
Text -- Isaiah 34:7 (NET)




Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics



collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Wesley: Isa 34:7 - -- It is confessed, this was a beast of great strength and fierceness; and it is used in this place to signify their princes and potentates, who shall be...
It is confessed, this was a beast of great strength and fierceness; and it is used in this place to signify their princes and potentates, who shall be humbled and cast down.

With the fat of the slain sacrifices, mingled with it.
JFB: Isa 34:7 - -- Hebrew, reem: conveying the idea of loftiness, power, and pre-eminence (see on Job 39:9), in the Bible. At one time the image in the term answers to a...
Hebrew, reem: conveying the idea of loftiness, power, and pre-eminence (see on Job 39:9), in the Bible. At one time the image in the term answers to a reality in nature; at another it symbolizes an abstraction. The rhinoceros was the original type. The Arab rim is two-horned: it was the oryx (the leucoryx, antelope, bold and pugnacious); but when accident or artifice deprived it of one horn, the notion of the unicorn arose. Here is meant the portion of the Edomites which was strong and warlike.

The young and old Edomites: all classes.
Clarke -> Isa 34:7
Clarke: Isa 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...
The unicorns shall come down -
With blood "With their blood"-
Calvin -> Isa 34:7
Calvin: Isa 34:7 - -- 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 fig...
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
TSK -> Isa 34:7
TSK: Isa 34:7 - -- unicorns : or, rhinoceroses, Num 23:22, Num 24:8; Deu 33:17; Job 39:9, Job 39:10; Psa 92:10
the bullocks : Psa 68:30; Jer 46:21, Jer 50:11, Jer 50:27
...

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Isa 34:7
Barnes: Isa 34:7 - -- And the unicorns - Margin, ‘ Rhinoceros’ ( ראמים re 'ēmı̂ym from ראם re 'êm ). This was evidently an anima...
And the unicorns - Margin, ‘ Rhinoceros’ (
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 Psa 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 Isa 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 Isa 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.
Poole -> Isa 34:7
Poole: Isa 34:7 - -- The unicorns Heb. the reemim . But what kind of beast this is, whether that beast which is commonly called an unicorn, which seems to be but a ficti...
The unicorns Heb. the reemim . But what kind of beast this is, whether that beast which is commonly called an unicorn, which seems to be but a fiction in the judgment of the learned, or a rhinoceros, or a wild ox or bull, it is needless to trouble the ordinary reader about it; and the learned may consult my Latin Synopsis upon Num 23:22 about it. It is confessed that it was a beast of great strength and fierceness; and it is certain that it is metephorically used in this place, to signify their princes and potentates.
Shall come down shall be humbled and cast down. The LXX. and Syriac render it,
they shall fall down as such beasts do when they have received a deadly blow. With them ; with the lambs, and goats, and rams, last mentioned, Isa 34:6 .
With fatness with the fat of the slain sacrifices, which shall he mingled with it.
Haydock -> Isa 34:7
The unicorns. That is, the great and mighty. (Challoner)
Gill -> Isa 34:7
Gill: Isa 34:7 - -- 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...
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
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 Rev 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, Rev 17:6.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Isa 34:1-17
TSK Synopsis: Isa 34:1-17 - --1 The judgments wherewith God revenges his church.11 The desolation of her enemies.16 The certainty of the prophecy.
MHCC -> Isa 34:1-8
MHCC: Isa 34:1-8 - --Here is a prophecy of the wars of the Lord, all which are both righteous and successful. All nations are concerned. And as they have all had the benef...
Matthew Henry -> Isa 34:1-8
Matthew Henry: Isa 34:1-8 - -- 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 worl...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Isa 34:5-7
Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 34:5-7 - --
If we bear this in mind, we shall not be surprised that the prophet gives the following reason for the passing away of the present heavens. "For my...
Constable: Isa 7:1--39:8 - --III. Israel's crisis of faith chs. 7--39
This long section of the book deals with Israel's major decision in Isa...

Constable: Isa 13:1--35:10 - --B. God's sovereignty over the nations chs. 13-35
This major section of the book emphasizes the folly of ...

Constable: Isa 34:1--35:10 - --4. The consequences of Israel's trust chs. 34-35
This section concludes the major section of Isa...
