Isaiah 18:1-3

Woe to the land shadowing with wings

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 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.)

The prophet’s 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” (Isaiah 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.)