Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 21:12

"The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: turn ye, come." — Isaiah 21:12 (ASV)

The watchman said - Or rather “says;” indicating that this is the answer which the prophet returned to the inquiry from Idumea.

The morning comes - There are signs of approaching day. The ‘morning’ here is an emblem of prosperity, as the light of the morning succeeds the darkness of the night.

This refers to the deliverance from the Babylonian captivity and is to be understood as having been spoken near the time when that captivity was at an end—or nearly at break of day after the long night of their bondage.

This declaration is to be understood as referring to a different people from those referred to in the expression that immediately follows—‘and also the night.’ ‘The morning comes’—to the captive Jews; ‘and also the night’—to some other people, namely, the Idumeans.

It might mean that the morning was to be succeeded by a time of darkness for the same people, but the connection seems to demand that we understand it of others.

And also the night - A time of calamity and affliction. This is emphatic. It refers to the Idumeans. ‘The morning comes to the captive Jews; it shall be closely succeeded by a night—a time of calamity—to the taunting Idumeans.’

During the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, the Idumeans invaded and took possession of the southern part of Judea. The prophet here refers to the fact, perhaps, that on the return of the Jews to their native land, they would avenge this by expelling them and by inflicting punishment on the land of Edom. For a full proof that calamities came upon the land of Idumea, see Keith “On the Prophecies,” Art. “Idumea,” and the notes at Isaiah 34:0.

If you will inquire, inquire - If you choose to ask anything further regarding this, you can.

The sense is probably this: ‘You Idumeans have asked about the night in derision and reproach. An answer has been given somewhat in line with that inquiry.

But if you seriously wish to know anything further about the destiny of your land, you can ask me (Isaiah) or any other prophet, and it will be made known.

But ask it in seriousness and earnestness, and with a suitable regard for the prophetic character and for God.

And especially if you wish for a more favorable answer to your inquiries, it is to be obtained only by forsaking sin and turning to God; then you may come with the hope of a brighter prospect for the future.’ The design of this is, therefore:

1. to “reprove” them for the manner in which they had asked the question;
2. to assure them that God was willing to direct humble and serious inquirers; and
3. to show in what way a favorable answer could be obtained—namely, by repentance. And this is as true of sinners now as it was then. They often display the reproachful and taunting spirit that the Idumeans did. They hear only a similar response—that prosperity and happiness await the Christian, though now in darkness and affliction, and that calamity and destruction are before the guilty. They might have the same answer—an answer that God would bless them and save them—if they would inquire in a humble, serious, and docile manner.

Return - Turn from your sins; come back to God, and show respect for Him and His declarations.

Come - Then come, and you shall be accepted, and the watchman will also announce morning as about to dawn on you.

This seems to be the sense of this very dark and difficult prophecy. It is brief, enigmatic, and obscure.

Yet it is beautiful; and if the sense given above is correct, it contains most weighty and important truth—alike for the afflicted and persecuted friends, and the persecuting and taunting foes of God.

With reference to the interpretation proposed here, which supposes, as will have been seen:

1. a state of excited feeling on the part of the Jews toward the Idumeans, for the part which they took in the destruction of their city;
2. the prospect of speedy deliverance to the Jews in Babylon; and
3. a consequent desolation and vengeance on the Idumeans for the feelings they had manifested in the destruction of Jerusalem (see the prophecy of Obadiah 1:8-21):

Shall I not in that day, says the Lord,
Even destroy the wise men out of Edom,
And understanding out of the Mount of Esau?
And your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed,
To the end that everyone from the Mount of Esau
May be cut off by slaughter.
For your violence against your brother Jacob shame shall cover you,
And you shall be cut off forever.
In the day that you stood on the other side,
In the day that the stranger carried away captive his forces,
And foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem,
Even you were as one of them.
But you should not have looked on the day of your brother
In the day that he became a stranger;
Neither should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah
In the day of their destruction;
Neither should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen;
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
Your reward shall return upon your own head, etc.

In this prophecy these circumstances are all to be found;

1. the hostility of the Edomites against Jerusalem, and the part which they took in the destruction of the city, in Isaiah 21:10-14;
2. the fact of the deliverance of the Jews from captivity, in Isaiah 22:17;
3. the consequent vengeance upon the Idumeans, in Isaiah 34:5-6.

This remarkable coincidence in an independent prophecy is a strong circumstance to prove that the interpretation proposed above is correct. Regarding the general reasons for the interpretation proposed here, and the lessons which the prophecy is suited to convey, I may be permitted to refer to my “Practical Sermons,” pp. 325-341.