Isaiah 21:9

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹This is an oracle concerning the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror. ²A dire vision is declared to me: "The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning." ³Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see. ⁴My heart staggers; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror. ⁵They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields! ⁶For this is what the Lord says to me: "Go, post a lookout to report what he sees. ⁷When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, fully alert." ⁸Then the lookout shouted, "Day after day, O lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post. ⁹Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs." And one answered, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground."¹⁰O My people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

behold: Jeremiah 50:3, Jeremiah 50:9, Jeremiah 50:29, Jeremiah 50:42, Jeremiah 51:27

Babylon: Isaiah 13:19, Isaiah 14:4, Jeremiah 50:2, Jeremiah 51:8, Jeremiah 51:64, Revelation 14:8, Revelation 18:2, Revelation 18:21

all: Isaiah 46:1, Isaiah 46:2, Jeremiah 50:2, Jeremiah 50:38, Jeremiah 51:44, Jeremiah 51:47, Jeremiah 51:52

Reciprocal: Isaiah 14:22 - I will Isaiah 19:1 - the idols Isaiah 21:7 - And he saw Isaiah 25:2 - For Jeremiah 27:7 - until Jeremiah 43:12 - in the Ezekiel 10:1 - I looked Revelation 18:10 - that great

Cross-References

Genesis 16:1
Now Abram's wife Sarai had not borne a child to him, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

Genesis 17:20
As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

Genesis 21:1
Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.

Genesis 21:3
And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him.

Genesis 21:5
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Genesis 21:6
Then Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me."

Genesis 21:13
But I will also make a nation of the slave woman's son, because he is your offspring."

Genesis 21:14
Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar's shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

Genesis 21:23
Now, therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you."

Genesis 21:24
And Abraham replied, "I swear it."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men,.... Or "of a man" x; a chariot with a man in it, Cyrus or Darius:

[with] a couple of horsemen; the army of the Medes and Persians, with their two leaders or generals, as before; only now seen nearer the city, just entering into it; for so the word may be rendered, "goeth", or "is gone in a chariot", c.:

and he answered, and said either the watchman, upon seeing the chariot and horsemen go into the city; or one of the horsemen that went in; so the Syriac and Arabic versions; or rather the prophet, and the Lord by him:

Babylon is fallen, is fallen: which is repeated to show the certainty of it. The same words are used of the fall of mystical Babylon,

Revelation 14:8. The Targum is,

"it is fallen, and also it shall be, that Babylon shall fall;''

that is, a second time, and hereafter: and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of two falls, one by the Medes and Persians, and the other by the hand of heaven, or God himself: literal Babylon fell by the former; mystical Babylon will fall by the latter, even by the breath of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming:

and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground; either Cyrus or Darius, who might do this, not from any detestation of them, but for the sake of the gold, and silver, and riches, that were about them; or rather the Lord by them, and so put an end to idolatry; as will be, when mystical Babylon is destroyed.

x רכב איש "currus viri", Pagninus, Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And, behold ... a chariot of men - This place shows that the word ‘chariot’ (רכב rekeb) may denote something else than a wagon or carriage, as a chariot drawn by men cannot be intended. The sense can be expressed, perhaps, by the word “riding,” ‘I see a riding of men approach;’ that is, I see “cavalry” drawing near, or men riding and hastening to the battle.

With a couple of horsemen - The word ‘with’ is not in the Hebrew. The meaning is, ‘I see a riding of men, or cavalry; and they come in pairs, or two abreast.’ A part of the sentence is to be supplied from Isaiah 21:7. He saw not only horsemen, but riders on donkeys and camels.

And he answered - That is, the watchman answered. The word ‘answer,’ in the Scriptures, means often merely to commence a discourse after an interval; to begin to speak Job 3:2; Daniel 2:26; Acts 5:8.

Babylon is fallen - That is, her ruin is certain. Such a mighty army is drawing near, and they approach so well prepared for battle, that the ruin of Babylon is inevitable. The “repetition” of this declaration that ‘Babylon is fallen,’ denotes emphasis and certainty. Compare Psalms 92:9 :

For lo, thine enemies, O Lord,

For lo, thine enemies shall perish.

Psalms 93:3 :

The floods have lifted up, O Lord;

The floods have lifted up their waves.

A similar description is given of the fall of Babylon in Jeremiah 50:32; Jeremiah 51:8; and John has copied this description in the account of the overthrow of the mystical Babylon Revelation 18:1-2. Babylon was distinguished for its pride, arrogance, and haughtiness. It became, therefore, the emblem of all that is haughty, and as such is used by John in the Apocalypse; and as such it was a most striking emblem of the pride, arrogance, haughtiness, and oppression which have always been evinced by Papal Rome.

And all the graven images - Babylon was celebrated for its idolatry, and perhaps was the place where the worship of idols commenced. The principal god worshipped there was Belus, or Bel (see the note at Isaiah 46:1).

Are broken ... - That is, shall be destroyed; or, in spite of its idols, the whole city would be ruined.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 21:9. Here cometh a chariot of men, &c. - "A man, one of the two riders"] So the Syriac understands it, and Ephrem Syr.