John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 21:1

"The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land." — Isaiah 21:1 (ASV)

The burden of the desert of the sea. The Prophet, after having taught that their hope ought to be placed not on the Egyptians but on the mercy of God alone, and after having foretold that calamities would come on the nations on whose favor they relied, adds a consolation in order to encourage the hearts of the godly.

He declares that for the Chaldeans, to whom they will be captives, a reward is prepared; from this it follows that God takes account of the injuries they endure.

By the desert he means Chaldea, not because it was deserted or thinly inhabited, but because the Jews had a desert on that side of them—just as if, instead of Italy, we might name “the Alps,” because they are nearer to us and because we must cross them on our road to Italy. This reason should be kept in view, for he does not describe the nature of the country but forewarns the Jews that the destruction of the enemies, which he foretells, is near at hand and is as certain as if the event were before their eyes, just as that desert was.

Besides, the prophets sometimes spoke ambiguously about Babylon, that believers alone might understand the hidden mysteries, as Jeremiah changes the king’s name.

As storms from the south. He says from the south because that wind is tempestuous and produces storms and whirlwinds. When he adds that it cometh from the desert, this tends to heighten the picture, for if any storm arises in a habitable and populous region, it excites less terror than those which spring up in deserts. In order to express the shocking nature of this calamity, he compares it to storms which begin in the desert and afterwards take a more impetuous course and rush with greater violence.

Yet the Prophet appears to mean something else: namely, that as they burst forth like storms from that direction to lay Judea desolate, so another storm would soon afterwards arise to destroy them. Therefore, he says that this burden will come from a terrible land.

By this designation, I understand Judea to be meant, for it was not enough to speak of the ruin of Babylon if the Jews did not likewise understand that it came from God.

We have seen in our exposition of the eighteenth chapter why he calls it a terrible land. It was because, as a result of so many displays of God’s wrath, its disfigured appearance might strike terror into all. The occasion on which the words are spoken does not allow us to suppose that it is called terrible on account of the astonishing power of God by which it was protected.

Therefore, although Babylon was taken and plundered by the Persians and Medes, Isaiah declares that its destruction will come from Judea, because in this manner God will revenge the injuries done to that nation of which He had promised to be the guardian.