44 lines
7.2 KiB
HTML
44 lines
7.2 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
|
|
<html><head>
|
|
<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
|
|
<script src="../../../js/basepath.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/nav.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainHeader.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script>
|
|
currentBook = 'Isa';
|
|
currentChapter = 18;
|
|
PriorBook = 'Psalms';
|
|
PriorBookURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Psa_1.html';
|
|
PriorChapter = 'Isaiah 17';
|
|
PriorChapterURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Isa_17.html';
|
|
NextBook = 'Daniel';
|
|
NextBookURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Dan_1.html';
|
|
NextChapter = 'Isaiah 19';
|
|
NextChapterURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Isa_19.html';
|
|
Title = 'Study Guide for Isaiah 18';
|
|
</script>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/DG.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<h2><span><a onclick="return mV('Isa',18,'1-');">Isa 18</a> - Concerning Ethiopia</span></h2>
|
|
<p><i>“To us, this brief chapter is the most difficult one of all the sixty-six chapters of Isaiah.” (Bultema) “Although the prophecy is a short one, it probably ranks as the most obscure chapter in this entire section.” (Wolf) “This is one of the most obscure prophecies in the whole Book of Isaiah.” (Clarke)</i></p>
|
|
<p><span>A. No need to make an alliance with Ethiopia.</span></p>
|
|
<p class="c1"><span>1. (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',18,'1-2');">1-2</a>) A word directed to Ethiopia.</span></p>
|
|
<p class="c2"><span>Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings, which <i>is </i>beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, wich sends ambassadors by sea, even in vessels of reed on the waters, <i>saying, </i>“Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth <i>of skin, </i>to a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation powerful and treading down, whose land the rivers divide.”</span></p>
|
|
<p class="c4"><span>a. <b><span class="c3">Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia</span></b></span>: In the days of Isaiah, <span>Ethiopia was a major world power, ruling Egypt and a chief rival to Assyria. Since Judah was caught in the middle between this conflict, it might make sense for Judah to align herself with Ethiopia against Assyria.</span></p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. “In 715 <span class="c6">b.c. </span>an Ethiopian named Shabako gained control of Egypt as founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty. Ethiopian domination continued until 633 <span class="c6">b.c.</span> when a native Egyptian regained the throne.” (Wolf)</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">ii. “The term designates a much larger area than present-day Eithiopia - an area including the Sudan and Somalia.” (Grogan)</p>
|
|
<p class="c4"><span>b. <b><span class="c3">Shadowed with buzzing wings</span></b></span>: The Nile Valley is famous for its many whirring insects.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4"><span>c. <b><span class="c3">Which sends ambassadors by sea</span></b></span>: The <span>scene pictures Ethiopian ambassadors who come to make an alliance with Judah and the other nations of the region against Assyria.</span></p>
|
|
<p class="c4"><span>d. <b><span class="c3">Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin</span></b></span>: As the Ethiopian ambassadors invite Judah to rebel against the Assyrians, they ask Judah to send <b><span class="c3">swift messengers</span></b> back to Ethiopia (<b><span class="c3">to a nation tall and smooth of skin . . . a nation powerful</span></b>), and the Ethiopians would hope to hear that Judah has rebelled against Assyria and aligned itself with Ethiopia and Egypt.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1"><span>2. (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',18,'3-6');">3-6</a>) The <span class="c6">Lord</span> rejects the offer of help from the Ethiopians.</span></p>
|
|
<p class="c2"><span>All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth: When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see <i>it; and</i> when he blows a trumpet, you hear <i>it. </i>For so the <span class="c6">Lord</span> said to me, “I will take My rest, and I will look from My dwelling place like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” 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 <i>and </i>cut down the branches. 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.</span></p>
|
|
<p class="c4"><span>a. <b><span class="c3">The <span class="c6">Lord</span> said to me, “I will take My rest”</span></b></span>: The <span class="c6">Lord</span> God rejects the alliance with Ethiopia, because He is more than able to deal with the Assyrians Himself. He can <i>take His rest</i> without the help of the Ethiopians. If God wanted to muster an army against Assyria, He would have raised a banner or sounded a trumpet. He is fully able to do it, and would do it when the time is right.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. Significantly, there is no rebuke or judgment against Ethiopia announced in this chapter. It wasn’t as if God was going to judge Ethiopia for their offer of an alliance. Perhaps the idea is that it is a well intentioned but unnecessary offer. Instead, Judah was to trust in the <span class="c6">Lord</span>!</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut the branches</span></b>: God can “prune” Assyria all by Himself. He will destroy the Assyrian army so completely that <b><span class="c3">they will be left together for the mountain birds of prey</span></b>.</p>
|
|
<p><span>B. Ethiopians come and worship God.</span></p>
|
|
<p class="c1"><span>1. (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',18,7);">7</a>) <b><span class="c3">A present will be brought to the <span class="c6">Lord</span> of hosts</span></b></span>: Isaiah announces a day when Ethiopians will come and worship the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, and bring gifts to Him <b><span class="c3">to the place of the name of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> of hosts, to Mount Zion</span></b>.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2"><span>In that time a present will be brought to the <span class="c6">Lord</span> of hosts from a people tall and smooth <i>of skin, and</i> 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 <span class="c6">Lord</span> of hosts, to Mount Zion.</span></p>
|
|
<p class="c4"><span>a. Instead of Israelite messengers bringing news to Ethiopia of an alliance against the Assyria, the day will come when Ethiopians will come and worship at <b><span class="c3">Mount Zion</span></b></span>.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1"><span>2. This may have been fulfilled in some way close to Isaiah’s time. But we know it was fulfilled in <a onclick="return mV('Act',8,'26-40');">Act 8:26-40</a>, when an Ethiopian came to worship the <span class="c6">Lord</span> at Jerusalem, and then trusted in Jesus at the preaching of Philip. It was also fulfilled in the strong Ethiopian church the first few centuries, and the enduring Ethiopian church today.</span></p>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/DG_Footer.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainFooter.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|