Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 21:6

A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.

Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.

The prophecy is continued with the conjunction "for" (ci). The tacit link in the train of thought is this: they act thus in Babylon, because the destruction of Babylon is determined. The form in which this thought is embodied is the following: the prophet receives instruction in the vision to set a metzappeh upon the watch-tower, who was to look out and see what more took place. "For thus said the Lord to me, Go, set a spy; what he seeth, let him declare." In other cases it is the prophet himself who stands upon the watch-tower ( Isa 21:11; Hab 2:1-2); but here in the vision a distinction is made between the prophet and the person whom he stations upon the watch-tower (specula). The prophet divides himself, as it were, into two persons (compare Isa 18:4 for the introduction; and for the expression "go," Isa 20:2). He now sees through the medium of a spy, just as Zechariah sees by means of the angel speaking in him; with this difference, however, that here the spy is the instrument employed by the prophet, whereas there the prophet is the instrument employed by the angel. Isaiah 21:7

Read Isaiah 21:6 →Read the full chapter →John Gill's Exposition →Jamieson, Fausset & Brown →Barnes' Notes →Wesley's Explanatory Notes →Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge →

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