Isaiah 18 (ESV)
An Oracle Concerning Cush
1 Ah, land of whirring wings
that is beyond the rivers of Cush,
2 which sends ambassadors by the sea,
in vessels of papyrus on the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
4 For thus the LORD said to me:
“I will quietly look from my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.
6 They shall all of them be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer on them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.
7 At that time tribute will be brought to the LORD of hosts
from a people tall and smooth,
from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide,
to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of hosts.
In Isaiah we have a number of these prophecies, that to the modern reader probably makes little sense. The above chapter being a case in point. This chapter is written by Isaiah has a poem and, as stated, is a prophecy to the land of “Cush.” Cush was a grandson of Noah’s. He was Ham’s son and, if you recall, Ham was the one cursed for his dishonoring his father, Noah, after the flood.
In this prophecy the nation of Cush is sending ambassadors (v 2) to Judah for some reason, not stated. Isaiah sends them on their way to a nation characterized by being “tall and smooth.” We have not idea who this is. But, this is the interesting part of the poem. Isaiah states at the end of the poem (vs 7) that this nation “tall and smooth” will bring a “tribute” (gifts) to the LORD of hosts.
This all might seem confusing to those of us who live in a time far removed from these type of of events. But, the point of the poem is that one nation (Cush) is trying to manipulate another nation (Judah) into a fight and God is stating that He is in complete control of all events. This third nation (the “tall and smooth” nation ... which could be Assyria) is in God’s hands. The lesson for the modern reader is very simple: Mankind can try to manipulate world events through their ambassadors, but, it is God who is in control. Even the most feared nation (tall and smooth) are at his disposal. Later, in this book, God will say it this way through Isaiah’s pen:
Isaiah 45:5-7 (ESV)
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the LORD, who does all these things.
God is in control and He even uses one nation against another to accomplish His divine will. The world may seem out of control, but it is all within God’s sovereign plan.
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