Isaiah 18:1

The word rendered woeis here neither a -cry of pity" nor (as usually in Isaiah) of indignation. It is simply a particle of salutation (heus) as in ch. Isaiah 55:1; Zechariah 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" çělâçâlor çilçalmeans a kind of "locust" (Deuteronomy 28:42), a "harpoon" (Job 41:7, A.V. "fish-spears"), and a very similar form means "cymbals" (Psalms 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 Isaiah 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.

beyond the rivers of Ethiopia The phrase is repeated in Zephaniah 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 (Ezekiel 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.).