Introduction.

As we have seen chapters 28 to 33 contained six “woes” along with promises of restoration for Israel.

Chapter 34 contains prophecy which we may see as an appendix to the sixth woe in chapter 33 concerning the defeat of Assyria and Adonai’s actions against other foes.

Chapter 34 concerns judgment on the Gentile nations. Those which devastated Israel will themselves be reduced to a desert. They will experience slaughter and desolation at the hand of Adonai. Judgment will be accompanied by apocalyptic signs in the heavens.

Edom in particular, is singled out and will be most decisively destroyed. We may consider Edom to be a representative of the Gentile nations. In the latter days, the judgment on Edom will be a fitting example of Adonai’s justice.

Outline of Chapter 34.

Verses 1 – 4. Adonai’s indignation against all the nations (Cf. Isaiah 24: 1- 6).

Verses 5 – 7. The fury of Adonai against Edom.

Verses 8 – 10. Since the nations have not repented over their conduct towards Israel and have not obeyed Adonai’s way of sacrifice concerning sin, they become the sacrificial penalty for their own sin.

Verses 11 –13. The presence of unclean birds is a sign of desolation and wilderness. Similar symbolism is used in describing the destruction of Babylon.

Verses 14 – 17. A description of the fate of Edom. There will be no kingdom left. Its ruins will be overgrown.

Verses 1 – 4. Adonai’s indignation against all the nations.

Verse 1.

“Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it.”

Adonai is inviting everyone in all the nations (“nations from afar”) to come and hear His sentence upon them. He is going to express and demonstrate His indignation against them. He wants them to know what He will do and why. So, they had better listen!

Verse 2.

“For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations, and His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter.”

So, this is Isaiah’s vision of the future, Adonai has not yet “utterly destroyed” them. But the fate of the Gentile armies which will come against Israel is guaranteed. They will experience His fury.

The term “indignation” is a very strong one; indicating the rage of Adonai.

We can compare this verse with the destruction of Babylon.

Isaiah 13: 5.

“They come from a far country, from the end of heaven – the Lord and His weapons of indignation, to destroy the whole land.”

In the case of Babylon, Adonai will use nations from the whole earth to vent His wrath against it.

Verse 3.

“Also their slain shall be thrown out; their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.”

So great will be the slaughter that there will be too few survivors to bury the dead.

The corpses will be left to decompose creating an awful smell. In ancient times especially, the prolonged exposure of corpses was seen as repulsive and disgraceful.

Also, so much blood will be shed in the mountains that it will cause a landslide (“the mountains shall be melted”).

These end-times battles are also described by Joel.

Joel 2: 20.

“But I will remove far from you the northern army, and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea; his stench will come up, and his foul odour will rise, because he has done monstrous things.”

Verse 4.

“All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; all their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and as fruit falling from a fig tree.”

Not even the stellar heavens, shall escape the impact of Adonai’s rage. We may also see the “host of heaven” as the pagan deities. End-times prophecy is full of references to the same cataclysmic events in the universe.

Isaiah 13: 13.

“Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger.”

Isaiah 51: 6.

“… the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner …”

Matthew 24: 29.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

Revelation 6: 12 – 14. The sixth seal.

“… the sun became as black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to earth, as a fig tree drops its late leaves when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up …”

Revelation 21: 1. The events of the Tribulation and the Messianic Kingdom culminating in the Eternal Order.

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away …”

Verses 5 – 7. The fury of Adonai against Edom.

Verse 5.

“For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment.”

The focus turns to Edom (“the people of My curse”). The people of Edom were descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. But Edom had acted against Israel on a number of occasions taking advantage of any difficulties Israel was facing.

Edom was the southern region of present-day Jordan.

Here, as elsewhere, Adonai’s justice is represented as the use of a sword.

Deuteronomy 32: 41 – 42.

“If I whet My glittering sword, and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, and repay those who hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh …”

Jeremiah 46: 10.

“For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; it shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood …”

Edom had arrogantly thought herself indestructible. Hence, she is a representative of others but also a particular focus for the Lord’s justice.

Ezekiel 25: 12.

“Thus says the Lord God: “Because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them”, therefore thus says the Lord God, “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom, cut off man and beast from it and make it desolate …”

Ezekiel 35: 2 – 6. Judgment on Mount Seir.

“… Behold, O mount Seir, I am against you; I will stretch out My hand against you … because you have an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity …”

Ultimately, Israel will reign over the people of Edom.

Obadiah 21.

“Then saviours shall come to Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.”

Verses 6 and 7.

“The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made overflowing with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness.”

Bozrah (or Petra) as we know was the capital of Edom and located in a secure position among rocks and hills.

It may be that the “lambs”, “goats” and “rams” represent the common people of Edom, and the “oxen” and “bulls” represent the army and the leaders. The fate of all is the same; spilled blood and guts.

Sin requires sacrifice and the people of Edom have made themselves the required sacrifice. This will be a “great slaughter”. Edom’s destruction will be like that of the nations described in verses 2 and 3.

Isaiah 66: 16.

“For by fire and by His sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.”

Zephaniah 1: 7.

“Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; for the day of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests”.

Verses 8 – 10. The penalty of Edom’s sin.

Verse 8.

“For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”

The Lord will take vengeance (i.e. bring justice) for Israel. We should note that when the term “vengeance” is used in reference to the actions of Adonai it does not carry its usual meaning of revenge or getting even. The vengeance of the Lord refers to carrying out a sentence which the Lord has justly imposed.

In his vision at this point, Isaiah is seeing the tribulation period before the Lord’s return; a time of horrors of judgment.

The vengeance on Edom will be similar to that of all nations.

Isaiah 59: 17.

“For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on a garment of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.”

The Lord secures His sovereignty and keeps His community whole by saving His wronged subjects and punishing greedy oppressors.

Isaiah 63: 4.

“For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.”

Isaiah 61: 1 – 2.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me … to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn …”

Verse 9.

“Its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; its land shall become burning pitch.”

“Pitch” is that thick, sticky stuff used for paving etc. “Brimstone” is sulphur, a highly flammable element used in the production of sulphuric acid. Edom will be a blazing inferno.

“Brimstone” and “burning pitch” may be references to Sodom and Gomorrah, and elsewhere.

Genesis 19: 24.

“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.”

Ezekiel 38: 22. Judgment on Gog.

“And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many people who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”

Psalm 11: 6. The wicked and those who love violence.

“Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.”

Verse 10.

“It shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; no one shall pass through it forever and ever.”

Verse 10 concludes the outline of Edom’s punishment for sin. It will be punished with a blazing inferno that will not be extinguished, leaving it desolate.

Such scenes will be many in the tribulation period.

Revelation 14: 11.

“And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast …”

In particular, we should note the punishment of Babylon, the great end-times world empire.

Revelation 18: 17 – 19.

“For in one hour such great riches came to nothing. Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance, and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, “What is like this great city? … she is made desolate.”

Verses 11 – 13. The signs of desolation.

Verse 11.

“But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it a line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.”

The creatures mentioned here are unclean animals of remote, uninhabited places. In the day of judgment, Edom would become a wasteland; a place of chaos.

Again, we can compare this with the destruction of Babylon.

Revelation 18: 2.

“… Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!”

Verses 12 and 13.

“They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; it shall be the habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches.”

In the desolate state of Edom there will be no kingdom, no king and no princes. There will be total depopulation.

Again, we have reference to ruins overgrown with wild vegetation. Briers etc. are often mentioned in connection with places in a desolate, uninhabited or abandoned state (Isaiah 32: 13; Hosea 9: 6).

The land of Edom is only for unclean animals and birds who can survive in desolate environments; this time it is the jackal and the ostrich.

Verses 14 to 17 describe the desolate state of Edom.

Verses 14 and 15.

“The wild beast of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion, also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; there also shall the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate.”

No one seems to know what the “night creature” might be. Some translations say, “night monster” and others say, “night birds”.

Every one of these desert living creatures will have a mate. Conditions seem to suit them to survive and procreate quite freely and safely. Adonai has given Edom to these creatures to possess in perpetuity.

Verses 16 and 17.

“Search from the book of the Lord, and read: not one of these shall fail; not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them. He has cast a lot for them, and His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever; from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”

Not one word of these last 13 verses of prophecy shall fail to materialise. This is guaranteed because they are the words of the Lord. The prophecies against the nations are as certain as Adonai’s sovereign command through His prophet.

Just as Adonai allotted portions of the Promised Land among the tribes of Israel, He will allot Edom to these various wild creatures.