Isaiah 21:7

And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: HE SAW A CHARIOT (WITH) A COUPLE OF HORSEMEN, A CHARIOT OF ASSES, (AND) A CHARIOT OF CAMELS. Or else, a cavalcade (a body of riders, namely), some riding in pairs on horses (literally, a pair of horsemen, i:e., two abreast), others riding on donkeys, others on camels (cf. , "a chariot of men ... a couple of horsemen" - i:e., a cavalcade of men on horseback, riding two abreast, ). "Chariot" (Hebrew, recheb) is not appropriate to be joined, as the English version translates, with "donkeys:" the Hebrew means plainly in , as in...

7._And he saw a chariot. _What he now adds contains a lively description of that defeat. Some think that it is told by the king’s messenger. This is a mistake; for the Prophet, on the contrary, foretells what he has learned from the watchman whom he appointed by the command of God. Here he represents the watchman as looking and reporting what he saw. As if at the first glance he had not seen it clearly, he says that there is “a chariot,” and afterwards observing more closely, he says that there is “a couple of horses” in the chariot. At first, on account of the novelty and great distance of the objects, the report given is ambiguous and confused; but afterwards, when a nearer view is obtained, they are better understood. There is no absurdity in applying to prophets or to divine visions what belongs to men; for we know that God, accommodating himself to our feeble capacity, takes upon hi...

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 21:7. _AND HE SAW A CHARIOT_, c. - "And he saw a chariot with two riders a rider on an ass, a rider on a camel"] This passage is extremely obscure from the ambiguity of the term רכב _recheb_, which is used three times, and which signifies a chariot, or any other vehicle, or the rider in it; or a rider on a horse, or any other animal; or a company of chariots, or riders. The prophet may possibly mean a cavalry in two parts, with two sorts of riders; riders on asses or mules, and riders on camels; or led on by two riders, one on an ass, and one on a camel. However, so far it is pretty clear, that Darius and Cyrus, the Medes and the Persians, are intended to be distinguished by the two riders on the two sorts of cattle. It appears from _Herodotus_, i. 80, that the baggage of Cyrus' army was carried on camels. In his engagement with Croesus, he took off the baggage fro...

AND HE SAW A CHARIOT WITH A COUPLE OF HORSEMEN - This passage is very obscure from the ambiguity of the word רכב _rekeb_ - ‘chariot.’ Gesenius contends that it should be rendered ‘cavalry,’ and that it refers to cavalry two abreast hastening to the destruction of the city. The word רכב _rekeb_ denotes properly a chariot or wagon Judges 5:28; a collection of wagons 2Ch 1:14; 2 Chronicles 8:6; 2 Chronicles 9:25; and sometimes refers to the “horses or men” attached to a chariot. ‘David houghed all the chariots’...

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 HE SAW A CHARIOT [WITH] A COUPLE OF HORSEMEN,.... The drivers of it, or the riders in it; perhaps meaning Cyrus and Darius: A CHARIOT OF ASSES, [AND] A CHARIOT OF CAMELS; by the former may be meant the Persians, who very much used mules or asses; and the Medes by the latter, who abounded in camels: the words are in the singular number, and may be rendered, "a rider of an ass, and a rider of a camel" w; and so may describe the couple of riders along with the chariot, which may signify the whole army of the Medes and Persians, chariots being much used in war; and the rider of the ass or mule may design Cyrus, who was called a mule, because of his mixed descent, being a Persian by his father, and a Mede by his mother's side; so the oracle of Apollo told the Babylonians, that their city should stand, until a mule was king of the Medes; and the rider of the camel may point at Darius: AN...

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

A CHARIOT. a troop. A CHARIOT WITH. COUPLE OF HORSEMEN. a troop of horsemen in pairs....