Isaiah 21:14,15 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

The inhabitants of the land of Tema— Or, O ye inhabitants of the land of Tema, bring ye water to him that is thirsty; prevent, or meet the fugitive with bread, Isaiah 21:15. For they flee. We have here a figurative description of this judgment. The prophet beholds the Arabians seized with great fear; flying without their baggage, on account of the Assyrians, who are pursuing them with their drawn swords. He therefore commands the inhabitants of the land of Tema, their relations, to meet them, and relieve their hunger and thirst; under which figure the prophet elegantly sets forth the miserable state of the Nabathaean Arabs, pursued by the Assyrians. The passage elegantly refers to the dry and burning nature of the desarts of Arabia. See Arrian's Hist. Ind. cap. 43: Hosea 13:5 and Vitringa.

Isaiah 21:14-15

14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema broughtd water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.

15 For they fled from the swords,e from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.