Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 5:26

"And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly." — Isaiah 5:26 (ASV)

And he will lift up an ensign ... - The idea here is that the nations of the earth are under His control, and He can call whom He pleases to execute His purposes. He often claims this power over the nations (Isaiah 45:1–7; Isaiah 10:5–7; Isaiah 9:11; Isaiah 8:18). An “ensign” is the “standard,” or “flag” used in an army. The elevation of the standard was a signal for assembling for war. God represents Himself here as simply raising the standard, expecting that the nations would come at once.

And will hiss unto them - This means that He would “collect” them together to accomplish His purposes. The expression is probably taken from the manner in which bees were hived. Theodoret and Cyril, on this place, say that in Syria and Palestine, those who kept bees were able to draw them out of their hives, conduct them into fields, and bring them back again with the sound of a flute or the noise of hissing. It is also certain that the ancients had this idea respecting bees. Pliny (lib. xi. ch. 20) says: Gaudent plausu, atque tinnitu aeris, coque convocantur.

‘They rejoice in a sound, and in the tinkling of brass, and are thus called together.’ Aelian (lib. v. ch. 13) says that when bees are disposed to fly away, their keepers make a musical and harmonious sound, and they are thus brought back as by a siren and restored to their hives. So Virgil says, when speaking of bees:

Tinnitusque cie, et Matris quate cymbala circum.

Georgics iv. 64.

‘On brazen vessels beat a tinkling sound,
And shake the cymbals of the goddess round;
Then all will hastily retreat, and fill
The warm resounding hollow of their cell.’
Addison

So Ovid says:

Jamque erat ad Rhodopen Pangaeaque flumina ventum,
Aeriferae comitum cum crepuere manus.
Ecce! novae coeunt volucres tinnitibus actae
Quosque movent sonitus aera sequuntur apes.

Fasti, lib. iii, 739.

See also Columella, lib. x. ch. 7; Lucan, lib. ix. ver. 288; and Claudian, “Panegyric. in sextum consul. Honorii,” ver. 259; compare to Bochart, “Hieroz.” P. ii. lib. iv. ch. x. pp. 506, 507. The prophets refer to this fact in several places (Isaiah 8:18; Zechariah 10:8). The simple meaning is that God, at His pleasure, would collect the nations around Judea like bees, that is, in great numbers.

The end of the earth - That is, the remotest parts of the world. The most eastern nations known to them were probably the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, and perhaps the inhabitants of India. The general idea is that He would call in the distant nations to destroy them. In Isaiah 7:18, Egypt and Assyria are particularly specified. This was in accordance with the prediction in Deuteronomy 28:49.