Isaiah 21:6

For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. God's direction to Isaiah to set a watchman to "declare" what he sees. Horsley makes Isaiah the "watchman," and translates, 'Come, let him who standeth on the watch-tower report what he seeth.'...

6._For thus hath the Lord said to me. _The Prophet is commanded to set a _watchman _on the watchtower, to see these things at a distance; for they cannot be perceived by the eyes, or learned by conjecture. In order, therefore, that all may know that he did not speak at random, he declares that he foretells these things; for although they are unknown to men, and incredible, yet he clearly and distinctly knows them by the spirit of prophecy, because he is elevated above the judgment of men. This ought to be carefully observed; for we must not imagine that the prophets learned from men, or foresaw by their own sagacity, those things which they made known; and on this account also they were justly called “Seers.” (1 Samuel 9:9.) Though we also see them, yet our sight is dull, and we scarcely perceive what is at our feet; and even the most acute men are often in darkness, because they

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...

GO, SET A WATCHMAN - This was said to Isaiah in the vision. He represents himself as in Babylon, and as hearing God command him to set a watchman on the watch-tower who would announce what was to come to pass. All this is designed merely to bring the manner of the destruction of the city more vividly before the eye....

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 THUS HATH THE LORD SAID UNTO ME,.... This is a confirmation of the above prophecy from the Lord himself, he showing to the prophet, in a visionary way, the ruin of Babylon, and the means and instruments of it: GO, SET A WATCHMAN; not Habakkuk, as Jarchi; nor Urias, as the Septuagint; nor Jeremiah, as others; but himself, who, in a way of vision, represented a watchman on the walls of Babylon; and which was no way unsuitable to his character and office as a prophet: LET HIM DECLARE WHAT HE SEETH; what he sees coming at a distance, or at hand, let him faithfully and publicly make it known: these are not the words of the king of Babylon to one of his watchmen; but of the Lord of hosts to his prophet....

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

_Go, set, &c._ Render, GO SET THE WATCHMAN, WHAT HE SEETH HE SHALL DECLARE....

FOR THUS HATH THE LORD SAID UNTO ME— The Holy Spirit, having proposed to make Isaiah, and by him the church, most certain of this memorable event, confirms the preceding revelation by an elegant emblem, offered to the prophet in vision; which confirmation makes the other part of this prophetic. This emblem exhibits to us the prophet commanded by God to _set a watchman,_ in this verse; and in what follows, the consequence of the execution of the command; namely, that the watchman appointed by the prophet attended accurately to the least motion of the _nations_ against Babylon, and at length, after long expectation, had discovered, and, _like a lion,_ had declared with a loud voice what he had seen. The seventh verse should be rendered, _And he saw a cavalcade; two file of horse; with ass-carriages, and carriages of camels; and he attended with very close attention._ The meaning is, that t...