Isaiah 21:5

5. The scene of the wildest agitation continues, but it is not unsystematic and insane. There is brevity, rapidity, life, and system in the description.

Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink This is addressed to the Babylonians. The phrase “watch,” etc., is better rendered, Spread the carpets. It describes a banquet scene. However, the usual guard is probably around, and an alarm may have been sounded.

Arise, ye princes Princes of Persia and Media address, as it were, of the prophet.

Anoint the shield Besmear the “shield,” a practice among the ancients, to aid the glancing off of lances and arrows. See VIRGIL’S Eneid, 7.626: “Pars leves clypeos… arvina pingui” shields smooth with fat oil.

This was practiced, some say, for the preservation of the leather.