Isaiah 18:1 - Meaning and Application

Interpreters have long disagreed about this land beyond the rivers of Cush. Some think it means Egypt, a country full of rivers, which tried to draw Israel into dependence on it, but proved like a broken reed. Others think it means Ethiopia, or nearby Arabia, the land east of Canaan, where Tirhakah was king at the time. He tried to help Judah by drawing the king of Assyria away, when Assyria attacked both his country and Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:9).

Yet the prophet treats this help as nothing and says God will not go out with him. Tirhakah may follow his own plan, but God will take a different route to protect Jerusalem. God will let Tirhakah’s attack fail, and his Arabian army be destroyed, while the Assyrian army itself becomes an offering to the Lord of hosts and to the place where he puts his name, by the hand of an angel, not by Tirhakah’s hand (Isaiah 18:7). This is a very likely explanation of the chapter.

Still, after Dr. Lightfoot’s hint in his Harmony of the Old Testament, I am inclined to see this chapter as a prophecy against Assyria. If so, it continues the prophecy from the last three verses of the previous chapter, and the two should be read together. That prophecy was against the Assyrian army rushing in on Judah. This one is against Assyria itself, the land beyond the rivers of Arabia, that is, beyond the Euphrates and Tigris, which bordered Arabia Deserta, the dry wilderness.

When the prophet calls it the land shadowed with wings, he may be referring back to what he said earlier about Assyria, that the stretching out of its wings would fill the breadth of Immanuel’s land (Isaiah 8:8). He may have used these dark phrases because he did not name Assyria directly, much as Paul later spoke of the Roman empire in indirect language, “he who now restrains” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Here, then, we have the land’s attack on a people “scattered and peeled,” or stripped and vulnerable (Isaiah 18:2).

Swift messengers are sent by water to declare war against them, as against a people marked out by Providence to be trampled down. Whether this is talking about the Ethiopians making war on Assyria, or Assyria on Judah, it teaches us something important. A nation that has long been feared, that once held great power, can still become scattered and stripped bare, even ruined by the very rivers that should have supported it. Nations that once made everyone around them tremble may, through a turn of events, become weak and easy prey for their proud neighbors.

It also shows how ambitious rulers always find some excuse to attack the people they want to conquer. They say, “This nation has been terrible, so we must get even,” or, “This nation is now scattered and weak, so it will be easy to take.” Perhaps the people are not as low as their enemies claim. God’s people are often treated like a nation scattered and peeled, but those who try to swallow them up may find they are still as strong as ever in God’s care. They may be cast down, but they are not abandoned or destroyed.

Next, God sounds an alarm to the nations around, calling them to notice what he is about to do (Isaiah 18:3). The Ethiopians and Assyrians have their own plans, carefully laid and full of confidence. They send ambassadors and messengers from place to place to carry out those plans. But the question is, what does the great God say about all of this?

He lifts up a banner on the mountains and blows a trumpet, declaring war against the enemies of his church and summoning all who love her to her side (Isaiah 18:3). He is announcing that he is about to do a great work as the Lord of hosts. All the world must take note. Everyone on earth must see the banner and hear the trumpet, watch the movements of God’s providence, and obey the directions of God’s will. Let all enlist under God’s banner, stand on his side, and listen to the trumpet of his word, which never gives an uncertain sound.

God also gives his prophet a promise to pass on to the people, that even if he seems for a time to sit still, he will surely act at the right time for his people’s comfort and their enemies’ shame (Isaiah 18:4). “So the Lord said to me.” Men will have their say, but God has his own word too. We can be sure it will stand, and he often makes it known beforehand to his servants the prophets.

When God says, “I will take my rest,” it does not mean he is tired of ruling the world or wants to withdraw from it. It means the great God enjoys perfect and peaceful fullness in himself, even while the world around him shakes and changes. The Lord still sits above the floods, unmoved. His mind is always calm. Yet though he may sometimes seem to his people as if he is not paying attention, as if he were asleep or unaware (Psalm 44:23; Jeremiah 14:9), he always knows exactly what people are doing, and exactly what he will do.

First, he will take care of his people and be their shelter. He will watch over his dwelling place, and his eye and heart will remain on it for good. Zion is his rest forever, the place where he will dwell, and he will look after it. He will turn his face toward it and plan what needs to be done, and he will do what is best. He will match the comforts he gives to his people’s need, so that they come at the right time and fit the trouble they face.

Those comforts are like a bright warmth after rain, which revives the land and helps the plants grow. They are also like dew and a cloud during the heat of harvest, which are very welcome, the dew for the ground and the cloud for the workers. There is something in God that gives shelter and refreshment to his people in every season and protects them through every change. If the weather is cool, his favor warms them. If the weather is hot, his favor cools them. Great men may have a winter house and a summer house (Amos 3:15), but those who live with God have both in him.

God will settle accounts with his enemies and with the enemies of his people, as verses 5 and 6 say. The Assyrian army expected a rich harvest when it attacked Jerusalem and plundered that wealthy city. Just as the crop is almost ready, before the harvest is gathered in, God will destroy that army. He will do it as easily as a farmer cuts vine shoots with pruning hooks, or, if the grapes are sour and useless, cuts down the whole branch.

This points to the destruction of the Assyrian army by a destroying angel. Their dead bodies were scattered like the cut branches of a wild vine. They were left for birds and wild animals to feed on, both in winter and summer. God protects his people in every season, both in cold and in heat (Isaiah 18:4), but their enemies are exposed in every season. Birds and beasts of prey will feed on them summer and winter until they are completely ruined.

At that time, when this is fulfilled, a gift will be brought to the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 18:7). Some understand this as the conversion of the Ethiopians to the faith of Christ in later times, with a preview of that in Philip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:27 and following). Those who were a people scattered and peeled, measured out and trampled down (Isaiah 18:2), will be brought as a gift to the Lord. Though they seemed useless and worthless, they will be an acceptable gift to him, because he judges people by the sincerity of their faith and love, not by outward wealth or honor. That is why the gospel was preached to the Gentiles, so that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable (Romans 15:16). It was foretold that Ethiopia would soon stretch out her hands to God (Psalm 68:31).

Others understand this gift as the spoil taken from Sennacherib's army, from which, as was often done, presents were brought to the Lord of hosts (Numbers 31:50). It was the gift of a people scattered and peeled. It was taken from the Assyrians, who had now been brought low into the very condition they had mockingly assigned to Judah (Isaiah 18:1). Those who wrongly trample on others will themselves be justly trampled on. It was also offered by God's people, who had been called a people scattered and peeled in contempt. God will honor his people, even when others despise them.

Finally, notice this: the gift brought to the Lord of hosts must be brought to the place where the Lord of hosts has placed his name. What is offered to God must be offered in the way he has appointed. We must be sure to come to him where he has promised to meet us.