Isaiah 21:13 - Meaning and Application

Arabia was a large country east and south of Canaan. A good part of it belonged to Abraham’s descendants. The Dedanites, named here (Isaiah 21:13), came from Dedan, Abraham’s son by Keturah. The people of Tema and Kedar came from Ishmael (Genesis 25:3, Genesis 25:13, Genesis 25:15).

The Arabians generally lived in tents and kept cattle. They were a tough people, used to hard work. The Jews probably saw them as a kind of barrier between themselves and the more warlike eastern nations. So, to alarm them, they are told they will hear the burden, or heavy judgment, against Arabia, and see it collapse under its own burden.

A destroying army will come upon them, with swords, drawn weapons, bows ready to shoot, and all the hardship of war (Isaiah 21:15). It is likely that the king of Assyria, on one of his victorious marches, moved through Arabia and found little resistance. He made easy spoil of them. The sight of war’s misery should make us thankful for peace.

The poor country people will be forced to run wherever they can find shelter. The traveling groups of Dedanites, who used to keep to the highways with their caravans, will have to leave them and stay in the scrub of Arabia (Isaiah 21:13). They will not even have the comfort of their own tents, poor and worn as those tents were.

They will need food and water badly, and they will almost perish in their flight from the invading army. So the people of Tema, probably their nearest neighbors, are told to bring water to those who are thirsty and bread to those who are fleeing. They deserve kindness, because they are not wandering for no reason or suffering because of their own folly. They are fleeing from the sword. Tema was sometimes short of water itself, as Job 6:19 shows, so water would be especially precious to these distressed refugees.

From this we should learn to expect hardship ourselves. We do not know what trouble may come before we die. People who now live in cities may be forced to sleep in forests, and those who eat plenty may one day lack necessary food. No mountain stands so firm that it cannot be moved, and none rises so high that it cannot be climbed. These Arabians would bear such troubles better because their way of life had trained them for hardship.

We should also learn to have compassion on those who suffer, and gladly help them, since their case may soon be ours. “Bring water to those who are thirsty,” and do not only give bread to those who ask for it, but go ahead and give it before they ask. Those who do that will be remembered with praise, as the land of Tema is here remembered for bringing water to the thirsty and helping even those who were about to fall.

All the glory of Kedar will fade away. Did they boast in their many herds and flocks? The enemy will drive them all off. They were also known among other nations for using the bow in battle, but their archers will not defeat the enemy. Instead, they themselves will fall, and the rest of their number will grow smaller and smaller (Isaiah 21:17). Their strong, brave men, the very ones most ready to defend the country, will be the first exposed and will fall either by the enemy’s sword or into the enemy’s hand.

This shows that neither skill with the bow, however accurate, nor bravery in strong men can protect a people from God’s judgments when they come by his command. Those abilities may even put them in greater danger. It is a poor kind of glory that disappears so quickly.

All of this will happen in a short time. “Within one year, as a hired worker counts a year,” this judgment will come on Kedar. If we cannot now know exactly when the prophecy was given or fulfilled, the fixed time may still have been useful to the Arabians then. It should have awakened them to repent, so that, like Nineveh, they might turn back when they were told the judgment was near. Or, once the prophecy began to be fulfilled, the whole matter would be completed in a year. When God chooses, he can do a great work in a short time.

All of it is confirmed by the truth of God (Isaiah 21:16). “The Lord has told me this,” Isaiah says, meaning, “You may trust me, because this is his word.” We can be sure that none of his words will fail. Again, “The Lord God of Israel has spoken it” (Isaiah 21:17). He speaks as the God of Israel, carrying out his gracious purposes toward them, and we can be sure the Strength of Israel will not lie.