Isaiah 21:15

For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. FOR THEY FLED - the fugitive Dedanites and other Arabs....

15._For they flee from the face of the swords. _(74) He means that the calamity will be dreadful, and that the Arabians will have good reason for betaking themselves to flight, because the enemies will pursue them with arms and with swords, so that they will have no other way of providing for their safety than by flight. The reason why he foretells this defeat is plain enough; for it was necessary that the Jews should obtain early information of that which should happen long after, that they might learn that the world is governed by the providence of God and not by chance, and likewise that they should be taught by the example of others to behold God as the judge of all nations, wherever they turned their eyes. We do not know, and history does not inform us, whether or not the Arabians were enemies of the Jews. However that may be, it is certain that these things are spoken for the conso...

13-17 The Arabians lived in tents, and kept cattle. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, and make them an easy prey. We know not what straits we may be brought into before we die. Those may know the want of necessary food who now eat bread to the full. Neither the skill of archers, nor the courage of mighty men, can protect from the judgments of God. That is poor glory, which will thus quickly come to nothing. Thus hath the Lord said to me; and no word of his shall fall to the ground. We may be sure the Strength of Israel will not lie. Happy are those only whose riches and glory are out of the reach of invaders; all other prosperity will speedily pass away....

FOR THEY FLED - The inhabitants of one part of the land. THE GRIEVOUSNESS OF WAR - Hebrew, כבד _kobed_ - “the weight, the heaviness, the oppression” of war; probably from the calamities that would result from the march of the Assyrian through their land, either on his way to Judea or to Egypt....

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 21:1 THE BURDEN OF THE DESERT OF THE SEA. This is a short and somewhat vague, but highly poetic, "burden of Babylon" It is probably an earlier prophecy than Isaiah 13:1. and 14; and perhaps the first revelation made to Isaiah with respect to the fall of the great Chaldean capital. It exhibits no consciousness of the fact that Babylon is Judah's predestined destroyer, and is expressive rather of sympathy (verses 3, 4) than of triumph. Among recent critics, some suppose it to refer to Sargon's capture of the city in B.C. 710; but the objection to this view, from the entire absence of all reference to Assyria as the conq

FOR THEY FLED FROM THE SWORDS,.... Of their enemy, whom they could not withstand; perhaps the Assyrian army: FROM THE DRAWN SWORD; just ready to be sheathed in them: AND FROM THE BENT BOW; just going to let the arrow fly at them: AND FROM THE GRIEVOUSNESS OF WAR: too heavy for them to bear....

CHAPTER 21 The Burdens of the Desert of the Sea, of Dumah, and Arabia 1. _The burden of the desert of the sea (Babylon) (Isaiah 21:1)_ 2. _The burden of Dumah (Isaiah 21:11)_ 3. _The burden upon Arabia (Isaiah 21:13)_ The fall of Babylon is predicted, for Media is mentioned. This event was over two centuries in the future. Isaiah beholds the Persian hosts advancing. Such is prophecy, “history written in advance.”...

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

THEY FLED. From the Assyrian invaders....

The oracle on Arabia, Isaiah 21:13 A vision (Isaiah 21:13) and its interpretation (Isaiah 21:16). A caravan of the merchant-tribe of Dedan is seen driven by stress of war from the regular route, and lurking in solitary places, destitute of food and water. The travellers are succoured by the hospitality of the neighbouring tribe of Tema (Isaiah 21:13). This vision symbolises a great destruction within a short time of the nomadic Arabs, purposed by Jehovah the God of Israel (16 f.). Here again positive indications of date are wanting. If the oracle belongs to the same group as the two which precede, the enemy would be the Persian conquerors