Deeper contextual understanding can the bible reader get from Isaiah 34:5 claim that The Lord's sword is "satiated in heaven"

Question

Isaiah 34:5-6 NASB95

5 For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction. 6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

Isaiah 34:5-6 NKJV

5 “For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, And on the people of My curse, for judgment. 6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, It is made [overflowing with fatness, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

Isaiah 34:5-6 ESV

5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction. 6 The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood; it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

When reading Isaiah 34:5, the claim in various English bible translations is that the Lord's "sword" is:

• satiated in heaven (NASB1995)
• shall be bathed in heaven (NKJV)
• has drunk its fill in the heavens (ESV)

Within the context of Isaiah 34 as a whole, it would be nice to get a deeper understanding of Isaiah 34:5 verse's use of the term "heaven".

Within Isaiah 35's context:

(First interpretation)—It would be a bit strange to think of heaven as the place where sincere believers of God will go after death. The reason is that it does not make sense for the Lord's "sword" to be used to kill in a "heaven" where sincere believers of God will reside after death.

(Second interpretation)—We could interpret the term "heaven" as merely meaning the sky. The GotQuestions' Will heaven be on earth? gives the following explanation when it comes to the meaning of the use of the term "heaven" in some parts of the Bible:

"Likewise, “heaven” is not the final destination for believers in Christ. In the Old Testament, heaven usually refers to “the heavens,” that is, the sky or maybe what we would call space—some place “up there.” This came to be associated with where God is. In Revelation, we see worship of God taking place in heaven (chapters 4—5), but the word heaven can also refer to “the sky.” When Jesus ascended, He ascended “into heaven” (Acts 1:11), but this may simply mean that He went up, without specifying that He went to a place called heaven.

(Third interpretation)—It could mean that "heaven" is a reference to the "spiritual realm". In this case, it might be a bit of an inferential/deductive leap but Daniel 10:13 comes to mind because it sort of describes spiritual warfare between God's angels against demonic spiritual princes that have some kind of power over geographic regions/nations.

Daniel 10:13 NASB95

13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

What kind of deeper contextual understanding can the bible reader get from Isaiah 34:5 claim that The Lord's sword is "satiated in heaven"?

(Related Postings: What is the meaning of, "My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens"? Isaiah 34:5-6 )

Answer 1

The word "sword" here, of course, is metaphorical, similar to other uses of the term in the bible such as Revelation 1:16 where Christ is depicted with a two-edged sword coming out of his mouth. In Isaiah, the sword is a symbol of God's wrath. That this sword has become filled with blood (or has drunk its fill) means that God's wrath has reached its limit and will soon break forth against the Edomites. In terms of context, Is. 34:2 is particularly useful:

The Lord is angry with all the nations, enraged against all their host; He has placed them under the ban, given them up to slaughter.

The prophet describes the wrath of God as originating in the spiritual realm (heaven), gathering power there until it is full (saturated, etc.) and then descending to earth upon the Edomites. In this particular prophecy there is no mention of the involvement of angelic beings such as in Daniel 10.