Isaiah Chapter 18

PROPHECY AGAINST ETHIOPIA

 

Does the injustice in the world sometimes get to you? Do you get tired of the arrogant attitudes so prevalent in our society today? Does the egotism and self-absorption of our culture frustrate you? Have you tried to witness to someone and been met with condescension from people who create their own god according to their liking? Or perhaps you are weary of the beautiful people who are consumed with their appearance and the latest styles, almost to the point of worshipping themselves.

Maybe, like us, you shudder in horror when you think of the fate that awaits people who disdain the Lord God of Heaven and who relegate the Sovereign God to just another place among the “gods.” What follows here in Isaiah deals with two nations, both starting with the letter “E,” who also were arrogant. Let’s find out what God, through Isaiah, had to say to Ethiopia and Egypt.

Isaiah 18:1,2 NAS:
1 Alas, oh land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush,
2 Which sends envoys by the sea, Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, To a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation Whose land the rivers divide.

Chapter 18 begins like chapter 16 with the arrival of foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem. In chapter 16 the Moabites were pleading for help in their time of need. Here the Ethiopians are in all probability trying to persuade Judah to join them in a revolt against the Assyrians. Chapters 20 and 31 contain other prophecies about Ethiopia and Egypt and the same theme runs through them all. Egypt was ruled by an Ethiopian dynasty during Isaiah’s lifetime and this is reflected in the fact that Egypt and Ethiopia are mentioned in one phrase in chapter 20, and also grouped together in chapters 18 and 19.[fn] Ethiopia (Cush) was located just south of the nation of Egypt.

It is possible that “wings” in verse 1 is a reference to  the sails of Ethiopia’s elegant ships. Vessels of woven papyrus were a familiar sight on the rivers of ancient Ethiopia and Egypt. Herodotus, writing in the 5th century B.C. described the Ethiopians as “the tallest and most beautiful of men.” 

Isaiah’s reaction to the arrival of these visitors is to first tell them that they should quickly take Judah’s answer back to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian king had heard that Assyria’s great army was marching south towards them. He sent messengers up the Nile River asking the surrounding nations to form an alliance. Judah was also asked to join, but Isaiah told the messenger to return home because Judah needed only God’s help to turn back the Assyrians. Isaiah prophesied that Assyria would be destroyed at the proper time.

Isaiah 18:3,4:
3 All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth, as soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.
4 For thus the Lord has told me, “I will look from My dwelling place quietly like dazzling heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

Isaiah calls upon all the people of the world to witness what is about to happen. Finally Isaiah delivers the word of the Lord in verse 4. The prophet advised the Cushites to go back home and not try to form an alliance because the Lord would defeat the enemy at the proper time. The Lord promised through Isaiah that when the time would come to fight the Assyrians, the people of Judah would know it and would see the enemy fall.[fn] God’s plans would linger much like the summer heat and harvest dew.

Isaiah 18:5,6 NAS:
5 For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms and the flower becomes a ripening grape, then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives and remove and cut away the spreading branches.
6 They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, and for the beasts of the earth; and the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, and all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.

The Lord told Isaiah that He would wait till the proper time to cut off the enemy. Isaiah had already been given the reason for this (Isaiah 10:12, 25, 32). But the Assyrian army first had to complete the task God gave them, to punish the people of Israel by taking them captive. However, once God’s purposes had been accomplished He would intervene and cut off the Assyrians (verse 5) just when they, like grapes, were beginning to ripen, to extend their empire. They would be killed and would be left on the mountains as food for wild birds in the summer and wild animals in the winter.

Isaiah 18:7 NAS:
7 At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the Lord of hosts From a people tall and smooth, Even from a people feared far and wide, a powerful and oppressive nation, whose land the rivers divide— To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, even Mount Zion.

After the Assyrian defeat, the Lord would cause the people of Cush (verses 1,2) to take gifts to the Lord at Mount Zion, where the Lord dwells (Deuteronomy 12:5). Whether this occurred after the fall of Assyria is not known. But Isaiah was most likely speaking of the millennial kingdom when peoples from around the world will worship the Lord (Zechariah 14:16) because of His gracious acts. This is a theme we’ll see consistently mentioned in all the oracles (burdens) referring to specific countries in Isaiah’s writings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isaiah

John

Romans

1 Peter


© Ron Teed - Used by permission. All rights Reserved.