For thus hath the Lord said unto me Within a year, according to the years of a hired servant, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail;
Isaiah 21:16 ends a short prophecy against Arabia with a deadline for Kedar's glory, counted out like a hired worker's contract. It raises two questions: who Kedar was, and why God would set a clock on a desert tribe.
Kedar was a person before it was a people. One reference work gives the family line and the way of life behind the name:
Son of Ishmael, and founder of an important tribe living in the north-west of Arabia. The name is probably also used for Arabs generally. The psalmist longed for peace, because he had been living in the tents of Kedar, among those who "hated peace." The references to lambs, rams, goats, flocks, camels, tents and tent-curtains show that a nomadic people is in view. Yet their "villages" are also mentioned. Judgements were pronounced against them.
So the "glory" about to collapse is the wealth of a tent-dwelling people: herds, caravans and fighting men.
The phrase about a hired worker's year is not vague. Isaiah used the same wording earlier against Moab, and one commentator explains it there, quoting an older translation:
Whatever the full bearing of this "burden" on Moab may be, the last verse says: "Within three years, as the years of a hired worker … the glory of Moab shall be brought to nothing." The years of a hired worker are exactly measured out, I suppose, as would be the case in such a situation. There can be no doubt to the believing mind that this was fulfilled to the letter. We do not know the instrument, though — whether the king of Judah or the Assyrian.
A hired man counts his term to the day, because his pay depends on it. God counts Kedar's term the same way. And the clock is not Isaiah's guess: the Lord spoke it to him.
The verses just before describe fugitives fleeing into the scrubland, where the people of Tema feed them. The deadline of verse 16 cancels that refuge:
The thickets of Arabia would be no more an effective hiding place from the storm than the rocks and mountain strongholds of Edom. The travelling companies or caravans of Dedan are not the only ones thrown on the pity and care of the men of Tema. Complete ruin within a year is announced against the mighty men of the sons of Kedar too. Man fails, great or small; Jehovah abides and will reign over this earth and all the races of mankind.
Human glory is what expires. God's rule does not.
Verse 17 softens verse 16 in one respect: something survives. Not every judgement in this chapter falls with the same weight.
At the close of the chapter Arabia comes under judgment. Disaster should overtake them too, but not in such overwhelming fashion as in the case of Babylon. Their mighty men should be "diminished," and there should be a "residue," and not a complete destruction. It is striking that of all these burdens the one upon Babylon is the most complete without any hope of recovery.
Commentators differ on when the blow fell. One ties it to events of that time: "Arabia and Kedar come under present judgment, connected with the fall of Babylon" (J. N. Darby). Kelly mentions a suggested link to Assyrian campaigns around 720 and 711 B.C. He warns against dating prophecy while leaving out its Author: "How sad to leave God out of prophecy" (William Kelly).
Because a remnant survives, Kedar appears again in Isaiah — no longer a doomed tribe, but a contributor to Israel's blessing:
The rams of Nebaioth are mentioned, with the flocks of Kedar his brother, as contributing to the prosperity of Israel in the future day of blessing.
Another writer finds the same hope in Ishmael's own family line: "When Israel is blessed in the future and receives the promised Land for his glorious possession, the descendants of Ishmael will not be forgotten" (Arno Clemens Gaebelein).
- Named. Kedar was a son of Ishmael and the head of a rich nomadic Arab tribe — real tents, real flocks, real archers, not a symbol.
- Timed. "According to the years of a hired worker" means measured out to the day. The same wording against Moab came true to the letter.
- Exposed. Desert thickets hide no better than Edom's rocks. Human glory fails, while Jehovah abides and will reign.
- Limited. Kedar's warriors shrink and a residue survives. Babylon's judgement in this chapter leaves no hope of recovery.
- Reclaimed. That residue matters. The flocks of Kedar reappear in Israel's future day of blessing, and God does not forget Ishmael's descendants.
and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, shall be diminished for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken.
The burden on Arabia — Isaiah's message of judgment against it — ends with a count: few archers left in Kedar. The verse also names who guarantees that count, so everything hangs on the last clause.
Kedar was a man before it was a tribe. One reference work gives the family line and the way of life behind the name:
Son of Ishmael, and founder of an important tribe living in the north-west of Arabia, though the name is probably also used for Arabs generally. Genesis 25:13; 1 Chronicles 1:29. The Psalmist wanted peace, for he had been living in the tents of Kedar, among those who 'hated peace.' Psalm 120:5-6... The references to lambs, rams, goats, flocks, camels, tents, and tent-curtains show that a nomadic people are in view. Yet their "villages" are also mentioned. Judgements were pronounced against them. Isaiah 21:16-17; Jeremiah 49:28; Ezekiel 27:21.
These were tent-dwellers with herds and camels — wealth on the move.
The verse leaves survivors. Older translations use the words "residue" and "diminished." Set this burden beside the one on Babylon that opens the chapter:
At the close of the chapter Arabia comes under judgment. Disaster would overtake them too, but not in such an overwhelming way as in the case of Babylon. Their mighty men would be "diminished," and there would be a "residue," not a complete destruction. It is striking that of all these burdens, the one on Babylon is the most complete, with no hope of recovery. So also in Revelation 17 and 18, the "Mystery" Babylon is going to be completely destroyed, with not a trace left.
Judgment is measured. God does not deal with every nation the same way.
The verse names one loss: not the flocks, not the tents, but the archers. Earlier in the chapter, caravans depend on the men of Tema for bread. Now the fighting men come into view, with a one-year limit on the sentence:
It is not only the travelling companies or caravans of Dedan that are thrown on the pity and care of the men of Tema; utter wasting within a year is pronounced on the mighty men of the sons of Kedar. Man fails, whether great or small; the LORD remains and will reign over this earth and all the races of mankind. What a gap there is in the outlook of all who do not believe in the world-kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ!
The refugee and the warrior end in the same place. The failure is not Arabia's alone. It is man's.
The last clause is the reason for everything before it. One writer reports a scholar's attempt to tie the prophecy to known Assyrian campaigns, then gives his verdict:
Kedar was a wealthy pastoral tribe... Sargon's troops were at war with the Philistines in 720 B.C. and in 711. He adds that both prophecies may have been given because an Assyrian campaign in the neighbouring regions was expected in one of those years. How sad to leave God out of prophecy.
Armies are the instrument. The verse traces the outcome to a speaker, and names Him as the God of Israel.
How far ahead is Isaiah looking? One reading ties Kedar's fall to the fall of Babylon in the same chapter:
My impression is that this chapter refers to present or more immediate times — the fall of Babylon at that time... Arabia and Kedar come under present judgment, connected with the fall of Babylon.
The same writer elsewhere sets these chapters in a wider frame, with Kedar one name on a long list:
Egypt is overrun as well as Ethiopia, in which Israel had trusted. Babylon is overcome — Dumah and Kedar destroyed — Jerusalem is ravaged — Tyre falls. In short, it is a universal overthrow, the central scene of which is the land of Canaan, but in which the whole world is included.
God is not singling Kedar out for special anger. Its archers fall inside a judgment that reaches Egypt, Babylon, Tyre — and Jerusalem too.
- Spoken. The verse ends where its authority begins. God has spoken, so the count of Kedar's surviving archers stands. Explaining it only by Assyrian troop movements leaves God out of prophecy.
- Counted. God thins Kedar's strength — the archers of a wealthy nomad tribe descended from Ishmael, rich in flocks, camels and tents.
- Spared. A "residue" is left. Babylon falls with no hope of recovery; Arabia's judgment is real but measured.
- Shared. Kedar falls inside a wider overthrow — Egypt, Babylon, Tyre and Jerusalem too. No nation is exempt, and Israel least of all.
- Settled. Strength fails in every nation, great or small. The LORD remains, and He will reign over this earth. That is the outlook this verse defends.