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Isaiah 18-22    Listen Podcast

Now we turn to the land southwest of Israel (Isaiah 18)

1 Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings,
Which is beyond the rivers of 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 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
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.

The Hebrew word translated "Ethiopia" here is "Cush." As a matter of fact, it is sometimes simply transliterated "Cush" into English. These were not Semites as were the Jews and the nations in every other direction from Israel. These were descendants of Cush in Genesis 10 (see notes), the son of Ham and grandson of Noah. Ethiopia (Cush) probably included modern-day southern Egypt, Sudan and perhaps northern Ethiopia. There's no judgment against them in this passage, but rather the mention of friendly relations with Israel after the fall of Assyria. The fall of Ethiopia to Assyria is not mentioned in Isaiah's prophecy until chapter 20 (see below).

Egypt will fall also (Isaiah 19:1-15)

1 The burden against Egypt.
Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud,
And will come into Egypt;
The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence,
And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.
2 “I will set Egyptians against Egyptians;
Everyone will fight against his brother,
And everyone against his neighbor,
City against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3 The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst;
I will destroy their counsel,
And they will consult the idols and the charmers,
The mediums and the sorcerers.
4 And the Egyptians I will give
Into the hand of a cruel master,
And a fierce king will rule over them,”
Says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
5 The waters will fail from the sea,
And the river will be wasted and dried up.
6 The rivers will turn foul;
The brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up;
The reeds and rushes will wither.
7 The papyrus reeds by the River, by the mouth of the River,
And everything sown by the River,
Will wither, be driven away, and be no more.
8 The fishermen also will mourn;
All those will lament who cast hooks into the River,
And they will languish who spread nets on the waters.
9 Moreover those who work in fine flax
And those who weave fine fabric will be ashamed;
10 And its foundations will be broken.
All who make wages will be troubled of soul.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools;
Pharaoh’s wise counselors give foolish counsel.
How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise,
The son of ancient kings?”
12 Where are they?
Where are your wise men?
Let them tell you now,
And let them know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools;
The princes of Noph are deceived;
They have also deluded Egypt,
Those who are the mainstay of its tribes.
14 The LORD has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst;
And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work,
As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 Neither will there be any work for Egypt,
Which the head or tail,
Palm branch or bulrush, may do.

Isaiah prophesied that Egypt too would fall to the Assyrians. This happened in 681 B.C. Is it not fascinating that all the nations and cities around Jerusalem fell to the Assyrians, but not Jerusalem? God is good. The siege on Jerusalem in 701 B.C. failed during King Hezekiah's day. He went before the Lord, and God delivered Jerusalem. The whole story of that miraculous deliverance is found in II Kings 18:13-19:37; II Chronicles 32:9-22; Isaiah 36-37 (see notes).

There's coming a day! (Isaiah 19:16-25)

16 ¶ In that day Egypt will be like women, and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He waves over it.
17 And the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt; everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts which He has determined against it.
18 ¶ In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear by the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.
19 ¶ In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border.
20 And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them.
21 Then the LORD will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the LORD and perform it.
22 And the LORD will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the LORD, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.
23 ¶ In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.
24 ¶ In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land,
25 whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

Isaiah prophesies of a day yet future (the millennium) when Egypt will look to Judah for leadership. Israel will be the center of worship for the Egyptians and the Assyrians. Notice verse 20, "...for they will cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them." We see in verse 21, "...the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day." And verse 22 goes on to say of Egypt, "...they will return to the LORD." We know that when the Davidic Kingdom (per the Davidic Covenant, see notes) is established according to God's promise to Israel, the whole world will experience peace at the hand of the Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord...and that includes Egypt. The highway between Egypt and Assyria presents a far-fetched scenario to the Jews of Isaiah's day. Isaiah prophesies friendly relations between Israel and Egypt and Assyria. Whoa! Who saw that coming? However, this will take place during the millennium - not during Isaiah's day nor the years immediately following.

The prophecy reinforced against Cush and Egypt (Isaiah 20)

1 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it,
2 at the same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 ¶ Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia,
4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
5 Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory.
6 And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, “Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?’ ”

As indicated in chapter 18 (II Kings 18:17 (see notes).

The fall of the city of Babylon (Isaiah 21:1-10)

1 The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea.
As whirlwinds in the South pass through,
So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.
2 A distressing vision is declared to me;
The treacherous dealer deals treacherously,
And the plunderer plunders.
Go up, O Elam!
Besiege, O Media!
All its sighing I have made to cease.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with pain;
Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor.
I was distressed when I heard it;
I was dismayed when I saw it.
4 My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me;
The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.
5 Prepare the table,
Set a watchman in the tower,
Eat and drink.
Arise, you princes,
Anoint the shield!
6 For thus has the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman,
Let him declare what he sees.”
7 And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen,
A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels,
And he listened earnestly with great care.
8 Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord!
I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime;
I have sat at my post every night.
9 And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!”
Then he answered and said,
“Babylon is fallen, is fallen!
And all the carved images of her gods
He has broken to the ground.”
10 Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor!
That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts,
The God of Israel,
I have declared to you.

Meanwhile, back in modern-day Iraq, a man named Marduk-apal-iddina (King of Babylon, 703-702) decides to lead a revolt against Assyria. The attempt failed. Before all of this takes place, Isaiah prophesies here that this revolt will not only be unsuccessful, but will also lead to the fall and devastation of the city of Babylon. This took place in 702 B.C.

Edom and Arabia will also meet the Assyrian army (Isaiah 21:11-17)

11 The burden against Dumah.
He calls to me out of Seir,
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”
12 The watchman said,
“The morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
Return! Come back!”
13 ¶ The burden against Arabia.
In the forest in Arabia you will lodge,
O you traveling companies of Dedanites.
14 O inhabitants of the land of Tema,
Bring water to him who is thirsty;
With their bread they met him who fled.
15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword,
From the bent bow, and from the distress of war.
16 ¶ For thus the LORD has said to me: “Within a year, according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar will fail;
17 and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it.”

It is not possible to say with certainty, but since "Dumah" means silence or stillness, a word play in Hebrew indicates to us that Edom is in view here. We assume so because Seir is a mountain range which runs along the eastern side of the Arabah, occupied by the descendants of Esau. We know this to be Edom of the Old Testament. So, this oracle involves Edom and Arabia who also met their demise at the hand of the Assyrian army. Everyone fell to the Assyrians in the area...except the inhabitants of Jerusalem under faithful King Hezekiah - remarkable protection - don't you agree? Edom was ravaged by the Assyrian army, but not destroyed; that came later. By the way, Obadiah's prophecy (see notes) exclusively addresses the fall of Edom to the Babylonians after the fall of Jerusalem. They have not existed as a country since.

A prophecy concerning Jerusalem (Isaiah 22)

1 The burden against the Valley of Vision.
What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops,
2 You who are full of noise,
A tumultuous city, a joyous city?
Your slain men are not slain with the sword,
Nor dead in battle.
3 All your rulers have fled together;
They are captured by the archers.
All who are found in you are bound together;
They have fled from afar.
4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me,
I will weep bitterly;
Do not labor to comfort me
Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.”
5 For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity
By the Lord GOD of hosts
In the Valley of Vision—
Breaking down the walls
And of crying to the mountain.
6 Elam bore the quiver
With chariots of men and horsemen,
And Kir uncovered the shield.
7 It shall come to pass that your choicest valleys
Shall be full of chariots,
And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
8 He removed the protection of Judah.
You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest;
9 You also saw the damage to the city of David,
That it was great;
And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10 You numbered the houses of Jerusalem,
And the houses you broke down
To fortify the wall.
11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls
For the water of the old pool.
But you did not look to its Maker,
Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago.
12 And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts
Called for weeping and for mourning,
For baldness and for girding with sackcloth.
13 But instead, joy and gladness,
Slaying oxen and killing sheep,
Eating meat and drinking wine:
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by the LORD of hosts,
“Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you,
Even to your death,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.
15 ¶ Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts:
“Go, proceed to this steward,
To Shebna, who is over the house, and say:
16 “What have you here, and whom have you here,
That you have hewn a sepulcher here,
As he who hews himself a sepulcher on high,
Who carves a tomb for himself in a rock?
17 Indeed, the LORD will throw you away violently,
O mighty man,
And will surely seize you.
18 He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball
Into a large country;
There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots
Shall be the shame of your master’s house.
19 So I will drive you out of your office,
And from your position he will pull you down.
20 “Then it shall be in that day,
That I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah;
21 I will clothe him with your robe
And strengthen him with your belt;
I will commit your responsibility into his hand.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
And to the house of Judah.
22 The key of the house of David
I will lay on his shoulder;
So he shall open, and no one shall shut;
And he shall shut, and no one shall open.
23 I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place,
And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.
24 ¶ “They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers.
25 In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, “the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the LORD has spoken.’ ”

While it's not clear from verse 1, verses 9-10 make it obvious that Isaiah is prophesying concerning Jerusalem. Remember, while Jerusalem survived in 701 B.C. the attack of Sennacherib of Assyria, they were surrounded for some time, and the cities around Jerusalem fell to the Assyrians along with many leaders of Judah. The historical record is found in II Kings 18:13-19:37; II Chronicles 32:9-22; Isaiah 36-37 (see notes). So, when your city is surrounded and close to falling to the enemy, how do you react? Well, you can see from this passage that they did not beseech God for help; they lived it up instead. That's the description of activity we see portrayed in this chapter. Some of the defensive measures employed by Hezekiah are seen in verses 9-11.

Then we see some leadership issues in Jerusalem dealt with by Isaiah beginning with verse 15.

Here's what Easton writes about this issue:

Shebna: tender youth, “treasurer” over the house in the reign of Hezekiah, i.e., comptroller or governor of the palace. On account of his pride he was ejected from his office, and Eliakim was promoted to it (Isaiah 22:15-25). He appears to have been the leader of the party who favoured an alliance with Egypt against Assyria.

While Jerusalem did not fall to the Assyrians, Judah (around Jerusalem) took a whipping. The city of Jerusalem was not God fearing at this point in time, but God was faithful to King Hezekiah and spared the city. In II Kings 18:13-19:37; II Chronicles 32:9-22; Isaiah 36-37 (see notes) we see that the angel of the Lord went out into the camp of the Assyrians after Hezekiah prayed and killed 185,000 in one night...miraculously. Sennacherib of Assyria then retreated back home. In his own writings he would detail how he had Jerusalem surrounded and fearful, but he was never able to actually conquer the city.