Isaiah 21:10-12 - Morning is coming, but also the night

21:10

Isaiah then addresses the people, a people who were “under the cosh”, a people increasingly threatened by Assyria. He tells them what he has heard from the Lord Almighty. So note the authority of his word. The people should look to God, not to human wisdom in order to understand the times, and to know how to respond.

21:11,12

“Duhmah” refers to Edom. Dumah was one of Ishmael’s sons (Gen 25:14) and means silence. Seir is Edom (Gen 32:3). At the time Edom was a nation very much on the wane. Judah’s expansion had harmed her (2 Kings 14:7, 22). She was paying tribute to Assyria and suffered military attack from her. It was night time for Edom, and v11 pictures someone from Edom calling out to Isaiah, the watchman, asking how much longer this would go on for.

Isaiah’s answer is not comforting. The Assyrian problems would come to an end, but the respite would be short, then an even worse calamity would happen, the Babylonian invasion. One might think of this like the end of the first world war, which brought much relief, but a short time later an even worse conflict would ensue.