Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 18:2

2 That sendeth ambassadours by the sea , even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters , saying , Go ye swift Messengers to a nation scattered and peeled , to people terrible from their beginning hitherto ; a nation meted o[illegible: 1+ letters] and troden down , whose land the rivers have spoiled .

That at this time are sending Ambassadours, after their manner, to strengthen themselves with Leagues and Alliances, whereby they think to prevent those Judgments and Calamities, which, notwithstanding all their Endeavours, I will bring upon them. The first part of this Verse seems to contain a further Description of the People of the Land mentioned in the foregoing Verse.

Either by the Midland Sea, or by the Red Sea, or by great Lakes which were both in and near the Land of Egypt; it being usual among the Hebrews to give the Title of seas to Lakes, or any great Collections of Waters, as hath been oft observed before.

For both the Egyptians and Ethiopians, as Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo, and Pliny relate, did commonly use Boats of Rushes or Reeds, which were more convenient for them than those of Wood, because they were both cheaper, and swifter, and lighter for carriage from Place to Place; for which they had frequent occasion in those Parts: and safer, because of the many Rocks, and Shelves, and Waterfalls of Nilus.

Heb. upon the face or surface of the waters. Which is properly expressed, because such Vessels being very light, did not sink so deep into the Waters as those of Wood do.

This Word is supplied here, as it is in many other Places. And the Words here following are supposed to contain the Commission and Direction given by the People hitherto described, unto their Messengers, to go to the People described in the following Words. But this Word, saying, is not in the Hebrew Text, nor is it supplied either by the Seventy, or by the Chaldee; nor doth it seem necessary to be understood. And it seems very improbable, that the People to whom the Messengers were sent, should be described in such general and ambiguous Terms, and in so large a manner, and not a Word said concerning their Message. And therefore, with submission, I humbly conceive these to be the Words of the Prophet, who having in God's Name pronounced a Wo against the Land hitherto described, here continues his Speech, and gives a Commission from God to these messenge[illegible: 1+ letters]s following, to go to this nation scattered, &c. Then he calls to all Nations to be Witnesses of the Message sent by these Messengers, v. 3. And then the Message follows in the succeeding Verses. And so the Coherence seems to be clear.

O you my Angels, or Men, whom I have appointed for this Work, go speedily to them, and tell them what I am about to do with them, or inflict the following Judgment upon them.

Not by Banishment, but in their Habitations. Which agrees well to the Cushites or Ethiopians, both for the vastness of the Land inhabited by them, to wit, Ethiopia and Arabia, and for the manner of their Habitation, which is more scattered than that of other People. Or, these People may be called scattered Prophetically, not that they were so, but that they should be so. Or, this Word may he rendred, as it is in the Margin, and by some others, out-spread, or drawn cut at length▪ which exactly suits to Egypt, which is much more extended in length than in Breadth.

Either, 1. without Hair; for so were the Ethiopians in a great measure, through the great Heat of their Country: Or, 2. having their Hair shaven or plucked off; for the Word doth not signifie a natural want of Hair, but a violent taking away of Hair, as appears from Ezra 9. 3. Nehem. 13. 25. Isa. 50. 6. And this plucking or shaving of the Hair is metaphorically used in Scripture to signifie some great Calamity, whereby men are stripped of all their Comforts, as Isa. 7. 20. and elsewhere. And this Title may be given to them Prophetically, to signifie their future and approaching Destruction.

Such were the Egyptians, and Ethiopians or Cushites, as appears both from Sacred and Profane Histories. And this may be here added as an Aggravation of their impending Miseries, that they who had been for a long time terrible to others, should now become a contemptible and wretched People.

Heb. of line line, i. e. meted out as it were with Lines to Destruction; of which Phrase and Custom see 2 Sam. 8. 2. 2 Kings 21. 13. Psal. 60. 6. Isa. 34. 11.

By Divine Sentence, and to be trodden down by their Enemies.

Which may be taken either, 1. literally, because Egypt and Ethioopia were frequently overflowed by those two great Rivers Niger and Nilus; although that Overflow was rather an Advantage to the Land, by making it fruitful, than a Mischief: Or, 2. metaphorically and prophetically, of the Assyrians or Babylonians breaking in upon them like a River, and destroying their Land and People; of which see more on Ezek. 30. For powerful Enemies invading a Country, are oft compared to a River, as Isa. 8. 7, 8. & 59. 19. Ier. 46. 7, 8.

Marginal references: Or, outspread and polished.; Or, a nation that needeth out and treadeth down.; Heb. a nation of line, line, and treading under foot.; Or▪ whose land the rivers despise.