Isaiah 21:1-17. Today’s reading has three more messages or burdens. The first one is kind of cryptic. Three countries are mentioned, Elam, Media, and Babylon and also the “wilderness of the sea” or “dessert by the sea”. The word translated wilderness or desert means a large uninhabited land. The word in Hebrew comes from a root word that means to speak, but it also means to lead or drive away. Part of the root idea probably has to do with wind or air, like the air coming from your mouth as you speak. Interestingly the word for wilderness can also mean mouth. If you have ever been in a desert wilderness for much time you know they can get pretty windy.
Later in the message we see Babylon has been destroyed. In the lifetime of Isaiah Babylon would often rise up against Assyria, the dominant world power for much of Isaiah’s life. Assyria put down these rebellions on several occasions (710 BC, 701 BC, 689 BC, and also Babylon’s final (?) destruction after a period of dominance in 539 BC). The destruction spoken about in this burden is probably the one in 689 BC. One of the kings of Babylon, Merodach-baladan was from a desert part of the area known as Babylon that bordered a marshy wasteland between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. So that is probably what Isaiah is talking about when he says “wilderness by/of the sea”. In 689 he tried to throw off Assrian control of Babylon and was assisted by the Medes (people of Media) and the Elamites (people from Elam) two other people groups in the region. Maps showing the territory of these different groups and empires all show the same area between the Caspian and Black Seas to the north and the northern tip of the Persian Gulf, Modern day Iraq and Iran (at times the empires also included Afghanistan, and Pakistan). So the fighting was for control of this land with the Assyrians on one side and the Chaldeans, Medes, Persians and Elamites on the other side. Later in history when the Chaldeans were in control the Medes rose up against them and conquered the new or neo-Babylonian empire (539 BC). But at the time of Isaiah the Medes and Elamites were allies of Babylon (the Chaldeans). That is why as part of the message they are called to the battle. This burden or message was probably given to the people of Judah about 700 BC. Hezekiah was king and was an ally of Babylon. Remember thought that God never really approved of these alliances, he wanted his people to trust him for protection. In the message a watchman is stationed and told to keep a close watch. Eventually he sees some warriors coming. Evidently they are friendly and coming from a battle in which Babylon has been completely destroyed. The response of the watchman (maybe Isaiah) is horror over the vision and fear for the people of Judah. He called his people “threshed”. Threshing was the process for getting the seeds of grain off of the grassy stalks. The process involved walking around and around over the cut grass on a floor then taking a rake and throwing the whole mess in the air where the wind cold blow away the lighter leaves leaving just the seeds. So Isaiah feels that his people are being beat up and stepped on. Assyria seems unstoppable as they destroy Babylon.
The next message is quite short and involves Edom. Edomites were a people group who lived in the desert south-east of the land of Israel where modern day Jordan is. Seir is a mountain range in this area. A person comes from Seir and asks the watchman how long until dawn. The watchman tells the person not long but then more darkness I coming. The he tells the person to come back later and ask again. This is another weird message. We have no idea what it would have been about historically.
The third message is about Arabia. In those days people moved things they wanted to sell from one region to another on donkeys, camels, and other beasts of burden. They would often travel over great distances through different kingdoms. There were groups of bandits who would rob and mistreat travelers. People would travel in groups so they could better protect themselves (like wagon trains in our nations history). These traveling groups were called caravan. Caravans would usually stop at well known places, where there was water, to spend the night. The caravan was in Arabia (east of Israel) and the people were called Dedanites. We don’t know too much about the Dedanites but scholars think that they lived on the shore of the Persian Gulf on the other side of the Arabian Desert. They seem to have been professional caravaners (think UPS, FEDEX, Pony Express or Camel Express). In this message the caravan did not go to an oasis but hid in some bushes. As they were hidden in the bushes they met a group of refugees running from an advancing army. Then the message ends with a prediction that within a year “Kedar” (one of the tribes which made up the people of Arabia and probably used here for all Arabians) would suffer great loss.
As I have said many of these messages were given at different times for different reasons but were collected together and arranged by Isaiah for a new reason in this book. That does not mean that none of the messages were new though. Isaiah cold have had a new vision to complete the idea God wanted to get across. The first message continues the ideas through out the book about the weakness of human alliances. The Israelites should not look to others for help since theses other kingdoms could not resist the power of Assyria. In the third message we see experienced caravan operators hiding in the bushes. Their caravans had to regularly travel across the Arabian Desert and probably had made agreements with the various nomadic Arab tribes. For the Arab tribes to be defeated meant that their travels would be more dangerous. In modern terms we would say the region was “destabilized”. So in these two messages (really visions) seem to be laying out how bad the situation in the region had become. Although Assyraia was in power they could not control every square mile every minute of the day and by removing well-established groups they were opening the way for trouble. In this time of turmoil the Edomite asks the watchman, how much more darkness. The watchman informs him there is hope light is coming but so is more darkness. Thorugh out history there have been wars and people have been displaced, their lives disrupted, and their property destroyed. Mankind has a real ability to make messes it seems to be what we do(v. 2). We all feel threshed sometimes, even in our pretty safe and secure day to day lives there can be trouble. But God sees (v. 10) and he acts (v. 17). Keep in mind that this book is a total message and we have not come to the rest of it yet, but we have heard of a “day of the LORD” on in which there will be trouble like no other. Judgment will come to many nations. I have mentioned how the book of Revelation describes the event of that “Day of the LORD”. At the end of Revelation we see there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1) one in which there will be no more crying or sadness (Revelation 21:4). Acts 2:20 calls that time a “great and glorious day”. Revelation 22:5 tells us that there will no longer be any night and that God will be our eternal light. In the mean time there will be little times of light, little moments of hope, but we need to stay focused on God, trust his love and power, and not rely on human alliances. Focus on that day as you go through the nights of your life. God help me stay focused on you. It is clear you love us and want us. You died so we could be back together. Help me keep my eyes on the end as I go through the middle. Help me trust.