Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;
Parallel Translations
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Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;
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Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
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Ah, land of the buzzing of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Isaiah 18:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Zephaniah 3:10 From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering.
- 2 Kings 19:9 When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
- Ezekiel 30:4-5 A sword will come on Egypt, and anguish will be in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt. They take away her multitude, and her foundations are broken down. “ ‘ “Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the mixed people, Cub, and the children of the land that is allied with them, will fall with them by the sword.”
- Zephaniah 2:12 You Cushites also, you will be killed by my sword.
- Psalms 63:7 For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.
- Ruth 2:12 May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
- Psalms 17:8 Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,
- Psalms 36:7 How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.
- Psalms 57:1 Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, until disaster has passed.
- Psalms 61:4 I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
- Psalms 91:4 He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.
- Isaiah 20:3-6 Yahweh said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. They will be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how will we escape?’ ”
- Isaiah 30:2-3 who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
- Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel, and they don’t seek Yahweh!
- Ezekiel 30:9 “ ‘ “In that day messengers will go out from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid. There will be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it comes.”
- Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (22 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He meaneth that part of Ethiopia, which lieth toward…
He meaneth that part of Ethiopia, which lieth toward the sea, which was so full of ships that the sails (which he compareth to wings) seemed to shadow the sea.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 18:1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings,…
Isa 18:1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which [is] beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
Ver. 1. Woe to the land.] To Ethiopia, described here, (1.) By the shady mountains wherewith it is surrounded; (2.) By the rivers wherewith it is watered. {a}
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Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.] Or, Which is along by the rivers, even Ethiopia, which also may be said to be "beyond the rivers," i.e., beyond the seven streams of Nile in respect of Jerusalem.
{a} Strabo.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The land; either,
The land; either,
1. Of Arabia; or,
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2. Of Ethiopia beyond Egypt; or,
3. Of Egypt, as some both ancient and later interpreters judge; of whom he speaks more darkly in this chapter, and then explains himself more clearly in the next chapter. But this controversy will be best determined by examining the following description.
Shadowing with wings: the title of wings is oft given, both in Scripture and in other authors, unto divers things which have, some general kind of resemblance to wings, as to the battlements of a house or temple, as Mat 4:5; to the skirts of a garment, as Rth 3:9, and oft elsewhere; to an army, as Isa 8:8; Jer 48:40; 49:22; and to the sails of a ship, as this word is here commonly understood, and as it is unquestionably used in other authors. And shadowing with wings is nothing else but overspread or filled with them; which title may be given either to Ethiopia or Egypt, in regard of the great numbers, either,
1. Of their armies; or rather,
2. Of their ships or vessels sailing upon the sea or rivers: for,
1. In these they exceeded most of those nations who had dealings with the Jews, whereas other nations equalled or exceeded them in numerous armies. But they had an innumerable company of ships or boats, not only because of the commodiousness of the river Nilus, and its’ many branches, and the Red Sea, and the Midland Sea, for navigation; but also because of the frequent overflowings of the river Nilus over their land, which made them absolutely necessary.
2. This best suits with the next verse.
3. Those ancient and venerable interpreters, the LXX. and the Chaldee, who best understood the Hebrew words and phrases, expound it so.
Beyond; or, on this side, as this particle is rendered, Num 21:13; 22:1, and in many other places. Or, as others translate it, besides, which may comprehend both sides; and so the land of which he speaks is supposed to be situated on both sides of this river or rivers; which is most true both of Egypt and of Ethiopia. The rivers: a late learned writer understands this of three or four rivers of Arabia Chusaeea, whereof one flows into the Red Sea, another into the Midland Sea, and a third into a great lake; which being obscure and very inconsiderable rivers, and running in so distant channels, it is not probable that this land should receive its denomination from them. And therefore it seems more reasonable to understand this of the great river Nilus. which comes from Ethiopia, and runs through the length of that land, and through Egypt, into the Midland Sea; and which is here called rivers, in the plural number, as it is also Exo 7:19; Isa 7:18; Eze 29:3,4, and unquestionably Nab. iii. 8. And so it might well be called, either for its greatness, or for the many rivulets that run into it, or for the various streams or channels into which it is divided; as Tigris, upon the same reasons, hath the same title of rivers ascribed to it, Nah 2:6. Of Ethiopia, Heb. of Cush; by which he seems to understand either,
1. Arabia, which in many places of Scripture comes under that name, though not in all places, as some learned men contend. Nor doth this place seem to be understood here, because these rivers were not interposed between Judea, in which Isaiah wrote this prophecy, and Arabia; nor were the rivers of Arabia, mentioned before, interposed between Judea and Egypt or Ethiopia: and besides, those rivers were but small and inconsiderable; and therefore, as was noted before, this land, whatsoever it is, would not have been denominated from them, especially when it is not properly situated either beyond them, or on this side of them. But if this Cush be Arabia, peradventure it were better to understand the rivers, or the river, as it was explained before, of the Red Sea, beyond which indeed both Egypt and Ethiopia were, in reference to Arabia. And whereas it may be objected that the title of river or rivers is very improperly given to the sea, it may be fairly answered, that as rivers are sometimes called by the name of the sea, as Euphrates is, Isa 21:1; Jer 51:36; so this very word here rendered river is used concerning the sea in the Hebrew text, Jon 2 3, and indeed may not unfitly be given to the Red Sea, which both for its length and breadth hath a manifest resemblance unto some large rivers which are in the world. And so the words may be very truly understood either of Egypt or of Ethiopia, both which countries in this sense are beyond the rivers or river of Arabia. But this I only propose, and submit to the reader’s judgment. Or,
2. Ethiopia, properly so called; for the Cushites or Ethiopians are distinguished by Herodotus, and divers other both ancient and later writers, into the eastern, which seem to be the Arabians, and the western, which seem to be the Ethiopians under Egypt. And it is probably thought that these Cushites were first planted in Arabia, and, upon their increase, part of them passed over into Africa by crossing the Red Sea, which was; very short and an easy passage, and settled there. And according to this interpretation of the word, the description of the land given in the last clause of this verse agrees either to Ethiopia or to Egypt, as is evident from what hath been already said for the clearing of this dark and difficult verse.
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Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Interpreters are very much at a loss where to…
Interpreters are very much at a loss where to find this land that lies beyond the rivers of Cush. Some take it to be Egypt, a maritime country, and full of rivers, and which courted Israel to depend upon them, but proved broken reeds; but against this it is strongly objected that the next chapter is distinguished from this by the title of the burden of Egypt. Others take it to be Ethiopia, and read it, which lies near, or about, the rivers of Ethiopia, not that in Africa, which lay south of Egypt, but that which we call Arabia, which lay east of Canaan, which Tirhakah was now king of. He thought to protect the Jews, as it were, under the shadow of his wings, by giving a powerful diversion to the king of Assyria, when he made a descent upon his country, at the time that he was attacking Jerusalem, Kg2 19:9. But though by his ambassadors he bade defiance to the king of Assyria, and encouraged the Jews to depend upon him, God by the prophet slights him, and will not go forth with him; he may take his own course, but God will take another course to protect Jerusalem, while he suffers the attempt of Tirhakah to miscarry and his Arabian army to be ruined; for the Assyrian army shall become a present or sacrifice to the Lord of hosts, and to the place of his name, by the hand of an angel, not by the hand of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Isa 18:7. This is a very probable exposition of this chapter. But from a hint of Dr. Lightfoot's, in his Harmony of the Old Testament, I incline to understand this chapter as a prophecy against Assyria, and so a continuation of the prophecy in the last three verses of the foregoing chapter, with which therefore this should be joined. That was against the army of the Assyrians which rushed in upon Judah; this is against the land of Assyria itself, which lay beyond the rivers of Arabia, that is, the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, which bordered on Arabia Deserta. And in calling it the land shadowing with wings he seems to refer to what he himself had said of it (Isa 8:8), that the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel! The prophet might perhaps describe the Assyrians by such dark expressions, not naming them, for the same reason that St. Paul, in his prophecy, speaks of the Roman empire by a periphrasis: He who now letteth, Th2 2:7. Here is,
I. The attempt made by this land (whatever it is) upon a nation scattered and peeled, Isa 18:2. Swift messengers are sent by water to proclaim war against them, as a nation marked by Providence, and meted out, to be trodden under foot. Whether this refer to the Ethiopians waging war with the Assyrians, or the Assyrians with Judah, it teaches us, 1. That a people which have been terrible from their beginning, have made a figure and borne a mighty sway, may yet become scattered and peeled, and may be spoiled even by their own rivers, that should enrich both the husbandman and the merchant. Nations which have been formidable, and have kept all in awe about them, may by a concurrence of accidents become despicable and an easy prey to their insulting neighbours. 2. Princes and states that are ambitious of enlarging their territories will always have some pretence or other to quarrel with those whose countries they have a mind to. "It is a nation that has been terrible, and therefore we must be revenged on it; it is now a nation scattered and peeled, meted out and trodden down, and therefore it will be an easy prey for us." Perhaps it was not brought so low as they represented it. God's people are trampled on as a nation scattered and peeled; but whoever think to swallow them up may find them still as terrible as they have been from their beginning; they are cast down, but not deserted, not destroyed.
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II. The alarm sounded to the nations about, by which they are summoned to take notice of what God is about to do, Isa 18:3. The Ethiopians and Assyrians have their counsels and designs, which they have laid deep, and promise themselves much from, and, in prosecution of them, send their ambassadors and messengers from place to place; but let us now enquire what the great God says to all this. 1. He lifts up an ensign upon the mountains, and blows a trumpet, by which he proclaims war against the enemies of his church, and calls in all her friends and well-wishers into her service, Isa 18:3. He gives notice that he is about to do some great work, as Lord of hosts. 2. All the world is bidden to take notice of it; all the dwellers on earth must see the ensign and hear the trumpet, must observe the motions of the divine providence and attend the directions of the divine will. Let all enlist under God's banner, and be on his side, and hearken to the trumpet of his word, which gives not an uncertain sound.
III. The assurance God gives to his prophet, by him to be given to his people, that, though he might seem for a time to sit by as an unconcerned spectator, yet he would certainly and seasonably appear for the comfort of his people and the confusion of his and their enemies (Isa 18:4): So the Lord said unto me. Men will have their saying, but God also will have his; and, as we may be sure his word shall stand, so he often whispers it in the ears of his servants the prophets. When he says, I will take my rest, it is not as if he were weary of governing the world, of as if he either needed or desired to retire from it and repose himself; but it intimates that the great God has a perfect, undisturbed, enjoyment of himself, in the midst of all the agitations and changes of this world (the Lord sits even upon the floods unshaken; the Eternal Mind is always easy), and, though he may sometimes seem to his people as if he took not wonted notice of what is done in this lower world (they are tempted to think he is as one asleep, or as one astonished, Psa 44:23; Jer 14:9), yet even then he knows very well what men are doing and what he himself will do.
1. He will take care of his people, and be a shelter to them. He will regard his dwelling-place; his eye and his heart are, and shall be, upon it for good continually. Zion is his rest for ever, where he will dwell; and he will look after it (so some read it); he will lift up the light of his countenance upon it, will consider over it what is to be done, and will be sure to do all for the best. He will adapt the comforts and refreshments he provides for his people to the exigencies of their case; and they will therefore be acceptable, because seasonable. (1.) Like a clear heat after rain (so the margin), which is very reviving and pleasant, and makes the herbs to flourish. (2.) Like a dew and a cloud in the heat of harvest, which are very welcome, the dew to the ground and the cloud to the labourers. Note, There is that in God which is a shelter and refreshment to his people in all weathers and arms them against the inconveniences of every change. Is the weather cool? There is that in his favour which will warm them. Is it hot? There is that in his favour which will cool them. Great men have their winter-house and their summer-house (Amo 3:15); but those that are at home with God have both in him.
2. He will reckon with his and their enemies, Isa 18:5, Isa 18:6. When the Assyrian army promises itself a plentiful harvest in the taking of Jerusalem and the plundering of that rich city, when the bud of that project is perfect, before the harvest is gathered in, while the sour grape of their enmity to Hezekiah and his people is ripening in the flower and the design is just ready to be put in execution, God shall destroy that army as easily as the husbandman cuts off the sprigs of the vine with pruning hooks, or because the grape is sour and good for nothing, and will not be cured, takes away and cuts down the branches. This seems to point at the overthrow of the Assyrian army by a destroying angel, when the dead bodies of the soldiers were scattered like the branches and sprigs of a wild vine, which the husbandman has cut to pieces. And they shall be left to the fowls of the mountains, and the beasts of the earth, to prey upon, both winter and summer; for as God's people are protected all seasons of the year, both in cold and heat (Isa 18:4), so their enemies are at all seasons exposed; birds and beasts of prey shall both summer and winter upon them, till they are quite ruined.
IV. The tribute of praise which should be brought to God from all this (Isa 18:7): In that time, when this shall be accomplished, shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts. 1. Some understand this of the conversion of the Ethiopians to the faith of Christ in the latter days, of which we have the specimen and beginning in Philip's baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch, Act 8:27, etc. Those that were a people scattered and peeled, meted out, and trodden down (Isa 18:2), shall be a present to the Lord: and, though they seem useless and worthless, they shall be an acceptable present to him who judges of men by the sincerity of their faith and love, not by the pomp and prosperity of their outward condition. Therefore the gospel was ministered to the Gentiles that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, Rom 15:16. It is prophesied (Psa 68:31) that Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. 2. Others understand it of the spoil of Sennacherib's army, out of which, as usual, presents were brought to the Lord of hosts, Num 31:50. It was the present of a people scattered and peeled. (1.) It was won from the Assyrians, who were now themselves reduced to such a condition as they scornfully described Judah to be in, Isa 18:1. Those that unjustly trample upon others shall themselves be justly trampled upon. (2.) It was offered by the people of God, who were, in disdain, called a people scattered and peeled. God will put honour upon his people, though men put contempt upon them. Lastly, Observe, The present that is brought to the Lord of hosts must be brought to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts; what is offered to God must be offered in the way that he has appointed; we must be sure to attend him, and expect him to meet us, where he records his name.
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John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Woe to the land shadowing with wings,.... Or, "O…
Woe to the land shadowing with wings,.... Or, "O land", as calling to it; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi. It is very difficult to determine what land is here meant: some think the land of Assyria is here designed, as Aben Ezra and others, and so it is a continuation of the prophecy concerning the destruction of the Assyrians, in the three last verses of the preceding chapter Isa 17:12; the stretching out of whose wings is mentioned, Isa 8:8 and thought to be referred to here; others are of opinion that the land of Judea is intended, which trusted under the shadow of the wings of Egypt and Ethiopia, to whom the characters in the next verse Isa 18:2 are supposed to belong: but the more generally received sense is, that either Egypt or Ethiopia themselves are pointed at, described as "shadowing with wings"; not with the wings of birds, as Jarchi interprets it, which flocked thither in great numbers, the country being hot, and so shaded it with their wings; but rather with mountains, with which Ethiopia, at least some part of it, was encompassed and shaded; or else with ships, whose sails are like wings, and which resorting hither, in numerous fleets of them, and hovering about their coasts and ports, seemed to shadow them; to which agrees the Septuagint version, "Woe to the land, the wings of ships!" and so the Targum,
"Woe to the land to which they come in ships from a far country, whose sails are stretched out, as an eagle that flies with its wings;''
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so Manasseh Ben Israel (c) renders them,
"Woe to the land, which, under the shadow of veils, falls beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.''
The word translated "shadowing" is used for a cymbal, Sa2 6:5, Psa 150:5 and so it is rendered here in the Vulgate Latin version, "Woe to the land, with the cymbal of wings": and some think the "sistrum", is meant, which was a musical instrument used by the Egyptians in their worship of Isis; and which had wings to it, or had transverse rods in the middle of it, which looked like wings, one of which may be seen in Pignorius (d); and so it describes the land of Egypt, famous for its winged cymbals. Minucius Felix (e) makes mention of the swallow along with the sistrum, which was a bird of Isis; and which some say was placed over the statue of Isis, with its wings stretched out.
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia; the principal of which were Astaboras and Astapus (f), and also Nile itself, which came out of Ethiopia into Egypt: or, "which is on this side of the rivers of Ethiopia" (g); and so may intend Egypt, which bordered on this side of it towards Judea; or, "which is beside the rivers of Ethiopia" (h); and so may denote Ethiopia itself, situated by these rivers. The Targum renders it,
"the rivers of Judea.''
Some would have it, that the rivers of Arabia Chusaea are meant, which, lay between Judea and Egypt, as Besor, Rhinocorura, Trajan, and Corys; and Arabia seems rather to be meant by "Cush", than Ethiopia in Africa, since that lay beyond the rivers of Egypt, rather than Egypt beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
(c) Spes Israelis, sect. 17. p. 57. (d) Mensa Isiaca, p. 67. (e) Octav. p. 21. (f) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 9. Ptolem. Geograph. 1. 4. c. 8. (g) "quae est citra flumina Cuscheae", Vitringa. So some in Gataker. (h) "Quae est secundum flumina Aethiopiae", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
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John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain God in defense of his church and punishing her…
God in defense of his church and punishing her enemies, will destroy the Ethiopians, ver. 1-6. An access thereby shall be to the church, ver. 7.
The Lord - Either Ethiopia beyond Egypt; or of Egypt. Wings - The title of wings is given, in scripture, to divers things which have some kind of resemblance to wings, as to the battlements of an house or temple, to an army, and to the sails of a ship, as this word is here commonly understood. And shadowing with wings is nothing else but overspread or filled with them. Which title may be given either to Ethiopia or Egypt, in regard of the great numbers either of their armies, or of their ships or vessels sailing upon the sea or rivers. Besides - Situated on both sides of the Nile. Rivers - Called rivers, in the plural number, either for its greatness, or for the many rivulets that run into it, or for the various streams into which it is divided.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain This chapter contains a very obscure prophecy; possibly
CHAPTER XVIII
This chapter contains a very obscure prophecy; possibly
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designed to give the Jews, and perhaps the Egyptians, whose
country is supposed to be meant, 1, 2,
and with whom many Jews resided, an indignation of God's
interposition in favour of Sion, 3, 4;
and of his counsels in regard to the destruction of their
common enemy, Sennacherib, whose vast army, just as he thought
his projects ripe, and ready to be crowned with success, 5,
should become a prey to the beasts of the field, and to the
fowls of heaven, 6;
and that Egypt should be grateful to God for the deliverance
vouchsafed her, 7.
This is one of the most obscure prophecies in tho whole Book of Isaiah. The subject of it, the end and design of it, the people to whom it is addressed, the history to which it belongs, the person who sends the messengers, and the nation to whom the messengers are sent, are all obscure and doubtful. - L.
NOTES ON CHAP. XVIII
Verse 1. Wo to the land] הוי ארץ hoi arets! This interjection should be translated ho! for it is properly a particle of calling: Ho, land! Attend! Give ear!
Shadowing with wings - "The winged cymbal] צלצל כנפים tsiltsal kenaphayim. I adopt this as the most probable of the many interpretations that have been given of these words. It is Bochart's: see Phaleg, iv. 2. The Egyptian sistrum is expressed by a periphrasis; the Hebrews had no name for it in their language, not having in use the instrument itself. The cymbal they had was an instrument in its use and sound not much unlike the sistrum; and to distinguish it from the sistrum, they called it the cymbal with wings. The cymbal was a round hollow piece of metal, which, being struck against another, gave a ringing sound: the sistrum was a round instrument, consisting of a broad rim of metal, through which from side to side ran several loose laminae or small rods of metal, which being shaken, gave a like sound. These, projecting on each side, had somewhat the appearance of wings; or might be very properly expressed by the same word which the Hebrews used for wings, or for the extremity, or a part of any thing projecting. The sistrum is given in a medal of Adrian, as the proper attribute of Egypt. See Addison on Medals, Series iii. No. 4; where the figure of it may be seen. The frame of the sistrum was in shape rather like the ancient lyre; it was not round.
If we translate shadowing with wings, it may allude to the multitude of its vessels, whose sails may be represented under the notion of wings. The second verse seems to support this interpretation. Vessels of bulrushes, gome, or rather the flag papyrus, so much celebrated as the substance on which people wrote in ancient times, and from which our paper is denominated. The sails might have been made of this flag: but whole canoes were constructed from it. Mat sails are used to the present day in China. The Vulgate fully understood the meaning of the word, and has accordingly translated, in vasis papyri, "in vessels of papyrus." Reshi vesselis. - Old MS. Bib. This interpretation does not please Bp. Lowth, and for his dissent he gives the following reasons: -
In opposition to other interpretations of these words which have prevailed, it may be briefly observed that צלצל tsiltsel is never used to signify shadow, nor is כנף canaph applied to the sails of ships. If, therefore, the words are rightly interpreted the winged cymbal, meaning the sistrum, Egypt must be the country to which the prophecy is addressed. And upon this hypothesis the version and explanation must proceed. I farther suppose, that the prophecy was delivered before Sennacherib's return from his Egyptian expedition, which took up three years; and that it was designed to give to the Jews, and perhaps likewise to the Egyptians, an intimation of God's counsels in regard to the destruction of their great and powerful enemy.
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia - "Which borders on the rivers of Cush"] What are the rivers of Cush? whether the eastern branches of the lower Nile, the boundary of Egypt towards Arabia, or the parts of the upper Nile towards Ethiopia, it is not easy to determine. The word מעבר meeber signifies either on this side or on the farther side: I have made use of the same kind of ambiguous expression in the translation.
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Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 18:1. Wo to the land — Or, rather,…
Isa 18:1. Wo to the land — Or, rather, as Bishop Lowth renders it, and as the particle הוי, here used, undoubtedly means, Isa 55:1, and elsewhere, Ho! to the land. The words seem evidently to contain an address to the land here meant, which is supposed to be Egypt, because of the attributes under which it is spoken of. 1st, It is said to be shadowing, or shadowed with wings, a description which, it is thought, agrees to Egypt, as connected with Ethiopia, because it is situated between two mountains on the eastern and western side of the Nile, which, as it were, overshadow it, especially where it is most narrow, toward Ethiopia, and which unfold themselves more and more in the manner of two wings, from the south toward the north. Thus Vitringa interprets the first member of the prophet’s description. But the Hebrew word, which our translators render shadowing, properly signifies a sort of timbrel, called in Latin sistrum, which was an instrument of music peculiar to the Egyptians in their sacrifices to Isis; and the two words here used, צלצל כנפים, tziltzal kenaphim, are interpreted by some, a winged timbrel or cymbal, which is an exact description of the Egyptian sistrum, and therefore is supposed to be made use of here as a distinguishing epithet of Egypt, termed the land of the winged timbrel, or cymbal. This interpretation is adopted by Bishop Lowth and many others. Both interpretations agree in this, that Egypt is the land intended; which is still more manifest from the second attribute mentioned as descriptive of it, that it is beyond, or rather borders upon, the rivers of Ethiopia, the word מעבר, signifying either on this side, or on the further side. The word כושׁ, chush, here rendered Ethiopia, sometimes signifies Arabia, and some interpreters think some rivers of a part of Arabia are meant, beyond which Egypt lay; but Vitringa, Bishop Lowth, and many others, understand the prophet as speaking of the Nile, and some great and celebrated rivers which flow into it from Ethiopia, and very much increase its waters. It is probable, that either the eastern branches of the lower Nile, the boundary of Egypt toward Arabia, are intended, or the parts of the upper Nile toward Ethiopia. It is thought the prophet the rather denominates Egypt from this epithet, because at this time it was under the power of the Ethiopians.
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Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Woe to the land - (הוי hôy). This word,…
Woe to the land - (הוי hôy). This word, as has been already remarked (the note at Isa 17:12), may be a mere interjection or salutation, and would be appropriately rendered by ‘Ho!’ Or it may be a word denouncing judgment, or wrath, as it is often used in this prophecy (the note at Isa 5:8).
Shadowing with wings - (כנפים צלצל tsı̂letsal kenāpāı̂ym). This is one of the most difficult expressions in the whole chapter; and one to which as yet, probably, no satisfactory meaning has been applied. The Septuagint renders it, Οὐαὶ γῆς πλοὶων πτέρυγες Ouai gēs ploiōn pteruges - ‘Ah! wings of the land of ships.’ The Chaldee, ‘Woe to the land in which they come in ships from a distant country, and whose sails are spread out as an eagle which flies upon its wings.’ Grotius renders it, ‘The land whose extreme parts are shaded by mountains.’ The word rendered, ‘shadowed’ צלצל tsı̂letsal, occurs only in this place and in Job 41:7, where it is translated ‘fish-spears’ - but as we know nothing of the “form” of those spears, that place throws no light on the meaning of the word here. The word is derived, evidently, from צלל tsālal, which has three significations:
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(1) “To be shady, dark, obscure;” and hence, its derivatives are applied to anything that “makes” a shade or shadow - particularly “shady trees” Job 40:21-22; the shades of night Son 2:17; Son 4:6; or anything that produces obscurity, or darkness, as a tree, a rock, a wing, etc.
(2) It means “to tingle,” spoken of the ears 1Sa 3:11; 2Ki 21:13; “to quiver,” spoken of the lips Hab 3:16; and hence, its derivatives are applied to anything that makes a sound by “tinkling” - an instrument of music; a cymbal made of two pieces of metal that are struck together 2Sa 6:5; 1Ch 15:16; 1Ch 16:42; 1Ch 25:6; 2Ch 5:12; Neh 12:27; Psa 150:5)
(3) It means “to sink” Exo 15:10. From the sense of making “a shade,” a derivative of the verb צלצל tselâtsâl - the same as used here except the points - is applied to locusts because they appear in such swarms as to obscure the rays of the sun, and produce an extended shade, or shadow, over a land as a cloud does; or because they make a rustling with their wings.
The word used here, therefore, may mean either “shaded, or rustling, or rattling,” in the manner of a cymbal or other tinkling instrument. It may be added, that the word may mean a “double shade,” being a doubling of the word צל tsêl, a “shade, or shdow,” and it has been supposed by some to apply to Ethiopia as lying betwen the tropics, having a “double shadow;” that is, so that the shadow of objects is cast one half of the year on the north side, and the other half on the south. The word ‘wings’ is applied in the Scriptures to the following things, namely:
(1) The wing of a fowl. This is the literal, and common signification.
(2) The skirts, borders, or lower parts of a garment, from the resemblance to wings Num 15:38; 1Sa 24:5, 1Sa 24:11; Zec 8:13. Also a bed-covering Deu 33:1.
(3) The extremities or borders of a country, or of the world Job 37:3; Isa 24:16; Eze 17:3, Eze 17:7.
(4) The “wing” or extremity of an army, as we use the word “wing” Isa 8:8; Jer 48:40; Dan 9:27.
(5) The expanding rays of the morning, because the light “expands or spreads out” like wings Psa 139:9; Mal 4:2.
(6) The “wind” - resembling wings in rapid motion Psa 18:10, Psa 18:21; Psa 104:3; Hos 4:19.
(7) The battlement or pinnacle of the temple - or perhaps the porches extended on each side of the temple like wings (Dan 9:27; compare Mat 4:5).
(8) “Protection” - as wings are a protection to young birds in their nest (see Psa 18:8; Psa 36:7; Psa 61:4; Psa 91:4; Mat 23:37). It has been proposed by some to apply this description to “ships,” or the sails of vessels, as if a land was designated which was covered with “sails,” or the “wings” of vessels. So the Septuagint, and the Chaldee. But there is no instance in which the word “wings” is so applied in the Scriptures.
The expression used here “may,” therefore, be applied to many things; and it is not easy to determine its signification. The “general” idea is, that of “something” that abounds in the land that is stretched out or expanded; that, as it were, “covers” it, and so abounds as to make a shade or shadow everywhere. And it may be applied:
(1) to a nation that abounds with birds or fowls, so that they might be said to shade the land;
(2) to a nation abounding with locusts, shading the land or making a rustling noise; or
(3) to a nation furnishing protection, or stretching out its wings, as it were, for the defense of a feeble people. So Vitringa interprets this place, and supposes that it refers to Egypt, as being the nation where the Hebrews sought protection. Or
(4) to a country that is shaded with trees, mountains, or hills. So Grotius supposes it means here, and thinks that it refers to Ethiopia, as being bounded by high hills or mountains.
(5) It “may” mean a people distinguished for navigation - abounding in “sails” of vessels - as if they were everywhere spread out like wings. So the Septuagint and the Chaldee understand this; and the interpretation has some plausibility, from the fact that light vessels are immediately mentioned.
(6) The editor of Calmet’s “Dictionary” supposes that it refers to the “winged Cnephim” which are sculptured over the temple gates in Upper-Egypt. They are emblematic representatives of the god “Cneph,” to which the temples are dedicated, and abound in Upper Egypt. The symbol of the “wings” is supposed to denote the “protection” which the god extended over the land.
(7) Gesenius (“Com. on Isaiah”) renders it, ‘land rustling with wings,’ and supposes that the word rendered ‘shadowing,’ denotes the “rustling” sound that is made by the clangor of weapons of war. Amidst this variety of interpretation, it is, perhaps, not possible to determine the meaning of the phrase. It has no parallel expression to illustrate it; and its meaning must be left to conjecture.
Almost anyone of the above significations will suit the connection; and it is not very material which is chosen. The one that, perhaps, best suits the connection, is that of the Septuagint and the Chaldee, which refers it to the multitude of ships that expand their sails, and appear to fill all the waters of the land with wings.
Which is beyond - (מעבר mē‛ēber). This does not, of necessity, mean “beyond,” though that is its usual signification. It properly means “from the passing, the passages, the crossing over,” of a river; and may be rendered what is on the other side; or over against. It sometimes means on this side, as if used by one living on the other side Deu 4:49; Jos 13:27; 1Ki 4:24; in which places it has not the sense of “beyond,” but means either on this side, or lying alongside. The sense here is, probably, that this country was situated “not far” from the rivers of Cush, “probably” beyond them, but still it is implied that they were not “far” beyond them, but were rather at their passings over, or crossing-places; that is, near them.
The rivers of Ethiopia - Hebrew, ‘Rivers of Cush.’ (On the meaning of the word ‘Cush,’ see the note at Isa 11:11) It is sometimes applicable to Ethiopia or Nubia - that is, the portion of Egypt above the cataracts of the Nile. Compare Jer 13:23 : ‘Can the Ethiopian (the “Cushite”) change his skin?’ (see also Eze 29:10). This word does not determine with certainty the country to which reference is made - for the country of Cush “may” mean that east of the Euphrates, or southern Arabia, or southern Egypt. Egypt and Cush are, however, sometimes connected (2Ki 19:9; Psa 68:31; Isa 20:3; Isa 43:3; Nah 3:9; compare Dan 11:43). The “probability” from the use of this word is, that some part of Upper Egypt is intended. Ethiopia in part lies beyond the most considerable of the streams that make up the river Nile.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Cymbal. Or sistrum, commonly used in Egypt. Septuagint, "ship…
Cymbal. Or sistrum, commonly used in Egypt. Septuagint, "ship sails." --- Ethiopia, or Chus, lying between the Nile (the branches of which are styled rivers) and the Red Sea. He alludes to the kingdom of Tharaca, 4 Kings xix. 8. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Isaiah 18
β) ETHIOPIA NOW AND IN TIME TO COME
Isaiah 18
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א) The danger that threatens in the present
Isa_18:1-3
1 Woe to the land 1shadowing with wings,
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea,
2Even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters,
Saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation 34scattered and peeled,
To a people 5terrible from their beginning hitherto;
6A nation7 8meted out and trodden down,
9 Whose land the rivers have spoiled!
3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the 10earth,
See ye, when 11he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains;
And when 12he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_18:1. הוי like Isa_17:12.—צְלָצַל occurs only here in Isaiah. Beside this: in Deu_28:42, with the meaning “cricket, cicada;” Job 40:31 meaning “harpoon” (so Called from the clinking); 2Sa_6:5 and Psa_150:5, we find the plural meaning “cymbals.” Older expositors have taken the word in the sense of the simple צֵל “shadow,” or also, because of the reduplication = “double shadow,” with supposed reference to the double shadow of the tropics (ἀμφίσκιος, Strabo). Both are impossible. The word can only mean “stridor, clinking, whizzing, buzz,” because this is the underlying sense of every shade of its use.—But what are the כְּנָפַיִם? Some have thought of the wings of an army, referring for proof to Isa_8:8. But what would this afford as a characteristic? The same objection lies against the construction “grasshopper wings,” or “sails” (LXX.). It is a hardy conjecture to refer this to the wings of the sun, Mal. 3:20 (Mal_4:2) comp. Tac. Germ. 45; Juven. Sat. 14, 279; the Egyptian Sistrum [a kind of cymbal] with two rims or wings, is too insignificant as a characteristic, and cannot be shown to belong to Ethiopia. On the other hand it is quite suitable to call a land that is warm and that abounds with water and rushes, and hence also with winged insects, the land “of the whirring wings.” The conjecture is very enticing, that the expression צלצל כנפים is chosen with reference to the Tzaltzala, or Tsetse-fly, which was first described by the Englishman Francis Galton (“Exploring expedition in tropical South-Africa, London, Murray, 1854). It is “a little fly, in size and form nearly like our house fly, but somewhat lighter colored, of which the natives say that a single bite is sufficient to kill a horse, an ox or a dog; whereas asses and goats suffer no harm from it.” But it is not satisfactorily made out whether this resemblance is to be traced to a radical relation or whether it is only an accidental similarity in sound. Comp. in the Ausland 1868, No. 8, p. 192.
Isa_18:2. השׁלה is to be referred to ארץ. The masculine is explained in that while Isa_18:1 ארץ means the land proper, in Isa_18:2 it represents more particularly the notion of people: for the messengers are sent by men. Comp. on Isa_15:1.—יָם like Isa_19:5; Isa_27:1; Nah_3:8.—צִיר, in the sense of “messenger,” again in Isa_57:9.—מְמֻשָׁךְ part. Pual from מָשַׁךְ trahere, protrahere, extrahere, used again only Pro_13:12, of the תּוֹכֶלֶת מְמֻשָּׁכָה, “the long-drawn out expectation.” Therefore the word here, too, can mean nothing but “long-drawn, long-stretched, procerus, élancé.” The Sabeans, too, are called, Isa_45:14, אַנְשֵׁי מִדָּה [“men of extension.” Eng. Bib. “men of stature”].—מָרַט is “to make smooth, bright.” It is used of the sword that is not only sharpened, but polished till it flashes (Eze_21:14-16); also of pulling out the hair till the crown is smooth and shining (Lev_13:40 sq.). Comp. moreover 1Ki_7:45; Eze_29:18. In Isaiah the word occurs only once more, Isa_50:6, of the pulling out of the hair. The form מוֹרָט stands for מְמורָט, comp. Eze_21:15 sq.——נורא מן־הוא והלאה; the construction is the same as מִמְּךָ וָהָֽלְאָה 1Sa_20:22; 1Sa_10:3, and מֵּעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם .מִקָּטוֹן וְעַד־גָּדוֹל. Only we are surprised that it does not read מִמֶּנּוּ. But the pron. sep. is used for the sake of emphasis (comp. Gen_27:34; 1Sa_19:23. etc.). And wherefore may it not stand instead of the suffix? The Prophet wishes to mark the point of departure and support of the Ethiopian power, thus he does not write מִמֶּנּוּ. Analogous is מִימֵי הִיא Nah_2:9 (8) (a closed up water pool was Nineveh since its existence; but now the pool runs out, the people of Nineveh flee on all sides). There, too, מִיָּמֶיהָ might have been used. When Stade remarks that it must properly read here מֵאֲשֶׁר הוּא, he is correct. But מִן הוּא can be used also. On the other hand, according to his explanation, i.e., if הוּא should be referred to Israel, it must of necessity read מִזֶּה. Or if מִן הוּא is to be understood of time, who in the world would know that הוּא should point to the period of time, “quo Aethiopes Aegyptiorum jugo excusso aliis populis et imprimis Aegyptiis bella inferre coeperunt?”——מִן הוּא, in a temporal sense, could only mean: ex quo est. But in order to express this Isaiah would likely have written מִימֵי הוּא, not to mention that it is not credible that the Ethiopians were a widely feared people from the moment of their existence onwards. It is my opinion therefore that מִן הוּא stands in a local sense, brief and pregnant for מִן אֲשֶׁר הוּא or מן אֲשֵׁר הוּא שָׁם.—The meaning of קו־קו must be measured by Isa_28:10; Isa_28:13, for no other passage exists so nearly like this text. There, too, the word appears repeated, קו לקו. It means originally “measuring line,” and occurs in Isaiah, beside the above mentioned places, Isa_28:17; Isa_34:11; Isa_34:17; Isa_44:13. From the meaning “measuring line” is developed “norm, prescription rule,” Isa_28:10; Isa_28:13. So we must take it here; and the choice of the short, abruptly spoken word, which moreover is repeated, is not to be regarded as accidental and undesigned. For this reason (see also Exegct. Comm. below) we take קו־קו = “command, command.” There was much commanding, but short and sharp.—מבוסה (again only Isa_18:7; Isa_22:5) is “conculcatio, treading down,” comp. אִישׁ תּוֹכָחוֹת Pro_29:1; בִּן־הַכּוֹת Deu_25:2.—בָּזָז = בָּזָא, like שַׁסַם = שָׁאַם ,שָׁסַם = שָׁסָה (Ewald, § 112 g; 114 b; 151 b).
Isa_18:3. שׁכני ארץ only here.——כְּ designates the coincidence, as in cases of time when. We have here the Inf. Constr. after a Prepos. forming a phrase with the subject latent.——הָרִים is accusative of place.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet sends a cry of alarm to the remote Ethiopians, because they too are threatened by the Assyrians. He characterizes the land by the use of predicates suggested by the abundance of its insects, and its situation on great rivers (Isa_18:1). In this land the messengers fly away in swift skiffs over the waters. Therefore the Prophet summons these swift messengers to command the people, at the same time describing them as a people of lofty stature, and shining color of skin, as a nation dreaded far beyond its borders, as a nation among whom reigns strict command and ruthless use of power, that is yet exposed to the power of mighty streams that carry off its land (Isa_18:2). This nation is commanded: it will arm itself for this strife. Between it and the Assyrian there shall come to pass a terrible collision. When it is announced by visible and audible signals, all nations must give good heed: for all are in the highest degree interested in it.
2. Woe——hear ye.
Isa_18:1-3. Cush is Ethiopia, the land that bounds Egypt on the south, which began at Syene below the first cataract of the Nile (comp. Eze_29:10; Eze_30:6), and had Meroe for its capital (Herod. 2:29). The Egyptians, also, call Ethiopia Kus′ or Kes′ (comp. Eber’s Egypten und die Bucher Mosis, I. p. 57; Lepsius in Herz. R. Encycl. I., p. 148). I do not believe, as Stade maintains (De Is. vatt. aeth., p. 16), that the assumption of Mesopotamian Cushites rests merely on the erroneous identifying of the κίσσιοι (Her. III. 91) or κοσσαῖοι (Strabo XI. p. 524, XIV. 744) with the biblical Cushites. The streams of Ethiopia are the White Nile (Bahr-el-Abjad) and its tributaries, the Atbara, the Blue Nile (Bahr-el-Asrak), the Sobat, the Bahr-el-Ghasal, etc. In describing the land of whirring-wings as beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (comp. Zep_3:10), this form of expression arises from the mighty waters occupying the foreground in the mental vision of the Prophet, thus the land lies for him beyond them.—גֹּמֶא (Isa_35:7; Exo_2:3) is the papyrus-reed. Light and fleet boats were made of it, as is abundantly testified by the ancients and by the monuments (comp. Gesen. in loc., Wilkinson, The ancient Egyptians, V., p. 119). Papyrus, once very abundant in Egypt, is no longer found there; but is found in Abyssinia (comp. Champollion-Figeac, L’Egypte ancienne, p. 24, sq. 195) and Sicily (Herz. R. Encycl. I., p. 140 sq.).
Go ye swift messengers, to a nation, etc., is understood by most expositors as if the Prophet sent the messengers home, because Jehovah Himself would undertake Himself the destruction of the enemy. But then the Prophet would not have used לְכוּ, but rather שׁוּבוּ. Besides one can’t understand why, if the Ethiopians were not to fight, their warlike qualities are depicted in such strong colors. I therefore take לְכוּ in its proper sense; “go ye.” The Ethiopians are to be bidden to the contest, and actually to fight; but they must know that it is the Lord that gives them the victory.
To a nation grown high: see under Text. and Gram. It is, moreover, not impossible that, as Jos. Friedr. Schelling conjectured, there lies in the expression an allusion to the longevity of the Ethiopians which was an accepted notion of the ancients. The Ethiopians are called smooth and shining, not, we may suppose, because they deprived the body of hair, but because they had a way of making the skin smooth and shining. This is known from what Herodotus relates of the scouts of Cambyses (Isa_3:23). When these wondered at the long life of the Ethiopians, they were led to a spring: “by washing in which they became very shining as if it were of oil.” By the constant use of this spring, the Ethiopians became, it was said, μακρόβιοι, “long-lived.” It is seen from this that to the Ethiopians was ascribed a skin shining as if oiled. In general the Ethiopians, according to Herodotus, were accounted “the largest and comeliest of all men.” On the upper Nile there yet live men whom this description suits. For example the Schilluks, that were reached by the British Consul, John Petherick, after eight days’ journey on the White Nile, from Chartum, are described by him as “a large, powerful, finely formed race, with countenances of noble mould” (Ausland, 1861, No. 24). Comp. Ernst Morno (in Peterman’s Geogr. Mitheilungen, 1872, 12 Heft., p. 452 sqq.) on the ethnological relations in Upper-Sennar, and especially on the Hammedach and their neighbors. That is dreaded far away; so the Prophet names the people because they are feared from their borders and far away. See Text. and Gram. We know with certainty, at least with reference to Egypt, that Ethiopia at that time had dominion beyond its own territory. The Ethiopian dynasty seems to have put an end to a condition of great disorder in Egypt. The first king of it, Sabakon, must have been a powerful and wise regent. Champollion-Figeac, l. c., p. 363, says of him: “The internal disorders involved the ruin of the public establishments, and when order was revived by the presence of a wise and prudent monarch, his first thought ought to be to repair them. After his invasion of Egypt this duty devolved on the conqueror, and Sabakon did not neglect it.” To the third king, Tirhaka, are ascribed great military expeditions—as far as the Pillars of Hercules,—and conquests (ibid., p. 364). One may well suppose that the strict discipline and order, which naturally at times ran to the excess of ruthless oppression, was a characteristic peculiarity of those Ethiopic princes. We therefore take קו־קו = “command, command:” there was much commanding, but short and sharp. The meaning “power, strength,” which some assume only for our text, after Arabian analogy, is not satisfactorily established. We do perfectly well with the meaning nearest at hand. Egypt, as is well known, is a gift of the Nile (comp. Eber’s Egypten n. d. Bücher Mosis, I. p. 21. Fraas, Aus dem Orient, geologische Beobachtungen am Nil, auf der Sinai-Halbinsel u. in Syrien, 1867. p. 207). But what the Nile gives to Egypt it has stolen in Ethiopia. Therefore the expression “whose land rivers carry away” corresponds exactly with the fact. It appears in a measure as a Nemesis accomplished by nature that Ethiopia, in return for “the down treading” practised by it, should succumb to the spoiling done by the rivers flowing through it. The nation of Ethiopia therefore is summoned to the strife. A collision impends. It must be attended with important consequences. All inhabitants of the world (comp. Isa_26:9; Isa_26:18), especially the dwellers of the territory concerned, must be on the look-out when the signals for the combat are given; for something of moment will happen.
Footnotes:
[1]of whirring wings.
[2]And in boats of papyrus on the face of the waters.
[3]Or, out spread and polished.
[4]grown high and gleaming.
[5]feared far away.
[6]A nation of stem command and rough tread.
[7]Or, that meteth out, and treadeth down.
[8]Heb. of line, line, and treading under foot.
[9]Or, Whose land the rivers despise.
[10]land.
[11]one lifts up.
[12]one blows.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. Woe — Not minatory, but salutatory: Ho!
1. Woe — Not minatory, but salutatory: Ho!
Land shadowing with wings — Or, land of the clanging sound of wings; the buzz or rustling of insect wings; or, as some interpret, referring to the rustle and clatter of marching armies; as if it means, “Ho, land that sends forth armies to the aid of invaded Egypt below.”
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Beyond the rivers — That is, regions lying south of Egypt around and beyond the head-waters of the Nile.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. The word rendered woe is here neither a…
1. The word rendered woe is here neither a ‘cry of pity’ nor (as usually in Isaiah) of indignation. It is simply a particle of salutation (heus) as in ch. Isa_55:1; Zec_2:6-7 (10, 11 Heb.). Render: Ha, the land, &c.
the land shadowing with wings] a much disputed phrase. The most probable sense is that followed by R.V., the land of the rustling of wings. The Hebr. noun for “rustling” çìlâçâl or çilçal means a kind of “locust” (Deu_28:42), a “harpoon” (Job_41:7, A.V. “fish-spears”), and a very similar form means “cymbals” (Psa_150:5). The common root-idea is that of “clanging” or “jingling”; and if the above translation be correct the allusion is to the booming swarms of insects which abound in the Nile-lands. There may even be a special allusion to the dreaded Tsetse-fly, whose name among the Gallas (çalçalja) closely resembles the Hebr. word here used. The expression is to be understood literally, not metaphorically of armed hosts. Something might be said for the rendering of the LXX. and Targ. (“land of winged ships”) if it did not anticipate Isa_18:2. Others render, “land with the shadow on both sides” (ἀμφίσκιος)—a supposed allusion to the fact that between the tropics the shadow falls sometimes on the north and sometimes on the south. But this seems very fanciful.
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beyond the rivers of Ethiopia] The phrase is repeated in Zep_3:10. Ethiopia (Kush) is used in the Bible somewhat vaguely of the region south of Syene (Assouan), at the first cataract of the Nile (Eze_29:10), corresponding generally to the modern Soudân (“land of the Blacks”). The empire of Tirhakah, which Isaiah has particularly in view, had its seat at Napata on the great westward bend of the Nile between Dongola and Berber. Hence it is not inappropriately described as lying “beyond” the rivers of Kush, i.e. the Nile itself and its numerous affluents (the Atbara, the Blue Nile, &c.).
1–3. The charge to the Ethiopian envoys, along with a poetic description of the land and people. The tendency of the ancient world to idealise the Ethiopians is familiar to students of classical literature. To the Greeks they were the “blameless Ethiopians” (Homer), “the tallest and handsomest of all men” (Herodotus). Isaiah would seem to have been struck by the fine physique of the ambassadors, and perhaps it was their narrative that furnished his vivid imagination with the picturesque details crowded into these three verses.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) Woe to the land shadowing with wings.—A new…
XVIII.
(1) Woe to the land shadowing with wings.—A new kingdom, hitherto unnamed by Isaiah, comes now within his horizon. The movements of Tirhakah, king of Cush or Ethiopia, from the upper valley of the Nile, subduing Egypt, and prepared to enter into conflict with the great Assyrian king (Isa_37:9), had apparently excited the hopes of such of Hezekiah’s counsellors as put their trust in an arm of flesh. To these Isaiah now turns with words of warning. The words “shadowing with wings” have been very variously interpreted as implying (1) the image of a mighty eagle stretching out its imperial wings (Eze_17:1-8); (2) the urœus or disk with outspread wings which appears in Egyptian paintings as the symbol of Ethiopian sovereignty; (3) the rendering resounding being adopted instead of “shadowing,” the swarms of the tse-tse fly that have been the terror of all travellers in Abyssinia. Of these (2) has most to commend it, and receives confirmation from the inscription of Piankhi-Mer-Amon, translated by Canon Cook in Records of the Past (2 p. 89), in which that king, an Ethiopian, who had conquered Egypt, appears with the urœus on his head, and the chiefs of the north and south cry out to him, “Grant us to be under thy shadow.” (Comp. Isa_30:2-3.) The phrase, “beyond the river,” points, as in Zep_3:10, to the region of the White and the Blue Nile, south of Meroe or Sennar, and not far from the Lake Nyanza of modern explorers.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 1-7. THE HOMAGE OF ETHIOPIA TO JEHOVAH. Amid…
Vers. 1-7. THE HOMAGE OF ETHIOPIA TO JEHOVAH. Amid the general excitement caused by the advance of Assyria, Ethiopia also is stirred, and stirred to its furthest limits. The king sends messengers in beats upon the canals and rivers to summon his troops to his standard (vers. 1, 2). The earth stands agaze to see the result of the approaching collision (ver. 3); but God rests calmly in heaven while events are ripening (vers. 4, 5). When the time comes he will strike the blow Assyria will be given to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field (ver. 6). Then Ethiopia will make an act of homage to Jehovah by the sending of a present to Jerusalem (ver. 7). The time seems to be that immediately preceding the great invasion of Sennacherib (about B.C. 700), when Shabatok the Ethiopian was King of Egypt, and Tirhakah (Tahark) either Crown Prince under him, or more probably Lord Paramount of Egypt over him, and reigning at Napata.
Woe to the land; rather, Ho for the land!. (comp. Isa_17:12) Shadowing with wings; literally, either the land of the shadow of wings or the land of the noise of wings , most probably the latter. Allusion is thought to be made to the swarms of buzzing flies, especially the tsetse, with which Ethiopia abounds. At the same time, these swarms are, perhaps, intended to be taken as emblems of the hosts of warriors which Ethiopia can send forth. (comp. Isa_7:18) Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. The prophet cannot be supposed to have had more than a vague knowledge of African geography. He seems, however, robe aware that Ethiopia is a land of many rivers (see Baker"s "Nile Tributaries"), and he assumes that the dominion of the Ethiopian kings extends even beyond these rivers to the south of them. His object is, as Mr. Cheyne says, "to emphasize the greatness of Ethiopia." It may be questioned, however, whether the dominion of the Ethiopian kings of the time extended so far as he supposed. The seat of their power was Napata, now Gebel Berkal, in the great bend of the Nile between lat. 18 and 19 N.; and its southern limit was probably Khar-toum and the line of the Blue Nile (see Rawlinson"s "History of Ancient Egypt," vol. 2. p. 436).
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Vers. 1-4. The contrast of Divine calm with human bustle, hurry, and excitement.
When men take a matter in hand wherein they feel an interest, and set themselves either to carry out a certain design of their own, or to frustrate the designs of others, nothing is more remarkable than (if we may use a vulgarism) the "fuss" that they make about it. Heaven and earth are moved, so to speak, for the accomplishment of the desired end; the entire nation is excited, stirred, thrilled to its lowest depths; a universal eagerness prevails; all is noise, clamor, haste, bustle, tumult, whirl, confusion. Assyria"s "noise" is compared (Isa_17:12) to the roar of the sea, and the rushing of mighty waters. Ethiopia"s stir is like the sound of many wings. (Isa_18:1) Even Cyrus, though he has a Divine mission, cannot set about it without "the noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together". (Isa_13:4) It is in vain that men are told to "stand still and see the salvation of God", (Exo_14:13) or admonished that "in quietness and confidence should be their strength"; (Isa_30:15) they cannot bring themselves to act on the advice tendered. Great minds indeed are comparatively quiet and tranquil; but even they are liable upon occasion to be swept away by the prevailing wave of excited feeling, and dragged, as it were, from their moorings into a turbid ocean. And the mass of mankind is wholly without calm or stability. It trembles, flutters, rushes hither and thither, mistakes activity for energy, and "fussiness" for the power of achievement. This condition of things results from three weaknesses in man:
1. His want of patience.
2. His want of confidence in himself.
3. His want of confidence in God.
I MAN"S WANT OF PATIENCE. Man desires to obtain whatever end he sets himself at once. The boy is impatient to be grown up, the subaltern would at once be a general, the clerk a partner, the student a professor of his science. Men "make haste to be rich", (Pro_28:20) and overshoot the mark, and fall hack into poverty. They strive to become world-famous when they are mere tyros, and put fetch ambitions writings which only show their ignorance. They fail to recognize the force of the proverb, that "everything comes to those who wait." To toil long, to persevere, to make a small advance day after day this seems to them a poor thing, an unsatisfactory mode of procedure. They would reach the end per saltum, "by a bound." Hence their haste. Too often "most haste is worst speed" "Vaulting ambition cloth o"er leap itself, and falls on the other side.
II MAN"S WANT OF CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF. He who is sure of himself can afford to wait. He knows that he will succeed in the end; what matters whether a little sooner or a little later? But the bulk of men are not sure of themselves; they misdoubt their powers, capacities, perseverance, steadiness, reserve fund of energy. Hence their spasmodic efforts, hurried movements, violent agitations, frantic rushings hither and thither. If they do not gain their end at once, they despair of ever attaining it. They are conscious of infinite weakness in themselves, and feel that they cannot tell what a day may bring forth in the way of defeat and disappointment. They say that it is necessary to strike while the iron is hot; but their real reason for haste is that they question whether their ability to strike will not have passed away if they delay ever so little.
III MAN"S WANT OF CONFIDENCE IS GOD. He who feels that God is on his side has no need to disquiet himself. He will not fear the powers of darkness; he will not be afraid of what flesh can do unto him. But comparatively few men have this feeling. Either they put the thoughts of God altogether away from them, or they view him as an enemy, or they misdoubt, at any rate, his sympathy with themselves. Mostly they feel that they do not deserve his sympathy. They cannot "rest in the Lord," and they cannot find rest outside of him. Hence they remain in perpetual disturbance and unrest. Strangely in contrast with man"s unquiet is God"s immovable calm and unruffled tranquility. "The Lord said, I will take my rest" (ver. 4). None can really resist his will, and hence he has no need to trouble himself if resistance is attempted. "The fierceness of man" will always "turn to his praise." Time is no object with him who is above time, "whose goings have been from the days of eternity". (Mic_5:2) In silence and calm he accomplishes his everlasting purposes. Himself at rest in the still depths of his unchangeable nature, it is he alone who can give his creatures rest. As they grow mere like to him, they will grow more and more tranquil, until the time comes when they will enter finally into that rest which "remaineth for his people". (Heb_4:9)
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-7. Homage of Ethiopia to Jehovah.
I AGITATION IN ETHIOPIA. The oracle opens with a scene full of life. Hosts of Egyptian and Ethiopian warriors are seen, like buzzing swarms of flies moving to and fro. Messengers are speeding in papyrus boats to announce the approach of the Assyrians. The Ethiopians are described as a nation "tall and polished," terrible, strong, and all-subduing, whose land rivers cut through. A sense of mystery and greatness hung about this! and from the earliest times the land of the source of the Nile, opened up by our countryman Spoke and others. The prophet lifts up his voice to this people. A signal will be seen on the mountains, the blast of a trumpet will be heard. There will be symptoms of the Divine presence, restraining, overruling the wrath of men for ends of Divine wisdom. "When wars are carried on, every one sees clearly what is done; but the greater part of men ascribe the beginning and end of them to chance. On the other hand, Isaiah shows that all these things ought to be ascribed to God, because he will display his power in a new and extraordinary manner; for sometimes he works so as to conceal his hand, and to prevent his work from being perceived by men, but sometimes he displays his hand in it in such a manner that all men are constrained to acknowledge it; and that is what the prophet meant" (Calvin).
II THE WAITING OF JEHOVAH. Impressive is the contrast between the noise and stir and agitation below, and the calmness above. Jehovah "will be still as the blue sky behind a moving host of clouds, above a surging sea below. In the second psalm we have the picture of him sitting in the heavens and "laughing" at the vain attempts of the enemies of the Messianic kingdom. There are three thoughts here.
1. The repose of God. It seems as if we must ever contemplate him resting from his toils of designing and creating and providing entered on an eternal sabbath. The consciousness of vast force, sleeping, held in reserve, we must conceive of in God. Hence his stillness amidst our excitement. At times when vague movements are passing through the bosom of society, many voices rend the air with opposing cries, deep questions agitate the heart and conscience of thoughtful men. We long to hear the one infallible voice, to see the signal extended; and yet "God speaks not a word." Perhaps it may be said, a still small voice, saying, "Be still, and know that I am God!" may be heard by acuter spiritual ears. His stillness must be the effect of infinite strength and profoundest confidence.
2. His contemplativeness. He "looks on in his mansion." Not as the Epicureans represented the gods of the heathen, sitting apart, reckless of the weal or woe of men; but intently watchful of the development of things, the ripening of good, the gathering up of evil towards the day of sifting and judgment. In a powerful biblical image, "his eyes are in every place, beholding the good and the evil." And our thought, to be in harmony with his, must in many matters and at many times fall into the mood of contemplation. Instead of seeking to theorize rashly upon the strange mixture of tendencies life at any troubled epoch presents, it were well to possess our souls in patience to look on and let both grow together till the harvest.
3. His waiting attitude. "While there is clear heat in sunshine, while there are clouds of dew in harvest-heat," he is waiting "till the fruit of Assyrian annoyance is all but ripe." The heat and the clouds of dew hasten the powers in nature; there are corresponding forces at work in the moral world, seen by him to be working towards certain results. God can wait because he knows. And may not we in a measure compose our souls into that attitude of waiting? Some things we, too, know; about many others we can say, "God knows," and so leave them. Especially so in times or in moods of alarm. In the present case men below see one picture of the future; quite another is seen by God above. To them a vast black cloud is gathering over the horizon; he sees the sun that will presently smite it asunder. They see a fell harvest of woe for themselves ripening; he has the pruning-knife in his hand, with which he will make havoc among the growth. They see an immense host of irresistible warriors; he the birds of prey and the beasts that will soon be feeding upon their remains. Let us think of the immense reserves of force at the disposal of Jehovah. The statesman, in times of alarm, assures a trembling country that the "resources of civilization" are not yet exhausted; yet they have their limit. Behind them lie the absolutely inexhaustible resources of the living and eternal God. Let our hearts be stayed on him, and all will be well.
III THE EFFECT ON ETHIOPIA. They will bring a tribute to Jehovah Sabaoth, to the Lord of hosts, in his seat on Mount Zion. It is he who has done these things. We find the like impressive picture passing before a prophetic eye in Psa_68:32: "Kingdoms of splendor come out of Egypt, Ethiopia stretches out her hands to God." The gathering of so glorious a people into the true Church is to be the result of the manifestation of the power of Israel"s God.
LESSONS.
1. The providence of God over the Church. "He shows that he takes care of the Church, and that, though he determines to chastise it, still he comes forward at the proper season to hinder it from perishing, and displays his power in opposition to tyrants and other enemies, that they may not overthrow it or succeed in accomplishing what they imagined to be in their powers. In order, therefore, to excite them to patience, he not only distinguishes them from the Ethiopians, but likewise reminds them that God mitigates his judgments for their preservation" (Calvin).
2. The indestructibility of the spiritual life. This must not be confounded with the institutions in which it dwells for a time. But, understanding the Church" in the spiritual or mystical sense, it cannot perish. Calvin wrote in his day, "The Church is not far from despair, being plundered, scattered, and everywhere crushed and trodden underfoot. What must be done in straits so numerous and so distressing? We ought to lay hold on these promises so as to believe that God will still preserve the Church. The body may be torn, shivered into fragments and scattered; still, by his Spirit, he will easily unite the members, and will never allow the remembrance and calling on his Name to perish.
3. The self-concealment of God. The trial of faith in all ages. Oh that he would show his face, bare his arm, disclose his majesty, exert his power, appear as Judge to end once for all the strifes of the world! But we must learn to say, "God"s in his heaven, all"s right with the world." At the proper season he will come forth. "If he instantly cut the wicked down and took them away like a sprouting blade of corn, his power would not be so manifest, nor would his goodness be so fully ascertained, as when he permits them to grow to a vast height, to swell and blossom, that they may afterwards fall by their own weight, or, like large and fat ears of corn, cuts them down with pruning-knives.
4. The unity of religion the prophetic ideal. Mount Zion was its ancient symbol; for us it is not Rome, nor any other city or mount, it is the human heart, with all its pathos, its faith, hope, and love, its regenerate life and aspirations, it is one spirit universal in mankind. J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-6. The patience of power.
The most striking and distinctive truth this chapter contains is that of the patience of Divine power, which permits evil to rise and to mature, and which, at the right moment, effectually intervenes. But there are other points beside this; they are
I THE MISDIRECTION OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE. Whatever may be the right translation and the true application of these verses, it is clear that reference is made to a warlike people a people "terrible" to their neighbors, a people "of command" or "treading underfoot," aggressive and victorious. It shows how far we have fallen from our first estate and from the condition for which we were created, that it does not, strike us as strange that this should be the description of a people; that the number of nations whom it characterizes is so great that we fail to identify the nation which is in the prophet"s vision. Under sin it has become common, not to say natural, that a nation should be "terrible," should be treading down or crushing, and full of commands to its neighbors. But to how much better purpose might the strong peoples of the earth devote their strength! God has made rich provision for the peaceable and fruitful exercise of our largest powers. There are rivers and seas (ver. 2) for travelling, exploration, commerce; there is vegetation (bulrushes, papyrus), which may be made to carry men"s bodies, or which, by the exercise of human ingenuity, may be made to convey their thoughts to distant lands and remotest times; there is land and there are seeds, there is sunshine and there is dew, which can be made to produce golden harvests that will satisfy man"s wants and minister to his most refined tastes (vers. 4, 5); there are birds and beasts (ver. 6), with whose habits men may become intelligently familiar; there is wealth beneath the soil in precious metals, which can not only be raised and collected to enrich the homes of men, but which can be conveyed, as the tribute of piety, to the house of the Lord (ver. 7). But, despising and neglecting such materials and such ambitions as these, nations have aspired to rule over others have perfected themselves in all the arts and enginery of war, have congratulated themselves on nothing so much as in being "terrible" to those on the other side the river or across the mountain range.
II THE COMPLETENESS OF MAN"S OVERTHROW IN THE DAY OF DIVINE ANGER. The destruction threatened (vers. 5, 6) probably refers to that of the army of Sennacherib; but if the reference be to some other national calamity, it certainly points to an overthrow, signal and fearful, from which the imagination turns away oppressed. So has it been found, both by individual men and nations, that when God arises to judgment, their feeble defenses are scattered to the winds, and their doom is utterly irreversible by anything they can do to mend it. (see Ps 2 Ps 63 Psa_92:6, Psa_92:9)
III THE LESSON OF GOD"S JUDGMENTS. The result in this case is seen in the bringing of a tribute to the Lord (ver. 7). If God puts forth his power in overwhelming retribution, it is, chiefly if not wholly, that they who witness it (men or nations) may repent of their own misdeeds or impiety, and may return unto the Lord in penitence, in prayer, in consecration; for the most acceptable "present" that can be "brought unto the Lord of hosts" is the humbled, believing, obedient heart.
IV THE PATIENCE OF DIVINE POWER. (Ver. 4.) The Lord said, "I will fake my rest I will be calm or still, I will consider in my dwelling-place I will look on from my habitation like a clear heat upon herbs, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." God will not be provoked into hurried and impatient judgments; he will retain a Divine composure, he will manifest the patience which belongs to conscious power; the heavens should be as still as on the calmest summer day while evil was working to its bitter end, while sin was advancing to its doom. Here is a contrast to us and here are lessons for us. We, in our finite feebleness, are often impatient in spirit and hurried in action. We are afraid that, if we do not strike at once, we shall not have time to strike at all, or that our resources of retribution will fall, or that our adversary will be out of our reach. God can entertain no such fear and be affected by no such thought.
1. All time is at his command.
2. All resources are in his hands.
3. The men (nations) whom he may find it needful to chastise can never be beyond the reach of his power.
Hence his calmness in place of our confusion, his patience in contrast with our feverish restlessness.
(1) Let not the wicked presume on Divine disregard; God will put forth his hand in punishment at his own chosen time.
(2) Let not the righteous be surprised or disheartened by his delay; he does not count time by our chronometry; he has not the reasons for haste which urge us to immediate action; the hour of his merciful intervention will arrive in time. C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1. Man"s energy put in place of trust in God.
This comes to view in a more precise translation of the passage. The King of Ethiopia, who was nominally also King of Egypt, alarmed by the near approach of the Assyrians, is aroused to the exhibition of great energy, and sends messengers in the light river-vessels to spread the news through the empire as rapidly as possible, and call the troops of all his dependent nations to his standard. Geikie translates, or paraphrases the passage thus: "O land of the buzz of fly-swarms emblems of countless armies by the rivers of Ethiopia, which art sending messengers upon the seas, and in swift, light, papyrus boats along all your waters, to gather allies, and muster all the force of your empire: Go back to your homes, ye swift messengers go back to Ethiopia the tall and strong race, terrible in war from their rise till now, the nation very strong and all-subduing, whose land is seamed with rivers! Jehovah, alone, will destroy the invader!" The energy of the Ethiopian king is so far commended, but the prophet urges that in this case it is not needed, for God proposes to take to himself all the glory of driving back the Assyrian invasion.
I MAN"S ENERGY IS CALLED FOR. Whatsoever a man findeth to do he should do "with his might," "heartily." Success in life greatly depends on the strength and vigor in our touch of life"s duties and claims. Energy includes strength of will, decision, promptness, perseverance, power to overcome obstacles and hindrances, and fertility of resources. Energy is the quality most commended in business life; and it is found to make up for the absence of actual abilities. The man of energy compels life to yield him some of its best. It is thought of as a characteristic of American business life, and is illustrated in the man who put together the blackened rafters and boards of his burnt warehouse, and commenced business again before the great fire was fully quenched, putting up this for a sign, "William D. Kerfoot; all gone, save wife, children, and energy." However much this energy may be a peculiarity of individual disposition, it is also subject to culture, and may be nourished into strength by a firm self-mastery of our life and habits. Exercise thyself thereunto.
II MAN"S ENERGY IS CONSISTENT WITH DEPENDENCE ON GOD. Only the weak man fails to make try harmonize with trust. Here the point may be fully argued and illustrated, that the submission which God seeks is no slavish lying down to bear, which is the Islam, or submission of Mohammedanism, but the submission of an active and cheerful obedience, which expects God"s will to be doing rather than bearing, and carries a noble spirit of watching for God and waiting on him, into every detail of life. To suffer and submit is no very great triumph; to carry the spirit of submission at the heart of our work is the sublime victory of Christian life. And just this is the glory of the energy illustrated in the Apostle Paul. To men"s view "beside himself;" his secret this, "To me to live is Christ.
III MAN"S ENERGY MUST NEVER BE PUT IN THE PLACE OF GOD. But just in this the worldly man is constantly failing. "This is great Babylon, which I have builded." "I will pull down my barns and build greater." "See this business which I have established." "My might, and the strength of my arm, have gotten me this victory." Nothing tends more readily to separate a man from God, and God from a man, than life-success attending energy. And of this great peril the Christian man needs to beware. Even he may find that he has dethroned God from the rule of his life, and raised up in his place the old idol of self, dressed in the garments of "energy.
IV SOMETIMES MAN"S ENERGY MUST BE PUT ASIDE, THAT GOD ALONE MAY WORK. As in this case, the Ethiopian king must stop his hurrying messengers, and be still; for Jehovah would work the needed rescue. There are times m our lives when we cannot work, when we must not work; and in those times we learn how to put energy and enterprise into their right place. God puts us in his school, and teaches us the hard lesson of practically uniting "energy" with "dependence." And yet this is but the same lesson as joining harmoniously together "faith and "works;" or, as the apostle expresses it, "working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Woe to the land shadowing with wings
Isa_18:1-3
Woe to the land shadowing with wings
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The Ethiopians
The people here peculiarly described are the Ethiopians, and the prophet prophesies the effect on Ethiopia of the judgment concerning Assyria which Jehovah executes, as Drechsler has convincingly proved, and as is now universally recognised.
(F. Delitzsch.)
Ethiopia
What land is it of which the prophet speaks? It is no doubt Ethiopia itself, a great kingdom in the olden time. For although he says beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, that is the Blue Nile, and the White Nile, and the Astaboras, the meaning is perhaps more accurately beside those rivers. In any event the ancient land of Ethiopia reached out to the south far beyond the confluence of those rivers in the mighty Nile, including probably all upper Egypt beyond Philae, Nubia, and the northern portion of modern Abyssinia. It was a fertile country, very rich in gold, ivory, ebony, frankincense, and precious stones. A country thickly inhabited by a stalwart well-formed race, men of stature the prophet calls them, who if they were black were yet comely. It was a mighty kingdom for many centuries, a rival of Egypt, sometimes its enemy, and apparently even its conqueror; a kingdom able to make war against the Assyrians, and a kingdom, too, carrying on a great trade by means of abundant merchandise with many people. (A. Ritchie.)
The land shadowing with wings
1. Full of poetic suggestion is the expression shadowing with wings. The thought is of tender protection, as the mother bird hovers over and shields her young. The Psalmist is never tired of crying out to God, Hide me under the covering of Thy wings. It was right that Israel and Judah should cry thus to Jehovah for protection, but not that they should look to the shadowing wings of Ethiopia. Just as it was pathetically true that in later times our Lord should say of the Holy City, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not--so seven hundred years earlier it was true that Judah would not seek refuge under the wings of the Lord, but under the shadowing of Egypt and the covering of Ethiopia.
2. In the Revised Version we have the passage rendered, Ah, the land of the rustling of wings. Some of the old commentators find in this an allusion to the multitude of bees and the swarms of flies in Ethiopia, so that there the hum of wings was never absent. More picturesque is another suggestion, that the reference is to the ever plashing waters of the rivers, hurrying along with swift current, in rapids and through cataracts until the broad bosom of father Nile was reached. The swish and lapping of the rushing waters seemed to the poet like the noise made by the swift flight of many birds, beating the air with strong pinions, as they sweep on towards the horizon.
3. If we turn to the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, we read the text thus: Woe to you, ye wings of the land of ships. What are the wings of the land of ships but the many sails whereby those ships flit hither and thither? One sees before him a new picture. The graceful dahabiehs with their long yards and triangular sails, dotting the water everywhere, and naturally suggesting great sea birds, with outspread wings, shining in the starlight white and ghostly on the calm surface of the mysterious river which is Egypts life.
4. Some of the more acute Hebrew scholars point out that it is possible to understand the prophets language in yet another way: Woe to the land where the shadow falleth both ways, that is, of course, near the Equator, where sometimes the shadows stretch out to the south and sometimes to the north, according to the time of the year. If we understand our text so, it is natural to see in it an allusion to the fickleness of the Ethiopians, a nation which Judah vainly trusted in, since today it would be found an ally and tomorrow an enemy. (A. Ritchie.)
The prophets charge to the Ethiopian ambassadors
Ethiopia (Hebrews, Cush) corresponds generally to the modern Soudan (i.e., the blacks)
. Egypt and Ethiopia were at this time ruled by Tirkakah (704-685). His ambassadors are in Jerusalem offering an alliance against the Assyrian; and the prophet sends them back to their people with the words, Go, ye swift messengers, etc. Jehovah needs no help against His enemies. (A. B.Davidson, LL. D.)
Note
Full stop at waters (Isa_18:2), and omit saying. The prophet speaks: Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth . . . a nation all-powerful and subduing, whose land rivers divide (intersect). Smooth may refer to the glancing, bronzed skin of the people. (A. B.Davidson, LL. D.)
Vessels of bulrushes
It is well known that timber proper for building ships was very scarce in Egypt: to supply this deficiency, the Egyptians used bulrushes, or a reed called papyrus, of which they made vessels fit for sailing. Ships and boats built of this sort of materials, being extremely light, and drawing very little water, were admirably suited to traverse the Nile, along the banks of which there were doubtless many morasses and shoals. They were also very convenient and easy to be managed at the waterfalls, where they might be carried with no great difficulty to smooth water. From such circumstances as these, we may conclude, that they would sail exceeding fast, and afford a very speedy conveyance of all kinds of intelligence from one part of the country to another, and from Egypt to neighbouring nations. In them, therefore, ambassadors or messengers were often sent to different places with various kinds of information, after having received their orders in terms such as these, Go, ye swift messengers. (R. Macculloch.)
They were made for folding together, so that they could be carried past the cataracts. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain I. Consider the characteristics of the Divine dwelling-place. God’s…
Isa 18:4
I. Consider the characteristics of the Divine dwelling-place. God’s works are not enough for Him. He dwells with His people. He takes delight in His people. God’s chosen residence is a renewed nature; the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, but the humble heart can. God dwells more really in the renewed soul than He could possibly in the curtained tabernacle or the shechinahed temple in days of old; and the music of the stringed instruments is poor compared with the melody the heart makes to God. To that celestial shrine neither man nor angel indeed can come; but Jesus can enter, and then, "The Lord said unto me, I will take my rest."
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II. "I will consider." Exceeding sublime are all those passages in which the calm of the Divine mind is contrasted with the passion and the agitation of human affairs. We see here the perfect knowledge God has of the ways of His enemies.
III. See here the illustrations of Divine consideration, the loving and beautiful result. "Like a clear heat." There shall be impulse, not passion; growth, not force; light and life, not fury and blast. Happy they on whom the Lord thus rests, freshening and brightening; and if the Lord rests on us, if His hand is on us, we shall know it, for we shall be able to rest on Him.
E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 438.
References: Isa 21:1-10.—S. Cox, An Expositor’s Note-book, p. 183. Isa 21:11.—W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 193; H. J. Robjohns, Ibid., vol. xiv., p. 152; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 219.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Ethiopia Reassured
Ethiopia Reassured
Isaiah here addresses the Ethiopians, who, agitated at the advance of the Assyrians west-ward, were sending ambassadors to other states to organise resistance. He foretells the sudden overthrow of the Assyrians, as in Isa_10:28-34; Isa_14:24-27; Isa_17:12-14 and this prophecy should accordingly be grouped with those, as relating to Sennacherib's great invasion in the reign of Hezekiah,701 b.c.
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1-3. The Ethiopians need not be anxious, but are bidden, with all nations, to watch.
4-6. For Jehovah will interpose and utterly ruin the Assyrian plans.
7. On witnessing the deliverance, Ethiopia will render homage to Jehovah.
1. RV 'Ah, the land of the rustling of wings,' probably alluding to the buzzing swarms of flies characteristic of Ethiopia (the land between the Upper Nile and the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf), but some see a reference to the disk with wings, which appears in ancient Egyptian paintings as a symbol of Ethiopian sovereignty.
2. Vessels of bulrushes] i.e. made of papyrus, such as are still in use on the Nile. Omit saying and understand the exhortation Go ye, etc., as addressed by the prophet to the Ethiopian ambassadors, bidding them return home and prepare their nation, not for war, but to be spectators (Isa_18:3) of what follows. A nation scattered, etc.] AV implies that the reference is to Judah; but we should doubtless take it as referring to the Ethiopians, and read, 'a nation tall and. smooth.. that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide' (RV). Notice in all these short prophecies the familiarity of Isaiah, not only with the physical features of the different countries, but with their national characteristics: cp. Isa_16:6; Isaiah 19.
4. The v. vividly depicts the calmness of Jehovah in contrast to the unrest amongst the nations. Like.. herbs] RM 'when there is clear heat in sunshine.'
5. When the bud.. flower] RV 'when the blossom is over and the flower becometh a ripening grape.' The Assyrian plans are maturing (under apparently favourable conditions, Isa_18:4), but just as they become ripe they are suddenly marred. The sudden overthrow of the Assyrians is similarly foretold, Isa_10:17; Isa_14:25; Isa_17:13. Leaving the figure, the prophet refers to the corpses of the slain.
7. A people scattered] Correct the rendering as in Isa_18:2.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain When Israel Will be Brought Back
CHAPTER 18
When Israel Will be Brought Back
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1. The land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (Isa 18:1) 2. The ambassadors sent (Isa 18:2) 3. The trumpet blown and Jehovah’s Message (Isa 18:3-6) 4. Israel restored to Mount Zion (Isa 18:7)An interesting prophecy concerning a nation of great power, which will be used in the bringing back of God’s ancient people.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Prophecy against Ethiopia.
Prophecy against Ethiopia.
v. 1. Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, the land of Cush in the upper reaches of the Nile, the land of whirring wings, where tropical insects are found in great numbers,
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v. 2. that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, traversing the waters of that far country, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, light and fleet boats made of the papyrus-reed, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, rather, extended far and polished, gleaming, or shining, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a handsome, ruling, and victorious people, one of great hidden beauty and power; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled, literally, "a nation of line, line," and treading under foot, under the command of Ethiopic kings, whose rule often bordered upon oppression, and whose land was carried down the Nile in the annual inundations. This entire powerful nation is stirred up by the messengers of the kings, full of excitement on account of the danger of the Assyrian invasion.
v. 3. All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see ye, always on the lookout for important happenings, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains, really, with an impersonal subject, when one does this, when this happens; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. The signals for the combat having been given, all the people concerned should be watching, for something of great moment will happen.
v. 4. For so the Lord said unto me, I will take My rest, and I will consider in My dwelling-place, calmly looking on, apparently without the intention of interfering, like a clear heat upon herbs, while it is pleasantly warm in the sunlight, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest, while the plants, refreshed by the heavy dew of the harvest season, grow to maturity. It seems that the Lord is letting things go on as they please, that He is not actively interested in the affairs of the world; but it only seems so to such as do not know Him.
v. 5. For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, after the blossom has withered, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, while the fruit is slowly maturing, He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks and take away and cut down the branches. Then the Lord would overthrow their present plans and prevent them from forming any future ones.
v. 6. They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, the birds of prey feeding on their carcasses, and to the beasts of the earth, to the foxes, hyenas, and jackals; and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them, finding abundance of food the year around on the field of battle.
v. 7. In that time, in the Messianic period, shall the present, namely, a tribute or sacrificial gift, be brought unto the Lord of hosts, the true God, of a people scattered and peeled and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, Cf v. 2; 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, the Church of Jesus Christ. In the very midst of a prophecy describing the punishment meted out by God we have this Messianic promise. The Christian Church gained a foothold in Ethiopia and Abyssinia at a very early date and flourished there for many centuries.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Woe to the land of the rustling of wings,…
Woe to the land of the rustling of wings, which is along the rivers of Cush
Possible meanings of "the rustling of wings" are 1) the boats that have sails are spoken of as having wings. AT: "Woe to those who live in the land beyond the rivers of Cush, whose many ships look like insects on the water" or 2) the rustling of wings refers to the noise of insects that have wings, perhaps locusts. (See: Metaphor)
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by the sea
The Nile River was very wide, and people in Egypt and Cush referred to it as "the sea." AT: "on the great river" or "along the Nile River" (See: Metaphor)
vessels of papyrus
Papyrus is a tall plant that grows along the side of the Nile River. People bound together papyrus bundles to make boats. AT: "papyrus boats" or "boats made of reeds" or (See: Translate Unknowns)
a nation tall and smooth ... a people feared far and near ... a nation strong and trampling down, whose land the rivers divide
These phrases all describe the people of one nation.
a nation tall and smooth
The word "nation" here refers to the people of that nation. AT: "a nation whose people are tall and have smooth skin" (See: Metonymy)
a people feared far and near
The words "far" and "near" are used together to mean "everywhere." AT: "a people who are feared everywhere" or "a people that everyone in the earth fears" (See: Merism)
a nation strong and trampling down
Trampling down represents conquering other nations. AT: "a nation that is strong and conquers other nations" (See: Metonymy)
the rivers divide
This probably refers to many rivers that flow through the nation so they divide it into different parts.
translationWords
woe
Ethiopia
ambassador
water
nation
people group
fear
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 18:1 Ethiopia was at the southern extremity of the…
18:1 Ethiopia was at the southern extremity of the kingdom of Egypt. At the time, Egypt was ruled by the dynasty of the Ethiopian Piankhi.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.