Introduction: I quote Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible, “This chapter is one of the most obscure in Scripture, though more of it probably was understood by those for whose use it was first intended, than by us now.’ So because my title is ‘As-I-read-it’ I will start with a few thoughts of mine which I hope are helpful for you ‘as-you-read-it’! 1. A passage of the Bible should be read in its context and there is a double context of these chapters. Earlier there is an obvious reference to the coming Messiah Emmanuel. More immediately there is a reference to Israel being conquered because of its rebellion against God’s standards of Justice etc. Before and after ‘Cush’ surrounding nations are told what is to happen to them! So I guess this would have given Cush a lot of info concerning their probably immediate future! 2. The Dinka people of South Sudan are said to be the tallest tribe in Africa. Thus v2 would suggest that Sudan is part of the ‘Cush’ mentioned here, and in some translations (I think presumptively rather than exactly accurately) translate ‘Cush’ as ‘Ethiopia’. However both the Sudan and Ethiopia have huge rivers. 3. Standards raised and Trumpets blown suggest war. 4. The clear description of a ruined harvest, dramatically, poetically, presented suggests a time before the harvest is able to be cropped, and indicates the severity of the ‘war’! 5. v7 states that the tall smooth skinned people will bring tribute to God who is symbolically seen as residing in Mt Zion/Jerusalem. Happy reading – God knows the future!
1 Ah, land of whirring wings
that is beyond the rivers of Cush,
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!
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.
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.
Psalm 82: 8 – Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
Prayer: Help me to see in Your Word what is factual, and more specifically what You want me to learn as I read it! Help me to be both knowledgable but even above that truly wise.
As I read it! 