Chapter 21
21:1 The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from Africa, it comes from the desert from a terrible land.
21:2 A hard vision is told me: he that is unfaithful deals unfaithfully: and he that is a spoiler, spoils. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Medaba: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease.
21:3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish has taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labor: I fell down at the hearing of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it.
21:4 My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is set in a wonder to me.
21:5 Prepare the table, contemplate in the watchtower them that eat and drink: arise, you princes, take up the shield.
21:6 For thus has the Lord said to me: go, and set a watchman: and whatsoever he shall see, let him tell.
21:7 And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed.
21:8 And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights.
21:9 Behold this man comes, the rider upon the chariot with two horsemen, and he answered, and said: Babylon is fallen, she is fallen, and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground.
21:10 O my thrashing, and the children of my floor, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you.
21:11 The burden of Duma calls to me out of Seir: watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
21:12 The watchman said: the morning comes, also the night: if you seek, seek: be converted, come.
21:13 The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dodanim.
21:14 Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south, meet with bread him that flees.
21:15 For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle.
21:16 For thus says the Lord to me: within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away.
21:17 And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord God has spoken it.
507 . The burden of the desert of the sea . Here he threatens against the enemies who oppressed them by taking away their goods, although they were joined to them by some treaty. And this is divided into three parts.
First, against those who were joined to them by a treaty of friendship;
in the second, against those who were joined by right of authority, the burden of the valley of vision (ch. 22);
in the third, against those who were joined to them by association in trade, the burden of Tyre (ch. 23).
The first of these is divided into two.
In the first, he threatens against foreign friends, namely, the Babylonians, who were friends, and yet plundered their goods, as is evident below (ch. 39);
in the second, he threatens against kindred friends: the burden of Duma (Isa 21:11).
508 . Concerning the first of these, he does two things.
First, the title is set out, the burden of the sea , that is, Babylon, on account of the sound of the multitude of peoples, as above: of the desert (Isa 17:12), for it will be reduced to solitude: I will make her sea desolate, I and will dry up her spring (Jer 51:36); he introduces the threat against them that he might add the manner.
Second, the prophecy itself is set out,
and first, the vision of the threat is set out;
second, the manner of accepting the vision: for thus has the Lord said to me (Isa 21:6).
509 . Concerning the first, he designates four things.
First, he designates the gravity of the tribulation, presenting a similitude: as whirlwinds , speaking in the voice of Babylon, come from Africa, from the desert , which was to the south, so comes devastation against me from a land , namely, Persia, terrible to me: the Lord’s ways are in a tempest, and a whirlwind (Nah 1:3). A hard vision , speaking in the person of Babylon: this saying is hard (John 6:61).
510 . Second, he designates the devastator.
And first, as to the condition of their leader: in infidelity. Cyrus, he that is unfaithful , that is, unfaithful to his lord Baltasar, rebelling, and besieging Babylon, trusting in his effeminacy, deals unfaithfully , that is, he will deal unfaithfully, seeing that the city cannot be taken by force, fraudulently making peace and commanding homage to the king of Babylon. When the king of Babylon invited him to a banquet (concerning which, see Daniel 5), he killed him and took the city, bringing his soldiers in through a hole in the city wall, through which a stream flowed, after they had divided its water into many parts. In cruelty: he that is a spoiler ; hence in punishment for his cruelty he was suffocated in blood, and it was said to him: you thirsted for blood, so drink blood; behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself (Hab 2:4).
Second, as to his departure from the region: go up, O Elam , a Persian city and province; Medaba , a city in Media, besiege Babylon: speaking in the voice of the Lord: go up against her, all nations (Jer 51:28).
Third, the power of the enemy: I have made all the mourning thereof , that is, of Babylon, to cease , so that they do not even dare to mourn, above: there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or made the least noise (Isa 10:14); or because he makes his own to mourn.
511 . Third, he designates the compassion of the prophet himself, which he designates as to the body, to which the affections of the mind redound, and this as to the feeling of pain: therefore are my loins filled with pain , that is, I suffer thus like one who suffers pain in the kidneys: there were pains as of a woman in labor (Ps 47:7[48:6]); and as to falling: I fell down ; and as to troubled expression: I was troubled : I was troubled, and I spoke not (Ps 76:5[77:4]; I am troubled in my exercise (Ps 54:3[55:2]).
Second, as to the affections: my heart , that is, the affections, failed , in sadness: my bowels are in pain (Jer 4:19).
Third, as to astounded understanding: darkness , that is, the troubles I have foreseen, amazed me , as if I were in darkness: every one that shall pass by Babylon, shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all her plagues (Jer 50:13). Babylon my beloved , at that time, although afterwards, Babylon was an enemy, is set in a wonder , that is, in astonishment. And I wondered, when I had seen her, with great astonishment (Rev 17:6).
512 . Fourth, he designates the manner and condition of the destruction, saying: O Babylon, prepare the table , inviting Cyrus and Darius to the banquet, contemplate , that is, see, in the watchtower , that is, in the writing of the hand that writes, Mane, Thecel, Phares (Dan 5:25) in the clear light of the Lord; you princes , namely, O Cyrus, O Darius, that eat and drink , with him, arise , strengthened by the vision, take up the shield and kill him: prepare the shield and buckler (Jer 46:3).
513 . Or otherwise, the words of the Lord: O prophet, prepare the table , that is, announce that it is prepared, in the watchtower , that is, in the spirit of prophecy, as above. Or the words of Cyrus: prepare the table , make haste, you Persians, give your horses their ration, that you may be prepared; you, watchman, contemplate , what may happen in the treatise; you, my princes , eat . And this stands even if it is not maintained that Cyrus and Darius were at the banquet, as some say, maintaining that the festival happened in the city, and was given over to pleasure; either they reclined at table because of the festival, or because of a truce, or once they had the victory, or because of the help that they had received, at night they attacked the city.
514 . Note on the words, contemplate in the watchtower , that man ought to contemplate in the mirror of the mind
first, the sins which he has committed, that he may mourn: set you up a watchtower, make to you bitterness: direct your heart into the right way (Jer 31:21);
second, the punishments he has merited, that he may fear: the day of your inspection, your visitation comes (Mic 7:4);
third, the benefits which God has conferred on him, that he may give thanks, below: the voice of your watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they shall praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall convert Zion (Isa 52:8);
fourth, the commands God has enjoined, that he may fulfill them: the watchman of Ephraim (Hos 9:8);
fifth, the rewards which God has promised, that he may possess them. We were eyewitnesses of his greatness. For he received from God the Father honor and glory (2 Pet 1:16–17).
515 . For thus has the Lord said to me . Here he sets out the manner of accepting this vision, and concerning this, he does four things.
First, the divine command is set out: go, and set a watchman , you yourself, or your disciple, whom the Hebrews say was Habakkuk; whatsoever he shall see , in the prophetic spirit, or bodily: son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel (Ezek 3:17).
516 . Second, the vision is set out,
and first, he sets out the thing that was seen: and he saw a chariot with two horsemen , which was usually pulled by two horses, signifying the army of two kingdoms; a rider , namely of chariots, upon an ass , the kingdom of the Persians, which formerly was ignoble, a camel , the kingdom of the Medes, which was always lofty: as if these two animals were yoked together to a chariot in the place of two horses.
Second, the diligence of the one who sees: and he beheld them diligently : set your heart upon all that I shall show you (Ezek 40:4).
517 . Third, the declaration is set out: and a lion cried out , a lion according to strength of soul, who formerly was a watchman through eminence of contemplation.
And first, he declares his own diligence: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord : I will stand upon my watch (Hab 2:1).
Second, he declares what he has seen: behold this man comes , as above;
third, the punishment of Babylon: Babylon is fallen : you are taken, O Babylon, and you were not aware of it (Jer 50:24).
518 . Fourth, the declaration of the prophet to the people is set out: O my thrashing , the words of the prophet, or of Christ, that Jerusalem is to be thrashed with many tribulations, children of my floor , that is, the temple, which is located on the thrashing floor of Ornam (2 Sam 24:18); whatsoever thing he shall answer me, I will declare it to you (Jer 42:4).
519 . The burden of Duma . Here he threatens against their friends and relatives.
And first, against the Idumeans, who belong to the descendants of Esau the brother of Jacob (Gen 25), and were sometimes friends, as it says in 2 Kings 3:9; I have heard all your reproaches, that you have spoken against the mountains of Israel (Ezek 35:12);
second, against the Arabs, who are of the descendants of Ishmael, who was the son of Abraham (Gen 16), where it says, the burden in Arabia (Isa 21:13).
Concerning the first, he does two things.
First, the inscription is set out, the burden of Duma , that is, of Idumea;
second, the threat, concerning which he does three things.
First, their prayer is set out: and these are the words of God to the Idumeans: he calls to me out of Seir , the Jews having been liberated after seventy years of captivity: watchman , you who guard the people of Israel, as though they were sleeping, what of the night , that is, why do you not free us from the night of captivity, as you do for them? And they show their great desire for liberation in the intensity and repetition of their words: behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, that keeps Israel (Ps 120[121]:4).
520 . Second, the refusal of their petition is set out: and the watchman , namely, God, said : the morning comes , the time of liberation for the Jews, also the night of captivity still remains for the Idumeans: but over them only was spread a heavy night (Wis 17:20).
521 . Third, he adds the remedy: if you seek , me, seek , with your whole heart, abandoning idols; or, as in tribulation, so also in prosperity, below: seek the Lord, while he may be found (Isa 55:6); be converted to me with all your heart (Joel 2:12).
522 . Note on the words, watchman, what of the night? (Isa 21:11), that man ought to guard himself in the day of prosperity from riches:
first, lest he choose them, considering their worthlessness: the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss (Phil 3:7);
second, lest he trust in them, considering their vanity: I saw in all things vanity (Eccl 2:11);
third, lest he boast in them, considering the threat of adversity in them: in the day of good things be not unmindful of evils (Sir 11:27[25]).
523 . Also, he ought to guard himself in the night of adversity, lest he be broken:
first, considering the affection of the one who strikes him: my son, reject not the correction of the Lord: and do not faint when you are chastised by him (Prov 3:11);
second, considering the example of Christ, who was stricken: think diligently upon him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself (Heb 12:3);
third, considering the fruit of the striking: for that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation works for us above measure, exceedingly an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor 4:17).
524 . The burden in Arabia . Here he threatens against the Arabs.
And first, he indicates the cause of destruction: that when they offered bread to the fleeing sons of Israel, they took away their water. Hence he places the flight of the Jews: O you, Jews, in the forest , of Arabia, of Dodanim , the name of the place: they wandered in a wilderness, in a place without water: they found not the way of a city (Ps 106[107]:4). He exhorts them to mercy: meeting , you Arabs; the land of the south , that is, of the noon, below: deal your bread to the hungry (Isa 58:7). And he places the cause of mercy: for they are fled from before the swords , that they might be moved to mercy: at the voice of the horsemen, and the archers, all the city is fled away (Jer 4:29).
525 . Second, because they refuse to do this, he threatens punishment: for thus says the Lord .
And first, by the Assyrians, from whom was authority of destruction of the Jews, and the destruction itself: within a year, according to the years of a hireling , which seems brief to him, in his hope for pay.
Second, by the Chaldeans: the residue , left behind by the Assyrians, shall be diminished , by the Chaldeans; Cedar , the son of Ishmael; archers , following the art of their father, where it is said of Ishmael that he became an archer (Gen 21:20).