Teks -- Isaiah 18:1 (NET)

The Lord Will Judge a Distant Land in the South

18:1 The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Isa 18:1 - The lord

Either Ethiopia beyond Egypt; or of Egypt.

Wesley: Isa 18:1 - Wings

The title of wings is given, in scripture, to divers things which have some kind of resemblance to wings, as to the battlements of an house or temple, to an army, and to the sails of a ship, as this word is here commonly understood. And shadowing with wings is nothing else but overspread or filled with them. Which title may be given either to Ethiopia or Egypt, in regard of the great numbers either of their armies, or of their ships or vessels sailing upon the sea or rivers.

Wesley: Isa 18:1 - Besides

Situated on both sides of the Nile.

Wesley: Isa 18:1 - Rivers

Called rivers, in the plural number, either for its greatness, or for the many rivulets that run into it, or for the various streams into which it is divided.

JFB: Isa 18:1

(Isa 18:1-7)

JFB: Isa 18:1 - Woe

The heading in English Version, "God will destroy the Ethiopians," is a mistake arising from the wrong rendering "Woe," whereas the Hebrew does not express a threat, but is an appeal calling attention (Isa 55:1; Zec 2:6): "Ho." He is not speaking against but to the Ethiopians, calling on them to hear his prophetical announcement as to the destruction of their enemies.

JFB: Isa 18:1 - shadowing with wings

Rather, "land of the winged bark"; that is, "barks with wing-like sails, answering to vessels of bulrushes" in Isa 18:2; the word "rivers," in the parallelism, also favors it; so the Septuagint and Chaldee [EWALD]. "Land of the clanging sound of wings," that is, armies, as in Isa 8:8; the rendering "bark," or "ship," is rather dubious [MAURER]. The armies referred to are those of Tirhakah, advancing to meet the Assyrians (Isa 37:9). In English Version, "shadowing" means protecting--stretching out its wings to defend a feeble people, namely, the Hebrews [VITRINGA]. The Hebrew for "wings" is the same as for the idol Cneph, which was represented in temple sculptures with wings (Psa 91:4).

JFB: Isa 18:1 - beyond

Meroe, the island between the "rivers" Nile and Astaboras is meant, famed for its commerce, and perhaps the seat of the Ethiopian government, hence addressed here as representing the whole empire: remains of temples are still found, and the name of "Tirhakah" in the inscriptions. This island region was probably the chief part of Queen Candace's kingdom (Act 8:27). For "beyond" others translate less literally "which borderest on."

JFB: Isa 18:1 - Ethiopia

Literally, "Cush." HORSLEY is probably right that the ultimate and fullest reference of the prophecy is to the restoration of the Jews in the Holy Land through the instrumentality of some distant people skilled in navigation (Isa 18:2; Isa 60:9-10; Psa 45:15; Psa 68:31; Zep 3:10). Phœnician voyagers coasting along would speak of all Western remote lands as "beyond" the Nile's mouths. "Cush," too, has a wide sense, being applied not only to Ethiopia, but Arabia-Deserta and Felix, and along the Persian Gulf, as far as the Tigris (Gen 2:13).

Clarke: Isa 18:1 - Wo to the land

Wo to the land - הוי ארץ hoi arets ! This interjection should be translated ho! for it is properly a particle of calling: Ho, land! Attend! Give ear

Shadowing with wings "The winged cymbal"- צלצל כנפים tsiltsal kenaphayim . I adopt this as the most probable of the many interpretations that have been given of these words. It is Bochart’ s: see Phaleg, 4:2. The Egyptian sistrum is expressed by a periphrasis; the Hebrews had no name for it in their language, not having in use the instrument itself. The cymbal they had was an instrument in its use and sound not much unlike the sistrum; and to distinguish it from the sistrum, they called it the cymbal with wings. The cymbal was a round hollow piece of metal, which, being struck against another, gave a ringing sound: the sistrum was a round instrument, consisting of a broad rim of metal, through which from side to side ran several loose laminae or small rods of metal, which being shaken, gave a like sound. These, projecting on each side, had somewhat the appearance of wings; or might be very properly expressed by the same word which the Hebrews used for wings, or for the extremity, or a part of any thing projecting. The sistrum is given in a medal of Adrian, as the proper attribute of Egypt. See Addison on Medals, Series 3. No. 4; where the figure of it may be seen. The frame of the sistrum was in shape rather like the ancient lyre; it was not round

If we translate shadowing with wings, it may allude to the multitude of its vessels, whose sails may be represented under the notion of wings. The second verse seems to support this interpretation. Vessels of bulrushes, גמא gome , or rather the flag papyrus, so much celebrated as the substance on which people wrote in ancient times, and from which our paper is denominated. The sails might have been made of this flag: but whole canoes were constructed from it. Mat sails are used to the present day in China. The Vulgate fully understood the meaning of the word, and has accordingly translated, in vasis papyri , "in vessels of papyrus."Reshi vesselis. - Old MS. Bib. This interpretation does not please Bp. Lowth, and for his dissent he gives the following reasons: -

In opposition to other interpretations of these words which have prevailed, it may be briefly observed that צלצל tsiltsel is never used to signify shadow, nor is כנף canaph applied to the sails of ships. If, therefore, the words are rightly interpreted the winged cymbal, meaning the sistrum, Egypt must be the country to which the prophecy is addressed. And upon this hypothesis the version and explanation must proceed. I farther suppose, that the prophecy was delivered before Sennacherib’ s 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 God’ s counsels in regard to the destruction of their great and powerful enemy

Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia "Which borders on the rivers of Cush"- What are the rivers of Cush? whether the eastern branches of the lower Nile, the boundary of Egypt towards Arabia, or the parts of the upper Nile towards Ethiopia, it is not easy to determine. The word מעבר meeber signifies either on this side or on the farther side: I have made use of the same kind of ambiguous expression in the translation.

Calvin: Isa 18:1 - Woe to the land

1.Woe to the land I cannot determine with certainty what is the nation of which Isaiah speaks, though he shews plainly that it bordered on Ethiopia. Some consider it to refer to the whole of Egypt; but this is a mistake, for in the next chapter he treats of Egypt separately, from which it is evident that the people here meant were distinct from the Egyptians. Some think that the Troglodytes are here meant, which does not appear to me to be probable, for they had no intercourse with other nations, because their language, as geographers tell us, was hissing and not speech; ¹² but those who are mentioned evidently had intercourse and leagues with other nations.

Still it is uncertain whether they leagued against the Jews or joined with the Egyptians in driving out the Assyrians. If they were avowed enemies to the Jews, Isaiah threatens punishment; but if they deceived them by false promises, he shews that nothing is to be expected from them, because by idle messages they will only protract the time. However that may be, from the neighboring nations to be mentioned in the next chapter, we may in part ascertain where they were situated, that is, not far from Egypt and Ethiopia: yet some may be disposed to view it as a description of that part of Ethiopia which lay on the sea-coast; for we shall afterwards see that the Assyrians were at war with the king of the Ethiopians. (Isa 37:9.)

When he says that that land shadows with wings, we learn from it that its sea was well supplied with harbours, so that it had many vessels sailing to it and was wealthy; for small and poor states could not maintain intercourse or traffic with foreign countries. He therefore means that they performed many voyages.

Defender: Isa 18:1 - Ethiopia

The coming Assyrian invasion would extend even into Egypt and Ethiopia. All of these prophecies of invasion and destruction were fulfilled in the period from about 730 b.c. to about 670 b.c."

TSK: Isa 18:1 - Woe // the land // shadowing // which

am cir, 3290, bc cir, 714

Woe : Bp. Lowth renders, after Bochart, ""Ho! to the land of the winged cymbal;""which he thinks is a periphrasis for the Egyptian sistrum; and consequently, that Egypt, ""which borders on the rivers of Cush,""is the country to which the prophecy is addressed. If we translate ""shadowing with wings,""it may allude to the multitude of its vessels, whose sails may be represented under the notion of wings.

the land : Isa 20:3-6, Isa 30:2, Isa 30:3, Isa 31:1

shadowing : Rth 2:12; Psa 17:8, Psa 36:7, Psa 57:1, Psa 61:4, Psa 63:7, Psa 91:4; Mat 23:37

which : 2Ki 19:9; Eze 30:4, Eze 30:5; Zep 2:12, Zep 3:10

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Isa 18:1 - The land // Shadowing with wings // Beyond

The land either,

1. Of Arabia; or,

2. Of Ethiopia beyond Egypt; or,

3. Of Egypt, as some both ancient and later interpreters judge; of whom he speaks more darkly in this chapter, and then explains himself more clearly in the next chapter. But this controversy will be best determined by examining the following description.

Shadowing with wings: the title of wings is oft given, both in Scripture and in other authors, unto divers things which have, some general kind of resemblance to wings, as to the battlements of a house or temple, as Mat 4:5 ; to the skirts of a garment, as Rth 3:9 , and oft elsewhere; to an army, as Isa 8:8 Jer 48:40 49:22 ; and to the sails of a ship, as this word is here commonly understood, and as it is unquestionably used in other authors. And shadowing with wings is nothing else but overspread or filled with them; which title may be given either to Ethiopia or Egypt, in regard of the great numbers, either,

1. Of their armies; or rather,

2. Of their ships or vessels sailing upon the sea or rivers: for,

1. In these they exceeded most of those nations who had dealings with the Jews, whereas other nations equalled or exceeded them in numerous armies. But they had an innumerable company of ships or boats, not only because of the commodiousness of the river Nilus, and its’ many branches, and the Red Sea, and the Midland Sea, for navigation; but also because of the frequent overflowings of the river Nilus over their land, which made them absolutely necessary.

2. This best suits with the next verse.

3. Those ancient and venerable interpreters, the LXX. and the Chaldee, who best understood the Hebrew words and phrases, expound it so.

Beyond or, on this side , as this particle is rendered, Num 21:13 22:1 , and in many other places. Or, as others translate it, besides , which may comprehend both sides; and so the land of which he speaks is supposed to be situated on both sides of this river or rivers; which is most true both of Egypt and of Ethiopia. The rivers : a late learned writer understands this of three or four rivers of Arabia Chusaeea, whereof one flows into the Red Sea, another into the Midland Sea, and a third into a great lake; which being obscure and very inconsiderable rivers, and running in so distant channels, it is not probable that this land should receive its denomination from them. And therefore it seems more reasonable to understand this of the great river Nilus. which comes from Ethiopia, and runs through the length of that land, and through Egypt, into the Midland Sea; and which is here called rivers , in the plural number, as it is also Exo 7:19 Isa 7:18 Eze 29:3,4 , and unquestionably Nab. iii. 8. And so it might well be called, either for its greatness, or for the many rivulets that run into it, or for the various streams or channels into which it is divided; as Tigris, upon the same reasons, hath the same title of rivers ascribed to it, Nah 2:6 . Of Ethiopia , Heb. of Cush ; by which he seems to understand either,

1. Arabia, which in many places of Scripture comes under that name, though not in all places, as some learned men contend. Nor doth this place seem to be understood here, because these rivers were not interposed between Judea, in which Isaiah wrote this prophecy, and Arabia; nor were the rivers of Arabia, mentioned before, interposed between Judea and Egypt or Ethiopia: and besides, those rivers were but small and inconsiderable; and therefore, as was noted before, this land, whatsoever it is, would not have been denominated from them, especially when it is not properly situated either beyond them, or on this side of them. But if this Cush be Arabia, peradventure it were better to understand the rivers , or the river , as it was explained before, of the Red Sea, beyond which indeed both Egypt and Ethiopia were, in reference to Arabia. And whereas it may be objected that the title of river or rivers is very improperly given to the sea, it may be fairly answered, that as rivers are sometimes called by the name of the sea, as Euphrates is, Isa 21:1 Jer 51:36 ; so this very word here rendered river is used concerning the sea in the Hebrew text, Jon 2 3 , and indeed may not unfitly be given to the Red Sea, which both for its length and breadth hath a manifest resemblance unto some large rivers which are in the world. And so the words may be very truly understood either of Egypt or of Ethiopia, both which countries in this sense are beyond the rivers or river of Arabia . But this I only propose, and submit to the reader’ s judgment. Or,

2. Ethiopia, properly so called; for the Cushites or Ethiopians are distinguished by Herodotus, and divers other both ancient and later writers, into the eastern, which seem to be the Arabians, and the western, which seem to be the Ethiopians under Egypt. And it is probably thought that these Cushites were first planted in Arabia, and, upon their increase, part of them passed over into Africa by crossing the Red Sea, which was; very short and an easy passage, and settled there. And according to this interpretation of the word, the description of the land given in the last clause of this verse agrees either to Ethiopia or to Egypt, as is evident from what hath been already said for the clearing of this dark and difficult verse.

Haydock: Isa 18:1 - Cymbal // Ethiopia

Cymbal. Or sistrum, commonly used in Egypt. Septuagint, "ship sails." ---

Ethiopia, or Chus, lying between the Nile (the branches of which are styled rivers ) and the Red Sea. He alludes to the kingdom of Tharaca, 4 Kings xix. 8. (Calmet)

Gill: Isa 18:1 - Woe to the land shadowing with wings // Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia

Woe to the land shadowing with wings,.... Or, "O land", as calling to it; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi. It is very difficult to determine what land is here meant: some think the land of Assyria is here designed, as Aben Ezra and others, and so it is a continuation of the prophecy concerning the destruction of the Assyrians, in the three last verses of the preceding chapter Isa 17:12; the stretching out of whose wings is mentioned, Isa 8:8 and thought to be referred to here; others are of opinion that the land of Judea is intended, which trusted under the shadow of the wings of Egypt and Ethiopia, to whom the characters in the next verse Isa 18:2 are supposed to belong: but the more generally received sense is, that either Egypt or Ethiopia themselves are pointed at, described as "shadowing with wings"; not with the wings of birds, as Jarchi interprets it, which flocked thither in great numbers, the country being hot, and so shaded it with their wings; but rather with mountains, with which Ethiopia, at least some part of it, was encompassed and shaded; or else with ships, whose sails are like wings, and which resorting hither, in numerous fleets of them, and hovering about their coasts and ports, seemed to shadow them; to which agrees the Septuagint version, "Woe to the land, the wings of ships!" and so the Targum,

"Woe to the land to which they come in ships from a far country, whose sails are stretched out, as an eagle that flies with its wings;''

so Manasseh Ben Israel ^c renders them,

"Woe to the land, which, under the shadow of veils, falls beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.''

The word translated "shadowing" is used for a cymbal, 2Sa 6:5, Psa 150:5 and so it is rendered here in the Vulgate Latin version, "Woe to the land, with the cymbal of wings": and some think the "sistrum", is meant, which was a musical instrument used by the Egyptians in their worship of Isis; and which had wings to it, or had transverse rods in the middle of it, which looked like wings, one of which may be seen in Pignorius ^d; and so it describes the land of Egypt, famous for its winged cymbals. Minucius Felix ^e makes mention of the swallow along with the sistrum, which was a bird of Isis; and which some say was placed over the statue of Isis, with its wings stretched out.

Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia; the principal of which were Astaboras and Astapus ^f, and also Nile itself, which came out of Ethiopia into Egypt: or, "which is on this side of the rivers of Ethiopia" ^g; and so may intend Egypt, which bordered on this side of it towards Judea; or, "which is beside the rivers of Ethiopia" ^h; and so may denote Ethiopia itself, situated by these rivers. The Targum renders it,

"the rivers of Judea.''

Some would have it, that the rivers of Arabia Chusaea are meant, which, lay between Judea and Egypt, as Besor, Rhinocorura, Trajan, and Corys; and Arabia seems rather to be meant by "Cush", than Ethiopia in Africa, since that lay beyond the rivers of Egypt, rather than Egypt beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.