Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_100_p.lzh/5_104.TXT

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since that lay beyond the rivers Of Egypt, rather than
Egypt beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
Ver. 2. That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, &c.] The
Red'sea, which washed the coasts of Egypt and Ethi-
opia, and Which were united into one kingdom under
Sabacus, or So the Ethiopian, called king of Egypt,
2 Kings xvii. 4. and this kingdom, or rather the king of
it, is here described as Sending ambassadors by sea to
foreign courts, to make leagues and alliances, and there-
by strengthen himself against attempts made on him;
though some understand it of one part of EthiOpia, on
one side of the Red sea, sending to that on the other
side; and some of Tirhakah the Ethiopian sending mes-
sengers to the king of Assyria to bid him defiance, and
let him know he intended to fight him; and at the same
time sent to the Jews, that they might depend upon his
protection and suetour, Isa. xxxvii. 9. some understand
this of the Egyptians sending to the Ethiopians, to
let them .know of the Assyrian expedition; and others,
of their sending to the Jews, with the promise of a sup-
ply; and the word for ambassadors signifying images,
ch. xlv. 16. some have thought it is to be understood
of carrying the head of Osiris, and the image of Isis,
from place to place, in pr. oper vessels: even in vessels of
bulrushes upon the waters; or, upon the face of the wa-
ters {i};. where these light vessels floated without sink-
ing, not drawing the quantity of waters as vessels
of wood did. Both the Egyptians and Ethiopians had
ships made of the papyrus {k}, or biblus {l}, a sort of rusho
that grew upon the banks of the Nile, and which were
light, and moved swiftly, and were also safest; there
was no danger of their being broken to pieces, as other
vessels, on shelves, and rocks, and in waterfalls: yea,
Pliny {m} says, th.at the Ethiopian ships were so made, as
to fold. up and be carried on their shoulders, when they
came to the cataracts. Saying, go, ye swift messen-
gers; the word saying is not in the. text, nor is it to
be supplied; for t.hese are not the words of the nation
before described, sending its messengers to another
nation after described, either the Jews or the Assy-
finns; but they are the. words of God to his messen-
gers, angels or men, who were swift to do his will,
whom he sends. to denounce or inflict judgment upon
the same nation that i-s before mentioned, with which
agrees Ezek. xxx. 9: to a nation scattered; that dwelt
in towns, villages, and. houses, scattered about here
and there; or who would be scattered and dissipated
by their enemies: or, drawn out., and. spread over a
large tract ofground, as Ethiopia was: and peeled; of
their hair, as the word signifies; the Ethiopians, living
in a hot country, had very little hair upon their bodies.
Schultens {n}, from the use of the word in the Arabic
language,i renders it," a nation strong and inaccessible:"
to a peoploterrible from their beginning hitherto; for their
black colour and. grim looks, especially in some .parts;
and for the vast armies they brought into the field, as
never were by any other people; see 2Chron xii. &
and xiv, 9. and they might well be said to be so from
the beginning, since Nimrod, the mighty hunter, was
the son of Cush, from whence the Ethiopians have the
name ofCushites, and is the name Ethiopia is called by
in the preceding verse: a nation meted out, and trodden
down: to whom punishment was measured by line, in
proportion to their sins, and who in a little time would
be trodden under foot by their enemies: wh. ose land the
rivers have spoiled: which must not be understood
literally of Niger and Nilus, of Astapus and Astaboras,
which were so far from spoiling the land, that it was
much more pleasant and fruitful for them; but figu-
ratively, of powerful princes and armies, that should
Come into it, and spoil and plunder it; see Isa. viii.
Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of the kings of the na-
tions of the world; and-so the Targum, ', whose land
"the people spoil." Some understand all this of the
Assyrians, whose army was now scattered, and its
soldiers exhausted, who had been from the beginning
of their monarchy very terrible to their neighbours,
but now marked for destruction; and whom the Ethi-
opians, who dwelt by the rivers, despised, as some
render the words: and others interpret them of the
Jews, as overrun by the Assyrian army like a mighty
river, by whom they were scattered, and peeled, and
spoiled, and plundered; who from their beginning
had been very terrible, because of the wonderful
things wrought for them at the Red sea, in the wilder-
ness, and in the times of Joshua and the judges; and
because of the dreadful punishments inflicted on them;
but the first sense is best. Vitringa interprets all this
of the Egyptians, whose country was drawn out or
long, their bodies peeled or shav:ed; a people terrible
to their neighbours, and very superstitious; a nation
of line and line, or of precept and precept.
Vet. 3. All y.e inhabitants of the world, and dwellers
on the earth, &c.]' All the men of the world are here
called upon, either by the Lord, or rather by the pro-
phet, to be eye and ear witnesses of the judgment that
should be inflicted upon the above nation, and of the
salvation of his own people; which should be so ma-
nifest, that all should see it as easily as an ensign set
up on a mountain; and the news of it should ring
through the earth, and be as plainly heard as when a
trumpet is blown: unless it should be thought that
these are the words of the messengers sent to the above
nation, addressing them in such terms, assuring them,
that, however stupid and secure they were now, they
should quickly see the sigh and hear the alarm of war;
it being u. suai to call any large kingdom the world,
and the earth: see ye, when be lifteth up an ensign on
the mountains; or ye shall see this as clearly as when
a flag is set up on a mountain; or ye shall be sensible
of this judgment coming on, when a standard shall be
set up on the .mountains, to gather the people to war.
Vitringa interprets this of the mountains of Judea,
where the Assyrians would set up their banners, and
blow their trumpets, as follows: and when he bloweth
a trumpet, hear ye; or, ye shall hear; the trumDet sound-

{i} \^Mym ynp le\^ super facies aquarurum, Montanus.
{k} Hence \~papurina skafh\~, paper skiffs, in Plutarch, de Is. et Osir.
and \~ploia kalamina\~, ships of reeds which the Indians made and used,
as Herodotus relates, I. 3. sive Thalia, c. 98. and so Diodorus Siculus
speaks of ships made of a reed in India, of excellent use, because they
are not liable to be eaten by worms, Bibliothee. I. 2. p. 104. to the
Egyptian vessels of this kind Lucan has respect when he says,
- Sic cum tenet omnia Nilus,
Conficitur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro. Pharsal.1.4.
{l} Plin. Nat. Hist. I. 6. c. 22. & I. 13.11. Heliodor. I. 10. c. 4.
p. 460.
{m} Nat. Hist. I. 5. c. 9.
{n} Animadv, Philol. in Job, p, 108.