Isa 21:6-11, 56:10, Eze 3:17, 33:7 | JFB | STEP | 6. Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth-- God's direction to Isaiah to set a watchman to "declare" what he sees. But as in , Isaiah himself is represented as the one who "declared." Horsley makes him the "watchman," and translates, "Come, let him who standeth on the watchtower report what he seeth."

‏ Isaiah 21:6-11

6. Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth--God's direction to Isaiah to set a watchman to "declare" what he sees. But as in Is 21:10, Isaiah himself is represented as the one who "declared." Horsley makes him the "watchman," and translates, "Come, let him who standeth on the watchtower report what he seeth."

7. chariot, &c.--rather, "a body of riders," namely, some riding in pairs on horses (literally, "pairs of horsemen," that is, two abreast), others on asses, others on camels (compare Is 21:9; Is 22:6). "Chariot" is not appropriate to be joined, as English Version translates, with "asses"; the Hebrew means plainly in Is 21:7, as in Is 21:9, "a body of men riding." The Persians used asses and camels for war [Maurer]. Horsley translates, "One drawn in a car, with a pair of riders, drawn by an ass, drawn by a camel"; Cyrus is the man; the car drawn by a camel and ass yoked together and driven by two postilions, one on each, is the joint army of Medes and Persians under their respective leaders. He thinks the more ancient military cars were driven by men riding on the beasts that drew them; Is 21:9 favors this.

8. A lion--rather, "(The watchman) cried, I am as a lion"; so as is understood (Is 62:5; Psa 11:1). The point of comparison to "a lion" is in Re 10:3, the loudness of the cry. But here it is rather his vigilance. The lion's eyelids are short, so that, even when asleep, he seems to be on the watch, awake; hence he was painted on doors of temples as the symbol of watchfulness, guarding the place (Hor. Apollo) [Horsley].

9. chariot of men--chariots with men in them; or rather, the same body of riders, horsemen two abreast, as in Is 21:7 [Maurer]. But Horsley, "The man drawn in a car with a pair of riders." The first half of this verse describes what the watchman sees; the second half, what the watchman says, in consequence of what he sees. In the interval between Is 21:7 and Is 21:9, the overthrow of Babylon by the horsemen, or man in the car, is accomplished. The overthrow needed to be announced to the prophet by the watchman, owing to the great extent of the city. Herodotus (1.131) says that one part of the city was captured some time before the other received the tidings of it.

answered--not to something said previously, but in reference to the subject in the mind of the writer, to be collected from the preceding discourse: proclaimeth (Job 3:2, Margin; Da 2:26; Ac 5:8).

fallen ... fallen--The repetition expresses emphasis and certainty (Psa 92:9; 93:3; compare Jr 51:8; Re 18:2).

images--Bel, Merodach, &c. (Jr 50:2; 51:44, 52). The Persians had no images, temples, or altars, and charged the makers of such with madness [Herodotus 1.131]; therefore they dashed the Babylonian "images broken unto the ground."

10. my threshing--that is, my people (the Jews) trodden down by Babylon.

corn of my floor--Hebrew, "my son of the floor," that is, my people, treated as corn laid on the floor for threshing; implying, too, that by affliction, a remnant (grain) would be separated from the ungodly (chaff) [Maurer]. Horsley translates, "O thou object of my unremitting prophetic pains." See Is 28:27, 28. Some, from Jr 51:33, make Babylon the object of the threshing; but Isaiah is plainly addressing his countrymen, as the next words show, not the Babylonians.

Is 21:11, 12. A Prophecy to the Idumeans Who Taunted the Afflicted Jews in the Babylonish Captivity.

One out of Seir asks, What of the night? Is there a hope of the dawn of deliverance? Isaiah replies, The morning is beginning to dawn (to us); but night is also coming (to you). Compare Psa 137:7. The Hebrew captives would be delivered, and taunting Edom punished. If the Idumean wish to ask again, he may do so; if he wishes an answer of peace for his country, then let him "return (repent), come" [Barnes].

11. Dumah--a tribe and region of Ishmael in Arabia (Ge 25:14; 1Ch 1:30); now called Dumah the Stony, situated on the confines of Arabia and the Syrian desert; a part put for the whole of Edom. Vitringa thinks "Dumah," Hebrew, "silence," is here used for Idumea, to imply that it was soon to be reduced to silence or destruction.

Seir--the principal mountain in Idumea, south of the Dead Sea, in Arabia-Petræa. "He calleth" ought to be rather, "There is a call from Seir."

to me--Isaiah. So the heathen Balak and Ahaziah received oracles from a Hebrew prophet.

Watchman--the prophet (Is 62:6; Jr 6:17), so called, because, like a watchman on the lookout from a tower, he announces future events which he sees in prophetic vision (Ha 2:1, 2).

what of the night--What tidings have you to give as to the state of the night? Rather, "What remains of the night?" How much of it is past? [Maurer]. "Night" means calamity (Job 35:10; Mi 3:6), which, then, in the wars between Egypt and Assyria, pressed sore on Edom; or on Judah (if, as Barnes thinks, the question is asked in mockery of the suffering Jews in Babylon). The repetition of the question marks, in the former view, the anxiety of the Idumeans.

‏ Isaiah 56:10

10. His watchmen--Israel's spiritual leaders (Is 62:6; Eze 3:17).

dumb dogs--image from bad shepherds' watchdogs, which fail to give notice, by barking, of the approach of wild beasts.

blind--(Mt 23:16).

sleeping, lying down--rather, "dreamers, sluggards" [Lowth]. Not merely sleeping inactive, but under visionary delusions.

loving to slumber--not merely slumbering involuntarily, but loving it.

‏ Ezekiel 3:17

17. watchman--Ezekiel alone, among the prophets, is called a "watchman," not merely to sympathize, but to give timely warning of danger to his people where none was suspected. Habakkuk (Ha 2:1) speaks of standing upon his "watch," but it was only in order to be on the lookout for the manifestation of God's power (so Is 52:8; 62:6); not as Ezekiel, to act as a watchman to others.

‏ Ezekiel 33:7

7. I have set thee a watchman--application of the image. Ezekiel's appointment to be a watchman spiritually is far more solemn, as it is derived from God, not from the people.