The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 341

Such Wll8 the permsn<>nt result. No doubt oberib's reign, when Edom waa at pence there WBB also, in the sack of the city, with Assyria, merely payin~ a moderate rnuoh dam&gc done to many of the idols by tribute (G. Smith, 'Eponym Canon,' p.132), n i:recdy soldiery, who mny have carried off and tho "night" of the Inter period in tbo many images of gold or silver, ,md bl'Okcn same king's reign, when (about B.o. 694- up others that were not portable, and 690) the country suffered from another stripped off the plates of precious metal Assyrian invasion, in which the king's from the idols of " brass, and iron, and treasures and hie gods were carried off to ~rn,,d. and stone " (Dan. v. 6). Nineveh (ibid., p. 137). If ye will inquire, Yer. 10.--0 my threshing, and the oorn inquire ye ; retnm, oome. Some take this of my floor. These nre the words of the vety literally, as meaning, "If you would prophet to Israel. Her chastisements have inquire further into the meaning of this long been "threshing" Israel, separating il.nswer, do so; return to me; come again." the grain from the chaff, and will do so still But this implies tho.t the Edomitee ha.d lient more as time goes on. The prophet's mes- au act'!---'ll messeu~r to make the inquiry sage is for the comfort of those who shall of ver. 5, which is improbo.ble. Others ha "re gone throngh i.he process and become understand a reproach to Edom I ·" If ye the true "children of the threshing-floor" will have recourse to ,God in the time of -pure wheat, fit to be gathered into the trouble, do so ; but then do more-retnm gamer of God (Matt. iii. 12). to him altogether: come, and be one wiili Vers. 11, 12.-TirE BOl\DEN OF Dm1AB. Judah." . This short "burden " is probably to be Vers. 13-17.-TBE BURDEN OIi' AWIA. understood as uttered with reference to Edom will ho.ve companions in misfortune Edom, whioh the prophet prefers to call among the Arab tribes upon her borders, "Dnrunb," i.e. " silence," in reference to Dedan, Terna, and Kedar. War will enter the desolulion which be sees to be coming their territory, derange their oommerce upon the oonntry. Snch a play upon words (ver. 13), ea.use flight and privation (vere. 14, is very usual in the East. Isaiah has 15), and within e. year greatly diminish the already given e.n instance of it in the na.me number of their fighting men (vere. 16, 17), under which he has designated Heliopolis The date of the prophecy is uncertain, but (eh. m. 18). can ece.rcely be earlier than B.o. 715, when Ver. 11.-Dnmah. There were at least Sargon made an exped_ition into Arabia (G. two towns of this name ('Diet.of the Bible,' Smith, 'Eponym Ca.non,' p. 66). vol. i. pp. 459, 460); bnt neither of them is Ver. 13.-The burden upon Arabie.; in the district of Seir. It is best, therefore, rather, in .Arabia. The phrase is varied to regard " Dn.mah " here as representing from its neual form, probably because it is Edom, or ldumma (so the LXX., Jarcbi, not Arabie. generally, but only certain of 11.oeenmiiller, Kay, Cheyne, and others). the more northern tribes, on whom calamity He celleth to me ; rather, one calleth to me ; is about to fall. In the forest .. , shall. ye i.e. I seem to bear a call from Mount Seir, lodge. The word used is commonly trans- as of one making inquiry of me. There is lated " forest ; " but Arabie. has no forests, no need to suppose that the inquiry was and the meaning here must be "b1·ush- actually made. Mount Seir, or the district wood." Thorny bneheii and shrubs 11re IIDllth-sonth-east of the Dead Sea, was the common in all parts of Arabia, The general heart of the ldUllllBILn country, which thence meaning is tba.t the caravans will have to extended vaguely eastward and westward. leave the bee.ten track, and obtain such What of the night 1 i.e. what hour, or, shelter and concealment as the scanty brush- rather, perhaps, what watch of the night is wood of the desert conld afford. Ye travel- It? May we consider that "the night is far ling companies of Dedanim. The Dedanim, spent, e.nd the day at hand"? Edem bad or Dede.nitee, were among the chief traders offended Sargon by joining with Ashdod of the Arabian peninsula. They ha.d com- (G. Smith, 'Eponym Canon,' p. 130), and mercial dealings with · Tyre, whieh they was probably at this time oppressed by supplied with ivory, ebony, and "preoious Sargon in consequence. clothes for chariots" (Ezek. :u:vii. 15, 20). Ver. 12.-The morning oometh, and also Thie trade they carried on by means of the night. An oracular reply, but pro- large caravans-the" travelling companies" bably meaning (I) that a brighter time of the present passage. They are thought would soon dawn upon the Edomite people; to have had their chief settlements on the and (2) that thit! brighter time would be shores of the Persian Gulf, where the island followed by a retmn of misery and affliction. of Dada.n may be an echo of their no.me. We may (oonjecturally) understand the Ver. 14."--The inhabitantl of the land of •· morning" of th;, earlier pa.rt of Senna- Tema brought water; 1ather, brl11g re water, tilt. xxr. 1-17.) THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 339