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NASB | Isaiah 18:1 Alas, oh land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Isaiah 18:1 Woe (judgment is coming) to the land of whirring wings Which is beyond the rivers of Cush (Ethiopia), |
Bible Question:
A hermeneutics question. Under the concept of "double fulfillment" of prophecy, could Isaiah 18:1-7 be referring not only to the ancient Israel situation but also of the United States today? Thank you and God bless! |
Bible Answer: It could but to what end? I think to make it fit we have to read a lot into it and even then it doesn't answer any question. I personally like this explanation of the chapter. 18:1-2. The message in chapter 18 is directed against the land of whirring wings, the nation of Cush. The whirring wings may refer to locusts. Cush included modern-day southern Egypt, Sudan, and northern Ethiopia. Apparently the Cushites sent envoys in swift-moving papyrus boats (cf. Job 9:26) to suggest that Israel form an alliance with them against the Assyrians. The Cushites, a people who were tall, fearsome, and aggressive, spoke a language that would have sounded strange to Hebrews because it was non-Semitic. Like Egypt, Cush is divided by rivers (cf. Isa. 18:7) that is, by branches of the Nile. Nothing is known elsewhere in the Bible or from extrabiblical sources about any contacts of this nation with Israel in a joint venture against Assyria. 18:3. 18:3. The prophet exhorted the Cushites to go back home and not try to form an alliance because the Lord would defeat the enemy at the proper time. The Cushites represented all the people of the world who desired to see the Assyrians fall. But the Lord promised through Isaiah that when the time would come to fight the Assyrians they would know it and would see the enemy fall. 18:4-6. 18:4-6. God’s plans would linger much like the summer heat and harvest dew. The Lord told Isaiah that He would wait till the proper time to cut off the enemy. Isaiah had already been given the reason for this (10:12, 25, 32). But the Assyrian army first had to complete the task God gave them, to punish the people of Israel by taking them captive. However, once God’s purposes had been accomplished He would intervene and cut them off (18:5) just when they, like grapes, were beginning to ripen, to extend their empire. They would be killed and would be left on the mountains as food for wild birds in the summer and wild animals in the winter. 18:7. 18:7. After the Assyrian defeat, the Lord would cause the people of Cush (cf. vv. 1-2) to take gifts to the Lord at Mount Zion, where His name dwelt (see comments on Deut. 12:5). Whether this occurred after the fall of Assyria is not known. Possibly Isaiah was speaking of the millennial kingdom when peoples from around the world will worship the Lord (cf. Zech. 14:16) because of His gracious acts. —Bible Knowledge Commentary |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Is 18:1 | Author | ||
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Scribe | ||
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razorray | ||
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agape2001 | ||
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agape2001 | ||
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EdB | ||
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agape2001 |