The Land Beyond the Rivers
Study note
Cush, located south of Egypt in what is now Sudan and Ethiopia, was a powerful nation in Isaiah's time. It was known for its tall, strong people and its land criss-crossed by rivers, especially the upper Nile and its branches. The Cushites sent ambassadors in small papyrus boats down the Nile, likely seeking an alliance against Assyria. Isaiah calls on the whole world to watch when God raises his signal flag and blows his trumpet, indicating that God is about to act in a way that everyone will see.
1 Trouble is coming for the land of buzzing wings that lies beyond the rivers of Cush, Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 the land that sends messengers by river in small boats made of reeds. Go, swift messengers! Go to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people, a people feared everywhere, a powerful nation that conquers others, whose land is divided by rivers. 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!
3 Everyone in the world, every person alive on earth — when you see a flag raised on the mountains, look! When you hear a trumpet blast, listen! 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.
God Watches and Acts
Study note
God tells Isaiah that he will watch quietly from heaven, like the still heat of a sunny day or a morning dew cloud during harvest. God is not absent or unconcerned; he is waiting for the right moment. Just before the harvest is ready, God will cut off the shoots and branches, a picture of destroying plans before they can succeed. The cut branches will be left for the birds and wild animals. The chapter ends with a hopeful note: a time will come when the people of Cush will bring gifts to the Lord at Mount Zion, the place where God dwells.
4 The Lord told me this. "I will quietly watch from where I live. I will be like the heat that shimmers on a sunny day. I will be like a cloud of dew in the hot harvest." 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 Before the harvest, the blossoms will fade. The grapes will start to ripen. Then he will cut the new growth with sharp knives. He will slice off the wide branches. 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 The branches and bodies will all be left for the mountain birds and wild animals. Birds will feast on them through the summer, and wild animals will gnaw on them through the winter. 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 When that time comes, gifts will be brought to the Lord who commands heaven's armies. They will come from that tall, smooth-skinned people, a people feared far and wide, a strong and winning nation whose land is split by rivers. These gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, where the Lord who commands heaven's armies has chosen to live. In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.