Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 21:11-12

The prophet appears to introduce himself as addressed in scorn by the people of the land which he is commissioned to warn. "Watchman, what of the night?" What new report of woe hast thou to unroll, thou who hast placed thyself as an authorised observer and censurer of our doings? But the prophetical watchman—the calm commissioner of heaven—replies, adopting their own languages, "Yes, the morning (the true morning of hope and peace) cometh, and also the night (the real and terrible night of God's vengeance): if ye will (if ye are in genuine earnest) inquire, inquire. Obtain the knowledge you seek, the knowledge of the way of life; and acting on this knowledge, repent, and turn to the Lord your God."

I. Consider the question. (1) Some ask the report of the night with utter carelessness as to the reply. (2) Some ask in contempt. (3) Some ask it in horror and anguish of heart.

II. What is still the duty of him who holds the momentous position of watchman in the City of God? (1) He did not turn away from the question, in whatever spirit it was asked. (2) He uttered with equal assurance a threat and a promise. (3) He pressed the necessity of care in the study and earnest inquiry after the nature of the truth. (4) He summed up all by an anxious, a cordial, and a reiterated invitation to repentance and reconciliation with an offended but pardoning God. Thus, the single verse might be regarded as an abstract of the duties of the ministerial office. May God grant to His ministers a genuine desire to fulfil that office, to His people an equal anxiety to receive its labours.

W. Archer Butler, Sermons Doctrinal and Practical, 2nd series, p. 342.

References: Isaiah 21:11, Isaiah 21:12.—S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. no; S. Cox, Expositions, 4th series, p. 336 (see also An Expositor's Note-book, p. 201). Isaiah 22:23.—Preacher's Lantern, vol. ii., p. 429; J. N. Norton, Every Sunday, p. 45. Isaiah 23:4.—G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 390. Isaiah 24:1-6.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 212. Isaiah 25:6.—Pulpit Analyst, vol. ii., p. 541.