3858—"Beyond the Rivers of Ethiopia"
By Editor
Will you please tell us to what country or land Isa. 18: 1 applies? The prophecy includes the whole chapter. It has been suggested that the land "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia" is the United States. It may have a broader application, and take in the whole Anglo-Saxon race, which God has greatly used in giving His gospel to the world, and in protecting small and trodden-down peoples. The shadowing of wings would apply to the extension of protection over subject powers, symbolized perhaps in the spreading wings of the American eagle. A world power, its ambassadors are sent all over the earth. The nation scattered and peeled may refer to China. Certainly it is a land "divided" and also "spoiled" by its rivers. (See both versions.) The "ensign" is the last message, originating, in God's providence, in this nation. Compare with Isa. 62: 10, 11. Those who accept that message, choose that ensign, will be like refreshing dew in the spiritual barrenness of the last days. Compare with Micah 5:7. This message will go "before the harvest," when the wicked, the worthless branches, shall be cut away, when the plagues come, lasting a year, summer and winter, and then God's children gathered home. These are suggestions worthy of study.