Isaiah 21:17

And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it. THE RESIDUE ... DIMINISHED - the remnant of Arab warriors, famous in the bow, left after the invasion be small. Remark: Treacherous dealing is sure to be repaid with treacherous dealing, and "the spoiler," soon or late, shall be 'spoiled' himself. God has his ear open to "the sighing" of the oppressed, and will in due time avenge their cause upon the oppressor. The minister of God is pained at the terrible doom of the ungodly which he has to announce, whereas the ungodly themselves remain unconcerned. The 'night of their pleasure' shall soon be turned into fear, and then their carnal security shall come to a perpetual end. The sudden capture of Babylon, on the night of a feast, when nothing could be further from the thoughts of her citize...

17._And the residue of the archers. _He threatens that this slaughter will not be the end of their evils, because if there be any residue in Arabia, they will gradually decrease; as if he had said, “The Lord will not merely impoverish the Arabians by a single battle, but will pursue to the very utmost, till all hope of relief is taken away, and they are utterly exterminated.” Such is the vengeance which he executes against the ungodly, while he moderates the punishment which he inflicts on the godly, that they may not be entirely destroyed. _Of the mighty men. _He means warlike men and those who were fit to carry arms, and says, that although they escaped that slaughter, still they will be cut off at their own time. He formerly threatened similar chastisements against the Jews, but always accompanied by a promise which was fitted to alleviate their grief or at least to guard them against...

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....

Verse Isaiah 21:17. _THE ARCHERS, THE MIGHTY MEN OF THE CHILDREN OF_ _KEDAR_ - "The mighty bowmen of the sons of Kedar"] _Sagittariorum_ _fortium, Vulg_.; transposing the two words, and reading גבורי קשה _gibborey kesheth_; which seems to be right. The strong men of the bow, the most excellent archers. _FOR THE LORD - HATH SPOKEN IT_ - "For JEHOVAH hath spoken it."] The prophetic Carmina of Marcius, foretelling the battle of Cannae, lib. xxv. 12, conclude with the same kind of solemn form: _Nam mihi_ _ita Jupiter fatus est_; "Thus hath Jupiter spoken to me." Observe that the word נאם _naam, to pronounce, to declare_, is the solemn word appropriated to the delivering of prophecies: "Behold, I am against the prophets, saith (נאם _naam, pronounceth_) JEHOVAH, who use their tongues, וינאמו נאם vaiyinamu

AND THE RESIDUE OF THE NUMBER - That is, those who shall be left in the invasion. Or perhaps it may be read, ‘There shall be a renmant of the number of bowmen; the mighty people of Kedar shall be diminished.’ OF ARCHERS - Hebrew, ‘Of the bow;’ that is, of those who use bows in war. The bow was the common instrument in hunting and in war among the ancients. SHALL BE DIMINISHED - Hebrew, ‘Shall be made small;’ they shall be reduced to a very small number. We cannot indeed determine the precise historical event to which this refers, but the whole connection and circumstances seem to make it probable that it referred to the invasion by the Assyrian when he went up against Judah, or when he was on his way 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

AND THE RESIDUE OF THE NUMBER OF ARCHERS,.... Or of "bow" g, for "bows": that is, of men that use the bow, or are expert at it, as the Kedarenes were, both for taking wild beasts, and fighting with men, in which they followed their original ancestor Ishmael, Genesis 21:20 the number of these archers it seems had been great, but would be lessened by the calamity threatened; and those that would escape that, and be preserved from it, should be lessened still, as follows: THE MIGHTY MEN OF THE CHILDREN OF KEDAR SHALL BE DIMINISHED; their military men, the most expert at the use of the bow, and the most valiant and courageous; the few of those that were left, and did not fall by the sword of the Assyrians, should gradually diminish, and be fewer and fewer: FOR THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL HATH SPOKEN [IT]; who cannot lie, nor will repent, and whose

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

MIGHTY MEN. Hebrew. _gibbor_. App-14. CHILDREN. sons....