The Lord Will Judge Edom, 1-17
Ortlund outlines the gist of chapters 34 and 35 –
‘In these two chapters Isaiah leads us by the hand all the way out to the brink of future history, where time merges into eternity. He shows us the seamless connection between what we embrace now and what we will have then. He lifts his eyes from his own times in the eighth century B.C. to see how things will finally end up “forever and ever” (34:10). He sees this world order deconstructed (34:11, 12), human existence renewed (35:1, 2), God’s people no longer enfeebled by sin (35:5, 6), all tears wiped away from their eyes (35:10). His point is this: The salvation you prefer now, whether earthly or heavenly, is shaping who you are and which direction you will go forever.’
34:1 Come near, you nations, and listen!
Pay attention, you people!
The earth and everything it contains must listen,
the world and everything that lives in it.
34:2 For the LORD is angry at all the nations
and furious with all their armies.
He will annihilate them and slaughter them.
34:3 Their slain will be left unburied,
their corpses will stink;
the hills will soak up their blood.
34:4 All the stars in the sky will fade away,
the sky will roll up like a scroll;
all its stars will wither,
like a leaf withers and falls from a vine
or a fig withers and falls from a tree.
34:5 He says, “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers.
Look, it now descends on Edom,
on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”
Edom – Why mention Edom in particular, when this oracle is addressed all nations (v1)? Let Ortlund suggest an answer:
‘Because Edom typifies the whole world. When the infant nation of Israel was journeying toward the Promised Land, they requested passage through Edom (Numbers 20:14–21). They even offered to pay for the water they would drink along the way. And why shouldn’t Edom be open to Israel? They were related. Jacob and Esau, the forefathers of these two nations, were brothers (Genesis 25:21–26). But Edom held a grudge against Israel (Genesis 27), and they refused to let them through. Edom tried to block the salvation that God was bringing into the world. Edom, then, is the antithesis to God’s pilgrim people. That is why Isaiah singles out Edom.’
34:6 The LORD’s sword is dripping with blood,
it is covered with fat;
it drips with the blood of young rams and goats
and is covered with the fat of rams’ kidneys.
For the LORD is holding a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a bloody slaughter in the land of Edom.
34:7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered along with them,
as well as strong bulls.
Their land is drenched with blood,
their soil is covered with fat.
34:8 For the LORD has planned a day of revenge,
a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion.
34:9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch
and her soil into brimstone;
her land will become burning pitch.
34:10 Night and day it will burn;
its smoke will ascend continually.
Generation after generation it will be a wasteland
and no one will ever pass through it again.
Edom represents the godless nations of the world generally:
‘The prophet meant primarily, no doubt, that the punishment announced would fall upon the land of Edom, and within its geographical boundaries; but this particular punishment represented the punishment of all nations, and all men who were Edomitish in their feelings and conduct towards the congregation of Jehovah.’ (Keil & Delitsch)
The mention of pitch and brimstone recollects the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24-29).
Wiersbe notes:
‘This is a significant comparison because, just before the coming of the Lord, society will be “as it was in the days of Lot” (Luke 17:28).’
34:10 Night and day it will burn;
its smoke will ascend continually.
Generation after generation it will be a wasteland
and no one will ever pass through it again.
David Aaron Beaty (Hell is Made Holy) cites the Dead Sea Scrolls:
It will burn night and day and will never be extinguished.
Its smoke will go up from generation to generation, and it will lie waste forever and ever.
No one will pass through it.
According to Beaty, the text, when divided like this, recalls the continual morning and evening sacrifices (Ex 29:38-46; Lev 6:8-18; Num 28:1-8). Given the lack of punctutation marks in ancient texts, other translations and ancient versions (including the LXX), claims Beaty, can be brought into line with the devision of the text represented in the DSS version.
Beaty further claims that the early readers of Revelation 14:11; 19:3; 20:10 would have been familiar with the variant reading of Isa 34:10, and so would have made the association with the morning and evening sacrifices.
Specifically, the phrases ‘its smoke goes up forever’, ‘it will not be extinquished night or day’, ‘from generation to generation it will be desolate’, recall those sacrifices.
Further, this passage in Isaiah contains numerous allusions to sacrifice (see esp. vv6-10).
Beaty suggests that the meaning of the endless smoke of the destruction of the wicked in Revelation is equivalent to that of the virtually endless smoke of the regular sacrifices of the OT. In both cases, the results are endless. The godly will be saved for ever. The wicked will be destroyed for ever.