A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 32: The Controversy of Zion

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 32: The Controversy of Zion

In our last presentation we discussed The Treachery of the Spoilers, in relation to the reasons for which Jerusalem and Judah had been judged and ultimately destroyed by Yahweh their God through the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. In Isaiah chapter 33, it is evident that there were men within Jerusalem who were spoilers, who had oppressed the people, and especially the poor and vulnerable. That is evident where the people had prayed for grace, as they had been portrayed in the words of the prophet in the first half of the chapter, and then Yahweh had responded to their prayer. As they had prayed, they had been characterized as not having made any admission of sin nor any expression of repentance, and all they wanted were the spoils of their enemies. Then when they were answered, Yahweh had rejected them as hypocrites who would conceive chaff, and bring forth stubble. So they were warned once again, and their character is revealed where the Word of Yahweh had explained to them the nature of those among them who would survive the impending trials, where the Word had described: “15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.”

Where Yahweh had told the people that the survivors would be those who walk righteously and speak uprightly, He is describing men of just judgment as opposed to men of corrupt judgment. Therefore the men whom He called hypocrites must have had corrupt judgment, and they must have also loved the gain of oppressions, they must have taken bribes, they must have conspired in murder, and they must have relished, or at least accepted, evil. However in the time of Isaiah, the advent of such spoilers in government or among the rulers of Judah was not a recent phenomenon in Jerusalem. By then it had existed already for at least two hundred years, and had begun around the same time that the kingdom was divided. This is found in 1 Kings chapter 12, at the time of the death of Solomon:

1 And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. 2 And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt;) 3 That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, 4 Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. 5 And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed. ”

Later, in 1 Kings chapter 14, the mother of Rehoboam is described as “Naamah the Ammonitess”, but that does not mean that she was an Ammonitess by race. In the Judges period and later, Israelites had often been described by the territory in which they lived. So Ruth was a Moabitess, one of David’s wives, Ahinoam, was “the Jezreelitess”, and another, Abigail, was “the Carmelitess”. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, Jesse, the father of David, was called “the Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah”, and although his genealogy clearly indicates that he was of the tribe of Judah, he was called an Ephrathite after the more ancient Canaanite name for the town which was later known as Bethlehem. Therefore Naamah was not necessarily an Ammonitess by race, and in fact she could not have been, since many of her sons were good kings of Judah in the eyes of Yahweh, and His law in Deuteronomy chapter 23 states that “ 3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever.”

As it is described in 2 Samuel chapter 11, David had sent Joab to destroy the children of Ammon with whom Israel had been fighting, at a time when he also had become involved with his lusts for the wife of Uriah the Hittite (the word Hittite also means the fearsome), so the account of the outcome of the battle with the Ammonites is interrupted by that ordeal, although it is evident that Uriah had died in battle against them. Then in 2 Samuel chapter 12, David took Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, made himself the king of Ammon, “31 And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick kiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.” From that time, it is certain that even if there were a remnant of Ammonites remaining, that Israelites would have also occupied Ammon, as they occupied all of their other conquered territories.

Furthermore, it was said of Solomon that he had reigned forty years after the death of his father, in 1 Kings chapter 11 (11:42) and 2 Chronicles chapter 9 (9:30). But Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, according to 1 Kings chapter 14 (14:21) and 2 Chronicles chapter 12 (12:13). So according to that evidence, Naamah the mother of Rehoboam must have been taken as a wife by Solomon even before Solomon became king, and even while David was still alive, at a time when a younger Solomon had the grace of Yahweh his God which is described in 1 Kings chapter 9. So under those circumstances, it is extremely unlikely that Naamah was a racial Ammonitess. As for the sin of Solomon, it is not said to have occurred until some time after he had become king, as it is described in 1 Kings chapter 11, which is some time after Rehoboam had already been born.

So we should not mistakenly or rashly attribute the reasons for the sin of Rehoboam which is described here, as we continue with 1 Kings chapter 12:

6 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? 7 And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. 8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him: 9 And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter?

10 And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. 11 And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day. 13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him; 14 And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. 15 Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

So it was Yahweh Himself who had put it in Rehoboam’s heart to reject the elders and seek the counsel of the young men with whom he was raised. While it is unlikely that Naamah was an Ammonitess by race, it is evident that later in life, after he had become king, Solomon had married many strange women, had many concubines, and that perhaps many of them may certainly have been actual Canaanites and Edomites, as we read in 1 Kings chapter 11: “1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; 2 Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.” So even if Rehoboam himself was not actually an Ammonite by race, among “the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him” there very likely may have been younger men whose mothers were Canaanites, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Hittites and others.

While Judah himself had introduced the seed of a Canaanite woman among his offspring, in the person of his son Shelah, the sons of the Canaanite were not reckoned as the heirs of Judah. Rather, the sons which he had unwittingly sired through his daughter-in-law, Tamar, had become his heirs, which in itself demonstrates the fact that Canaanites were disqualified from any inheritance of Israel, even if Judah had to fulfill his worldly obligations to his son as a consequence of his sin. So it was important to record which of the twins born to Tamar was eldest, and contrary to expectation, Pharez had been born first. So the line of the kings of Judah had for that reason come from Pharez, beginning with David.

But the sons of Shelah, who was passed over without mention for the throne of Judah, had nevertheless always dwelt in certain cities in the southern portion of Judah, although in 1 Chronicles chapter 4 where their lot in Judah was described, it is rather small, where we read: “21 The sons of Shelah the son of Judah were, Er the father of Lecah, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea, 22 And Jokim, and the men of Chozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had the dominion in Moab, and Jashubilehem. And these are ancient things. 23 These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work.” Where it says “plants and hedges”, the nouns should have been read as place-names, Netaim and Gederah, which were towns in Judah. Gederah is listed as one of the towns “at the extremity of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the south” in Joshua chapter 15 (15:36).

Here it may be evident, that the sons of Shelah may have been a corrupting influence upon the children of Judah throughout the time of the Old Testament kingdom of Judah. Then it is also evident, that many of the sons of Solomon’s wives and concubines also may have been a corrupting influence. In any event, in the account of Rehoboam, the nature of the spoilers is revealed, since those young men who had given such advice to Rehoboam had sought to treat the children of Israel in much the same manner as the spoilers which had been described here in Isaiah chapter 33, because although Rehoboam had been inspired by Yahweh to reject the elders and to seek the advice of his younger peers, Yahweh had nevertheless known their character, and how they would answer Rehoboam, so Yahweh used that situation in order to divide the kingdom, as He had determined even while Solomon was still alive.

The sin of Solomon had left an indelible mark on Jerusalem which would endure for generations. For this reason, over a hundred years later the prophet Jeremiah is shown two baskets of figs, as it is recorded in Jeremiah chapter 24 where we read, in part: “2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.” So the good figs of Judah were, for the most part, all of those who had been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar at the time when he had removed Jehoiachin and made Zedekiah the king in his place, an event which is described in 2 Kings chapter 24.

Then a little further on in Jeremiah chapter 24 we read: “8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: 9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.” So all those of Judah who had remained in Jerusalem were not bad figs themselves, but they would be given over to the bad figs, for their punishment. So those bad figs could not have actually been of Judah, and they must have been of third parties, where ostensibly, they were the Edomites, Canaanites and others among whom the princes of Judah and those who remained in the land along with those whom had fled to Egypt would later be found. One primary source of these evil figs must have been the Canaanite wife of Judah and the Canaanite and Edomite and Hittite wives of Solomon, as they had been in positions where they had influence to corrupt the rulers of Judah, which may be apparent in the time of Rehoboam. These Judahites who were given over to evil figs are partially the source of today’s Jews, but by the time of Christ they had been given over, and had mingled themselves with much larger numbers of Edomites in Judaea leading up to the time of the ministry of Christ.

These are the beginnings of what is called the controversy of Zion here in Isaiah chapter 34, as we shall see, and Edom is instrumental in that controversy. So with this, we shall commence with Isaiah chapter 34:

1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. 2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. 

The nations addressed here are not the nations of Israel, since Israel, for the most part, had already been taken into captivity by the Assyrians, and much of Judah was also about to be taken. Rather, Yahweh is described here as having addressed the surrounding nations, since they were about to come upon Judah in the armies which were commanded by the Assyrians. In the ancient world, great empires required all of their subject states to contribute troops, provisions and equipment to their armies, and to fight with them against those whom they had next sought to conquer. Therefore, as the Assyrians are about to invade Judah, the nations mentioned here are those of the surrounding regions who had already been subjected, or who had voluntarily submitted to the Assyrians. Among others, both the Moabites and Edomites, whom had formerly been subjects of Judah, had voluntarily submitted to the yoke of Assyria.

So addressing these nations, Yahweh attests that He shall utterly destroy them all, already having delivered them to the slaughter. The language is the same prophetic past tense which is often found in Isaiah, which is employed in regard to future events because they are certain to come to fulfillment. Therefore this must be another far-vision prophecy, because although none of these nations any longer had what we may consider to have been sovereign borders, and they did not rule themselves in the later Persian, Hellenistic and Roman periods, the people of these nations had not yet been destroyed in the manner which is described here.

While, from a Greek or Roman perspective, many of the names of ancient Biblical tribes are lost to history, in Antiquities of the Judaeans, in Book 12 (12:321-329), Flavius Josephus had identified the presence of Ammonites as late as the time that Antiochus had defiled the temple in Jerusalem, which Josephus had described as having happened in “the hundred forty and fifth year” and also in “the hundred and fifty-third Olympiad”. Dating ancient Greek writings, the Olympiads were the periods of four years which began at the celebration of the ancient Olympic games, and the first Olympiad is generally esteemed to have begun in 776 BC. The hundred and fifty-third Olympiad would therefore have begun in 168 BC. Where Josephus said “the hundred forty and fifth year”, he refers to the beginning of the Seleucid Empire which was in 312 BC, which would give us a more precise date of 167 BC, the second year of that same Olympiad. Here we only seek to demonstrate that according to Josephus, there were still identifiable Ammonites in or around Judaea at the beginning of the Hasmonaean period, in 167 BC. But Moabites were last mentioned by him in an even later time, in Book 13 of his Antiquities, in the time of Ptolemy IX Soter II whom Josephus had called Ptolemy Lathyros, who had ruled Egypt from 116 BC.

Of the other nations, apparently the latest historical mention of the Philistines outside of the 6th century BC prophet Zechariah is in an earlier Babylonian inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II dating to about 604 BC, whereafter they are never mentioned again, and Josephus last mentions them in Antiquities, Book 9, in the context of the time of Hezekiah and the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V. However both Idumaeans and Syrians are mentioned throughout his writings and as late as the first century AD, even if the Idumaeans had become Judaeans, and we cannot tell whether or how many of the Syrians were actually still of Aram by that time.

That reflects a problem with the recording of history that has persisted all throughout history, and even in Scripture. Rarely is the precise nature of men revealed in the historical accounts of significant events. Obviously, the young men who had advised Rehoboam had given him poor advice, and they must have hoped to profit from their advice for themselves at the expense of the common people of Israel. However we do not know with any degree of certainty whether any of them were actually of Judah, or if they were of Edom or Ammon or the Hittites or any of the other Canaanite nations from which Solomon had later begun to procure his seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.

Now Isaiah continues the Word of Yahweh concerning the surrounding nations:

3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 

As we had said, with the exception of some of the cities of the Philistines, the surrounding nations were all subjects of Assyria at this time. Even Tyre and Sidon had submitted to the yoke of Assyria, as we have explained in relation to The Burden of Tyre found here in Isaiah chapter 23. So this destruction of these surrounding nations did not occur in the near vision, in the time of Assyria, although Tyre was mostly destroyed for other reasons, as it was prophesied in that same chapter of Isaiah, by the later Greeks and Babylonians. However the Tyrians were Israelites, and the prophecy of their destruction was for reasons other than that which we read here. To this day, the Edomites and other tribes of Canaan have not been as completely destroyed as it is described here, even if they have not existed in their ancient form. But rather, they have persisted in various forms throughout history, and even today as jews, arabs and related peoples. So it seems that even in the far vision, this prophecy is not yet fulfilled.

This becomes more evident where Isaiah continues:

4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. 

This evokes language found in Revelation chapter 6, which is evidently a prophecy concerning the fall of the later Roman Empire: “13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” In that context, the heavens refer to the nobility and rulers of the empire or nation. So when this prophecy is fulfilled, it shall apparently be an event at least as significant as the fall of Rome. Paul of Tarsus had also evoked these words of Isaiah, although he had actually compounded several different passages of Scripture where had written in Hebrews chapter 1: “10 You, in the beginning, Yahweh, have laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands. 11 They shall perish, yet You will remain, and they will all grow old as a garment, 12 and just as a cloak You will roll them, as a garment, and they will be changed, but You are the same and Your years will not fail.’”

There Paul had also cited a similar prophecy found in Isaiah chapter 51, which also helps to put the prophecy of this chapter in perspective, as it is in regard to the promised comfort of Zion while this prophecy is in regard to the controversy of Zion, and we read: “3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. 4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. 5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.” So the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 51 is from a different perspective as this similar prophecy here in chapter 34, but they are both prophecies of the same future event.

The apostle Peter also evoked the words of this prophecy of Isaiah, in chapter 3 of his second epistle, where he first spoke of the world of Noah which had been destroyed by water, and then in contrast he wrote: “7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

So with all certainty, this prophecy here in Isaiah is relevant to the far vision, and not to the immediate circumstances of Judah. As we have often explained, it is the overall purpose of Isaiah to prophecy of the captivity and punishment of the children of Israel and Judah, while also describing how they would ultimately be redeemed, saved and reconciled by Yahweh their God. But out of all these other nations, now only one of them is distinguished as having merited an explicit mention here:

5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. 

That the Edomites were tributaries and subjects of the Assyrians in the time of Sennacherib and the siege of Jerusalem is established in the very inscription where Sennacherib had recorded his version of the failed siege, where we read in part: “As to all the kings of Amurru—Menahem from Samsimuruna, Tuba’lu from Sidon, Abdili’ti from Arvad, Urumilki from Byblos, Mitinti from Ashdod, Buduili from Beth-Ammon, Kammusunadbi from Moab (and) Aiarammu from Edom, they brought sumptuous gifts and—fourfold—their heavy tdmartu-presents to me and kissed my feet.” There we see that with Edom, Ammon and Moab were also among the tributaries, along with Sidon and the Philistine city of Ashdod. [1] So once again, none of these nations were destroyed in the Assyrian period, and as we have seen, most of them had persisted for many centuries thereafter.

6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. 7 And the unicorns 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 Hebrew word which is translated as unicorns is ראמים or ramim, which is a plural for of ראם or ram, (# 7214), which Strong’s had defined simply as a wild bull. We would assert that this word is the source of our English word, ram, and it is certainly not a unicorn. 

The Hebrew word Bozrah means enclosure, and therefore is a sheepfold, according to Strong’s original Concordance. Bozrah is esteemed to have been the capital city of Edom, at least up until the time when the Edomites had migrated into the lands of Judah and Israel. So while we have alluded to the fact that the controversy of Zion had begun to develop much earlier, in Ezekiel chapter 34 we read a prophecy which attests to the fact that the sheep of Yahweh, meaning the children of Israel, had been scattered: “5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.” 

Then after a promise that Yahweh Himself would seek out and gather His sheep, something which is fulfilled in the Gospel of Christ, we read in Ezekiel chapter 35, in part: “1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. 4 I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end: 6 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. 7 Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. 8 And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword. ” 

So far as we may see in secular history, that prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.

Now the day of the destruction of Edom is described once again:

8 For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. 

So for this purpose also, where we continue with Ezekiel chapter 35 we read another similar prophecy, as Yahweh is still addressing Edom and the prophet wrote: “ 9 I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 10 Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there: 11 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.” This must be the controversy of Zion: the fact that Edom had “perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity,” as we read in Ezekiel chapter 34, and thereafter, Edom had sought to take both Judah and Israel, and imagine that “these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it,” as it is expressed here in Ezekiel chapter 35. 

Some time after that of Ezekiel and the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, the prophet Obadiah wrote a similar prophecy of the demise of Edom, and we shall read only portions of it: “1 … Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the [nations], Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. …” this ambassador must be a reference to an ambassador of the Babylonians, as we shall see. Then a little further on: “4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD. … 6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up! … 8 Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? 9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. 10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. ”

The kingdom of Edom had been a tributary of the Assyrians at the time of the siege of Jerusalem, and may have contributed to that cause, but since it had failed there is no surviving record of that participation. However Edom was also a subject state of the Babylonian empire and, as we have explained, the Edomites would have been compelled to contribute troops and provisions for the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. So on account of that, we read in the 137th Psalm: “7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.” Again, in 1 Esdras, a copy of the book of Ezra which is more complete than the Hebrew copies which survived in the canonical Scriptures, we read in chapter 4, in reference to the King of Persia: “45 Thou also hast vowed to build up the temple, which the Edomites burned when Judea was made desolate by the Chaldees.” This is exemplary of the violence of Edom against Jacob in the day of Jacob’s calamity.

Now as we proceed with Obadiah, there is a specific reference to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, even though it is also evident that Edom had a minor role in the earlier but failed Assyrian siege of Jerusalem: “11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. 12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.” 

Then even further on in Obadiah there is a prophecy which also must be parallel to this prophecy here in Isaiah: “ 15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the [nations]: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the [nations] drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. 17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. 18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.” 

This prophecy had a near-vision reference that also is fitting for a far-vision fulfillment. In the time when Judah was being carried into captivity, it may be said that all nations drank upon Yahweh’s holy mountain, which is an allegory for the people of Israel. However it also evokes thoughts of the Camp of the Saints prophecy in Revelation chapter 20, wherein Satan, or the Adversary, gathers all of the nations from the four corners of the earth, called “Gog and Magog”, against the Camp of the Saints. 

That in turn correlates with the prophecies of Gog and Magog found in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, where those same nations are found gathered against the mountains of Israel (38:8), but they shall meet their destruction, where we read in chapter 39: “4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. 6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the [nations] shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”

However with all of these prophecies, there are no people identified by the name of Edom in the world today. For the most part, a modern Edom is only known in academic circles as Edom is identified by the jewish rabbis as the people of Europe. This identification is a fanciful jewish projection, because in Jewish academic sources there are also admissions that Edom is found in modern Jewry, which is admitted in a Wikipedia article titled Forced Conversions. [2] So historically, it certainly it can be established that modern Jews are actually Edom, and that identification is fully ascertained in the Christian New Testament, in the words of both Christ and His apostles.

This process of Idumaeans becoming known as Jews, thereby claiming to be Judah, had begun in the 2nd century BC, after the remnant of Judah which had returned to Jerusalem in 520 BC had gained its independence from the Greek Seleucid empire, from just after 167 BC. After many failed attempts to drive out the Edomites and others who had been occupying the former cities of Israel, which is also recorded in the first Book of Maccabees, after he became high priest around 129 BC, after the record of 1 Maccabees comes to an end, John Hyrcanus began forcibly converting Edomites of those cities to the religion of Jerusalem, which could at this time be called Judaism, as a condition that he not burn them out. According to Flavius Josephus, in Antiquities Book 13, the Edomites of certain cities gladly accepted the offer and from that time “were hereafter considered to be Judaeans.” [3] The policy continued, and by the end of the rule of Alexander Jannaeus, the first Judaean high priest to call himself a king, he himself had converted at least thirty significant towns or regions of Judaea to Judaism [4], which was a complete corruption of the religion of David and Moses.

The first Herod, whom the Jews themselves call “Herod the Great”, was an Idumaean, which was explained on several occasions by Flavius Josephus. His father, a wealthy Edomite merchant, had gratified a later high priest, John Hyrcanus II, and Herod became a general in the Judaean army. After the coming of the Romans, and a long period of division and strife among the Judaeans concerning submission to Rome, a war had resulted, and Herod, who was even married to the niece of this Hyrcanus, had rather treacherously sided with Rome, killed his own wife’s uncle, bribed Marc Antony, and once the Romans prevailed, he was made king of Judaea as a kingdom subject to Rome. As Josephus explains it, Herod then killed most of the members of the family of the Hasmonaeans, the high priests, he killed most of the nobles in Judaea, and replaced them with his own cronies and associates, who were chiefly Edomites.

This is the Judaea of the time of Christ. So, for example, in John chapter 10 Yahshua Christ had told His adversaries “26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.” Ostensibly, they were not of His sheep because they were Edomites, and not Israelites. Later, in Romans chapter 9, Paul of Tarsus had prayed for his “ 3 ... kinsmen according to the flesh: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” Making that prayer, Paul also explained that “6 … they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” and went on to explain that situation by recounting the promises to Sarah and Rebekah, and by contrasting Jacob and Esau, where he cited Malachi chapter 1 and said, in words attributed to God Himself: “13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” Continuing from there, Paul compared the children of Esau to vessels of destruction, and the children of Jacob to vessels of mercy. So doing that, Paul explained all of the reasons for the divisions and apostasy in Jerusalem at the time of Christ, and that is all a result of the “controversy of Zion” which is prophesied here in this chapter of Isaiah.

The modern Jews, being of Edom and not of Judah or Israel, Christ had told His adversaries, as it is in Matthew chapter 23, that “38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” So after His Passion and the destruction of Jerusalem after the cutting off of the Messiah which had been prophesied by Daniel, Jerusalem was indeed left desolate. In this regard, there is another prophecy of the destruction of Edom, which is found in the opening verses of Malachi chapter 1: “1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.” Jerusalem was not made desolate until it was destroyed by Rome, and although the desolate places had sometimes been partly rebuilt, they have not been destroyed again, so we still await the fulfillment of this prophecy of Malachi, now that Edom has fully rebuilt Jerusalem, even if it is first built up even further than it has been.

In this light there is another prophecy concerning Edom and Bozrah, which is also relevant to a far vision, which repeats some of the language found here in Isaiah chapter 34, and which is found in Isaiah chapter 63, a passage which is actually a dialogue: “1 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? 3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” Likewise, when Christ finally returns to slay His enemies, as it is described in Revelation chapter 19, “15 … out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

Notice the reference to “the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion” here in Isaiah chapter 34, and the reference to “the year of my redeemed” in Isaiah chapter 63, both of which are related to the vengeance of God executed upon Edom, and both of which must therefore be prophecies of the same event. So this prophecy, being relevant to the far vision, certainly correlates with the prophecy in Malachi chapter 1, with the prophecy of Obadiah, with the prophecies of Christ in the Revelation, and also with the similar prophecy in Isaiah chapter 63, and with the Camp of the Saints EZEK 38 -23 and all point to the final vengeance of Christ upon His enemies, the preeminent of which are the children of Esau, today’s Jews. Now continuing with Isaiah chapter 34:

9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. 10 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. 

If there is a near fulfillment of this prophecy, it may only be found in the fact that ancient Idumaea has become a very dry, barren place, and a very difficult place in which to support any significant number of people or flocks. But even today, although the land is still a dry and barren place, it is nevertheless littered with towns and farms in diverse places, and in modern times, with many tourist attractions. So once again, this prophecy seems to be even more relevant to a far-vision fulfillment, as Yahweh had promised to destroy the rebuilding of the desolate places in the words which we have cited from Malachi.

In the far vision, this passage also evokes the vision of the Lake of Fire in the closing verses of Revelation chapter 19: “19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

But in the meantime, the land of Idumaea would become a place for wild beasts, which people could not inhabit:

11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. 12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. 

Edom is still the subject here, and perhaps the cormorant and bittern, the owl and the raven are actually allegories for certain supposed people, because it would make no sense that birds call the nobles of people to the kingdom. However this condemnation of Edom is also in relation to the prophecy of the destruction of all the nations at the beginning of the chapter, so this is a prophecy related to the far vision and the day of the vengeance of God. So in Revelation chapter 18, where the fall of Mystery Babylon is described, we read: “2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” In that passage, the references to devils, every foul spirit, and every unclean and hateful bird are also all allegories for supposed people.

Continuing with Isaiah, we see more such allegories:

13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. 14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. 

As we had explained in our earlier commentary for Isaiah chapter 13, where there is similar language employed in a prophecy of the fall of Babylon even before Babylon had become an empire, that prophecy had also ended with a portrayal of a desolate Babylon which was inhabited only by doleful creatures, owls and satyrs. So the fate of Edom and the fate of Babylon as well as the fate of the Mystery Babylon of the Revelation are all intertwined, they are all the same fate and they are described with very similar terms. Therefore, since these prophecies are all relevant to the far vision, and these concepts are also repeated in the Revelation of Christ, they must all be prophecies or prophetic types for the final return of Christ and His Day of Vengeance upon His enemies, among whom the children of Esau are the most prominent. So the controversy of Zion shall not be settled until the final day of the wrath of Yahweh which shall be executed at the return of Yahshua Christ.

16 Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. 17 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein. 

The words of exhortation to seek out of the book of Yahweh and read is not only a suggestion of the advent of our modern Bible, but an appeal to the children of God to study and understand these prophecies, because they shall not fail.

But while the subsequent statements sound like a blessing, if one’s mind strays from the subject at hand, they are actually a curse upon all the people represented in these allegories of beasts. So these words are spoken in reference to the land of verse 9, in which the streams “9 … shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. 10 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.” So of all of these wild beasts, “none shall want her mate”, which evidently means that not one of these wild beasts shall fail to live in a land of burning pitch, and live there forever. Therefore this does indeed seem to be a prophetic type for the Lake of Fire of the closing chapters of the Revelation, as well as the “fire prepared for the devil and his angels”, which is the destiny of the goat nations of Matthew chapter 25. They may not actually dwell there forever, but the words are apparently an allegory informing us that there memory will be forever. [For which see also Isaiah 66:24.]

This concludes our commentary for Isaiah through chapter 34, but we are certain to continue discussing certain aspects of the controversy of Zion throughout the balance of this book.

Footnotes

1 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament, 3rd edition, James Pritchard, editor, 1969, Harvard University Press, p. 287.

2 Forced Conversions, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_conversion#Judaism, accessed May 23rd, 2025. 

3 Antiquities of the Judaeans, Flavius Josephus, Book 13, paragraphs 257-258. 

4 ibid., paragraphs 395-397.