The Hired Man's Year: God's Fixed Price on a Fleeing World Text: Isaiah 21:13-17
Introduction: The Geopolitics of God
We live in an age that is drunk on its own autonomy. Our leaders and pundits speak of geopolitics as though it were a grand chess match played by men in expensive suits, moving nations around like pawns according to their own wisdom and for their own ends. They speak of economic forces, military might, and political alliances as the ultimate realities that shape our world. But the prophet Isaiah would look at our news channels and our global summits, and he would laugh. He would call it all a chasing after the wind.
The book of Isaiah, particularly in these chapters of judgment against the nations, is a divine corrective to our man-centered delusions. God is not a nervous spectator in the bleachers of history, hoping His team pulls out a win. He is the sovereign Lord of all history. He raises up empires and He casts them down. He uses pagan kings as the rod of His anger, and when He is done with them, He breaks the rod and throws it into the fire. Yahweh is the kingmaker and the king-breaker, and the nations are less than a drop in the bucket to Him.
This oracle, or "burden," concerning Arabia is one such declaration of God's absolute rule. It is a heavy word, a weighty prophecy. To our ears, it might sound obscure. Dedan, Tema, Kedar, these are not names that frequent our headlines. But in Isaiah's day, these were proud and powerful trading tribes, the masters of the caravan routes, symbols of wealth, mobility, and desert power. They were confident in their strength and their remote location. They believed they were the authors of their own story. And into their self-assured world, God speaks a word of precise, timed, and total devastation.
This is not just ancient history. This is a pattern. It is a lesson for every nation, every culture, and every individual who thinks they can build their security apart from the living God. God has a fixed price on all human glory, and the bill always comes due. What we see happen to Kedar in miniature is what will happen to the whole world in macro. Therefore, we must read this not as detached observers of a forgotten skirmish, but as those who are being warned to flee from a much greater battle to the only true refuge.
The Text
The oracle about Arabia.
In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites.
Bring water to meet the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Meet with bread the one who has fled.
For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow And from the heaviness of battle.
For thus the Lord said to me, "In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the glory of Kedar will end; and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken."
(Isaiah 21:13-17 LSB)
Fugitives in the Thicket (v. 13)
The oracle begins by painting a picture of complete societal collapse.
"The oracle about Arabia. In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites." (Isaiah 21:13 LSB)
The Dedanites were renowned merchants. Their caravans were the lifeblood of the region, symbols of commerce, wealth, and connection. They moved with confidence along established trade routes, masters of their domain. But God's word turns their world upside down. The open roads are no longer safe. The masters of the highway are now forced to become fugitives in the undergrowth. They are not camping for the night as part of a routine journey; they are lodging, hiding, taking cover in the tangled thickets. Their prosperity has vanished, and their pride has been replaced by fear.
This is what the judgment of God does. It reverses the fortunes of the proud. The things men trust in, their economic systems, their trade agreements, their logistical prowess, are shown to be utterly fragile. When God decides to move against a people, their infrastructure cannot save them. Their wealth becomes worthless, and their highways become death traps. They are driven from the centers of their power into the margins of terror.
A Humanitarian Crisis (v. 14-15)
The prophecy then shifts to another tribe, the people of Tema, and the desperate situation of the refugees.
"Bring water to meet the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Meet with bread the one who has fled. For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow And from the heaviness of battle." (Isaiah 21:14-15 LSB)
The scene is one of panicked flight. The call goes out to the people of Tema, another oasis tribe, to provide basic humanitarian aid, water and bread, to those who are fleeing. These are not beggars; these are the recently wealthy, now stripped of everything. They are running for their lives, not from a distant threat, but from the immediate, pressing danger of "the drawn sword" and "the bent bow." The battle is not a future possibility; its "heaviness" is upon them.
The language is intense. The sword is not in its sheath; it is drawn. The bow is not on the archer's back; it is bent. This is the face of total war, and it is inescapable. This is what happens when God hands a people over to judgment. He doesn't just dismantle their political structures; He brings their world crashing down into a state of primal fear and desperation where the most basic necessities of life are all that matter.
Notice that God is the one directing this chaos. The swords and bows belong to an invading army, likely the Assyrians under Sargon II, who campaigned in this region around 715 B.C. But from Isaiah's perspective, the Assyrians are merely the weapon. The hand that wields the weapon is the hand of Yahweh. The flight of the Dedanites is not ultimately from Assyria, but from the judgment of the God they have ignored.
The Divine Timetable (v. 16-17)
The prophecy concludes with a stunningly specific and certain declaration of doom for the strongest of the Arabian tribes, Kedar.
"For thus the Lord said to me, 'In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the glory of Kedar will end; and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken.'" (Isaiah 21:16-17 LSB)
Here we move from the general chaos to a specific target and a specific timeline. Kedar was the military powerhouse of the region, famous for its archers. Their "glory" was in their martial strength. And God puts an expiration date on it. "In a year," He says. But not just any year. It is a year "as a hired man would count it."
This is a brilliant and potent image. A hired man, a wage-earner, does not approximate his time. He knows exactly when his contract is up. He counts every single day, because his payment and his freedom depend on it. He does not round off to the nearest month. God's judgment is this precise. It is not a vague, distant threat. It is a fixed appointment. History is not a meandering river; it is a meticulously kept calendar in the hand of God. Within one, literal, fixed year, the military pride of Kedar will be shattered. Their elite warriors, their "mighty men," will be decimated, reduced to a pathetic few.
And why is this so certain? The reason is given in the final clause, which is the ultimate foundation for all reality: "for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken." That is the end of all argument. When God speaks, reality rearranges itself to conform. The glory of Kedar is just a vapor, a morning mist. The Word of Yahweh is eternal bedrock. The mighty men of Kedar are mortal and few. The God of Israel is the Lord of Hosts. Their bows will break; His Word will stand forever.
Fleeing to the True Refuge
So what is this ancient oracle about Arabian tribes to us? Everything. This is a pattern of how God deals with a proud and rebellious world. Every man-made glory, whether it is the economic power of the Dedanites or the military might of Kedar, has a divinely appointed end.
We too are fugitives, whether we know it or not. We are fleeing from the drawn sword of God's perfect law, which we have all violated. We are fleeing from the bent bow of His righteous wrath. We are fleeing from the "heaviness of battle" against sin and death, a battle we cannot win. We are born into this world spiritually thirsty and starving, hiding in the thickets of our own self-righteousness and distractions.
Into this desperate situation, God has provided a true refuge. He has sent One to meet us with the water of life and the bread of heaven. That refuge is not a place, but a person: the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not flee from the heaviness of battle, but rather entered into it on our behalf. On the cross, He took the full force of the drawn sword of God's justice. He absorbed the arrows from the bent bow of God's wrath against our sin.
The hired man's year for Kedar was a year of judgment. But God, in His mercy, appointed a "year of the Lord's favor" (Isaiah 61:2), and Jesus came to proclaim it. The clock is ticking on this world's glory, and judgment is as certain as it was for Kedar. The final clause still stands: "for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken." He has spoken judgment for all who remain in their rebellion, and He has spoken grace for all who flee to His Son.
Therefore, the call of this passage to us is the same call that went out to the fugitives in the desert. Flee. Flee from the flimsy security of your own accomplishments. Flee from the pride of your own strength. Flee from the coming wrath and run to the cross. For there, the battle has been fought and won. There, the thirsty find living water. There, the hungry find the bread of life. There, the fugitive finds a home.