Глава 18

1–2. Woe to the land that spreads its wings on the other side of the Ethiopian rivers, sending messengers across the sea and in papyrus vessels 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 down everything, whose land is cut by rivers (Is. 18:1-2). They will go to a language without hope and trampled upon. Your help will not be able to accomplish anything, and you will be like people who travel in vain. They send messages and messengers to the sea, who spend their lives far from their homeland and in a foreign land. To prevent the messages from being destroyed by time, they make them in the shape of rivers. “Woe to the land that spreads its wings on the other side of the Ethiopian rivers.” Aquila: “woe to the earth with shadows,” and Symmachus: “woe to the earth, in which the cry of the trampled without hope is heard,” either because their wings were very weakened, or because they lived on the other side of the Ethiopian or northern river. How will they send Indians into the country and get help? “She who sends ambassadors 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.” And Symmachus: “who sent messengers across the sea and vessels made of papyrus, so that they would go on the water to the people without hope living on the other side of the earth.” 3. “All of you who inhabit the universe and live on earth! look when the banner rises on the mountains, and when the trumpet sounds, listen!” (Isaiah 18:3). “Now the rivers of the earth... like a country are populated” 115. Those who are weak by nature will be all the more weakened by the attack of the warring forces. “Like the country is populated,” namely, their country will be decorated with beautiful buildings. “When the banner of the Lord rises on the mountains, and when the trumpet sounds, listen!” , i.e. what is said and then will be accomplished - do not think, says the prophet, what is announced in my words: I would not call you all as witnesses if I did not have hope that this would be fulfilled in the future. The majestic and marvelous thing is that this saying is not pronounced in any solitary place and not in private, i.e. secretly, but in front of everyone, like a trumpet filling the universe with its sound, so that the height of virtues would come and go around the entire universe. 4. “For thus the Lord said to me: I look calmly from My habitation, like bright warmth after the rain, like a cloud of dew during the heat of the harvest” (Is. 18:4). Let them not call this doubtful: just as the sun is brighter at noon, so it is now; therefore, do not be afraid. "Like a cloud of dew during the heat of the harvest". Just as clouds bring comfort to those who are heated from the heat of the sun, because with their shadow they reduce the heat of the sun, and not only shade, but also cool, so God’s salvation will come to them as a comfort from the evil that threatens them. 5–6. “For before the grapes are gathered, when they bloom and the grapes begin to ripen, He will cut off the branches with a knife and take away and cut off the branches. 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” (Is. 18:5-6). They will be taken from among the living and will be deprived of the honor of burial, and great and small will be cut out as if with sickles, so that even the bodies of your dead will not be able to enter the tombs. Wanting to show the horror of the disaster, the prophet says that as many people will die as once in the desert. The Jews saw the corpses of enemies on the shore, thrown out of the sea: those whom they feared and feared were seen thrown ashore, naked, unarmed and without burial. Then this was done for a general spectacle, and they saw neither wounds nor blows, but dead and abandoned bodies. 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 until now, from a nation that is strong and tramples down everything, whose land is cut by rivers, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion” (Is. 18:7). When this is accomplished and crowned with a trophy, then they will give victory and glory to the Lord. What they could not accomplish with their valor, the Lord then accomplished with His strength. “The language is hopeless and trampled, like that of the rivers of its own country.” These words show both their small number and weakness, and the greatness of the victory, so that they attribute the victory not to themselves, but to God. These words are not in the Russian translation. You might be interested in: