The Strand Study Bible

ISAIAH ISAIAH describing be America (in the last days)? Some believe it is. In order to fit America into their End Time scenario some will actually use verses 1 and 2 to prove their point. They believe that the term “ to the land shadowing (or, outstretched) with wings ” (vs 1) is speaking of America because America alone has been a shelter, a land of religious liberty and freedom of conscience, and who alone welcomes to its shores the downtrodden people of the world. They also believe that the term “ beyond the rivers of Ethiopia ” (vs 1) speaks of America because if you stand in the city of Jerusalem and look due west, all you will see is water (the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic ocean) until your vision strikes the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. They also believe that the term “ whose land the rivers have spoiled (or, divided - vs 2) speaks of America because America is divided into sections north and south and east and west by the great Mississippi River (north and south from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico), and then by the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Missouri, the Arkansas and the Columbia River (east and west). However, to believe that Isaiah 18:1-2 is speaking of America is to “stretch the Scriptures.” The term “ to the land shadowing with wings ” is descriptive of the land of Ethiopia and its neighboring people, which is often devastated by frequent plagues of winged insects such as locust and tsetse flies, not America. The term “ whose land the rivers have spoiled (or, divided)” is also descriptive of the land of Ethiopia, where the blue Nile joins the white Nile. Not only that, but how can a nation (America) that didn’t exist in 713 BC “ send ambassadors by the sea ” to Judah (vs 2)? Arno Froese in 119 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Prophecy notes: 1070 Isaiah 18 deals with “ a people scattered and peeled ” (tall and dark-skinned; Ethiopia), not America. 18:2 Ethiopia had sent messengers to Judah ( that sendeth ambassadors by the sea ), seeking to form a coalition with them against Sargon king of Assyria. Isaiah replies to the Ethiopians with “ swift messengers .” 18:4 Isaiah was told by the Lord to remind Hezekiah’s counselors to stay away from any Ethiopian/Egyptian alliance. Hoshea king of Israel had failed to secure the same alliance nine years earlier in 722 BC, when he sought their help against Shalmaneser V ( II Ki 17:4 ). To make the same mistake by placing their trust in an “arm of flesh” was to seal their own defeat, for the Ethiopian/Egyptian alliance would inevitably be destroyed (vs 5-6). The alliance was destroyed in part at Eltekeh in 701 BC when Sennacherib king of Assyria crushed Tirhakah king of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian/Egyptian forces who had tried to form an alliance with Merodach-baladan of Babylon (II Ki 19:1-9). Twenty-one years later in 680 BC the coalition was destroyed in full. NOTE – God’s people would be wise to follow Hezekiah’s example and learn to listen to the man of God’s advice (II Ki 19:10- 20,32-36). 18:7 One day, not in the too distant future, Ethiopia will pay tribute to the LORD OF HOSTS . 19:1 The “ burden of Egypt ” is both a message of judgment (vs 1-15) and of blessing (vs 16-25). This message comes at a time when Judah’s tendency was to depend upon Egypt and its coalition of Ethiopians and Libyans against the threat of an Assyrian invasion. Thus, Isaiah warns against such an alliance; Judah is called upon to trust God, not men. 19:4 This “ cruel lord ” was none other than Esar-haddon, King of Assyria. He ruled Assyria from 681-668 BC. The entire political coalition of Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Libyans fell to Esar-haddon in 671 BC. 19:14 Nations that err by abandoning the wisdom of God are stripped of family values (vs 2), stripped of common sense (vs 3), stripped of freedom (vs 4), stripped of economic stability (vs 5-10), stripped of wise leadership (vs 11-13), and allowed to wallow in their own filth (vs 14). Sound like America? Because America has abandoned the principles of God, God has begun stripping her of everything, including her integrity, and leaving her to “stagger in her own vomit” ( Isa 5:20 ). Erwin Lutzer in Exploding the Myths that Could Destroy America notes: Can the United States of America be found in Bible Prophecy? It cannot be found as a national identity. America is a nation based upon European culture. The founding fathers were Europeans. Those who drew up the Declaration of Independence were primarily Freemasons and Deists. Their main principles were obiviously built upon the existing European principles, which are built upon Roman laws and orders. Therefore, America can be found in Bible prophecy, but only as an extension of Europe. 1

Although our nation is rotting on the inside and hostile forces are determined to take away our freedom…there are too many people who neither know nor care. Not until all is lost will many awake to the painful reality that America as we once knew it is gone. Because the transition is happening over a number of years, millions don’t realize it is happening at all. 2 The comparison to our own nation today is obvious, is it not? America has forsaken the living and true God, which is evident in the moral condition of this country. What lawlessness, dishonesty and corrupt speech we find everywhere! I think that we can see God’s judgment upon our own nation in the many national calamities which we have suffered over the past several years. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to wake us up and bring us back to Him. 3

J. Vernon McGee in Jeremiah & Lamentations notes:

NOTE – America leads the world in the following areas: 1. abortions performed (the killing of the unborn)

In an October 2005 issue of Life Issues Institute , Susan W. Enouen, P.E., writes: “Since the legalization of abortion in 1973, African Americans have taken a disproportionate blow to their population growth. Although today there are thirty-four million African Americans in the US, fourteen million unborn black American babies have been aborted since 1973, representing over one-fourth of their potential population. Today blacks account for 12.3% of the American population, but African American women receive 36% of the abortions and are three times more likely than white women to have an abortion. The sad fact is, more African American babies have been killed by abortion since 1973 than the total number of African American deaths from AIDS, violent crimes, accidents, cancer and heart disease combined.” 4