CHAP. XVIII. and clans to a nation scattered and peeled, to a
A message to Egypt and Ethiopia, probably shewing the event people terrible from their beginning hitherto;
of the Assyrian invasion; and a prediction, that they would present oblations to the Lord, 1-7.
OE to the land shadowing with wings, which is peyond the rivers
WOE
of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying , Go, ye swift messengers,
a 20:4-6.30:2,3. 31:1.
b Roth 2:12. Ps. 17:8. 36:7. 57: 1. 61:4. 63.7. 91:4. Matt. 23:
37.
ley and
ful invader: but before morning almost his whole army would be cut off, and he would flee with the remnant as fast as possible. ( Notes , 10:28-34. 2 Kings 19:)-Bishop Horsand Mr. Faber suppose, that a future vehement, but unsuccessful, assault of Antichrist ag against the Jews and Israelites, when converted to Christ, and restored to their own land, is here predicted. (Note, Dan . 11:44,45.) The event must determine how far this opinion is well grounded.
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished:" and if the people of God associate with his avowed enemies, they must expect to share in their heavy judgments. His powerful wrath speedily desolates flourishing cities, and wastes all human glory, as a man's vigor, comeliness, and cheerfulness decline by an incurable disease: and when sinners are ripe for destruction, the Lord will employ some of his instruments to reap and glean them, till he make a full end of them.
But though no impenitent sinner can escape the wrath of God; yet in the worst state of the visible Church, or any part of it, he has always reserved to himself a few humble believers: these he will place out of the reach of the instruments of his vengeance. (Note, Rom . 11:1 -6.) Public calamities likewise are often the means of bringing men to renounce their idols and iniquities, to look to the Lord for help, and to have respect to his promises and precepts.
If professed Israelites "forget the God of their salvation, and are not mindful of the Rock of their strength;" they will seek help, peace, and prosperity in vain from every quarter; their labor will be lost, and their "harvest a heap, in the day of grief and desperate sorrow." But happy are they who remember God as their Salvation, and rely on his power and grace: their enemies may rage, and rush upon them with dreadful force and fury; but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee away, "as a rolling thing before the whirlwind." Their trouble, and the prosperity of their enemies, will be equally transient; and their joy will endure for ever, like the destruction of those who hate and spoil them.
NOTES.
a nation #meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers I have spoiled.
3 & All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
e 7.
* Or, out-spread and polished. f Gen. 10:8,9. 2 Chr. 12:2-4. 14:9.16:8. Heb.
Or, that meteth out and treadeth down. Heb. of line and line and treading under
foot .
Or, despise. 19:5-7.
g 1:2. Ps. 49.1,2. 50:1. Jer. 22:29. Mic. 6:2.
b 5:26. 7:18. 13:2,4. 26:11. Am. 3:6-8. Mic. 6:9. Zech. 9:14. Matt. 13:9,16.
syrians. "Ho! to the land of the winged cym'bal." The Egyptian sistrum is expressed by 'a periphrasis; the Hebrews had no name for it in their language.... The cymbal they had; an instrument in its use and sound not much un'like the sistrum; and to distinguish from it the 'sistrum, they called it the cymbal with wings. '... If these words are rightly interpreted, Egypt must be the country to which the 'prophecy 'prophecy is addressed. Bp. Lowth. The shape of the Egyptian cymbal is alluded to, which had projections not unlike wings. The land was "beyond," or which borders on, "the rivers of Cush." The river Nile, flowing through Ethiopia and Egypt, is divided into seven streams, or rivers, before it reaches the sea. The word translated "Woe," may be merely a call on them to attend to the message of JEHOVAH,
V. 2. The land intended was remarkable for sending ambassadors, or messengers, upon the seas and rivers, in vessels of bulrushes, or formed of the papyrus; and this was peculiar to the Egyptians, who made vessels of that plant for this purpose. Ex ipso quidem papyro navigia texunt . Pliny. To this country "swift messengers" were ordered to be sent: that is, the message of the Lord ought assiduously to be conveyed into every part of it; for to them it appertained.
The nation is described as "scattered and peeled;" or, as it may be rendered, "stretched out and smoothed:" and this may refer to the length of the land of Egypt from north to south, being a vale on each side of the Nile above seven hundred miles long; Ethiopia extends to a considerable length on the south of it; and the whole was smoothed , or made level by the constant inundations of the Nile.
It was also "a nation terrible from their beginning hitherto," which is characteristical of Egypt: "a nation meted out, and trodden down;" alluding to the frequent admeasurement of their lands, which was rendered necessary by the inundations of the river, by which their land-marks were destroyed; and to their method of throwing the seed upon the mud, when the waters subsided, and treading it in, by turning their cattle into the fields.
"Whose land the rivers have spoiled ; " or nour ished, as some think the original word may mean; and indeed it is so anomalous, that we can only conjecture from what root it is derived.
V. 3. It is here supposed, that this prophecy was published before, but related to, that time, when Sennacherib had routed the army of Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, and was preparing to besiege Jerusalem; ( Note , 2 Kings 19:9.) intending afterwards to prosecute his advantage against Egypt and Ethiopia. But the Lord seems to have called on them, and all
CHAP. XVIII. V. 1. This is generally allowed to be to us one of the most obscure prophecies in scripture; though perhaps well understood by those to whom it was delivered. "The land shadowing with wings," seems to mark out Egypt as connected with Ethiopia; and it may be so called on account of the ridges of mountains which shadowed it on each side: or rather, because the Egyptians pretended to shadow the Jews under their protection, as the inhabitants of the earth to attend; and "with wings," against the incursions of the As-when they saw this proud victor lift up his en
14 For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will * consider in my dwelling-place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
7 In that time
i 26:21. Ps. 132:13,14. Hos. 5:15.
*Or, regard my set dwelling. 7. 12:6. 14:32. 31:9. 46:13. Joel 3:17.
k 2 Sam. 23:4. Ps. 72:6.
† Or, after rain.
1 See on 17:11. Cant. 2:13,15.
shall the present be
Ez. 17:6-10.
m 14:19. 34:1-7. Jer. 7:33. 15: 3. Ez. 32:4-6. 39:17-20. Rev. 19:17,18.
n 16:1. 23:17,18. 45:14. 2 Chr. 32:23. Ps. 68:29-31.72:9-15. Zeph. 3:10. Mal. 1:11. Matt. 2:11. Acts 8:27,28.
sign on the mountains, and heard him blow the trumpet for the assault of Jerusalem, to expect the extraordinary interposition of God in behalf of his people. 'I... suppose, that the 'prophecy was delivered before Sennacherib's 'return from his Egyptian expedition, and
Mr. Faber; who suppose future events to be intended, concerning the destruction of Antichrist, and the restoration of the Jews, as converted to Christ, to their own land, by some protestant Christian nation, of great maritime power and influence, meaning Great Britain.
'that it was designed to give to the Jews, and I must refer the reader to 'Bp. Horsley's Let
'perhaps likewise to the Egyptians, an inti'mation of God's counsels in regard to the de'struction of their great and powerful enemy. '... I take God to be the Agent in this verse; 'and that by the Standard and the Trumpet, 'are meant the meteors, the thunder, the light'ning, the storm, earthquake, and tempest, by 'which Sennacherib's army should be destroy'ed, or by which at least the destruction shall 'be accompanied. 29:6. 30:30,31. 10:16,17.' Bp . Lowth .
V. 4-6. God had assured his prophet, that he would rest securely in Zion, contemning the assault of the invaders: and he would shew his regard to his dwelling place and worshippers, "like a clear heat after rain, or like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest;" that is, as their protection and consolation in their extreme distress. For whilst the enemy deemed his schemes maturing, as the harvest or vintage; and before the perfect bud and opening flower were ripened into the sour grape, before the critical season of executing his design was arrived; the Lord would cut off all the branches of his vineyard; and his army, and the carcasses of his numerous host would be a plentiful provision for the wild beasts and birds of prey, during a very long time. ( Notes , Ez . 32:2-6. 39:1-6. Rev. 19:17—21.)
V. 7. ( Note , 2.) The nation before described, hearing of this surprising catastrophe, would send oblations to be offered at the temple of the Lord of hosts upon mount Zion, giving glory to his name. (2 Chr . 32:23.) This and similar passages were doubtless intimations, at least, of the conversion of the nations to the God of Israel. The Egyptians would be delivered from the Assyrians, by the power of the God of the Jews; and not the Jews by their assistance: and the doom of the proud tyrant Sennacherib, was intended as a warning to them, to renounce their idols and iniquities.An entirely new interpretation has been given to this obscure chapter, by Bp. Horsley. and
'ters on Prophecy,' and 'Mr. Faber's View of 'the Prophecies concerning Judah and Israel:' being by no means satisfied with the interpretation; and yet wholly averse and incompetent to decide against it. ( Note , 11:11—16.)
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. We should endeavor to call the attention of
mankind to the works of God for his people: for wherever they live, or however they are distinguished, whether they have been prosperous and terrible, or obscure and trampled upon, they are greatly concerned in them: and the warnings of his providence, as well as the oracles of his word, are intended for their conviction. When the arrogant opposers of the truths and servants of Christ lift up the standard and blow the trumpet of war, and openly assault the church, with full confidence of success; let the inhabitants of the earth attend, and wait for the event.
The Lord, undisturbed by their puny efforts, will still delight in Zion, and protect his dwelling place; nor shall the policy or power of hell prevail against his church, as built on this Rock, that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Note, Matt . 16:18.) He will protect and comfort his people, in all their persecutions and tribulations, and render their souls most flourishing in holiness, when their afflictions most abound.
But he will blast the ripening schemes of his presumptuous foes, when they deem their success certain; and their subsequent contempt and misery will be proportioned to their present haughtiness and arrogance. Thus shall the nations of the earth be convinced that JEHOVAH is God, and Israel his people, and shall concur in presenting their spiritual sacrifices to his glory. And happy are they, who take warning by his judgments on others, and make haste to join themselves to him and to his people.
NOTES.