Verse 1.
“The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea. As whirlwinds in the South pass through, so it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.”
“The Wilderness of the Sea” may be a sarcastic parody on Babylon where the southern region in the Persian Gulf was called “the Land of the Sea”; this was an area formerly known for its fertility.
This “burden” for Isaiah is a vision of the fall of Babylon. The term “whirlwinds in the South” may refer to the suddenness with which storms and winds come from the Negev and sweep through the land of Israel. As sudden will be Babylon’s demise at the hands of Adonai.
Verse 2.
“A distressing vision is declared to me; the treacherous dealer deals treacherously, and the plunder plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege O Media! All its sighing I have made to cease.”
“Elam” was a major part of Persia. “Media” allied itself to Elam in 700 BC. Both of these peoples were part of the Persian army that defeated Babylon in 539 BC.
Isaiah 33:1.
“Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered; and you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you! When you cease plundering, you will be plundered; when you make an end to dealing treacherously, they will deal treacherously with you.”
Isaiah 13:17.
“Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver; and as for gold, they will not delight in it.”
Verses 3 and 4.
“Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have taken hold of me, like a woman in labour. I was distressed when I heard it; I was dismayed when I saw it. My heart wavered; fearfulness frightened me; the night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.”
Poor old Isaiah! The severity of the violence concerning which he must prophecy causes him extreme agitation.
Although he longed for the fall of Babylon, he feared the consequences for Judah, “the night for which I longed He turned into fear for me”.
Verse 5.
“Prepare the table, set a watchman in the tower, eat and drink. Arise, you prince, anoint the shield!”
This part of the oracle, brings to mind Belshazzar’s feast in Daniel chapter 5, when amid celebrations the call comes to fight the enemy attacking the city. Having summonsed the Babylonian princes to eat and drink, Isaiah summonses them again to prepare for war.
Jeremiah 51:39.
“In their excitement I will prepare their feasts; I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,” says the Lord.”
Verses 6 and 7.
“For thus the Lord said to me: “Go set a watchman, let him declare what he sees,” And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, a chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels, and he listened earnestly with great care.”
Isaiah (in his vision) stationed a watchman on the city wall. He then hears the watchman warn of an approaching military force. The Persian army used both donkeys and camels. “A chariot of donkeys” probably means a troop of soldiers riding donkeys and similarly “a chariot of camels” probably means camel riders.
Verses 8 and 9.
“Then he cried, “A lion, my lord! I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime; I have sat at my post every night. And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen! Then he answered and said” Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.”
The watchman has been most diligent in his duties. He continues to report but tragically he must report the demise of mighty Babylon. Babylon originally fell to the Assyrians in 689 BC, and again to the Persians in 539 BC. Yet, Isaiah seems to be seeing beyond these events to the ultimate fall of the great enemy of Adonai (as verified in Revelation 14:8 and 18:2, and Jeremiah 50:21 and 51:8,49).
Jeremiah 51:8.
“Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed.”
Verse 10.
“Oh, my threshing floor and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.”
“Threshing” is rather a violent activity. Here the picture is of what Babylon did to Judah. But the resulting grain is Adonai’s deliverance of Israel. Isaiah’s final concise statement declares the infallible truth of what he saw and surely offers hope to Israel.
Jeremiah 51:33.
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor when it is time to thresh her; yet a little time and the time of her harvest will come.”