Isaiah 21–25
The Holy Bible interpreted through Divine Principle insight and the words of True Father.
This study page continues Isaiah with chapters 21 through 25. Commentary is attached where the text strongly reflects Divine Principle themes such as watchman warning, false confidence, stewardship and key authority, judgment on proud commerce, the shaking of the whole earth, and the final feast and victory of God over death and reproach.
21:1 The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. 21:2 A grievous vision is declared unto me... Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media... 21:5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower... 21:6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.
21:7 And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen... 21:8 And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime... 21:9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men... and he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. 21:10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor...
21:11 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night?... 21:12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night... 21:13 The burden upon Arabia... 21:16 Within a year... all the glory of Kedar shall fail.
22:1 The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? 22:2 Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city... 22:8 And he discovered the covering of Judah... 22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water... but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.
22:12 And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping... 22:13 And behold joy and gladness... let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die. 22:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna... 22:20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim... 22:22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut...
The people strengthen their defenses but do not look to the Maker who formed the city’s destiny. Divine Principle strongly resonates because fallen man repeatedly trusts systems, walls, and preparation while ignoring the God who alone can secure the providence.
Shebna represents false stewardship and self-exalting office. True Father often emphasized that positions within the providence are not for self-display, but for serving Heaven’s purpose with humility.
Eliakim receives the key of the house of David. This is a major stewardship and authority image. Divine Principle strongly resonates because Heaven entrusts real authority to a faithful central servant, and such authority is connected to opening and closing within the providence.
23:1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish... 23:3 And by great waters the seed of Sihor... she is a mart of nations. 23:8 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth? 23:9 The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory...
23:14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish... 23:15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years... 23:17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre... 23:18 And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD...
Tyre represents proud commercial glory and world influence. Divine Principle strongly resonates because wealth and trade, when cut loose from Heaven, become another tower of human self-exaltation. The LORD therefore stains the pride of all glory.
The seventy-year interval shows again that Heaven’s dealings with nations unfold in periods. True Father often emphasized that providence has timed courses, not random movement.
The striking end is that Tyre’s merchandise becomes holiness to the LORD. This strongly resonates with the idea that what was once worldly and proud can later be redirected and offered within Heaven’s purpose.
24:1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste... 24:3 The land shall be utterly emptied... 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 24:6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth...
24:13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree... 24:14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing... 24:16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs... 24:19 The earth is utterly broken down... 24:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. 24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion...
Isaiah 24 expands from local burdens to a near-universal shaking. Divine Principle strongly resonates because when the everlasting covenant is broken and God’s order rejected, corruption affects not only one people but the whole human environment.
Even amid worldwide shaking, there remains the olive-tree gleaning and songs from the ends of the earth. True Father often emphasized that Heaven keeps a remnant chorus alive even when the world system is collapsing.
The chapter culminates in the punishment of both earthly kings and higher rebellious powers, and then in the LORD’s reign in Zion. This strongly resonates with the idea that final restoration requires both earthly and spiritual disorder to be judged so that God’s kingship can appear openly.
25:1 O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee... for thou hast done wonderful things... 25:2 For thou hast made of a city an heap... 25:4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm...
25:6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things... 25:7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people... 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces... 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him...
25:10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest... 25:12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down...
Isaiah 25 begins with praise because God has judged the proud city and protected the poor and needy. Divine Principle strongly resonates because Heaven’s victory is not abstract; it manifests as refuge for the oppressed and overthrow of false fortified power.
This is one of the most glorious mountain passages in Scripture. The feast for all people, the removal of the covering over the nations, and death swallowed up in victory strongly resonate with the final aim of the providence: universal restoration, unveiled truth, and the overcoming of death’s dominion under God.
“Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him” reflects the long historical waiting for Heaven’s fulfillment. True Father often emphasized that the end of the providence is not disappointment but joy in finally meeting the God for whom humanity has been waiting through the ages.
Isaiah 21 presents the prophetic watchman who must stand, see, and announce what Heaven reveals. Divine Principle strongly resonates because providential history depends on watchmen who discern the time and proclaim the fall of false centers. “Babylon is fallen” means more than one city’s defeat; it signals the collapse of idolatrous systems before God’s truth.
The question “Watchman, what of the night?” expresses the longing of people living in uncertainty. True Father often emphasized that in dark ages Heaven still raises those who can read the time and warn the people.
The burden on Arabia and Kedar shows that Heaven’s word reaches all surrounding peoples. History is not outside God’s observation simply because it occurs beyond Israel’s center.