Isaiah 21:1 - Meaning and Application

Isaiah had already given one message about Babylon in chapter 13, and here he gives another warning about its fall. God repeated this truth so his people would be deeply convinced of it. Babylon sometimes acted like a friend to them, as in Isaiah 39:1, so God warned them not to trust it. At other times it was their enemy, and God wanted them not to fear its power.

Babylon was marked for destruction. Those who trust God’s prophets can already see it shaking, even when it still looks strong and rich. The city is called a “desert by the sea” because it was a flat land with many lakes, almost like little seas, and it was watered by the Euphrates River. It had only recently become famous, after Nineveh had ruled before it under Assyria, but it soon became the “lady of kingdoms.” Before Babylon reached the height it had in Nebuchadnezzar’s day, God foretold its fall again and again, so his people would not be frightened by its rise or lose hope while they were its captives (Job 5:3; Psalm 37:35-36).

Some think Babylon is called a desert because, though it was then a crowded city, it would one day be made desolate. Its destruction is often foretold by Isaiah because it pointed ahead to the destruction of the man of sin, the great enemy of the New Testament church. The Book of Revelation uses many expressions borrowed from these prophecies, so those passages should be read together.

The prophecy begins with the strong attack the Medes and Persians would bring against Babylon (Isaiah 21:1-2). They would come from the desert, from a terrible land. The northern parts of Media and Persia were wild and mountainous, and their soldiers were trained in harsh country that made them formidable. Elam, that is, Persia, is called to rise against Babylon along with the forces of Media.

When God has work like this to do, he can find fitting instruments, even from a desert and a dangerous land. These armies come like whirlwinds from the south, suddenly and powerfully, with a terrifying noise and force that will break down everything in their path. As often happens in war, some defenders will defect and join them. “The treacherous dealers will deal treacherously.” History says that Gadatas and Gobryas, two high officers under the king of Babylon, went over to Cyrus. They knew the city well and led soldiers straight to the palace, where Belshazzar was killed. So the spoilers spoiled Babylon with the help of those who betrayed it.

Some read the words this way, that Babylon will meet a deceiver more cunning than itself, and a spoiler stronger than itself, which comes to the same thing. Those who have used fraud and violence, deceitful treaties, and unjust wars to plunder others will meet their equal and be treated by the same methods.

This brought very different feelings to the people in Babylon. To the poor captives, it was welcome news. They had long been told that Babylon’s destroyer would be their deliverer. So when they hear that Elam and Media are coming to attack Babylon, their sighing will stop. They will no longer weep beside the Euphrates, but will take up their harps again and remember Zion with joy. God in mercy will rise for the needy in due time (Psalm 12:5). He will break the yoke from their necks and remove the rod of the wicked from their lot, so their sighing will end.

To the proud oppressors, this would be a painful vision (Isaiah 21:2). It especially fits the king of Babylon, who seems to speak here in grief about his coming ruin (Isaiah 21:3-4). “My body is filled with pain. Pangs have seized me.” This was literally true of Belshazzar. On the very night his city was taken and he was killed, a hand wrote mysterious words on the wall, and he was so shaken that his face changed, his thoughts troubled him, and his knees knocked together (Daniel 5:6). Yet that was only the beginning of his fear. Daniel’s explanation of the writing would have made it worse, and the soldiers at the door would have brought the terror to its end.

The words, “The night of my pleasure he has turned into fear for me,” clearly point to Belshazzar’s fall on the very night of his feast. He was in the height of his joy, drinking with his wives and concubines and a thousand nobles, when he mocked God by using the temple vessels. That night of pleasure became a night of fear. This should strongly warn us against reckless joy and bodily pleasure. We never know what grief may follow our laughter, or how soon joy may turn to sorrow. We do know that God will judge all these things, so we should always keep some fear along with our joy.

Babylon is also shown in the very posture in which the enemy found it, filled with feast-day ease (Isaiah 21:5). “Set the table with rich food. Post the guards. Let them watch from the tower while we eat and drink safely and enjoy ourselves. If there is any alarm, the princes can rise and anoint the shield, ready to give the enemy a strong welcome.” They are so secure that they seem to arm themselves with as much delight as if they were laying the armor aside.

The prophet then describes the alarm that would come when Cyrus and Darius forced their way into Babylon. In the vision, the Lord showed him the watchman standing in his tower, near the palace, as was common in times of danger. The king had ordered a sentinel to be placed in the best spot for seeing any threat. The watchman was to do his duty and report what he saw (Isaiah 21:6).

We read of watchmen in David’s time, when one was set to bring news (2 Samuel 18:24), and in Jehu’s time, when another watched for danger (2 Kings 9:17). Here the watchman sees a chariot with two horsemen beside it, likely showing the commander riding in it. He also sees another chariot drawn by asses or mules, and another drawn by camels, animals that were commonly used among the Persians and Medes.

As Grotius thinks, these two chariots may represent the two nations joined against Babylon. Or they may be messengers bringing news to the palace, as in Jeremiah 51:31, 32, where one runner follows another to report Babylon’s fall. The king is taken while he is feasting, and he knows nothing about it until the news reaches him. The watchman sees these chariots from far off and listens closely for the first report.

Then he cries out, “A lion!” This word from a watchman would have had a clear meaning for his hearers, even if we no longer know exactly what it was. Most likely, it was meant to grab attention, like a lion’s roar calling everyone to listen. Or he cried out like a lion, loudly and with urgency, because the danger was great.

What does he say? First, he says he has been faithful at his post. “I stand, my lord, continually on the watchtower, and until now I have seen nothing important. Everything seemed safe and quiet.” Some take this as the complaint of God’s people, who had long waited for Babylon to fall, as God had promised, but had not yet seen it happen. Even so, they would keep waiting, like Habakkuk, who said, “I will stand at my watch” to see what God would do (Habakkuk 2:1).

Then he reports what he has now seen: “Here comes a chariot of men with a couple of horsemen” (Isaiah 21:9). This vision shows the enemy entering the city with full force, or it shows news of that victory being brought to the royal palace. In either case, the message is plain: Babylon’s end has come.

At last, a certain report is given about Babylon’s fall. The one in the chariot answered and said, “Babylon has fallen, has fallen.” Or, if we take it as God’s answer to the prophet’s inquiry, it means this: Babylon has truly and finally fallen, and its downfall cannot be reversed. Its time is over. All the carved images of its gods have been broken to the ground.

Babylon was the mother of idolatry, and that was one of the main reasons God judged her. But her idols would not save her. Some would be smashed, and others, if they were valuable enough to carry away, would be taken into captivity and become a burden on the animals that carried them (Isaiah 46:1, 2).

Then the prophet gives comfort to God’s people, who were captives in Babylon. This prophecy of Babylon’s fall was meant especially for them, to strengthen their hearts, and they could trust that it would happen at the right time (Isaiah 21:10). He calls them, in God’s name, “O my threshing, and the corn of my floor!” He says they are his own, because they are his countrymen and because he cares deeply for them. But he is speaking for God, and he addresses the true Israelites, the faithful ones.

The church is God’s threshing floor, where the best fruit of this world is gathered and kept. True believers are the grain on that floor. Hypocrites are like chaff and straw, which take up space but have little worth. The wheat is mixed with them for a time, but it will soon be separated from them forever. God’s grain must expect to be threshed by troubles and persecution. Israel had been afflicted from its youth, often under the plowman’s plow (Psalm 129:3) and the thresher’s flail.

Even so, it is still God’s threshing. It remains his, and the threshing happens by his command, under his control, and within his limits. Those who thresh it have no power except what is given them from above. The prophet finishes by saying that he has spoken only what he heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. He has not given his own ideas. He has delivered what God made known to him, and nothing else.

In all matters about the church, whether past, present, or future, we must look to God as both the Lord of hosts and the God of Israel. He has power enough to do anything for his church, and grace enough to do everything that is good for her. We must also listen to his prophets as people who speak what they have truly received from the Lord. They must not hide anything God has told them to declare, and they must not claim as God’s word anything he has not revealed to them (1 Corinthians 11:23).