Isaiah 18:2

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 18:1-7

Alliance with Ethiopia refused (18:1-7)Along the upper reaches of the Nile River was the country known as Ethiopia (RSV), Sudan (GNB) or Cush (NIV). It was a land of tall smooth-skinned people, but also a land plagued by swarms of buzzing insects. From this country a group of government representatives came to visit Judah, travelling down the Nile and across to Jerusalem. They apparently hoped to gain Hezekiah’s cooperation in an attack against Assyria. Isaiah sends them back as he had done the... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Isaiah 18:2

the sea = the Nile. So called by the inhabitants of the Sudan to-day. bulrushes = reeds. Not the papyrus, but its companion reed, the ambach, which reaches a height of fifteen feet and has yellow flowers. scattered and peeled = "tall and smooth-faced". terrible. They formed the armies of "So" or Sha-baka, and are the backbone of the Anglo-Egyptian army. whose land the rivers have spoiled: i.e. the "sudd" or swamps (hence Sudan). The Dinka and Shilluk negroes live on the floating cakes of... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 18:2

2. ambassadors—messengers sent to Jerusalem at the time that negotiations passed between Tirhakah and Hezekiah against the expected attack of Sennacherib ( :-). by . . . sea—on the Nile (Isaiah 19:5): as what follows proves. vessels of bulrushes—light canoes, formed of papyrus, daubed over with pitch: so the "ark" in which Moses was exposed (Exodus 2:3). Go—Isaiah tells them to take back the tidings of what God is about to do (Exodus 2:3- :) against the common enemy of both Judah and Ethiopia.... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 18:1-3

The land that lies beyond the rivers of Cush was Cush (Nubia), notable for its ships, whose sails looked like the whirring wings of insects over water from a distance. Another view of the whirling wings is that they represent swarming hordes of people, including soldiers. [Note: Young, 1:474-75.] Cush was at the end of the earth in Isaiah’s day and therefore symbolized the ends of the earth; it was a great distance from Judah. Some scholars believe Cush lay within what is now Ethiopia, but... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 18:1-7

Ethiopia ReassuredIsaiah here addresses the Ethiopians, who, agitated at the advance of the Assyrians west-ward, were sending ambassadors to other states to organise resistance. He foretells the sudden overthrow of the Assyrians, as in Isaiah 10:28-34; Isaiah 14:24-27; Isaiah 17:12-14 and this prophecy should accordingly be grouped with those, as relating to Sennacherib’s great invasion in the reign of Hezekiah,701 b.c.1-3. The Ethiopians need not be anxious, but are bidden, with all nations,... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 18:2

(2) That sendeth ambassadors . . .—The words point to the embassies which the Ethiopian king had sent, in the papyrus boats used for the navigation of the Upper Nile, down that river to Hezekiah and other princes, inviting them to join the alliance against Assyria.Go, ye swift messengers . . .—The interpolated “saying” being omitted, the words that follow are as the prophet’s address to the messengers, as he sends them back to their own people. Instead of “scattered and peeled, “we are to read... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 18:1-7

32CHAPTER XVIIISAIAH TO THE FOREIGN NATIONS736-702 B.C.Isaiah 14:24-32; Isaiah 15:1-9; Isaiah 16:1-14; Isaiah 17:1-14; Isaiah 18:1-7; Isaiah 19:1-25; Isaiah 20:1-6; Isaiah 21:1-17; Isaiah 23:1-18THE centre of the Book of Isaiah (chapters 13 to 23) is occupied by a number of long and short prophecies which are a fertile source of perplexity to the conscientious reader of the Bible. With the exhilaration of one who traverses plain roads and beholds vast prospects, he has passed through the... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Isaiah 18:1-7

CHAPTER 18 When Israel Will be Brought Back 1. The land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (Isaiah 18:1 ) 2. The ambassadors sent (Isaiah 18:2 ) 3. The trumpet blown and Jehovah’s Message (Isaiah 18:3-6 ) 4. Israel restored to Mount Zion (Isaiah 18:7 ) An interesting prophecy concerning a nation of great power, which will be used in the bringing back of God’s ancient people. read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Isaiah 18:2

18:2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of {b} bulrushes upon the waters, [saying], {c} Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and stripped, to a {d} people terrible from their beginning to this time; a nation measured by line and trodden down, whose land the {e} rivers have laid waste!(b) Which is those countries were great, so much so that they made ships from them for swiftness.(c) This may be taken that they sent others to comfort the Jews and to promise them help... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Isaiah 18:1-7

JUDGMENT ON GENTILE NATIONS This is a long lesson to read, but the study put upon it need not be proportioned to its length. There is a sameness in the chapters, and their contents are not unlike what we reviewed in the preceding lesson. Note the names of the nations and their contiguity to God’s chosen people. They have come in contact with their history again and again, which is why they are singled out for special mention. It will be well here to review what was said about these Gentile... read more

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