Attributed commentary excerpt
Barnes' Notes on Isaiah 18:2
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
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Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
That sendeth ambassadors - That is, “accustomed” to send messengers. What was the design of their thus sending ambassadors does not appear. The prophet simply intimates the fact; a fact by which they were well known. It may have been for purposes of commerce, or to seek protection. Bochart renders the word translated ‘ambassadors’ by “images,” and supposes that it denotes an image of the god Osiris made of the papyrus; but there does not seem to be any reason for this opinion. The word ציר tsı̂yr may mean an idol or image, as in Isaiah 45:16; Psalms 49:15. But it usually denotes ambassadors, or messengers Joshua 9:4; Proverbs 25:13; Proverbs 13:17; Isaiah 57:9; Jeremiah 49:14; Obadiah 1:1. By the sea - What “sea” is here meant cannot be accurately determined. The word ‘sea’ (ים yâm) is applied to various collections of water, and may be used in reference to a sea, a lake, a pond, and even a large river. It is often applied to the Mediterranean; and where the phrase “Great Sea” occurs, it denotes that Numbers 34:6-7; Deuteronomy 11:24. It is applied to the Lake of Gennesareth or the Sea of Galilee Numbers 34:11; to the Salt Sea Genesis 14:3; to the Red Sea often (Exodus 13:10; Numbers 14:25; Numbers 21:4; Numbers 33:10, “et al.”) It is also applied to “a large river,” as, “e. g., the Nile” Isaiah 19:5; Nehemiah 3:8; and to the Euphrates Jeremiah 51:36. So far as this “word” is concerned, therefore, it may denote either the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Nile, or the Euphrates. If the country spoken of is Upper Egypt or Nubia, then we are naturally led to suppose that the prophet refers either to the Nile or the Red Sea. Even in vessels of bulrushes - The word rendered ‘bulrushes’ (גמא gôme') is derived from the verb גמא gâmâ', “to swallow, sip, drink;” and is given to a reed or bulrush, from its “imbibing” water. It is usually applied in the Scriptures to the Egyptian “papyrus” - a plant which grew on the banks of the Nile, and from which we have derived our word “paper.” ‘This plant,’ says Taylor (“Heb. Con.”), ‘grew in moist places near the Nile, and was four or five yards in height. Under the bark it consisted wholly of thin skins, which being separated and spread out, were applied to various uses. Of these they made boxes and chests, and even boats, smearing them over with pitch.’ These laminoe, or skins, also served the purpose of paper, and were used instead of parchment, or plates of lead and copper, for writing on. This plant, the Cyperus Papyrus of modern botanists, mostly grew in Lower Egypt, in marshy land, or in shallow brooks and ponds, formed by the inundation of the Nile. ‘The papyrus,’ says Pliny, ‘grows in the marsh lands of Egypt, or in the stagnant pools left inland by the Nile, after it has returned to its bed, which have not more than two cubits in depth. The root of the plant is the thickness of a man’s arm; it has a triangular stalk, growing not higher than ten cubits (fifteen feet), and decreasing in breadth toward the summit, which is crowned with a thyrsus, containing no seeds, and of no use except to deck the statues of the gods. They employ the roots as firewood, and for making various utensils. They even construct small boats of the plant; and out of the rind, sails, mats, clothes, bedding, ropes; they eat it either crude or cooked, swallowing only the juice; and when they manufacture paper from it, they divide the stem by means of a kind of needle into thin plates, or laminae, each of which is as lar…
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