Chapter XXXIV
Ver. 1-17. Judgments on Idumea. Chapters 34. and .SS, form one prophecy, the former part of which denounce* God's judgment against His people's enemies, of whom Edom is the representative; the second part of the flourishing state of the Church consequent on those Judgments. This forms the termination of the prophecies of the first part of Isaiah, ch. 36.-39. being Historical, and is a kind of summary of wliat went before, setting forth the one main tvn\.\\, Israel shall be delivered
Judgments on Idumea, ISAIAH XXXV. Judgments on Idumea.
Gomorrah (Genesis 19. 24-28 ; so Deuteronomy 29. 23 ; Jeremiah 49. 17, 18). 10. It—Tlie burning pitch, &c.(t). 9). smok*
fr<ym all its foe^, and happier times shall stvcceed under Mes-
siah. 1. All creation is summoned to hear God's judgments (Ezekiel 6. 3 ; Deuteronomy 32. 1 ; Psalm 50. 4 ; Micah
, . . for ever—(Revelation 14. 11 ; 18.18; 19.3). generation to generation—(Malachi 1.4.) none . . . pass through Edom's original offence was, they would not let Israel pass through their land in peace to Canaan : God " recompenses" tfiem in kind, no traveller shall pass through Edom. VoLNEY, the infidel, was forced to confirm tlie truth of this prophecy : " From the reports of the Arabs, south-east of the Dead Sea, within three days'' journey, are upwards of thirty ruined towns, absolutely deserted." 11. cormorai»t— the Hebrew is rendered, in Psalm 102. pelican, which is a sea-fowl, and cannot be meant here: some water-fowl
6. 1, 2), for they set forth His glory, which is the end of creation (Revelation 15. 3; 4. U). tUat come fortli of 1^- answering to "all that is therein;" or Hebrew, "all whatever flUs it," Margin, a. utterly destroyed— rather, doomed them to an utter curse. [Horsley.] delivered— rather, appointed. 3. cost out — unburied (cli. 14. 19). melted—washed away as with a descending torrent. 4. (Psalm 102. 26 ; Joel 2. 31 ; 3. 15 ; Matthew 24. 29.) dissolved —(2 Peter 3. 10-12.) Violent convulsions of nature are in Scripture made the imagen of great changes in the human world (ch. 24. 19-21), and shall literally accompany them at the winding up of the present dispensation, scroll—books were In those days sheets of parchment rolled together (Revelation 6. 14). fall down—tlie stars shall fall when the heavens in which they are fixed pass away, fig tree (Revelation 6. 13.) 5. sword— (Jeremiah 46. 10.) Or else,
(katta, according to Burckhardt) that tenants desert places is intended, bittern—rather, the hedgehog, ov porcupine [Gesenius] (ch. 14. 23). owl—from its being enumerated among water-birds in Leviticus 11. 17; Deuteronomy 14. 16. Maurer thinks rather the heron or crane is meant; from a Hebrew root, to blow, as it utters a sound like the blowing of a horn (Revelation 18. 2). confusion devastation, line . . . stones—metaphor from an archi-
knife for sacrifice : for God does not here appear as a war-
rior with His sword, but as one about to sacrifice victims doomed to slaughter. [Vitkinga.] (Ezekiel 39. 17.) batlied —rather intoxicated, viz., with anger (so Deuteronomy 32.
tect with line and plummet-stone (Note, ch. 18. 2; 28. 17); God will render to it the exact measure ofjustice without mercy (James 2. 13 ; 2 Kings 21. 13 ; Lamentations 2. 8 ; Ainos 7. 7,
42). " In heaven" implies the place where God's purpose of wrath is formed in antithesis to its "coming down" in the next clause. Idumea—originally extending from the Dead Sea to tlie Red Sea; afterwards they obtained possession of the country east of Moab, of which Bozrah was
8). emptiness — desolation. Edom is now a waste of "stones." 13. Rather, "As to her nobles, there sliall be none there who shall declare a kingdom," i. e., a king [Mauker]; or else, "There shall be no one there wliom they shall call to the kingdom" [Rosenmuller] (ch. 3. 6, &c.). Idumea was at first governed by dukes (Genesis 30.
capital. Petra or Selah, called Joktheel (2 Kings 14. 7), was capital of South Edom {Note, ch. 16. 1). David subjugated Edom (2 Samuel 8. 13, 14). Under Jehoram they regained Independence (2 Chronicles 21. 8). Under Amaziah they were again subdued, and Selah taken (2 Kings 14. 7). When Judah was captive in Babylon, Edom, in every way, insulted over her fallen mistress, and killed many of those Jews whom the Chaldeans had left, and hence was held guilty of fratricide by God (Esau, their ancestor, having been brother to Jacob): this was the cause of the denunciations of the prophets against Edom (ch. 63. 1, &c. ; Jeremiah 49. 7; Ezekiel 25. 12-14; 35. 3-15; Joel 3. 19; Amos 1, 11,
15), out of them the king was chosen when the constitution became a monarchy. 13. dragons {Note, cli. 1'}. 21,
22.) court for owls—rather, a dwelling /or ostriches. 14. wild beasts of the desert . . . Island—rath er, wild cats . .
jackals (ch. 13. 21). screech owl—rather, the night-spectre
in Jewish superstition a female, elegantly dressed, that carried off children by night. The text does not assert the existence of such objects of superstition, but describes tlie place as one which superstition would people witli such beings. 15. great owl—rather, the arrow-snake, so called from its darting on its prey. [Gesenius.] lay—tnz., pggs gather under her shadow—rather, cherishes her young under, &c. (Jeremiah 17. 11). 16. book of the Lord—the volume in which the various prophecies and other parts of Scripture began henceforward to be collected together (ch. 30. 8; Daniel 9. 2). "Seek" (so ch. 8. 16, 20; John 5. 39;
12; Obadiah 8, 10, 12-18; Malachi 1. 3, 4). Nebuchadnezzar humbled Idumea accordingly (Jeremiah 25. 15-21). of my curse—t. e., doomed to it. to judgment i. e., to execute
It. 6. filled — glutted. The Image of a sacrifice is continued, blood . . . fat—the parts especially devoted to God in a sacrifice (2 Samuel 1. 22). lambs . . . goats—soc-
riftdal animals : the Idumeans, of all classes, doomed to Slaughter, are meant (Zephaniah 1. 7). Bozrah—called Bosira by the Romans, <fec., assigned in Jeremiah 48. 24 to Moab, so that it seems to have been at one time in the dominion of Edom, and at another in that of Moab (ch. 63.
7. 52). no one . . . fall—of these prophecies (Matthew 5.
18). none shall want . . . mate—Image from pairing of animals mentioned, v. 15 ("mate"): no prediction shall want a futilment as Its companion. Or rather, "none of these wild animals (just spoken of) shall be wanting: noae shall be without its mate" to pair and breed with, in desolate Idumea. my . . . his—such changes of person are frequent in Hebrew poetry, them—the wild beasts. 17. cast . . . lot—As conquerors apportion lands by lot, so Jehovah has appointed and marked out ("divided") Edom for the wild beasts (Numbers 26. 55, 56 ; Joshua 18. 4-6).
1; Jeremiah 49. 13, 20, 22); It was strictly not in Edom, but the capital of Auranitis (the Houran) : Edom seems to have extended its dominion so as to include it (cf. Lamentations
4. 21). 7. unicorns Hebrew, reem : conveying the idea of
loftiness, power, and pre-eminence (see Note, Job .39. 9), in the Bible; at one time the image In the term answers to a reality in nature, at another it symbolizes an abstraction. The rhinoceros was the original type. The Arab rim is two-horned: it was the oryx (the leucoryx, antelope, bold and pugnacious) ; but when accident or artifice deprived