among those who should be best fortified against it by education and position, how much of our virtue is but a prudent and calculating selfishness! Think how hard we ourselves know it to be to wean even one heart from selfishness and self-indulgence, and to fix it in the love and pursuit of whatsoever is true and fair, good and kind; how slowly we advance in godliness even when we have the grace of God to help us and are working together with Him! And then tell me whether you must not say, The dawn may be coming, but as surely as the day comes, the night will come also; many days and many nights must still pass, many alternations of light and darkness must sweep across the face of the earth, before the great day of the Lord can arise and shine upon us.
2. If that be your conclusion I have good tidings for you. The very meaning and message of advent is, that all these mornings and evenings are gradually leading in the day of the Lord; that He is preparing for the coming of His kingdom in the darkness as well as in the light, by every night through which we pass as well as every day, by every disappointment and every postponement of hope as well as by every fulfilment. Many forms of wrong, cruelty, and vice are impossible now which were possible, and even common, before the Son of God and Son of man dwelt among us; nay, even before the Reformation carried through Europe a light by which such deeds of darkness were reproved. The individual man may stand little higher, whether in wisdom or in goodness, than of old; but the number of men capable of high thoughts, noble alms, and lives devoted to the service of truth and righteousness, incomparably larger. The world took long to make, and may take still longer to remake; but its re-creation in the image of God is just as certain as its creation. The darkness of ignorance and superstition may still lie heavily over the larger spaces of the world; but the points of light are rapidly increasing. As we count time, the end is not yet; but as God counts time, the end is not far off. (S. Cox, D. D.)
National responsibility
The prophet has here nothing to predict; his function is only to repeat the oft unheeded warning that all things in this universe of God go on by unchanging law and in regular succession; the morning, as in the apparent revolution of the sun round the earth, so also in the revolutions of states and kingdoms and empires, the morning cometh, and also the night. Like causes produce like events; the course of providence may be foretold from the action of those with whom it deals.
And what is history, but the exhibition of this great but much neglected truth? e.g., Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. In each case we may distinctly trace their more or less speedy downfall to the operation of the same eternal law of justice; requiting on each the iniquities of each, and making those iniquities the very causes of their overthrow. What likelihood, then, is there of the same principle not being carried out again; of its not being carried out in the case of nations and kingdoms in which we feel more than an antiquarian interest? To them, too, will come, as the morning, so also the night. It is, of course, most difficult to appraise the fortunes, to calculate the probable destiny of any nation of which we ourselves form component parts. The human mind, like the human eye, must see things somewhat at a distance in order to get them into due perspective and appreciate their exact proportions. But this difficulty does not affect our power of evaluating the principles of conduct on which we see men or nations act. Those principles are broad and clearly marked, and it is easy to perceive how far justice and right dealing, truth and soberness, self-devotion for the common good and real, not mock, philanthropy are practised: or, on the other side, how far oppression and cowardice, luxury and vice, falsehood and selfishness, are the real rulers of the nation. It was the true function of the Hebrew prophets to rouse the conscience of the nation to what they spake. If, then, we wish to acquire some idea of the probable future of the great empire to which we belong, it will be well carefully to review the aspects of life prevailing in it, and to see in what way the eternal obligations of the Divine law are observed, or how far they are despised and violated. (Archbishop Reichel, D. D.)
Watchman, what of the night?
I. GOOD MEN SUFFERING. The pious Jews were now in deepest sorrow. It was their night. The good have often a night. Physical suffering, secular difficulties, social bereavements, spiritual temptations, conscious imperfections, often turn the sky of a good man into night.
II. WICKED MEN TAUNTING. The voice from Mount Seir was, What of the night? The language is sarcastic and contemptuous. The wicked, instead of sympathising with the good in their sufferings, often treat them with heartless ridicule. The spirit is seen now in various questions that are addressed to the Church.
(1) Where is your superior happiness?
(2) Where are the triumphs of your cause?
(3) Where is your spiritual superiority to other men?
III. THE GREAT GOD SPEAKING TO BOTH. The morning cometh and also the night.
1. His voice to the good. The morning cometh. There is a morning for the Church on this earth. There is a morning to the good in eternity.
2. The voice to the wicked. The night cometh. Where is Edom now? The night cometh, sinner: the shadows are gathering already, etc. (Homilist.)
What of the night?
I. Watchman, what of the night of SENSE AND SIN? The morning cometh–the morning of sinlessness. Also the night. Sin now, sin then; sin on sin, sin forever and ever!
II. Watchman, what of the night of SUFFERING AND SORROW? The morning cometh. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Also the night–the night of eternal suffering and sorrow.
III. Watchman, what of the night of MOCKING AND MYSTERY? The morning cometh, when the mocking mystery will vanish. They shall see His face. Also the night–the outer darkness, the black profound, where the soul wanders forever Christless, restless, lost.
IV. Watchman, what of the night of SOLITUDE AND SEPARATION? In this world we have never met. Men of science tell us that there are in this universe no two atoms in real contact. The morning cometh, the morning of meeting for the first time in the never parting of the revelation of God. Now we see in a mirror darkly, etc. Also the night, the night of a separation eternal. Let another natural law be traced in this spiritual world. If you took away all contrary and opposing forces from a propelled cannonball, and if you secured a perfect vacuum in boundless space, by vis inertiae, the ball would go on forever. If this is the first law of motion in mechanics, it is as really the first law of motion in the wrath of God on an eternally separated lost soul. (J. Bailey, M. A.)
Visions of the day and night
The great beauty and power of the Word of God lies in this, that it is never obsolete and never out of date.
I. THE QUESTION in our text. Night is the emblem of ignorance, sorrow, sin, crime, danger, and disaster; as in the natural night there are different degrees of light and shade, of gloom and darkness, so it is with the spiritual night.
II. THE ANSWER. The morning cometh.
1. To nations.
2. To individuals. It comes to the awakened and accepted sinner in the form of pardon and deliverance from the power and burden of sin and guilt. It comes to others in the form of deliverance from some secret, instinctive, but crushing sorrow, which has pressed the poor heart down for years; which has made them, some from physical and some from spiritual weakness, walk for a long period in gloom and darkness, crying, Oh! when will it end?
3. The morning cometh to others in declining years; to the aged, the afflicted, the dying.
4. And the night cometh, when the long-abused love and compassion, and patience of God shall be at length exhausted; when the plea of mercy shall be exchanged for the penalty of justice, and the shield of the Advocate give way to the sword of the Avenger. It cometh to nations; it cometh to individuals. (G. Davenport.)
Alternations of morning and night
The morning cometh in the appearing of Messiah, the Prince; and also the night of the exclusion of the Jews. The morning cometh, in the spread of the Gospel among the Gentile nations; and also the night, in the tenfold persecutions which wasted the Church. The morning cometh, in the reign of Constantine the Great over the Roman empire; and also the night of Arian blasphemy and persecution. The morning cometh, in the reformation of religion from popery; and also the night of a fearful falling sway. The morning cometh, more bright and glorious than all which have preceded, in the glory of the latter days; and also the night of another falling sway before the general judgment. And then shall a morning burst upon the universe, which shall never be overcast. (W. Taylor.)
The burden of Dumah
I. THE WORLDS QUESTION. In the first instance it is a question put by the Edomites of Mount Seir to Israels watchman. It is worth noting that a people animated with such hostile feelings should thus open up communication with the objects of their hostility. Two expiations might be given. It may be they asked the question tauntingly in a spirit of mockery, or they may have asked it earnestly in a spirit of anxious inquiry. Either of these views will fit the historical conditions.
I. If we adopt the first, we must suppose the Jews to be in captivity and the Edomites prospering, and we know from history that they did prosper during the Babylonish captivity, At that time they got possession of a portion of Jewish territory in southern Palestine, having been permitted to settle there as a reward for their services to the Babylonians during the struggle that preceded the captivity. While occupying this new settlement, their fortunes rose, and in the exuberance of success they retaliated on their now oppressed brethren, as much as to say, You who boasted of being the special favourites of Heaven, where is now your God? Your night of oppression has continued long enough, is there any sign of deliverance? Surely it is time for your God to show His hand! The picture is something like this: On Mount Seir, the highest eminence in the land, the Edomites are convened, elated by their fleeting prosperity; while in a foreign land are the captive Jews, groaning under the yoke of the oppressor, and their watchman or prophet standing on his watchtower, eager to catch the first ray of deliverance. From the one to the other passes the taunting, call, Watchman, what of the night? And the watchman returns the reply, The morning is coming, and also the night. Do not deceive yourselves, ye taunting Edomites, your momentary prosperity will become a night of gloom and our present calamities will be followed by a glorious day. The morning of deliverance will come to the captive Jews, but the night of desolation to the mocking Edomites. The question is still thrown out by the unbeliever with a fling of scorn, Watchman, what of the night? Tell us what progress you are making, etc. There are not wanting in these days men who affect to throw discredit on Christian and missionary effort. Look, say they, how little has been accomplished by these means in the past, and how much remains to be done. Instead of the Gospel, let us try civilisation, the spread of commerce, and the wider diffusion of knowledge, and the morning will soon dawn. Now, if this were so, it would indeed be a serious charge. But what are the facts! Let it he conceded that the visible marks of Christian progress are not overwhelming; at the same time no one who will cast his eyes over the earth can fail to see that the nations most advanced in civilisation and what is called modern culture are also the most Christian.
2. Let us think of the question as being asked in a spirit of anxious inquiry. In this case, the once captive Jews must be regarded as a prosperous people, living in their own land, and the once prosperous Edomites as an oppressed People. In their distress they cry to those whom they previously mocked. But their cry has a different meaning now that the tables have been turned. What of the night now means an earnest desire to know how long their calamities are likely to last. As if they had said, It has been a night of dire adversity with us, tell us, you who are a watchman in Zion, is that night nearly past? We have suffered much, and are longing for relief. Are our sufferings nearly at an end? If this view is adopted, it is still a question addressed by the world to the Church; no longer, however, in mockery, but in a spirit of anxious inquiry. There do come times in the history of godless nations and individuals, when, in the midst of trouble, they are constrained to pay homage to the Church, and call upon her for advice. There are in the Bible several instances of the wicked consulting Gods ministers in times of calamity. And have we not seen examples of men calling on God in the hour of calamity, who never bowed a knee to Him in the hour of their prosperity! When such a question is asked with a true motive, that of itself is an indication to the watchman that the morning is coming. It is the duty of the spiritual watchman to declare to the people the whole counsel of the King, to discern wisely the signs of the times, so as to be able to impart the needed instruction.
II. THE CHURCHS REPLY, whether the question is asked by way of taunt or in an earnest spirit. In either case, the inquirer is assured that the morning of a glorious deliverance will come to the oppressed Church, while a night of awful desolation will fall upon her foes.
1. This prophecy was unmistakably fulfilled in the after history of the Edomites. The morning did come, as the watchman said, and for a short period the Edomites were a flourishing people in the land of Seir; but they refused to inquire, they did not return, they wandered further from the path of righteousness, and the long night of desolation overtook them. The prophecy regarding it, in Isa 34:12-13, has been literally fulfilled. And this is the inevitable doom of those who will not improve the day of their merciful visitation–the night cometh.
2. But while the watchmans message to the enemies of the Gospel is one of woe and warning, he has a message of encouragement to the people of God. The morning cometh. Night and morning! Unlike air, and yet they go hand in hand. What will be morning to some will be night to others.
3. Yet again, the watchman says, If ye will inquire, inquire ye. Addressed originally to the inquiring Edomites, the words still apply to their modern successors whether they put their questions in jest or in earnest. The inquiring spirit here meets with no rebuff, for it is a healthy sign. History records instances of men who studied the Christian evidences in order to refute them, and ended by becoming devoted Christians. Religion, so far from shunning investigation, rather invites it. And if there is a sure solution of his -perplexities awaiting the critical investigator, there is also an answer that will satisfy the inquirer after salvation.
4. There is another class of persons to whom the watchmans commission extends. To them he says, return–a word which may he taken to refer to backsliders.
5. The text contains one other word–a word of encouragement to all. This word is, come; a word that Jesus, when on earth, was never weary of uttering, and which He has left behind Him as the Churchs invitation call to Gospel privileges. (D. Merson, M. A. , B. D.)
The night watchmen Mount Seir
The double question and the doubting reply are well suited to the changing aspects of nature in a mountain land. To the inhabitants of such countries, inquiries for the winds and the clouds, the morning and the night, are as familiar as the words of daily salutation. And the variable condition of human society, the advance and decline of nations, the concealments and revelations of Providence, are well illustrated by the darkness and the day, the shadows and the sunshine among mountains. Such was the history of the Hebrew nation under the especial guidance of Divine providence in ancient times. Such has been and still in the history of peoples and opinions in the European world. The good and the glorious days of Samuel, and David, and Solomon, and Hezekiah, were followed by the dark and evil days of Saul, and Jeroboam, and Ahab, and Manasseh- Athanasius and Augustine, Luther and Calvin, Cranmer and Knox, Whitefield and Wesley, the great champions of truth and reformation, found their dark shadow and counterpart in Arius and Pelagius, Loyola and the Inquisition, Voltaire and the French Revolution. The bright dawn of a better day has always been overcast with dark and angry clouds. And yet the providence of God is wiser and mightier than the policies of man. The night which comes with the morning is partial and temporary, although it seems for a time to devour the day and cut off the hopes of mankind. In the darkest periods of human history, we need only the clear vision of faith to see the day approaching. It is ever Gods way to bring light out of darkness, joy out of sorrow, rest out of weariness, for the waiting and longing soul. (D. March, D. D.)
Sin the great silencer
The word Dumah means silence, the land of silent desolation. It is a very suggestive thought. Sin is the great silencer. The end of sin is silence. Assuredly that was true in the case of Edom. It was true of it at the time when the prophet spoke, it was to be true of it still more completely in the ages to follow. Travellers tell us that if we want to know how Providence can turn a fruitful land into barrenness, and make a defenced city a heap, for the iniquity of the inhabitants thereof, we have only to look at Edom, with its hills and plains picked clean of every vestige of vegetation, and its ruined palaces, once the home of busy men, now the haunt of vultures and the lair of scorpions, all human sound gone–the voice of mirth, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride! But why go to Edom for an illustration? Look nearer home. Go to any city churchyard. Pass through the iron gates that divide those strangely contrasted crowds, the throng of the living and the congregation of the dead. How still! Everything may be orderly, everything trim–winding walks, flowery borders, spreading shrubs, grassy mounds, careen monuments white and clean, but all so still, no sound nor motion anywhere, save the wind that shudders through the yew trees, and the measured chime of the steeple clock as it tolls its hourly reminder that we too shall be still, still as the throngs beneath. What makes that stillness? Sin. Sin is the great silencer, and death is the climax of the silence that it makes. (W. A. Gray.)
The silence of God
It is really a terrible answer, for there can be nothing so terrible for us on earth as to know that God has nothing to say to us. O, my God! cried Martin Luther, smite me with famine, with want, with pestilence, with all the sore diseases on earth, rather than Thou be silent to me. Yet God is sometimes thus silent to wicked men and to wicked nations; He is so for their punishment. Ephraim is turned unto idols. Let him alone. (Dean Patter, D. D.)
Mount Seir; false confidences
Be not too confident in thy Mount Seir! Every wicked soul has her Mount Seir to trust in; they that have no assurance of rest in heaven, have their refuges and mountains of help on earth. David so returns it upon the wicked (Psa 11:1). In the Lord put I my trust: how then say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? Why should I seek to foreign helps, that have settled myself in the bosom of rest itself? Riches are a Mount Seir to the covetous; they rest on them. Honour is a Mount Seir to the ambitious, against all the besiegings of rivals. Sensuality to the voluptuous, against all the disturbances of a clamorous conscience. Pride, fraud, drunkenness, are a Mount Seir to the lovers of them; but alas, how unsafe! If stronger against, and further removed from the hand of man, yet nearer to Gods hand in heaven; though we acknowledge no place procul a Jove, or procul a fulmine,–far from God, or from His thunder. But we say, it is not the safest sailing on the top of the mast; to live on the mountainous height of a temporal estate is neither wise nor happy. Men standing in the shade of humble valleys, look up and wonder at the height of hills, and think it goodly living there, as Peter thought Tabor; but when with weary limbs they have ascended, and find the beams of the sun melting their spirits, or the cold blasts of wind making their sinews stark, flashes of lightning or cracks of thunder soonest endangering their advanced heads, then they confess, checking their proud conceit, the low valley is safest; for the fruitful dews that fall first on the hills stay least while there, but run down to the valleys. And though on such a promontory a man further sees, and is further seen, yet in the valley, where he sees less, he enjoys more. Take heed, then, lest to raise thy Mount Seir high, thou dejectest thy soul. If we build our houses by unrighteousness, and our chambers without equity, though as strong as Mount Seir, they shall not be able to stand in the earthquake of judgment. God so threatens Jehoiakim (Jer 22:15).Think not your houses to be fortresses, when your souls are unarmed of Christian weapons–faith and obedience. (T. Adams.)
Edomite scorners
I will single you out four sorts of these Edomites, scorners,–for I justly parallel them–
1. Atheists: such as have voluntarily, violently, extinguished to them selves the sunlight of the Scripture, moonlight of the creature, nay, the sparks and cinders of nature, that the more securely, as unseen and unhidden of their own hearts, they might prodigally act the works of darkness
2. Epicures: that deny not a God and a day of judgment, but put it far off Amo 6:3), with, Give me the present, take thou the hope of future joys.
3. Libertines: that neither affirm no night, nor put it far off, but only the strength of sin prevails over all; and, come sorrow, death, grave, hell, they must have their pleasures.
4. Common profane persons: that will suffer themselves to wear Gods livery, though they serve the devil. (T. Adams.)
Watchman, what of the night?—
The duty of examining the signs of the times
I. The first thing which, in reference to this inquiry, the words before us suggest, is, that IT IS OF THE LORD HIMSELF THE INQUIRY MUST BE MADE. His eye alone seeth under the whole heaven; and He only knoweth the end from the beginning. Nothing can be more utterly fallacious than any mere calculation of human probabilities in regard to the future progress of Divine truth–in regard to the course it may be destined to run. When Jesus of Nazareth had been put to an ignominious death, His few and obscure disciples dispersed in terror, and when the handful of peasants and fishermen who had been the companions of His ministry were shut up, unnoticed and unknown, in an upper chamber at Jerusalem, who could have foreseen that the blast of the trumpet, blown by this small and feeble band, was to shake down the mighty Jericho of that universal heathenism which then overspread and enslaved the benighted earth? When, fifteen hundred years thereafter, a poor, emaciated Augustinian monk was wearing himself out in his gloomy cell in the terrible conflict of an awakened conscience, which all his self-righteous austerities could not satisfy or soothe, who could have foreseen that in that single man the Lord was training a soldier, who should confront, single-handed, the gigantic power of the man of sin, and liberate the half of Europe from his galling and destructive yoke? But if human sagacity would thus have been baffled on the one hand by unlooked-for triumphs to the cause of truth, would it not have been equally confounded on the other by unexpected defeats? When the day of Gospel light was breaking forth in such glorious splendour upon the world in apostolic times, who would have ventured to anticipate that so bright a day was to be succeeded by the dark ages, the long, dismal, dreary centuries during which the few remaining witnesses prophesied in sackcloth, amid bonds and stripes, and imprisonments, and death? Again, when the Lutheran Reformation, like a strong wind out of the clear north, was sweeping off from the nations the dense cloud of papal superstition, and revealing once more to their wondering eyes the long-hidden Sun of righteousness, who would have thought that the horrid cloud would again return to spread its murky folds over so many of its ancient fields, and that men, choosing darkness rather than the light, would love to have it so? It is to the Lord we must turn if we desire to know what is in the womb of time.
II. However discouraging the aspect of things may, in many points, appear, THE MORNING COMETH–a day of unprecedented brilliancy and joy, when the kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven shall be given to the Son of man, and when, emancipated from the strife and turmoil of incessant wars, and enjoying and exhibiting a foretaste and emblem of the heavenly state, the rest of Zion shall be glorious.
III. WE MUST REJOICE WITH TREMBLING, FOR WHILE THE MORNING COMETH, THERE COMETH ALSO THE NIGHT. When the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion shall have come, it will be a night to her adversaries and oppressors; but to Zion herself it will be a bright and glorious day. (R. Buchanan, D. D.)
The watchmans office
I. A watchman must be DULY AUTHORISED AND APPOINTED TO THE STATION. It is not left to any man to mount the watchtower at pleasure–to take his round through the streets–or to challenge the citizens, except he can show a regular commission for the service. Ezekiel, with all his zeal for his country, and love to his own people, could not occupy the post of a watchman among them till the God of Israel made him one (Eze 3:17). Thus a call, a commission, is indispensably necessary to the exercise of any office in the Church of Christ, especially of the office of the ministry. But when the call is given and the appointment conferred, the watchman ought, without gainsaying, to repair to his box.
II. A watchman ought to be SAGACIOUS AND QUICK-SIGHTED. A simpleton, or a blind man (Luk 6:39), would be altogether unfit for a watchman. He could neither descry the enemy as he approached the city, nor penetrate his mischievous designs, nor alarm the citizens of the impending danger. The ministers of Christ are accordingly represented in the Revelation as full of eyes; and they have need of all the eyes ascribed to them, that they may take heed to themselves, and watch over others.
III. VIGILANT. An indolent and sleepy watchman is a most dangerous officer in a city, especially in a period of warfare. For, while men sleep, the enemy may occupy the gates, or mount the walls. The ministers of Christ ought to be very vigilant in watching over the people; and other officers are to exert themselves in watching along with them. For, while men sleep, the enemy sows his tares of error, of heresy, and division.
IV. SPIRITED. A spirited watchman, ever upon the alert, to detect the disorderly, and to suppress them in their first appearances, is an eminent blessing in his station. By the spirited exertions of an active watchman, much disorder and tumult in the streets of a city may be prevented, especially during the night. So ought the minister of Christ to display a firm and spirited determination to suppress disorder and vice of every kind, although it should cost him much trouble, and the strife of tongues against him, in accomplishing his object. It is also part of the constitutional duty of every good citizen, to assist the watchman, by all the means in his power, to suppress riot, and check the unruly. Let private Church members attend to this.
V. Watchmen ought to be STEADY. They are to occupy their station, to maintain their post, and in no instance to neglect their duty. The ministers of Christ, in like manner, are to be steadfast, unmovable, etc. (1Co 15:58). They are to watch, to stand fast in the faith, to quit themselves like men and to be strong.
VI. Watchmen are to be COURAGEOUS. A coward would, of all others, be a most unfit person for a watchman, especially in the night, and when the enemy was at the gates. Such ought unquestionably to be a prominent qualification of the minister of Christ, and of all who bear rule in the Church along with him. A trimming, truckling, temporising humour, to please men, and a dread of giving offence in the discharge of positive duty, is altogether unsuitable to the condition of those whose chief attention is to please and honour God.
VII. Watchmen are to be FAITHFUL. They are neither to betray their trust, by conniving with the disorderly, nor to expose the city, by keeping silence, while they perceive danger approaching. This part of the watchmans character may be often perverted, as, indeed, what part of it may not? Men may make a great noise and parade about being faithful and honest, who, in truth, have nothing so much at heart, as to gratify their own vanity, interest, pride, humour, or favourite plans of action. But the faithfulness intended by this particular chiefly respect? plain and honest dealing with the consciences of men. The faithful servant of the Lord is to warn the transgressor of the error of his ways, and of the danger of persisting in error.
VIII. Watchmen are to be FRANK IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE, either to inform the citizen of the hour of the night, or to guide him on his way. The watchmen of the Old Testament gave the time of night under that dispensation, and laid themselves out to collect every information (1Pe 1:11). The watchmen of the New Testament are to continue the inquiry into the mind of the Spirit; that they may tell what of the night–what is the part of prophecy which applies to the present times–and what the signs of the breaking light of the coming glory. Such is a very tender and useful department of the spiritual watchman. He is to guide the bewildered–to encourage and protect such as apprehend themselves in danger–and to tell them, to the best of his information, concerning the Friend of sinners. (W. Taylor.)
Aspects of the times
I. The Christian man has still before him THE UNBELIEF AND IRRELIGION OF THE NIGHT, and yet there are streaks of sunny dawn.
II. The Christian man has MUCH IN HIS OWN HISTORY THAT SPEAKS OF THE NIGHT, and yet there is morning there too.
III. The Christian man sees that IN NATIONS WHERE THE PURE GOSPEL OF CHRIST PERVADES THE PEOPLE, WE HAVE THE HOPE OF THE WORLD.
IV. THE CHRISTLESS MAN MAY ASK, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? as well as the Christian. (W. M. Statham.)
A momentous inquiry
I. Let us see how this inquiry will apply to THE WORLD IN GENERAL The world commenced with a bright and sinless morning. But early in the history of our race, the power of the tempter was so successfully wielded, that the bright morning was succeeded by a day of dark clouds and desolating storms. With the growth of the worlds population the overspreading darkness grew until God could bear with the wickedness of the world no more. After the deluge the world started anew from another head. Old crimes, old corruptions, quickly regained their sway. Long centuries came and passed away. The moral heavens grew darker as time rolled by, and as the worlds inhabitants increased in numbers. Here and there only was there a ray of light shining amid the abounding darkness. Outside of Judea there was not much to dispel the darkness. Greece, somewhat enlightened, furnished a Socrates and a Plato. But Greece, because of her crimes and vices, soon went down to ruin. The once magnificent empires, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome, were alike involved in the moral night of error and sin, and their greatness, once so commanding, and their glory, once so brilliant, have passed away. Indeed, in all succeeding ages, and among all the peoples of the earth, the darkness has prevailed. What prospect is there for this sin-darkened world? We may respond in the words of the prophet: The morning cometh. The long night of captivity, of error, of wrong, of violence shall give place to the glorious day, wherein the ransomed of the Lord everywhere shall rejoice in that liberty with which God makes His people free.
II. How will the inquiry of our text apply to ISAIAHS TIME? It was indeed for the chosen people a time of darkness. The Jews were captives in Babylon. Isaiah had a grander vision and saw another morning. He saw the breaking day, and told of the advent of the promised Messiah, who was to be the light and the glory of the world. The vision which Isaiah saw we also are permitted to see. We see the complete fulfilment of many of the predictions of the prophet. And there are the signs, which will not fail, that his grandest visions will be realised.
III. How will this inquiry, Watchman, what of the night? apply to our OWN TIMES?
1. Glance for a moment at the progress that has been made in our times in science and in art.
2. Ours has been a time of moral progress.
3. The religious progress of the world is remarkable.
4. All around us are signs of improvement.
IV. How will this inquiry, Watchman, what of the night? apply to OURSELVES PERSONALLY?
1. There is the night of scepticism, or partial scepticism, in which some are involved. To the earnest and sincere inquirer the response must be, The morning cometh,
2. There is a night of worldliness. For the worldly the morning waiteth. Christ stands at the door and knocks. He is the light and the life of men.
3. There is a night of penitential sorrow. For every awakened, penitent, and believing one the morning cometh.
4. There is the night of suffering. The morning cometh, when the wounds of the sorrowing shall be healed, and when their sorrow shall be turned into joy.
5. The Christian worker may sometimes inquire, Watchman, what of the night? Learn to labour faithfully and to wait.
6. While the morning cometh for all who willingly hear and obey the Gospel, the night also cometh for the disobedient and unbelieving. (D. D.Currie.)
Heathen darkness and Gospel light
1. There is something to encourage us in the interest now taken in missions as compared with a century ago. We can fairly point to what is done for missions as a proof of the vitality and the power of Christian principles, evidence at once of the influence which Christianity exerts on its disciples, and earnest of its ultimate triumph.
2. But looking at the dark night of heathendom in answer to the question, What of the night? it is scarcely possible to present its condition in colours that are too dark. We speak of the wickedness of our home population, and bad enough it is; but if you remember how much is done to discourage it; how a healthy public opinion rebukes it; how Christianity grapples with it, and creates an atmosphere which is inimical to its existence, so that those who practise it are made to feel ashamed; and when you consider, on the other hand, how in many parts of heathendom wickedness is actually deified, how the very gods they worship are incarnations of vice, and personifications of every evil passion; how in many instances licentiousness and cruelty are enjoined as part of their religious rites,–when you think of all that, you can understand that the wickedness at home is nothing compared with that which exists in heathen lands. To some minds the most affecting consideration of all is the dishonour done to the Almighty by their religious beliefs and ceremonies.
3. But is the Gospel an appropriate remedy for the evils of which we speak? You want the world to be brought back to God, and nothing but the Gospel of Christ will suffice for that. Let men say what they will, the world is not today what it was when Christianity dawned upon it. Then it was wrapt in total darkness–a darkness that might be felt. Now the light of the Gospel is penetrating the darkest parts of the earth, and many nations of the world are being permeated with and moulded by the influence which it exerts. Moreover, it is advancing.
4. When the Church enters on her work with the zeal and enthusiasm which it ought to excite; when she drains her resources, and strains every nerve to secure success; when she prays, and labours, and toils for it; when she gives the bulk of her property to it; when she sends out her noblest sons, and puts forth her best energies, then, perhaps, she may begin to talk about expecting the conversion of the world! Think of what Christ has done for you, and then bestir yourselves to take an active interest in this stupendous work, and to make some sacrifices for its extension. (W. Landels, D. D.)
Inquire ye: return, come
Inquire; return; come
I. INQUIRE.
1. Where? Where should a people inquire, but at their God? (Isa 8:19-20).
2. How? With humility, reverence, and desire of knowledge.
3. When? In the morning of thy years. The devil is a false sexton, and sets the clock too slow, that the night comes ere we be aware. Tarry not, then, till your piles of usuries, heaps of deceits, mountains of blasphemies, have caused God to hide Himself, and will not be found. There is a sera nimis hora, time too late, which Esau fell unluckily into, when he sought the blessing with tears, and could not find it.
II. RETURN from your sins by repentance.
III. COME home to God by obedience. (T. Adams.)
Destiny determined by conduct
For ourselves, what need we of oracles? Our future win be in all essential things exactly as we make it. The sunshine or the shadow of our lives is less in our surroundings than ourselves. The oracle of God to man is not silence; St. Paul gave it long ago, God win render to every man according to his works, etc. Rom 2:6-11). (Dean Farrar, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. The burden of Dumah – “The oracle concerning Dumah.”] Pro Dumah, Codex R. Meiri habet Edom; and so the Septuagint, Vid. Kimchi ad h. l. Biblia Michaelis, Halae, 1720, not. ad l. See also De Rossi. Bishop Lowth translates the prophecy thus: –
11. THE ORACLE CONCERNING DUMAH.
A voice crieth to me from Seir:
Watchman, what from the night?
Watchman, what from the night?
12. The watchman replieth: –
The morning cometh, and also the night.
If ye will inquire, inquire ye: come again.
This differs very little from our common Version. One of Kennicott’s MSS., and one of my own, omit the repetition, “Watchman, what from the night?”
This prophecy, from the uncertainty of the occasion on which it was uttered, and from the brevity of the expression, is extremely obscure. The Edomites as well as the Jews were subdued by the Babylonians. They inquire of the prophet how long their subjection is to last: he intimates that the Jews should be delivered from their captivity; not so the Edomites. Thus far the interpretation seems to carry with it some degree of probability. What the meaning of the last line may be, I cannot pretend to divine. In this difficulty the Hebrew MSS. give no assistance. The MSS. of the Septuagint, and the fragments of the other Greek Versions, give some variations, but no light. This being the case, I thought it best to give an exact literal translation of the whole two verses, which may serve to enable the English reader to judge in some measure of the foundation of the various interpretations that have been given of them.
The burden of Dumah. – R. D. Kimchi says, “His father understood this of the destruction of Dumah (one of the cities of the Ishmaelites) by the inhabitants of Seir; and that they inquired of the prophet to know the particular time in which God had given them a commission against it. The prophet answered: The morning – the time of success to you, cometh, is just at hand; and the night – the time of utter destruction to the inhabitants of Dumah, is also ready.”
I have heard the words applied in the way of general exhortation.
1. Every minister of God is a watchman. He is continually watching for the safety and interests of his people, and looking for the counsel of God that he may be properly qualified to warn and to comfort.
2. Such are often called to denounce heavy judgments; they have the burden of the word of the Lord to denounce against the impenitent, the backslider, the lukewarm, and the careless.
3. When the watchman threatens judgments, some are awakened, and some mock: Watchman, what of the night? “What are the judgments thou threatenest, and when are they to take place?”
4. To this question, whether seriously or tauntingly proposed, the watchman answers:
1. The morning cometh – there is a time of repentance granted; a morning of God’s long – suffering kindness now appears: and also the night – the time in which God will no longer wait to be gracious, but will cut you off as cumberers of the ground.
2. But if you will inquire seriously how you are to escape God’s judgments, inquire ye.
3. There is still a door of hope; continue to pray for mercy.
4. Return from your iniquities.
5. Come to God, through Christ, that ye may obtain salvation.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of Dumah; either,
1. Of a part of Arabia, so called from Dumah, one of Ishmaels race, Gen 25:14; 1Ch 1:30. Or rather,
2. Of Edom or Idumea, as seems most probable from the mention of Mount Seir, which was a part of Edom; which may here be called Dumah, either by an abbreviation, or cutting off the first letter from Idumea, as Ram is put for Aram, 1Ch 2:9; Job 32:2, or rather prophetically and sarcastically; for Dumah signifies silent; whereby he intimates that Edom, which was much given to vain boasting and railing against God, and against his people, as we read elsewhere, should be brought to silence and utter ruin. And such new, and enigmatical, and significant names are elsewhere given by the prophets to divers known places, as Babylon is called Sheshach, Jer 25:26, and Egypt Mazor, &c. He, to wit, Dumah, or the people of Dumah, of whom he speaks, or one of them in the name and by the appointment of the rest.
Calleth to me; to the watchman, as appears by the following words; for the prophet delivers his prophecy in the form of a dialogue between the people and the watchman.
Out of Seir; out of Edom, which is frequently called Seir as Gen 32:3; 36:8; 2Ch 20:10; 25:11, &c.
Watchman; whereby he means either,
1. The prophet Isaiah, whom they call watchman, either seriously, or in scorn, because the prophets were so called by God, and by the people of the Jews; or,
2. The watchman of Edom, whom they had set, as people use to do in times of great danger.
What of the night? the night is taken either,
1. Metaphorically, for a time of tribulation. So they ask the prophet what he hath to say concerning that night of calamity which he had so long and oft threatened to them, whereof as yet they saw no appearance. Or,
2. properly, the night being the proper and chief time in which the watchmans care is most necessary, because then their enemies had opportunity to do them most harm. So the people are supposed to come to him very early in the morning, to inquire what had happened in the night; which shows a state of great perplexity and fear, which might well be called a burden, both because fear in itself is a great torment, and because this fear was a sign or presage of their approaching miseries.
What of the night? the repetition of the same words shows the greatness of their solicitude and fear.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Dumaha tribe and regionof Ishmael in Arabia (Gen 25:14;1Ch 1:30); now called Dumahthe Stony, situated on the confines of Arabia and the Syriandesert; a part put for the whole of Edom. VITRINGAthinks “Dumah,” Hebrew, “silence,” is hereused for Idumea, to imply that it was soon to be reduced to silenceor destruction.
Seirthe principalmountain in Idumea, south of the Dead Sea, in Arabia-Petra. “Hecalleth” ought to be rather, “There is a call fromSeir.”
to meIsaiah. So theheathen Balak and Ahaziah received oracles from a Hebrew prophet.
Watchmanthe prophet(Isa 62:6; Jer 6:17),so called, because, like a watchman on the lookout from a tower, heannounces future events which he sees in prophetic vision (Hab 2:1;Hab 2:2).
what of the nightWhattidings have you to give as to the state of the night? Rather, “Whatremains of the night?” How much of it is past? [MAURER].”Night” means calamity (Job 35:10;Mic 3:6), which, then, in thewars between Egypt and Assyria, pressed sore on Edom; or on Judah(if, as BARNES thinks, thequestion is asked in mockery of the suffering Jews in Babylon). Therepetition of the question marks, in the former view, theanxiety of the Idumeans.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The burden of Dumah,…. Whether this prophecy concerns the Edomites or Idumeans, or whether the Arabians, particularly the Dumean Arabians, is a question, since Dumah was a son of Ishmael,
Ge 25:14 and there was a place in Arabia called Dumatha y; and Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it here of Dumah the son of Ishmael; but inasmuch as mention is made of Seir, a mountain, which belonged to the Edomites, Ge 36:8 and a distinct prophecy afterwards follows concerning Arabia, it is more generally thought that Dumah signifies Edom or Idumea; the Septuagint version renders it, the vision of Idumea; and the Arabic version calls it, a prophecy concerning Edom and Seir; and Jarchi, by Dumah, understands Edom; and Kimchi himself observes, that in a book of R. Meir’s, it was found written,
“the burden of Duma, the burden of Edom.”
Jerom says, Duma is not the whole province of Idumea, but a certain country in it, that lay to the south, twenty miles distant from a city of Palestine, in his days called Eleutheropolis; and further observes, that some of the Hebrews read “Roma” for “Duma”, and suppose that the Roman empire is designed; and certain it is, that nothing is more common with them than to call the Roman empire, and Rome itself, by the name of Edom, and the Romans, or Christians, Edomites z:
he calleth to me out of Seir; a mountain inhabited by the Edomites, the posterity of Esau, so called from Seir the Horite, Ge 36:8. The Targum understands this of God calling from heaven to the prophet to prophesy; and Jarchi of an angel, or a prophet out of Seir, calling to God, who he supposes is meant by the watchman; but it seems best to interpret it of an Edomite, or an inhabitant of Mount Seir, calling to the watchman, and saying, as follows:
watchman, what of the night? watchman, what of the night? what time of night is it? what o’clock is it? how much of the night is gone, and what remains to come? it is the business of watchmen to give or tell the time of night: or, “what from the night?” a what has happened since it was night? hast thou observed nothing? is not the enemy nigh, or danger at hand? or, “what” sayest thou “concerning the night?” the night of darkness, affliction, and distress, in which we are, when will it be over? the question is repeated, as is usual with persons in a panic, and fearing the watchman should not hear them the first time; or it may denote one coming after another in a fright, asking the same question. Some, by the watchman, understand God himself, as Jarchi and Abarbinel, who is Israel’s keeper, Ps 121:4 where the same word is used as here; and well agrees with God, who is the keeper and preserver of all men in a way of providence; and of his own people in a way of grace; and who, as he watches over the evil of sin, to bring the evil of affliction or punishment for it; so he watches over his, to do good unto them; and, as the times and seasons are in his power only, and are known by him, it is most proper to apply unto him. Others think Christ is meant, as Cocceius; and so the Jews say b, this is Metatron the keeper of Israel, which with them is one of the names of the Messiah; and to whom this character of a watchman agrees, as he is the shepherd of his flock, and the keeper of his people; and who, as the omniscient God, knows all things that are, and shall be, and which will quickly come to pass: though it may be best of all to understand it of a prophet or prophets, who were called watchmen under the Old Testament, Isa 21:6 as ministers of the word are under the New, in allusion to shepherds and watchmen of cities; and whose business it is, as to show sinners the danger of their ways, and to arouse sleepy saints, so to give the time of night, that the churches of Christ may know whereabout they are. Now let it be observed, that this prophecy may refer to the times when Dumah, Edom, or Idumea, was possessed by the Jews, according to the prophecy in Nu 24:18 as it was before the coming of Christ; Herod, an Idumean, was upon the throne of Judea when he came, at which time the Jews and Idumeans were mixed together; and the latter, at least many of them, embraced the Jewish religion c, and so had knowledge of the Messiah and his coming, after which they may be thought to be inquiring here. The Mosaic dispensation was a night season, there was much obscurity in it, the shadows of darkness were stretched out on it; and though there was the moon of the ceremonial law, and there were the stars the prophets, yet the sun of righteousness was not risen; and it was a time of gross darkness with the Gentile world: now one or more of these proselyted Idumeans, or of the Jews among them, may be supposed to be inquiring of the prophet or prophets of the Lord in their time, how much of this night was gone, when it would be over, or the Messiah would appear, and bring in the morning, and make the bright day of the Gospel dispensation. And again, as Edom and Seir were typical of Rome Papal, or the Romish antichrist, the person calling out to the watchman may design such of the people of God in the midst of them, for which see
Re 18:4 who, sensible of the night of darkness they are in, are looking for and inquiring after latter day light and glory. The Targum of the whole verse is,
“the burden of the cup of curse, to give Dumah to drink: to me he calls out of heaven, prophet, declare unto them the prophecy; prophet, declare unto them what shall hereafter come to pass.”
y Vid. Hiller. Onomasticon Sacr. p. 797. z Vid. Buxtorf. Lexic. Talmud. col. 30, 31, &c. a “quid accidit ex quo nox est?” Vatablus. b Zohar in Exod. fol. 54. 2. c Joseph. Antiqu. l. 13. c. 9. sect. 1. Ed. Hudson.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This oracle consists of a question, addressed to the prophet from Seir, and of the prophet’s reply. Seir is the mountainous country to the south of Palestine, of which Edom took possession after the expulsion of the Horites. Consequently the Dumah of the heading cannot be either the Duma of Eastern Hauran (by the side of which we find also a Tema and a Buzan); or the Duma in the high land of Arabia, on the great Nabataean line of traffic between the northern harbours of the Red Sea and Irak, which bore the cognomen of the rocky ( el – gendel ) or Syrian Duma (Gen 25:14); or the Duma mentioned in the Onom., which was seventeen miles from Eleutheropolis (or according to Jerome on this passage, twenty) “ in Daroma hoc est ad australem plagam ,” and was probably the same place as the Duma in the mountains of Judah – that is to say, judging from the ruins of Daume, to the south-east of Eleutheropolis (see the Com. on Jos 15:52), a place out of which Jerome has made “a certain region of Idumaea, near which are the mountains of Seir.” The name as it stands here is symbolical, and without any demonstrable topographical application. Dumah is deep, utter silence, and therefore the land of the dead (Psa 94:17; Psa 115:17). The name is turned into an emblem of the future fate of Edom, by the removal of the a sound from the beginning of the word to the end. It becomes a land of deathlike stillness, deathlike sleep, deathlike darkness. “A cry comes to me out of Seir: Watchman, how far is it in the night? Watchman, how far in the night?” Luther translates the participle correctly, “they cry” ( m an ruft ; compare the similar use of the participle in Isa 30:24; Isa 33:4). For the rest, however, we have deviated from Luther’s excellent translation, for the purpose of giving to some extent the significant change from and . The more winged form of the second question is expressive of heightened, anxious urgency and haste. The wish is to hear that it is very late in the night, and that it will soon be past; min is partitive (Saad.), “What part of the night are we at now?” Just as a sick man longs for a sleepless night to come to an end, and is constantly asking what time it is, so do they inquire of the prophet out of Edom, whether the night of tribulation will not be soon over. We are not to understand, however, that messengers were really sent out of Edom to Isaiah; the process was purely a pneumatical one. The prophet stands there in Jerusalem, in the midst of the benighted world of nations, like a sentry upon the watch tower; he understands the anxious inquiries of the nations afar off, and answers them according to the word of Jehovah, which is the plan and chronological measure of the history of the nations, and the key to its interpretation. What, then, is the prophet’s reply? He lets the inquirer “see through a glass darkly.”
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Watchman Interrogated. | B. C. 714. |
11 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.
This prophecy concerning Dumah is very short, and withal dark and hard to be understood. Some think that Dumah is a part of Arabia, and that the inhabitants descended from Dumah the sixth son of Ishmael, as those of Kedar (Isa 21:16; Isa 21:17) from Ishmael’s second son, Gen 25:13; Gen 25:14. Others, because Mount Seir is here mentioned, by Dumah understand Idumea, the country of the Edomites. Some of Israel’s neighbours are certainly meant, and their distress is foretold, not only for warning to them to prepare them for it, but for warning to Israel not to depend upon them, or any of the nations about them, for relief in a time of danger, but upon God only. We must see all creature confidences failing us, and feel them breaking under us, that we may not lay more weight upon them than they will bear. But though the explication of this prophecy be difficult, because we have no history in which we find the accomplishment of it, yet the application will be easy. We have here,
1. A question put by an Edomite to the watchman. Some one or other called out of Seir, somebody that was more concerned for the public safety and welfare than the rest, who were generally careless and secure. As the man of Macedonia, in a vision, desired Paul to come over and help them (Acts xvi. 9), so this man of Mount Seir, in a vision, desired the prophet to inform and instruct them. He calls not many; it is well there are any, that all are not alike unconcerned about the things that belong to the public peace. Some out of Seir ask advice of God’s prophets, and are willing to be taught, when many of God’s Israel heed nothing. The question is serious: What of the night? It is put to a proper person, the watchman, whose office it is to answer such enquiries. He repeats the question, as one in care, as one in earnest, and desirous to have an answer. Note, (1.) God’s prophets and ministers are appointed to be watchmen, and we are to look upon them as such. They are as watchmen in the city in a time of peace, to see that all be safe, to knock at every door by personal enquiries (“Is it locked? Is the fire safe?”), to direct those that are at a loss, and check those that are disorderly, Son 3:3; Son 5:7. They are as watchmen in the camp in time of war, Ezek. xxxiii. 7. They are to take notice of the motions of the enemy and to give notice of them, to make discoveries and then give warning; and in this they must deny themselves. (2.) It is our duty to enquire of the watchmen, especially to ask again and again, What of the night? for watchmen wake when other sleep. [1.] What time of the night? After a long sleep in sin and security, is it not time to rise, high time to awake out of sleep? Rom. xiii. 11. We have a great deal of work to do, a long journey to go; is it not time to be stirring? “Watchman, what o’clock is it? After a long dark night is there any hope of the day dawning?” [2.] What tidings of the night? What from the night? (so some); “what vision has the prophet had to-night? We are ready to receive it.” Or, rather, “What occurs to night? What weather is it? What news?” We must expect an alarm, and never be secure. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; we must prepare to receive the alarm, and resolve to keep our ground, and then take the first hint of danger, and to our arms presently, to our spiritual weapons.
2. The watchman’s answer to this question. The watchman was neither asleep nor dumb; though it was a man of Mount Seir that called to him, he was ready to give him an answer: The morning comes. He answers, (1.) By way of prediction: “There comes first a morning of light, and peace, and opportunity; you will enjoy one day of comfort more; but afterwards comes a night of trouble and calamity.” Note, In the course of God’s providence it is usual that morning and night are counterchanged and succeed each other. Is it night? Yet the morning comes, and the day-spring knows his place, Ps. xxx. 5. Is it day? Yet the night comes also. If there be a morning of youth and health, there will come a night of sickness and old age; if a morning of prosperity in the family, in the public, yet we must look for changes. But God usually gives a morning of opportunity before he sends a night of calamity, that his own people may be prepared for the storm and others left inexcusable. (2.) By way of excitement: If you will enquire, enquire. Note, It is our wisdom to improve the present morning in preparation for the night that is coming after it. “Enquire, return, come. Be inquisitive, be penitent, be willing and obedient.” The manner of expression is very observable, for we are put to our choice what we will do: “If you will enquire, enquire; if not, it is at your peril; you cannot say but you have a fair offer made you.” We are also urged to be at a point: “If you will, say so, and do not stand pausing; what you will do do quickly, for it is no time to trifle.” Those that return and come to God will find they have a great deal of work to do and but a little time to do it in, and therefore they have need to be busy.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verse 11-12: CONCERNING EDOM
1. A region of Edom, near Mt Seir, Dumah was inhabited by the descendants of Esau – perpetual enemies of Israel.
2. In this brief passage Dumah is. pictured as dwelling in darkness (night) and as being anxious about the future. (Let it be noted that “night” is used as a symbol of: trouble, trial, struggle, sorrow and death.)
3. The question they direct to the watchman is: “What time (period) of the night is it?” It seemed to this people that the night was exceedingly long and they were wondering about the future.
4. The reply of the prophet is a bit indefinite: there are signs of both morning and night.
a. It may be that he saw “morning” for Judah, but “night” for Edom, or
b. He may mean to imply that, by her own attitude and choice, Edom will determine which it will be, (Jos 24:15).
5. In tender compassion, however, the prophet, in essence, says to Edom: “If you are sincere, then turn from your idols and come to the light of morning!”
6. But, she rejected that gracious invitation and passed into age-long night.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. The burden of Dumah. It is evident from Gen 25:14, that this nation was descended from a son of Ishmael, to whom this name was given, and hence his posterity are called Dumeans. (70) The cause of their destruction, which is here foretold, cannot be known with certainty, and this prophecy is obscure on account of its brevity. Yet we ought always to remember what I have formerly remarked, that it was proper that the Jews should be fortified against the dreadful stumbling-blocks which were approaching. When so many changes take place, particularly if the world is turned upside down, and if there is a rapid succession of events, we are perplexed and entertain doubts whether all things happen at random and by chance, or are regulated by the providence of God. The Lord therefore shews that it is he who effects this revolution, and renews the state of the world, that we may learn that nothing here is of long duration, and may have our whole heart and our whole aim directed to the reign of Christ, which alone is everlasting.
Since therefore these changes were near at hand, it was proper that the Jews should be forewarned, that when the event followed, they should call them to remembrance, contemplate the wisdom of God, and strengthen their faith. Besides, there is no room to doubt that the Jews were harassed by various thoughts, when they saw the whole world shaken on all sides, and desired to have some means of avoiding those storms and tempests; for we always wish to be in safety and beyond the reach of danger. Some might have wished to find new abodes, that they might better provide for their own safety; but when storms raged on every hand, they were reminded to remain at home, and to believe that no safer habitation could anywhere be found than in the company of the godly.
This example ought also to be a warning to many who separate themselves from the Church through fear of danger, and do not consider that a greater danger awaits them out of it. These thoughts might therefore distress the Jews, for we have seen in the eighth chapter that their minds were restless. (71) When they were thus tossed about in uncertainty, and fleeing to foreign nations, they would naturally lose heart; and this, I think, is the chief reason why the destruction of the Dumeans is foretold, namely, that the Jews might seek God with their whole heart, and that above all things they might commit to his care the safety of the Church. Let us therefore learn to keep ourselves within the Church, though she be afflicted by various calamities, and let us bear patiently the fatherly chastisements which are inflicted on children, instead of choosing to go astray, that we may drink the dregs which choke the wicked. (Psa 75:8; Isa 51:17.) What shall become of strangers and reprobates, if children are thus chastised? (1Pe 4:17.) Yet it is possible that the chosen people suffered some molestation from the people of God, when their neighbors assailed them on every side.
Out of Seir. Mount Seir, as we learn from the book of Genesis, was a mountain of the Edomites. (Gen 14:6.) Under the name of this mountain he includes the whole kingdom. In this place he represents, as in a picture, those things which called for an earnest address.
Watchman, what of the night? It is probable that the Edomites, who put the question, were not at a great distance from them, and that they were solicitous about the danger as one in which they were themselves involved. He introduces them as inquiring at the “watchman,” not through curiosity, but with a view to their own advantage, what he had observed in “the night,” just as when one has asked a question, a second and a third person follow him, asking the same thing. This is the meaning of the repetition, that the inquiry is made not by one individual only, but by many persons, as commonly happens in cases of doubt and perplexity, when every man is afraid on his own account, and does not believe what is said by others.
(70) Bogus footnote
(71) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
A MOMENTOUS INQUIRY
Isa. 21:11. Watchman, what of the night?
Some calamity or sad moral condition is foreseen by the prophet. Moral evil is fitly compared to darkness. The term night is used to express error and sin. This was a time of darkness. The burden of Dumah was: Watchman, what of the night? What is the prospect? Are there any signs of coming day?
The world in its moral history had been for the most part in darkness. It commenced with a bright and sinless morning; but this was succeeded by a time of dark clouds and desolating storms. After the Deluge the world started anew from another head. The new world, however, differed but little from the old. Then God called Abraham, and made his seed His chosen people, through whom He might accomplish His beneficent designs. Outside of Judea there was not much to dispel the darkness. Greece furnished a Socrates and a Plato; but because of her vices and crimes Greece soon went down to ruin. The once magnificent empires Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome were alike involved in the moral night of error and sin. We may inquire, as the voice out of Seir did, Watchman, what of the night? What prospect is there for this sin-darkened world? And we may respond in the words of the prophet: The morning cometh. The morning cometh; but also the nighta night whose duration we may not be able to tell.
I. How will this inquiry apply to Isaiahs time? It was indeed for the chosen people a time of darkness. But the day is about to break! The breathings of better things come like the morning air. The morning cometh, but also the nightthe morning to the sad-hearted Jews, but the night to othersto the Idumeans, who had long cherished unfriendly feelings to the Jews, and appear to have rejoiced in their sorrow. The voice from Dumah was probably a sneering taunt, Where is now your God in whom ye trusted?
Isaiah had a grander vision and saw another morning. The long night of the olden dispensation still lingered, but the prophet saw the breaking day, and told of the advent of One who was to be the light and glory of the world (Isa. 9:6-7, Isa. 60:2-3; Isa. 60:20). The vision which Isaiah saw we also are permitted to see. To him it was the Saviour to come, to teach, to suffer, to scatter the darkness; to us it is the Saviour who has come, and taught, and suffered, and died, and rose again, and whose glorious light has not only gilded the mountain-tops, but is spreading over all the whole land. And there are signs which will not fail that his grandest visions will be realised.
II. How will this inquiry apply to our own times?
1. What mysteries has science unveiled! How great the historical and geographical research of our day! How successful our time has been in bringing unity out of the variety of the universe and harmony out of its apparent discord!
2. Ours has been a time of moral progress. Slavery has been abolished from our realm. A great work has been done for the arrest of intemperance. The cause of missions has grown into large proportions.
3. The religious progress of the world is remarkable. Religious liberty is rapidly spreading. There is encouraging advance in the social or loving element. In the Church the working element is growing. Never has the giving element assumed such proportions. Amid this varied growth there is a strong tendency towards Christian unity. The enemy is vigilant; it is yet the night of battle, of temptation, and of peril, but the morning surely cometh.
III. How will this inquiry apply to ourselves personally?
1. There is a night of scepticism, or partial scepticism, in which some are involved. There are two classes of sceptics: some are sceptics because they want to be so; some are honest doubters, as Thomas the disciple wasconstitutionally a doubter, but honest withal. And therefore he did not turn away from the light, and My Lord and my God! exclaimed the enlightened, convinced, and believing Thomas. To the earnest and sincere inquirer the response must be, The morning cometh; if thou art willing to be convinced, thou art not far from the kingdom of God. If thou shouldst reject Jesus, whither wilt thou go for a refuge and for a guide?
2. There is a night of worldliness. Many are living for selfish gratification and for this life only. For the worldly the morning waiteth. Behold, Christ stands at the door and knocks! He is the light and the life of men; with His entrance into the heart the morning cometh.
3. There is a night of penitential sorrow. When the morning cometh to the awakened sinner, the light is sometimes, as with Saul of Tarsus, a blinding as well as revealing light. To himthe sorrowing, praying, believing penitentthe morning came. And so it ever is.
4. There is the night of suffering. There never comes an hour in this world when suffering is unknown. Count it all joy, if it must needs be that ye shall suffer.
5. There is the night of weariness and disappointment. The Christian worker, toil-worn, may sometimes inquire, Watchman, what of the night? He has wrongly hoped, it may be, at the same time to carry the seed-basket, to put in the sickle, and to bring his sheaves with him. Learn to labour faithfully and to wait. The Son of God is come!
CONCLUSION.Fail not to remember that while the morning cometh for all who willingly hear and obey the Gospel, the night also cometh for the disobedient and unbelieving. Come, ye who wander in the darkness, while yet there is room, to Him who is the bright and morning star, the sun of righteousness, the light and life of the world, and for you there will come a morning which will be the beginning of a blissful, glorious, and never-ending day.D. D. Currie: Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi. pp. 213215.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE BURDEN OF DUMAH
Isa. 21:11-12. The burden of Dumah, &c.
There are three distinct prophecies in this chapter, and they are all termed burdens, as denoting heavy judgments. The first respects Babylon; the next, Dumah, Idumea, or Edom, inhabiting Mount Seir; and the last, Arabia.
The fall of Babylon by the Medes and Persians is announced under the form of a watchman stationed to discover approaching objects, with orders to declare what he saw (Isa. 21:6-9). It was an event peculiarly interesting to Judah. Babylon was the floor on which Judah was to be thrashed, till the refuse should be separated from the grain. The event which destroyed the one delivered the other (Isa. 21:10).
The fall of Babylon was interesting to other nations as well as Judah; particularly to the Idumeans or Edomites, who were reduced to servitude within a few years after the taking of Jerusalem. Now, seeing that Judah had received a favourable report, Edom must needs inquire of the watchman (like Pharaohs baker) of Joseph, after he had announced good tidings to the butler, whether there was nothing equally favourable to them. [We are not to understand, however, that messengers were really sent out of Edom to Isaiah; the process was merely a pneumatical one.Delitzsch.] The answer is, NOTHING; but, on the contrary, the lot of Judahs enemies, a burden.
The revolution would indeed, for a time, excite the joy of the conquered nations (chap. Isa. 14:7-8); but the Edomites should meet with a disappointment. To them a change of government should only be a change of masters. The fair morning of their hopes should issue in a long and dark night of despondency. In the day of Babylons fall, according to the prayer of the captives, when every prisoner was lifting up his head in hope, Edom was remembered, as excepted from an act of grace, on account of his singular atrocities (Psa. 137:7-9).
The Edomites were very impatient under the Babylonish yoke, and very importunate in their inquiries after deliverance; reiterating the question, What of the night? Watchman, what of the night? When will this dark and long captivity be ended? And now that their hopes are repulsed by the watchmans answer, they are exceedingly unwilling to relinquish them. Loth to depart with an answer so ungrateful, they linger, and inquire again and again, in hopes that the sentence may be reversed. But they are told that all their lingering is in vain. If ye will inquire, inquire ye, return, come again; yet shall your answer be the same.
And what was the crime of the Edomites that should draw down upon them this heavy burden, this irresistible doom? Their inveterate hatred of the people of God (Oba. 1:10). Perhaps there was no nation whose treatment of Israel was so invariably spiteful, and whose enmity was accompanied with such aggravating circumstances. They were descended from Abraham and Isaac, and were treated by Israel, at the time they came out of Egypt, as brethren; but as they then returned evil for good (Num. 20:14-21), so it was ever afterwards. Their conduct, on the melancholy occasion of Jerusalem being taken by the Chaldeans, was infamous (Oba. 1:10-16).
The passage affords a tremendous lesson to ungodly sinner, and especially to those who, having descended from pious parents, and possessed religious advantages, are, notwithstanding, distinguished by their enmity to true religion. The situation of the Edomites rendered it impossible for them to be so ignorant as other heathen nations of the God of Israel; and their hatred appears to have been proportioned to their knowledge. Such is the character of great numbers in the religious world. They have both seen and hated the truth. The consequence will be, if grace prevent not, they will flatter themselves awhile with vain hopes; but, ere they are aware, their morning will be changed into an endless night.
Edom was once addressed in the language of kindness and brotherly affection; but having turned a deaf ear to this, all their inquiries after deliverance are now utterly disregarded. Such will be the end of sinners. When once the Judge hath risen up and shut the door, they may begin to knock, may inquire and return, and come again, but all will be in vain; a night of ever-during darkness must be their portion.
The passage also, taken in its connection, holds up to us the different situation of the friends and enemies of God under public calamities. It is natural in such circumstances for all to inquire, What of the night? Watchman, what of the night? Each, also, may experience a portion of successive light and darkness in his lot. But the grand difference lies in the issue of things. Gods people were thrashed on the floor of Babylon; and, when purified, were presently restored. To them there arose light in darkness. Weeping continued for a night, but joy came in the morning. Not so with Edom; their night came last. Such will be the portion of Gods enemies: they may wish for changes, in hope of their circumstances being bettered; but the principal thing wanting is a change in themselves. While strangers to this, the oracles of Heaven prophesy no good concerning them. A morning may come, but the night cometh also.Andrew Fuller: Complete Works, pp. 514, 515.
The whole Bible has, as its common and pervading argument, one mighty subject, which, appearing in a thousand different forms, is substantially the same in every page of the sacred volume. That subject is, the salvation appointed for the chosen of mankind, and the ruin decreed for those who reject the offer. Therefore when the prophetic Scriptures publish to us promises of peace and denunciations of woe, let us never deem that the Divine Spirit had no ulterior purpose in these predictions. Let us never cast aside the volume and cry that we are not Edom, or Egypt, or Babylon, or Tyre; and that, therefore, we have nothing to do either with their crimes or their punishment. Let us not vainly dream that the mighty machinery of the prophetic messages was put into play merely to call down curses on a few of the temporary dynasties of this perishable world! All Scripture was written for our use, and these springing and germinant prophecies (as they have been called) have a significancy beyond the revolutions of petty kingdoms. They represent, in majestic order and manifest type, the great truths of eternal salvation and eternal ruin; they exhibit, in the sensible language of exterior imagery, what the great Teacher of after-times gave in the higher language of spiritual truth. If the laws of God be uniform and unchangeable, we are justified in reading by this light from heaven the prophetic declarations of the course and principles of His earthly providences.
With such views as these elevating our thoughts beyond the details of perished empires into the mightier truths of the eternal empire of our God, let us reflect briefly upon the words before us.
The prophet appears to introduce himself as addressed in scorn by the people of the land which he is commissioned to warn. Watchman, what of the night? What new report of woe hast thou to unroll, who hast placed thyself as an authorised observer and censurer of our doings? But the prophetical watchmanthe calm commissioner of Heavenreplies, adopting their own language, Yes, the morning (the true morning of hope and peace) cometh, and also the night (the real and terrible night of Gods vengeance); if ye will (if ye are in genuine earnest to inquire), inquire! Return, come. Obtain the knowledge you seek, the knowledge of the way of life; and, acting upon this knowledge, repent and return to the Lord your God.
Regard, then, the guilty Edom that is warned; and the office and answer of the watchman who warns it.
I cannot now undertake to count over the array of those who address the spiritual watchmen of the Church of Christ in tones of derision, and mock their ministry. Some there are who ask the report of the night with utter carelessness as to the reply; some there are who ask it in contempt.
But what is still the duty of him who holds the momentous position of watchman in the city of God? On the occasion before us, remark
1. He did not turn away from the question, in whatever spirit it was asked.
2. He uttered with equal assurance a threat and a promise.
3. He pressed the necessity of care in the study, and earnest inquiry after the nature, of the truth; and he summed up all in an anxious, a cordial, and reiterated invitation to repentance and reconciliation with an offended but pardoning God. Thus, the single verse might be regarded as an abstract of the duties of the ministerial office.W. Archer Butler: Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 339345.
NIGHT AND MORNING
Isa. 21:11-12. Watchman, what of the night?
That there is night in this world few will question. He must be a bold optimist who thinks everything as it is, is for the best possible in the best possible of worlds. Darkness still covers the earth. Gods children, who have a glorious light within them, have a dark night all round about them. Night is the symbol of gloom and suffering; and it is the season of sin. It is moral night, because men love darkness rather than light. Every true-hearted, earnest Christian is a watchman: he watches for his own soul, and for the souls of others; and he longs for the advent of the worlds new morning, when the shadows shall flee away. Regarding the earnest Christian as the person accosted in the text, what are his thoughts and fears about the night? What are his hopes about the morning?
I. When the Christian looks out upon the world, he sees himself surrounded by the night of unbelief and irreligion, and yet he beholds streaks of sunny dawn. There are many things at which if he looked exclusively he would despairmaterialism taught by popular teachers, atheism the creed of not a few, abounding luxury, sensuality defiling and degrading all classes of the community. But, looking beyond these, he sees evidences of Christian faith and hope such as the world never before witnessedSunday-schools, tract societies, home and foreign missions, various organisations for Christian labour, generously supported and efficiently maintained; and, as he looks, he feels that the morning draweth nigh.
II. When the Christian man looks into his own heart, he sees much that speaks of the night, but much also that tells of the coming morning.
III. The Christless man, as well as the Christian, may well ask, What of the night? He may relieve the gloom of his existence by a few sparks of transient merriment, but soon they will be all extinguished; and for him there will be no morning!W. M. Statham: Christian World Pulpit, iii. 193.
Passing from the historical application of this oracle, we observe that it may be taken as setting forth the spirit of inquiry first raised in the soul by the hand of God, the form that inquiry will take, the answer it will receive, and the direction in which it will find ultimate satisfaction.
I. Thoughts on the spirit of religious inquiry. The picture before us is that of a walled city; the middle watch of the night, when the citizens are asleep. But one anxious spirit cannot sleep; he turns out into the dark, silent, deserted street, oppressed by a strange feeling that something is going to happen. He hears the heavy footfall of the watchman pacing to and fro on the city walls. With eagerness not to be repressed, he cries, Watchman, &c. This is symbolical; it has its counterparts in our own time.
1. This restless inquirer is the exception. The many sleep, only one wakes and inquires. The danger is common, but only one feels any apprehension of it. There are multitudes of sinners, few inquirers concerning the way of salvation.
2. The spirit of inquiry appears in an unexpected quarter. A man of Seir, an Edomite, lifts up eager questions; the men of Israel sleep. The old, old story. Many lepers in Israel: Naaman cleansed; ten healed, the Samaritan only returns to give thanks. The boldest ventures of faith were made by the Gentile centurion and the Syro-Phnician woman. Those who pressed into the kingdom were not Scribes and Pharisees, but publicans and sinners. So it is still.
3. The inquiry was well directed. The appeal was not to the citizens who were asleep, but to the watchman who was awake. If you have questions to ask, ask of the man of quick perception, keen sensibility, high standing, broad and firm basis of hope in Christ. Not necessarily of the minister, but of the man who is spiritually wide-awake; he is the true watchman.
4. The inquiry was weighty. What of the night? Is it far spent? When will the day dawn? What of the foe? Are they quiet in their camp? Or are they endeavouring to surprise and capture the city? We have all cause to put questions of corresponding importance.
5. This inquiry was earnest. In some cases the inquiry is listless, is only a matter of compliment; or it is entered upon reluctantly, as an unpleasant duty. But this man is in earnest. He calls again and again. He will be heard; it is a matter of moment to him. He does not know what is about to happen; the watchman should knowplaced high, outlook wide, senses trained. The inquirer will not submit to be disregarded. Oh, for more of this earnestness.
II. Thoughts on the answer.
1. The answer comes through the watchman. Human lips start inquiries, and through human lips the answer comes. One heart is filled with fear; another heart filled with faith must be its helper. Let those to whom the answer has been entrusted give it promptly, clearly, joyfully.
2. The answer declares Gods methods with men. God has two great methods: one has its image in the morning, the other in the night. Let morning set forth compassion, tender mercy, loving gifts; night, judgment, awful anger, heavy inflictions. If the morning be neglected or resisted, then the night will certainly fall upon you. Note the order in which these methods are employed. Morning, fresh, clear, dewy, bracing, beautiful, comes first. So in the history of the world, of the Church, of the individual. First the morning of youth! prize it highly, use it wisely. Upon the sinner comes first the morning of mercy, of invitation, of entreaty and promise. Alas that he should despise and neglect it!
2. But the night comes afterwards! True, the night of death comes to all, but there is an infinite distance between death in Christ and death out of Christ. He who dies in Christ, passes into the eternal day; he who dies out of Christ, is cast into the outer darkness!
Inquireseek to know the way of salvation. Returnas the prodigal from the far country. Comeblessed word! Come penitently, believingly, NOW!J. R. Wood.
Night is suggestive of anxious, perplexed, critical states; e.g., travellers in the desert, voyagers on the ocean, sufferers in the sick-chamber. Very naturally do we transfer such thoughts as these to our spiritual experiences (Psa. 130:1; Psa. 130:8). Our text may be taken as suggestive of the Worlds Cry and the Worlds Hope in all ages.
I. THE WORLDS CRY. What of the night? This is
1. The cry of a soul awakened to its guilt. The very purpose of conviction is to show the sinner his wandering, downward, benighted state. Hence the terror which first views of guilt usually cause. The flash which in the midnight hour shows the traveller the path of safety, also shows him the dreadful precipice which yawns at his feet. When the sinner is aroused from his sinful career, he is bewildered by the many voices of hope and fear, of warning and promise, which greet his ear; he is oppressed with anxiety to know how such a night of danger and heart-searching will end.
2. The cry of a soul struggling with its doubts. The night of mystery often burdens the hearts of true believers, as Job and David found when they struggled with the great problems of life. Life is a new thing to each of us, and many of the same problems perplex us still: e.g., the existence of moral evil, the infinite goodness of God, the truth of Divine revelation. These sometimes press upon us with unusual weight, and shroud us in thick darkness.
3. The cry of the Church in its hours of anxiety and peril. These have been frequent, and have been due to many causes: e.g., persecution from without, indifference within, general ungodliness and unholy living, tides of scepticism. The watchmen of the Church have to keep an earnest and anxious vigil when such nights as these settle upon her.
4. The cry of humanity itself. There are times when not merely a few men are oppressed by the burdens of their time, but when men in the mass become awake to them. The world betrays its keen sense of disease by the strong remedies it employs. Against wide-spread ignorance, it opposes vast educational schemes; for deep-rooted vices, it contrives various measures of reformation; under a sense of the terrible ravages of the war-spirit, it yearns for international peace. Nations, as well as individuals, have trying experiences of the terrors of social and moral night.
II. THE WORLDS HOPE. The morning cometh. In the midst of all the worlds darkness we may cherish this blessed hope (H. E. I., 34213423). But whence is it derived? Solely from the fact that God in Christ is reconciling the world unto Himself. It is along the track of Divine revelation that we look for the bright rays of the morning. There is hope for our race because of what Christ isthe Revealer of God, the Saviour of sinners, the Head of the Church, the Restorer of humanity. The way, then, to help on the dawning of that day we all long to see, is to live in Him, to live for Him. Life derived from Him, and spent for Him, will be truly blessed in itself, and will be a means of blessing others.William Manning.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
b. EDOM AND ARABIA
TEXT: Isa. 21:11-17
11
The burden of Dumah. One calleth unto me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
12
The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: turn ye, come.
13
The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye caravans of Dedanites.
14
Unto him that was thirsty they brought water; the inhabitants of the land of Tema did meet the fugitives with their bread.
15
For they fled away 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, all the glory of Kedar shall fail;
17
and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be few; for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken it.
QUERIES
a.
Why is someone asking the Watchman of the night?
b.
What is the caravan of the Dedanites?
c.
What are the years of a hireling?
PARAPHRASE
The message of God for the land of deathly silence, Edom. Someone from among you keeps calling, calling to me, Prophet-watchman. What part of the night is it? Prophet-watchman, What part of the night is it? Will the morning of relief never come? The Prophet-watchman replies, Yes, there will be a morning of relief to those who take refuge in the Lord, but the night of death and destruction also comes to those who do not see Him. If you wish to know the meaning of Gods message to you, His command to you is turn from your rebellion and come to Him.
The message of God for the land of Arabia. Your land will be occupied by your enemies and be so dangerous that caravans from Dedan will have to hide for their lives. Travelers will have to be secretly given food and water by the people of Tema. The people of the land of Arabia will be fugitives in their own land from the swords and bows of war. An exact time has been fixed for the destruction of Arabialike employers fix a definite time of hiring laborers. One year and the fame of Kedar shall disappear, and her once mighty fighting men will be reduced to only a handful of nomadic tribesmen. This will surely come to pass because Jehovah, the God of Israel, has said it.
COMMENTS
Isa. 21:11-12 DEATH: Dumah is probably the Hebrew word A-dom (Edomred) which the prophet has used as a pun by removing the a sound from the beginning of the word and placing it at the enddutn-A. Dumah means stillness like the silence of death. Edom is the subject of some of the severest judgments of the Old Testament, (Cf. Isa. 34:5 ff; Jer. 49:7 ff; Amo. 1:11-12; Oba. 1:1-21, for examples). Edom is the only neighbor of the Israelites who was not given any promise of mercy from God. She was a nation descended from Esau, brother of Jacob, and thus the Edomites were brothers of the Jews. Esau was a profane person who irreverently sold his birthright for pottage. But Edom was haughty, insolent, irreverent, insensitive and implacable. She not only applauded every tribulation that came upon the Jews, she exploited their misfortunes to her own gain. (see our comments on Obadiah in Mino rProphets, College Press). God pronounced Edoms obliteration. They disappeared as a nation in about 70 A.D. So silence of death fell upon the region of Mt. Seir, Edoms ancient stronghold.
Watchman, what part of the night is it? would be a more literal translation of that phrase. The idea is like that of an ill person suffering through a long night of affliction, repeatedly asking, How long until morning? The question is, Will the night of judgment you pronounce upon us ever break with the dawning of a morning of relief? The watchman (Isaiah) answers, Yes, morning will comerelief comes, but so does the night. In other words, relief comes to those who turn and seek the Lord, but night continues to come to those who do not, That this is the answer is apparent from the phrase, if ye will inquire . . . That is, If you are really inquiring, Edom, then make your inquiry in the form of a penitent turning unto the Lord, and the morning will come to you. If you do not, then the night comes.
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.
QUIZ
1.
What does Dumah mean?
2.
What is the watchmans answer about the night?
3.
What relationship did Edom and Arabia have to the Jews?
4.
What is the main cause of their judgment?
5.
How have these prophecies been fulfilled?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(11) The burden of Dumah.Several places of the name are mentioned in the Old Testament (Gen. 25:14; Jos. 15:52), but these are not in the direction of Seir. Probably here, as in Isa. 21:1 and Isa. 22:1, we have a mystical prophetic name, Edom being altered to Dumah, i.e., silence, as in Psa. 94:17; Psa. 115:17, the silence of the grave. In this case, as in the preceding, there is first the oppressive silence of expectancy, and then of desolation.
He calleth . . . out of Seir . . .The subject is indefinite: one calleth. The watchman hears the silence of the night broken by a voice from Seir. It is probable that the prophet had actually been consulted by the Edomites, and that this is his answer to their enquiries. The cry is, Watchman, what part of the night? In the weary night of calamity the sufferer desires to know what hour it is, how much of the darkness still remains to be lived through. The answer is mysterious and ill-boding. There is a morning coming, a time of light and hope, but the day which is so opened closes too quickly in the blackness of night (Amo. 5:18). The words sum up the whole future of Edom, subject as it was to one conqueror after another, rising now and then, as under Herod and the Romans, and then sinking to its present desolation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11, 12. These verses contain a single prophecy, one entirely distinct from all others.
Burden of Dumah Strictly, “Dumah” means silence. The word is used here probably as emblematic of the long silence that is to come over Edom and its capital, and hence here means Edom.
He calleth to me out of Seir “Seir” was the mountainous tract of Edom. In a rocky defile within this mountainous tract was the capital city, Sela; a name taken from its houses, temples, sepulchres, etc., being cut out of the rocky mountain sides. Its later name was Petra, noticed in chap. 18. The call is, as it were, to one stationed on a watchtower at a distance, not improbably at Jerusalem.
Watchman, what of the night From urgent anxiety the question is repeated. Edom never had kindly feeling toward Israel. Hatred dates back to Esau and his descendants. It was shown in its denial to Israel of a passage through Edom to the land of Canaan. See Num 20:17-18. The question may be a taunt to Judah in ideal affliction during a foreseen captivity, when its city is desolate, and its people are at Babylon; or it may be an agonizing inquiry in Edom’s own behalf.
The morning cometh The answer appears as if it were the latter. “The morning cometh, and also the night.” Edom has a short prospect of a returning day of prosperity, but a night, a long night, of adversity, is soon to succeed it. How faithfully true in Edom’s history! The Assyrian period darkened it.
The Chaldean, the Grecian, the Roman, followed each other. Then the light of Edom went out forever: its very capital was unknown for ages till discovered in this our own century. Nevertheless, the watchman’s word encourages. If ye will inquire after the true Jehovah, inquire ye; inquire at once, your chance is not lost.
Return, come Repent, seek, and regain at least your spiritual birthright. The oracle, like the Gospel to impenitent sinners, closes with a yearning entreaty.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Burden of Dumah (Edom) – ( Isa 21:11-12 ).
In her fear at the news of the downfall of Babylon Edom cries to the only one who seems to be able to proclaim the future reliably, Isaiah, the prophet of Judah, and his reply is that if she would enquire of Yahweh, she must first turn from her old ways and come to Him.
Analysis.
a The Burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir (Isa 21:11 a)
b “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman what of the night?” (Isa 21:11 b).
b The watchman said, “The morning comes and also the night” (Isa 21:12 a).
a “If you will enquire, enquire. Turn, come” (Isa 21:12 b).
In ‘a’ the cry comes to him from Edom for his help, and in the parallel if they would enquire, they must first turn and then come. In ‘b’ he is asked as Yahweh’s watchman what the night will bring, and in the parallel he warns that morning comes and the comes the night.
Isa 21:11-12
‘The Burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman what of the night?”. The watchman said, “The morning comes and also the night. If you will enquire, enquire. Turn, come.”
That Dumah here represents a section of Edom (note the similar consonants d-m. There is a play on words) comes out in the mention of Seir. The word dumah means ‘silence’. The idea seems to be that Edom is waiting in silence for what is coming, as she cowers in her stronghold Seir (see Gen 32:3; Gen 36:20-21; Gen 36:30; Num 24:18). Here is not a nation to depend on but one that is fearful and waiting with nothing to offer but questions and doubts.
In her fear she calls on Yahweh’s watchman (compare Isa 21:6; Isa 21:8), the only one whom she thinks can offer enlightenment in the circumstances. She recognises that he alone can prophesy the truth and wants to know what the gathering darkness will bring. This call may have been by a special messenger sent to Jerusalem. Isaiah’s fame as a prophet was clearly spreading. So with the twilight of judgment that Isa 21:4 has in mind she asks Yahweh’s watchman what the night is going to bring. The doom of Babylon threatens all her erstwhile allies. So what is going to happen to them all, and especially to her? She is basically admitting that her own gods can tell her nothing, and that is why she seeks to Yahweh.
Isaiah’s reply is that morning comes, but then further night. They are right to be concerned about the night. He knew what it meant to watch both morning and night (Isa 21:8). So let Edom also watch and wait. But she had enquired of Yahweh through His servant. Well, if she really wanted to know Yahweh’s way, if she would find safety, if she would prosper in the future, if she would find confidence and trust, let her turn from her ways and her gods and let her come to Yahweh (‘Turn, come.’) For if she desires to enquire of Yahweh, that is what is required. It is an offer for her to join the people of God. But we discover later that she refuses it, resulting finally in terminal judgment (34; Isa 63:1-6). ‘And also the night’ turns out to be final.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Against Edom and Arabia
v. 11. The burden of Dumah, v. 12. The watchman, v. 13. The burden upon Arabia, v. 14. The inhabitants of the land of Tema, v. 15. For they fled from the swords, v. 16. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, v. 17. and the residue of the number of archers,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 21:11-12. The burden of Dumah The neighbouring nations insulting the people of God for the common calamities to which they were exposed together with them, though they boasted themselves to be the elect and favourite people of the Lord, the prophet introduces the Idumaeans, in the time of common calamity, inquiring of a Jewish prophet into the quality and duration of that calamity; not quite irreligiously, but doubtfully. The prophet, by whom is meant Isaiah himself, informs them, that the calamity should soon pass from Judges, and that the light of the morning should arise to the Jews, while the Idumaeans should be oppressed with a new and unexpected affliction; so that what should be a time of light to the Jews, should be to them a time of darkness. The prophet, foreseeing that they would scarcely believe his words, admonishes them that the matter is fixed, as they would find the more accurately they inquired into it. The scene of the prophesy must be fixed to the time of the Babylonish captivity. The prophesy, besides the inscription, contains two parts; the first respects the person of the prophet, Isa 21:11. The second, the matter itself; namely, the inquiry of some person or persons among the Idumaeans concerning the state of their common calamity, and the answer of the prophet to their inquiry. Out of Seir, or mount Seir, means Idumaea. What of the night? means, “What have you certain to tell us of the state of the night? How far is it advanced? Do you observe nothing of the morning approaching, and about to drive away this troublesome darkness of the night?” that is to say, “What do you observe of our present distress and calamity? Is there any appearance of its departure, and of the approach of the morning of deliverance?” The prophet answers enigmatically, the morning cometh, that is to say; deliverance to the Jews; and the night,to the Idumaeans; “To them I will give light; you I will leave in darkness.” So St. Jerome and the Chaldee paraphrase. Some conceive that the last clause is an exhortation to the Idumaeans to consider their ways, to repent, and turn to God. Schultens renders the 12th verse, The watchman said, the morning is come, and now night; if ye will swell with rage, swell on; return, come.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
B.AGAINST EDOM
Isa 21:11-12
That under Dumah we are to understand Edom is conceded by almost all modern interpreters. In favor of this view there are the following reasons: 1) All other localities, which actually bear the name of Dumah, are either too near or too remote, and do not furnish any hold for the assumption that Isaiah made them the objects of a Massa (oracle). What would such a Massa mean as directed against the isolated city of Dumah, situated in the mountains of Judah (Jos 15:52), or against that Ishmaelitish Dumah, of which mention is made in Gen 25:14; 1Ch 1:30, or against the three still more distant and insignificant places called Dumah, which are not once mentioned in the Old Testament, and which according to the Arabian geographers are situated in Irak, Mesopotamia and Syria (comp. Gesenius, Delitzsch, and Knobel on our place)? We could most readily think of the Ishmaelitish Dumah (Gen 25:14). But how far-fetched is the assumption that the Simeonites, who, according to 1Ch 4:42 sq., emigrated to Edom, settled just in Dumah! And does not our Massa stand among prophecies directed against heathen nations? 2) The Prophet declares expressly that the cry came to him from Seir. But would he have uttered the taunting expression of Isa 21:12 against Israelites dwelling on mount Seir? 3) All the four prophecies in chaps. 21 and 23 have, as was already remarked, emblematic inscriptions. It accords, therefore, entirely with the manner of forming inscriptions observed in these chapters, if we assume that is intentionally formed from . Consul Wetzstein indeed affirms in his Excursus on Isa. xxi. in Delitzschs Commentary, p. 692, that the putting of Dumah for Edom by a play upon the name, would necessarily be misunderstood. But this is by no means the case. For the character of the other inscriptions gives every reader an obvious hint how this one too is to be taken. And then we have the words out of Seir immediately following.
That Isaiah is the author of this prophecy is disputed by some rationalistic interpreters (Paulus, Baur, Eichhorn, Rosenmueller), but is maintained by even Gesenius, Hitzig, Hendewerk, Ewald and Knobel. It most clearly bears the stamp of Isaiahs style, which only the most obstinate prejudice can fail to see. It is difficult to say anything respecting the time of composition. If we should insist with Knobel that the question put by the Idumeans to the Prophet supposes a close relation between them and the Jews, and that such a relation existed only during the rule of Uzziah and Jotham over Judah, which lasted till 743, we should arrive at the conclusion that the prophecy was composed before 743. But the night here spoken of, if we have respect to the then existing state of affairs and to the analogy of all Isaiahs prophecies, cannot possibly mean anything else than the misery threatened by the Assyrian power. If now the Edomites are represented as inquiring if this calamity will soon end, they must in that case have had some experience of it. During the reign of Uzziah and Jotham, however, they had not yet suffered from the Assyrian dominion. The time when the Assyrians threatened the freedom of all nations as far as Egypt (Ewald, Gesch. des V. Isr. III. p. 670; comp. Hitzig, Gesch. des V. Isr. p. 221) was rather the period after the capture of Samaria, when the Assyrian king was engaged in war against Egypt, and was obliged to take care to secure his left flank, and his line of retreat against the warlike nations that occupied the country between Palestine and Egypt. This was the time of Hezekiah (comp. remarks on Isa 20:1), or more exactly, the time between the capture of Samaria and the baffled attempt on Jerusalem by the army of Sennacherib (36 and 37). At that time the Assyrians frequently penetrated into the South of Palestine. Then, if ever, was the time when an inquiry, like that contained in this prophecy, could come from Edom to the Prophet of Jehovah in Jerusalem.
____________________
Isa 21:11-12
11The Burden of Dumah.
He calleth to me out of Seir,
Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?
12The watchman said,
The morning cometh, and also the night;
If ye will enquire, enquire ye;
Return, come.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa 21:11. The participle without specification of subject is often used for the finite verb (Exo 5:16; Gen 24:30; Gen 32:7; Isa 11:6, etc.,). Here stands for and implies the impersonal or indefinite subject (Isa 9:5; Jer 23:6; Jer 33:16, et saepe). The form in the second question may have been chosen for the sake of variety, as had been employed in the first question. Moreover, it is not improbable that is the Idumean form of the word, as we have already in Isa 15:1 found it to be the form used by the Moabites.
Isa 21:12. is the Aramaean word for , but occurs not unfrequently in Hebrew authors. Isaiah, in particular, uses the word often, Isa 21:14; Isa 41:5; Isa 41:23; Isa 41:25; Isa 44:7; Isa 45:11; Isa 56:9; Isa 56:12 (in the two last the imperative form also). But the (with as the last radical letter) is found only here and Deu 33:21. occurs in the Hebrew parts of the Old Testament only in three other places, viz., Isa 30:13; Isa 64:1 in the sense of tumescere, ebullire, and Oba 1:6 in the sense of searching, seeking out, studiose quaerere. In this latter signification the word is common in the Aramaean (Dan 2:13; Dan 2:16; Dan 2:23; Dan 6:5; Dan 6:8, etc.).
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet hears a cry sounding forth from Seir putting to him as watchman the question: How much of the night is past? Thereupon the watchman answers: Morning comes, and also night i.e., first a ray of morning light, then immediately dark night again. And when it will have become night again, you can, if you please, again inquire. Quaerere licet. Whether you will receive a favorable answer is another question.
2. The burdenreturn, come.
Isa 21:11-12. The appellative noun occurs only in two places of the Old Testament: Psa 94:17; Psa 115:17. In these places the word denotes that world of death where everlasting silence reigns. In the passage before us the word has manifestly a similar meaning. Dumah has, it is true, no etymological connection with Edom. For the latter is derived from the root rubrum, rufum esse in Gen 25:30. But as the Prophet represents Babylon under the name of the desert of the sea, Jerusalem (Isa 22:1), under the name of the valley of vision, and further in Isa 21:13 takes in a double sense, alluding to its radical meaning as an appellative, so here by a slight modification of the name he calls Edom Dumah; and hereby he intimates that Edom is destined to become Dumah, i.e., silence, to sink into the silence of nonentity.Seir is themountainous region which extends from the south of the Dead Sea to the Elanitic gulf, and which became the abode of Esau,(Gen 32:3; Gen 33:14; Gen 33:16; Gen 36:8) and of his descendants, who are thence called the children of Seir (2Ch 25:11; 2Ch 25:14). The word is found only here in Isaiah. Elsewhere the Prophet always uses Edom. It is natural for him to employ the name Seir here. For if the call is to sound forth from Edom to Jerusalem, it must proceed from the mountain-height, and not from the valley. The Prophet is addressed as , because he is regarded as standing on his watch. The word is of like import with Isa 21:6, and this affinity of signification is one reason for placing together the prophecies against Babylon (Isa 21:1-10) and Edom (Isa 21:11-12). before is partitive. How much of the night (the night of tribulation, comp. Isa 5:30; Isa 8:20 sqq. Isa 47:5; Jer 15:9; Mic 3:6, etc.), is past? As a sick man who cannot sleep or compose himself, so Edom in distress inquires if the night will not soon come to an end. The repetition of the question indicates the intensity of the wish that the night may speedily be gone. The answer to the question is obscure, and seems to be designedly oracular, and at the same time ironical. The first part of the answer runs (Isa 21:12) morning is come, and also night. What does this mean? How can morning and night come together? Or, how can it be yet night if the morning is come? If we compare the historical events to which the Prophets answer refers, we can understand these words which must have been unintelligible to the first hearers or readers of the oracle. For, in fact, a ray of morning light was then very soon to shine. The overthrow of Sennacherib before Jerusalem was at hand. That was morning twilight, the dawn. But the glory did not last long. For after the Assyrian power, the Babylonian quickly arises, and completes what the former began (Jer 25:21; Jer 27:3; Jer 49:7 sqq.). This change is frequently repeated: the Chaldaean time of judgment is followed by the Persian, the Persian by the Grecian, the Grecian by the Roman; ever for a brief interval a gleam of morning for Edom (think particularly of the time of the Herods), which was quickly lost in the returning night, till Edom was turned entirely into silence, and disappeared from history (Delitzsch). The second part of the answer is, if possible, still more enigmatical than the first. The Prophet in dismissing those who question him, by telling them that they may come again, manifestly intends to mock them. For of what advantage is it to be allowed to come again? They knew they might do so. But what will they hear if they come again? What has the Prophet to announce to them as the final doom of their nation? The answer for him who can understand the hint is given by the word Dumah. The words for come and inquire belong rather to the Aramaean than to the Hebrew dialect, the word for inquire occurs farther in this sense, only in Daniel, and in the prophecy of Obadiah, of which Edom is the subject. Further, the singular verbal ending, which Isaiah here multiplies, making a sort of rhyme out of it, was probably current in the Idumean idiom. He mocks the inquirers, therefore, with Idumean sounds. Return, come, is a pleonasm employed for the sake of the rhyme in the Hebrew. If, then, in Isa 21:12 there is irony both in the style and sense, it is more than probable that an actual inquiry came to the Prophet from Edom, than that he invented such a question as suitable to the circumstances. For why should he have taunted the Edomites for their questioning, if they had not really inquired of him? That would have been a mockery altogether unjust and uncalled for. But it is quite probable that such a question was really put to the Prophet.
The Edomites saw in Jehovah the national God of the Israelites, and conceded to Him the same real existence which they ascribed to their own false gods. From their point of view Jehovah could have prophets by whom He revealed His will and futurity; as their gods had their oracles and their organs in the gotae. Such recognition on the part of the heathen of a divine power in the prophets of Israel is oftentimes met with. The king of Assyria, for example, sent Naaman to Samaria that Elisha might heal him (2Ki 5:1 sqq.). The Syrian king believed that the same Elisha betrayed all his plans to the king of Israel (2Ki 6:12 sqq.). The Syrian Benhadad sent Hazael to Elisha to inquire if he would recover from his sickness (2Ki 8:7 sqq.). The fame too of Isaiah, as a great Prophet of Jehovah, could have extended to Edom, and, though Edom was no longer in a state of dependence on Judah, the common distress could have occasioned the inquiry. But this question, as it did not proceed from the right believing state of heart, but from an essentially heathen way of thinking, drew from the Prophet an ironical rebuff. [May not those closing words, if ye will inquire, inquire ye, be intended to intimate that further disclosures would be afterwards made in regard to the future of Edom? The Prophet in the 34th chapter actually returns to this subject, and gives in plain terms the information which he here withholds. Other prophets, as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah and Malachi foretell the judgment that would come upon Edom, and the solitude and desolation to which it should be reduced. All travellers who have visited the country, testify to the fulfilment of these predictions, and report that Edom has become a veritable Dumah, a land of silence.D. M.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 887
PROFANE SCOFFERS INSTRUCTED
Isa 21:11-12. The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come.
THIS portion of holy writ is justly considered as very obscure; and the more so, because we are not aware of any records of history that will reflect light upon it. The learned Vitringa conceives the scope of the prophecy to be this: that, on occasion of some heavy calamity inflicted either on the Assyrians or Chaldeans in common with the Jews, an inhabitant of Edom inquired of the prophet what the duration of the trouble should be: and then he supposes the prophet to answer, that, as far as respected the Jews, a morning of relief was at hand: but that to Edom there was coming a night of long and heavy affliction. But on such an interpretation, the severe answer of the prophet seems uncalled for. I should rather confine the whole subject to Idumea: and then the question of the Edomite, and the answer of the prophet, will be natural, and perfectly consistent. It is well known that the Prophet Isaiah foretold the fate of Edom, as well as of all the other nations around Judea; and that he predicted the heaviest calamities to them all. Now, I suppose an Edomite unbelievingly and contemptuously to ask, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? that is, You, as placed on a watch-tower, presume to declare what shall befall our nation: tell me how long is it before these calamities, which you predict, shall come upon us? To this question the prophet answers, You will have yet a morning of prosperity: but, I can assure you, it shall be succeeded by a long night of heavy adversity. If you really desire to be informed, in order to avert, by penitence, the threatened calamity, follow up your inquiries in a becoming spirit: return to God, whom you have forsaken; and come to Him, from whom you have deeply revolted. Then there may yet be hope both concerning you and your nation.
In this view of the prophecy, we see,
I.
In what way men treat the Divine testimony
The spirit shewn by the inquiring Edomite is precisely that which has obtained in every age, and which the Apostle Peter teaches us to expect as still more prevalent in the latter days: There shall come, in the last days, scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation [Note: 2Pe 3:3-4.]. This, I apprehend, was the way in which the predictions of Noah relative to the deluge were treated by the scoffers in the antediluvian world: and persons of a similar spirit abounded in Isaiahs days; whom he describes as teeming with atheistical defiance, and saying, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it [Note: Isa 5:19.]. To such an extent did this impiety prevail in the time of Ezekiel, that God speaks of it as actually passed into a proverb: Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth? And it is worthy of particular observation, that the answer which Ezekiel was commanded to give to the scoffers of Israel, is precisely to the same effect with that which Isaiah had given to the Idumean inquirer: Tell them, thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease; and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel: but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision [Note: Eze 12:22-23.].
Thus it is that men treat the Divine testimony at this day: they speak of it,
1.
With unbelieving indifference
[As Gods ambassadors to a guilty world, we are constrained to denounce his judgments against impenitent transgressors But how is our testimony received by them? I Have we not reason to take up the lamentation which was first uttered by the Prophet Isaiah, and was afterward repeated both by the Lord Jesus Christ and his servant Paul, Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed [Note: Isa 53:1. Joh 12:37-38. Rom 10:16.]? It is in vain that we bring forth either the declarations of Jehovah, or positive instances of their accomplishment: the prevailing idea is, that men, however they may live, have nothing to fear; for that God is too merciful to inflict punishment on them, and especially the punishment of everlasting torments, which no actions of ours can be reasonably supposed to merit. Full of this erroneous conceit, they become settled on their lees, and say, in their hearts at least, if not also with their lips, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil [Note: Zep 1:12.].]
2.
With contemptuous levity
[This, I apprehend, was the real feeling expressed in those interrogations, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? In the same manner was the Apostle Paul regarded as a babbler, unworthy of any thing but derision. His discourse, which almost converted King Agrippa to the faith, brought to Festus no other conviction than this: Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad [Note: Act 26:24.]. And even the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who spake as never man spake, was considered as unfit for any person of respectability to hear: He hath a devil, and is mad: why hear ye him [Note: Joh 10:20.]? Is it to be wondered at, then, if those who faithfully preach the Gospel be still at this day branded with opprobrious names, and their message be considered only as a cunningly devised fable? It must be so, as long as there shall be a carnal man on earth: for the things of the Spirit are foolishness to him; and those who live only to proclaim and propagate those things, can appear to him in no other light than fools. If, like Ezekiel, we have boldness to deliver Gods messages to men, we shall be sure to have applied to our ministrations the same contemptuous observation as was made on his, Ah! Lord God, doth he not speak parables [Note: Eze 20:49.]?]
The prophets answer to his scoffing inquirers shews us,
II.
In what way they themselves should be treated
It is good, in many cases, to answer a fool according to his folly. But there are cases (and particularly where the eternal interests of men are at stake,) in which we should not answer a fool according to his folly [Note: Pro 26:4-5.], but should give him such counsel and admonition as his necessities require. Mark the conduct of the prophet on this occasion:
1.
His admonition
[He tells the inquirer, that, though his countrymen should yet have a season of prosperity, a night of fearful adversity awaited them. And this is the answer which I must make to the profane scoffer, or the careless unbeliever: You may go on prosperously for a season; you may have riches in the world; you may account yourselves happy, and be so accounted by all your carnal friends: but, though your day may be bright and long, as in the height of summer, a night, a long and fearful night, will come at last. O! how terrible will be that night, which shall never be irradiated with so much as a single gleam of hope! Yet such is the state that awaits you: for, for you is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever [Note: Jud 1:13.]. It may seem at present to be at a great distance; but every day and hour brings it nearer to you; and at the appointed hour it will commence. Yes: St. Peter tells us, that now of a long time your judgment lingereth not, and your damnation slumbereth not [Note: 2Pe 2:3.]. Whilst men refuse to turn, God whets his sword, and bends his bow, and ordains his arrows against them for their destruction [Note: Psa 7:12:13.]. And the very interval that is allowed them is only given that they may fill up the measure of their iniquities, and have his wrath come upon them to the uttermost. Their present prosperity is only like the rich pasture to flocks and herds, whereby they are nourished for the day of slaughter [Note: Jam 5:3.]. Happy, happy is the brute creation, which, if taken in an unexpected hour, survives not the stroke that takes them hence! But let us reflect a moment on that hour when a profane scoffer, or a careless unbeliever, shall open his eyes in the eternal world. He has buoyed himself up with the hope that he should see the face of his God in peace: but how will he shrink back at the sight of an angry God! What a shriek will he utter, that shall be heard through the vast expanse of hell; when, instead of a listless and unobservant Deity, as he had pictured to himself, he shall see a holy God filled with wrath and fiery indignation, and prepared to execute all the judgments which he had denounced against him! I must, I must warn you, my beloved Brethren, that these are indeed the true sayings of God; and, whether believed or not, they shall be verified ere long: for God will be true; and every man, that contradicts him, will be found a liar.]
2.
His counsel
[Not even the scoffer should be dismissed without such counsel, as, if duly received, may operate a saving change upon his soul. The prophet here says to the inquiring Edomites, If ye will inquire seriously, inquire ye; returning from your evil ways, and coming humbly and believingly to your God. So say I to you. If there be amongst you any who really desire to know the purposes of heaven, come; and, as Gods watchman, I will, to the best of my power, instruct you. And this in particular will I declare to you, that if only you will return to God, your past iniquities shall not be your ruin. Hear what God himself said to the Prophet Jeremiah: Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel; and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you .Turn unto me; for I am married unto you .Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. And the very instant that they replied, Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God; the prophet was commanded to say, If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me [Note: Jer 3:12; Jer 3:14; Jer 3:22; Jer 4:1.]. This fully explains the words, Return, come. In all the Scriptures there is not a single word that tends to the discouragement of a returning sinner. No: the whole sacred volume says, Come, come, come: The Spirit and the Bride say, Come: and let him that heareth say, Come: and whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely. And lest we should suppose that any sin whatever shall prove a bar to the acceptance of a returning penitent, our blessed Saviour expressly says, Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. This counsel, then, I would affectionately give to you, Inquire; Return; Come.]
But that this counsel may be better understood, I will now, in conclusion, address you more at length.
1.
Be serious in your inquiries into the truth of God
[Inquire after nothing in a light, contemptuous manner: Be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong. Nor make any inquiry with indifference; like Pilate, when he asked of our Lord, What is truth? and never waited to receive an answer. But set yourselves diligently to search the Scriptures; for in them alone will you find the whole truth, without any mixture of error. Inquire, too, into the state of your souls before God. Bring them to the true and proper touchstone, the word of God: examine yourselves by it; and beg of God to search and try you; that, if there be any hidden evil in your heart, it may be disclosed to you, and be purged away by the blood and Spirit of Christ ]
2.
Be assured that Gods word shall take effect
[Presume not to sit in judgment on it, or condemn it. You are not called to judge, but to submit. If you see not the reason of Gods declarations, do not therefore conclude that they are not founded in wisdom or goodness or truth: but say, What I know not now, I shall know hereafter. If the word of God hold forth a threatening, tremble at it, and beg of God that it may never be executed upon you. If, on the contrary, it set forth a promise, lay hold of it, and rest upon it, and expect the accomplishment of it to your soul. And be fully satisfied in your minds, that the final states of the whole world shall be in exact agreement with it, and happiness or misery be awarded to all according to its unerring dictates.]
3.
Let the final issue of things be the great object of your concern
[It matters little whether your present portion resemble morning or night. If you enjoy all the prosperity that the world can afford, of what value will it be when night cometh? On the other hand, if you experience here one continued night of affliction, it will soon pass away, and no more be remembered, when once the bright morn of everlasting day shall have arisen upon you. Learn then to despise the pleasure of sense, and to endure with fortitude the troubles of life. Fear not to make sacrifices, or to sustain any afflictions, in the cause of Christ, in whose favour is life, and whose loving-kindness is better than life itself. Set eternity before you, and keep it ever in your view: and then, though your night be long, the day shall soon arise upon you, when your sun shall no more go down: but the Lord shall be an everlasting light unto you, and your God your glory.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
The burden of Dumah is short, but expressive; a watchman is questioned by a man of Mount Seir, a region possessed by the Edomites, the children of Esau, what of the night? he repeats the inquiry, and the watchman gives an answer; though no more is said, either of the cause or of the event, in the inquiry; yet it is a part of scripture, which, may be made abundantly profitable, under the teaching of the Holy Ghost. A man of Seir is a Gentile, a stranger, a foreigner: doth he ask questions concerning the God of Israel? let every faithful watchman be ready to make answer: tell him of the night of sin, and the night of death; tell him of Jesus the hind of the morning! Propose to him all those numberless things, of grace and salvation, which are in the person, blood, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ; and see if he will inquire farther; for then surely the work is of the Lord, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working; Isa 28:29 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 21:11 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
Ver. 11. The burden of Dumah, ] i.e., Of Idumea, a or of the Edomites. For burden, see on Isa 13:1 . This prophecy is the shorter the harder. The Jews apply this prophecy to Rome. They read for Dumah, Roma. The Romans they call the new Idumeans, and the Pope’s kingdom the wicked kingdom of Edom. Some of them say that Julius Caesar was an Idumean; others that Aeneas came out of Idumea into Egypt; from thence into Lybia; thence to Carthage; thence to Italy, and that there he built Alba, out of which sprang Rome. The rise of this fiction seemeth to have been the destruction of the Jewish state by Titus and his Romans, who were thereupon for their cruelty by those Jews called Edomites.
He calleth to me out of Seir.
Watchman, what of the night?
a Onus Idumeae. – Sept.
b Custos, quid de nocte?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 21:11-12
11The oracle concerning Edom.
One keeps calling to me from Seir,
Watchman, how far gone is the night?
Watchman, how far gone is the night?
12The watchman says,
Morning comes but also night.
If you would inquire, inquire;
Come back again.
Isa 21:11 A new message starts (i.e., use of the literary marker, oracle). The MT has dumah (BDB 189). It is a play on the Hebrew term for silence (BDB 189). Edom will be silenced. The LXX has Idumea. Edom was part of the anti-Assyrian coalition, as was Philistia. All were crushed in 711 B.C. by Sargon II’s army.
Seir This (BDB 973) can refer to the land of Edom (cf. Gen 32:3; Gen 36:30; Num 24:18; Deu 2:4; Deu 2:8; Deu 2:12; Deu 2:22; Deu 2:29; Jdg 5:4).
Isa 21:11-12 This is a very cryptic strophe with several IMPERATIVES. A watchman on the wall, as in Isa 21:6; Isa 21:8, is addressed by an unknown voice which asks about the time of the night (twice). The answer is also strange.
1. morning comes
2. but also night
3. ask again
4. ask again
It possibly means, when will all this take place?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
burden. The sixth of the seven burdens.
Dumah = Edom. An abbreviated form of fuller name “Idumea” (Isa 34:5. Eze 35:15; Eze 36:5. Mar 3:8).
Dumah = silence, prophetic of its end.
Seir. The inheritance of Esau (or Edom).
what of the night? = how far is it in the night? Note the Figure of speech Epizeuxis. Repeated in an abbreviated form thus: Hebrew. shomer mah-millayelah? shomer ma-milleyl ? = how far gone is the night? how far gone the night? This is Edom’s inquiry.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 21:11-12
Verse 11-12
THE BURDEN OF EDOM (Isa 21:11-12)
“The Burden of Dumah. One called unto me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye; turn ye, come.”
Dumah is usually understood as some kind of a name for Edom, due to the mention of Seir in the passage, which city was the capital of Edom. No one knows exactly how this designation came about. Dumah was one of the twelve sons of Ishmael who settled in Arabia, but he may have moved into Edom (Gen 25:14). The Septuagint (LXX) rendered Isa 21:14 as the “burden of Thaeman” another great Edomite city.
It is not known if there was actually an appeal to Isaiah from Seir in this passage, or if it is prophetically projected and honored with the reply here given.
What is the reply? Yes, the morning cometh, but the night also! There will be morning and an end of the long night for Judah, but for Edom there will continue to be night and darkness. If Seir would really have relief, let them turn to the Lord; let them repent and return to the God of their fathers.
Isa 21:11-12 DEATH: Dumah is probably the Hebrew word A-dom (Edom-red) which the prophet has used as a pun by removing the a sound from the beginning of the word and placing it at the end-dutn-A. Dumah means stillness like the silence of death. Edom is the subject of some of the severest judgments of the Old Testament, (Cf. Isa 34:5 ff; Jer 49:7 ff; Amo 1:11-12; Oba 1:1-21, for examples). Edom is the only neighbor of the Israelites who was not given any promise of mercy from God. She was a nation descended from Esau, brother of Jacob, and thus the Edomites were brothers of the Jews. Esau was a profane person who irreverently sold his birthright for pottage. But Edom was haughty, insolent, irreverent, insensitive and implacable. She not only applauded every tribulation that came upon the Jews, she exploited their misfortunes to her own gain. God pronounced Edoms obliteration. They disappeared as a nation in about 70 A.D. So silence of death fell upon the region of Mt. Seir, Edoms ancient stronghold.
Watchman, what part of the night is it? would be a more literal translation of that phrase. The idea is like that of an ill person suffering through a long night of affliction, repeatedly asking, How long until morning? The question is, Will the night of judgment you pronounce upon us ever break with the dawning of a morning of relief? The watchman (Isaiah) answers, Yes, morning will come-relief comes, but so does the night. In other words, relief comes to those who turn and seek the Lord, but night continues to come to those who do not, That this is the answer is apparent from the phrase, if ye will inquire . . . That is, If you are really inquiring, Edom, then make your inquiry in the form of a penitent turning unto the Lord, and the morning will come to you. If you do not, then the night comes.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
burden
(See Scofield “Isa 13:1”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Dumah: Dumah is probably the same as Dumatha, a city of Arabia, mentioned by Stephanus, and the modern Dumah and Dumathalgandel, on the borders of Arabia and Syria, in a rocky valley. The Edomites, says Bp. Lowth, as well as Jews, were subdued by the Babylonians. They enquire of the prophet how long their subjection is to last; he intimates that the Jews should be delivered from their captivity; not so the Edomites. “The morning cometh, and also the night.” Gen 25:14, 1Ch 1:30
me out: Isa 34:1-17, Isa 63:1-6, Num 24:18, Deu 2:5, Psa 137:7, Jer 49:7-22, Eze 35:1-15, Joe 3:19, Amo 1:6, Amo 1:11, Amo 1:12, Oba 1:1-16, Mal 1:2-4
what: Isa 21:6, Jer 37:17
Reciprocal: Jos 15:52 – Dumah 2Sa 18:24 – the watchman 2Ki 9:17 – a watchman Son 3:3 – watchmen Isa 13:1 – burden Jer 6:17 – I Eze 3:17 – a watchman Hab 2:1 – stand Rom 13:11 – knowing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE BURDEN OF DUMAH
Watchman, what of the night? The morning cometh.
Isa 21:11-12
Isaiah was pre-eminently the patriot-prophet of Judah. He was ever on his watch-tower guarding the movements of surrounding nations as well as the highest interests of his own people. In this chapter he pronounces their destinies. In this instance he hears the needy cry of Edom and answers it. We note
I. The announcement of a piteous cry.Seir was a mountain range in EdomEsaus inheritanceso called, possibly, from its rugged, serrated appearance, or more probably from the awful silence of its wild solitudes. From those silent and jagged rocks, where the sentinels of Edom were wont to watch the foe, the voice seemed to come to Isaiah as the watchman-prophet of Jerusalem. The closeness of the relationship between the descendants of Esau and Jacob only added to the bitterness of the hatred that sprang up between them. The Edomites were the constant terror of the people of Judah on their southern frontier. Thus Edom symbolised to them the sinful and hostile world around. Hence the force of the figure (Isaiah 63) of the great Conqueror and Deliverer coming from Edom. It was from the land of the most inveterate foe of the Jewish people that Isaiah heard this cry, How far is the night gone? or How much longer will it last? The repetition of the cry in a condensed form shows further the intensity of the yearning for morning. Thus Isaiah traces down deep in the heart of Edom a misery, and a yearning for the light and joy which only God could send.
II. The reply given to that cry.The reply was enigmatical, yet painfully significant. A glimmering of dawn would come to them, but only to deepen again into darkness. Their history would be the alternations of dawning day and darkening night. That, in brief enigmatical form, was all that the prophet could now say. But with a heart that could pity the cry of those, whom as a mere patriot he would have found most difficult to pity, he closed his answer in a burst of gracious encouragement: If ye will inquire, inquire ye: return ye, come. In other words, If you are in earnest, go on asking, yea, and in asking turn your heart to Him Whom you have forsaken. Repeat the earnest question until a fuller and more gracious answer be sent you. Here the patriot is lost in the prophet and evangelist. In these closing words we have the Gospel of Isaiah to desolate Edom.
Now, just as Isaiah heard the sad cry of Edom, or St. Paul the needy cry of Macedonia, may Christian watchmen hear the needy cry of a hostile but sad world. Beneath all their hostility we may trace their misery. Shall we not fling the glad message of love and mercy back to the world from our watch-towers, and thus meet its enmity and misery with the story of the Cross!
Illustration
To those that watch the Eastern sky, standing on the mount of vision afforded by the Word of God, there is but one answerThe morning cometh, but also the night. The morning of millennial glory, and of the bridal chamber; of the taking home of the saints, and the revelation of Jesus Christ; but the night of unutterable sorrow to the servant who knew the Lords will and did it not, and to the world which would not have this Man to reign over it. Yet if individuals will turn from darkness to light, and from Satan to God, they shall receive an inheritance amongst the children of the morning.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Isa 21:11-12. The burden of Dumah Or Idumea, as appears by the mention of mount Seir, which follows. This prophecy, from the uncertainty of the occasion on which it was uttered, and from the brevity of the expression, is acknowledged to be extremely obscure. The general opinion of interpreters seems to be, that it refers to the time of some common calamity, which the prophet foresaw would oppress Judea and the neighbouring countries, as suppose the invasion of the Assyrians, or the tyrannical domination of the Babylonians. During this calamity the prophet introduces the Idumeans, inquiring of him concerning the quality and duration of it. He informs them in answer, that the calamity should soon pass from Judea, and that the light of the morning should arise to the Jews, while the Idumeans should be oppressed with a new and unexpected affliction; so that what should be a time of light to the Jews, should be to them a time of darkness. The prophet, foreseeing that they would scarcely believe his words, admonishes them that the matter was fixed, as they would find the more accurately they inquired into it. According to this general view of the passage, the particular expressions may be interpreted as follows: Watchman So they term the prophet, either seriously or in scorn, because the prophets were so called by God and by the people of the Jews; what of the night What have you certain to tell us of the state of the night? How far is it advanced? Do you observe no signs of the approach of the morning? That is, what do you observe of our present distress and calamity? Is there any appearance of its departure, and of the approach of the morning of deliverance? The prophet answers enigmatically, The morning cometh Deliverance to the Jews; and also the night To the Idumeans: to them I will give light; you I will leave in darkness. So St. Jerome and the Chaldee Paraphrase. See Dodd. Or the meaning of the prophets answer may be, that the deliverance of the Jews would come in its appointed time; but that the day of their prosperity would be succeeded by a dark night of adversity: or, that after a short continuance of approaching prosperity to the Edomites, a dreadful ruin would come upon them, of which the prophet saw no end. Scott. The last clause, If ye will inquire, &c, is taken by some to be an exhortation to the Edomites, to consider their ways, to repent and turn to God. Lowth paraphrases it thus: If you will inquire indeed, and ask questions in earnest, inquire of God first, ask his mercy, and afterward come again, and ye shall have a more favourable answer.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 21:11 f. Oracle on Edom.This is probably not by Isaiah. Date and authorship are uncertain. It is best regarded as by the author of Isa 21:1-10. It might be objected to an exilic date that the prophecy, though not specially cordial, reveals none of the bitter hatred against Edom, called forth by the eagerness of the Edomites for the overthrow of Jerusalem. But the preceding prophecy similarly shows none of that hatred of Babylon which is expressed in contemporary writings, so that the absence of a violent attack on Edom need not be surprising from the same author at that date. One from Edom asks how long it will be ere the tedious night of their trouble is over. The watchmans reply is not clear. He invites them to consult him again, thinking apparently that he may learn more in another vision. Meanwhile he tells him that morning is coming and also night; apparently that there will be a respite from trouble, but the night of calamity will settle down again. The words may mean that there will be happiness for some but distress for others, or that he is uncertain which of the competing forces will gain the upper hand.
Isa 21:11. Dumah: i.e. silence, clearly a name for Edom, perhaps with a reference to the silence of desolation.Watchman: not the same word as that in Isa 21:6. There it meant one who looks out from his watch-tower, here it means one who keeps watch over things.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
21:11 The burden of {o} Dumah. He calleth to me out of {p} Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
(o) Which was a city of the Ishmaelites and was so named by Dumah, Gen 25:14 .
(p) A mountain of the Idumeans.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The oracle against Edom 21:11-12
Compared to the second oracle in the first series of five, this one reveals greater ignorance about what is coming.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
An Edomite kept asking Isaiah, the watchman who saw by prophetic revelation how things would go (cf. Isa 21:6-9), how long the night of oppression on his nation would last. "Edom" is "Dumah" in the Hebrew text, a word play. Dumah also may have been the name of a place in Edom or the Akkadian designation for Edom (Udumu). The Dumah in Gen 25:14 was one of Ishmael’s rather than Esau’s descendants. Dumah means "silence," which is appropriate here since this oracle is silent (Heb. dumah) concerning Edom’s (Heb. ’edom) ultimate fate.
"As a sick person lying awake through the long, agonizing hours of night cries out to know what the time is and how much of the night has passed, so Edom, feeling the oppression of Assyria, will call out to the prophet to ask him how much longer the oppression must endure." [Note: Young, 2:77.]