That sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin, to a people feared from their beginning until now; a nation powerful and treading down, whose land the rivers divide!
All Commentaries on Isaiah 18:2 Go To Isaiah 18
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Ambassadors. Hebrew, "images "(Bo chart) in honour of Adonis; (St. Cyril) or rather Ezechias, or Tharaca send to demand troops. (Calmet)
Bulrushes. Literally, "paper. "(Haydock)
Formed of rushes which grow on the banks of the Nile. (Pliny, vii. 56., and xiii. 11.)
Angels. Or messengers.
Pieces. With factions after the death of Sabacon, or by the inroads of Sennacherib.
Other. He derides the vanity of the Egyptians. (Calmet)
Expecting the overflowing of the Nile. (Haydock)
Hebrew, "of line "(Calmet) with which they marked out each person's property, after the waters had subsided. (Strabo 17.)
Foot. They worked their dough with their feet, and sent swine to trample on the seed, which required no more cultivation. (Herodotus ii. 14., and 36.)
Spoiled. The Nile made considerable alterations.
