Isaiah 21:11

The burden of Dumah,.... Whether this prophecy concerns the Edomites or Idumeans, or whether the Arabians, particularly the Dumean Arabians, is a question, since Dumah was a son of Ishmael, Genesis

The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

Of Dumah; either, 1. Of a part of Arabia, so called from Dumah, one of Ishmael’ s race, . Or rather, 2. Of Edom or Idumea, as seems most probable from the mention of Mount Seir, which was a part of Edom; which may here be called Dumah, either by an abbreviation, or cutting off the first letter from Idumea, as Ram is put for Aram, , or rather prophetically and sarcastically; for Dumah signifies silent; whereby he intimates that Edom, which was much given to vain boasting and railing against God, and against his people, as we read elsewhere, should be brought to silence and utter ruin. And such new, and enigmatical, and significant names are elsewhere given by the prophets to divers known places, as Babylon is called Sheshach, , and Egypt Mazor, &c. He, to wit, Dumah, or the people of Dumah, of whom he speaks, or one of them in the name and by the appointment of the rest. Calleth to me; to the watchman, as appears by the following words; for the prophet delivers his prophecy in the form of a dialogue between the people and the watchman. Out of Seir; out of Edom, which is frequently called Seir as 36:8 25:11, &c. Watchman; whereby he means either, 1. The prophet Isaiah, whom they call watchman, either seriously, or in scorn, because the prophets were so called by God, and by the people of the Jews; or, 2. The watchman of Edom, whom they had set, as people use to do in times of great danger. What of the night? the night is taken either, 1. Metaphorically, for a time of tribulation. So they ask the prophet what he hath to say concerning that night of calamity which he had so long and oft threatened to them, whereof as yet they saw no appearance. Or, 2. properly, the night being the proper and chief time in which the watchman’ s care is most necessary, because then their enemies had opportunity to do them most harm. So the people are supposed to come to him very early in the morning, to inquire what had happened in the night; which shows a state of great perplexity and fear, which might well be called a burden, both because fear in itself is a great torment, and because this fear was a sign or presage of their approaching miseries. What of the night? the repetition of the same words shows the greatness of their solicitude and fear.

Isaiah 21:11 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?Ver. 11. The burden of Dumah,] i.e., Of Idumea, or of the Edomites. For burden, see on Isaiah 13:1. This prophecy is the shorter the harder. The Jews apply this prophecy to Rome. They read for Dumah, Roma. The Romans they call the new Idumeans, and the Pope’ s kingdom the wicked kingdom of Edom. Some of them say that Julius Caesar was an Idumean; others that Aeneas came out of Idumea into Egypt; from thence into Lybia; thence to Carthage; thence to Italy, and that there he built Alba, out of which sprang Rome. The rise of this fiction seemeth to have been the destruction of the Jewish state by Titus and his Romans, who were thereupon for their cruelty by those Jews called Edomites. He calleth to me out of Seir.] Or, One is calling to me out of Seir, which was a mountain possessed by the Edomites. Watchman, what of the night?] Interrogatio ironica est argue sarcastica - a scoffing question whereby the prophet is derided and upbraided with false foretelling a night of misery to the Edomites, whenas they felt no change, but enjoyed rather a lightsome morning; a fine time, as we say, of liberty and prosperity. Onus Idumeae. - Sept. Custos, quid de nocte?

(11) The burden of Dumah.—Several places of the name are mentioned in the Old Testament (Genesis 25:14; Joshua 15:52), but these are not in the direction of Seir. Probably here, as in Isaiah 21:1 and Isaiah 22:1, we have a mystical prophetic name, Edom being altered to Dumah, i.e., “silence,” as in Psalms 94:17; Psalms 115:17, the silence of the grave. In this case, as in the preceding, there is first the oppressive silence of expectancy, and then of desolation. He calleth . . . out of Seir . . .—The subject is indefinite: one calleth. The watchman hears the silence of the night broken by a voice from Seir. It is probable that the prophet had actually been consulted by the Edomites, and that this is his answer to their enquiries. The cry is, “Watchman, what part of the night?” In the weary night of calamity the sufferer desires to know what hour it is, how much of the darkness still remains to be lived through. The answer is mysterious and ill-boding. There is a “morning” coming, a time of light and hope, but the day which is so opened closes too quickly in the blackness of night (Amos 5:18). The words sum up the whole future of Edom, subject as it was to one conqueror after another, rising now and then, as under Herod and the Romans, and then sinking to its present desolation.

Verse 11. The burden of Dumah - "The oracle concerning Dumah."] Pro דומה Dumah, Codex R. Meiri habet אדום Edom; and so the Septuagint, Vid. Kimchi ad h. l. Biblia Michaelis, Halae, 1720, not. ad l. See also De Rossi. Bishop Lowth translates the prophecy thus: - 11. THE ORACLE CONCERNING DUMAH. A voice crieth to me from Seir: Watchman, what from the night? 12. The watchman replieth: - The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye: come again. This differs very little from our common Version. One of Kennicott's MSS., and one of my own, omit the repetition, "Watchman, what from the night?" This prophecy, from the uncertainty of the occasion on which it was uttered, and from the brevity of the expression, is extremely obscure. The Edomites as well as the Jews were subdued by the Babylonians. They inquire of the prophet how long their subjection is to last: he intimates that the Jews should be delivered from their captivity; not so the Edomites. Thus far the interpretation seems to carry with it some degree of probability. What the meaning of the last line may be, I cannot pretend to divine. In this difficulty the Hebrew MSS. give no assistance. The MSS. of the Septuagint, and the fragments of the other Greek Versions, give some variations, but no light. This being the case, I thought it best to give an exact literal translation of the whole two verses, which may serve to enable the English reader to judge in some measure of the foundation of the various interpretations that have been given of them. The burden of Dumah. - R. D. Kimchi says, "His father understood this of the destruction of Dumah (one of the cities of the Ishmaelites) by the inhabitants of Seir; and that they inquired of the prophet to know the particular time in which God had given them a commission against it. The prophet answered: The morning - the time of success to you, cometh, is just at hand; and the night - the time of utter destruction to the inhabitants of Dumah, is also ready." I have heard the words applied in the way of general exhortation. 1. Every minister of God is a watchman. He is continually watching for the safety and interests of his people, and looking for the counsel of God that he may be properly qualified to warn and to comfort. 2. Such are often called to denounce heavy judgments; they have the burden of the word of the Lord to denounce against the impenitent, the backslider, the lukewarm, and the careless. 3. When the watchman threatens judgments, some are awakened, and some mock: Watchman, what of the night? "What are the judgments thou threatenest, and when are they to take place?" 4. To this question, whether seriously or tauntingly proposed, the watchman answers: 1.

The oracle on Edom. Isaiah 21:11-12 The prophet hears (whether in reality or in imagination it is impossible to say) an urgent cry from Seir, inquiring whether the night of distress is nearly over (Isaiah 21:11). His reply (Isaiah 21:12) is equivocal and confessedly incomplete; at a later time he may be able to read the signs of the times with a surer vision. The passage is too short and vague to permit any confident conclusion as to its date; but it contains nothing inconsistent with the supposition that it belongs generally to the same period as Isaiah 21:1-10. Towards the end of the Exile the Edomites seem to have been on friendly terms with the Babylonians, from whom they had received a considerable extension of territory (Ezekiel 35:10 ff; Ezekiel 36:5 ff.). But the supremacy of Babylon is now threatened by the victorious Cyrus, and Edom is naturally represented as anxious to learn how the unknown issue of the conflict will affect her national and commercial interests.

Analysis of Isa 21:11, Isaiah 21:12. - VISION 17. Dumah, or Idumea. This prophecy is very obscure. It comprises but two verses. When it was delivered, or on what occasion, or what was its design, it is not easy to determine.

11, 12. These verses contain a single prophecy, one entirely distinct from all others. Burden of Dumah — Strictly, “Dumah” means silence.