Isaiah 21:5

Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. PREPARE THE TABLE - namely, the feast in Babylon during which Cyrus opened the dykes made by Semiramis to confine the Euphrates to one channel, and suffered them to overflow the country, so that he could enter Babylon by the channel of the river. WATCH IN THE WATCH-TOWER, EAT, DRINK: ARISE, YE PRINCES, AND ANOINT THE SHIELD. Isaiah first represents the king ordering the feast to be gotten ready after the watch has been set. The suddenness of the irruption of the foe is graphically expressed by the rapid turn in the language to an alarm addressed to the Babylonian princes, "arise," etc. (cf. Isaiah 22:13.) Maurer translates, 'they prepare the table, they watch, etc., they eat, they drink,' on the ground that what foll...

5._Prepare the table. _These verbs may be taken for participles; as if he had said, “While they were preparing the table and appointing a guard, while they were eating and drinking, sudden terror arose; there was a call to arms, Arise ye princes,” etc.. But Isaiah presents lively descriptions, so as to place the actual event, as it were, before our eyes. Certainly Xenophon does not describe so historically the storming of the city; and this makes it evident that it was not natural sagacity, but heavenly inspiration, that taught Isaiah to describe so vividly events that were unknown. Besides, we ought to observe the time when these predictions were uttered; for at that time the kingdom of Babylon was in its most flourishing condition, and appeared to have invincible power, and dreaded no danger. Isaiah ridicules this vain confidence, and shews that this power will speedily be laid in ruin...

1-10 Babylon was a flat country, abundantly watered. The destruction of Babylon, so often prophesied of by Isaiah, was typical of the destruction of the great foe of the New Testament church, foretold in the Revelation. To the poor oppressed captives it would be welcome news; to the proud oppressors it would be grievous. Let this check vain mirth and sensual pleasures, that we know not in what heaviness the mirth may end. Here is the alarm given to Babylon, when forced by Cyrus. An ass and a camel seem to be the symbols of the Medes and Persians. Babylon's idols shall be so far from protecting her, that they shall be broken down. True believers are the corn of God's floor; hypocrites are but as chaff and straw, with which the wheat is now mixed, but from which it shall be separated. The corn of God's floor must expect to be threshed by afflictions and persecutions. God's Israel of old w...

Verse Isaiah 21:5. _PREPARE THE TABLE _- "The table is prepared"] In _Hebrew_ the verbs are in the infinitive mood absolute, as in Ezekiel 1:14: "And the animals ran and returned, רצוא ושוב _ratso veshob_, like the appearance of the lightning;" just as the Latins say, _currere_ _et reverti_, for _currebant et revertebantur_. See Isaiah 32:11, and the note there. _ARISE, YE PRINCES, AND ANOINT THE SHIELD._] _Kimchi_ observes that several of the rabbins understood this of Belshazzar's impious feast and death. The king of a people is termed _the shield_, because he is their _defense_. The command, _Anoint the shield_, is the same with Anoint a new

PREPARE THE TABLE - This verse is one of the most striking and remarkable that occurs in this prophecy, or indeed in any part of Isaiah. It is language supposed to be spoken in Babylon. The first direction - perhaps supposed to be that of the king - is to prepare the table for the feast. Then follows a direction to set a watch - to make the city safe, so that they might revel without fear. Then a command to eat and drink: and then immediately a sudden order, as if alarmed at an unexpected attack, to arise and anoint the shield, and to prepare for a defense. The “table” here refers to a feast - that impious feast mentioned in Daniel 5 in the night in which Babylon was taken, and Belshazzar slain. Herodotus (i. 195), Xenophon (“Cyr.” 7, 5), and Daniel Daniel 5 all agree in the account that Babylon was t

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

PREPARE THE TABLE,.... Set it, spread it, furnish it with all kind of provisions, as at a feast; and such an one Belshazzar made, the night the city was taken: these words are directed to him by his courtiers or queen, as represented by the prophet, in order to remove his fears; see Daniel 5:10: WATCH IN THE WATCHTOWER; this is said to his servants, his soldiers, or sentinels, that were placed on watchtowers to observe the motions of the enemy, who were ordered on duty, and to be on guard, that he and his nobles might feast the more securely; and all this being done, a table furnished, and a guard set, he, his nobles, and all his guests, are encouraged to "eat" and "drink" liberally and cheerfully, without any fear of the Medes and Persians, who were now besieging the city; when, at the same time, by the Lord it would be said, ARISE, YE PRINCES; not, ye n

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.”...

THE CAPTURE OF BABYLON. This prophecy describes a siege and capture of Babylon by Elam and Media. It is almost universally considered to have been written shortly before the capture of Babylon by Cyrus in 538. The attempts made by a few critics to refer it to a capture of Babylon by Assyria in Isaiah's time 710, 703, or 696 have not been successful. The title wilderness of the sea is difficult. Possibly the point is that Babylon is to become a marshy desert (Isaiah 14:23). LXX omits of the sea. The army of the invader sweeps into Babylon from the desert, the terrible land which separates Babylon from Elam, like as a whirlwind sweeps over Judah from the Negeb. A distressing vision is revealed to the prophet; since Babylon treats the vanquished so brutally, Elam and Media are bidden besiege it, for Yahweh has decreed that the sighing of her captives shall be made to cease. The prophet is

PREPARE, &C. Figure of speech _Irony._ App-6....