Isaiah 21

Wesley: The plain—of Babylon, which lay in a very plain country. And the title of the sea might well be given to the waters of Babylon, because of the great plenty and multitude of them. South—in those parts which lay southward from Judea, where there were many and great deserts. Pass through—as meeting with no opposition. Desert—from Media and Persia; a great desert lay between them and Chaldea. A terrible land—from the Medes, a warlike and formidable people. Shared: it comes from the wilderness upon Babylon.

The whirlwind is Media and Persia against Babylon, not a twenty-first-century storm.

Calvin: the burden of the desert of the sea. After teaching that hope ought to be placed not on Egypt but on God’s mercy, he adds consolation: for the Chaldeans, to whom they will be captives, a reward is prepared. By the desert he means Chaldea, not that it was deserted, but because the Jews had a desert on that side of them. As whirlwinds in the south pass through: the destruction will come suddenly from a terrible land.

Chaldea is judged for Judah’s sake. Both readings hold: wilderness, whirlwind, terrible land.

Wesley: A vision—a vision or prophecy, containing dreadful calamities which were to fall upon Babylon. The spoiler—the Medes and Persians used treachery as well as force against Babylon. Elam—Persia, so called, because Elam was an eminent province of Persia, bordering upon the Medes. Besiege—namely, Babylon. The sighing—the sighing and groaning of God’s people, and other nations under the oppressions of that cruel empire.

Elam and Media are named. The sighing ended is Judah’s under Babylon.

Calvin: a grievous vision is declared unto me. The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam; besiege, Have stopped all of Media’s sighing thereof have I made to cease. The Medes and Persians are summoned against Babylon so that the groaning of the captives may end. God takes account of the injuries his people endure.

Elam up, Media at siege, sighing ended.

Wesley: My loins—which he mentions with respect to the following similitude of child-bearing. Pangs—sharp and grievous pains. The prophet feels the vision’s pain.

Pity can be honest. Horror at Babylon’s fall, not a claim that God does not know what he has decreed.

Calvin: therefore are my loins filled with pain, as the pains of a woman that travaileth. I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it. The prophet takes the anguish of the vision, as the prophets shudder at the judgments of God even against the wicked. This is office and compassion, not a gap in the decree.

The pangs are the seer’s, not process-theism. Both traditions agree: loins filled with anguish.

Wesley: The night—in which I used to have sweet repose. He seems to have had this vision in a night. But withal this signified that horror and destruction which should befall the Babylonians in a night of feasting and jollity. He—God, who shewed him that vision. Longed-for twilight turned to trembling.

Calvin: my heart panted; fearfulness affrighted me; the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me. Horror and destruction should befall the Babylonians in a night of feasting. The prophet’s staggered heart sets that night before Judah’s eyes.

Both agree: horror instead of rest.

Wesley: Prepare—furnish it with meats and drinks. The prophet foretells what the Babylonians would be doing when their enemies were at their doors. Watch—to give us notice of any approaching danger, that in the meantime we may more securely indulge ourselves. Princes—of Babylon: arise from the table and run to your arms. Shield—prepare yourselves and your arms for the approaching battle. They used to anoint their shields with oil, to preserve and polish them, and to make them slippery.

The table is Babylon’s.

Calvin: prepare the table, watch in the watch-tower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. He describes the security and luxury of the Babylonians, who gave themselves up to feasting when ruin was at the door. The call to arise is too late; the banquet is the night of v. 4.

Feasting does not bind the Lord’s hand. Both traditions agree: table spread, then oil the shield.

Wesley: Go set—this was now done only in a vision, but it signified what should be done afterwards. A watchman set to announce.

The LORD’s command is a vision for Judah. Do not treat the watchman as a modern news desk.

Calvin: for thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. The prophet is commanded to station a sentinel, that the fall of Babylon may be announced as a thing already seen. The watch is the Lord’s, not man’s guess.

On this both agree: announce what he sees.

Wesley: A chariot—hereby he signifies the variety and abundance of warlike provisions which the Medes and Persians should have for their expedition, and particularly of chariots, whereof some were for the carriage of necessary things, and others for the battle. Riders in pairs, donkeys and camels.

The mixed train is Elam and Media’s host. Listen diligently: the vision is enough.

Calvin: and he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels. He was to hearken diligently. The variety of the train marks the combined force coming against Babylon from the terrible land of v. 1.

Both traditions see the watchman waiting for horsemen riding in pairs.

Wesley: A lion—the watchmen cried out, I see also a lion marching before the horsemen and chariots: which they suppose to represent Cyrus or Darius marching in the head of their armies. My Lord—the watchman speaks to the prophet, who had set him in this station. Whole nights—according to thy command I have stood, and do yet stand continually, both day and night, upon my watch-tower.

The post is held all night because the word said so. Wesley’s lion is Cyrus or Darius, still that age’s captains.

Calvin: attentiveness. He cried like a lion: Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set at my post every night. The sentinel reports his constancy; he has not left the tower the Lord assigned. The cry prepares the announcement of v. 9.

The watchman stays at his post night after night.

Wesley: Men—not fitted with goods, but provided with men to fight. He—the prophet, who here gives an explication of the vision. He—God, by the hands of Cyrus. Babylon fallen; images shattered.

The double fallen is Babylon’s. Idols hit the ground by the LORD’s hand through Cyrus.

Calvin: Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. The watchman’s news is the thing itself: the city that threshed the nations falls, and her gods cannot stand. He—the Lord—does it by the riders of v. 7.

Fallen, fallen is Babylon.

Wesley: Threshing—threshing is put for the corn threshed; and the corn threshed for people sorely afflicted. This is probably spoken of Babylon. The corn—which I will cause to be threshed upon the floor. You—unto you my people; for all the prophecies, even concerning other nations, were published to them, and for their use and comfort.

The announcement is for Judah’s comfort while Babylon still stands. The God of Israel has spoken.

Calvin: O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: what I have heard of the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you. The announcement is for the comfort of the godly who were to be threshed under that empire. Some take the threshed as Babylon; in either reading the word is for Israel’s use. The Lord of hosts has heard, and Isaiah must tell it.

I announce what I have heard.