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. They threaten God’s people. All the neighbors are following immediately after this to take notice of what will be the issue? Although God seems unconcerned in the distress of his people for a time, he will at length appear against their enemies and will remarkably cut them off. This shall go back very much to the glory of God. This prophecy about the desolation of a land that is shadowed with wings may refer to Assyria, Judea, Egypt, or Ethiopia, depending on different interpretations. The land sends messengers to another nation, but God will judge it and protect his own people. The prophecy is obscure and difficult to understand. The final outcome will be the glory of God, as the people of the land will bring a present to him in Mount Zion.: Destruction will come to Ethiopia. Mention “Ethiopia” translated (Cush) in verse 1 and assume that the passage is about it. Cush is the name of the grandson of Noah, the oldest son of Ham. The passage is not about “Ethiopia”. The real name here is Cush. The real identity of Cush does not change the reference to the fourth country later in the chapter. Ethiopia (Cush), the strong nation (18:1-4): It is feared far and wide for its mighty power to destroy other nations. Ethiopia (Cush), the stricken nation (18:5-6): God himself will cut down the Ethiopian (Cush)armies as a man prunes his vineyard, even as they plan to destroy Jerusalem. Ethiopia, the saved nation (18:7): During the glorious Millennium, the people will bring their gifts to the Lord in Jerusalem!


It reads in Isaiah 18:1-7 KJV> Woe to the land of whirring wings along the rivers of Cush, which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers. All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it. This is what the Lord says to me: “I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches. They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals; the birds will feed on them all summer, the wild animals all winter. At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers, the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.