5 For soaked in the heavens was My sword, Lo, on Edom it cometh down, On the people of My curse for judgment. 6 A sword 'is' to Jehovah—it hath been full of blood, It hath been made fat with fatness, With blood of lambs and he-goats. With fat of kidneys of rams, For a sacrifice 'is' to Jehovah in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 And come down have reems with them, And bullocks with bulls, And soaked hath been their land from blood, And their dust from fatness is made fat. 8 (For a day of vengeance 'is' to Jehovah, A year of recompences for Zion's strife,)
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 34:5-8
Commentary on Isaiah 34:1-8
(Read Isaiah 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 benefit of his patience, so all must expect to feel his resentment. The description of bloodshed suggests tremendous ideas of the Divine judgments. Idumea here denotes the nations at enmity with the church; also the kingdom of antichrist. Our thoughts cannot reach the horrors of that awful season, to those found opposing the church of Christ. There is a time fixed in the Divine counsels for the deliverance of the church, and the destruction of her enemies. We must patiently wait till then, and judge nothing before the time. Through Christ, mercy is exercised to every believer, consistently with justice, and his name is glorified.