Isaiah 21:2
2 A grievous [qasheh] vision [chazuwth] is declared [nagad] unto
me; the treacherous dealer [bagad] dealeth
treacherously [bagad], and the spoiler [shadad] spoileth [shadad]. Go up [`alah], O Elam [`Eylam]: besiege [tsuwr], O Media [Maday]; all the
sighing ['anachah] thereof have I made to cease
[shabath].
KJV-Interlinear
2 A harsh vision has been shown to me; The
treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. Go
up, Elam, lay siege, Media; I have made an end of all the groaning she has
caused. NASB
The word for
grievous, ‘qasheh,’ means harsh, grievous, violent, treacherous, calamity, catastrophe,
annihilation. It is a picture of
backstabbing, betrayal and of utter devastation, terror, and suffering beyond
imagination and worse.
Declared, ‘nagad,’
means to pass in front of, or to pass before, such that is made clear and known
to Isaiah. There are no questions about the vision. There is no guessing about
the vision. God made it clear and here
it is.
Treacherous and
spoiler, ‘bagad’ and ‘shadad,’ refer to disloyalty, cheating, betrayal,
double-cross.
Elam was the son
of Shem who settled in the region which is known as Persia or today’s Iran.
Media is likewise a similar area but more to the east of the Euphrates River. This is the region that had four kings that
invaded the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah, who sacked that region, took plunder
and took Lot captive, and of whom Abraham had to pursue and take back all that
was taken.
The phrases,
treacherous dealing treacherously, and spoiler who spoils, or destroyer who
destroys, carries the meaning of a criminal who steals and who is stolen
from. So, what goes around, comes
around. The bad things that you do, are eventually
done, right back against you. Poetic
justice. A fate that is related to the
persons own conduct.
And so, Babylon
being our subject, deals treacherously and harshly with others, and therefore will
be dealt with in a same manner.
As they say, be
careful what you wish for. Then so too, be careful how you behave. For how you behave in life, so too, God will deal
with you in life. And do not think that
being sincere or self-righteous will gain you spiritual points, for sin in
disobedience or works, is still sin, and that gains nothing.
The bottom line
is that the human pursuit of satisfaction through conquest or aggression never
works.
This does not
apply to the legal system for justice, and does not apply to war, when
confronted with an evil enemy.
It does apply to
evil and its activities, and the reversal of those activities back against
evil.
