◄ Isaiah 21:9 ►
Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs." And one answered, saying: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!"
Sermons
The Work of the IconoclastR. Tuck Isaiah 21:9
The Effect of God's Judgments on the Good and on the GuiltyW. Clarkson Isaiah 21:1-9
Fall of BabylonE. Johnson Isaiah 21:1-10
The Burden of the Desert of the SeaG. Matheson, D. D.Isaiah 21:1-10
The Desert of the SeaSir E. Strachey, Bart.Isaiah 21:1-10
The Persian Advance on BabylonJ. A. Alexander.Isaiah 21:1-10
The Persian Aversion to ImagesJ. A. Alexander.Isaiah 21:1-10
The Prophecy Against BabylonDean Farrar, D. D.Isaiah 21:1-10














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Work Of The Iconoclast
Isaiah 21:9
R. Tuck
Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the images of its gods he hath broken unto the ground. Recent researches have disclosed the fact that there were three sieges of Babylon during the time of Isaiah - in B.C. 709 by Sargon, and in 703 and 691 by Sennacherib. Mr. George Smith, writing of the last of these three sieges, says, "Babylon was now wholly given up to an infuriated soldiery; its walls were thrown down, its temples demolished, its people given up to violence and slavery, the temples rifled, and the images of the gods brought out and broken in pieces." Herodotus is our authority for the supposed aversion of the Medes and Persians to all images. "They not only thought it unlawful to use images, but imputed folly to those who did so." But modern researches do not confirm the statement of Herodotus, and we need see in the destruction of the Babylonian idols no more than the signs of a humiliating and overwhelming conquest. Cyrus has been hitherto regarded as a Persian and monotheist; it is now argued that he was an Elamite and a polytheist. Illustrating the subject, we note -

I. SOME MEN'S LIFE-WORK IS BUILDING UP. They make businesses; they found families; they start theories; they commence organizations; they build churches; they initiate societies. Such men are full of schemes. Moses founds a nation. David organizes a kingdom. Paul establishes a Christian society in the Gentile world. Wesley begins a sect.

II. SOME MEN'S LIFE-WORK IS KEEPING UP. They cannot begin. They are not fertile in resources. Initial difficulties crush them. But quiet perseverance, good faithful work, enables them well to sustain what others have begun.

III. SOME MEN'S LIFE-WORK IS BREAKING DOWN. As was Carlyle's. He broke down society shams, and conceits and hypocrisies of modern thought. So Mahomet broke down corrupt Christianity. The skeptic is an iconoclast; but he breaks down for the pleasure of breaking down. The critic is an iconoclast; but he only attacks the evil. The reformer must often be an iconoclast; but he breaks down only that he may rebuild. Sometimes things reach such a pass that they cannot be reformed, and then "destruction cometh from the Lord," whatever agents he may use; as in the old world, Sodom, captivity of Israel, destruction of Babylon, etc. - R.T.

Biblical Illustrator
Anoint the shield.
Isaiah 21:5
"Anoint the shield
J. Kitto, D. D.
The ancient shields being mostly of stout leather stretched over a frame or rim of metal or wood, it was necessary to rub them with oil, lest they should become hard and crack, or lest they should become so rigid that an arrow or spear might easily penetrate them. Shields of this kind are still much in use, and still require the same treatment, in Western Asia; and we have ourselves frequently seen them on sale in the bazaars, and in use among the Arabs, the Kurds, and the Caucasians.

(J. Kitto, D. D.)

Things that did not happen
G. Matheson, D. D.
What is a shield? It is a very peculiar part of God's armour. It is not a strength in calamity; it is something which prevents calamity from coming. My strength is my power to bear; but my shield is my escape from bearing. My strength lifts me when the blow falls; my shield catches the blow before it falls. My strength supports what is; my shield wards off what might have been. I have often praised God for the strength; but I have seldom anointed the shield. I have recognised a thousand times His songs in the night; but I have not sufficiently thanked Him that the night itch has not been deeper.

(G. Matheson, D. D.)

People
Dedanites, Dumah, Elam, Isaiah, Kedar, Seir, Tema
Places
Arabia, Babylon, Dumah, Elam, Kedar, Media, Negeb, Seir, Tema
Topics
Answereth, Babylon, Behold, Broken, Chariot, Couple, Engraved, Fallen, Gives, Gods, Graven, Ground, Horsemen, Horses, Images, Lie, Low, Pairs, Riders, Shattered, Spoke, Team, Troop, Twos, War-carriages
Outline
1. The prophet, bewailing the captivity of his people,
6. sees in a vision the fall of Babylon by the Medes and Persians.
11. Edom, scorning the prophet, is moved to repentance.
13. The set time of Arabia's calamity.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 21:9

     4657   horse

Isaiah 21:1-17

     1421   oracles

Isaiah 21:6-9

     5585   towers

Library
The Morning Breaketh
TEXT: "Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night."--Isaiah 21:11-12. It is very interesting to note that, whether we study the Old Testament or the New, nights are always associated with God's mornings. In other words, he does not leave us in despair without sending to us his messengers of hope and cheer. The Prophet Isaiah in this particular part of his prophecy seems to be almost broken-hearted because of the sin of the people. As one of the Scotch …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

In the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius Cæsar and under the Pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas - a Voice in the Wilderness
THERE is something grand, even awful, in the almost absolute silence which lies upon the thirty years between the Birth and the first Messianic Manifestation of Jesus. In a narrative like that of the Gospels, this must have been designed; and, if so, affords presumptive evidence of the authenticity of what follows, and is intended to teach, that what had preceded concerned only the inner History of Jesus, and the preparation of the Christ. At last that solemn silence was broken by an appearance, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Letter Xlii to the Illustrious Youth, Geoffrey De Perrone, and his Comrades.
To the Illustrious Youth, Geoffrey de Perrone, and His Comrades. He pronounces the youths noble because they purpose to lead the religious life, and exhorts them to perseverance. To his beloved sons, Geoffrey and his companions, Bernard, called Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes the spirit of counsel and strength. 1. The news of your conversion that has got abroad is edifying many, nay, is making glad the whole Church of God, so that The heavens rejoice and the earth is glad (Ps. xcvi. 11), and every tongue …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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