The Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran from the second century BC, contains all the verses in this chapter.
The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.[5] Isaiah 21 is a part of the Prophecies about the Nations (Isaiah 13–23). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.
This part of prophecy or oracle refers clearly to Babylon, although it is not indicated by name, as understood, among others, by Coggins[6] and Rashi.[7]
So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.[8]
The Septuagint does not include the words "of the Sea":[9]
As though a whirlwind should pass through the desert, coming from a desert, even from such a land, so a fearful and a grievous vision was declared to me.[9]
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges notes the sub-heading in this verse as one (and the first) of "a series of 'enigmatic' headings", along with Isaiah 21:11, 13, and Isaiah 22:1 (cf. Isaiah 30:6).[1] Rabbi Jonathan is quoted by Rashi to render this verse: "A harsh prophecy concerning the armies that come from the desert, as numerous as the waters of the sea."[7]
The phrase "the desert plain" may not point to an identifiable place, although the geographical area named is usually considered in Arabia.[6] The oasis city Tema (verse 14) is located 100 mi (160 km) south of Elath and 200 mi (320 km) east of the Red Sea, known to be a caravan center.[17] The Dedanites (verse 13) and Kedar (verse 16) were Arabian tribes.[17]
It is recorded that Kedar paid tribute in 738 BCE to the Assyrians and in 715 BCE Sargon II battled the tribes between Tema and the Gulf of Aqaba (the eastern arm of the Red Sea), then in 703 BCE Sennacherib subdued the Arabian tribes joining the rebellion of Merodach-Baladan (king of Babylon).[17] Therefore, there is no need to consider a later date for this part of prophecy.[17]
^The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Editors. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2007. pp. 1006-1007 Hebrew Bible. ISBN978-0195288810
Childs, Brevard S. (2001). Isaiah. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN9780664221430.
Coggins, R (2007). "22. Isaiah". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 433–586. ISBN978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
