WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT?

      

     When one spends time in God's word, there are many things we will come across that prompt questions or bring back familiar thoughts.  Isaiah and Luke have reminded me of songs we sing and the message of those songs.

     In Isaiah 29:1,2 we read of Ariel.  This name may have meaning to people for a variety of reasons but in Isaiah 29 its reference is to Jerusalem.  It's meaning is to tell of Jerusalem's woes because Israel had forgotten her place before God.  In verse 16 Isaiah writes, "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not?.."  Remember here the song, Have Thine Own Way, Lord.  In that song we sing, "Thou art the potter, I am the clay."  Sometimes we forget that.

     In Isaiah 21:11, we read the question, "watchman, what of the night?"  Here we have the impending destruction of Edom.  The text in the King James Version has Dumah, which means 'silence' and makes reference to the silence of death.  Seir which is also mentioned in that context is Edom.  Homer Hailey cites this as one who is in misery and asks through the night, "what time is it?"  Or how soon will the morning come? (Isaiah, pg. 177-178)  The watchman is Jehovah, and His judgment is toward Edom.  Tied together with Jesus' words as recorded by Luke (12:35-40)  the songs, Let The Lower Lights Be Burning, and Will Jesus Find Us Watching?  come to mind.

     Reading God's word brings us words of victory as well as words of comfort and hope.  Also there are words of admonition for us to make sure we are walking closely and faithfully with God by giving ourselves to His truth, and not forgetting our place before Him.  By doing so we can focus on the joyful return of our Lord, and not the question, "Watchman, what of the night?"  Rodger