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Isaiah 18

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Woe to the Land Beyond Ethiopia 1–2

1
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: ​
2
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled! ​

The LORD's Call, His Quiet Action, and the Gift to Zion 3–7

3
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. ​
4
For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. ​
5
For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. ​
6
They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. ​
7
In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Isaiah 18

Verse 1

shadowing with wings — Tsiltsal is a whirring or clanging sound, the word rendered ‘cymbals’ in Ps 150:5 and ‘the locust’ in Deut 28:42, so the land is one of rustling or buzzing wings. Cush (Ethiopia) lay ‘beyond the rivers’ south of Egypt; Zeph 3:10 speaks of suppliants ‘from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia’.

Verse 2

vessels of bulrushes — Gome is the papyrus reed, the material of the ‘ark of bulrushes’ in which Moses was laid (Ex 2:3). The ‘swift messengers’ go out over ‘the waters’ in such boats. The nation to which they are sent, ‘scattered and peeled… terrible from their beginning hitherto’, is described again in v.7, where its people bring a present to Zion.

Verse 3

he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains — Both signals belong to the LORD: the ‘ensign’ (nes) he sets up for the nations (Isa 11:12; 5:26) and the trumpet blown ‘in that day’ to gather the scattered (Isa 27:13). The call goes to ‘all ye inhabitants of the world’, so what follows is told to every nation.

Verse 4

I will take my rest — The word to Isaiah is of a stillness: the LORD ‘will consider in my dwelling place’, as he ‘looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth’ ‘from the place of his habitation’ (Ps 33:14). He does not move yet. The ‘clear heat’ and the ‘cloud of dew in the heat of harvest’ are both gentle pictures of the quiet before the cutting in v.5.

Verse 5

afore the harvest — The cutting comes when the ‘bud is perfect’ and the ‘sour grape is ripening in the flower’, at the point of promise and before the fruit. ‘Sprigs’ (zalzallim) occurs only here. The ‘pruning hooks’ (mazmerot) are the tools into which spears are beaten in Isa 2:4 and Mic 4:3.

Verse 6

the fowls shall summer upon them — What the hook cuts down is left on the ground ‘together’ for ‘the fowls of the mountains’ and ‘the beasts of the earth’. The verb ‘summer’ (qayits) occurs only here. The same two creatures feed on the unburied in Jer 7:33, and are called to the great sacrifice in Ezek 39:17.

Verse 7

the present be brought — Shai, ‘present’, occurs only three times: Ps 68:29 (‘shall kings bring presents unto thee’), Ps 76:11 and here. Ps 68:31 goes on, ‘Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.’ The gift goes to ‘the place of the name of the LORD’ (cf. Deut 12:5), ‘the mount Zion’. It is read of Ethiopia (Acts 8:27) and of the LORD’s own scattered people (Zeph 3:10).