Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

34:1-17 God's word to all who oppose him: everlasting wrath is coming.

34:1 Draw near, O nations. Looking beyond the Assyrian crisis of Isaiah's time, God summons the whole world to judgment at the climax of history.

34:2 For the Lord is enraged. The Hebrew idiom could be translated, "The Lord has rage." Four times in ch. 34 Isaiah says, "The Lord has . . ." The Lord has rage (v. 2), a sword (v. 6), a sacrifice (v. 6), and a day of vengeance (v. 8) as his resources for judgment. devoted them to destruction. See Num. 21:2-3; Josh. 2:10; 1 Sam. 15:3; and note on Deut. 20:16-18. God's judgments within history foreshadow his final destruction of all evil.

34:4 All the host of heaven matches "all their host" in v. 2. The enemies of God in both heaven and earth are finally defeated (cf. Rev. 6:12-17).

34:5-7 Edom, the antithesis to God's people (Mal. 1:2-5), typifies "all the nations" (Isa. 34:2) under God's judgment (cf. 63:1; Ezekiel 35). sacrifice . . . great slaughter. The world becomes a bloody altar as God requires payment for sin (the only refuge for anyone is the sacrifice of Christ). Bozrah. The capital city of Edom (cf. Jer. 49:22).

34:8 vengeance . . . recompense. See Deut. 32:40-43; Ps. 94:1-2; Isa. 59:17-18; 2 Thess. 1:6-10; Rev. 22:12. God has scheduled a day of justice at the end of history. The wrong he will punish is opposition to the cause of Zion. Edom illustrated that opposition clearly (cf. Num. 20:14-21; Ps. 137:7; Ezek. 35:5-6; Obad. 10-14).

34:9-10 Isaiah portrays hell (cf. Rev. 14:9-11) by means of expanding on the vision of the destruction of Jerusalem.

34:11-15 Edomite civilization reverts to a desolate wasteland, fit only for beasts and weeds (cf. 13:19-22; 14:22-23; Rev. 18:2).

34:11 Unclean creatures possess Edom (cf. Deut. 14:11-20). confusion . . . emptiness. These words (Hb. tohu and bohu) first appear in Gen. 1:2, describing the world before God ordered it and filled it with life. stretch the line. Isaiah implies that God will, with the precision of a plumb line, reduce the world's culture of rebellion to something subhuman.

34:13 Thorns . . . nettles and thistles. The curse intensified (cf. Gen. 3:17-18).

34:16 the book of the Lord. His decrees--in this case, as revealed by Isaiah (cf. Ps. 139:16; Jer. 49:20; Dan. 7:10; Rev. 5:1; 20:12). none shall be without her mate. God's decree will be carried out in detail, down to each hawk (Isa. 34:15) and its mate.

34:17 God hands Edom over to unclean creatures forever.

35:1-10 God's word to all who trust him is that everlasting joy is coming.

35:1-2 be glad . . . rejoice . . . rejoice with joy and singing. The tone of the chapter is established by these verbs and their echoes in v. 10. God's people once made their exodus through a desert (Ex. 15:22; Deut. 1:19), but their final homecoming is through glorious abundance exploding with joy, when the curse of Gen. 3:17-19 shall be reversed (cf. Rom. 8:20-21). The glory of Lebanon . . . the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. See Isa. 33:9. They. Identified in 35:9-10. the glory of the Lord. The reason for the transformation of the desert is that the Lord is coming (cf. 40:3-5). On "glory," see note on 6:3.

35:3-4 The hope of vv. 1-2 inspires strength and courage in God's weak, unsteady people. Behold, your God will come. Believing perseverance comes from God's commitment to his people ("your God") and the faithfulness of his promise ("will come").

35:5-7 Then . . . then. The prophet points to the promised future, inaugurated in the first coming of Jesus Christ (Luke 4:16-21; 7:18-23) and fully consummated at his second coming (Rev. 21:4; 22:1-5). Isaiah contrasts God's people, suffering now but destined for heightened powers of enjoyment in a new world, with the Edom of this age, with its present streams of privilege reverting to burning aridity, making Edom a haunt of jackals (cf. Isa. 34:9, 13). the eyes of the blind shall be opened. The salvation that God will provide includes both spiritual well-being and physical healing and wholeness, as was first demonstrated repeatedly in Jesus' own ministry and as will be fully realized in the resurrection bodies of God's people when Christ returns (see notes on 1 Cor. 15:20-55).

35:8-10 a highway. In an environment of joyful abundance, God's pilgrim people are led forward to Zion, singing their way into their eternal home (cf. 33:8; 34:10). the Way of Holiness. See 4:3-4; 6:6-7. even if they are fools. The highway is so clearly marked, even fools cannot miss it. the redeemed . . . the ransomed. These ancient words (Ex. 6:6) emphasize the gracious initiative of God as the only final explanation for the joy of his people. They shall obtain the gladness and joy that had always been out of reach. Isaiah 35:10 is quoted in 51:11.