Isaiah study & commentary

Isaiah 34:1-4

Isaiah invites the nations to hear about God's judgment of them.  All the earth needed to hear; all the gentile nations needed to pay attention.  The Lord was angry and His judgment would come.  God's wrath is against the nations and we see He 'has' destroyed the and 'has' given them to slaughter; its as sure as if it were already done. 

This will be a great slaughter.  Isaiah paints a very graphic image complete with the smells of the rotting corpses.  The mountains would be saturated and run with blood.  This judgment is not limited to just the earth but extends to the cosmos.  This may we be the judgment of the heavenly hosts that were worshiped.  These 'hosts' are stars and planets; they will also 'rot'.  This decay is linked to the heavens rolling up like a scroll.  The stars fall like leaves or fruit from a tree. 

The idea of the stars and heaven being dissolved and the sky rolling up like a scroll is hard to imagine.  Many relate this to the rolling affect of a nuclear detonation.  It is more likely that the hand of God that holds all things together in balance and in check will be released.  This will likely be a cataclysm like no other.  See also Revelation 6:14 and Colossians 1:17. 

Isaiah 34:5-12

The sword makes the preparations for the sacrifice.  Edom stands as a representative of the nations; as Jacob was God's children inheriting the Promised Land – Esau stood as those opposed to Him receiving a curse.  The Lord says, "Vengeance is Mine."  Those who did not, or would not, sacrifice, became the sacrifice.  We sometime think God is too patient in his vengeance, especially when we've been hurt.  The day is coming when the Lord will unleash his vengeance.  The sacrifice is in Bozrah; the capital of Edom.  As Edom was a perpetual enemy of Israel, the end of Edom is the end of all opposition.

The burning pitch and brimstone is reminiscent of Sodom and Gomorrah.  This fire won't be quenched; the ascending smoke appears as the smoke of the sacrifice rising.  This devastation will lie empty as a memorial.  The animals will take it back.  God stretches His measuring line and hangs His plumb bob; the line marks the desolation and void of His wrath.  The earthly powers will be brought to nothing. 

Babylon will fall in a similar way. 

Isaiah 34:13-15

The desolation and void from the measuring line and plumb bob of verse 11 are displayed.  The presence of these birds and unclean animals speaks of the area being depopulated.  It becomes a barren wilderness.  We would look at this place and think it were a God forsaken place.    

The creatures of verse 14 refer to the howling ones and the screaming ones.  The night creature in the last part of verse 14 could be a reference to Lilith, a female demon of Mesopotamian mythology who swooped from the sky and stole little children.  Some folklore claimed she was made from same dirt as Adam (vs Eve made from rib) and was his first wife. 

Isaiah 34:16-17

These are God's prophecies and they will play out in history.  They are a sure thing.  The destruction will come to Edom, the line will be drawn and the animals will possess the land as laid out by the Lord.

©2018 Doug Ford