Isaiah 18:2
which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.
Sermons
EthiopiaA. Ritchie.Isaiah 18:1-3
NoteA. B. Davidson, LL. D.Isaiah 18:1-3
The EthiopiansF. Delitzsch.Isaiah 18:1-3
The Land Shadowing with WingsA. Ritchie.Isaiah 18:1-3
The Prophet's Charge to the Ethiopian AmbassadorsA. B. Davidson, LL. D.Isaiah 18:1-3
Vessels of BulrushesR. Macculloch., F. Delitzsch, D. D.Isaiah 18:1-3
The Patience of PowerW. Clarkson Isaiah 18:1-6
Homage of Ethiopia to JehovahE. Johnson Isaiah 18:1-7














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 Psalm 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.

Woe to the land shadowing with wings.
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.)

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.)

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 Egypt's life.

4. Some of the more acute Hebrew scholars point out that it is possible to understand the prophet's 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.)

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.)

Full stop at "waters" (ver. 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.)

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.)

People
Isaiah
Places
Cush, Mount Zion
Topics
Aggressive, Ambassadors, Awesome, Beginning, Boats, Bulrushes, Causing, Conquering, Continued, Crushing, Cut, Divide, Divided, Drawn, Embassadors, Envoys, Existence, Face, Fear, Feared, Fearful, Floods, Glossy, Haters, History, Hitherto, Implements, Laid, Line, Measured, Measures, Meeting, Messengers, Meted, Meteth, Mighty, Nation, Nile, O, Onward, Onwards, Oppressive, Papyrus, Peeled, Powerful, Quickly, Ravaged, Reed, Representatives, Rivers, Saying, Scattered, Sendest, Sending, Sends, Ships, Skin, Smooth, Smooth-skinned, Speech, Spoiled, Strange, Strong, Sturdy, Surface, Swift, Tall, Terrible, Thenceforth, Treadeth, Treading, Treads, Trodden, Vessels, Waiting, Waste, Waters
Outline
1. God, in care of his people, will destroy the Ethiopians
7. An accession thereby shall be made to the church

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 18:2

     4494   papyrus
     5307   envoy

Library
The Christians' Call to the Gypies. --Isa. xviii. 7
The Christians' Call to the Gypies.--Isa. xviii. 7. Christians. Gypsies. Christians. Gypsies. Christians and Gypsies. Strangers, whence came ye to the West; Are ye the offspring of the sun, That from his rising to his rest, Through every clime he shines on, run? So bright of eye, so dark of hue, Surely your sire hath look'd on you. Of higher lineage than the sun, (But where our birthplace none can show,) His track in heaven, on earth we run, From where the waves of Ganges flow, Or Nile's mysterious
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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