Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 18:2
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, [saying], Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
2. The ambassadors are those who have arrived in Jerusalem. They had descended the Nile (here called the sea, as in ch. Isa 19:5; Nah 3:8) in vessels of bulrushes (R.V. papyrus). These light skiffs, constructed for one or two passengers, and capable of being carried where the river ceased to be navigable, are frequently mentioned by ancient writers (cf. Pliny Isa 13:11 “ex ipso quidem papyro navigia texunt,” and other authorities cited by Gesenius). Their great speed is referred to in Job 9:26 (“ships of reed”).
Go, ye swift messengers ] Isaiah’s charge to the ambassadors begins here; they are to return to their own country with this answer. (The “saying” of A.V. and R.V. is quite misleading.)
a nation scattered and peeled ] Render as R.V.: a nation tall and smooth (lit. “drawn-out and polished”). The latter epithet probably denotes the bronze-like appearance of the skin of the Ethiopians; some, however, take it in the general sense of “beautiful” ( ). The Nubians of the Soudn are still a remarkably tall and handsome race.
terrible from their beginning hitherto ] Better: dreaded near and far. Lit., perhaps, “from where it is and onward,” cf. 1Sa 10:3; 1Sa 20:22 ; 1Sa 20:37. The temporal sense, however, is possible (1Sa 18:9), although less natural here.
meted out and trodden down ] Render: strong and victorious (lit. “of strength and treading down”). The Hebr. for “strength” presents some difficulty. If read as pointed ( qav-qav) it looks like a repetition of the word for “measuring-line” ( qav); and this is the origin of the ‘meting out” of E.V. (“people of line-line”). But this sense has little probability; and the translation “strength” is warranted by the analogy of the cognate Arabic noun quvva. It is perhaps better to read it as a reduplicated form ( qavqav), although the word occurs nowhere else. Note that R.V. rightly takes both nouns in an active sense.
have spoiled ] The word is found only here and is of uncertain meaning. A more likely translation is “intersect” or (as R.V.) divide.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That sendeth ambassadors – That is, accustomed to send messengers. What was the design of their thus sending ambassadors does not appear. The prophet simply intimates the fact; a fact by which they were well known. It may have been for purposes of commerce, or to seek protection. Bochart renders the word translated ambassadors by images, and supposes that it denotes an image of the god Osiris made of the papyrus; but there does not seem to be any reason for this opinion. The word tsyr may mean an idol or image, as in Isa 45:16; Psa 49:15. But it usually denotes ambassadors, or messengers Jos 9:4; Pro 25:13; Pro 13:17; Isa 57:9; Jer 49:14; Oba 1:1.
By the sea – What sea is here meant cannot be accurately determined. The word sea ( yam) is applied to various collections of water, and may be used in reference to a sea, a lake, a pond, and even a large river. It is often applied to the Mediterranean; and where the phrase Great Sea occurs, it denotes that Num 34:6-7; Deu 11:24. It is applied to the Lake of Gennesareth or the Sea of Galilee Num 34:11; to the Salt Sea Gen 14:3; to the Red Sea often (Exo 13:10; Num 14:25; Num 21:4; Num 33:10, et al.) It is also applied to a large river, as, e. g., the Nile Isa 19:5; Neh 3:8; and to the Euphrates Jer 51:36. So far as this word is concerned, therefore, it may denote either the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Nile, or the Euphrates. If the country spoken of is Upper Egypt or Nubia, then we are naturally led to suppose that the prophet refers either to the Nile or the Red Sea.
Even in vessels of bulrushes – The word rendered bulrushes ( gome’) is derived from the verb gama’, to swallow, sip, drink; and is given to a reed or bulrush, from its imbibing water. It is usually applied in the Scriptures to the Egyptian papyrus – a plant which grew on the banks of the Nile, and from which we have derived our word paper. This plant, says Taylor (Heb. Con.), grew in moist places near the Nile, and was four or five yards in height. Under the bark it consisted wholly of thin skins, which being separated and spread out, were applied to various uses. Of these they made boxes and chests, and even boats, smearing them over with pitch. These laminoe, or skins, also served the purpose of paper, and were used instead of parchment, or plates of lead and copper, for writing on. This plant, the Cyperus Papyrus of modern botanists, mostly grew in Lower Egypt, in marshy land, or in shallow brooks and ponds, formed by the inundation of the Nile. The papyrus, says Pliny, grows in the marsh lands of Egypt, or in the stagnant pools left inland by the Nile, after it has returned to its bed, which have not more than two cubits in depth.
The root of the plant is the thickness of a mans arm; it has a triangular stalk, growing not higher than ten cubits (fifteen feet), and decreasing in breadth toward the summit, which is crowned with a thyrsus, containing no seeds, and of no use except to deck the statues of the gods. They employ the roots as firewood, and for making various utensils. They even construct small boats of the plant; and out of the rind, sails, mats, clothes, bedding, ropes; they eat it either crude or cooked, swallowing only the juice; and when they manufacture paper from it, they divide the stem by means of a kind of needle into thin plates, or laminae, each of which is as large as the plant will admit. All the paper is woven upon a table, and is continually moistened with Nile water, which being thick and slimy, furnishes an effectual species of glue. In the first place, they form upon a table, pefectly horizontal, a layer the whole length of the papyrus, which is crossed by another placed transversely, and afterward enclosed within a press.
The different sheets are then hung in a situation exposed to the sun, in order to dry, and the process is finally completed by joining them together, beginning with the best. There are seldom more than twenty slips or stripes produced from one stem of the plant. (Pliny, xiii. 11, 12.) Wilkinson remarks, that the mode of making papyri was this: the interior of the stalks of the plant, after the rind had been removed, was cut into thin slices in the direction of their length, and these being laid on a flat board, in succession, similar slices were placed over them at right angles, and their surfaces being cemented together by a sort of glue, and subjected to the proper deuce of pressure, and well dried, the papyrus was completed. (Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 148.) The word used here is translated bulrushes in Exo 2:3, where the little ark is described in which Moses was laid near the Nile; the rush in Job 8:11; and rushes, in Isa 35:7.
It does not elsewhere occur. That the ancients were in the practice of making light boats or vessels from the papyrus is well known. Thus Theophrastus (in the History of Plants, iv. 9) says, that the papyrus is useful for many things, for from this they make vessels, or ships ( ploia). Thus, Pliny (xiii. 11, 22) says, ex ipso quidem papyro navigia texunt – from the papyrus they weave vessels. Again, (vi. 56, 57): Even now, says he, in the Britannic Ocean useful vessels are made of bark; on the Nile from the papyrus, and from reeds and rushes. Plutarch describes Isis going in search of the body of Osiris, through the fenny country in a bark made of the papyrus ( en baridi papnoine) where it is supposed that persons using boats of this description ( en papurinois okaphisi pleontas) are never attacked by crocodiles out of respect to the goddess, (De Isa 18:1-7.) Moses, also, it will be remembered, was exposed on the banks of the Nile in a similar boat or ark. She took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it With slime and with pitch, and put the child therein Exo 2:3. The same word occurs here ( gome’) which is used by Isaiah, and this fact shows that such boats were known as early as the time of Moses. Lucan also mentions boats made of the papyrus at Memphis:
Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro.
– Phar. iv: 136.
At Memphis boats are woven together from the marshy papyrus
The sculptures of Thebes, Memphis, and other places, abundantly show that they were employed as punts, or canoes for fishing, in all parts of Egypt, during the inundation of the Nile. (Wilkinsons Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 186.) In our own country, also, it will be remembered, the natives were accustomed to make canoes, or vessels, of the bark of the birch, with which they often adventured on even dangerous navigation. The circumstance here mentioned of the gome’ (the papyrus), seems to fix the scene of this prophecy to the region of the Nile. This reed grew nowhere else; and it is natural, therefore, to suppose, that some nation living near the Nile is intended. Taylor, the editor of Calmet, has shown that the inhabitants of the upper regions of the Nile were accustomed to form floats of hollow earthen vessels, and to weave them together with rushes, and thus to convey them to Lower Egypt to market. He supposes that by vessels of bulrushes, or rush floats, are meant such vessels. (For a description of the floats made in Upper Egypt with jars, see Pocockes Travels, vol. i. p. 84, Ed. London, 1743.) I first saw in this voyage (on the Nile) the large floats of earthen-ware; they are about thirty feet wide, and sixty feet long, being a frame of palm boughs tied together about four feet deep, on which they put a layer of large jars with the mouths uppermost; on these they make another floor, and then put on another layer of jars, and so a third, which last are so disposed as to trim the float, and leave room for the men to go between. The float lies across the river, one end being lower down than the other; toward the lower end on each side they have four long poles with which they row and direct the boat, as well as forward the motion down. Mr. Bruce, in his Travels, mentions vessels made of the papyrus in Abyssinia.
Upon the waters – The waters of the Nile, or the Red Sea.
Saying – This word is not in the Hebrew, and the introduction of it by the translators gives a peculiar, and probably an incorrect, sense to the whole passage. As it stands here, it would seem to be the language of the inhabitants of the land who sent the ambassadors, usually saying to their messengers to go to a distant nation; and this introduces an inquiry into the characteristics of the nation to whom the ambassadors are sent, as if it were a different people from those who are mentioned in Isa 17:1. But probably the words which follow are to be regarded as the words of the prophet, or of God Isa 17:4, giving commandment to those messengers to return to those who sent them, and deliver the message which follows: You send messengers to distant nations in reed boats upon the rivers. Return, says God, to the land which sent you foth, and announce to them the will of God. Go rapidly in your light vessels, and bear this message, for it shall speedily be executed, and I will sit calmly and see it done Isa 17:4-6. A remarkably similar passage, which throws great light on this, occurs in Eze 30:9 : In that day shall messengers go forth from me (God) in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt, for lo, it cometh.
Go, ye swift messengers – Hebrew, Light messengers. This is evidently addressed to the boats. Achilles Tatius says that they were frequently so light and small, that they would carry but one person (Rosenmuller).
To a nation – What nation this was is not known. The obvious import of the passge is, that it was some nation to whom they were accustomed to send ambassadors, and that it is here added merely as descriptive of the people. Two or three characterstics of the nation are mentioned, from which we may better learn what people are referred to.
Scattered – ( memushak). This word is derived from mashak, to seize, take, hold fast; to draw out, extend, or prolong; to make double or strong; to spread out. The Septuagint renders it, Ethnos meteoron – A lofty nation. Chaldee, A people suffering violence. Syraic, A nation distorted. Vulgate, A people convulsed, and lacerated. It may denote a people spread out over a great extent of country; or a people drawn out in length – that is, extended over a country of considerable length, but of comparatively narrow breadth, as Egypt is; so Vitringa understands it. Or it may mean a people strong, valiant; so Gesenius understands it. This best suits the connection, as being a people terrible hitherto. Perhaps all these ideas may be united by the supposition, that the nation was drawn out or extended over a large region, and was, therefore, a powerful or mighty people. The idea of its being scattered is not in the text. Taylor renders it, A people of short stature; contracted in height; that is, dwarfs. But the idea in the text is not one that is descriptive of individuals, but of the collected nation; the people.
And peeled – ( morat, from marat) to make smooth, or sharpen, as a sword, Ezek. 21:14-32; then, to make smooth the head of any one, to pluck off his hair, Ezr 9:3; Neh 13:25; Isa 50:6). The Septuagint renders it, Cenon laon kai chalepon – A foreign and wicked people. Vulgate, To a people lacerated. The Syriac renders the whole verse, Go, swift messengers, to a people perverse and torn; to a people whose strength has been long since taken away; a people defiled and trodden down; whose land the rivers have spoiled. The word used here is capable of two significations:
(1) It may denote a people who are shaved or made smooth by removing the hair from the body. It is known to have been the custom with the Egyptians to make their bodies smooth by shaving off the hair, as Herodotus testifies (xi. 37). Or,
(2) It may be translated, as Gesenius proposes, a people valiant, fierce, bold, from the sense which the verb has to sharpen a sword Eze 21:15-16.
The former is the most obvious interpretation, and agrees best with the proper meaning of the Hebrew word; the latter would, perhaps, better suit the connection. The editor of Calmer supposes that it is to be taken in the sense of diminished, small, dwarfish, and would apply it to the pigmies of Upper Egypt.
To a people terrible – That is, warlike, fierce, cruel. Hebrew, A people feared. If the Egyptians are meant, it may refer to the fact that they had always been an object of terror and alarm to the Israelites from their early oppressions there before their deliverance under Moses.
From their beginning hitherto – Hebrew, From this time, and formerly. It has been their general character that they were a fierce, harsh, oppressive nation. Gesenius, however, renders this, To the formidable nation (and) further beyond; and supposes that two nations are referred to, of which the most remote and formidable one, whose land is washed by streams, is the proper Ethiopian people. By the other he supposes is meant the Egyptian people. But the scope of the whole prophecy rather requires us to understand it of one people.
A nation meted out – Hebrew, Of line line ( qav–qav). Vitringa renders this, A nation of precept and precept; that is, whose religion abounded with rites and ceremonies, and an infinite multitude of precepts or laws which prescribed them. Michaelis renders it, A nation measured by a line; that is, whose land had been divided by victors. Doderlin renders it, A nation which uses the line; that is, as he supposes, which extended its dominion over other provinces. The Septuagint renders it, ethnos anelpiston – A nation without hope. Aquila, ethnos hupomenon – A nation enduring or patient. Jonathan, the Chaldee, – A nation oppressed and afflicted. Aben Ezra explains it as meaning A nation like a school-boy learning line after line. Theodore Hasaeus endeavors to prove that the reference here is to Egypt, and that the language is taken from the fact that the Egyptians were early distinguished for surveying and mensuration.
This science, he supposes, they were led to cultivate from the necessity of ascertaining the height of the Nile at its annual inundation, and from the necessity of an accurate survey of the land in order to preserve the knowledge of the right of property in a country inundated as this was. In support of this, he appeals to Servius (ad Virg. Ecl. iii. 41), where he says of the radius mentioned there, The Radius is the rod of the philosophers, by which they denote the lines of geometry. This art was invented in the time when the Nile, rising beyond its usual height, confounded the usual marks of boundaries, to the ascertaining of which they employed philosophers who divided the land by lines, whence the science was called geometry. Compare Strabo (Geo. xvii. 787), who says that Egypt was divided into thirty nomes, and then adds, that these were again subdivided into other portions, the smallest of which were farms hai arourai.
But there was a necessity for a very careful and subtle division, on account of the continual confusion of the limits which the Nile produced when it overflowed, adding, to some, taking away from others, changing the forms, obliterating the signs by which one farm was distinguished from another. Hence, it became necessary to re-survey the country; and hence, they suppose, originated the science of geometry (see also Herodot. Euterpe, c. 109). Hence, it is supposed that Egypt came to be distinguished by the use of the line – or for its skill in surveying, or in geometry – or a nation of the line (see the Dissertation of Theodore Hasaeus, – De Gente kau kau, in Ugolins Thes. Ant. Sac. vii. 1568-1580). The word ( qav) means, properly, a cord, a line, particularly a measuring line Eze 47:3; 2Ki 21:13 : I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria that is, I will destroy it like Samaria. Hence, the phrase here may denote a people accustomed to stretch out such lines over others; that is, to lay them waste.
It is applied usually to the line connected with a plummet, which a carpenter uses to mark out his work (compare Job 38:5; Isa 28:17; Isa 34:11; Zep 2:1); or to a line by which a land or country is measured by the surveyor. Sometimes it means a precept, or rule, as Vitringa has rendered it here (compare Isa 28:10). But the phrase to stretch out a line, or to measure a people by a line, is commonly applied to their destruction, as if a conqueror used a line to mark out what he had to do (see this use of the word in 2Ki 21:13 : Isa 28:17; Isa 34:11; Lam 2:8; Zec 1:16). This is probably its sense here – a nation terrible in all its history, and which had been distinguished for stretching lines over others; that is, for marking them out for destruction, and dividing them as it pleased. It is, therefore, a simple description, not of the nation as being itself measured out, but as extending its dominion over others.
And trodden down – ( mebusah). Margin, And treading under foot, or, that meteth out and treadeth down. The margin here, as is frequently the case, is the more correct rendering. Here it does not mean that they were trodden down, but that it was a characteristic of their nation that they trod down others; that is, conquered and subdued other nations. Thus the verb is used in Psa 44:6; Isa 14:25; Isa 53:6; Isa 63:18; Jer 12:10. Some, however, have supposed that it refers to the fact that the land was trodden down by their feet, or that the Egyptians were accustomed to lead the waters of the Nile, when it overflowed, by treading places for it to flow in their fields. But the former is the more correct interpretation.
Whose land the rivers have spoiled – Margin, Despise. The Hebrew word ( baz’eu) occurs nowhere else. The Vulgate renders it, Diripuerunt – Carry away. The Chaldee reads it, Whose land the people plunder. The word is probably of the same signification as bazaz, to plunder, lay waste. So it was read by the Vulgate and the Chaldee; and this reading is found in four manuscripts. The word is in the present tense, and should be rendered not have spoiled, but spoil. It is probably used to denote a country the banks of whose rivers are washed away by the floods. This description is particularly applicable to Nubia or Abyssinia – the region above the cataracts of the Nile. One has only to remember that these streams continually wash away the banks and bear the earth to deposit it on the lands of Lower Egypt, to see that the prophet had this region particularly in his eye.
He could not have meant Egypt proper, because instead of spoiling the lands, or washing them away, the Nile constantly brings down a deposit from the upper regions that constitutes its great fertility. The rivers that are mentioned here are doubtless the various branches of the Nile (see Bruces Travels, ch. iii., and Burckhardts Travels in Nubia. The Nile is formed by the junction of many streams or branches rising in Abyssinia, the principal of which are the Atbara; the Astapus or Blue River; and the Astaboras or White River. The principal source of the Nile is the Astapus or Blue River, which rises in the Lake Coloe, which Bruce supposes to be the head of the Nile. This river on the west, and the various branches of the Atbara on the east, nearly encompass a large region of country called Meroe, once supposed to be a large island, and frequently called such. The whole description, therefore, leads us to the conclusion that a region is mentioned in that country called in general Cush; that it was a people living on rivers, and employing reed boats or skiffs; that they were a fierce and warlike people; and that the country was one that was continually washed by streams, and whose soil was carried down by the floods. All these circumstances apply to Nubia or Abyssinia, and there can be little doubt that this is the country intended.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. In vessels of bulrushes – “In vessels of papyrus”] This circumstance agrees perfectly well with Egypt. It is well known that the Egyptians commonly used on the Nile a light sort of ships, or boats, made of the reed papyrus. Ex ipso quidem papyro navigia texunt. PLINY, xlii. 11.
Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro.
LUCAN, iv. 136.
Go, ye swift messengers] To this nation before mentioned, who, by the Nile, and by their numerous canals, have the means of spreading the report in the most expeditious manner through the whole country: go, ye swift messengers, and carry this notice of God’s designs in regard to them. By the swift messengers are meant, not any particular persons specially appointed to this office, but any of the usual conveyers of news whatsoever, travellers, merchants, and the like, the instruments and agents of common fame. These are ordered to publish this declaration made by the prophet throughout Egypt, and to all the world; and to excite their attention to the promised visible interposition of God.
Scattered – “Stretched out in length”] Egypt, that is, the fruitful part, exclusive of the deserts on each side, is one long vale, through the middle of which runs the Nile, bounded on each side to the east and west by a chain of mountains seven hundred and fifty miles in length; in breadth from one to two or three days’ journey: even at the widest part of the Delta, from Pelusium to Alexandria, not above two hundred and fifty miles broad. Egmont and Hayman, and Pococke.
Peeled – “Smoothed”] Either relating to the practice of the Egyptian priests, who made their bodies smooth by shaving off their hair, (see Herod. ii. 37;) or rather to their country’s being made smooth, perfectly plain and level, by the overflowing of the Nile.
Meted out – “Meted out by line”] It is generally referred to the frequent necessity of having recourse to mensuration in Egypt, in order to determine the boundaries after the inundations of the Nile; to which even the origin of the science of geometry is by some ascribed. Strabo, lib. xvii. sub init.
Trodden down] Supposed to allude to a peculiar method of tillage in use among the Egyptians. Both Herodotus, (lib. ii.,) and Diodorus, (lib. i.,) say that when the Nile had retired within its banks, and the ground became somewhat dry, they sowed their land, and then sent in their cattle, (their hogs, says the former,) to tread in the seed; and without any farther care expected the harvest.
The rivers have spoiled – “The rivers have nourished”] The word bazeu is generally taken to be an irregular form for bazezu, “have spoiled,” as four MSS. have it in this place; and so most of the Versions, both ancient and modern, understand it. On which Schultens, Gram. Heb. p. 491, has the following remark: – “Ne minimam quidem speciem veri habet bazau, Esai. xviii. 2, elatum pro bazazu, deripiunt. Haec esset anomalia, cui nihil simile in toto linguae ambitu. In talibus nil finire, vel fateri ex mera agi conjectura, tutius justiusque. Radicem baza olim extare potuisse, quis neget? Si cognatum quid sectandum erat, ad bazah, contemsit, potius decurrendum fuisset; ut bazeu, pro bazu, sit enuntiatum, vel baziv. Digna phrasis, flumina contemmunt terram, i.e., inundant.” ” baza, Arab. extulit se superbius, item subjecit sibi: unde praet. pl. bazeu, subjecerunt sibi, i.e., inundarunt.” – Simonis’ Lexic. Heb.
A learned friend has suggested to me another explanation of the word. baza, Syr., and beiza, Chald., signifies uber, “a dug,” mamma, “a breast;” agreeably to which the verb signifies to nourish. This would perfectly well suit with the Nile: whereas nothing can be more discordant than the idea of spoiling and plundering; for to the inundation of the Nile Egypt owed every thing; the fertility of the soil, and the very soil itself. Besides, the overflowing of the Nile came on by gentle degrees, covering with out laying waste the country: “Mira aeque natura fluminis, quod cum caeteri omnes abluant terras et eviscerent, Nilus tanto caeteris major adeo nihil exedit, nec abradit, ut contra adjiciat vires; minimumque in eo sit, quod solum temperet. Illato enim limo arenas saturat ac jungit; debetque illi AEgyptus non tantum fertilitatem terrarum, sed ipsas. – Seneca, Nat. Quaest., iv. 2. I take the liberty, therefore, which Schultens seems to think allowable in this place, of hazarding a conjectural interpretation. It is a fact that the Ganges changes its course, and overruns and lays barren whole districts, from which it was a few years back several miles distant. Such changes do not nourish but spoil the ground.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That sendeth ambassadors; that at this time are sending ambassadors, after their manner, to strengthen themselves with leagues and alliances, whereby they think to prevent those judgments and calamities which, notwithstanding all their endeavours, I will bring upon them. The first part of this verse seems to contain a further description of the people of the land, mentioned in the foregoing verse. By the sea; either by the Midland Sea, or by the Red Sea, or by great lakes which were both in and near the land of Egypt; it being usual among the Hebrews to give the title of seas to lakes, or any great collections Of waters, As hath been oft observed before.
In vessels of bulrushes; for both the Egyptians and Ethiopians, as Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo, and Pliny relate, did commonly use boats of rushes or reeds, which were more convenient for them than those of wood, because they were both cheaper, and swifter, and lighter for carriage from place to place, for which they had frequent occasion in those parts; and safer, because of the many rocks, and shelves, and waterfalls of Nilus.
Upon the waters, Heb. upon the face or surface of the waters; which is properly expressed, because such vessels being very light, did not sink so deep into the waters as those of wood do.
Saying: this word is supplied here, as it is in many other places. And the words here following are supposed to contain the commission and direction given by the people hitherto described unto their messengers, to go to the people described in the following words. But this word saying is not in the Hebrew text, nor is it supplied either by the LXX. or by the Chaldee: nor doth it seem necessary to be understood. And it seems very improbable that the people to whom the messengers were sent should be described in such general and ambiguous terms, and in so large a manner, and not a word said concerning their message. And therefore, with submission, I humbly conceive these to be the words of the prophet, who having in Gods name pronounced a woe against the land hitherto described, here continues his speech, and gives a commission from God to these
messengers following to go to this nation scattered, &c. Then he calls to all nations to be witnesses of the message sent by these messengers, Isa 18:3. And then the message follows in the succeeding verses. And so the coherence seems to be clear.
Go, ye swift messengers: O you, my angels, or men, whom I have appointed for this work, go speedily to them, and tell them what I am about to do with them, or inflict the following judgment upon them.
Scattered, not by banishment, but in their habitations; which agrees well to the Cushites or Ethiopians, both for the vastness of the land inhabited by them, to wit, Ethiopia and Arabia, and for the manner of their habitation, which is more scattered than that of other people. Or these people may be called scattered prophetically, not that they were so, but that they should be so. Or this word may be rendered, as it is in the margin, and by some others, outspread, or drawn out at length; which exactly suits to Egypt, which is much more extended in length than in breadth. Peeled; either,
1. Without hair; for so were the Ethiopians in a great measure, through the great heat of their country. Or,
2. Having their hair shaven or plucked off; for the word doth not signify a natural want of hair, but a violent taking away of hair, as appears from Ezr 9:3; Neh 13:25; Isa 1:6. And this plucking or shaving of the hair is metaphorically used in Scripture, to signify some great calamity, whereby men are stripped of all their comforts, as Isa 7:20, and elsewhere. And this title maybe given to them prophetically, to signify their future and approaching destruction. Terrible from their beginning hitherto; such were the Egyptians and Ethiopians or Cushites, as appears both from sacred and profane histories. And this may be here added as an aggravation of their impending miseries, that they who had been for a long time terrible to others, should now become a contemptible and wretched people. Meted out, Heb. of line, line, i.e. meted out as it were with lines to destruction; of which phrase and custom see 2Sa 8:2; 2Ki 21:13; Psa 60:6; Isa 34:11.
Trodden down by Divine sentence and to be trodden down by their enemies.
The rivers have spoiled: which may be taken either,
1. Literally, because Egypt and Ethiopia were frequently overflowed by those two great rivers Niger and Nilus; although that overflow was rather an advantage to the land, by making it fruitful than a mischief. Or,
2. Metaphorically and prophetically, of the Assyrians or Babylonians breaking in upon them like a river, and destroying their land and people; of which see more on Eze 30. For powerful enemies invading a country are oft compared to a river, as Isa 8:7,8; 59:19; Jer 46:7,8.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. ambassadorsmessengers sentto Jerusalem at the time that negotiations passed between Tirhakahand Hezekiah against the expected attack of Sennacherib (Isa37:9).
by . . . seaon theNile (Isa 19:5): as whatfollows proves.
vessels of bulrusheslightcanoes, formed of papyrus, daubed over with pitch: so the “ark”in which Moses was exposed (Ex 2:3).
GoIsaiah tells them totake back the tidings of what God is about to do (Isa18:4) against the common enemy of both Judah and Ethiopia.
scattered and peeledrather,”strong and energetic” [MAURER].The Hebrew for “strong” is literally, “drawnout” (Margin; Psa 36:10;Ecc 2:3). “Energetic,”literally, “sharp” (Hab1:8, Margin; the verb means to “sharpen” asword, Eze 21:15; Eze 21:16);also “polished.” As HERODOTUS(3:20, 114) characterizes the Ethiopians as “the tallest andfairest of men,” G. V. SMITHtranslates, “tall and comely”; literally, “extended”(Isa 45:14, “men ofstature”) and polished (the Ethiopians had “smooth,glossy skins”). In English Version the reference is tothe Jews, scattered outcasts, and loaded with indignity(literally, “having their hair torn off,” HORSLEY).
terriblethe Ethiopiansfamed for warlike prowess [ROSENMULLER].The Jews who, because of God’s plague, made others to fear thelike (De 28:37). Rather,”awfully remarkable” [HORSLEY].God puts the “terror” of His people into the surroundingnations at the first (Exo 23:27;Jos 2:9); so it shall be again inthe latter days (Zec 12:2;Zec 12:3).
from . . . beginninghithertoso English Version rightly. But GESENIUS,”to the terrible nation (of upper Egypt) and further beyond”(to the Ethiopians, properly so called).
meted outHebrew,“of line.” The measuring-line was used in destroyingbuildings (Isa 34:11; 2Ki 21:13;Lam 2:8). Hence, actively, itmeans here “a people meting out,an all-destroyingpeople”; which suits the context better than “meted,”passively [MAURER].HORSLEY, understanding itof the Jews, translates it, “Expecting, expecting (in acontinual attitude of expectation of Messiah) and trampled underfoot”; a graphic picture of them. Most translate, ofstrength, strength (from a root, to brace the sinews),that is, a most powerful people.
trodden downtrue ofthe Jews. But MAURERtranslates it actively, a people “treading under foot” allits enemies, that is, victorious (Isa14:25), namely, the Ethiopians.
spoiled“cut up.”The Nile is formed by the junction of many streams in Abyssinia, theAtbara, the Astapus or Blue river (between which two rivers Meroe,the “Ethiopia” here meant, lies), and the Astaboras orWhite river; these streams wash down the soil along theirbanks in the “land” of Upper Egypt and deposit it on thatof Lower Egypt. G. V. SMITHtranslates it, “Divide.” HORSLEYtakes it figuratively of the conquering armies which haveoften “spoiled” Judea.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea,…. The Red Sea, which washed the coasts of Egypt and Ethiopia, and which were united into one kingdom under Sabacus, or So the Ethiopian, called king of Egypt,
2Ki 17:4 and this kingdom, or rather the king of it, is here described as sending ambassadors by sea to foreign courts, to make leagues and alliances, and thereby strengthen himself against attempts made on him; though some understand it of one part of Ethiopia, on one side of the Red Sea, sending to that on the other side; and some of Tirhakah the Ethiopian sending messengers to the king of Assyria to bid him defiance, and let him know he intended to fight him; and at the same time sent to the Jews, that they might depend upon his protection and help, Isa 37:9 some understand this of the Egyptians sending to the Ethiopians, to let them know of the Assyrian expedition; and others, of their sending to the Jews, with the promise of a supply; and the word for “ambassadors” signifying “images”, Isa 45:16 some have thought it is to be understood of carrying the head of Osiris, and the image of Isis, from place to place, in proper vessels:
even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters; or, “upon the face of the waters” i; where these light vessels floated without sinking, not drawing the quantity of waters as vessels of wood did. Both the Egyptians and Ethiopians had ships made of the “papyrus” k, or “biblus” l, a sort of rush, that grew upon the banks of the Nile, and which were light, and moved swiftly, and were also safest; there was no danger of their being broken to pieces, as other vessels, on shelves, and rocks, and in waterfalls: yea, Pliny m says, that the Ethiopian ships were so made, as to fold up and be carried on their shoulders, when they came to the cataracts.
[Saying], go, ye swift messengers; the word “saying” is not in the text, nor is it to be supplied; for these are not the words of the nation before described, sending its messengers to another nation after described, either the Jews or the Assyrians; but they are the words of God to his messengers, angels or men, who were swift to do his will, whom he sends to denounce or inflict judgment upon the same nation that is before mentioned, with which agrees Eze 30:9:
to a nation scattered; that dwelt in towns, villages, and houses, scattered about here and there; or who would be scattered and dissipated by their enemies: or, “drawn out”, and spread over a large tract of ground, as Ethiopia was:
and peeled; of their hair, as the word signifies; the Ethiopians, living in a hot country, had very little hair upon their bodies. Schultens n, from the use of the word in the Arabic language, renders it,
“a nation strong and inaccessible:”
to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; for their black colour and grim looks, especially in some parts; and for the vast armies they brought into the field, as never were by any other people; see
2Ch 12:3 and they might well be said to be so from the beginning, since Nimrod, the mighty hunter, was the son of Cush, from whence the Ethiopians have the name of Cushites, and is the name Ethiopia is called by in the preceding verse Isa 18:1:
a nation meted out, and trodden down: to whom punishment was measured by line, in proportion to their sins, and who in a little time would be trodden under foot by their enemies:
whose land the rivers have spoiled: which must not be understood literally of Niger and Nilus, of Astapus and Astaboras, which were so far from spoiling the land, that it was much more pleasant and fruitful for them; but figuratively, of powerful princes and armies, that should come into it, and spoil and plunder it; see Isa 8:7. Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of the kings of the nations of the world; and so the Targum,
“whose land the people spoil.”
Some understand all this of the Assyrians, whose army was now scattered, and its soldiers exhausted, who had been from the beginning of their monarchy very terrible to their neighbours, but now marked for destruction; and whom the Ethiopians, who dwelt by the rivers, despised, as some render the words: and others interpret them of the Jews, as overrun by the Assyrian army like a mighty river, by whom they were scattered, and peeled, and spoiled, and plundered; who from their beginning had been very terrible, because of the wonderful things wrought for them at the Red Sea, in the wilderness, and in the times of Joshua and the judges; and because of the dreadful punishments inflicted on them; but the first sense is best. Vitringa interprets all this of the Egyptians, whose country was drawn out or long, their bodies peeled or shaved; a people terrible to their neighbours, and very superstitious; a nation of line and line, or of precept and precept.
i “super facies aquarurum”, Montanus. k Hence , paper skiffs, in Plutarch, de Is. et Osir. and , ships of reeds which the Indians made and used, as Herodotus relates, l. 3. sive Thalia, c. 98. and so Diodorus Siculus speaks of ships made of a reed in India, of excellent use, because they are not liable to be eaten by worms, Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 104. to the Egyptian vessels of this kind Lucan has respect when he says, “—–Sic cum tenet omnia Nilus, Conficitur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro. Pharsal. l. 4.
l Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 22. & l. 13. 11. Heliodor. l. 10. c. 4. p. 460. m Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 9. n Animadv, Philol. in Job, p, 108.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Sending ambassadors by the sea. This relates strictly to the state of those times. It would appear that this nation solicited the Egyptians or Syrians to harass the Jews, or that the Assyrians employed them for the purpose of harassing the Jews, or that they had formed an alliance with the Egyptians, in order that, by their united force, they might prevent the power of the Assyrians from increasing beyond bounds; for nothing more than conjectures can be offered, because we have no histories that give any account of it, and where historical evidence is wanting, we must resort to probable conjectures. These voyages, there is reason to believe, were not made to any place near at hand, but to a distant country.
In ships of reeds. (13) We ought not to think it strange that he calls them ships of reeds, for it is evident from the ancient histories that these were commonly used by the Egyptians, because the channel of the Nile is in some places very steep and dangerous to navigators on account of the cataracts, which the Greeks call Κατάδουπα, so that ships of wood cannot be used at those places without being broken and dashed to pieces on the rocks; and therefore it is necessary to employ ships of pliant materials. That the ships might not admit water and thus be sunk, historians tell us that they were daubed within with pitch.
Go, ye swift messengers. This passage is obscure, but I shall follow what I consider to be probable. The Prophet shews the design of his prediction, or the reason why he foretold the destruction of that nation. If we believe them to have been the avowed enemies of the Jews, the design was to afford some consolation to believers who were wretchedly broken up and scattered, that having received this message they might rejoice and give thanks to God. But if we rather think that the Jews were led by this nation into an unlawful league, we must then consider that this exhortation is ironical, and that the Prophet intended to reprove the folly of the chosen people, in forsaking God and relying on useless aid. Some think that these words were spoken by God, as if he commanded those nations who inhabited the sea-coast to destroy the Jews; but I am not at all of that opinion.
To a nation scattered and plundered. (14) I do not agree with those who think that these words describe the destruction of that unknown and obscure nation; for by “a plundered nation” he means the Jews who were to be grievously harassed and scattered, so that no part of them escaped injury.
To a people terrible from their beginning hitherto. He calls it terrible, because so great calamities would disfigure it in such a manner that all who beheld it would be struck with terror. I cannot approve of the exposition given by some, that this relates to the signs and miracles which the Lord performed amongst them, so as to render them an object of dread to all men; for the allusion is rather to that passage in the writings of Moses, “The Lord will make thee an astonishment and a terror.” Deu 28:37 In like manner it is said elsewhere, “for the shaking of the head and mockery.” (Jer 18:16.) He therefore means that they are a nation so dreadful to behold as to fill all men with astonishment, and we know that this was foretold and that it also happened to the Jews.
A nation trodden down on every side. (15) קו קו, ( kav-kav,) that is, on every side, as if one drew lines and joined them so closely that no space was left between them, or as if one drew furrows in a field so as to break every clod; for in this manner was the nation thrown down and trampled under foot. (16)
Whose land the rivers have spoiled. By the rivers he means the vast army of the enemies, that is, of the Assyrians. He alludes to what he had formerly said, that the nation, not satisfied with its own little stream, longed for rapid and boisterous rivers. (Isa 8:6.) After having applied to them for assistance, they were overwhelmed by them as by a deluge; and the reason of the whole evil was this, that they were not satisfied with the promises of God, and sought assistance in another quarter. Now, if this command is understood to be given to the swift messengers in the name of God, we infer from it that he does not immediately assist his own people, but delays his aid till they are brought to a state of despair. He does not send to them a cheerful and prosperous message while they are still uninjured, or when they have received a light stroke, but he sends a message to a nation altogether trodden down and trampled under foot. Yet when he commands them to make haste, he means that the judgment will be sudden and unexpected, so that light will suddenly burst forth amidst the darkness.
(13) Bogus footnote
(14) Bogus footnote
(15) Bogus footnote
(16) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) That sendeth ambassadors . . .The words point to the embassies which the Ethiopian king had sent, in the papyrus boats used for the navigation of the Upper Nile, down that river to Hezekiah and other princes, inviting them to join the alliance against Assyria.
Go, ye swift messengers . . .The interpolated saying being omitted, the words that follow are as the prophets address to the messengers, as he sends them back to their own people. Instead of scattered and peeled, we are to read tall and polished, as describing the physique which had probably impressed itself on Isaiahs mind. (Comp. the Sabeans as men of stature in Isa. 45:14.) They were terrible then, as they had ever been (i.e., imperious and mighty), a nation that treadeth down its foes. Instead of meted out and trodden down, they are a nation of command, command (or, perhaps, strength, strength). The rivers are literally the affluents of the Nile that intersect and fertilise (not spoil) the hills and valleys of Nubia. Some commentators, however, though with less probability, accept the Authorised version, and refer the words to Israel, as scattered and plundered, with its land spoiled by the rivers of invading armies (Isa. 8:7).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. By the sea The Nile. Any distinguished waters were called seas.
Saying This is useless. The word is not in the original, nor is it essential to the sense of the passage.
Go, ye This is addressed to the vessels on the Nile made of papyrus (bulrushes) bark. This plant, now seldom found, anciently abounded along the Nile and its branches, and from its inner bark the earlier writing material was obtained, as well as from its strips coverings for boat frames; thus making “ships” light for sailing on the level Nile, and portable for its cataracts.
To a nation scattered and peeled A description of the Ethiopians. Better, tall, or drawn out, and smooth. So the original. To a people of smooth skin, lithe, active, and terrible, or much to be feared, for their fierceness.
From their beginning From that time and beyond, or from long ago; referring, perhaps, to an antiquity sufficient to account for the constitutional difference in blackness, smoothness of skin, etc.
A nation meted out Still the Ethiopians. The Hebrew is, , ( kav, kav,) line, line. The English translation implies a measuring line thoroughly used. (The repeated words imply this.) The measuring line was in war used upon buildings devoted to destruction. By figure it may here mean all destroyers, and hence the term is of active signification, not passive; and if this be active, so the next word. Then it is not trodden, but treading down; a people treading and crushing; an all powerful and victorious people.
Spoiled This also is an inadequate rendering, and was made on an incorrect theory of the passage. It rather means, dissects, cuts up. The branches of the Upper Nile divide the country into many sections.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Here is the threat of this enemy. Taking advantage of Israel’s humblings, he cometh on when Israel is cast down. Let the Reader spiritualize the passage to himself and his own circumstances, and he will find it profitable. If the world, or the great enemy of souls, come on to distress the souls of God’s people, when the Lord is chastening them; the Lord seeth, and will avenge their quarrel. Though the Lord correct, yet they shall not; and though he brings down, he will bring up, and they shall not hinder. It is blessed to see this, and to know it! W hat a very sweet scripture, in a way of expostulation, is that in the prophecy of Obadiah against Edom, on this very account. I pray the Reader to look at it: Oba 1:8 to the end.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 18:2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, [saying], Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
Ver. 2. That sendeth ambassadors by the sea. ] Heralds to defy the Assyrian, and to bid him battle, to their own ruin.
Even in the vessels of bulrushes.
Go, ye swift messengers.
To a nation scattered and peeled,
To a people terrible.
A nation meted out and trodden down.
Whose land the rivers have spoiled.
a Iunceae fiscellae picatae. – Vide Plin., lib. vi. cap. 22.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the sea = the Nile. So called by the inhabitants of the Sudan to-day.
bulrushes = reeds. Not the papyrus, but its companion reed, the ambach, which reaches a height of fifteen feet and has yellow flowers.
scattered and peeled = “tall and smooth-faced”.
terrible. They formed the armies of “So” or Sha-baka, and are the backbone of the Anglo-Egyptian army.
whose land the rivers have spoiled: i.e. the “sudd” or swamps (hence Sudan). The Dinka and Shilluk negroes live on the floating cakes of sudd.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
That sendeth ambassadors
The local reference is evidently to an embassy from Egypt, resulting in the alliance denounced in Is. 30, 31, Jer 37:7-11.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
sendeth: Isa 30:2-4, Eze 30:9
vessels: It is well known that the Egyptians commonly used on the Nile a light sort of ships or boats made of the papyrus. See note on Exo 2:3.
to a nation: Isa 18:7
scattered and peeled: or, outspread and polished, Or, as Bp. Lowth renders, “stretched out in length and smoothed.” Egypt, which is situated between 24 degrees and 32 degrees n lat. and 30 degrees and 33 degrees e long., being bounded on the south by Ethiopia, on the north by the Mediterranean, on the east by the mountains of Arabia, and on the west by those of Lybia, is one long vale, 750 miles in length – through the middle of which runs the Nile in breadth from one to two or three day’s journey, and even at the widest part of the Delta, from Pelusium to Alexandria, not above 250 miles broad.
to a people: Gen 10:8, Gen 10:9, 2Ch 12:2-4, 2Ch 14:9, 2Ch 16:8, Heb
Meted out and trodden down: or, that meteth out and treadeth down, Heb. of line, line, and treading under foot, This is an allusion to the frequent necessity of having recourse to mensuration in Egypt, in order to determine their boundaries, after the inundation of the Nile had smoothed their land and effaced their landmarks; and to their method of throwing seed upon the mud, when the waters had subsided, and treading it in by turning their cattle into the fields.
have spoiled: or, despise, Isa 19:5-7
Reciprocal: Isa 19:6 – the reeds Isa 42:22 – a people Jer 49:14 – an ambassador Oba 1:1 – and an
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 18:2. That sendeth ambassadors by sea That is accustomed to send, or at this time is sending, ambassadors to strengthen themselves with leagues and alliances, or to encourage their confederates; in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters This circumstance agrees perfectly well with Egypt; Pliny, Lucan, Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo, all affirming that the Egyptians commonly used on the Nile a light sort of ships, or boats, made of the reed papyrus. Go, ye swift messengers To this nation before mentioned, who, by the Nile, and by their numerous canals, have the means of spreading the report, in the most expeditious manner, through the whole country; go and carry this notice of Gods designs in regard to them. By the swift messengers are meant, not any particular persons specially appointed to this office, but any of the usual conveyers of news whatsoever; travellers, merchants, and the like, the instruments and agents of common fame; these are ordered to publish this declaration, made by the prophet, throughout Egypt, and to excite their attention to the promised visible interposition of Providence. Thus Bishop Lowth; who further says, I suppose that this prophecy was delivered before Sennacheribs return from his Egyptian expedition, which took up three years; and that it was designed to give to the Jews, and perhaps likewise to the Egyptians, an intimation of Gods counsels in regard to the destruction of their great and powerful enemy. To a nation scattered Or stretched out, as many translate . Egypt, that is, the fruitful part of it, exclusive of the deserts on each side, is one long vale, through the middle of which runs the Nile, bounded on each side to the east and west by a chain of mountains, seven hundred and fifty miles in length, in breadth, from one to two or three days journey: even at the widest part of the Delta, from Pelusium to Alexandria, not above two hundred and fifty miles broad. And peeled Or rather smoothed, as may be rendered. This, Bishop Lowth thinks, either relates to the practice of the Egyptian priests, who made their bodies smooth by shaving off the hair; or, rather, to the countrys being made smooth, perfectly plain and level, by the overflowing of the Nile. Terrible from the beginning hitherto This also well suits the Egyptians, whose kingdom was one of the most ancient, and continued long to be extremely formidable. And they were wont to boast extravagantly of the antiquity and greatness of their kingdom, asserting that gods were their first kings, and then demi-gods, and lastly men. A nation meted out and trodden down Hebrew, , a nation of line, line, and treading down. See the margin. The prophet is here generally supposed to refer, 1st, To the necessity which the Egyptians were frequently under of having recourse to mensuration, in order to determine the boundaries of their lands, after the inundations of the Nile; which is thought by some to have given birth to the science of geometry; (Strabo, lib. 17;) and, 2d, To a peculiar method of tillage in use among them. Both Herodotus and Diodorus say, that when the Nile had retired within its banks, and the ground became somewhat dry, they sowed their land, and then sent in their cattle to tread in the seed; and without any further care expected the harvest. Whose land the rivers have spoiled The word , here used, may either be rendered spoiled, or despised. It seems plainly to relate to the overflowing of the Nile; which, as it were, claims Egypt to itself, while it overwhelms with its waters the whole land, except the cities and towns, secured by the banks raised about them. It is true, this overflow is rather an advantage than a disadvantage to the land, as it renders it fruitful; nevertheless it puts the inhabitants to very great inconveniences during its continuance.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18:2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of {b} bulrushes upon the waters, [saying], {c} Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and stripped, to a {d} people terrible from their beginning to this time; a nation measured by line and trodden down, whose land the {e} rivers have laid waste!
(b) Which is those countries were great, so much so that they made ships from them for swiftness.
(c) This may be taken that they sent others to comfort the Jews and to promise them help against their enemies, and so the Lord threatened to take away their strength, that the Jews should not trust in it: or that they solicited the Egyptians and promised them aid to go against Judah.
(d) That is, the Jews who because of God’s plague made all other nations afraid of the same, as God threatened in De 28:37 .
(e) Meaning the Assyrians, Isa 8:7 .