Matthew Henry on Isaiah 21:13–end
Arabia was a large country, that lay eastward and southward of the land of Canaan. Much of it was possessed by the posterity of Abraham. The Dedanim, here mentioned (Isa 21:13), descended from Dedan, Abraham's son by Keturah; the inhabitants of Tema and Kedar descended from Ishmael, Gen 25:3, Gen 25:13, Gen 25:15. The Arabians generally lived in tents, and kept cattle, were a hardy people, inured to labour; probably the Jews depended upon them as a sort of a wall between them and the more warlike eastern nations; and therefore, to alarm them, they shall hear the burden of Arabia, and see it sinking under its own burden.
I. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, with a sword, with a dr…
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they--the fugitive Dedanites and other Arabs.
John Gill on Isaiah 21:15
For they fled from the swords,.... Of their enemy, whom they could not withstand; perhaps the Assyrian army:
from the drawn sword; just ready to be sheathed in them:
and from the bent bow; just going to let the arrow fly at them:
and from the grievousness of war: too heavy for them to bear.
John Calvin on Isaiah 21:15
For they flee from the face of the swords. [74] He means that the calamity will be dreadful, and that the Arabians will have good reason for betaking themselves to flight, because the enemies will pursue them with arms and with swords, so that they will have no other way of providing for their safety than by flight. The reason why he foretells this defeat is plain enough; for it was necessary that the Jews should obtain early information of that which should happen long after, that they might learn that the world is governed by the providence of God and not by chance, and likewise that they should be taught by the example of others to behold God as the judge of all nations, wherever they tur…
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