The Aftermath of Babylon's Collapse - Isaiah 21

All the way back in Isaiah 13, God issued a prophetic warning for Babylon. He said He would awaken the Medes against the Babylonians (13:17), obliterate their city like Sodom and Gomorrah (13:19), and leave it as a waste place for wild animals (13:22). 

Isaiah 21 describes the aftermath of Babylon’s downfall. This chapter is so certain about Babylon’s destruction that the city itself only gets one mention in verse 9, referring to it as “fallen”. 

God gives this vision to three wilderness regions in the Middle East: “the wilderness of the sea” (1), “Dumah” or “Edom” (11), and “Arabia” (13). As the news of Babylon’s collapse spreads, each region has to respond to unique circumstances.

Who will conquer Babylon? In verse 2, God identifies “Elam” and “Media”. Cyrus the Persian united these two neighboring regions (in modern Iran) as he formed the Medo-Persian Empire around 550 BC. 

As Medo-Persia conquers, verses 4-10 show Isaiah is overwhelmed by the horror of watching their conquest. He writes, “The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.” As his watchman confirms Babylon’s fall, Isaiah thinks of the downfall of his own people, Israel, “O my trampled people and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you” (10). Isaiah may be concerned for his own people’s safety; or he may be pointing out the justice of God in attacking those who have attacked them. Whatever the reason, Isaiah resolves to be a faithful messenger of God’s word.

Next, we see people fleeing Babylon’s destruction. God wants their neighbors to treat them with mercy, “Bring water to meet the thirsty…for they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow and from the heaviness of battle” (14-15). Times of war commonly bring refugees. God calls the people of these wilderness regions to care for them hospitably.

The chapter concludes with a warning to those who have benefited from Babylon’s wealth, “In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the glory of Kedar will end and…bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken” (16-17). 

Those who prospered with Babylon will fall along with her. That’s why God gave this prophecy over 100 years before its fulfillment. God wants Israel to know not to ally with other nations. To encourage this, He tells of the future downfall of these nations. But they don’t simply fall; they fall by His will, in His timing. 

Isaiah’s readers would get the message loud and clear: Yahweh is sovereign over all the nations, so Judah must trust Him for its protection. The point of Isaiah 13-23 is that all other nations will fall. Only Yahweh reigns forever.

I encourage you to use this chapter as an opportunity to evaluate your own comfort with the status quo. Where do you find comfort in this life? What gives relief to your anxious soul? As nations rage and kingdoms rise and fall, we ought not to put our hope in them. Let us first appreciate our citizenship in His kingdom far above the rights and privileges we have as Americans. Second, let us look forward to the time when Jesus returns to earth and graciously gives us the place He’s prepared for us in His kingdom. Finally, rejoice in the strength and faithfulness of our King, the Lord Jesus, who sovereignly reigns over all the affairs we see taking place on earth.

Pastor David