Isaiah 21:11–12 is remarkable because it is in some sense a complete, independent literary unit, but its “message”—if that is what you are looking for—is so obscure. It’s helpful to approach texts like this as art.

Text

An oracle of Dumah

There is one crying to me from Seir,

“Watchman, how much more night?! Watchman, how much more night?!”

The watchman said, “Morning comes, and so does night. If you have something to ask, ask. Go away and come back.”

That’s the whole oracle. What is a reader supposed to do with a text like this? I’ve written about approaching the Torah like one approaches an art exhibit, and I think that approach is helpful here. If you encounter an obscure piece of art in a museum, what do you do? It’s helpful to look around at the other pieces in the exhibit and then come back to the obscure piece, looking for common themes or ideas.

Anticipation

Isaiah 21:11–12 is set within a host of oracles against the nations, oracles of judgment. What is striking about these two verses is the way they capture the experience of anxious anticipation — the anticipation of immanent judgment. The scene focuses on repeated questions about the night:

Version	Translation
ESV	2x: What time of the night?
NRSVue, JPS, KJV	2x: What of the night?
CSB, NET, NIV	2x: What is left of the night?
My translation	2x: How much more night?

The response of the watchman is Raven-esque: “Morning comes, and so does the night” (Is 21:12) — sounds ominous to me. “Go away and come back” seems to imply that the anxious night is not over.

Response

Having wandered around the museum a little more, venturing over to the next exhibit (Jeremiah), and then returning to the oracle of Dumah, I’m struck by the action of the person in Isaiah 21:11. The person is concerned about the night, presumably because he knows that disaster is immanent, and he comes to ask about when his fear might end, essentially saying, “How much longer do I have to fear this threat?” Perhaps he represents one who has heard and believed the prophet’s message.

This stands in contrast to the response portrayed in Jeremiah 5:12:

They have spoken falsely of Yahweh and have said, “He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.”

Conclusion

It’s helpful to approach the prophetic oracles as art, pondering the experience (thought, emotion, sentiment) they capture in their often brief, incomplete portraits. It can be illuminating to wander around the “exhibit” of context and then return to the oracle’s obscure portraits. As the text reads, “Go away and come back” (Is 21:12).