xxi. 11, 12. _The burden of Dumah, &c._
There are three distinct prophecies in this chapter, and they are all
termed _burdens,_ as denoting heavy judgments. The first respects
Babylon; the next, _Dumah,_ Idumea, or Edom, inhabiting Mount Seir;
and the last, Arabia.
The fall of Babylon by the Medes and Persians is announced under the
form of a _watchman_ stationed to discover approaching objects, with
orders to declare what he saw (vers. 6-9). It was an event peculiarly
interesting to Judah. Babylon was the floor on which Judah was to be
threshed, till the refuse should be separated from the grain. The
event which destroyed the one delivered the other (ver. 10).
The fall of Babylon was interesting to other nations as well as
Judah; particularly to the Idumeans or Edomites, who were reduced to
servitude within a few years after the taking of Jerusalem. Now,
seeing that Judah had received a favourable report, Edom must needs
inquire of the watchman (like Pharaoh's baker of Joseph, after he had
announced good tidings to the butler), whether there was nothing
equally favourable to them. [We are not to understand, however, that
messengers were really sent out of Edom to Isaiah; the process was
merely a pneumatical one.--_Delitzsch._] The answer is, NOTHING; but,
on the contrary, the lot of Judah's enemies, "a burden."
The revolution would indeed, for a time, excite the joy of the
conquered nations (chap. xiv. 7, 8); but the Edomites should meet
with a disappointment. To them a change of government should only be
a change of masters. The fair morning of their hopes should issue in
a long and dark night of despondency. In the day of Babylon's fall,
according to the prayer of the captives, when every prisoner was
lifting up his head in hope, Edom was _remembered,_ as excepted from
an act of grace, on account of his singular atrocities (Ps.
cxxxvii. 7-9).
The Edomites were very impatient under the Babylonish yoke, and very
importunate in their inquiries after deliverance; reiterating the
question, "What of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" When will
this dark and long captivity be ended? And now that their hopes are
repulsed by the watchman's answer, they are exceedingly unwilling to
relinquish them. Loth to depart with an answer so ungrateful, they
linger, and _inquire_ again and again, in hopes that the sentence may
be reversed. But they are told that all their lingering is in vain.
"If ye will inquire, inquire ye, return, come" again; yet shall your
answer be the same.
And what was the crime of the Edomites that should draw down upon
them this heavy _burden,_ this irresistible doom? _Their inveterate
hatred of the people of God_ (Obad. 10). Perhaps there was no nation
whose treatment of Israel was so invariably spiteful, and whose
enmity was accompanied with such aggravating circumstances. They were
descended from Abraham and Isaac, and were treated by Israel, at the
time they came out of Egypt, as brethren; but as they then returned
evil for good (Num. xx. 14-21), so it was ever afterwards. Their
conduct, on the melancholy occasion of Jerusalem being taken by the
Chaldeans, was infamous (Obad. 10-16).
The passage affords a tremendous lesson to ungodly sinners, and
_especially to those who, having descended from pious parents, and
possessed religious advantages, are, notwithstanding, distinguished
by their enmity to true religion._ The situation of the Edomites
rendered it impossible for them to be so ignorant as other heathen
nations of the God of Israel; and their hatred appears to have been
proportioned to their knowledge. Such is the character of great
numbers in the religious world. They have both seen and hated the
truth. The consequences will be, if grace prevent not, they will
flatter themselves awhile with vain hopes; but, ere they are aware,
their morning will be changed into an endless night.
Edom was once addressed in the language of kindness and brotherly
affections; _but having turned a deaf ear to this, all their
inquiries after deliverance are now utterly disregarded._ Such will
be the end of sinners. "When once the Judge hath risen up and shut
the door," they may begin to knock, may inquire and return, and come
again, but all will be in vain; a night of ever-during darkness must
be their portion.
The passage also, taken in its connection, holds up to us _the
different situation of the friends and enemies of God under public
calamities._ It is natural in such circumstances for all to inquire,
"What of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" Each, also, may
experience a portion of successive _light_ and _darkness_ in his lot.
But the grand difference lies in _the issue of things._ God's people
were thrashed on the floor of Babylon; and, when purified, were
presently restored. To them there arose light in darkness. Weeping
continued for a night, but joy came in the morning. Not so with Edom;
their night came last. Such will be the portion of God's enemies:
they may wish for changes, in hope of their circumstances being
bettered; but the principal thing wanting is a change in themselves.
While strangers to this, the oracles of Heaven prophesy no good
concerning them. A morning may come, but the night cometh
also.--_Andrew Fuller: Complete Works,_ pp. 514, 515.
The whole Bible has, as its common and pervading argument, one mighty
subject, which, appearing in a thousand different forms, is
substantially the same in every page of the sacred volume. That
subject is, the salvation appointed for the chosen of mankind and the
ruin decreed for those who reject the offer. Therefore when the
prophetic Scriptures publish to us promises of peace and
denunciations of woe, let us never deem that the Divine Spirit had no
_ulterior_ purpose in these predictions. Let us never cast aside the
volume and cry that we are not Edom, or Egypt, or Babylon, or Tyre;
and that, therefore, we have nothing to do either with their crimes
or their punishment. Let us not vainly dream that the mighty
machinery of the prophetic messages was put into play merely to call
down curses on a few of the temporary dynasties of this perishable
world! "All Scripture was written for _our_ use," and these
"springing and germinant prophecies" (as they have been called) have
a significancy beyond the revolutions of petty kingdoms. They
represent, in majestic order and manifest type, the great truths of
eternal salvation and eternal ruin; they exhibit, in the sensible
language of exterior imagery, what the great Teacher of after-times
gave in the higher language of spiritual truth. If the laws of God be
uniform and unchangeable, we are justified in reading by this light
from _heaven_ the prophetic declarations of the course and principles
of His earthly providences.
With such views as these elevating our thoughts beyond the details of
perished empires into the mightier truths of the eternal empire of
our God, let us reflect briefly upon the words before us.
The prophet appears to introduce himself as addressed in scorn by the
people of the land which he is commissioned to warn. "Watchman, what
of the night?" What new report of woe hast thou to unroll, who has
placed thyself as an authorised observer and censurer of our doings?
But the prophetical watchman--the calm commissioner of
Heaven--replies, adopting their own language, "Yea, the morning (the
true morning of hope and peace) cometh, and also the night (the real
and terrible night of God's vengeance); if ye will (if ye are in
genuine earnest to inquire), inquire! Return, come." Obtain the
knowledge you see, the knowledge of the way of life; and, acting upon
this knowledge, repent and return to the Lord your God.
Regard, then, the guilty Edom that is warned; and the office and
answer of the watchman who warns it.
I cannot now undertake to count over the array of those who address
the spiritual watchmen of the Church of Christ in tones of derision,
and mock their ministry. Some there are who ask the report of "the
night" with utter carelessness as to the reply; some there are who
ask it in contempt.
But what is still the duty of him who holds the momentous position of
watchman in the city of God? On the occasion before us, remark--1. He
did not turn away from the question, in whatever spirit it was asked.
2. He uttered with equal assurance a threat and a promise. 3. He
pressed the necessity of care in the study, and earnest inquiry after
the nature, of the truth; and he summed up all in an anxious, a
cordial, and reiterated invitation to repentance and reconciliation
with an offended but pardoning God. Thus, the single verse might be
regarded as an abstract of the duties of the ministerial office.--_W.
Archer Butler: Sermons,_ vol. ii. pp. 339-345.