Isaiah 34:1-17--Judgment on the Nations

Isaiah 34
English Standard Version

Judgment on the Nations
34 Draw near, O nations, to hear,
    and give attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
    the world, and all that comes from it.
2 For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,
    and furious against all their host;
    he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter.
3 Their slain shall be cast out,
    and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
    the mountains shall flow with their blood.
4 All the host of heaven shall rot away,
    and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
    as leaves fall from the vine,
    like leaves falling from the fig tree.

5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
    behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,
    upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
6 The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood;
    it is gorged with fat,
    with the blood of lambs and goats,
    with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
    a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild oxen shall fall with them,
    and young steers with the mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
    and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
    a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch,
    and her soil into sulfur;
    her land shall become burning pitch.
10 Night and day it shall not be quenched;
    its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
    none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it,
    the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
He shall stretch the line of confusion over it,
    and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
    and all its princes shall be nothing.

13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
    nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of jackals,
    an abode for ostriches.
14 And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
    the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird settles
    and finds for herself a resting place.

​15 There the owl nests and lays
    and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
indeed, there the hawks are gathered,
    each one with her mate.
16 Seek and read from the book of the LORD:
    Not one of these shall be missing;
    none shall be without her mate.
For the mouth of the LORD has commanded,
    and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the lot for them;
    his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
they shall possess it forever;
    from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

---

Though the prophecy of Isaiah was given to the people of Judah, it is clear that it was meant for all the nations when passages like this tell all the nations to listen to the message about the LORD's coming judgment and how He is angry with the nations.  There is a day coming when the bloodshed will cause blood to flow from the mountains and the judgment will be so fierce that all the stars will fall like dead leaves that fall from a tree in a strong wind.  The tree remains, but the dead leaves are gone.  So it will be that God and His people will remain, but the wicked will perish.

The LORD will come to make war with Edom and all the other nations that He has devoted for destruction.  Just like when the LORD devoted a people of the Canaanites for destruction, no man, woman, child, or animal would be spared.  Everything will die as a sacrifice unto the LORD.  That is what He has decreed.

This is His day of wrath and recompense.  He will avenge His people who have been wronged and mistreated and the sin that was committed against them was committed against Him.  The land of Edom will burn like pitch and sulfur.  The smoke will continue to come up and the stench will not cease.  This might be a picture of what it will be like for all those thrown into the Lake of Fire, or it might be that the LORD offers a reminder of the judgment of God against Edom and the others the despised the birthright and blessing that the LORD offered.  Those who were offered salvation and sold it for the temporary pleasures of this world.  They made themselves enemies of those who the LORD had chosen.  Not only would they not inherit the Promised Land that they thought they could take, but their Land would be changed into an accursed place.  Only the unclean creatures will dwell there.  Not one of its inhabitants will survive.

It will become a wasteland where thorns grow, and jackals run wild.  A place for ostriches and hyenas and all other kinds of unclean animals.  It will not be a place for sheep and goats, but for owls and other creatures of the night.

The LORD encourages us to one day see that this prophecy will be completely fulfilled.  Not one thing He said would happen will be missing.  The LORD and the Spirit will be sure to make it happen because the LORD has commanded it.  This is the inheritance that belongs to these unclean creatures.  It will belong to them forever and ever as a picture of the eternal place of judgment that was prepared for all those who despised the LORD and His goodness, mercy, grace, and favor and rejected the salvation that He provided and offered at the cost of the body and blood of the Son of God.