“To us, this brief
chapter is the most difficult one of all the sixty-six chapters of Isaiah.”
(Bultema) “Although the prophecy is
a short one, it probably ranks as the most obscure chapter in this entire
section.” (Wolf) “This is one of the most obscure prophecies in the whole Book
of Isaiah.” (Clarke)
A. No need to make an
alliance with Ethiopia.
1.
(1-2) A word directed to Ethiopia.
Woe to the land shadowed
with buzzing wings, which is beyond
the rivers of Ethiopia, wich sends ambassadors by sea, even in vessels of reed
on the waters, saying, “Go, swift
messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of
skin, to a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation powerful
and treading down, whose land the rivers divide.”
a. Which
is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: In the days of Isaiah, Ethiopia was a major world power, ruling Egypt
and a chief rival to Assyria. Since Judah was caught in the middle between this
conflict, it might make sense for Judah to align herself with Ethiopia against
Assyria.
i. “In 715 b.c. an Ethiopian named Shabako gained control of Egypt as founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty. Ethiopian domination continued until 633 b.c. when a native Egyptian regained the throne.” (Wolf)
ii. “The term designates a much
larger area than present-day Eithiopia - an area including the Sudan and
Somalia.” (Grogan)
b. Shadowed with buzzing wings: The Nile Valley is famous for its many whirring insects.
c. Which
sends ambassadors by sea: The scene pictures Ethiopian ambassadors who come to make an alliance with
Judah and the other nations of the region against Assyria.
d. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin: As the Ethiopian ambassadors invite Judah to rebel against the Assyrians, they ask Judah to send swift messengers back to Ethiopia (to a nation tall and smooth of skin . . . a nation powerful), and the Ethiopians would hope to hear that Judah has rebelled against Assyria and aligned itself with Ethiopia and Egypt.
2.
(3-6) The Lord rejects the offer
of help from the Ethiopians.
All inhabitants of the
world and dwellers on the earth: When he lifts up a banner on the mountains,
you see it; and when he blows a
trumpet, you hear it. For so the Lord said to me, “I will take My rest,
and I will look from My dwelling place like clear heat in sunshine, like a
cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” For before the harvest, when the bud is
perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He will both cut off the
sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and
cut down the branches. They will be left together for the mountain birds of
prey and for the beasts of the earth; the birds of prey will summer on them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.
a. The Lord said to me, “I will take My rest”: The Lord God rejects the alliance with Ethiopia, because He is more than able to deal with the Assyrians Himself. He can take His rest without the help of the Ethiopians. If God wanted to muster an army against Assyria, He would have raised a banner or sounded a trumpet. He is fully able to do it, and would do it when the time is right.
i. Significantly, there is no rebuke or judgment against Ethiopia announced in this chapter. It wasn’t as if God was going to judge Ethiopia for their offer of an alliance. Perhaps the idea is that it is a well intentioned but unnecessary offer. Instead, Judah was to trust in the Lord!
b. He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut the branches: God can “prune” Assyria all by Himself. He will destroy the Assyrian army so completely that they will be left together for the mountain birds of prey.
B. Ethiopians come and
worship God.
1. (7) A present will be brought to the Lord of hosts: Isaiah announces a day when Ethiopians will come and worship the Lord, and bring gifts to Him to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion.
In that time a present
will be brought to the Lord of
hosts from a people tall and smooth of
skin, and from a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation
powerful and treading down, whose land the rivers divide; to the place of the
name of the Lord of hosts, to
Mount Zion.
a. Instead of Israelite messengers bringing news to Ethiopia of an alliance against the Assyria, the day will come when Ethiopians will come and worship at Mount Zion.
2.
This may have been fulfilled in some way close to Isaiah’s time. But we know it
was fulfilled in Acts 8:26-40, when an Ethiopian came to worship the Lord at Jerusalem, and then trusted in
Jesus at the preaching of Philip. It was also fulfilled in the strong Ethiopian
church the first few centuries, and the enduring Ethiopian church today.
© 2001 David Guzik - No
distribution beyond personal use without permission