Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 34:7

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 34:7. The unicorns shall come down — ראמים reemim, translated wild goats by Bishop Lowth. The ראם reem Bochart thinks to be a species of wild goat in the deserts of Arabia. It seems generally to mean the rhinoceros.

With blood - "With their blood"] מדמם middamam; so two ancient MSS. of Kennicott's the Syriac, and Chaldee.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

34:1-35:10 MORE ABOUT JUDGMENT AND SALVATION

Jerusalem’s final triumph over Assyria is followed by further pictures of God’s final judgment on the world and the blessings that will follow. (See notes on the introduction to 24:1-27:13.) God’s enemies in this section are represented by one of Israel’s most ancient enemies, Edom.

Punishment of the wicked (34:1-17)

God calls sinners together to hear his judgment and receive his punishment. This judgment affects people worldwide, and involves the entire physical creation. Nothing in the heavens or on the earth can exist independently of God and nothing can withstand his power (34:1-4). One picture of this judgment is that of a great slaughter of animals, as if for sacrifice. The rebellious will fall by the sword of God’s judgment (5-7). They will suffer a fitting punishment for their persecution and slaughter of God’s people (8).
The scene then shifts to the earthly homeland of these people. Their country will be turned into a place of terrible torment, fear and confusion, a place that no human being would ever want to inhabit (9-11). The glory of its kingdom will be gone, and the ruins of its military defences will be inhabited by all sorts of fearsome animals and dreaded demons (12-15). This judgment has been determined by God, who has recorded the details in a book so that people everywhere might be assured that it is his doing (16-17).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Come near ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye peoples: let the earth hear, and the fullness thereof; the world, and all things that come forth from it. For Jehovah hath indignation against all the nations, and wrath against all their host: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies shall come up; and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fade away, as the leaf fadeth from off the vine, and as a fading leaf from the fig-tree. For my sword hath drunk its fill in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. And the wild oxen shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls: and their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness."

"Come near, ye nations… Let the earth hear" Such words herald the worldwide importance of the final judgment God here announced. Every man who ever breathed has an interest, whether or not he knows it, in the doings of that Great Day when God will rise in righteous wrath and cast evil out of his universe.

Another important thing about this verse is that it, "reflects the language of the law courts,"The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 794. suggesting the old suzerain treaty so prominent in the Pentateuch, that being a legal device unknown in Isaiah's times outside of the Pentateuch or the minor prophets anywhere else upon earth. This, of course is proof, absolute, that Isaiah was familiar with the Pentateuch and with the prophets when these words were written.

"Jehovah hath indignation against all the nations… he hath utterly destroyed them… delivered them to the slaughter" This speaks of the slaughter of "all nations" as something already done. This characteristic of Biblical prophecies is called the "prophetic certainty." When God prophesies anything, it is as certain to be fulfilled as if it had already occurred.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE ETERNAL JUDGMENT

One of the six fundamentals of the Christian religion (Hebrews 6:2), the judgment is extensively mentioned throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It was promised in Genesis (Genesis 2:17) where God pronounced death upon the whole race of Adam if they ate of the forbidden fruit. The sentence will be executed "at the end of this dispensation," which still lies within the perimeter of "the day they ate of it," the same being the seventh day of creation which is still going on (Hebrews 4:4-11). The sentence was not repealed, commuted, or softened in any way. It will yet be executed upon Adam and Eve in the person of their total posterity, there being absolutely no exceptions, except "the redeemed of all ages."

Some of the metaphors under which that Great Day is mentioned in Scripture:

(1)    It will be the day when God destroys the Flying Serpent (the Devil), the Crooked Serpent (Evil Human government), and the Winding Serpent (False Religion) (Isaiah 27 and Revelation 12-20), all of whom shall be destroyed in the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone.

(2)    It will be the day when Christ separates the sheep from the goats, consigning the lost to "hell prepared for the devil and his angels" and welcoming the redeemed into the "joy of their Lord" (Matthew 25).

(3)    In Isaiah 34, it is the day in which God will slaughter all of the rebellious nations on earth.

(4)    It will be the day when the greatest earthquake ever known shall occur, the sun will become black, the moon like blood, the stars fall, the heavens disappear, rolled up like a scroll, every mountain and every island removed from their places, and the kings, princes, captains, rich, strong, every bondman, and every freeman shall cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb! (Revelation 6:12-17).

(5)    It will be the treading of the winepress of the wrath of God against the great World City (Urban mankind in his rebellion against God); "And there came out blood from the winepress, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs (some 200 miles!) (Revelation 14:20).

(6)    It will be the day when Babylon the Great falls. "The cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the Great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath… every island fled away, the mountains were not found… great hail, every stone the weight of a talent (about 60 pounds)… the plague thereof was exceeding great" (Rev, 16:19ff). Some associate this with the so-called "Battle of Armageddon" mentioned just previously in Revelation 16:16; but nowhere in Scripture is it ever referred to as a battle. It appears to us that God would need a human battle just like he would need a hole in his head!

(7)    It is represented as total silence. "And a mighty angel took up a great millstone (weight: about 1,000 pounds or more) and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down and SHALL BE FOUND NO MORE AT ALL… The voice of harpers, minstrels, etc. … SHALL BE HEARD NO MORE AT ALL IN THEE… Craftsmen of whatever craft SHALL BE FOUND NO MORE AT ALL IN THEE… The voice of a mill SHALL BE HEARD NO MORE AT ALL IN THEE… The light of a lamp SHALL SHINE NO MORE AT ALL IN THEE… The voice of the bridegroom and the bride SHALL BE HEARD NO MORE AT ALL IN THEE" (Revelation 18:21-24).

(8)    It is spoken of as a great war between the kings of the earth, the beast, and all the forces of evil, against Christ who sat on the white horse (Revelation 19:16 ff). The kings were slain; and the beast and all who worshipped him were "cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone." Notice that there was no "battle." Note also that the "Great Supper of God" was celebrated in this instance by all of the fowls of the air which ate up the flesh of the dead men and horses! (Revelation 19:18).

(9)    It is presented as an occasion when all the dead who ever lived shall be summoned before the Great White Throne; the books were opened, and the book of life; and the earth and the heavens fled away. "Death and Hades, and the devil that deceived the nations, were also, with the beast and the false prophet, "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone; and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Revelation 20).

(10)    "Both soul and body will be destroyed in hell" (Matthew 10:28).

(11)    "Hell is a place of unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43).

(12)    "Hell: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 10:48).

(13)    Hell appears to be mentioned in this: "Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; where there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 22:13).

It is apparent that many of these metaphors mention things that are not clearly understood. Darkness, fire, living worms, perpetual silence, weeping and gnashing of teeth, etc., when considered collectively do not give any sharp picture at all of what the final place of God's disposal of the condemned may actually be. The one overriding feature would appear to be the total undesirability of the place! All men should be cautioned against believing that they know exactly what it will be like in hell.

(14)    Still other features of that Great Day are found here. The nations shall be slaughtered and their bodies left unburied; and there will be blood enough to melt the mountains; the host of heaven shall be dissolved; and the heavens themselves shall be rolled together like a scroll (Isaiah 34:2-4). The whole land of Edom, along with all animals, even the wild ones, together with all the inhabitants shall be, as it were, slaughtered upon the altar of God in that "great sacrifice at Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom" (Isaiah 34:5-7).

(15)    The apostle Peter added that in those terminal events of the Great Judgment:

"The day of the Lord will come as a thief; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10),

The "great noise" is a feature of the final day that is frequently spoken of as "the sound of a great trumpet," as mentioned by Christ himself thus:

(16)    "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light; the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven… And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:29-31).

There are some features of the Great Judgment mentioned here which are not found elsewhere, one of these being the mountains melted with blood, and another being the foul stench of the rotting carcasses of the dead. Still another is in the fact of God's sword having drunk heavily of blood in heaven. This latter statement is likely a metaphor of the long accumulated wrath of God so long stored up in heaven against the incorrigibly wicked. It is quite obvious that this language is undoubtedly metaphorical.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

And the unicorns - Margin, ‘Rhinoceros’ (ראמים r^e'ēmı̂ym from ראם r^e'êm). This was evidently an animal well known in Palestine, since it is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament (Numbers 23:22; Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9-10; Psalms 22:21; Psalms 29:6; Psalms 92:10, in all which places it is translated unicorn, or unicorn). The derivation of the word is uncertain, and it has been regarded as doubtful what animal is intended. The corresponding Arabic word denotes the oryx, a large and fierce species of the antelope. Gesenius, Schultens, De Wette, and Rosenmuller suppose that the buffalo is intended by the word. Bochart regards it as denoting the gazelle, or a species of the antelope. It can hardly, however, be regarded as so small an animal as the gazelle. The gazelle is common in the neighborhood of mount Sinai; and when Laborde passed through that region his companions killed four, ‘the father and mother, and two little animals a fortnight old.’ He says of them: ‘These creatures, which are very lively in their movements, endeavored to bite when they were caught; their hair is a brown yellow, which becomes pale and long as the animals grows old.

In appearance they resemble the Guinea pig. Their legs are of the same height, but the form of their feet is unique; instead of nails and claws, they have three toes in front and four behind, and they walk. like rabbits, on the whole length of the foot. The Arabs call it El Oueber, and know no other name for it. It lives upon the scanty herbage with which the rain in the neighborhood of springs supplies it. It does not burrow in the earth, its feet not being calculated for that purpose; but it conceals itself in the natural holes or clefts which it finds in the rocks.’ (Journey through Arabia Petrea, pp. 106, 107. Lond. 8vo. 1836.) Taylor (Heb. Con.) supposes it means the rhinoceros; a fierce animal that has a single horn on the nose, which is very strong, and which sometimes grows to the height of thirty-seven inches. The ancient versions certainly regarded the word as denoting an animal with a single horn. It denotes here, evidently, some strong, fierce, and wild animal that was horned Psalms 22:21, but perhaps it is not possible to determine precisely what animal is meant. For a more full investigation in reference to the kind of animal denoted by the word reem, see the notes at Job 39:9. Here it represents that portion of the people which was strong, warlike, and hitherto unvanquished, and who regarded themselves as invincible.

Shall come down - Shall be subdued, humbled, destroyed.

With them - With the lambs and goats mentioned in Isaiah 34:6. All classes of the people shall be subdued and subjected to the slaughter.

And the bullocks with the bulls - The young bulls with the old. All shall come down together - the fierce and strong animals representing the fierce and strong people.

And their land shall be soaked with blood - Margin, ‘Drunken;’ the same word which is rendered ‘bathed’ in Isaiah 34:5.

Their dust made fat - Their land manured and made rich with the slain. A battlefield is usually distinguished afterward for its fertility. The field of Waterloo has thus been celebrated, since the great battle there, for producing rank and luxuriant harvests.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

7.And the unicorns shall come down with them. This verse is closely connected with the former, for he adds nothing new, but proceeds with the same figure, amplifying what he had said about “rams” and “goats,” to which he adds not only bullocks but wild and savage beasts. It amounts to this, that the vengeance of heaven will be so unrelenting as to spare neither age nor rank, and to mark; for slaughter even cruel giants, notwithstanding their silly fierceness, just as if one were preparing a sacrifice which consisted indiscriminately of every kind of animals. It ought not to be thought strange that lambs are mingled with cruel beasts, for the term “lambs” is not employed in commendation of their mildness or harmlessness, but is applied comparatively to those who are feeble and who belong to the ordinary rank, which lays them under the necessity of having some appearance of modesty.

Although God may appear to be harsh in thus directing his hostility against all classes, yet, by the use of the word “sacrifice,” he claims for himself the praise of justice; and indeed no man, when he comes to the trial, will be found to be without blame, so that on good grounds all, without exception, are irrecoverably ruined. Such is the destruction which awaits all the reprobate, who of their own accord refuse to devote themselves to the service of God; irreligious hands shall offer them in sacrifice. ⁽¹⁹⁾

אברים (abbirim) is translated strong by some commentators; I have preferred to follow those who explain it to mean bulls, which it means also in Psalms 50:13, though in this passage the Prophet employs the word bulls to denote metaphorically those who are very strong and powerful.

(19) “Ils seront sacrifiez par les mains d’aussi mecans qn’eux.” “They shall be sacrificed by the hands of persons as wicked as themselves.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 34

Come near, ye nations, to hear; hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation ( Isaiah 34:1-2 )

A term that is used in the Old Testament for the Great Tribulation period.

the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations ( Isaiah 34:2 ),

Or the wrath of God, the Great Tribulation.

his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and the smell shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood ( Isaiah 34:2-3 ).

Throughout the entire valley of Jezreel, the blood will flow to the horses' bridles we are told in the great battle of Armageddon, as God destroys the armies of man upon the earth.

And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree ( Isaiah 34:4 ).

This phrase is used or this symbol is used by Joel and repeated by Christ in Matthew 24:1-51 , but in Joel's prophecy chapter 2, verse Joel 2:30-31, he speaks of the stars of the heaven falling as a fig tree drops its untimely figs. A tremendous meteorite shower that will strike the earth.

Out in the Arizona desert near Winslow, Arizona, there is a huge crater that is called the Meteorite Crater. Now most meteorites burn up in our atmosphere and don't hit the earth. But when one does hit the earth, if they are of any size at all, they leave a tremendous dent upon the earth. That meteorite crater is about a mile across and a couple thousand feet deep there in Arizona. Quite awesome to stand on the rim and look down in.

In 1906 there was a meteorite that hit in Siberia that leveled the pine trees for miles like they were toothpicks. In fact, so great was the destruction of that meteorite in Siberia that some scientists believe that it was perhaps composed of antimatter. For it is hard to conceive of devastation that extensive from just a plain meteorite. And so they believe that perhaps it was of antimatter. Now, antimatter would be a molecular structure that is opposite to what we generally know as atoms where you have the proton in the heart of the nucleus of the atom with the electrons revolving around it. In the antimatter it would be the electrons in the nucleus with the protons revolving around it. And they believe that if matter and antimatter hit that you have just this tremendous double-charged atomic explosion with matter and antimatter.

And it is something that the physicists have theorized as a possibility that antimatter exists in the universe, as well as matter. And that the combination of the two is devastating. And some have even suggested that that meteorite that hit Siberia about 1906 was of antimatter, and thus explain the tremendous devastation that was caused. But imagine the devastation that will come when there comes the meteorite shower upon the earth that just really begins to create these huge, awesome craters.

Now it is interesting that in about 1986 we are anticipating the return of Haley's Comet. And though it is possible that at this time Haley's Comet will make its turn on the other side of the sun, and it may be that Haley's Comet will not even be visible to those that are here upon the earth. Yet, the big concern of the scientists concerning Haley's Comet is not how close it's going to approach to the earth, but the fact that every time Haley's Comet comes along it leaves all kinds of debris in our solar system. And that as the earth makes its orbit around the sun, it passes through the junk, the debris that is left by the tail of Haley's Comet. The comet's tail is some a hundred million miles long and is just space junk. Just a lot of debris, meteorites and chunks and all out there in the tail of Haley's Comet. It seems to follow the comet around and give that long glow of the tail.

Two times a year the astronomers can predict tremendous meteorite activity. What has the scientists and the government right now concerned is that when Haley's Comet comes around again, it no doubt is going to create-as our earth in its orbit (though we may not even see Haley's Comet)-when we come into the fresh debris from the tail of Haley's Comet, we are going to have an unusually heavy bombardment of meteorites again. The thing that is of grave concern is the delicate balance of the ozone in our atmosphere. Already because of the fluorocarbon gases that have neutralized the ozone and turned it into a nitric oxide, and the blanket has been heavily depleted, what they are fearful of is a further depletion by the unusually heavy bombardment of the meteorites from the tail of Haley's Comet and it may be sufficient to deplete the ozone blanket to the degree that the earth will be subjected at that time to extra heavy ultraviolet radiation from the sun which will cause exposure to the sun to give you a violent burn and ultraviolet radiation rash.

Now last year in one of the water baptismal services where I was out in the water for a prolonged period of time, I got an ultraviolet radiation rash. Because of my length of time there in the water, the exposure to the sun, because the ozone blanket is being depleted constantly. Our atomic testing, atmospheric testing of atomic weapons had an effect upon the ozone blanket. The SST has an effect upon the ozone blanket, as do meteorites and as do the fluorocarbon gases used in the sprays. And though the United States has more or less created laws against the fluorocarbon gases, the other nations of the world haven't and they still use the fluorocarbon aerosprays and all.

With the depletion of the ozone it then creates this condition with the ultraviolet rays of the sun and the burning that you get, which all is interesting from a prophetic standpoint. Because the Bible speaks of this time when there's going to be a heavy meteorite shower. It will be like a fig tree casting forth its untimely figs, the stars of heaven falling. Now not literal stars, but we do call them even today. "Oh, did you see that falling star?" We know that they are meteorites, but they are still today called falling stars. And so he's using the language of the people in describing the stars of the heaven falling to the earth. Not literal stars, but the meteorite showers. And he speaks of this heavy meteorite activity.

But then he also speaks in conjunction with it in Revelation. "And power will be given to the sun to scorch men who dwell upon the earth" ( Revelation 16:8 ). And men will become blistered and all as the result of the scorching of the sun. And so it is very interesting that these things are being anticipated for the year 1986 or so when Haley's Comet again makes its visit into our solar system.

And, of course, right now there is an intensive scientific project to seek to determine what effect the debris of the tail of Haley's Comet will have upon the ozone blanket around the earth. A group of scientists have been commissioned by the president to study this particular phenomenon and its possible effect upon the earth. Who knows? It's just food for thought. Put that in your little computer and work on it.

So, "The host of heaven will be dissolved, the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree."

For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea ( Isaiah 34:5 ),

The area of Saudi Arabia today.

and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah ( Isaiah 34:5-6 ),

Which was one of the chief cities of Edom.

and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion ( Isaiah 34:6-8 ).

God's vengeance, His year of recompense for the controversy of Zion or Jerusalem. Now it is interesting, of course, that Saudi Arabia has been the main financier of the armaments for the Arab states to attack Israel. Saudi Arabia is the main financier for the PLO and their arms. And Saudi Arabia has been the financial backer behind the attacks against Israel. God speaks about the day of the vengeance and the recompense for Zion.

And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch [or into oil], and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land shall become burning pitch ( Isaiah 34:9 ).

I wonder what would be the effect there in Saudi Arabia where the oil is so close to the surface and there's such a tremendous abundance of oil. What would be the effect of an atomic bomb dropped in that area? Igniting the oils that are under the ground and what would be the effect of something like that. It said.

It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing ( Isaiah 34:10-12 ).

Of course, Saudi Arabia is ruled by four thousand princes actually. This big family and all of the relations are the ones that are gaining from the wealth, not the general public there.

And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: not one of these things shall fail ( Isaiah 34:13-16 ),

"When this comes to pass," Isaiah says, "get out this book." When these things... when this area is burning with this fire and all, just get out this book and read it and you'll realize that God has written in advance and not one thing that God wrote of is going to fail. He's challenging you. So it's interesting we still have the book of Isaiah. We'll still be able to get it out and read when these things come to pass. So, "Seek out the book of the Lord and read it. No one of these shall fail." No one. Now the vultures you'll see, every one has a mate. You'll say, "Isn't that weird?" Every vulture has its mate, just like Isaiah said. Not one is lacking. It's unreal.

And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation ( Isaiah 34:17 ) "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Edom as an example 34:5-17

The prophet now introduced Edom, as a case in point, whose end would be typical of the whole earth (cf. Isaiah 11:14; Isaiah 63:1-6). If Edom alone had been in view, Isaiah probably would have dealt with it as he did the other nations in the oracles earlier in the book (chs. 13-23). But why Edom? The Old Testament consistently treats Edom as the antithesis of Israel (cf. Obad.). Isaac told Esau that he would live in an infertile area (Genesis 27:39-40).

"Recollecting Isaiah 29:22 and the establishing of the family of Jacob, the overthrow of the people of Esau makes the end the exact fulfilment [sic] of what was promised at the beginning (Genesis 25:23)." [Note: Motyer, p. 269. See pp. 268-69 for a concise and illuminating review of biblical references to Edom.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Using sacrificial imagery, the Lord will seek what is peculiarly His in judgment. He will take what He alone has a right to take. Sin is a matter of life and death. All sin must be atoned for with sacrificial blood (cf. Leviticus 4:1-12; Isaiah 53). Those who repudiate the sacrifice of Christ for their sins will forfeit their own lives as sacrifices to God. A sacrifice is necessary, therefore, third, if the demands of divine holiness are to be met. No rebel would be spared. Bozrah ("impenetrable," modern Buseirah), the capital of Edom, stood about 25 miles south southeast of the Dead Sea.

"The sacrifice announced here is enormous. Not only lambs, goats, bull calves, and bulls are to be sacrificed, but also wild oxen . . . which are otherwise never mentioned for sacrifice. . . . Wildberger (1343) understands the passage to picture a sacrifice greater than any that has ever been offered." [Note: Watts, Isaiah 34-66, p. 11. His reference is to H. Wildberger’s three-volume German commentary on Isaiah 1-39.]

"He who really takes offense at what is here related has no true conception of the heinous character of sinful rebellion against the Holy One of Israel." [Note: Young, 2:435.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the unicorns shall come down with them,.... With the lambs, goats, and rams; that is, either the rhinoceros, as some, there being no such creature as the unicorn; or the buffaloes, as m others; these "shall fall", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it, they shall be slain, as well as the rest; meaning, that along with the common soldiers, and inferior officers, the general officers should fall; and so the Targum,

"and the mighty shall be slain with them.''

R. Abraham Seba says n he read in a certain book, that the word here should not be read ראמים, "unicorns", but רומיים, "the Romans shall come down", c.:

and the bullocks with the bulls: or, as the Targum,

"and the rulers with the princes''

the same with the kings, captains, and mighty men in Revelation 19:18:

and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness; Or, "their land shall be inebriated" o, or made drunk, with blood; and the dust thereof thickened by it, and made clods of with it, as the parched earth is watered with a plentiful shower, and the dust laid with it: this is a just retaliation to the whore of Rome, who has been made drunk with the blood of the saints, and now blood shall be given her to drink, even her own, with which she shall be filled, and welter and wallow in the clods of it, Revelation 17:6.

m So Gussetius understands it of a larger sort of oxen, Comment. Ebr. p. 783. n Tzeror Hammor, fol. 47. 3. o ורותה "et inebriabitur", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.   2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.   3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.   4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.   5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.   6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.   7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.   8 For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

      Here we have a prophecy, as elsewhere we have a history, of the wars of the Lord, which we are sure are all both righteous and successful. This world, as it is his creature, he does good to; but as it is in the interest of Satan, who is called the god of this world, he fights against it.

      I. Here is the trumpet sounded and the war proclaimed, Isaiah 34:1; Isaiah 34:1. All nations must hear and hearken, not only because what God is about to do is well worthy their remark (as Isaiah 33:13; Isaiah 33:13), but because they are all concerned in it; it is with them that God has a quarrel; it is against them that God is coming forth in wrath. Let them all take notice that the great God is angry with them; his indignation is upon all nations, and therefore let all nations come near to hear. The trumpet is blown in the city (Amos 3:6), and the watchmen on the walls cry, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet,Jeremiah 6:17. Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof, for it is the Lord's (Psalms 24:1) and ought to hearken to its Maker and Master. The world must hear, and all things that come forth of it, the children of men, that are of the earth earthy, come out of it, and must return to it; or the inanimate products of the earth are called to, as more likely to hearken than sinners, whose hearts are hardened against the calls of God. Hear, O you mountains! the Lord's controversy,Micah 6:2. It is so just a controversy that all the world may be safely appealed to concerning the equity of it.

      II. Here is the manifesto published, setting forth,

      1. Whom he makes war against (Isaiah 34:2; Isaiah 34:2): The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations; they are all in confederacy against God and religion, all in the interests of the devil, and therefore he is angry with them all, even with all the nations that forget him. He has long suffered all nations to walk in their own ways (Acts 14:16), but now he will no longer keep silence. As they have all had the benefit of his patience, so they must all expect now to feel his resentments. His fury is in a special manner upon all their armies, (1.) Because with them they have done mischief to the people of God; those are they that have made bloody work with them, and therefore they must be sure to have blood given them to drink. (2.) Because with them they hope to make their part good against the justice and power of God they trust to them as their defence, and therefore on them, in the first place, God's fury will come. Armies before God's fury are but as dry stubble before a consuming fire, though ever so numerous and courageous.

      2. Whom he makes war for, and what are the grounds and reasons of the war (Isaiah 34:8; Isaiah 34:8): It is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and he it is to whom vengeance belongs, and who is never unrighteous in taking vengeance,Romans 3:5. As there is a day of the Lord's patience, so there will be a day of his vengeance; for, though he bear long, he will not bear always. It is the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. Zion is the holy city, the city of our solemnities, a type and figure of the church of God in the world. Zion has a just quarrel with her neighbours for the wrongs they have done her, for all their treacherous and barbarous usage of her, profaning her holy things, laying waste her palaces, and slaying her sons. She has left it to God to plead her cause, and he will do so when the time, even the set time, to favour Zion shall have come; then he will recompense to her persecutors and oppressors all the mischiefs they have done her. The controversy will be decided, that Zion has been wronged, and therein Zion's God has been himself abused. Judgment will be given upon this decision, and execution done. Note, There is a time prefixed in the divine counsels for the deliverance of the church and the destruction of her enemies, a year of the redeemed, which will come, a year of recompences for the controversy of Zion; and we must patiently wait till then, and judge nothing before the time.

      III. Here are the operations of the war, and the methods of it, settled, with an infallible assurance of success. 1. The sword of the Lord is bathed in heaven; this is all the preparation here made for the war, Isaiah 34:5; Isaiah 34:5. It may probably allude to some custom they had then of bathing their swords in some liquor or other, to harden them or brighten them; it is the same with the furbishing of it, that it may glitter, Ezekiel 21:9-11. God's sword is bathed in heaven, in his counsel and decree, in his justice and power, and then there is not standing before it. 2. It shall come down. What he has determined shall without fail be put in execution. It shall come down from heaven, and the higher the place is, whence it comes, the heavier will it fall. It will come down upon Idumea, the people of God's curse, the people that lie under his curse and are by it doomed to destruction. Miserable, for ever miserable, are those that have by their sins made themselves the people of God's curse; for the sword of the Lord will infallibly attend the curse of the Lord and execute the sentences of it; and those whom he curses are cursed indeed. It shall come down to judgment, to execute judgment upon sinners. Note, God's sword of war is always a sword of justice. It is observed of him out of whose mouth goeth the sharp sword that in righteousness he doth judge and make war,Revelation 19:11; Revelation 19:15. 3. The nations and their armies shall be given up to the sword (Isaiah 34:2; Isaiah 34:2): God has delivered them to the slaughter, and then they cannot deliver themselves, nor can all the friends they have deliver them from it. Those only are slain whom God delivers to the slaughter, for the keys of death are in his hand; and, in delivering them to the slaughter, he has utterly destroyed them; their destruction is as sure, when God has doomed them to it, as if they were destroyed already, utterly destroyed. God has, in effect, delivered all the cruel enemies of his church to the slaughter by that word (Revelation 13:10), He that kills with the sword must be killed by the sword, for the Lord is righteous. 4. Pursuant to the sentence, a terrible slaughter shall be made among them (Isaiah 34:6; Isaiah 34:6): The sword of the Lord, when it comes down with commission, does vast execution; it is filled, satiated, surfeited, with blood, the blood of the slain, and made fat with their fatness. When the day of God's abused mercy and patience is over the sword of his justice gives no quarter, spares none. Men have by sin lost the honour of the human nature and made themselves like the beasts that perish; they are therefore justly denied the compassion and respect that are owing to the human nature and killed as beasts, and no more is made of slaying an army of men than of butchering a flock of lambs or goats and feeding on the fat of the kidneys of rams. Nay, the sword of the Lord shall not only dispatch the lambs and goats, the infantry of their armies, the poor common soldiers, but (Isaiah 34:7; Isaiah 34:7) the unicorns too shall be made to come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls, though they are ever so proud, and strong, and fierce (the great men, and the mighty men, and the chief captainsRevelation 6:15), the sword of the Lord will make as easy a prey of as of the lambs and the goats. The greatest of men are nothing before the wrath of the great God. See what bloody work will be made: The land shall be soaked with blood, as with the rain that comes often upon it and in great abundance; and their dust, their dry and barren land, shall be made fat with the fatness of men slain in their full strength, as with manure. Nay even the mountains, which are hard and rocky, shall be melted with their blood,Isaiah 34:3; Isaiah 34:3. These expressions are hyperbolical (as St. John's vision of blood to the horse-bridles,Revelation 14:20), and are made use of because they sound very dreadful to sense (it makes us even shiver to think of such abundance of human gore), and are therefore proper to express the terror of God's wrath, which is dreadful beyond conception and expression. See what work sin and wrath make even in this world, and think how much more terrible the wrath to come is, which will bring down the unicorns themselves to the bars of the pit. 5. This great slaughter will be a great sacrifice to the justice of God (Isaiah 34:6; Isaiah 34:6): The Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah; there it is that the great Redeemer has his garments dyed with blood,Isaiah 63:1; Isaiah 63:1. Sacrifices were intended for the honour of God, to make it appear that he hates sin and demands satisfaction for it, and that nothing but blood will make atonement; and for these ends the slaughter is made, that in it the wrath of God may be revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, especially their ungodly unrighteous enmity to his people, which was the sin that the Edomites were notoriously guilty of. In great sacrifices abundance of beasts were killed, hecatombs offered, and their blood poured out before the altar; and so will it be in this day of the Lord's vengeance. And thus would the whole earth have been soaked with the blood of sinners if Jesus Christ, the great propitiation, had not shed his blood for us; but those who reject him, and will not make a covenant with God by that sacrifice, will themselves fall as victims to divine wrath. Damned sinners are everlasting sacrifices, Mark 9:48; Mark 9:49. Those that sacrifice not (which is the character of the ungodly, Ecclesiastes 9:2) must be sacrificed. 6. These slain shall be detestable to mankind, and shall be as much their loathing as ever they were their terror (Isaiah 34:3; Isaiah 34:3): They shall be cast out, and none shall pay them the respect of a decent burial; but their stink shall come up out of their carcases, that all people by the odious smell, as well as by the ghastly sight, may be made to conceive an indignation against sin and a dread of the wrath of God. They lie unburied, that they may remain monuments of divine justice. 7. The effect and consequence of this slaughter shall be universal confusion and desolation, as if the whole frame of nature were dissolved and melted down (Isaiah 34:4; Isaiah 34:4): All the host of heaven shall pine and waste away (so the word is); the sun shall be darkened, and the moon look black, or be turned into blood; the heavens themselves shall be rolled together as a scroll or parchment when we have done with it, and lay it by, or as when it is shrivelled up by the heat of the fire. The stars shall fall as the leaves in autumn; all the beauty, joy, and comfort, of the vanquished nation shall be lost and done away, magistracy and government shall be abolished, and all dominion and rule, but that of the sword of war, shall fall. Conquerors, in those times, affected to lay waste the countries they conquered; and such a complete desolation is here described by such figurative expressions as will yet have a literal and full accomplishment in the dissolution of all things at the end of time, of which last day of judgment the judgments which God does now sometimes remarkably execute on sinful nations are figures, earnests, and forerunners; and by these we should be awakened to think of that, for which reason these expressions are used here and Revelation 6:12; Revelation 6:13. But they are used without a metaphor, 2 Peter 3:10, where we are told that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the earth shall be burnt up.