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.
34:11 Owls and wild animals will live there,
all kinds of wild birds will settle in it.
The LORD will stretch out over her
the measuring line of ruin
and the plumb line of destruction.
34:12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom
and all her officials will disappear.
34:13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;
thickets and weeds will grow in her fortified cities.
Jackals will settle there;
ostriches will live there.
34:14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there;
wild goats will bleat to one another.
Yes, nocturnal animals will rest there
and make for themselves a nest.
34:15 Owls will make nests and lay eggs there;
they will hatch them and protect them.
Yes, hawks will gather there,
each with its mate.
34:16 Carefully read the scroll of the LORD!
Not one of these creatures will be missing,
none will lack a mate.
For the LORD has issued the decree,
and his own spirit gathers them.
34:17 He assigns them their allotment;
he measures out their assigned place.
They will live there permanently;
they will settle in it through successive generations.