Isaiah 21:17

Thus Isaiah means that the Lord will easily surmount every obstacle, will open up a way which is shut, and will supply them abundantly with water, so that they shall not die of thirst, in the same manner as he formerly brought water out of rock by an extraordinary miracle, when the people thought that their condition was hopeless; and consequently, that there is no reason why they should despair of their return, if they wish to contemplate, and cordially to believe, that power of God which they have already experienced.

21:13-17 The Arabians lived in tents, and kept cattle. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, and make them an easy prey. We know not what straits we may be brought into before we die. Those may know the want of necessary food who now eat bread to the full. Neither the skill of archers, nor the courage of mighty men, can protect from the judgments of God. That is poor glory, which will thus quickly come to nothing. Thus hath the Lord said to me; and no word of his shall fall to the ground. We may be sure the Strength of Israel will not lie. Happy are those only whose riches and glory are out of the reach of invaders; all other prosperity will speedily pass away.

And the residue of the number of archers,.... Or of "bow" (g), for "bows": that is, of men that use the bow, or are expert at it, as the Kedarenes were, both for taking wild beasts, and fighting with men, in which they followed their original ancestor Ishmael, Genesis 21:20 the number of these archers it seems had been great, but would be lessened by the calamity threatened; and those that would escape that, and be preserved from it, should be lessened still, as follows: the mighty men of the children of Kedar shall be diminished; their military men, the most expert at the use of the bow, and the most valiant and courageous; the few of those that were left, and did not fall by the sword of the Assyrians, should gradually diminish, and be fewer and fewer: for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it; who cannot lie, nor will repent, and whose word never fails, what he has said he will do, nor will he alter the thing that is gone out of his lips; and he is spoken of as the God of Israel, because it was to the Israelites that this was said, and for their sakes; either because these Arabians some way or other were injurious to them, or they had put some confidence in them. The Targum is, "because by the word of the Lord God of Israel it is so decreed.'' (g) "numeri arcus", Montanus, Cocceius.

And the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of {x} Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it. (x) Which was the name of a people of Arabia: and by the horrible destruction of all these nations, he teaches the Jews that there is no place for refuge or to escape God's wrath, but only to remain in his Church, and to live in his fear.

(17) And the residue . . . —The Hebrew word is the same as the characteristic “remnant” of Isaiah’s earlier prophecies. The words point primarily to the subjugation of Arabia by Sargon and Sennacherib, who narrate their victories over the Arabian tribes ( Records of the Past, vii. 34). In Jeremiah 49:28-29 we have an echo of the prediction, which, in that case, pointed to their conquest by Nebuchadnezzar.

And the residue of the number - That is, those who shall be left in the invasion. Or perhaps it may be read, 'There shall be a renmant of the number of bowmen; the mighty people of Kedar shall be diminished.' Of archers - Hebrew, 'Of the bow;' that is, of those who use bows in war. The bow was the common instrument in hunting and in war among the ancients. Shall be diminished - Hebrew, 'Shall be made small;' they shall be reduced to a very small number. We cannot indeed determine the precise historical event to which this refers, but the whole connection and circumstances seem to make it probable that it referred to the invasion by the Assyrian when he went up against Judah, or when he was on his way to Egypt.

Thus does the approaching fate of Arabia present itself in picture before the prophet's eye, whilst it is more distinctly revealed in Isaiah 21:16 , Isaiah 21:17 : "For thus hath the Lord spoken to me, Within a year, as the years of a hired labourer, it is over with all the glory of Kedar. And the remnant of the number of bows of heroes of the Kedarenes will be small: for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken." The name Kedar is here the collective name of the Arabic tribes generally. In the stricter sense, Kedar, like Nebaioth, which is associated with it, as a nomadic tribe of Ishmaelites, which wandered as far as the Elanitic Gulf. Within the space of a year, measured as exactly as is generally the case where employers and labourers are concerned, Kedar's freedom, military strength, numbers, and wealth (all these together constituting its glory), would all have disappeared. Nothing but a small remnant would be left of the heroic sons of Kedar and their bows. They are numbered here by their bows (in distinction from the numbering by heads), showing that the righting men are referred to - a mode of numbering which is customary among the Indian tribes of America, for example. (Note: See the work of V. Martius on the Indians of Brazil, i. 395, 411, etc.) The noun she'âr (remnant) is followed by five genitives here (just as peri is by four in Isaiah 10:12); and the predicate ימעטוּ is in the plural because of the copiousness of the subject.

The period of the fulfilment of the prophecy keeps us still within the Assyrian era. In Herodotus (2, 141), Sennacherib is actually called "king of Arabians and Assyrians" (compare Josephus, Ant. x. 1, 4); and both Sargon and Sennacherib, in their annalistic inscriptions, take credit to themselves for the subjugation of Arabian tribes. But in the Chaldean era Jeremiah predicted the same things against Kedar (chapter 49) as against Edom; and Jeremiah 49:30-31 was evidently written with a retrospective allusion to this oracle of Isaiah. When the period fixed by Isaiah for the fulfilment arrived, a second period grew out of it, and one still more remote, inasmuch as a second empire, viz., the Chaldean, grew out of the Assyrian, and inaugurated a second period of judgment for the nations. After a short glimmer of morning, the night set in a second time upon Edom, and a second time upon Arabia.

Sinim —The Arabians and other Asiatics called China Sin, or Tchin; the Chinese had no special name for themselves, but either adopted that of the reigning dynasty or some high-sounding titles. This view of "Sinim" suits the context which requires a people to be meant "from far," and distinct from those "from the north and from the west" [G ESENIUS ]. 13. So Revelation 12:12. God will have mercy on the afflicted, because of His compassion; on His afflicted, because of His covenant. 14. Zion —the literal Israel's complaint, as if God had forsaken her in the Babylonian captivity; also in their dispersion previous to their future restoration; thereby God's mercy shall be called forth (Isaiah 63:15-19; Psalms 77:9, 10; 102:17). 15. (Isaiah 44:21; Psalms 103:13; Matthew 7:11). 16. Alluding to the Jews' custom (perhaps drawn from Exodus 13:9) of puncturing on their hands a representation of their city and temple, in token of zeal for them [L OWTH ], (So 8:6). ## 17. Thy children —Israel (Isaiah 49:20, 21; Isaiah 43:6). J EROME reads, for "Thy children," "Thy builders"; they that destroyed thee shall hasten to build thee. haste —to rebuild thy desolate capital. shall go forth —Thy destroyers shall leave Judea to Israel in undisturbed possession. 18. As Zion is often compared to a bride (Isaiah 54:5), so the accession of converts is like bridal ornaments ("jewels," Isaiah 62:3; Malachi 3:17).