Isaiah 21:13-17

Oracle on the Dedanites. Date and authorship are unknown. If by Isaiah it may refer to an expected invasion in 720 or 711. Probably Isaiah 21:16 f, is an appendix, the original oracle, Isaiah 21:13. being from the same hand as Isaiah 21:1 and Isaiah 21:11 f. The title should probably be rendered oracle in the wilderness. If RV is correct, Arabia is not used in its modern significance, but as the home of an Arabian tribe.

The prophet addresses the Dedanites, an Arabian tribe engaged in the caravan trade. Their caravans, fleeing from the sword, have to leave the ordinary routes and take refuge in the bush of the desert. They cannot get fresh supplies of food and water, so the people of Tema, a tribe about 250 miles S.E. of Edom, are bidden (mg.) show them hospitality. The appendix (cf. Isaiah 16:13 f.) says that in a year exactly measured Kedar will be decimated. Kedar (Psalms 12:05 *) was a pastoral tribe of nomads, but seems to be used here for the North Arabian tribes generally.