Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my seventy first episode. Tonight I want to take a look at Isaiah chapter 18. This is a message for Ethiopia. Remember that this was a time period where pretty much everyone was terrified of being conquered by the Assyrian Empire. The Ethiopian king Tirhakah had received word that the Assyrians were on the move marching south. So he sent ambassadors north to Judah in an effort to form an alliance. At the very least, he wanted to encourage Judah to resist the imperialism of Assyria by promising that he would send aid when they need it. This proposition was attractive to some of the members of king Hezekiah’s council in Judah.
But Isaiah stepped in and admonished Hezekiah not to depend on the strength of earthly alliances against the empire. Heeding this advice, Judah told the Ethiopians to return back to their homeland. They told the Ethiopians that Judah didn’t need anyone but God to repel the Assyrians. I want to point out that this is one of those examples where being a man of faith looks extraordinarily stupid to a person outside of the faith. Imagine being Judah and knowing that this horrible war machine is coming for your country. You have access to a prophet in Isaiah who is claiming that you’ll be fine if you trust in the Lord. But his claim is actually more severe than that. Not only should you trust in the Lord, but you should actually reject the support of forming alliances with neighboring countries.
I know you’ve all heard people say that thoughts and prayers are useless in the wake of a tragedy. Many people view thoughts and prayers as if they are an excuse to avoid taking real action. And sometimes they are. But we make a grievous error if we diminish the power that comes from trusting in God while acting. Action by itself is not enough. Prayer as an excuse to avoid doing what God is calling you to do is not enough. You must have action and prayer. Assyria’s failure to conquer Judah despite Judah refusing potential coalitions stands as bona fide historical evidence that walking in the ways of God even when it makes more rational sense to abandon those ways, is always your best course of action. Trying to make decisions devoid of faith is only going to cause you to fall into a ditch. So I want to take a look at the first 3 verses:
18 Ah, land of whirring wings
that is beyond the rivers of Cush,[a]
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!
Notice in the first verse how Isaiah addresses this country as the land of whirring wings. Swarms of insects were prevalent in lands surrounding the Nile river, and it’s possible that that this verse is referencing the dreaded tsetse-fly. These were large, biting flies that were known for carrying infectious disease that could cause sleeping sickness. Also, notice how Isaiah refers to the Ethiopians as people tall and smooth, feared near and far, mighty and conquering. It wasn’t unusual for the ancient world to idealize these people. In Homer’s writings, the Greeks referred to them as the blameless Ethiopians. Herodotus called them the tallest and handsomest of all men. These guys arrived on small skiffs made of papyrus that were constructed to hold one or two passengers. These boats were small enough to be carried during stretches of the Nile where navigation was impossible.
They’ve arrived at Judah to seek an alliance and offer aid against the Assyrians. At Isaiah’s advice, Hezekiah rejects them. Isaiah sends them home with an announcement for everyone sit back and watch what the Lord is going to do to the Assyrians at His chosen time. Listen to his message in verses 4-6:
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.
I can’t emphasize enough how much faith it must have taken for Isaiah to make this declaration. He’s announcing to the Ethiopians as well as to his own people that the Lord is going to cut down Assyria right in the moment where it looks like their plans of conquest are most favorable. To an outsider, Isaiah’s words would sound like the ravings of a mad man.
Notice the natural language that he uses here. Isaiah pictures the Assyrians like a vine that has ripened and is now being cut down. This is to say that under God’s authority Assyria has been allowed to turn into a super-power. But the Assyrian king has become so proud and arrogant in the wake of his conquests that now the Lord Himself has arrived to cut them down. We are left with a scene of destruction and death as a vast portion of the Assyrian army is destroyed in one night. What kind of effect does this have on Judah and the neighboring nations? Listen to verse 7:
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.
The collapse of the Assyrian army triggered a couple of things. It caused the Ethiopians, and other nations, to send tribute and gifts to Judah as an acknowledgment of the awesome power of God. It also sparked up revolts among nations that the Assyrians had been subjugating. Less than 90 years after the night God destroyed Assyria’s army in Judah, the entire empire declined into nonexistence. The once-feared juggernaut that inspired the Ethiopians to send ambassadors to Judah was no more. You would think after a monumental event like this, the people in Judah and surrounding nations would learn that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And they did learn this for a time. But that wouldn’t last forever.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at http://www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
The MHB Podcast 