Isaiah — Chapter 18
Synopsis: Oracle against Ethiopia (Cush/Nubia). Ethiopian ambassadors on papyrus boats are sent back with a warning. God watches quietly like summer sun before striking the immature harvest. The Ethiopians will be cut down like pruned vines. But v.7: they will ultimately bring gifts to Sion (= Apostolic mission to Africa).
Verse 1
Woe to the land, the winged cymbal, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. The 'land of the winged cymbal/insect' = Ethiopia (land of tsetse flies and locusts). Ethiopian ambassadors came to Ezechias seeking an alliance against Assyria — Isaiah warns them to return home: God will handle Sennacherib without military alliances.
Verse 4
For thus saith the Lord to me: I will be still, and will consider in my place, as the noonday light is clear, and as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest. God waits quietly, watching the Assyrian campaign mature like summer crops — then, at the moment of full ripeness, He will strike. This describes the stunning suddenness of Sennacherib's destruction by the Angel.
Verse 7
In that time shall a present be brought to the Lord of hosts, from a people rent and torn in pieces: from a terrible people, after which there is no other: from a nation expecting and trodden under foot. The Ethiopians, after being humbled by Assyria and Nabuchodonosor, will ultimately send tribute-gifts to the Lord on Mount Sion — fulfilled in the Christianization of Ethiopia (the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts 8; the later conversion of Abyssinia). Lapide notes this as a specific missionary prophecy.