Isaiah 23, Tyre

Tyre, off to the northwest of Israel, in Lebanon, has its own prophecy. This is the fifth of five prophecies in chapters 21 to 23. The others are about Babylon, Edom, Arabia and Jerusalem. 

Isaiah 23:1-3, Merchants wail

A prophecy against Tyre:

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!

    For Tyre is destroyed

    and left without house or harbor.

From the land of Cyprus

    word has come to them.

Be silent, you people of the island

    and you merchants of Sidon,

    whom the seafarers have enriched.

On the great waters

    came the grain of the Shihor;

the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre,

    and she became the marketplace of the nations.

In that day, Tyre was a Phoenician port on the Mediterranean coast. Part of it consisted of a mainland harbor; the other part an island 500 yards or so offshore. Alexander the Great conquered Tyre in 332 BC by constructing a causeway from the mainland.  

As Motyer points out, from the first mentions of Tyre in the Old Testament (see 2 Samuel 5:11-12, 1 Kings 5:1-12), the coastal port in Phoenicia represented commerce. Tyre and Sidon were linked; both were ports on the Mediterranean (Sidon is about 23 miles north of Tyre.) The ships of Tarshish represented the merchant ships of the Mediterranean. They were an important source of trade and wealth to a land like Israel that often had little access to the sea and so Tyre here represents commerce and material wealth.

Isaiah 23:5, The Sea speaks

Be ashamed, Sidon, and you fortress of the sea,

    for the sea has spoken:

“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;

    I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”

The Mediterranean Sea, the source of the wealth of Tyre, speaks out against her.

Isaiah 23:5-7, Egypt will cry out

When word comes to Egypt,

    they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.

Cross over to Tarshish;

    wail, you people of the island.

Is this your city of revelry,

  the old, old city,

whose feet have taken her

    to settle in far-off lands?

The Sea continues to speak. When Tyre and Sidon are destroyed, the merchants of Egypt, like the merchants of Cyprus, will be in anguish at their loss of wealth and trade.

Isaiah 23:8-9, Who did this?

Who planned this against Tyre,

    the bestower of crowns,

whose merchants are princes,

    whose traders are renowned in the earth?

The LORD Almighty planned it,

    to bring down her pride in all her splendor

    and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.

Who brought down Tyre? YHWH, the LORD Almighty.

Isaiah 23:10-12, Forced to till the land

Till your land as they do along the Nile,

    Daughter Tarshish,

    for you no longer have a harbor.

The LORD has stretched out his hand over the sea

    and made its kingdoms tremble.

He has given an order concerning Phoenicia

    that her fortresses be destroyed.

He said, “No more of your reveling,

    Virgin Daughter Sidon, now crushed!

“Up, cross over to Cyprus;

    even there you will find no rest.”

Instead of sailing to Tyre to trade their goods, the merchants of Tarshish are to give up the sea! Their trading partner's devastation might mean the end of prosperous sailing.

Isaiah 23:13-14, Babylon too

Look at the land of the Babylonians,

    this people that is now of no account!

The Assyrians have made it

    a place for desert creatures;

they raised up their siege towers,

    they stripped its fortresses bare

    and turned it into a ruin.

Wail, you ships of Tarshish;

    your fortress is destroyed!

Babylon also is destroyed. The ships of Tarshish cannot sail there either!

Isaiah 23:15-16, A lament for Tyre

At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

“Take up a harp, walk through the city,

    you forgotten prostitute;

play the harp well, sing many a song,

    so that you will be remembered.”

Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years (the length of a king's life) but then they are to walk through the city singing a song, like that of a forgotten prostitute (!), trying to be remembered.

Both Motyer and Grogan mark these years from the invasion of Phoenicia by Sennacherib in 701 BC (at the same time that he threatened Hezekiah in Jerusalam) to the eventual rebirth of Tyre around 630 BC. 

Isaiah 23:17-18, Seventy years

At the end of seventy years, the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 

Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the LORD; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothes.

At the end of the prophecied seventy years Tyre will return to her lucrative sea trade, which are likened to the earnings of a prostitute returning to her profession. But eventually the profits of Tyre will go, says Isaiah, to the temple and worship of YHWH.  (In Ezra 3:7, the returning exiles, eager to rebuild the temple, renew trade with Tyre,)

Isaiah 22, Valley of Vision

Isaiah gives a series of prophecies in chapters 21 to 23. There were three prophecies in chapter 21 (against Babylon, Edom and Arabia); here Isaiah focuses on Jerusalem.

Isaiah 22:1-3, Valley of Vision

A prophecy against the Valley of Vision:

What troubles you now,

    that you have all gone up on the roofs,

you town so full of commotion,

    you city of tumult and revelry?

Your slain were not killed by the sword,

    nor did they die in battle.

All your leaders have fled together;

    they have been captured without using the bow.

All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,

    having fled while the enemy was still far away.

In the Valley of Vision, the leaders all flee. The Valley of Vision likely describes Jerusalem. 

The prophets identified a number of events as occurring in a valley.  In Joel 3:1-2, the nations are judged in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. In Jeremiah 7:30-34 the Valley of Ben Hinnom becomes the Valley of Slaughter and in Ezekiel 39:11 a horde of invaders  (from Gog) is buried in the Valley of Hamon Gog. In Zechariah 14:1-5,a valley is created by God splitting the Mount of Olives.

Note the ANE cultural expectation of people meeting, for celebration or lamentation, on the rooftops of their homes.

Isaiah 22:4-5, Let me weep

Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;

    let me weep bitterly.

Do not try to console me

    over the destruction of my people.”

The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day

    of tumult and trampling and terror

    in the Valley of Vision,

a day of battering down walls

    and of crying out to the mountains.

Isaiah weeps as he sees the tumult, trampling, terror coming into the Valley of Vision.

Isaiah 22:6-9, Valleys full of chariots

Elam takes up the quiver,

    with her charioteers and horses;

    Kir uncovers the shield.

Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,

    and horsemen are posted at the city gates.

The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,

    and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.

You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places;

you stored up water in the Lower Pool.

The City of David is broken through, its defenses stripped, its valleys full of chariots and horses. The Palace of the Forest was created by Solomon (I Kings 7:1-5) and included an armory (1 Kings 10:16-17.)

Motyer suggests that the "defenses of Judah" (or "protective cover") in verse 8 was a covenant with Egypt that was smashed by Sennacherib around 701 BC prior to Sennacherib advancing on Hezekiah's Jerusalem. (See also Isaiah 28:14-15.)

Isaiah 22:10-11, Reconstruction

You counted the buildings in Jerusalem

    and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.

You built a reservoir between the two walls

    for the water of the Old Pool,

but you did not look to the One who made it,

    or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.

The people of Jerusalem count on fortifying the walls and building up the water system, all concrete physical acts, without turning to God for help. The end of verse 11 has the main theme -- "you did not look to the One who made it!"

Isaiah 22:12-13, Let us eat and drink

The Lord, the LORD Almighty,

    called you on that day

to weep and to wail,

    to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.

But see, there is joy and revelry,

    slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,

    eating of meat and drinking of wine!

“Let us eat and drink,” you say,

    “for tomorrow we die!”

Instead of turning to YHWH in their distress, the people party. The last two lines probably quote an ancient proverb, more ancient than this prophecy; it is repeated in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 15:32.

Isaiah 22:14, Not forgiven

The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

A stark frightening statement!

Note the recurrence of the identification: the Lord, YHWH Almighty.

Isaiah 22: 15-19, Cutting out a grave

This is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says:

“Go, say to this steward,

    to Shebna the palace administrator:

What are you doing here and who gave you permission

    to cut out a grave for yourself here,

hewing your grave on the height

    and chiseling your resting place in the rock?

“Beware, the LORD is about to take firm hold of you

    and hurl you away, you mighty man.

He will roll you up tightly like a ball

    and throw you into a large country.

There you will die

    and there the chariots you were so proud of

    will become a disgrace to your master’s house.

I will depose you from your office,

    and you will be ousted from your position.

The palace administrator, who believes he will die in Jerusalem, will be thrown into another country. 9Motyer says that the Hebrew word cakan, translated "steward" here, is used of the woman lying with David to keep him warm in 1 Kings 1:1-4, and that the term communicates a "fawning attitude." Motyer translates that word as "lackey." Grogan agrees that the expression carries contempt for Shebna. Shebna, like Haman in the book of Esther, is interested in power and prestige and this prophecy promises that the end result will not be good.

Isaiah 22:20-24, Eliakim

“In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father. All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

Eliakim,  son of Hilkiah, will be exalted and given "the key to the house of David." (Jesus is described this way in Revelation 3:7.)

When Sennacherib besieges Jerusalem, Eliakim plays a significant role; see Isaiah 36:3 and 37:2. (The siege is also described in 2 Kings 18-19.) Chapters 36 and 37 of Isaiah are probably relevant here.

The Hebrew word kabowd, translated "glory" has a meaning of "weighty." The seat of honor in verse 24 may be too heavy in verse 25....

Isaiah 22:25, Peg breaking

“In that day,” declares the LORD Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The LORD has spoken.

And yet a certain peg will break and the load hanging on it will all fall down. 

The next chapter has a prophecy against Tyre, rounding out the five prophecies of Isaiah 21-23.

Isaiah 21, Watchmen Looking into Dust and Darkness

Chapters 13 to 20 contained five prophecies, against Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Syria/Samaria and Egypt/Cush. Another set of prophecies begins with this chapter. The first ten verses concern Babylon.

Isaiah 21:1-2, Whirlwind from the desert

A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea:

Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland,

    an invader comes from the desert,

    from a land of terror.

A dire vision has been shown to me:

    The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.

Elam, attack! Media, lay siege!

    I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

An invader comes from the desert. The Desert by the Sea is probably the area around the Persian Gulf controlled by Babylon. Motyer suggests that the traitor is intended to be Babylon, urging Elam and Media to join them against Assyria.

Isaiah 21:3-4, Racked with pain

At this my body is racked with pain,

    pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;

I am staggered by what I hear,

    I am bewildered by what I see.

My heart falters,

    fear makes me tremble;

the twilight I longed for

    has become a horror to me.

The prophet is physically ill as he looks at the coming apocalyptic destruction.

Isaiah 21:5, Oil the shields!

They set the tables,

    they spread the rugs,

    they eat, they drink!

Get up, you officers,

    oil the shields!

The officers are not paying attention. They are partying when they should be preparing for battle. Commentators differ on which kingdom is described here: Babylon? Israel? Some other one? It seems most natural to me that this describes powerful Babylon which will shortly fall. From Grogan's commentary: "Herodotus tells us that the taking of Babylon by the Persians in 539 BC was so swift that many who were at their wine in the city center did not even know that the outlying parts of the city were in enemy hands" (p.135.)

Isaiah 21:6-7, Post a lookout

This is what the LORD says to me:

“Go, post a lookout

    and have him report what he sees.

When he sees chariots

    with teams of horses,

riders on donkeys

    or riders on camels,

let him be alert,

    fully alert.”

A lookout needs to be posted, to look for the horses, donkeys, camels coming across the desert. The Hebrew text of verse 7 translates literally to "and he saw a chariot a pair of horsemen a chariot of donkeys a chariot of camels...." The pair of horsemen was probably (says Motyer) each rider leading a spare horse. The riders represent an approaching army.

Isaiah 21:8-9, Fallen, fallen!

And the lookout shouted,

“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;

    every night I stay at my post.

Look, here comes a man in a chariot

    with a team of horses.

And he gives back the answer:

    ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen!

All the images of its gods

    lie shattered on the ground!’”

The news comes. The watcher cries out. He sees a single man in a chariot with a team of horses, announcing that Babylon has fallen, its idols have been smashed.

What event does this describe? The destruction of Babylon in 539 BC when Cyrus the Persian defeats the kingdom? Or is this the time of Merodach-Baladan who conquered Babylonia from 522 to 520 BC? Grogan leans toward the latter.

Isaiah 21:10, For the crushed

My people who are crushed on the threshing floor,

    I tell you what I have heard

from the LORD Almighty,

    from the God of Israel.

Isaiah has a message for the people of Israel, who have been "crushed on the threshing floor." The message relays the downfall of Babylon.

Isaiah 21:11-12, Edom

A prophecy against Dumah:

Someone calls to me from Seir,

    “Watchman, what is left of the night?

    Watchman, what is left of the night?”

The watchman replies,

    “Morning is coming, but also the night.

If you would ask, then ask;

    and come back yet again.”

The topic of prophecy has changed. It is no longer Babylon but Edom. The location of Dumah is not clear but Seir was the capital of Edom. The Hebrew word dumah means "silence" so there may be some type of wordplay here, connecting with the pleas in the dark to the nightwatchman.

The watchman, who keeps track of the length to time to dawn, is asked about the coming dawn. The dawn is coming, but also night. (A strange passage.)

Isaiah 21:13-15, Caravans of Arabia

A prophecy against Arabia:

You caravans of Dedanites,

    who camp in the thickets of Arabia,

bring water for the thirsty;

you who live in Tema,

    bring food for the fugitives.

They flee from the sword,

    from the drawn sword,

from the bent bow

    and from the heat of battle.

The caravans of Arabia are called to bring water and food. Yet someone flees. Again there may be wordplay in verse 13, Arab against the Hebrew ereb, the latter word meaning darkness, echoing the distressed calls to the nightwatchman,

This passage naturally follows the previous one regarding Edom. Ezekiel 25:12-14 gives a prophecy against Edom that lists Dedan as part of Edom.

Isaiah 21:16-17, One year left for Kedar

This is what the LORD says to me: 

“Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end. The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” 

The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

A very specific time, less than a year, is left for Kedar. Grogan (pp 137-8) writes "Sargon II conducted a campaign against the northern Arabian tribes in 715 BC and this could well provide an appropriate setting for this oracle."

Kedar was a son of Ishmael. The people of Kedar represent a nomadic Arabian tribe. (See Genesis 25:13 and I Chronicles 1:29.)

Isaiah gives a series of prophecies in chapters 21 to 23. There are apparently three prophecies here: against Babylon, Edom and Arabia. The next oracle is regarding Jerusalem, in the next chapter.

Isaiah 20, Barefoot and Naked

The prophecy about Egypt and Cush continues.

Isaiah 20:1-2, Egypt and Cush

In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it—at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, 

“Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” 

And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.

Isaiah acts out, physically, the upcoming prophecy regarding Egypt/Cush.

Sargon here is Sargon II., who reigned in Assyria from 722 to 705 BC.

Isaiah 20:3-6, In three years...

Then the Lord said, 

“Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame. Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be dismayed and put to shame. 

In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’”

Being stripped naked was an act of humiliation. Here Assyria will conquer Egypt and lead them captive, barefoot and naked.

Motyer organizes chapter 13 to 20 as a section of five prophecies, in order: Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Syria/Samaria and Egypt/Cush. This section ends with this chapter about the Assyrian conquest of Egypt. Another set of prophecies will begin in the next chapter.

Isaiah 19, Cush, Egypt, and a Highway

The previous chapter focused on Cush, an empire intermingled with Egypt. Now the prophecy focuses on Egypt explicitly.

Isaiah 19:1-3, Coming on a swift cloud

A prophecy against Egypt:

See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud

    and is coming to Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him,

    and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.

“I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—

    brother will fight against brother,

    neighbor against neighbor,

    city against city,

    kingdom against kingdom.

The Egyptians will lose heart,

    and I will bring their plans to nothing;

they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,

    the mediums and the spiritists.

YHWH is returning to focus on Egypt, riding on the clouds. Among the calamities coming to Egypt is civil war.

The Hebrew word translated idol in verse 1 is elil. Motyer translates that as "no gods", a mocking term by Isaiah.

Isaiah 19:4, Cruel master

I will hand the Egyptians over

    to the power of a cruel master,

and a fierce king will rule over them,”

 declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

Egypt will be controlled by a cruel master, possibly the Assyrian Esarhaddon.

Isaiah 19:5-10, Drought

The waters of the river will dry up,

    and the riverbed will be parched and dry.

The canals will stink;

    the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.

The reeds and rushes will wither,

also the plants along the Nile,

    at the mouth of the river.

Every sown field along the Nile

    will become parched, will blow away and be no more.

The fishermen will groan and lament,

    all who cast hooks into the Nile;

those who throw nets on the water

    will pine away.

Those who work with combed flax will despair,

    the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.

The workers in cloth will be dejected,

    and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

The disaster described here is environmental: a severe drought, devastating the Nile, the fishermen and weavers and garment workers. The ecology and economy of Egypt relied on the Nile; if the Nile dries up, Egypt is destroyed. The Hebrew word yə·’ō·rê, translated "streams of Egypt" in verse 5, is a form of yeor, the word for the Nile River. Motyer translates the word as "little Niles," that is, small streams or irrigation canals carrying the Nile waters to nearby fields.

Isaiah 19:11-15, Fools of Zoan

The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;

    the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

    “I am one of the wise men,

    a disciple of the ancient kings”?

Where are your wise men now?

    Let them show you and make known

what the LORD Almighty

    has planned against Egypt.

The officials of Zoan have become fools,

    the leaders of Memphis are deceived;

the cornerstones of her peoples

    have led Egypt astray.

The LORD has poured into them

    a spirit of dizziness;

they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,

    as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.

There is nothing Egypt can do—

    head or tail, palm branch or reed.

The "officials of Zoan" are apparently advisors to the Pharaoh. Zoan was a city on the eastern Nile delta, the capital of Rameses II. In Psalm 78:12,43  Zoan is given as the place where Moses did miracles before Pharaoh. (See also Numbers 13:22 and Ezekiel 30:13-19.) Echoing the events of the Exodus, here we see Pharaoh's confused advisors confounded; their wisdom turns into a "spirit of dizziness" that makes Egypt stagger like a drunkard.

Memphis (verse 13) was a capital of ancient Egypt, near modern day Cairo and the pyramids of Giza.

Isaiah 19:16-17, Weaklings

In that day the Egyptians will become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the LORD Almighty raises against them. And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the LORD Almighty is planning against them.

The prophetic destruction will lead to weakness and humiliation for Egypt, as Judah dominates. The phrase "will become weaklings"  (kan·nā·šîm wə·ḥā·raḏ) is literally "like women tremble".

Isaiah 19:18-22, Five cities turning to YHWH

In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.

In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. 

So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

Now the mood of the passage turns. Egypt turns to YHWH and worships Him! Grogan says that Athanasius of Alexandria loved this passage as its described his nation turning to God.

Hebrew manuscripts vary on the name of the City in verse 18. Some have it as the City of Heres, that is, City of Destruction. ellicott's Commentary for English Readers (online here) says 

"There is probably something like a play on the name of the Egyptian city On, the Greek Heliopolis, the City of the Sun (Heb., Ir-ha-kheres), and the word which the prophet actually uses (Ir-ha-cheres), the 'city of destruction.' "

 

There are echoes of Exodus in this passage, with oppressors, YHWH being "made known" to the Egyptians, even a plague is mentioned. It is possible (says Grogran) that the five cities in verse 19 fit into the allusions to the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan. The conquest of Canaan required the conquest of five cities, five kings, in Joshua 10. and so the submission of Egypt might begin with five cities swearing allegiance to YHWH.

Isaiah 19:23-25, A highway

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 

In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

Isaiah (says Grogan) uses the expression "in that day" forty-two times. "In that [far off] day", a highway will run from Egypt on the southwest of Israel, to Assyria on the northeast. The Egyptians and Assyrians and Israelites will all worship YHWH! The three warring nations of Egypt, Assyria and Israel will now be called "my people", "my handiwork" and "my inheritance". This is a remarkable prediction of peace, possibly even a global peace, "in that day."

Isaiah 18, The Kushite Empire and a Banner

After prophesying about Damascus and the northern kingdom, Isaiah turns to Egypt.

Isaiah 18:1-2, Prophecy against Cush

Woe to the land of whirring wings

    along the rivers of Cush,

which sends envoys by sea

    in papyrus boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,

to a people tall and smooth-skinned,

    to a people feared far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

    whose land is divided by rivers.

The prophecy does not open with  massa' ("burden", "oracle") but with hoy, "Woe!", presumably a warning of doom. The Hebrew tslatsal is translated "whirring wings"; that Hebrew word is intended to sound like the zzzz buzzing of many insects among the Nile wetlands (Grogan, p. 122.)

Cush, with its papyrus boats, often refers to Ethiopia but here, more broadly, to the empire of Egypt. The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (744-656 BC) originated in the Kingdom of Kush and it is probably this dynasty that is referred to here. That empire would eventually fall to the Assyrians.

Motyer argues that this passage represents "frantic diplomacy" by Egypt to organize an alliance against Assyria during Isaiah's time but, more globally, is a description of "busy-busy world confidence" in diplomacy and national security.

Isaiah 18:3, A raised banner

All you people of the world,

    you who live on the earth,

when a banner is raised on the mountains,

    you will see it,

and when a trumpet sounds,

    you will hear it.

Isaiah announces a banner visible to the world. There is an emphasis on the banner's public appearance as something both visible and audible; it will not be missed.

Isaiah 18:4-6, Harvest left for birds and animals

This is what the LORD says to me:

    “I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place,

like shimmering heat in the sunshine,

    like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone

    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,

    and cut down and take away the spreading branches.

They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey

    and to the wild animals;

the birds will feed on them all summer,

    the wild animals all winter.

YHWH looks down on mankind, as destruction comes to Egypt before harvest. The destroying army leaves debris that feeds the birds and wild animals. Motyer sees here the "local" prophecy of the Assyrian dead described in Isaiah 37:36-37 and 2 Kings 19:35-36. But like many prophecies, there is (says Motyer) a future global prophecy regarding a final judgment.

Isaiah 18:7, Gifts to Zion

At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,

    from a people feared far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

    whose land is divided by rivers—

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, 

the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty.

But a people "tall and smooth-skinned" will bring gifts to YHWH, people of "strange speech", bringing gifts to Mount Zion. As in other passages, there is a future day in which Zion will be the center of worship of people from many lands. The process of judgment and then salvation will be repeated in the next chapter.

Isaiah 17, Against Damascus and Ephraim

After prophesying against Babylon, the Philistines and Moab, Isaiah turns to Damascus (to the northeast of Israel/Samaria) and to Samaria/Ephraim itself. This is the fourth of five prophecies in the set that runs from chapter 13 through chapter 20.

Isaiah 17:1-3, Damascus a heap

A prophecy against Damascus:

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city

    but will become a heap of ruins.

The cities of Aroer will be deserted

    and left to flocks, which will lie down,

    with no one to make them afraid.

The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,

    and royal power from Damascus;

the remnant of Aram will be

    like the glory of the Israelites,”

declares the LORD Almighty.

As in 13:1 and 15:1, the first word in this chapter is massa', meaning "burden" or "oracle." The cities of Aroer will become fields for flocks of animals. Ephraim (that is, Israel) will no longer have fortified cities and power will be gone from Damascus/Aram.

Motyer says that the only known "Aroer" in the Old Testament is in Numbers 32:34-36, where a town of Aroer is a town in Ephraim. If this is the same region, then Damascus is indeed blended with Ephraim.

Isaiah 17:4-6, Jacob harvested

“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;

    the fat of his body will waste away.

It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,

    gathering the grain in their arms—

as when someone gleans heads of grain

    in the Valley of Rephaim.

Yet some gleanings will remain,

    as when an olive tree is beaten,

leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,

    four or five on the fruitful boughs,”

declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

Israel, at time allied with Syria against Judah, is being included in this destruction. The Valley of Rephaim is just south of Jerusalem, so the invasion from the north has gone quite deep into the region once controlled by the twelve tribes. (Grogan, p.117, then dates this oracle to 735-732 BC, shortly before Syria and its capital, Damascus, fell to Assyria.)

The country will be "harvested" as if reapers are going through and taking everything from the standing stalks. Yet, yet -- there is a promised remnant! Here the "gleanings" correspond to the promised remnant; the promised remnant is a theme throughout many of the Old Testament prophets.

Isaiah 17:7-9, Turning back to their maker

In that day people will look to their Maker

    and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

They will not look to the altars,

    the work of their hands,

and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles

    and the incense altars their fingers have made.

In that day their strong cities, 

which they left because of the Israelites, 

will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. 

And all will be desolation.

A day is coming, "that Day", in which the remnant look back to the Holy One. They will forsake their silly idols ("work of their hands") and abandon the Canaanite fertility gods.

Isaiah 17:10-11, Desolation

You have forgotten God your Savior;

    you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.

Therefore, though you set out the finest plants

    and plant imported vines,

though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,

    and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,

yet the harvest will be as nothing

    in the day of disease and incurable pain.

As with Babylon, eventual desolation is forecast, days of "disease and incurable pain."

Motyer says that the initial "You" in this passage is feminine singular, thus viewing Ephraim as a woman, "mother country" of the Jewish people. The "imported vines", says Motyer, are probably imported for worshiping the fertility gods; see Isaiah 1:29-31 for an example.

Isaiah 17:12-14, Raging Waters

Woe to the many nations that rage—

    they rage like the raging sea!

Woe to the peoples who roar—

    they roar like the roaring of great waters!

Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,

    when he rebukes them they flee far away,

driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,

    like tumbleweed before a gale.

In the evening, sudden terror!

    Before the morning, they are gone!

This is the portion of those who loot us,

    the lot of those who plunder us.

The focus now turns back to the other nations, to the world of the ANE. The nations rage -- like the angry chaotic sea! -- against Israel and YHWH. As Grogan points out, this passage echoes the beginning of Psalm 2. lthough Israel will undergo judgment and pain, the others will be rebuked. This focus on the rest of the ANE world will continue in the next chapter, this time turning to Egypt.

Some Random Thoughts

The Old Testament concept of gleaning, dating back to the Law of Moses (Leviticus 19:9-10, Deuteronomy 24:21) becomes, in the prophetic books, a metaphor for a remnant of followers of YHWH. That concept continues throughout the New Testament, clearly visible in the book of Revelation. God secures a "remnant" for "that Day" is a belief in the background of many messages in Old or New Testament. (See this GotQuestions column, for example.)

Isaiah 16, Moabite Fugitives

After prophesying against Babylon and the Philistines, Isaiah turns to Moab. We continue a prophecy against Moab.

Isaiah 16:1-2, From Sela to Zion

Send lambs as tribute

    to the ruler of the land,

from Sela, across the desert,

    to the mount of Daughter Zion.

Like fluttering birds

    pushed from the nest,

so are the women of Moab

    at the fords of the Arnon.

Sela, once belonging to Edom (see 2 Kings 14:7) may have at one time been the capital of Moab (Grogan.) The gift of lambs from Moab to the northern kingdom was a practice for a time (see 2 Kings 3:4); it is likely (Motyer) that here Moab is seeking a protective alliance with Judah.

Isaiah 16:3-4a, Cover the fugitives

“Make up your mind,” Moab says.

    “Render a decision.

Make your shadow like night—

    at high noon.

Hide the fugitives,

    do not betray the refugees.

Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;

    be their shelter from the destroyer.”

Moab seeks aid for her fugitives, to protect them from "the destroyer", the invading army.

Isaiah 16: 4b-5, A future throne

The oppressor will come to an end,

    and destruction will cease;

    the aggressor will vanish from the land.

In love a throne will be established;

    in faithfulness a man will sit on it—

    one from the house of David—

one who in judging seeks justice

    and speeds the cause of righteousness.

Grogan argues that these verses provide a response to Moab's request. There is indeed a rest for fugitives, at the future throne of David. If only Moab will seek it. (See also 14:32.) This throne of justice is described as begin created "in love"; the Hebrew word is hesed.

Isaiah 16: 6-8, Moab's pride

We have heard of Moab’s pride—

    how great is her arrogance!—

of her conceit, her pride and her insolence;

    but her boasts are empty.

Therefore the Moabites wail,

    they wail together for Moab.

Lament and grieve

    for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.

The fields of Heshbon wither,

    the vines of Sibmah also.

The rulers of the nations

    have trampled down the choicest vines,

which once reached Jazer

    and spread toward the desert.

Their shoots spread out

    and went as far as the sea.

Moab might not seek refuge under the protection of YHWH due to her arrogance. Her leaders boast in their power (as do all the kings around Israel and Judah) and yet her boasts are empty. Her rich fields and majestic vineyards will come to ruin.

Isaiah 16: 9-10, Treading grapes no more

So I weep, as Jazer weeps,

    for the vines of Sibmah.

Heshbon and Elealeh,

    I drench you with tears!

The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit

    and over your harvests have been stilled.

Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards;

    no one sings or shouts in the vineyards;

no one treads out wine at the presses,

    for I have put an end to the shouting.

The "shouts of joy" over the ripened fruit is a translation of the Hebrew word hedad, which, says Motyer, would have been "the joyous cry of those treading grapes." But that joyous cry is silenced, as the vineyards are abandoned and left in ruin. Jeremiah makes a very similar statement in Jeremiah 48:33.

Isaiah 16: 11-12, Lament like a lyre

My heart laments for Moab like a harp,

    my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.

When Moab appears at her high place,

    she only wears herself out;

when she goes to her shrine to pray,

    it is to no avail.

Moab's pride and dependence on useless shrines explains her downfall.

Isaiah 16:13-14, In three years

This is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. But now the Lord says: 

“Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”

The prophecy ends with a local, immediate prediction, intended presumably to validate the longer prophecy. The years as measured by a servant, under contract, indicates a clear length of time, not a vague approximation. Motyer suggests that this invasion occurred in the campaign of Assyrian king Sargon II around 711 BC.

Grogan sees a parallel prophecy in Amos 2:1-3.