Isaiah 34:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He seeks to illustrate to us in a different manner the reality encountered in the wilderness. While cities remain populated, the wild trees cannot thrive there, and the creatures that favor desolate areas remain afar. However, when these cities become abandoned and stripped of their inhabitants, they transform into barren land overrun with thorns, a refuge for ostriches and particularly for owls. The sirins, as he refers to the owls, are creatures that produce mournful sounds at night, akin to weeping, while they remain dormant during the day, nesting in forsaken spaces; they are more active in darkness, similar to other nocturnal birds.

The unicorns, symbolizing the Idumeans, will fall alongside them, and the land will soak up their blood. The waters will become like tar, and the earth itself transformed into pitch. Birds, including owls and ravens, will find their home there, while spirits will descend into this desolation. Night terrors will find their resting places in that forsaken spot (Is. 34:7, 9, 11, 14). The calamities mentioned by the prophet will certainly be found in Idumea following the foretold devastation; in place of people, creatures like birds, hedgehogs, and vultures will inhabit the abandoned dwellings of Idumea.

What conduct did the Lord reveal through the prophet for the city of Babylon, declaring, 'Its palaces shall be overrun with thorns, and nettles and burdock shall become its fortresses'? Are not the nettles symbolic of the desires of the mind, mirrored in the thorny plants representing the sting of vices? Therefore, on the structures of Babylon, nettles and thorns shall sprout, for from the turmoil of a corrupted mind emerge both the weariness of troubling thoughts that discomfort and the actions of sin that stab.