Browse Bible Study Resources

Daily Devotions

Isaiah

Isaiah 
Day 
Day 129

"A nation powerful and treading down"

Text: Isaiah 18:2

THE KINGDOM OF ETHIOPIA

In the days of Isaiah, Ethiopia was a strong kingdom. It overlord over a number of countries, including Egypt. It was associated with the buzzing of many insects in their rivers.

“Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings,
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
Which sends ambassadors by sea,
Even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying,
‘Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin,
To a people terrible from their beginning onward,
A nation powerful and treading down,
Whose land the rivers divide.'”
Isaiah 18:1-2

1. A “Woe” was pronounced against Ethiopia.

a) Isaiah used a familiar colloquial term to describe Ethiopia.

b) “The land shadowed with buzzing wings”.

i) Some of the rivers were swampy.

ii) Many insects would be abuzz if disturbed.

iii) This was the formidable nickname of Ethiopia then.

2. The expansion of the Ethiopian kingdom.

a) They sent out their ambassadors to different nations.

b) They offered a strong alliance to the growing threat of the Assyrians.

3. They expected positive replies from the emissaries they sent their ambassadors to reach.

4. The Ethiopians postured themselves strongly.

a) The people of Ethiopian were described as “tall and smooth of skin”.

b) They were “a people terrible”. Meaning: They were to be feared by all.

c) Ethiopia was a nation that was powerful.

d) They would tread down all who dared to oppose them.

e) The rivers were “The Euphrates” and “The Nile”.

5. There was a time when Ethiopia actually had an Ethiopian Pharaoh on the throne of Egypt.

6. All who had fought with the Ethiopians would agree that they had been great warriors.

7. Ethiopia tried to use diplomacy first. Only when diplomacy failed that they sent their fierce armies to invade resisting nations.