Isaiah 21:1
1 The burden [massa'] of the
desert [midbar] of the sea [yam]. As whirlwinds [cuwphah] in
the south [negeb] pass [chalaph] through; so it cometh [bow']
from the desert [midbar], from a terrible [yare'] land ['erets]. KJV-Interlinear
1 The oracle concerning the wilderness
of the sea. As windstorms in the Negev
sweep on, It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land. NASB
This chapter and
the next two chapters begin the second series of oracles, of God ruling over the
nations and revealing the inner human character and human treachery escalating,
and a more ominous message against the nations. The regions being held accountable are, the wilderness
by the sea, Dumah, Arabia, the valley of vision, and Tyre.
Chapter twenty-four
will then reveal the final set of oracles and the certainty of judgment, that
even merely knowing about it all is not enough.
You have to inculcate it into your soul in order to be set apart from
Gods wrath.
The cryptic
beginning of this chapter, speaks of Babylon, revealed in verse nine. Babylon is portrayed as a vast flooded sea, a
deserted wasteland.
This is the
condition of the whole world, hopeless and pathetic. The world is a wasteland when left to its own
devices.
The wilderness
is a hopeless uninhabited wasteland.
The sea is often
used to describe the flooded Euphrates river that, when at flood stage, can
stretch far and wide beyond view, like a sea.
And thus the
phrase, the desert of the sea, portrays a vast area like a sea, but a desert or
an uninhabited and worthless wasteland.
The whirlwind
describes a powerful judgment.
The terrible
land, is the final result of a land that has been judged. There is nothing left.
The phrase, in the
south, describes the condition of the vast desert area that is to the south of
Babylon and to the east of Judah.
And so, the
beginning of this chapter describes what will be the result not only of the
nations at the end of history, after God has applied His judgment against them,
but to anyone, any individual who likewise disregards Christ, doctrine, and especially
their own spiritual life.
You will be left
with a vast and empty life, with no meaning, no purpose, a total waste of your
existence, with nothing to show for your having been here.
