Isaiah
Chapter 34
ISAIAH’S ESCHATOLOGY II
Judgement
Come, O nations, hear and take heed, O peoples! Listen, O earth and all that is in you; listen, O world and all that comes from you.
The wrath of the Lord is upon all nations. His fury is upon all their armies. He has doomed them, he has given them over for slaughter.
Their slain will be thrown away, stench coming from the carcasses, mountains will flow with blood.
The heavens will dissolve and the skies roll up like a scroll, all their hosts shall fall, as the leaf falls from its vine, as the fruit falls from its tree.
My sword waited in the heavens; and look, it descends upon Edom, to judge the people I have doomed.
The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood and covered with fat— the blood of goats and lambs, the fat of the saddle of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
Wild oxen will fall and young steers with the bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood; their soil enriched with fat.
For the Lord has a day of vengeance, Zion’s defender has a year of recompense.
The streams of Edom will become pitch, her soil will be turned into brimstone, her land will be burning pitch.
Never will its fire be quenched, night or day, forever will its smoke go up. From generation to generation, the land will lie desolate and none will ever pass through it.
It will be the haunt of pelicans and wild hogs, the dwelling place of the owl and the hawk. God has decided to make it empty, he has destined it to be desolate.
There will be no more kings to be proclaimed, no princes to be acclaimed, for the nobility will vanish in a kingdom doomed to perish.
Thorns will grow over the castles, nettles and brambles over the citadels; the place will be a haunt of reptiles, an abode of owls and ostriches.
Wild beasts will meet there, wild goats will call to one another; there will the night creatures alight to find for themselves a resting place.
There will the great owl make her nest to lay and hatch and also find rest. There will the vultures gather, each with its mate.
Seek and read from the book of the Lord: not one of them will be missing, for his mouth has given the order and his spirit has brought them together.
He has cast the lot for them. His hand has divided it among them. They will possess the land forever, and from generation to generation, they shall dwell there.
Commentaries
Isaiah’s Eschatology II.
These two chapters, which reflect the historical background after Isaiah’s time, serve as an eschatological collection of themes found in Isaiah 1-33. First, images of the day of the Lord are described, showing vengeance bringing desolation, crop losses, thorns, chaos, and wild animals taking over the empty land. In contrast, chapter 35 depicts the Lord coming personally to restore the land, making Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon fertile again and healing the blind, deaf, and lame (cf. Lk 7:18-23). The hostility toward Edom reappears (5-6), likely triggered by their infiltration into southern Judah after Jerusalem’s destruction (cf. Is 34:5-9; 63:1). Similar to Joshua’s time (cf. Jos 14-21), the Lord distributes the land to those returning from exile (17).