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September 10, 2026 |
| Isaiah 34 | ||
This chapter talks about the destruction of Edom for what they have done … or at least tried to do. You will have to accept for now that that's the focus of the chapter. When we get to the parts that contain the words that allow us to place the prophecy in time, I'll explain them.
This study goes with the Isaiah 52 study and Isaiah 63. Though Isaiah 52 doesn't mention Edom, the study talks about the people who are hiding there and their trip back to Jerusalem, which Isaiah 63 also talks about.
Draw near, O nations, to hear; and pay attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, as well as its fullness, the world and all that springs from it.
2For the indignation of Yahweh is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their hosts;
He has devoted them to destruction;
He has given them over to slaughter.
3So their slain will be cast out,
And their corpses will give off their stench,
And the mountains will be drenched with their blood. (Isaiah 34:1-3)
God wants all the nations to pay attention to a slaughter that will happen. The slaughter won't involve all of the nations, at least not to the extent that it will involve one particular nation. God wants all the nations to see this, because most of them had some culpability in what that nation did.
There are going to be dead bodies. Lots of them, and spread over a wide area. But the Old Testament has lots of slaughters, so that doesn't give us anything that lets us place the prophecy in time.
And all the host of heaven will rot away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All their hosts will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree. (Isaiah 34:4)
Now the view changes. With that, we recognize a phrase that appears elsewhere in the Bible: "the sky will be rolled up like a scroll." The description is of the stars and other astronomical bodies disappearing from the sky.
Unfortunately this phrase is used to describe at least two different events that happen at different times. Revelation 6:12-14 has a description that is almost identical to this one, but it describes an earlier event.
Jesus also describes the event that this chapter is speaking about.
But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will darken and the moon will not show its light, and the stars will fall from the heavens and the power of the heavens will be disturbed. 30 And then the sign of the son of Man in Heaven will appear and then all the families of the earth will mourn, and they will see the son of Man who comes on the clouds of Heaven with miracles and many praises. (Matthew 24:29-30)
In the other events where this phrase is used, I believe the cause is something in the atmosphere that obscures the sun, moon, and stars for a period of time. In this event, I believe it is permanent, as Isaiah says elsewhere.
No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; but you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory. (Isaiah 60:19)
And as Revelation says.
And the Lamb and the city do not need the Sun or the Moon to illuminate it, for the glory of God illuminates it, and the Lamb is its lamp. (Revelation 19:23)
As you can see, Revelation refers to the loss of the Sun, Moon, and stars in two places, but each describes a different event. This confuses many people.
For My sword is satiated in heaven;
Behold, it shall descend for judgment upon Edom
And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.
6The sword of Yahweh is filled with blood;
It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. (Isaiah 34:5-6)
The LSB / NASB translations usually do a pretty good job of translating, but this isn't one of them. The word "satiated" means "to be satisfied," as a man's hunger is satisfied by food. But the Hebrew says "has drunk its fill," which means it has taken in all that it can. For hunger, this would be stuffed with food - finished it all and licked the plate clean.
To say, "My sword has drunk its fill in Heaven" causes problems. Some people in churchianity have said that this must be a reference to the war in Heaven where Satan and his angels are cast out. This is correct, but that raises a new question they can't answer - why bother saying that?
Churchianity believes that the war in Heaven occurred around the time of the original sin in the Garden of Eden. With that happening so long ago, it has no relevance to this future event. Also God has slain many people since the Garden of Eden; was the "sword" not used for those? Because of these unanswered questions, the rest of Churchianity say that it can't be a reference to the war in Heaven, but they don't know what it is referencing.
The war in Heaven has not yet happened and will not happen until 3½ years before Jesus returns. The "sword" has been used many times before, and that's part of the reason this reference is given. This phrase is telling us the most recent use of the "sword" was in the war in Heaven, and that gives us a reference point in time to locate the events in this chapter.
Edom is the focus of the "sword." Edom was the land of Esau, also called Edom, the twin brother of Jacob / Israel. The land of Edom comes into the Bible when the Israelites are heading for the promised land. They ask if they can cross through Edom, but the Edomites refused and threatened to attack them if they did. Many times after that, the Edomites either attacked Israel or rejoiced in its suffering. In prophecy, God says he will even that score ("devoted to destruction"), and this prophecy says how and roughly when.
The verse says the "sword" is filled with blood. Then the translation goes astray again by using the word "sated," which is the same word as "satiated" before it. The Hebrew says "dripping with," which is completely different. It's as though the translators are trying to make the text less graphic, when God's intent is for it to be a warning that is effective because it is very graphic.
The verse lists "the blood of lambs and goats" and "the fat of the kidneys of rams." Any Jew would understand this as a reference to sacrificed animals. Then God mentions sacrifice.
This sacrifice will happen in Bozrah. The land of Edom is now southern Jordan. There is a city there called Bozrah. It is about 30 miles from Petra, which didn't exist in Isaiah's time. Petra was created by the Nabataeans a few hundred years later.
And wild oxen will also fall with them,
And young bulls with strong ones;
Thus their land will be soaked with blood,
And their dust become greasy with fat.
8For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,
A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9And its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its dust into brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
10It will not be quenched night or day;
Its smoke will go up forever.
From generation to generation it will be laid waste;
None will pass through it forever and ever.
11But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the line of utter formlessness
And the plumb line of utter void.
12Its nobles — there is no one there
Whom they may proclaim king —
And all its princes will be non-existent.
13And thorns will come up in its fortified towers,
Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of jackals
And an abode of ostriches.
14And the desert creatures will meet with the wolves;
The hairy goat also will cry to its kind;
Surely, the night creature will obtain relief there
And will find itself a resting place.
15The owl will make its nest and find its escape there,
And it will hatch its eggs and gather them in its shade.
Surely, the falcons will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind. (Isaiah 34:5-15)
God elaborates on the destruction. Some details catch our eyes. Animals will also be slaughtered. Everything is burned in a high heat that converts fat to grease. Fire is widespread. The land will be spoiled for use by humans but will still be usable by animals. Everyone will leave, and there will be no government.
Seek from the book of Yahweh, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
17He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they will dwell in it. (Isaiah 34:5-15)
God makes a special effort to have people understand that everything he has said above will happen. Warning: If you don't want to die, don't be there. If you are there, sell what you have and be someplace else.
No one knows what this "book of Yahweh" is. Some think it must be a reference to the book of Isaiah, but there are no other references to these animals in Isaiah.
The phrases "His mouth" and "His Spirit" have been played with by the translators. Literally, in Hebrew, they are "My mouth" and "His Spirit," but the translators think that skipping from 1st person to 3rd person can't be correct, so they have changed it. I'm inclined to think there is a message in it, though I don't know what.
"Casting the lot" was a process for randomly deciding who gets which parts of something. It probably didn't involve dice, as we might do it today, but something similar would have been used. In some cases, it was requested that God involve himself in that decision.
The point though, is that God has assigned the portions of this desolate land to the animals forever, and man will not inhabit it.