And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; yea, the land thereof shall become burning pitch
Isaiah 34 announces judgment on all nations, then narrows to one country: Edom, the land of Esau's descendants. Verse 9 shows what is left when that judgment falls: the water, dust and soil all turn to fuel. Has this already happened? And what is such language meant to teach?
Commentators tie the severity here to an old grudge. The reason given in verse 8 is a case God takes up on Zion's behalf:
In the last book of the Old Testament God says that He hated Esau. The whole book of Obadiah is taken up with predictions against him. Here we find the same thing. Verse 8 tells us that vengeance falls on them in recompense for "the cause of Zion." In Zion God chose to have mercy on Jacob, but Edom hunted them with undying hatred, as we see in Psalm 83:3-6. So judgments of special severity will fall on the land of Idumea. The rest of chapter 34 gives the solemn details.
Some have argued that the ruined state of Edom today is all Isaiah meant. Frederick Grant denies it, and points back to the surrounding verses:
Isaiah is not prophesying about the present state of Edom. He speaks of a time still future, as verses 2-8 clearly show. Then this terrible judgment will fall. If Scripture language were so deceptive, who could trust it?
Idumea is another name for Edom. Some once used travel reports to prove the prophecy had already come true. Kelly draws the opposite conclusion:
Quite a few travellers have passed through Idumea, and have lived to write and publish their accounts... So even on the plainest level of fact, it became clear that the prophecy had not failed. The time for it to be fulfilled is still future. That is the only fair conclusion. It is to be a land where people no longer live, and where no strangers pass through for ever. God's unsparing wrath will make it an outstanding example of total destruction before the whole world.
Many read this fire as a picture of hell itself. Kelly answers that a named country is in view:
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 stands, not that eternal judgment where the old creation disappears to make way for the "new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." The judgment of Idumea goes beyond anything in the past. Yet it falls far short of this complete and final change for eternity.
The language still carries full weight. Frederick Grant reads Edom's ruin as a picture, and applies it to another city:
What a picture of eternal judgment Idumea is... Rome is the great Edom, just as it is the great Babylon. It would be strange indeed if she did not meet a similar recompense.
Pitch is a tar-like bitumen. Elsewhere in Scripture it does the opposite work:
Noah covered the ark with pitch inside and outside. Gen. 6:14. The basket that held the infant Moses was made waterproof the same way. Ex. 2:3. Among God's judgements on the earth the streams are turned into pitch, and the land into burning pitch. Isa. 34:9. The Hebrew of Gen. 6:14 uses different words from the other passages. Noah was to pitch (kaphar, 'to cover,' often translated 'atonement') the ark with pitch (kopher, translated 'ransom'), as if to teach that only a covering ransom could save Noah and those with him, and bring them into a new earth.
Leslie Grant traces a wider meaning in the name itself:
Edom is the same name as Adam, only slightly disguised. So the nation stands for the flesh, and "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." The flesh can appear in many convincing forms. It pleases the natural senses and appeals to the reasoning minds of people. In our day the strong humanist movement is a marked example of this proud, empty pretence of the flesh. It will fall under the awesome judgment of God, while the despised people of God will be delivered.
Judgment on Edom is not the end of the story. Kelly points to what the same day brings:
God then shows that the same day that brings this desolation on Edom begins Israel's blessing. And Israel is not the only one rejoicing. Jehovah will make a large and growing scene for His own glory, where there was once misery and barrenness.
- Cause — The judgment answers a long hatred of God's people; it is recompense for the cause of Zion.
- Future — Verses 2-8 place this judgment ahead, not behind. Edom's ruins today are not the fulfilment, and travellers still cross the land.
- Earthly — It falls on a real country while the world still stands. It is not the final judgment, where the old creation disappears.
- Pattern — Yet it serves as a picture of eternal judgment. Grant applies the same picture to Rome, the great Edom.
- Contrast — Pitch once sealed Noah's ark and saved him; here it burns. And the day that leaves Edom waste is the day God begins Israel's blessing.
it shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
Isaiah's message against Edom closes with one of the harshest scenes in the book. It raises three questions: has this already happened, why Edom, and what does "forever" mean when God says it over a piece of ground?
The verse sits under a date stamp given one line earlier — the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of settling accounts on Zion's behalf. That anchor tells one commentator what kind of scene this is: earth, not eternity.
Of course the language is picture-language; everyone admits that. The question is, a picture of what? Of heavenly things or earthly ones? Of eternity or of time? Certainly the second in each case… This is not the new heavens and new earth. God's earthly people are coming into view — Zion, the city of the great King, the Messiah's kingship, the worldwide kingdom of the Son of man. So the judgment of the nations can no longer be put off.
One writer points out what sets Edom apart from every other nation under judgment, and turns it into a warning for the reader.
Here is a striking fact. A remnant of the other nations will come into blessing in a future day, but Edom will not… Let us take the lesson to heart, for we can fall into the same spirit as the Edomite. Jeremiah saw the failures and sins of God's people, but he wept over them. Daniel and other godly men confessed those sins as their own. The spirit of the Edomite is bitter hatred against people who, whatever their failures, are still the people of God. God finds this spirit especially displeasing.
Some look at Edom's ruins today and call the prophecy finished. Others once claimed that no traveller could cross that land — Idumea, in older writing — and live. One commentator answers both.
Many people believed… that anyone who tried to cross the land of Idumea would certainly die… That whole idea was a mistake. Apart from the local people living here and there, plenty of travellers have crossed Idumea and lived to write and publish their accounts… So even on the plainest ground of fact, it became clear that the prophecy had not failed. The time for it to be fulfilled is still future.
One writer reads the rising smoke as what a fire leaves behind: lasting proof of something God has already done.
The smoke of Edom going up forever (Isa. 34:10) would be the lasting proof that God had acted on what He saw of its condition.
The same picture returns in Revelation, over the fall of Babylon. The wording below, "ages of ages," follows an older translation.
"And her smoke goes up to the ages of ages" is a striking and powerful picture of how final and lasting this judgment from God is. The fall of the symbolic Babylon is an everlasting witness to the righteous judgment of God (compare with Isa. 34:10).
Commentators differ on how much this verse settles about final judgment. One writer insists the words mean what they say, and still refuses to read into them more than Isaiah wrote.
Edom's present condition is not what Isaiah is prophesying about. He speaks of a time still future, as verses 2-8 clearly show, and then this terrible judgment will happen. If the language of Scripture were that misleading, who could trust it? But Isaiah says nothing about "endless life in pain" — not a word… And the Old Testament "forever" is not the "ages of the ages" of the New.
Isaiah 34 does not end the thought. The very day that empties Edom of every inhabitant fills another wasteland with life.
Right beside this terrible picture of a land left empty of people, given over to wild beasts, birds of prey and reptiles, God shows that the very day which sees Edom laid waste begins Israel's blessing. And it is not only Israel rejoicing. The LORD will make a wide and growing scene for His own glory where once there was misery and bare ground… This is not just fertile land. It is the restoring of all things when that day comes on earth: every joy, fruitfulness, and beauty.
- Cause. Edom hated God's people, and God finds that spirit especially displeasing. Any reader can slip into it.
- Day. The fire belongs to a day when God settles accounts with the nations for His people — on earth and in time, not in eternity.
- Future. Travellers have crossed Edom and lived to write about it. The prophecy has not failed; its day is still ahead.
- Witness. The rising smoke is lasting proof that God has judged, the same picture used later over Babylon's fall.
- Contrast. The day that empties Edom is the day the desert blossoms: judgment on one land, restored beauty on the next.