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| 1 The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrifying land. |
Desert of the sea – This only makes sense when looked at symbolically. A desert is a place without water. The sea here is the symbolic sea class, the irreligious restless masses of mankind. R498 |
| 2 A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous man dealeth treacherously, and the destroyer destroyeth. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease. |
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| 3 Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. |
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| 4 My heart fluttereth, horror hath affrighted me; the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me. |
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| 5 They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink: rise up, ye princes, anoint the shield. |
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| 6 For thus hath Jehovah said unto me, Go, set a watchman; and let him declare what he seeth: |
A watchman – Pastor Russell. |
| 7 and when he seeth a troop, horesemen in pairs, a troop of asses, a troop of camels, he shall hearken diligently with much heed. |
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| 8 And he cried as a lion: O Jehovah, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and am set in my ward whole nights; |
He cried, A lion – Corrected translation: "He cried as a lion." Here the watchman (Pastor Russell) cries out a message from our returned Lord (thus he is said to have "cried as a lion" - as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as our Lord.)
I stand continually upon the watchtower – As a faithful watchman should do. A watchman watches for the morning and watches for danger. Pastor Russell fulfilled both of these duties. |
| 9 and, behold, here cometh a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground.
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Babylon – Christendom, confusion, especially the confused condition of being mixed with the civil powers, the union of church and state. |
| 10 O thou my threshing, and the grain of my floor! that which I have heard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you. |
My threshing – A reference to the Harvest Work of threshing out the grain.
Corn of my floor – Compare Matt. 3:12. |
| 11 The burden of Dumah. One calleth unto me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? |
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| 12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: turn ye, come. |
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| 13 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye caravans of Dedanites. |
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| 14 Unto him that was thirsty they brought water; the inhabitants of the land of Tema did meet the fugitive with his bread. |
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| 15 For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. |
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| 16 For thus hath Jehovah said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail; |
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| 17 and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be few; for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken it. |
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