21:1  An oracle concerning the Wilderness of the West: Like tornadoes sweeping through the South, they come from the steppes, a land of terror.

21:2  A grim vision has been revealed to me: the traitor in the act of treachery, the destroyer laying waste. Attack, O Elamites! Lay siege, you Medes! All the sighing that Babylon has caused I will bring to an end.

We can identify with tornadoes in the South, in this country, but they had them in that country, too. And this is the West, in a sense. Tornadoes are day of judgment imagery. Those who come from the steppes are the Assyrians, from the land of terror. They were so cruel and militaristic, and subjugating of other peoples, that they caused terror. In other places, in Isaiah, they were known as “the nation dreaded far and wide,” people perpetually on the move.” So, typologically, this could refer to a modern version of a western nation being invaded by a modern version of Assyria, or Assyrian army. The one who does the treachery, in the book of Isaiah, is the king of Assyria. In chapter thirty-three, verse one, it says, “ Woe to you, despoiler, who yourself was not despoiled: O treacherous one, with whom none have been treacherous: when you have done with devastating, you shall be devastated; when you are through betraying, they shall betray you.” So the one who does the treachery and the betraying and the destroying is the king of Assyria, in the book of Isaiah. Those are linking ideas to the king of Assyria, or a modern king of Assyria. We know what land Assyria is, with steppes, today. They’ll be like tornadoes sweeping through the South. And they’ll be violent and destructive. Storm imagery is day-of-judgment imagery.
“Attack, O Elamites! Lay siege, you Medes!” These were allies of the Assyrians, an alliance of nations. “All the sighing that Babylon has caused I will bring to an end.”
So the oppression of peoples under Babylon’s rule is going to be made an end of when Babylon is made an end of.

21:3  Therefore my whole frame is racked with trembling; throes of agony have seized me like a woman in labor. I am tormented beyond giving heed; I am too distraught to see.

21:4  My mind reels, I am paralyzed with fear; the nightfall I longed for has become a horror to me:

So the prophet, instead of having a peaceful sleep—sweet dreams—is almost like he’s having nightmares, over what he sees in vision. And he’s seen treacherous attack by the Assyrians. In other parts of Isaiah we find out that the attacks are on the heels of peace treaties that the Assyrians make and then break. And they attack people when they’re not expecting it.
Again, in chapter thirty-three, verse seven it says “their stalwarts sob in public; the champions of peace weep bitterly. The highways are desolate, travel is at an end. The treaties have been violated, their signatories held in contempt; man is disregarded.” The treacherous one betrays and does the destruction and devastating, after he makes peace treaties. The prophet feels for the people who are caught in that situation who are not expecting to be attacked. Tornadoes attack suddenly and violently with a great cloud of dust. And the destruction that Isaiah talks about, that will happen, has that kind of destructive effect. “Wickedness shall be set ablaze. It shall ignite the jungle forests. They shall billow upward and mushroom in clouds of smoke.” chapter nine, verse eighteen. So all of that imagery, here, is filling Isaiah’s mind. Instead of saying, Well, you know, they were wicked; they deserved it—he really empathizes, and has total empathy with the people. Also, in the book of Isaiah, everybody goes into labor. We saw in chapter thirteen, where Babylon is destroyed, it says men will “be terrified, in throes of agony, seized with trembling like a woman in labor.” Now Zion goes into labor and brings forth a Deliverer, as in chapter sixty-six, verses seven and eight. God himself goes into labor. The prophet going into labor identifies him with the whole day of judgment scenario.

21:5  They prepare tables; they deck them with candlesticks. They are eating and drinking . . . Mobilize, you commanders! Oil the armor!

So at the very time when the people whom they attack are having some kind of national holiday or feast time, sitting down to dine and celebrate, then is when the enemy attacks them. It’s part of the treachery. This feast day, or time of banqueting, is another indication of which time of the year the Assyrians attack. A moment ago we had the time of the early harvest. So you put the two together and you come up with a time around the fourth of July.

21:6  Because of this my Lord said to me, Go and appoint a watchman who will report what he sees.

In Isaiah watchmen are prophets, as in chapter fifty-six. Prophets are called watchmen in chapter fifty-too, also. “Who will report what he sees” implies that there are watchmen who don’t report what they see. Or watchmen, as in chapter fifty-six who don’t see anything, when they should see things. So this watchmen mentioned in this verse is a righteous watchman. He does the job.

21:7  Let him watch for chariots with teams of horses, riders on asses and riders on camels. He must be most vigilant, fully alert.

The Lord serves warnings, through prophets, of coming destruction, and that prophet serves warning to those who are the people of God, as we’ll see in verse ten. He doesn’t serve warning to everybody, because everybody else has had plenty of warning. The prophets of God, the Lord’s servants, have warned them with signs and portents of the Lord to them. But among the righteous there will be deliverance, through the agency of a faithful watchman. And that watchman could be the Lord’s Servant, in this case, who’ll be anointed by the prophet of God.
“Let him watch for chariots with teams of horses, riders on asses and riders on camels. He must be most vigilant, fully alert.” Again, this is implies that some are not vigilant at that time, and not alert, so he has to go and appoint a special one to do the job. Also, the teams of horses and asses implies the enemy’s advance. If we were to put that in a modern context we could say that would be tanks and freight carriers and so on.

21:8  Then the lookout cried, I have been standing on the watchtower day in and day out, my Lord; night after night I have stood guard.

So he’s been faithful and vigilant for some time, perhaps three years.

21:9  Now they come: cavalry and teams of horses! And he gave the reply, She has fallen; Babylon has fallen. All her idol gods he has razed to the ground.

So after the warning is given, the attack does happen. The watchman serves warning, and Babylon falls--Babylon, meaning all this conglomerate of nations, all those who identify with arch-Babylon in the book of Isaiah, who are the wicked inhabitants of the world as a whole, all those, in fact, who are not Zion, all those who were into idolatry: “all her idol gods he has razed to the ground.” The whole system of Babylon—the manufacturing, promotion, and sale of the works of men’s hands—that whole system falls. “To the ground” implies a reversion to chaos, to an elemental state, as we see in chapter forty-seven where Babylon has been sitting on her throne and goes into the dust and becomes a non-entity, at the same time Zion arises from the dust to sit upon her throne. So again, this fall of Babylon is part of a broader scenario that has the rise of Zion, as the other side of the coin. Also, the king of Babylon falls, shortly after this, and Zion’s king comes to rule. So that’s all part of this scenario. Who does the destruction of Babylon? Again, the Assyrians do. They destroy Babylon, as in chapter thirteen.

21:10  To you who know me, who are of my fold, I have reported what I heard from the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel.

We saw in chapter nineteen that there are Egyptians who know the Lord, and the Lord knows them. “Who are of his fold” implies they’re of his congregation or covenant people. To know the Lord is to know him in a covenantal sense. “To you who know me who are of my fold I have reported what I heard from the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel.” He doesn’t report it to everybody. This warning is for the elect, only, that they might escape the destruction, the destruction from which the wicked chose not to escape, really, because they didn’t heed the warnings that were given, before.

21:11  An oracle concerning Dumah: Men call to me from Seir, Watchman, what remains of the night? Watchman, how much of the night is left?

Dumah means “silence,” or being a dummy, probably from the same root, maybe the English root, “dumb,” comes from something like this. “Men call to me from Seir,” which is in the land of Esau. “Watchman what remains of the night? Watchman, how much of the night is left?”
Now, these people have been overtaken by the day of judgment, are people who have not come out from the destruction and have not been delivered, but they’re out there, somehow surviving. They may not be totally wicked because if they were totally wicked they would have been destroyed in the destruction. These people are wanting to know how long this day of judgment is going to go on, because they probably think, wow this is endless. It’s like in the Second World War which went on for five or six years. After awhile people were war-worn. Hey were burnt out from the time of scarcity and war. It was a tremendously stressful period of time.
“Watchman, what remains of the night?” The night is that time of darkness in which they find themselves. It is the night in which no labor can be performed. It is as the outer darkness in which the wicked are cast, in that time. They don’t come in to the feast, or they don’t come into the cloud of glory and partake of the Lord’s light. They’re left out there in the gloom and doom of the day of judgment.

21:12  The watchman replies, Morning comes, though it is still night. If you would ascertain it, do so by repenting and coming back.

“How much of the night is left? The watchman replies, morning comes,” that is, the morning of the Millennium, or the dawning of the Millennium. “Morning comes though it is still night.” The day of judgment or the time of judgment is going to go on, still, for a while longer. “If you would ascertain it,”--In other words if you want to know it yourselves,” do so by repenting and coming back.” You didn’t repent in time so you didn’t participate in the deliverance that God provided, and now you’re asking me how long it’s going to go on for? Find out for yourselves. Create your own relationship with God. Do so by repenting of your sins and returning to God. It’s like the Egyptians; they will turn back to the Lord and he will respond to their pleas, and heal them, as referred to in chapter nineteen, verse twenty-two. So, God gives them the answer they want but also adds on a little good advice and counsel, too, to help them, so that the things that they’re suffering through will actually be beneficial to them, to turn them back to God.

21:13  An oracle concerning those in Arabia: You wandering bands of Dedanites, who sojourn in the forests of Arabia,

21:14  bring water to greet the thirsty; meet the fugitives with food, O inhabitants of the land of Tema.

21:15  For they flee from destruction, from the bared sword, the drawn bow and the severity of war.

The people that are out there, living in mostly uninhabited areas are use to living out there. And people who are coming under attack from the Assyrians try to go out there and survive out in the land. Of course the people who are most able to help them, out there, are already living out there who are use to those kinds of conditions. They’d probably be like Americans going out on the Indian reservations and saying, “Come on you guys, help me!” What would the Indians say? They’d say, “Well, you didn’t help us!” The people living the semi-nomadic, or nomadic, lifestyle are able to help some of the fugitives and survivors, “who flee from destruction, from the bared sword.” The sword and the bow are metaphors describing the king of Assyria; he is the sword and he is the bow. He’s the one who is causing the destruction throughout the world.

21:16  On account of this, my Lord said to me, Within a year, as the term of a lease, Kedar’s glory shall fully expire.

21:17  And the number of valiant archers remaining of the sons of Kedar shall be few. The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken it.

Notice, this very personal, “my Lord said to me--” meaning that he has an individual, covenant relationship with the Lord. So it implies that there are not very many people like him—just a few individuals, here-- being prophets of God. “On account of this, my Lord said to me, Within a year, as the term of a lease, Kedar’s glory shall fully expire, and the number of valiant archers remaining of the sons of Kedar shall be few. The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”

This implies that we’re two years into the time of judgment. There’s one year left, possibly. Or that we’re two years into the three years of warning, and there’s one left; it’s not clear. Like Moab’s glory that becomes ignominy, so Kedar’s glory becomes ignominy. In fact, if you notice all through these chapters-- in chapter thirteen all the way through chapter twenty-three-- you’ll see that that which is prosperous, that which is elite, and recognized and admired--all that becomes ignominy, humiliation, and disgrace and shamed. That which is exalted is humiliated. And so it is for all those who make up Babylon, the exact opposite of what happens to the people of Zion who have been humiliated, who have been shamed, and oppressed, who are exalted at that time. In Kedar, those who dwell out there in in the sticks, so to speak, in the outback, the rural areas, or in the forests, were able to help people. Very few of them, too, will survive.