June 14
Reading: Isaiah 21
1 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land.
2 A stern vision is told to me;
the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media;
all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4 My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.
5 They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes; oil the shield!
6 For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees.
7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently, very diligently.”
8 Then he who saw cried out:
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed whole nights.
9 And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!”
And he answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.”
10 O my threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11 The oracle concerning Dumah.
One is calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what time of the night?
Watchman, what time of the night?”
12 The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
come back again.”
13 The oracle concerning Arabia.
In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.
14 To the thirsty bring water;
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
15 For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword, from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle.
16 For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. 17 And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
Isaiah 21 is difficult to figure out. To whom is this oracle spoken? Is it to Babylon? (vs. 9) Is it to the Elamites? To the Medes? (vs. 2) Maybe we are left to wonder. Like the other oracles, I think the recipient is named in the first line. It is to “the wilderness of the sea.” This could also be translated “the sandy wastes of the sea.” Then right away we read of the “Negev.” (vs. 1)
This is an oracle to the wilderness, the sandy wastes, the wind-swept sandy dunes that fill the deserts of Arabia. The verses at the end of the chapter confirm this. (vss. 13-15) This is a prophesy displaying the sovereignty of God in the deserts where armies go to die, the armies of Assyria, Babylon, and everyone else. God made the wilderness as a place of terrifying judgment, a place of suffering and trial.
We human beings think we are so great with all our armies, technology, strategies, and tactics. We have great machines that travel on the land, the sea, in the air. We have modern warriors who are more deadly than any fighters in the history of the world. We have eyes in the sky that purport to see all things. We have weapons that can obliterate entire cities.
But the Lord can easily destroy these things in the harsh wilderness, in a whirling storm, with famine or disease. None of these things cause the Lord to tremble. He will bring them all to a miserable end.
All this modern talk of climate change makes me wonder. Is the Lord bringing the wilderness? Have we, as rebellious human beings, trusting in ourselves and our works, invited the Lord’s judgment? The Lord can turn anything into a wilderness, and in the wilderness He wins.