17. What did the posted “lookout” see, and what did this represent?

¹⁷ Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the “lookout” goes on to say: “And he saw a war chariot with a span of steeds, a war chariot of asses, a war chariot of camels. And he paid strict attention, with much attentiveness.” (Isa. 21:7) Those chariots are evidently approaching with the speed of fast Persian post horses or steeds and are coming from “the [conquered] wilderness of the sea.” There are likely columns of war chariots. The column of chariots drawn by asses represents the Median forces under Darius the Mede. The column of chariots drawn by the larger animals, camels able to outrun horses, represents the Persian forces under Cyrus the Great.b This Persian was in fact in command of the combined forces of the Medes and the Persians. Not Darius the Mede, but Cyrus the Persian was the conqueror of whom Jehovah by means of Isaiah said that He would call him by his personal name. Before this Cyrus, Jehovah God would open the metallic gates and doors of Babylon for him to ascend up from the bed of the Euphrates River and break into the heavily walled city of Babylon.​—Isa. 44:27 through 45:4; compare Daniel 8:1-4, 20.

The French translation of the Holy Bible the Drioux Bible, edition of 1884, comments on Isaiah 21:7 as follows: “These two horsemen carried on a chariot, are the two kings who had to take Babylon, Darius the Mede and Cyrus. As Menochius [an Italian Jesuit Bible commentator of the 17th century] explains it very well, their mounting represents the Medes and the Persians.”

See similar comments on Isaiah 21:7 made in Dr. Adam Clarke’s Commentary on The Old Testament, Volume 4, page 2724.

On Cyrus’ war strategy in using camels, see Chapter 20 entitled “The Greeks and the Persians,” of the book “The Outline of History” by H. G. Wells, page 257, paragraphs 2, 3, 1971 edition.