Isaiah 18 Commentary
A People Tall And Smooth-Skinned Bring Gifts To The LORD
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KEY THOUGHT: In that time a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts [c]from a people tall and smooth of skin, [Isaiah 18:7a NKJV]
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Isaiah 18 NKJV
Proclamation Against Ethiopia
18 Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings,
Which is beyond the rivers of [a]Ethiopia,
2 Which sends ambassadors by sea,
Even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying,
“Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin,
To a people terrible from their beginning onward,
A nation powerful and treading down,
Whose land the rivers divide.”
3 All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth:
When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it;
And when he blows a trumpet, you hear it.
4 For so the Lord said to me,
“I will take My rest,
And I will [b]look from My dwelling place
Like clear heat in sunshine,
Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect
And the sour grape is ripening in the flower,
He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks
And take away and cut down the branches.
6 They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey
And for the beasts of the earth;
The birds of prey will summer on them,
And all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.
7 In that time a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts
[c]From a people tall and smooth of skin,
And from a people terrible from their beginning onward,
A nation powerful and treading down,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts,
To Mount Zion.
Footnotes
a. Isaiah 18:1 Heb. Cush
b. Isaiah 18:4 watch
c. Isaiah 18:7 So with DSS, LXX, Vg.; MT omits From; Tg. To
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 18 Commentary
Cush is traditionally thought to be the land around present-day Sudan/Ethiopia. Upper Nile. A message against a people tall and smooth-skinned. Land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia suggests a dive deep into the African continent.
Indeed, this land is divided by rivers; the White Nile and the Blue Nile deserve mention. The White Nile further down south has a significant number of big tributaries worth noting.
Cush is nowhere near Isaiah’s Jerusalem, but the prophet has a message for the entire world! This chapter hasn’t exactly mentioned Cush’s sin. We shall see more details later.
But the chapter ends on a note of hope.
“At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.”
Could this be the time spoken of by the psalmist? “Envoys will come from Egypt; Cush will submit herself to God. Psalms 68:31.
Again, we suspect this is the time of the Son who sits on David’s throne, a time of a great government – A government without an end. Isaiah 9.
Some of Isaiah’s images are easy to understand. Back in Isaiah’s day, a conquered nation was required to pay a tribute to the ruling king. Has the LORD Jesus Christ conquered you? Is He ruling in your life? The Scripture conveys two key words: Submission and obedience – all made possible by the ‘Son born to us’.
But we can also talk about homage, freewill offerings, or even gifts. These would be given in peacetime, suggesting friendship, reverence, and admiration.
Words like “remote”, “distant”, and “isolated” are used to underscore exclusivity and inaccessibility. They don’t exist in God’s world!
It is a blessing to read this book when the Christ rules; when the Son sits on David’s throne. And all peoples, including tall and smooth-skinned people, can submit to the Son’s eternal government.
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