Night Falls on the Desert Plain

Note to readers:  I may be ending this blog and starting over. It may be a new name, I do not know. I hope I don't have to change it; but it will still be a spiritual/religious blog, that will not change.  I am just having so much trouble getting  to do a blog for some reason. So, I may be starting over and I may be using my maiden name instead.  So, please watch for  it, just in case.     Right now, my  blog site is marye.blogspot,com, but that may change.  Just use the search engine for my blog. This blog is too important to me to not do. I am intent on   publishing the true knowledge/truth of the Bible, for which the other churches do not do.   Thank you for reading my spiritual blogs. I hope it helps some or all of you out there. That is mine and God's purpose.  This time, after I did this morning's blog at 8:30- 8:45; I published the first one and left the blank for this one to do and publish.  This way, I did not have to fight the darn thing to get one done.




The final pronouncement of Isaiah chapter 21 is directed against  "the desert plain."  It begins:  "The pronouncement   against the desert plain: In the forest in the desert plain you will spend the night, O caravans of men of Dedan."  (Isaiah 21:13)  The desert plain referred to is evidently  Arabia, for the pronouncement is directed  at  a number of Arab tribes.  The word for "desert plain" is sometimes rendered  "evening," a very similar word in Hebrew. Some suggest that this is a play on words, as if a dark evening-a time of trouble -is about to fall upon this region.  The pronouncement opens with a nocturnal scene  featuring caravans of men of Dedan, a prominent Arab tribe.  Such caravans follow trade routes from one desert oasis to the next, bearing spices, pearls, and other treasures.  But here we see them forced to leave their well traveled  tracks to spend the nights in hiding. Why?

Isaiah explains: "To meet the thirsty one bring water.  "O you inhabitants of the land of Tema, confront the one fleeing away with bread for him. For because o f the swords they have fled away, because of the drawn  sword, and because of the bent low and because of the heaviness of  the war."  (Isaiah 21:14, 15) f  Yes, the crushing burden of war will fall upon these Arab tribes.  Tema, located on one of the most well-watered oasis in the region, is forced to bring water and bread to the hapless refugees of war.  When will this trouble come?

Isaiah continues:  "This is what Jehovah has said to me:  'Within a year, according to the years of a hired laborer, all the glory of Kedar must even come to its end. And the ones remaining over of the number of bowmen,m the might men of the sons of Kedaar, will become  few, for Jehovah himself, the God of Israel, has spoken it.' "  (Isaiah  21:16, 17)  Kedar is so prominent a tribe that it sometimes used to represent all of Arabia.  Jehovah has determined  that the bowmen and mighty men of this tribe will dwindle in number to a mere remnant.  When?  "Within yet a year," no  more, just a hired laborer works no more than the amount of time for which he is paid. Precisely how all of this was fulfilled  is uncertain.  Two Assyrian rulers -Sargon II and Sennacharib-claimed credit for subjugating Arabia. Either may well have decimated these proud Arab tribes, as foretold.

We can be sure, however, that this prophecy was fulfilled to the letter.  Nothing can make that point more forcefully than the closing words of the pronouncement:  "Jehovah himself, the God of Israel has spoken it."  To people in Isaiah's day, it may seem unlikely that Babylon will ascend  above Assyria and then be toppled from power during the debauched merrymaking of a single evening.  It may seem equally unlikely that powerful Edom will end up in deathly silence or that a night of hardship and privation will fall on the wealthy Arab tribes.  But Jehovah says it will, and so it happens.  Today, Jehovah tells us that the world empire of false religion will come to nothing.  This is not just a possibility; it is a certainty.  Jehovah himself has spoken it!

Let us, then, be the watchman. Let us remain vigilant, as if posted on a lofty watchtower, scanning the horizon for any sign of impending danger.  Let us ally ourselves closely with the faithful watchman class, the remaining anointed Christians on earth today.  Let us join them in courageously  calling out  just what we see-the overwhelming evidence that Christ is ruling in heaven; that he will soon bring an end to mankind's long, dark night of alienation from God; and that thereafter he will usher in the true dawn, the Millennial Reign over a paradise earth!

Next time: Lessons About Unfaithfulness, Chapter Eighteen

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000