5 For afore H6440 the harvest, H7105 when the bud H6525 is perfect, H8552 and the sour grape H1155 is ripening H1580 in the flower, H5328 he shall both cut off H3772 the sprigs H2150 with pruning hooks, H4211 and take away H5493 and cut down H8456 the branches. H5189
And it grew, H6779 and became a spreading H5628 vine H1612 of low H8217 stature, H6967 whose branches H1808 turned H6437 toward him, and the roots H8328 thereof were under him: so it became a vine, H1612 and brought forth H6213 branches, H905 and shot H7971 forth sprigs. H6288 There was also another H259 great H1419 eagle H5404 with great H1419 wings H3671 and many H7227 feathers: H5133 and, behold, this vine H1612 did bend H3719 her roots H8328 toward him, and shot forth H7971 her branches H1808 toward him, that he might water H8248 it by the furrows H6170 of her plantation. H4302 It was planted H8362 in a good H2896 soil H7704 by great H7227 waters, H4325 that it might bring forth H6213 branches, H6057 and that it might bear H5375 fruit, H6529 that it might be a goodly H155 vine. H1612 Say H559 thou, Thus saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD; H3069 Shall it prosper? H6743 shall he not pull up H5423 the roots H8328 thereof, and cut off H7082 the fruit H6529 thereof, that it wither? H3001 it shall wither H3001 in all the leaves H2964 of her spring, H6780 even without great H1419 power H2220 or many H7227 people H5971 to pluck it up H5375 by the roots H8328 thereof. Yea, behold, being planted, H8362 shall it prosper? H6743 shall it not utterly H3001 wither, H3001 when the east H6921 wind H7307 toucheth H5060 it? it shall wither H3001 in the furrows H6170 where it grew. H6780
Because thou hast forgotten H7911 the God H430 of thy salvation, H3468 and hast not been mindful H2142 of the rock H6697 of thy strength, H4581 therefore shalt thou plant H5193 pleasant H5282 plants, H5194 and shalt set H2232 it with strange H2114 slips: H2156 In the day H3117 shalt thou make thy plant H5194 to grow, H7735 and in the morning H1242 shalt thou make thy seed H2233 to flourish: H6524 but the harvest H7105 shall be a heap H5067 in the day H3117 of grief H2470 and of desperate H605 sorrow. H3511
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 18
Commentary on Isaiah 18 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 18
Whatever country it is that is meant here by "the land shadowing with wings,' here is a woe denounced against it, for God has, upon his people's account, a quarrel with it.
Isa 18:1-7
Interpreters are very much at a loss where to find this land that lies beyond the rivers of Cush. Some take it to be Egypt, a maritime country, and full of rivers, and which courted Israel to depend upon them, but proved broken reeds; but against this it is strongly objected that the next chapter is distinguished from this by the title of the burden of Egypt. Others take it to be Ethiopia, and read it, which lies near, or about, the rivers of Ethiopia, not that in Africa, which lay south of Egypt, but that which we call Arabia, which lay east of Canaan, which Tirhakah was now king of. He thought to protect the Jews, as it were, under the shadow of his wings, by giving a powerful diversion to the king of Assyria, when he made a descent upon his country, at the time that he was attacking Jerusalem, 2 Ki. 19:9. But though by his ambassadors he bade defiance to the king of Assyria, and encouraged the Jews to depend upon him, God by the prophet slights him, and will not go forth with him; he may take his own course, but God will take another course to protect Jerusalem, while he suffers the attempt of Tirhakah to miscarry and his Arabian army to be ruined; for the Assyrian army shall become a present or sacrifice to the Lord of hosts, and to the place of his name, by the hand of an angel, not by the hand of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, v. 7. This is a very probable exposition of this chapter. But from a hint of Dr. Lightfoot's, in his Harmony of the Old Testament, I incline to understand this chapter as a prophecy against Assyria, and so a continuation of the prophecy in the last three verses of the foregoing chapter, with which therefore this should be joined. That was against the army of the Assyrians which rushed in upon Judah; this is against the land of Assyria itself, which lay beyond the rivers of Arabia, that is, the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, which bordered on Arabia Deserta. And in calling it the land shadowing with wings he seems to refer to what he himself had said of it (ch. 8:8), that the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel! The prophet might perhaps describe the Assyrians by such dark expressions, not naming them, for the same reason that St. Paul, in his prophecy, speaks of the Roman empire by a periphrasis: He who now letteth, 2 Th. 2:7. Here is,