Isaiah 34:17
And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
God casts the lot and divides by boundary line to apportion the land by providence to its inhabitants as a lasting possession, for the word for lot means a portion fixed by Providence as in casting lots.
The judgment falls upon Edom, which stands for the sin-cursed earth and its idolatrous dwellers in utter desolation under God's just judgments at Christ's coming and through the thousand years.
No human remains there because the living wicked are slain at Christ's coming and the righteous are taken to reign with Him in the New Jerusalem, so wild beasts and birds of prey alone possess and multiply in the waste with none to disturb them.
When the thousand years end the saints and the holy city descend, the wicked dead are raised to surround the city and are utterly destroyed by fire from heaven that makes the earth a vast lake of fire, from which God brings a new earth to be given to the redeemed and the Lord's ransomed to dwell in forever.
The fire that shall not be quenched and whose smoke ascends forever does not burn endlessly but consumes until nothing remains to support it and gives place to perpetual desolation, proving the wicked finally perish utterly, while the waste itself is restored in Isaiah 35, showing that forever means for the full time the condition in view can exist.
Words and Prophetic Setting
The word rendered lot is the Hebrew goh-rah-l or goh-rahl, found in seventy-six Old Testament places where it is translated lot, including the same word in Daniel 12:13. It denotes what is called chance, hazard, or fortune, but in truth the determination of Providence by which a portion, fate, or event is fixed and committed to Providence, as in casting lots and dividing by lot. It is not the different Hebrew word gheh-vel meaning region, country, or lot of inheritance, but the lot that is cast. The casting and dividing by line is therefore a providential apportionment.
God is pictured as casting the lot for the inhabitants and dividing the land to them by boundary line, assigning them a lasting possession. The declaration concerns Idumea, which represents the sin-cursed earth and its idolatrous dwellers. Idumea is a type of the world and of the earth during the millennium, and the prophecy is applied to the final overthrow of the nations, pointing to absolute desolation under God's just judgments. In that desolation the land is left without human inhabitants and becomes a roaming place for wild beasts and birds of prey.
The language of possessing forever and dwelling from generation to generation does not require the land to remain desolate forever. The waste land described here is restored in Isaiah 35 and inhabited by the Lord's ransomed people, and forever can mean for the full time the people or condition in view can exist. The chapter couples the fall of Babylon with the return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy. The fall of Babylon is a type of the end of the world and the return from captivity is a type of the gospel dispensation, so that the name Zerubbabel, meaning scattered to Babylon or born at Babylon, belongs to all who return from Babylon as builders of the gospel temple today and not only to personal salvation in the last time.
Millennial Desolation and Inhabitants
The chapter describes the earth's desolation at Christ's coming. The earth remains desolate during the thousand years, while Christ and the saints reign in the New Jerusalem. That desolation lasts until the new earth appears at the end of that period. There are no human inhabitants in that time because the living wicked have been slain at Christ's second coming and the righteous have been taken to heaven.
The land left without human inhabitants becomes a roaming place for wild beasts and birds of prey. Idumea is a type of the earth during the millennium, in which after people are destroyed wild beasts and birds of prey remain in the desolate earth. God allots the land by lot and boundary line, assigning its inhabitants a lasting possession. Those wild dwellers possess it from generation to generation without anyone to disturb them through the age of desolations.
The beasts and birds are not all destroyed at Christ's coming, but animal life remains on the earth during the thousand years. The earth is not entirely wrapped in flame until that period ends. That animal life increases during the thousand years amid the earth's ruins. The wild inhabitants live and multiply there, and will provide food for the wicked when they are raised after that period, as those who held it also taught they may provide food.
Final Judgment and Renewal
At the second coming all the living wicked are slain and all the righteous are made immortal. The righteous then ascend to the New Jerusalem to reign with Christ there during one thousand years while this earth lies desolate. Afterward the saints descend with Christ and the holy city to this earth, the wicked dead are raised and with Satan come up around the holy city, and they are utterly destroyed by fire rained upon them from heaven. This earth then becomes one vast lake of fire, from which God brings a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
The casting of the lot and dividing by line belongs to a prophecy of Idumea's desolation under God's final judgments, and its allotted possession points beyond that desolation to the earth being given to the redeemed after judgment. Edom represents the sin-cursed earth and its idolatrous dwellers, and its land is contrasted with the true inheritance promised to the faithful, the earth made new. After the New Jerusalem descends and the earth is renewed and made new, the obedient and the Lord's ransomed people will dwell in the land forever. The language of lasting possession therefore does not require the land to remain desolate forever, for the waste land is restored and inhabited, and forever can mean for the full time the people or condition in view can exist.
The fire of Edom that shall not be quenched and whose smoke ascends forever ends in perpetual desolation where no man passes through and the waste is possessed forever. Unquenchable fire and forever-ascending smoke do not mean endless burning but a fire that consumes everything until nothing remains to support it and then gives place to utter desolation. Where smoke ascends, fire is consuming what produces the smoke, and what consumes must finally cease to burn, so the same language applied to the torment of the wicked proves they are slowly consuming and must finally perish utterly.