Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 21:11-17 They Fled From The Grievousness of War

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Isa 21:11-17 They Fled From The Grievousness of War

Isa 21:11  The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
Isa 21:12  The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.
Isa 21:13  The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
Isa 21:14  The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.
Isa 21:15  For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.
Isa 21:16  For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
Isa 21:17  And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.

We have two "burdens" here. The burden of Dumah, and the burden of Arabia. Both are the historical enemies of the Lord's people, even though both are also "the seed of Abraham". Both Dumah and Arabia were conquered, along with Israel, by the king of Babylon. In the first ten verses of this chapter we saw that Babylon, the Assyrians, who are "the rod of [the Lord's] indignation", must also be judged and be punished for her sins. Now we are learning what happens when Babylon falls, and what happens to all of Israel's enemies who are conquered by Babylon. Those nations who oppose the Lord's people and yet they are also "the seed of Abraham", are symbolized in these verses by Dumah and Arabia.

In our last study we saw that the holy spirit inspired the apostle John, in the book of Revelation, to twice record these words concerning the fall of the great harlot:

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

As we learned, those words were first recorded here in Isaiah 21:

Isa 21:9  And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.

It is obvious that the "foul spirits" of the book of Revelation are the same as "the graven images" of Isaiah 21. Both are symbols of all the false doctrines of "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth" (Rev 17:5). All three references, Isaiah 21 and Revelation 14 and Revelation 18, speak of the wrath of God which is being poured out upon this great spiritual harlot.

The Lord's wrath is occasioned by the fornication of His own wife. Her 'fornication' is likened to "the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird", and it is no less an authority than our Lord Himself who informs us that these unclean "birds", which​ "catch away the Word", are "the wicked one" with all of his lies and false doctrines, to whom His wife has given  her ears, and has given "habitation" in her heart, while turning her back on her covenant with Him and His doctrines.

Christ explains the meaning of the prophecy of the judgment of Babylon in the parable of the sower in:

Mat 13:4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

In verse 19 He tells us what "the fowls" of verse 4 symbolize:

Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

The fall of this great harlot is first revealed to us through the literal fall of the physical city of Babylon which had became the capital of the Assyrian Empire in the days of Isaiah.

These are the words of the "watchman" in the last two verses we covered in our last study:

Isa 21:9  And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
Isa 21:10  O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

The fall of Babylon, however, both here and in Revelation 18,​ does not take place in a vacuum. As we saw earlier in this same chapter, Isaiah was made to walk naked before Israel to depict the fall of those whom Israel had trusted to save them from His judgments. Isaiah was made to walk bare foot and naked to demonstrate that her lovers, her allies, Egypt and Ethiopia, whom she had hoped would help to save her, would both be "led away" as captives before the king of Assyria.

Isa 20:1  In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
Isa 20:2  At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
Isa 20:3  And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
Isa 20:4  So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
Isa 20:5  And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
Isa 20:6  And the inhabitant of this isle [God's own people, Judah and Jerusalem] shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?

Isaiah, as a type of us, lived by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God concerning all the Lord was doing with Israel and her heathen lovers. It was he who first experienced the shame of the fall of Israel's allies, Ethiopia and Egypt. Then the very next thing we were shown was that Isaiah also felt the agony of the fall of Babylon:

Isa 21:2  A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
Isa 21:3  Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
Isa 21:4  My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.

Why did the Lord require His prophets to experience the humiliation of Israel's enemies? The obvious answer is that He did so to demonstrate that Israel had become her own enemy. Israel had refused the love of her own husband and was now as estranged from her own husband as were the heathen Babylonians. In doing this,​ she had become the very harlot whose name would later be used as the symbol of the whore she had become. It is Judah and Jerusalem; it is Israel, the type of the Lord's own people, His own "seven churches" who have become 'Babylon, the great whore' of Revelation 17-18.

It is the seven churches of Revelation 2-3 who have turned their backs on their own husband, Christ, and have lost their first love (Rev 2:4).

It is these seven churches who house the very throne of Satan; they cast a stumbling block before the Lord's own people, and through all their false doctrines they are spiritually feeding God's flock "things offered unto idols,​ and they are committing spiritual fornication in doing so. It is the Lord's own churches that "hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans" and are bearing rule over the Lord's flock (Rev 2:13-15).

It is the Lord's own unfaithful wife who allows the doctrines of Jezebel to seduce His people to serve her false gods and to experience "the depths of Satan" (Rev 2:20-24).

It is the Lord's own unfaithful, apostate people who "have a name that they live and are [in reality spiritually] dead" (Rev 3:1).

It is Christ's own apostate wife who "sayest, [of herself] I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; [when the Truth is that she] knowest not that [she is] wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Rev 3:17).

Are not those the very words of the "adulterous woman" of:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

In the first chapter of his prophecy,​ Isaiah tells us that Jerusalem is the Old Testament type of this very same "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of abominations of the earth" (Rev 17:1-5). It is God's own people, His own apostate church​,​ which has become the harlot of Revelation 17-18:

Isa 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

These are the very words used to describe "that great city... Babylon the Great the mother of harlots":

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Isaiah 1 tells us that "the great city... where also our Lord was crucified... is... become an harlot... as Sodom".

All of that being true, the fall of Jerusalem and her allies in Isaiah's day is a physical type and shadow of the spiritual fall of Babylon the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

The fall of physical Babylon many years after this prophecy is just a later type of the original prophecy of the bruising of the serpent's head, just as so many men down through the years typified Christ, as "the seed of the woman".

Gen 3:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Abel's death typifies the undeserved death of Christ (the seed of the woman). The attempt by Pharaoh to destroy all Hebrew male babies, including Moses, typifies the attempt by "the seed of the serpent" to destroy "the seed of the woman". King Saul's attempt to destroy David is just another later version of this same ongoing message, and so it is with this story of the attempt by the leaders and people of Jerusalem to destroy those prophets who wanted to be obedient to the Lord in the Old Testament. This theme carries over into the New Testament in the story of Herod's destruction of all the male infants two years old and younger in Bethlehem in his attempt to destroy the seed of the woman.

Jerusalem in the Old Testament and Babylon the great in the New Testament book of Revelation, are both types of God's people who are popular in this world simply because they are of this world and therefore the world loves them:

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Joh 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

The religions of this world, Babylon the Great, will tolerate her own harlot daughters, be they Jewish or Muslim, long before they will tolerate those who insist on following in the steps of our Lord:

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

What is the example Christ left for us which caused Him so much suffering? The two things for which Christ was most often condemned were the fact that He did not observe days, months, times and years as commanded by the law of Moses, and He professed to be the Son of God. The weekly sabbath was the most prominent and most often observed of the Jewish holy days, and Christ went out of His way to "[break] the Sabbath". He refused to prepare His meals for the Sabbath in advance as Moses had commanded (Exo 16:5), and He told the man at the pool of Bethesda to "pick up [his] bed" contrary to the law (Exo 20:10 and Jer 17:21). That is the example He set for us:

Mat 12:1  At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mat 12:2  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3  But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4  How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6  But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7  But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Joh 5:8  Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
Joh 5:9  And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
Joh 5:10  The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

Christ never once denied that He had broken the sabbath. Instead he appealed to David who had done that "which was not lawful for him", and He appealed to the priests who "profane the Sabbath and are guiltless", even though neither He nor any of His disciples were priests of the tribe of Levi. That is the example Christ left for us, and those are the actions, along with professing to be the Son of God, which got him crucified:

Joh 5:16  And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
Joh 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

When we refuse to go along with our religious leaders and we place being faithful to the example of Christ above the traditions of men,​ then we,​ too,​ will be "persecuted [by the Lord's own people just as Isaiah and Jeremiah] were before [us]":

Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Look at what happened to Jeremiah for being faithful to the Lord's Words:

Jer 38:6  Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.

God's elect are hated by His own people more than they are by the avowed enemies of the Lord's people. It will be those who claim Christ who will persecute His elect. That is what Christ Himself has already told us would be the case:

Zec 13:6  And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

Mat 10:36  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

So when we read of all the 'burden[s]' of Isaiah:

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

Isa 15:1  The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;

Isa 17:1  The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

Isa 19:1  The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

Isa 21:1  The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

Isa 21:11  The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

Isa 21:13  The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.

Isa 22:1  The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?

Isa 23:1  The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

All of these burdens are for us, and these burdens must first be revealed within us.

So when we read:

Isa 21:11  The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
Isa 21:12  The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.

Dumah is Edumea, and Edumean is Edom. Edom is Esau, Israel's twin brother who sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage, and therefore he symbolizes our flesh which does not value the things of the spirit. He does not value the things of promise. But every symbol of our flesh, the first man, Adam, Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, King Saul, and even Judas, the betrayer of our Lord, will "each in his own order... enquire... return [and] come" to the Lord:

Isa 45:23  I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Rom 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

The 'Dedanim' are the descendants of Dedan,​ the grandson of Abraham by his wife Katurah, whom he married after the death of Sarah.

Gen 25:2  And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.
Gen 25:3  And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.
Gen 25:4  And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
Gen 25:5  And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.
Gen 25:6  But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

The descendants of Ishmael, and all the other descendants of Abraham's children by Keturah and "the concubines", one and all symbolize our own rejected flesh. Our flesh will be rejected,​ and yet we ourselves will be saved, "yet so as by fire" (1Co 3:13-16). The kingdom of our old man will be judged by the Lord, and when we are judged by "the swords", by the words of God, we will return to the Lord. Before that day arrives, however,​ we all 'flee from [His] swords, from [His] drawn sword, and from [His] bent bow, and from the grievousness of war [against Him and His Words]. It is we who must "live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God". The Dedanim, and the inhabitants of the land of Tema, a son of Esau, are both types of our own religious, apostate "seed of Abraham", within us, who attempt to help us as we flee from the Lord's swords, and His drawn bow, but no one will escape the Lord's wrath "in that day".

Isa 21:13  The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
Isa 21:14  The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.
Isa 21:15  For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.

Nebuchanezzar was a heathen king who​m​ the Lord calls "My servant Nebuchadnezzar", because he was used of the Lord to punish the Lord's own whoring wife:

Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

It is the Lord Himself who has given "the beasts of the field", our own flesh, the task of serving Babylon. These words concerning "the burden upon Arabia" are Christ's words in the Old Testament telling us the same thing He tells us in the New Testament:

Mat 7:6  Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Isa 21:16  For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
Isa 21:17  And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.

"Within a year, according to the years of an hireling... all the glory of Kedar shall fail" means that the fulfillment of this prophecy is imminent. It is the same message Christ gives us when he tells us:

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

​The reason we are reading this admonition here in Isaiah​ 21, is that we all attempt to save "the children of Kedar" within us. We go ahead and give His water and His food to those who are fleeing from the Lord's servant, Babylon. We want Ishmael within us to be spared (Gen 17:18). Outwardly we attempt to drag our friends and family out of Babylon, and when we do that His sword, His words, the very words we are using to attempt to quench their thirst and fill their bellies, will be trampled underfoot, and they will turn and rend us just as we trampled upon the Truth when we first heard it before we were dragged to the Lord by the sword of His Word.

However, in time He has determined that we will all, each in his own order (1Co 15:23), be judged by the fire of His Words, and when that day arrives we will "learn righteousness":

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Next week we will see just how blind we once were, all the while thinking we could see clearly.

Isa 22:1  The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?
Isa 22:2  Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
Isa 22:3  All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.
Isa 22:4  Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
Isa 22:5  For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.
Isa 22:6  And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
Isa 22:7  And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
Isa 22:8  And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

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