The All-Embracing Nature of the Judgment and Its Permanence (Isaiah 34:9-17).
It is important to note that God's judgment on Edom will be all-embracing and permanent. Nothing will survive it. It is an indication of the consequences of treachery and apostasy.
Analysis.
a And its streams will be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone, and its land will become burning pitch (Isaiah 34:9).
b It will not be quenched night nor day, its smoke will go up for ever, from generation to generation it will lie waste, none will pass through it for ever and ever (Isaiah 34:10).
c But the pelican (or ‘hawk') and the porcupine will possess it, and the owl and the raven will dwell in it (Isaiah 34:11).
d And He will stretch over it the line of formlessness (tohu), and the plummet of emptiness (bohu) over its nobility. They will call the kingdom ‘Not There', and all her princes will be nothing (Isaiah 34:12).
e And thorns will come up in her palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses (Isaiah 34:13 a).
e And it will be a haunt of jackals (tannim - or ‘serpents'), an abode for ostriches (Isaiah 34:13 b).
d And the desert beasts will meet with the hyenas, and the satyr (or ‘he-goat') will cry to his fellow, yes, the night hag (lilith) will settle there, and will find herself a place of rest (Isaiah 34:14).
c There will the arrow-snake make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow, yes, there will the kites be gathered, every one with her mate (Isaiah 34:15).
b Seek out the book of Yahweh and read, not one of these will be missing, none will want her mate. For my mouth it has commanded, and His spirit, it has gathered them (Isaiah 34:16).
a And He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it to them by line, they will possess it for ever, from generation to generation they will dwell in it (Isaiah 34:17).
The whole picture in this description is one of desolation and emptiness. It commences in ‘a' and ‘b' with the emptying of the land and it becoming a burning waste for ever and ever, and ends in ‘b' and ‘a' with its possession by all the creatures that Yahweh will call there and write in His book, which will possess it from generation to generation. In between are all the evidences of its desert-like state. It is lost to all human habitation.
‘And its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its dust into brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
It will not be quenched night nor day.
Its smoke will go up for ever.
From generation to generation it will lie waste.
None will pass through it for ever and ever.'
This will one day be the destiny of all who have rejected Yahweh (compare Isaiah 66:24). But here the reference is distinctively to Edom. It will be deserted by men because of its condition (compare Isaiah 13:20. See Malachi 1:4), but that we are not to take the description too literally comes out in that plentiful wildlife would survive there (Isaiah 34:13-15), which would have been impossible on a literal application of the words. The thought is rather of God's extreme judgment having come on them in terms of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24) and Deuteronomy 29:23, a fate that will continue for ever. And indeed Edom did cease to be a nation, and its land did become totally barren. Thus the message of its evil goes up for ever and ever. God's brimstone of judgment has enveloped it.
Its fate is described in language typical of what God had promised to those who disobey Him and reject His covenant (Deuteronomy 29:23). It is saying that the covenant curse has come on them. Brimstone especially is a symbol of judgment (Isaiah 30:33). The description is not therefore intended to be taken as literally describing what will literally be seen on earth, but to describe how the action is seen from Heaven's viewpoint, and to symbolise the fact that God has dealt with it in judgment for ever. It is Heaven that sees the burning sulphur and the eternal smoke arising, not men on earth. They just see the barrenness and the burning desert waste.
Note the great emphasis on its everlastingness. As in Isaiah 30:30, which spoke of vivid heavenly activity not seen on earth although the consequences were seen, what is described is ‘invisible'. It is how heaven sees it. It is a poetic description. Its land fell into Arab hands in 5th century BC, and was overrun by the Nabataeans in the 3rd century BC. Those Edomites who fled to Judah were finally compelled to become Jews under John Hyrcanus in 1st century BC (a kind of mercy out of judgment). Edom as a nation disappeared.
So the two nations who most symbolise the arrogance of the nations and their antipathy towards God, Babylon the great anti-God (Isaiah 34:13-14) and Edom, the faithless and treacherous brother, will share similar fates (Revelation 19:3).
‘But the pelican (or ‘hawk') and the porcupine will possess it,
And the owl and the raven will dwell in it.
And he will stretch over it the line of formlessness (tohu),
And the plummet of emptiness (bohu) over its nobility.'
‘They will call the kingdom Not There,
And all her princes will be nothing.'
The occupation by animals, birds and snakes is an indication of desertion by man. Compare Isaiah 14:23 of Babylon (It should be noted that we are not always able to identify exactly which animals and birds certain Hebrew words apply to. In some cases we only get a very general idea).
And the land has become tohu wa bohu, ‘formless and empty' (Genesis 1:2), as indicated by the measuring instruments passed over it. But the measuring line, which was used for marking off plots, is measuring what is without form, and the plummet for measuring building work is measuring emptiness. They are measuring ‘nothing'.
For the line and plummet compare Isaiah 28:17 where right judgment is the line and righteousness the plummet. Edom has lacked both.
No activities with regard to land and buildings will take place, for it has been emptied of its nobility. It will be called ‘Not There', and its princes will be non-existent. It will be as if it had never been inhabited.
‘And thorns will come up in her palaces,
Nettles and thistles in its fortresses,
And it will be a haunt of jackals (tannim - or ‘serpents'),
An abode for ostriches.
And the desert beasts will meet with the hyenas,
And the satyr (or ‘he-goat') will cry to his fellow,
Yes, the night hag (lilith) will settle there,
And will find herself a place of rest.
There will the arrow-snake make her nest,
And lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow,
Yes, there will the kites be gathered,
Every one with her mate.'
The picture continues of the many wild creatures who will take possession of its ruined cities, and the weed growth that will infest them. There will be birds, beasts and snakes along with satyrs (‘goat-demons' or ‘wild goats') and night hags. The latter may be creatures of superstition, the thought being to convey the idea of a ‘haunted' place, or may be picturesque and haunting names given to nocturnal animals (compare the modern Tasmanian devil). Note the emphasis on snakes and birds as being there to reproduce and as, with their mates, being a sign of permanence (demonstrating again that Isaiah 34:9 was not intended literally).
‘Seek out the book of Yahweh and read,
Not one of these will be missing,
None will want her mate.
For my mouth it has commanded,
And his spirit, it has gathered them.
And he has cast the lot for them,
And his hand has divided it to them by line,
They will possess it for ever,
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.'
‘Seek out the book of Yahweh and read.' This suggests that Isaiah has recorded his own words and has called them ‘the Book of Yahweh'. He tells the people to read what he has written, so that when it happens they will know and recognise the fact. Every word he has spoken will be fulfilled, not one of these beasts, birds and snakes will be missing, nor with they lack their mates. Or it may indicate that Yahweh has written His own ‘book of the living' for Edom, composed only of beasts and creatures, an evidence that it is no longer man's.
And this will be so because under God he has commanded it and God has brought them there by His Spirit. It will be a deliberate and specific act of God.
Indeed God has shared it to these creatures by lot, as He did the promised land to His people of old (Joshua 14:1-2), and He has divided it between them by measuring their territories, and they will possess it for ever. This is God's inheritance to Edom because of what they have done to His people (contrast Deuteronomy 2:5). No greater condemnation of Edom's antagonism to his brother nation could be made. The inheritance of Edom was specifically divided up by God between wild animals, birds and snakes.
But even behind this total judgment was a kind of blessing, for history shows us that the remnant of Edom were eventually absorbed into Israel and became one with the people of God. They were thus in a position to respond when the King came.