Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 30
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Isaiah 30
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Isaiah 30
"Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, that take counsel, but not of me; and that make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin," — Isaiah 30:1 (ASV)
Woe to the rebellious children ... —The interjection perhaps expresses sorrow rather than indignation, Alas, for ... ! as in Isaiah 1:4. The prophet hears that the intrigues of the palace have at last resulted in favor of an alliance with Egypt, and that an embassy has already been sent.
That cover with a covering. —Better, that weave a web. The word was aptly chosen then, as now, to describe the subtle intricacies of a double-dealing diplomacy. Some, however, render “form a molten image,” not as referring to actual idolatry, but to the trust in human plans which the prophet condemns.
"that set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!" — Isaiah 30:2 (ASV)
To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh. —Literally, the fortress of Pharaoh, used as the symbol of his kingdom: This, then, was the course into which even Hezekiah had been led or driven, and it had been done without consulting Isaiah as the recognised prophet of Jehovah. For the “shadow of Egypt” see Note on Isaiah 18:1.
"For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors are come to Hanes." — Isaiah 30:4 (ASV)
His princes were at Zoan ... — Better, are, in the vivid use of the historic present of prophecy. Zoan, the Tanis of the Greeks, was one of the oldest of Egyptian cities. Hanes, identified with the Greek Heracleopolis, as lying in the delta of the Nile, would be among the first Egyptian cities which the embassy would reach.
"They shall all be ashamed because of a people that cannot profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach." — Isaiah 30:5 (ASV)
They were all ashamed ... —Better, are: historic present, as before. The prophet paints the dreary disappointment of the embassy. They found Egypt at once weak and false, without the will or power to help them. So Rabshakeh compares that power to “a broken reed,” which only pierces the hand of the one who leans on it. So Sargon (Smith, Assyrian Canon, p. 133, quoted by Cheyne), describing the resistance of his foes, says that they “carried presents, seeking his alliance, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, a monarch who could not help them.”
"The burden of the beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit [them]." — Isaiah 30:6 (ASV)
The burden of the beasts of the south. —It has been suggested that this, which reads like the heading of a new section, was first placed in the margin by a transcriber, as suggested by the mention of the lions, vipers, camels, and donkeys, and then found its way into the text (Cheyne).
There seems no reason, however, why the prophet would not have prefixed it with the sarcasm of an indignant irony. “You ask for an oracle,” he seems to say, “and you will have one; but its very heading will imply condemnation and derision”; and then he continues his picture of the journey of the embassy.
They pass through the Negeb, the south country, which is arid and waste, haunted only by lions, and vipers, and fiery (i.e., venomous) serpents. They had their donkeys and camels with them, laden with the treasures with which they hoped to purchase the Egyptian alliance.
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