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Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;
Verse 1. Cymbal. Or sistrum, commonly used in Egypt. Septuagint “ship sails.”—Ethiopia, or Chus, lying between the Nile (the branches of which are styled rivers) and the Red Sea. He alludes to the kingdom of Tharaca. 4 Kennicott. 19:8. Calmet.
that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, “Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!”
Verse 2. Ambassadors. Hebrew “images,” (Bochart) in honour of Adonis; (Saint Cyril) or rather Ezechias, or Tharaca send to demand troops. Calmet.—Bulrushes. Lit. “paper.” Bible.—Formed of rushes which grow on the banks of the Nile. Pliny vii. 56. and xiii. 11.—Angels. Or messengers.—Pieces. With factions after the death of Sabacon, or by the inroads of Sennacherib.—Other. He derides the vanity of the Egyptians. Calmet.—Expecting the overflowing of the Nile. Bible.—Hebrew “of line,” ( Calmet.) with which they marked out each person’s property, after the waters had subsided. Strabo 17.—Foot. They worked their dough with their feet, and sent swine to trample on the seed, which required no more cultivation. Herod. ii. 14. and 36.—Spoiled. The Nile made considerable alterations.
All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen!
For the LORD said to me, “I will be still, and I will see in my dwelling place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
Verse 4. Place. God rules all with ease.—Harvest. The allies shall comfort my people, ( Calmet.) or Sennacherib shall threaten ruin. Bible.—But I will frustrate his evil designs. His army shall perish unexpectedly. verse 5. Calmet.—The Egyptians had sent messengers to assure the Israelites that they would come to assist them: but the prophet informs them of their own ruin. Worthington.
For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and he will cut down and take away the spreading branches.
They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will eat them in the summer, and all the animals of the earth will eat them in the winter.
Verse 6. Them. Their bodies shall lie unburied.
In that time, a present will be brought to the LORD of Armies from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of the LORD of Armies, Mount Zion.
Verse 7. Sion. Egypt shall send presents to the Lord. 2 Chronicles 32:23. Calmet.