And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fade away, as a leaf fadeth from off the vine, and as the withered [fruit] from the fig-tree.
Isaiah 34 announces God's judgment on Edom, and the language soon leaves the battlefield for the sky itself. What does that picture mean? Is this the end of the universe, the fall of governments, or the collapse of unseen powers?
The chapter names one small nation — Edom, also called Idumea — yet the address is universal.
The full stroke of judgment comes upon the Edomites in the day of Jehovah. Here, though the scene is laid in Idumea, it is a question of all the nations.
Language this violent is often read as the end of the world. But this passage keeps naming one country.
How can sensible men, let alone believing and reverent men of God, apply all this to what people call the day of judgment? When the wicked dead stand before the great white throne to receive their doom, it will be no question of Idumea or any other land... Here it is the judgment of the earth while the earth still exists. It is not that eternal judgment where the old creation disappears to make way for the "new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."
If the stars do not literally fall, what does the picture mean?
This passage seems to refer, at least in its final application, to the time of the end when the Lord comes. But the wording in its setting shows that we cannot take literally the dissolution of the heavens it pictures. After the judgment here, Idumea lies in complete desolation. And when the Lord comes, no upheaval of nature takes place like the one described here, if we take it literally. On the other hand, the meaning of it as a symbol is not hard to grasp. Even in a physical sense, the heavens rule the earth. Scripture uses them in this way to picture earthly government.
Commentators differ here. Others take "the host of heaven" to mean real beings above, whose removal Scripture describes elsewhere.
Isaiah 34 opens with a call to all the world to listen, since all nations have to face the judgments of God. Those judgments will reach even to "the host of heaven," because there is to be that conflict in the heavens which we read of in Revelation 12:7-8. As a result Satan will lose his foothold there, and his fury will be shut up on earth. But in a very special way the sword of the Lord will come down on Idumea, that is, on Esau in his descendants, who are under the curse in a special way.
The same writer explains why God's dealings would touch the sky at all.
The heavens are the seat of Satan's power. Scripture calls him "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). Under him are "the rulers," "the authorities," "the cosmic powers over this present darkness" and "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). From that seat of power in the heavens he directs much of the evil that fills the earth. God is going to deal in judgment not only with the sin and the evils that fill the earth below, but also with the Satanic powers above, the source of it all.
The verse ends with fruit dropping from a fig tree. Revelation uses the same image, and one writer explains which fruit falls.
The unripe figs are the ones hidden under the leaves. They never ripen, and a strong winter wind shakes them off. When the wintry winds of God's wrath sweep across the scene, those who were never really His will openly abandon every outward tie to Him, however high their position.
Why does the sword fall on Edom, and whose sword is it?
There is "a great slaughter in the land of Edom." It is "a day of vengeance" for the LORD, "a year of recompense for the cause of Zion." His sword comes down upon Edom, the people of His curse (Isaiah 34:4, 8). So in Isaiah 63 the Mighty to Save is coming to Zion, and someone asks, "Who is this who comes from Edom?" Isaiah 34 tells us who it is. It is the LORD; it is JEHOVAH. It is THE ANOINTED PREACHER, THE REDEEMER AND THE AVENGER of chapters 61, 62 and 63. IT IS JESUS!
- Scope — the sword lands on Edom, but the summons is to all nations; one land is the scene, the world is the subject.
- Timing — this judgment falls on an earth that goes on existing. It is not the great white throne, where the old creation disappears.
- Height — the judgment reaches up as well as out. Commentators differ: does "the host of heaven" picture rulers falling on earth, or powers thrown down above it?
- Exposure — the unripe fig never ripened; the storm only reveals what was never truly His.
- Person — the avenger of chapter 34 is the redeemer of chapters 61-63. The sword and the salvation belong to the same hand.
For my sword is bathed in the heavens; behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my ban, to judgment.
Isaiah 34 announces a sword bathed in heaven, and it comes down on Edom. Two questions follow: why does the blow fall on Edom, and when is the sword drawn?
The sword is in heaven before it strikes. One writer weighs that phrase, and the darkness that comes with the day it is drawn:
The sword and the sceptre of this coming day of power stand alone in their glories. The sword is to be "bathed in heaven" (Isa. 34:5). What an expression! The sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood. The powers of heaven will shake. Darkness will be under His feet, and thick clouds of the sky will go with Him, on the day when that sword is drawn for the slaughter.
Edom is Esau's line. One writer traces this judgment back to Edom's spite against Israel, and to the birthright Esau despised:
Morally, Edom's judgment comes last in the record, perhaps because Edom was so near to Israel by nature... When God was blessing Israel, or correcting them, Edom disputed God's right to bless His people. Edom took delight in their shame and sorrow. God resents such spite. And was it not in the line of the man who despised the birthright?
The same writer notes how far back God reaches when He settles the account:
With unerring wisdom God goes back to what Esau did at the very beginning of his history. He had waited patiently, nearly a thousand years. Now He shows His perfect knowledge of the whole course and its end. But when the end does come, God always traces everything back to the beginning.
Nothing in Edom's past has matched this. One writer places the fulfilment in the day of the Lord, and dates it from the next verses:
The sword bathed in heaven, coming down on Edom, is unfulfilled to the present time. It will be fulfilled when "the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom" (verse 6), that is, in the future day of the Lord. The context shows the same in Isaiah 34:8: "For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion."
Because the language sounds cosmic, many read the chapter as a picture of the last judgment. Kelly argues the named country rules that out:
How can sensible men — still less believing, reverent men of God — apply all this to what people call the day of judgment? The wicked dead will stand before the great white throne to receive their doom. Then it will be no question of Edom or any other land... Here it is the judgment of the earth while it still exists, not that eternal judgment where the old creation disappears to make way for the "new heavens and new earth, in which righteousness dwells."
Another writer adds why people forget it:
Edom is marked out as a centre of judgment for the living... Christians have in great measure lost sight of this terrible judgment of the living, because they expect judgment only after death. But there will be a judgment of the living as well as a judgment of the dead. People like to forget it. The judgment of the dead is further off, so it does not press so closely on the way one walks on the earth.
The sword comes down on Edom, but Edom is not the whole story. Edom's land is where a wider reckoning falls:
Isaiah 34 reveals the terrible judgments which will fall upon the other nations in Edom (compare Isa. 63). Here it is those who have oppressed Zion, and the vengeance that God takes on oppressors. Edom itself is the particular object of this. But all the enemies of Israel who joined with Edom — the armies of the nations gathered against Jerusalem — will perish by the judgment of Jehovah in the land of Edom.
Isaiah later asks who it is that comes from Edom. One writer answers from this chapter:
There is "a great slaughter in the land of Edom." "It is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." His sword comes down upon Edom, the people of His curse... So in Isaiah 63, the Mighty to Save is coming to Zion; and the question is asked, "Who is this that comes from Edom?" Isaiah 34 tells us who it is. It is the LORD; it is JEHOVAH. It is THE ANOINTED PREACHER, THE REDEEMER AND THE AVENGER, of chapters 61, 62 and 63. IT IS JESUS!
- Cause — Edom's judgment goes back to Esau, who despised his birthright, and to a line that delighted in Israel's shame. God waited nearly a thousand years, then traced the end back to the beginning.
- Sword — God bathes it in heaven before it comes down. Sun, moon and the powers of heaven shake on the day it is drawn.
- Timing — Nothing in the past has matched this. Verses 6 and 8 date it: a sacrifice in Bozrah, the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year when God settles Zion's cause.
- Reach — God names one country, but Israel's enemies from every side fall there. The armies gathered against Jerusalem perish on Edom's ground.
- Result — This is judgment on a living earth, not the great white throne. It touches how we walk now. And the One who comes from Edom is Jesus.
The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
The verse pictures God's sword soaked in blood and fat, like a knife at an altar. Two questions follow: when does this happen, and why does the sword fall on Edom?
Bozrah was a city in Edom, the land of Esau's descendants. Edom is also called Idumea. The armies that have troubled Jerusalem meet their end there.
Isaiah 34 reveals the terrible judgments that will fall upon the other nations in Edom (compare Isaiah 63). Here it is those who have oppressed Zion, and the vengeance that God takes on oppressors. Idumea is itself the particular object of this. But all the enemies of Israel who joined with Edom — the armies of the nations gathered against Jerusalem — will perish by the judgment of the LORD in the land of Edom.
This is judgment on people still alive, not on the dead. One writer says Christians today have lost sight of it, and points back to Korah and Achan, judged openly in their own lifetime.
The Christian world has lost this terrible judgment of the living. The Jews had no clear idea of a judgment of the dead. They knew judgments on the living, which God carried out visibly by His direct government, as we see with Korah and Achan. The resurrection has changed everything in the church's relationship with God. So Christians have largely lost sight of the judgment of the living, because they expect judgment only after death. But there will be a judgment of the living as well as a judgment of the dead.
The verse names a country. A judgment that ends the old creation would have no place for named countries.
How can sensible men — never mind believing and reverent men of God — apply all of this to what people call the day of judgment? For when the wicked dead stand before the great white throne to receive their doom, it will be no question of Idumea or any other land. Here it is the judgment of the earth while it still exists, not that eternal judgment where the old creation disappears to make way for "new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."
Edom's hatred of Israel runs back to Esau. This chapter gives the reason for the sword in verse 8.
In the last book of the Old Testament God says that He hated Esau. One of the shorter prophetic books, Obadiah, deals entirely with predictions against him. Here we find the same thing. Verse 8 says that vengeance falls on them in repayment for "the cause of Zion." In Zion God chose to have mercy on Jacob, while Edom pursued them with undying hatred, as we see in Psalm 83:3-6.
The delay before the sword falls is not indifference. It is God taking the long view of a family quarrel.
With unerring wisdom God goes back to what Esau did from the beginning of his history. He had waited long and patiently, nearly a thousand years, and now He shows His perfect knowledge of the whole course and its end. But when the end does come, God always traces everything back to the beginning.
One writer links this chapter with Isaiah 63, and warns against confusing that scene with the cross.
The nations will gather in Idumea, and there they will be judged (Obadiah 13-15; Psalm 137:7; Isaiah 63:1-4). The sword of the LORD will come down on Idumea, and on the people of His curse, for judgment. Edom is marked out as a centre of judgment for the living. He has disciplined His people to sanctify them, but He will judge the nations. Chapter 63 shows what will happen to them at that time. Jesus will judge and trample them down in His fury. That scene has no connection with the cross, where Jesus was Himself trampled down.
God traces a nation's ruin back to its first wrong turn. One writer applies the same method to believers.
God always goes back to the beginning when He judges. So our wisdom as Christians, when we fail, is to go back to our first departure. We never get right merely by judging this or that outbreak; we should always search out the cause. Otherwise we do not gain the strength we need. We never judge a sin properly by judging only its visible effects. We must probe into the hidden sources of the trouble.
- Sword — The sword comes down on a named country. That settles the timing. This is judgment on the earth while it still stands, not the final judgment where the old creation disappears.
- Sacrifice — The verse calls the slaughter a sacrifice, because God Himself acts. Edom is the marked centre for the judgment of the living.
- Cause — Edom fell under it for its undying hatred of Israel, repaid as "the cause of Zion."
- Christ — In Isaiah 63 Jesus tramples His enemies in fury. That scene is not the cross, where He was trampled down Himself.
- Self — Believers should judge themselves the way God judges Esau. Trace the failure back to its first cause, not just its latest outbreak.
And the buffaloes shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
The verse continues a scene of slaughter in Edom, where falling oxen and bulls picture a nation's strength collapsing. Two questions press: what do these animals stand for, and when does this happen?
Edom is the stage, but not the whole cast. One writer reads the chapter as the gathering point for a far wider reckoning.
Isaiah 34 shows the terrible judgments that will fall on the other nations in Edom (compare Isaiah 63). Here it is those who have oppressed Zion, and the vengeance that God takes on oppressors. Edom is the particular object of this. But all the enemies of Israel who joined with Edom — the armies of the nations gathered against Jerusalem — will perish by the judgment of Jehovah in the land of Edom.
Older translations call the first animal a "unicorn." The Hebrew word behind that rendering names a real animal.
The Hebrew word is reem... Nothing in the Scripture suggests that the animal had only one horn... Its great strength and wildness are its main features: unlike the tame ox, it cannot be put to work on a farm... Most likely it points to a species of wild ox, the Bos primigenius.
Nobody doubts the language is figurative. One commentator weighs what it is a picture of.
Of course the language is figurative; everyone admits that. The question is, figurative of what? Of heavenly things or earthly ones? Of eternity or of time? Without doubt the latter... It is not the new heavens and new earth. The earthly people are coming forward — Zion, the city of the great King, the Messiah's royal rule, the worldwide kingdom of the Son of Man. That is why the judgments of the nations can no longer be put off. It is the earth that is in hand.
If the scene is earthly, the blood-soaked ground describes something done to people who are still alive. One writer explains why this side of judgment is easy to forget.
Christians today have lost sight of this terrible judgment of the living. The Jews had no clear idea of a judgment of the dead. They knew judgments on the living, carried out by God's direct government... But there will be a judgment of the living as well as a judgment of the dead. People like to forget it, because the judgment of the dead is further off and does not touch the way you walk on earth now. It will fall near Jerusalem as well as on Bozrah.
The previous verse names Bozrah as the place of the slaughter.
The royal city of Edom, on which the prophets pronounced judgements... Christ is pictured coming from there with blood-stained garments, having trampled the winepress of His wrath on the nations.
The next verse gives the reason: "the cause of Zion." Other prophets had said the same about Edom long before.
In the last book of the Old Testament God says that He hated Esau. The prophet Obadiah is taken up entirely with predictions against him. Here we find the same thing. Verse 8 tells us that vengeance falls on them to repay "the controversy of Zion." In Zion God chose to have mercy on Jacob. Edom, by contrast, pursued them with undying hatred, as we see in Psalm 83:3-6.
Isaiah later pictures someone returning from Edom with stained clothing. One writer links the two chapters and draws out the identity of the figure.
Isaiah 34 is the only other place that mentions the "day of vengeance"... In both chapters the judgment falls on Edom... So in Isaiah 63 the Mighty to Save is coming to Zion, and someone asks, "Who is this that comes from Edom?" Isaiah 34 tells us who it is. It is the LORD; it is JEHOVAH. It is THE ANOINTED PREACHER, THE REDEEMER AND THE AVENGER, of chapters 61, 62 and 63. IT IS JESUS!
Ruin is not the last word here. One commentator points to what stands right beside it.
Right beside this terrible picture of a land emptied of people... God then shows that the day which brings this desolation on Edom opens Israel's blessing. And Israel is not the only one rejoicing. Jehovah will make a wide and growing scene for His own glory, where once there was misery and barrenness.
- Cause. The sword falls on Edom to repay "the controversy of Zion" — Edom's undying hatred of Jacob.
- Creatures. The wild ox cannot be tamed or put to work. Strength that will not submit is what falls here.
- Concrete. Commentators read the imagery as earthly and in time, not eternity — a judgment on living people, on real ground.
- Christ. The One coming from Edom with stained garments is Jehovah Himself — Isaiah's Redeemer and Avenger, mighty to save.
- Consequence. The same day empties Edom and fills the desert. Desolation for the oppressor opens into blessing for Israel and beyond.
For it is the day of Jehovah's vengeance, the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.
Isaiah 34 has just described a sword falling on Edom and a great slaughter in its city Bozrah. Verse 8 gives the reason. God has fixed a day and a year of His own, and the case He is settling is "the cause of Zion" — "the controversy of Zion" in older translations.
Edom was the nation descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob. Other books of the Bible say the same about them:
In the last book of the Old Testament we find God saying that He hated Esau. Obadiah, one of the shorter prophets, is about nothing but predictions against him. Here we find the same thing. Verse 8 tells us that vengeance falls on them in recompense for "the controversy of Zion." In Zion God chose to have mercy upon Jacob, while Edom pursued them with undying hatred, as we see in Psalm 83:3-6.
"Controversy" here means a legal case, and God takes it up against Edom Himself. The sentence on this nation is final:
None of Edom will be left. Obadiah and Jeremiah declare this too. And there is no restoration of a remnant for Edom, as there is for Elam and others. We see in these chapters, as well as in Isaiah 63, that it is the controversy of Jerusalem that Jehovah pleads with Edom (Ezek. 35:12; Isaiah 34:8; 63:4). In these passages Jehovah does not forget His thoughts of love towards Zion and His people.
Some read this chapter as a picture of the end of the world. One writer says the scene is earthly, and centres on a city:
It is not the new heavens and new earth. The earthly people are coming forward — Zion, the city of the great King, the Messianic royalty, the universal kingdom of the Son of Man. So the judgments of the nations can no longer be put off.
This judgment reaches beyond Edom. Armies from many nations end up there, and God settles a larger account in one place:
In Isaiah 63 and 34 we see the Lord returning from the terrible judgment that will take place in the land of Edom. Jehovah Himself carries out this judgment on the armies of the nations. Those armies have gathered against Jerusalem, and their own movements bring them into Edom. It is the day of vengeance on Jehovah's enemies, and the year of His redeemed — the time of deliverance for His people.
Later Isaiah asks who it is that comes from Edom. This chapter answers:
There is "a great slaughter in the land of Edom." His sword comes down upon Edom, the people of His curse. So in Isaiah 63, the Mighty to Save is coming to Zion, and someone asks, "Who is this who comes from Edom?" Isaiah 34 tells us who it is. It is the LORD; it is Jehovah. It is the anointed preacher, the redeemer and the avenger, of chapters 61, 62 and 63. It is Jesus!
The day belongs to God's enemies and the year to His redeemed. The two go together, because judgment is how the inheritance is won back:
The day of vengeance is joined to the year of the redeemed (Isa. 63:4; Isa. 34:8; Isa. 61:2). So the redemption of the inheritance comes about through judgments — through vengeance on the enemies of its Heir, on those who seized it and spoiled it… It may be seals that are opened, trumpets blown, or bowls emptied, but all is preparing the inheritance for the Lamb.
So the ruin of chapter 34 leads straight into the singing of chapter 35:
Once the righteous Lord has settled that day of vengeance, full restoration will follow. We see it in the beautiful closing words of this part of Isaiah: "the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads… and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isa. 35:10).
Isaiah 61:2 promises "the year of the LORD's favor" — older translations, "the acceptable year of the Lord" — and then "the day of vengeance of our God". Christ read it aloud and stopped at the comma between them:
Look at the grace of Christ. The moment He gets to that comma, He closes the book. For the unsaved sinner there is really nothing but a comma between him and hell. If the Lord were to open the book now, it would be all over with you, unsaved reader… Now is the "acceptable year of the Lord" — the day of grace, of mercy, of pardon, and salvation.
- Cause. Edom hated Jacob for centuries, so the Lord takes up "the cause of Zion" against Edom, and leaves it no remnant.
- Court. The setting is Zion and a kingdom on earth, not the new heavens and new earth. God judges the nations so that the King may reign.
- Champion. The sword belongs to the Lord Himself, the same One who comes from Edom in Isaiah 63 as redeemer and avenger.
- Consequence. The day of vengeance goes with the year of the redeemed. Judgment is how God wins the inheritance back.
- Clock. The book is still closed at that comma. Today is the acceptable year, and grace stands between you and that day.