Isaiah chapter 21 - Ecclesiastes

“Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” (Isaiah 21:5-6)

In the twenty-first chapter of Isaiah, “the LORD gives Isaiah a directive. Part of the above assignment is; “watch in the watchtower”, “set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” God’s directive is carried out, as we read in the very next two verses.

“And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: And, behold…”
(Isaiah 21:7-8a)

Without being particularly interested in what the watchman saw here in Isaiah 21:7, we do take note of the fact that “he saw”. He did his job of watching, and he saw something. Later, he is asked;
“Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”

And again the watchman declares what he has seen. Verse twelve begins with the words; “The watchman said…”

The LORD had directed that a watchman sit in the tower and watch, and that he then declare what he saw. The watchman of Isaiah chapter twenty-one saw come chariots, some horsemen, some asses and some camels. Later he reported that the sun was coming up, and even later he declared that the sun was going to set. He declared what he saw.

As the preacher, Solomon says;

“I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. (Ecclesiastes 1:12-13)

Solomon gave his heart to the task of observing ALL THINGS done under heaven. As the King of Israel, Solomon sat in the palace, not the pinnacle of the temple, but definite a high place in the city of Jerusalem, a place where he could overlook the city and observe whatever was going on. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon ‘declares’ what he sees as he looks at his world.

Ten times in the ten chapters of this book we read about Solomon ‘seeing’, and he tells us what is going on around him.

“And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 1:17)

“I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.” (Ecclesiastes 2:3)

“The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 2:14)

“I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.” (Ecclesiastes 3:10)

“Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18)

“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:”
(Ecclesiastes 6:1)

“All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.” (Ecclesiastes 7:15)

“All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.” (Ecclesiastes 8:9)

“This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:” (Ecclesiastes 9:13)

“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler: Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place. I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.” (Ecclesiastes 10:5-7)

Solomon, of course, sees different things than the watchman of Isaiah chapter twenty-one sees, but Solomon is just as much a watchman as the man in Isaiah chapter twenty-one. It comes as no surprise that the twenty-first chapter of Isaiah is connected to the twenty-first book of the Bible in this way.