For thus hath the Lord said, &c.— Hitherto the prophet had spoken figuratively: he now ceases to do so. This period contains, first, the circumstance of the time connected with the execution of this judgment, and the greatness of the judgment itself. Nothing can be more clear than the former: With respect to the latter, the meaning is, that the Arabians should suffer a grievous slaughter, in which the greater part of their heroes and principal men should fall; while they, deprived of their flocks, tents, furniture, and wealth, should be obliged to save themselves by flight into the interior parts of the desart. The deficiency of history, sacred and prophane, renders the completion of this prophesy more difficult to be ascertained. See Vitringa; who renders the former part of the 17th verse, And the remaining number of bows of the mighty men of Kedar.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, As Babylon was appointed for a house of bondage to God's people, her destruction is repeatedly foretold, to comfort them in their low estate; and that, when captives there, they may confidently expect to see her ruin, and their deliverance. This prophesy is intitled, The burden of the desart, or plain, of the sea, as lying in a flat country, surrounded with rivers and lakes; and a burden, because of the heavy doom denounced.
1. The invasion of the Medes is described, swift and resistless as the whirlwind from the south, sweeping all before it. From the desert it, or he, cometh; Cyrus marching his troops through a desert in his way to Babylon, from a terrible land, such as Media was, producing fierce warriors, terrible to their enemies. A grievous vision is declared unto me, full of wrath against the Chaldeans. The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously; and the spoiler spoileth—Belshazzar, whose wickedness and oppression of God's people brought destruction upon him. Or, as some render the words, the treacherous dealer hath found a treacherous dealer, and the spoiler one that spoileth; the Babylonians being repaid in kind by the Persians for their former ravages in Judaea. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media: all the sighing thereof have I made to cease; either that of the Medes and Persians, fatigued with the length of their march, and the labour of draining the river, in order to open a way into the city; or the sighing of the captive Jews and others in Babylon, who, when the city was taken, regained their liberty.
2. The distress of the king of Babylon is set forth under the image of a travailing woman. Amid the revels of that fatal night, when, rioting with his princes, the sacred vessels of the sanctuary were profaned, the hand-writing on the wall struck with sudden pangs the impious king, and spoke his approaching doom, which is scarcely sooner pronounced than executed, the city that very night being taken, and Belshazzar slain. Note; Though the midnight revels of pleasure, and the board of drunkenness, may not be interrupted by such a miraculous hand-writing on the wall, and sinners, joyous and thoughtless, to dance and song devote the day, did they but see what is written in God's book, how quickly would their mirth, like Belshazzar's, be turned into mourning, and their joy into heaviness?
3. The entertainment is made ready at command, and while they sit around the festal board, the watch is set to prevent surprise, and in security they carouse. Note; The security of sinners hastens their ruin.
4. In that critical moment the besiegers are preparing for the assault. The princes arise, the shields are ready, and sudden destruction approaches.
5. The prophet is appointed of God, as a watchman posted on the walls, to declare what he sees. On looking he beholds a chariot with two horsemen, perhaps alluding to Cyrus and Darius, and a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels, representing the two nations of Medes and Persians, and, on hearkening diligently, he perceived the sound of the army rushing on the city, and he cried, a lion; Cyrus, for strength and courage compared to that king of beasts, hasting to seize the prey of Babylon. Thus with unwearied vigilance, day and night, the prophet discharged his trust; and now perceiving the chariot and horsemen above described, the Persian and Median army under their generals, entering the city, he cries, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
In the state and ruin of this proud city we have a figure of Babylon mystical, which shall thus be surprised and destroyed; and many of the expressions in the Revelations are borrowed from this description, Revelation 17:1-14; Revelation 18:2; Revelation 18:7-8; Revelation 14:8.
6. The prophet addresses the people of God, assuring them of the certainty of the events that he foretold. He calls them, My threshing, either as being smitten with God's word, or afflicted by his providences; and the corn of my floor, as dear and valuable to him, and carefully preserved, as the choicest wheat, when the chaff is winnowed away. Note; (1.) God's dearest children have frequently the sharpest trials; but it is only to purify and cleanse them. (2.) The church is God's floor, where the faithful, his corn, are collected; whilst all false professors and careless sinners are the chaff, which will be burnt with unquenchable fire. (3.) What ministers receive from God they must carefully and diligently deliver, keeping back from the people nothing of the whole counsel of God.
2nd, We have,
1. The burden of Dumah, which some suppose a part of Arabia, see Genesis 25:14 but more generally, and, I believe, justly, it is interpreted Idumaea. See the Notes. What temporal judgment it referred to is uncertain; probably they suffered with their neighbours from the Assyrian army.
2. A question put by one of mount Seir, Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what of the night? what hour, how much remains; or what from the night? what tidings? what danger? The question is repeated, as from a person eager to be resolved; or from several coming quickly after each other; so great is their anxiety, that a second calls before the watchman can answer the first. Note; (1.) Every minister is a watchman; he is to spread the alarm, and the people are to inquire at his mouth. (2.) It is a mercy when a sense of danger drives us to a solicitous inquiry how to escape. (3.) Every soul is by nature in darkness, till Christ, the Sun of righteousness, arises with healing in his wings.
3. The watchman said, The morning cometh: some respite from the calamity. Or, if we suppose the question put by a proselyte Idumaean, waiting for the consolation of Israel under the darkness of the Mosaic dispensation, the answer is, that the morning cometh, when Christ, the day-star, should arise, and light and joy be diffused by his gospel. But he adds, and also the night; their ruin by the army of the Assyrians. Or, taken more generally, it may imply a state of persecution succeeding the first propagation of the gospel; or a state of darkness in the church, when the prevalence of Mahometanism and Popery should almost utterly extinguish the light of truth. If ye will inquire, inquire ye diligently and earnestly, by prayer, meditation, reading God's word, and consulting his ministers, in order to return and come to him; either to God, by repentance, under the affliction; or to the watchman, for constant information and advice. Note; (1.) In the day of prosperity we must not forget to prepare for the night of adversity. (2.) If the morning of our life be lost in vanity, the night of age and death will surprise us unprepared for eternity. (3.) The soul that is inquiring after Christ, is already near to the dawning of the day. (4.) The gospel preaches free grace to all; whosoever will, let him come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ. (5.) Since our time is so short, it should quicken our diligence to improve it: we have no moment to spare.
3rdly, Arabia lying in the way of the Assyrian army, it is probable that their detachments ravaged the country, or subdued it, as they advanced towards Judaea.
1. The miserable case of the travelling companies of Dedanim is set forth (they were descendants of Abraham by Keturah). See the Notes. Terrified by the sword of the Assyrians, they fled to the forests to save themselves from the grievousness of war. They are called travelling companies, because their traffic was carried on by large caravans; or, alluding to their wandering life, in tents and with herds, without any settled abode. In their distress their friendly neighbours supplied them, fainting and famished, with bread and water; or, as the margin of our English Bibles reads it, they are commanded to do so, such kind compassion being ever due to the afflicted.
2. Kedar shares the same fate: all their glory, their riches, their flocks and herds plundered; and their mighty warriors, who stood to defend their country, diminished by the sword of the Assyrians, and few men left. So poor and uncertain a thing is this world's glory, so easily tarnished; and our abundance often proving our ruin, and exposing us to dangers that we otherwise might have escaped.
3. The time is fixed for their ruin: within a year, according to the years of an hireling, who precisely marks the day when his contract expires. And since Israel's God affirms it as sure, his people are warned not to rely on the Arabians as friends, or to fear them as foes.