1Tretet herzu, ihr Nationen, um zu hören; und ihr Völkerschaften, merket auf! Es höre die Erde und ihre Fülle, der Erdkreis und alles, was ihm entsproßt! 2Denn der Zorn Jehovas ergeht wider alle Nationen, und sein Grimm wider all ihr Heer. Er hat sie der Vertilgung geweiht, zur Schlachtung hingegeben. 3Und ihre Erschlagenen werden hingeworfen, und der Gestank ihrer Leichname steigt auf, und die Berge zerfließen von ihrem Blute. 4Und alles Heer der Himmel zerschmilzt; und die Himmel werden zusammengerollt wie ein Buch; und all ihr Heer fällt herab, wie das Blatt vom Weinstock abfällt und wie das Verwelkte vom Feigenbaum. 5Denn trunken ist im Himmel mein Schwert; siehe, auf Edom fährt es herab und auf das Volk meines Bannes zum Gericht. 6Das Schwert Jehovas ist voll Blut, es ist getränkt von Fett, vom Blute der Fettschafe und Böcke, vom Nierenfett der Widder; denn Jehova hat ein Schlachtopfer in Bozra und eine große Schlachtung im Lande Edom. 7Und Büffel stürzen mit ihnen hin, und Farren samt Stieren; und ihr Land wird trunken von Blut, und ihr Staub von Fett getränkt. 8Denn Jehova hat einen Tag der Rache, ein Jahr der Vergeltungen für die Rechtssache Zions. - 9Und Edoms Bäche verwandeln sich in Pech, und sein Staub in Schwefel; und sein Land wird zu brennendem Peche. 10Tag und Nacht erlischt es nicht, ewiglich steigt sein Rauch empor. Von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht liegt es verödet, für immer und ewig zieht niemand hindurch. 11Und Pelikan und Igel nehmen es in Besitz, und Eule und Rabe wohnen darin. Und er zieht darüber die Meßschnur der Öde und das Senkblei der Leere. 12Seine Edlen - keine sind da, welche das Königtum ausrufen; und alle seine Fürsten sind zu nichts geworden. 13Und in seinen Palästen schießen Dornen auf, Nesseln und Disteln in seinen Burgen; und es wird zur Wohnstätte der Schakale, zur Wohnung der Strauße. 14Und Wüstentiere treffen mit wilden Hunden zusammen, und Böcke begegnen einander; ja, dort rastet die Lilith und findet einen Ruheplatz für sich. 15Dorthin nistet die Pfeilschlange und legt Eier und brütet sie aus in ihrem Schatten; ja, daselbst versammeln sich die Geier, einer zum anderen. - 16Forschet nach im Buche Jehovas und leset! Es fehlt nicht eines von diesen, keines vermißt das andere. Denn mein Mund, er hat es geboten; und sein Geist, er hat sie zusammengebracht; 17und er selbst hat ihnen das Los geworfen, und seine Hand hat es ihnen zugeteilt mit der Meßschnur. Ewiglich werden sie es besitzen, von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht darin wohnen.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 JUDGMENT ON IDUMEA. (Isa. 34:1-17)
All creation is summoned to hear God's judgments (
Ezek 6:3;
Deut 32:1;
Ps 50:4;
Mic 6:1-
Mic 6:2), for they set forth His glory, which is the end of creation (
Rev 15:3;
Rev 4:11).
that come forth of it--answering to "all that is therein"; or Hebrew, "all whatever fills it," Margin.
2 utterly destroyed--rather, "doomed them to an utter curse" [HORSLEY].
delivered--rather, "appointed."
3 cast out--unburied (
Isa 14:19).
melted--washed away as with a descending torrent.
4 (
Ps 102:26;
Joel 2:31;
Joel 3:15;
Matt 24:29).
dissolved-- (
2Pet 3:10-12). Violent convulsions of nature are in Scripture made the images of great changes in the human world (
Isa 24:19-
Isa 24:21), and shall literally accompany them at the winding up of the present dispensation.
scroll--Books were in those days sheets of parchment rolled together (
Rev 6:14).
fall down--The stars shall fall when the heavens in which they are fixed pass away.
fig tree-- (
Rev 6:13).
5 sword-- (
Jer 46:10). Or else, knife for sacrifice for God does not here appear as a warrior with His sword, but as one about to sacrifice victims doomed to slaughter [VITRINGA]. (
Ezek 39:17).
bathed--rather "intoxicated," namely, with anger (so
Deut 32:42). "In heaven" implies the place where God's purpose of wrath is formed in antithesis to its "coming down" in the next clause.
Idumea--originally extending from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea; afterwards they obtained possession of the country east of Moab, of which Bozrah was capital. Petra or Selah, called Joktheel (
2Kgs 14:7), was capital of South Edom (see on
Isa 16:1). David subjugated Edom (
2Sam 8:13-14). Under Jehoram they regained independence (
2Chr 21:8). Under Amaziah they were again subdued, and Selah taken (
2Kgs 14:7). When Judah was captive in Babylon, Edom, in every way, insulted over her fallen mistress, killed many of those Jews whom the Chaldeans had left, and hence was held guilty of fratricide by God (Esau, their ancestor, having been brother to Jacob): this was the cause of the denunciations of the prophets against Edom
Isa 63:1, &c.;
Jer 49:7;
Ezek 25:12-
Ezek 25:14;
Ezek 35:3-
Ezek 35:15;
Joel 3:19;
Amos 1:11-
Amos 1:12;
Obad 1:8,
Obad 1:10,
Obad 1:12-
Obad 1:18;
Mal 1:3-
Mal 1:4). Nebuchadnezzar humbled Idumea accordingly (
Jer 25:15-
Jer 25:21).
of my curse--that is, doomed to it.
to judgment--that is, to execute it.
6 filled--glutted. The image of a sacrifice is continued.
blood . . . fat--the parts especially devoted to God in a sacrifice (
2Sam 1:22).
lambs . . . goats--sacrificial animals: the Idumeans, of all classes, doomed to slaughter, are meant (
Zeph 1:7).
Bozrah--called Bostra by the Romans, &c., assigned in
Jer 48:24 to Moab, so that it seems to have been at one time in the dominion of Edom, and at another in that of Moab (
Isa 63:1;
Jer 49:13,
Jer 49:20,
Jer 49:22); it was strictly not in Edom, but the capital of Auranitis (the Houran). Edom seems to have extended its dominion so as to include it (compare
Lam 4:21).
7 unicorns--Hebrew, reem: conveying the idea of loftiness, power, and pre-eminence (see on
Job 39:9), in the Bible. At one time the image in the term answers to a reality in nature; at another it symbolizes an abstraction. The rhinoceros was the original type. The Arab rim is two-horned: it was the oryx (the leucoryx, antelope, bold and pugnacious); but when accident or artifice deprived it of one horn, the notion of the unicorn arose. Here is meant the portion of the Edomites which was strong and warlike.
come down--rather, "fall down," slain [LOWTH].
with them--with the "lambs and goats," the less powerful Edomites (
Isa 34:6).
bullocks . . . bulls--the young and old Edomites: all classes.
dust--ground.
8 recompenses for the controversy of Zion--that is, the year when God will retaliate on those who have contended with Zion. Her controversy is His. Edom had thought to extend its borders by laying hold of its neighbor's lands and has instigated Babylon to cruelty towards fallen Judah (
Ps 137:7;
Ezek 36:5); therefore Edom shall suffer the same herself (
Lam 4:21-
Lam 4:22). The final winding up of the controversy between God and all enemies of Him and His people is also foreshadowed (
Isa 61:2;
Isa 63:4;
Isa 66:14-
Isa 66:16;
Mal 4:1,
Mal 4:3;
2Thess 1:7-9;
Rev 11:18;
Rev 18:20;
Rev 19:2).
9 Images from the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (
Gen 19:24-
Gen 19:28; so
Deut 29:23;
Jer 49:17-
Jer 49:18).
10 It--The burning pitch, &c. (
Isa 34:9).
smoke . . . for ever-- (
Rev 14:11;
Rev 18:18;
Rev 19:3).
generation to generation-- (
Mal 1:4).
none . . . pass through--Edom's original offense was: they would not let Israel pass through their land in peace to Canaan: God recompenses them in kind, no traveller shall pass through Edom. VOLNEY, the infidel, was forced to confirm the truth of this prophecy: "From the reports of the Arabs, southeast of the Dead Sea, within three days' journey are upwards of thirty ruined towns, absolutely deserted."
11 cormorant--The Hebrew is rendered, in
Ps 102:6, "pelican," which is a seafowl, and cannot be meant here: some waterfowl (katta, according to BURCKHARDT) that tenants desert places is intended.
bittern--rather, "the hedgehog," or "porcupine" [GESENIUS] (
Isa 14:23).
owl--from its being enumerated among water birds in
Lev 11:17;
Deut 14:16. MAURER thinks rather the heron or crane is meant; from a Hebrew root, "to blow," as it utters a sound like the blowing of a horn (
Rev 18:2).
confusion--devastation.
line . . . stones--metaphor from an architect with line and plummet-stone (see on
Isa 18:2;
Isa 28:17); God will render to it the exact measure of justice without mercy (
Jas 2:13;
2Kgs 21:13;
Lam 2:8;
Amos 7:7-
Amos 7:8).
emptiness--desolation. Edom is now a waste of "stones."
12 Rather, "As to her nobles, there shall be none there who shall declare a kingdom," that is, a king [MAURER]; or else, "There shall be no one there whom they shall call to the kingdom" [ROSENMULLER] (
Isa 3:6, &c.). Idumea was at first governed by dukes (
Gen 36:15); out of them the king wan chosen when the constitution became a monarchy.
13 dragons--(See on
Isa 13:21;
Isa 13:22).
court for owls--rather, "a dwelling for ostriches."
14 wild beasts of the desert . . . island--rather, "wild cats . . . jackals" (
Isa 13:21).
screech owl--rather, "the night specter"; in Jewish superstition a female, elegantly dressed, that carried off children by night. The text does not assert the existence of such objects of superstition, but describes the place as one which superstition would people with such beings.
15 great owl--rather, "the arrow snake," so called from its darting on its prey [GESENIUS].
lay--namely, eggs.
gather under her shadow--rather, "cherishes" her young under, &c. (
Jer 17:11).
16 book of the Lord--the volume in which the various prophecies and other parts of Scripture began henceforward to be collected together (
Isa 30:8;
Dan 9:2).
Seek--(so
Isa 8:16,
Isa 8:20;
John 5:39;
John 7:52).
no one . . . fail--of these prophecies (
Matt 5:18).
none shall want . . . mate--image from pairing of animals mentioned,
Isa 34:15 ("mate"); no prediction shall want a fulfilment as its companion. Or rather, "none of these wild animals (just spoken of) shall be wanting: none shall be without its mate" to pair and breed with, in desolate Idumea.
my . . . his--Such changes of person are frequent in Hebrew poetry.
them--the wild beasts.
17 cast . . . lot--As conquerors apportion lands by lot, so Jehovah has appointed and marked out ("divided") Edom for the wild beasts (
Num 26:55-
Num 26:56;
Josh 18:4-
Josh 18:6).
See on
Isa 34:1, introduction there.
