Isaiah 18: A prophecy against Cush [Upper Nile – Ethiopia]

• v.1,2 A warning to the people of Cush
• v.3,4 The world and the Lord will watch them
• v.5-7 This people will be pruned before harvest and they will come to God

[Preliminary Comment: This short chapter warns this particular group of people who seem to feel secure in their international travels, that the Lord is coming to prune them in the sight of the world, in order to bring them to their senses and to the Lord.]

v.1,2 A warning to the people of Cush

v.1 Woe to the land of whirring wings
    along the rivers of Cush,

v.2 which sends envoys by sea
    in papyrus boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,
    to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers.

[Notes: Cush, get ready for sorrow. You who are strong and travel far and wide

v.3,4 The world and the Lord will watch them

v.3 All you people of the world,
    you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains,
    you will see it,
and when a trumpet sounds,
    you will hear it.

v.4 This is what the Lord says to me:
    ‘I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling-place,
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,
    like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

[Notes: The world will watch when this happens but the Lord will watch silently in anticipation.]

v.5-7 This people will be pruned before harvest and they will come to God

v.5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
    and cut down and take away the spreading branches.

v.6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey
    and to the wild animals;
the birds will feed on them all summer,
    the wild animals all winter.

v.7 At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,
    from a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers –

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.

[Notes: Even as there are shoots of life, they will be taken, they will be ravished by others and then this people will worship the Lord.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: