Charles Ellicott 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 banner on the summit of a hill indicated the meeting place of a great army. In this case, the armies are thought of as doing the work of Jehovah Sabaoth and therefore as being summoned by Him. The same image is found in Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 13:2; Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 62:10.

Will hiss unto them. — The verb is found in a similar context in Isaiah 7:18. It seems to describe the sharp, shrill whistle that was to the ear what the banner was to the eye, the signal of a rendezvous. Possibly, as in Isaiah 7:18, the idea of bees swarming at the whistling of the bee-master is already in the prophet’s thoughts.

From the end of the earth. — These words point to the Assyrians, the Euphrates being the boundary of Isaiah’s political geography.