Глава 18

1–7. The danger threatening Ethiopia and the salvation of Ethiopia. Isaiah 18:1–7. As if anticipating the impending danger, the Ethiopians send ambassadors to Judea to conclude a defensive alliance, but the prophet advises his fellow citizens to send these ambassadors back. The Assyrians - of course, the prophet means them by the enemies of Ethiopia - will humble this strong people, although they themselves will be struck by God at the moment of the highest tension of their military activity. This last circumstance will force the Ethiopians to recognize the power of the true God. Isa.18:1. Woe to the land that spreads its wings on the other side of the Ethiopian rivers, "Woe to the earth". Translated from the Hebrew text: “O land filled with the sound of wings!” Ethiopia is so named because there have always been a lot of flies in it. The local Tsetse fly is especially famous, which is also hinted at by the prophet’s expression zilzal (cf. Isa. 7:18). “Rivers of the Ethiopians” - in Hebrew. naharei chusch. Ethiopia or Kush (see Interpretation of the Bible, vol. 2, p. 514) was located south of Egypt. Its borders were the rivers: Nile, Astap and Astabor. Therefore, to the prophet, a resident of Palestine located north of Egypt, Ethiopia seemed to be a country lying beyond these rivers. The Ethiopian kings in the era of Isaiah took possession of upper Egypt and sought to subjugate even lower Egypt, and then extend their conquests to Asia, and they certainly had to come into conflict with Assyria. Isa.18:2. sending messengers across the sea, and in papyrus ships across the waters! Go, swift ambassadors, to a strong and vigorous people, to a terrible people from the beginning to this day, to a tall people who trample on everything, whose land is cut by rivers. "Sending Ambassadors". The Ethiopian king Tirgak, as can be seen from the chronicles of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, sent ambassadors to the Philistines and Jews with the aim of offering them an alliance against Assyria. "By the sea". The Egyptians called the river the sea. The Nile, like the Greek writers, gave the same great river the name ωχεανος. And now the White and Blue Nile are called seas. The capital of King Tirgaki, the city of Napata, was located on the Nile River, at the fourth cataract of this river, where the Nile receives many tributaries. "In Papyrus". These are the lightest vessels made from Egyptian reed, which now no longer grows in Egypt, but remains only in Abyssinia (cf. Job 8:11; Job 9:26). "Go". The Prophet sends these Ethiopian ambassadors back, thereby making it clear that Judea, protected by the Most High Himself, does not need an alliance with the Ethiopian king and his people, although they are a “strong and kind” people (translated from Hebrew, tall and with shiny skin), “terrible from the beginning” (in the Hebrew text: “formidable even from afar”), “tall” (in Hebrew: tall and shiny skin). text: “lord” - kav kav) and “all-trampling” (i.e. great) conqueror, as he became known since the accession of King Pianka, i.e. from 766. “Rivers are cut” - that is, numerous canals. Isa.18:3. All of you who inhabit the universe and live on earth! see when the banner rises on the mountains, and when the trumpet sounds, listen! The prophet calls on all the nations of the earth to pay attention to what the Lord will do to punish the Assyrians, who have caused so much evil to all nations. Everyone will be notified of this defeat awaiting the Assyrians as if by certain military signals. Isa.18:4. For this is what the Lord said to me: I calmly look out from My dwelling, like bright warmth after rain, like a cloud of dew during the heat of the harvest. The Lord revealed to the prophet that until the time determined by Him, He would not intervene in the affairs of Assur. He even, apparently, helps Assur reach the extreme limits of his violence against other states, just as the warmth of the sun and dew contribute to the ripening of a cornfield. Isa.18:5. For before the grapes are harvested, when they bloom and the grapes begin to ripen, He will cut off the branches with a knife and take away and chop off the branches. Isa.18:6. And they will leave everything to the birds of prey on the mountains and to the beasts of the field; and the birds will spend the summer there, and all the beasts of the field will winter there. But the Lord will completely unexpectedly crush the power of Assyria. When the grapes begin to ripen, the Lord will cut off all the vines with a sickle and everything that remains from the rich vineyard will be provided for the use of birds of prey and animals that will settle in this former vineyard. This symbolically depicts the fall of the Assyrian state. Isa.18:7. At that time, a gift will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a strong and vigorous people, from a terrible people from the beginning to this day, from a tall and trampling people, whose land is cut by rivers, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion. The Ethiopians will see in the defeat of Assur a miracle of the Lord’s omnipotence and will send gifts - offerings to His temple in Jerusalem. “To the place of the name” - that is, to where the Lord especially reveals His power. Special notes. The prophecy about Ethiopia was spoken by a prophet, probably around 702, when Sennacherib's expedition to Palestine was being prepared. From chapters 30 and 31. from the book of the prophet Isaiah, we learn that in Jerusalem at that time they were strongly counting on the help of Egypt and it is very possible that in the 18th chapter. the prophet is referring specifically to the embassy of the Ethiopian and Egyptian king Tirgaki to Hezekiah, which was supposed to encourage Hezekiah to continue resistance to the Assyrians. The entire chapter 18 can be divided into two stanzas - the first will embrace the first three verses, the second - verses 4-6. Verse 7 is closer to prosaic speech. The verses in the prophecy are asymmetrical (2, 3 and 2, 2, 2). You might be interested in: