The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 309

EXPOSITION. OHAPTER xvm kings of the time e:rtended so far as he supposed. The ee&t of thell' power was Vera. 1-7.-THI: HOMAGE OF ETBTOPIA N apata, now Gebel Berkal, in the great bend TO J EHO'V AH. Amid the general excitement of the Nile between lat, 18° and 19° N.; cansed by the e.d'l"ance of Assyria, Ethiopia and its southern limit w11s probably Khar- also is stirred, and stirred to its furthest toum and the line of the Blue Nile (see Rawlinson's 'History of Ancient Egypt,' limits. The king sends messengers in boats vol. ii. p. 436). upon the canals and rivers to summon his troops to his standard (vers. 1, 2). The Ver. 2.-That sendeth ambuaaclora; rather, perhaps, messengers, as the word is trans- earth stands ng-aze to see the result of the lated in eh. lvii. 9 and Prov. xxv.13. They approaching collision (ver. 3); bnt God rests are sent, apparently, by the king to his own ce.lmly in heaven while events are ripening people. By the sea. "These&" must in this (vers. 4, 5). When the time comes he will place necessarily mean the Nile, which ia called "the sea " in N e.h. iii. 8 certainly, strike the blow-Assyria will be given to and probably in eh. xix. 5. Vessels of papyrus the fowls of the air and the beasts of the could not possibly have been employed in field (ver. 6). Then Ethiopia will make an the very difficult navigation of the Red Sea. ad of homage to Jehovah by the sending of Vessels of bulnehes. That some of the a present to Jerusalem (ver. 7). The time boats used upon the Nile were constructed· of the papyrus (which is a sort of bulrush) seems to be that immediately preceding the we learn from Herodotus (ii. 96), 'l'hco- grent invasion of Sennachen'b (about B.o. phrastus (' Hist. Plant.,' iv. 9), Plutarch 700), when She.batok the Ethiopian was (' De Isid. et Osir.,' § 18), Pliny (' Hist. King of Egypt, and Tirhakah (Te.hark) Nat.,'vi. 22), e.nd Lucan ('Pharsal.,' iv.136). either Crown Prince under him, or more They are represented occasionally on the Egyptian monuments. Ba-ying. This ,vord proba.bly Lord Paramount of Egypt over is interpolated by onr translators, and gives him, and reigning at Ne.pata. o. wrong sense. It is the prophet that ad- Ver. 1.-Woe to the land; rather, Ho dresses the messengers, not the king who for the land J (comp.eh. xvii. 12). Shadowing sends them. To a nation soa.tterea e.nd peeled; with wings; litere.lly, either the land of the rather, tall and polished, or tall and sleek. shadou, of wings or the land of the noise of The word translated " scattered" mean■ 1Ding1, most proba.bly the latter. Allusion properly "drawn out," and seems to be ap- is thought to be made to the swarms of plied here oo the physique of the Ethiopians, buzzing flies, e&pecially the tsetse, with whose stature is said to have been remark- which Ethiopia abounds. At the same time, able (Herod., iii. 20, 114). The other epithet these swarms are, perhe.ps, intended to be refers to the glossy skin of the people. A taken as emblems of the hoirts of we.rriors people terrible from their beginning hitherto. which Ethiopia can send forth (comp. eh. The Israelites 11.rst knew the Ethiopians R8 vii 18). Beyond the riven of Ethiopia. soldiers when they formed e. part of the army The prophet cannot be supposed to have had brought by Shishak (Sheshonk I.) age.inst more than a vague knowledge of African Rehoboam, about B.o. 970 (2 Chron. xii. 3), geography. He seems, however, to be aware They had afterwards experience of their that Ethiopia is e. land of wany rivers (see vast numbers, when Zere.h me.de his attack Baker's 'Nile Tributaries'), and he assumes upon Asa; but on this occasion they suo- that the dominion of the Ethiopian kings e.eeded in defee.ting them (2 Chron. xiv. extends even beyond these rivers to the 9-13). It was not till about two centuries south of them. His object is, e.s Mr. Cheyne after this that the power of Ethiopia began says, " to emphasize the gTeatneBB of Ethi- to be really formidable to Egypt; and the opia." It may be questioned, however, " miserable Cushites," as they had been in whether the dominion of the Ethiopian the he.bit of oalling them, acquired the pre- ou, xvm. 1-7.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 305