Isaiah 18

18:1 An, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: 2 that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people terrible from their begin- 3 ning onward; a nation that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide! All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, when an ensign is lifted up on the 4 mountains, see ye; and when the trumpet is blown, hear ye. For thus hath the LORD said unto me, I will be still, and I will behold in my dwelling place; like clear heat in sunshine, 5 like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. For afore the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, he shall cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and 6 the spreading branches shall he take away and cut down. They shall be left together unto the ravenous birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the ravenous birds 7 shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. In that time shall a present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people tall and smooth, and from a people terrible from their beginning onward; a nation that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

19:1 The burden of Egypt.

Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh unto Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2 And I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom 3 against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall be made void in the midst of it; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek unto the idols, and to the charmers, and to 4 them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. And I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of 5 hosts. And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become dry. 6 And the rivers shall stink; the streams of Egypt shall be minished and dried up: the reeds 7 and flags shall wither away. The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all 8 that is sown by the Nile, shall become dry, be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall lament, and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and they that spread nets 9 upon the waters shall languish. Moreover they that work in combed flax, and they that 10 weave white cloth, shall be ashamed. And her pillars shall be broken in pieces, all they that 11 work for hire shall be grieved in soul. The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the counsel of the wisest counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son 12 of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where then are thy wise men? and let them tell thee 13 now; and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt. The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have caused Egypt 14 to go astray, that are the corner stone of her tribes. The LORD hath mingled a spirit of per- verseness in the midst of her: and they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work 15 thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do. 16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall tremble and fear because of the 17 shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it. And the land of Judah shall become a terror unto Egypt, every one to whom mention is made thereof shall be afraid, because of the purpose of the LORD of hosts, which he purposeth against it. 18 In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called The city of destruction. 19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a 20 pillar at the border thereof to the LORD. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a defender, and he shall deliver them. 21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day; yea, they shall worship with sacrifice and oblation, and shall vow a vow unto the LORD, 22 and shall perform it. And the LORD shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing; and they shall return unto the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them. 23 In that day shall there be a high way out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians. 24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst 25 of the earth: for that the LORD of hosts hath blessed them, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

20:1 In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent 2 him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it; at that time the LORD spake by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put thy shoe from 3 off thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder upon 4 Egypt and upon Ethiopia; so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to 5 the shame of Egypt. And they shall be dismayed and ashamed, because of Ethiopia their 6 expectation, and of Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this coastland shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and we, how shall we escape?

Chap. 18. The two great powers of Western Asia, in the days of Isaiah, were Assyria and Egypt or Ethiopia, the last two being wholly or partially united under Tirhakah, whose name and exploits are recorded in Egyptian monuments still extant, and who is expressly said in Scripture (2 K. 19:9) to have come out against Sennacherib. With one or the other of these great contending powers, Judah was commonly confederate, and of course at war with the other. Hezekiah is explicitly reproached by Rabshakeh (Isa. 36:9) with relying upon Egypt—i.e., the Ethiopico-Egyptian empire. These historical facts, together with the mention of Cush in verse 1, and the appropriateness of the figures in verses 4, 5, to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, give great probability to the hypothesis now commonly adopted, that the prophet here announces that event to Ethiopia, as about to be effected by a direct interposition of Jehovah, and without human aid. At the same time, some of the expressions here employed admit of so many interpretations, that it is best to give the whole as wide an application as the language will admit, on the ground that it constitutes a part of a generic prophecy or picture of God’s dealings with the foes of His people, including illustrations drawn from particular events, such as the downfall of Syria and Israel, and the slaughter of Sennacherib’s army.

The prophet first invites the attention of the

Ethiopians and of the whole world to a great catastrophe as near at hand (verses 1-3). He then describes the catastrophe itself, by the beautiful figure of a vine or vineyard suffered to blossom and bear fruit, and then, when almost ready to be gathered, suddenly destroyed (verses 4-6). In consequence of this event, the same people who had been invoked in the beginning of the chapter are described as bringing presents to Jehovah at Jerusalem (verse 7). A.

The people specially described here are the Ethiopians, coupled with the Egyptians. Let it be borne in mind that a deep and rankling antipathy had for ages pervaded the two great rival kingdoms that sat respectively on the Nile and on the Euphrates. These valleys were the natural centres of wealth, population and political power, the one for Northern Africa, the other for Western Asia. Hence from the very founding of these kingdoms, Egypt and Assyria, far back at least as the age of Joseph and Moses, savage and bitter wars were waged between these great powers. Ethiopia was naturally associated with Egypt. That they were in closest alliance at this time is certified not only by profane history, but by historic notices in the Scriptures (2 K. 19:9 and Isa. 37:9).

The keynote to this chap. 18 is the sending of tidings of the overthrow of the Assyrian army to Ethiopia, and the moral results. In that vast slaughter, the mighty God had shown