Isaiah 18 1-7

This was a post that I made on Blackboard for my Scriptural lit class. I've been enjoying this class quite a lot.


Isaiah is warning the people of the destruction to come and the woes that will follow. In the writing of these verses we see much metaphor in these verses especially pertaining to the land and peoples of the earth. In verses one and two he makes reference to the land although these references could be meaning the country rather than the land as in the ground itself. Verse three even states “all ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth” it would appear that Isaiah is speaking to people who knew the earth well, perhaps to farmers. In verse four he goes on by giving a metaphor about plants or herbs and the harvest. In verse five he refers to the harvest of grapes as a metaphor of what will happen to the people. If they are truly farmers and keepers of vineyard they would understand very well about the pruning hooks to cut off the grapes. In verse six there is a reference of being left to the wild animals. It appears from the descriptive language that Isaiah and the people he is addressing knew about wild animals and had a fear of the destruction they could bring. Verse seven is when it is truly relieved that Isaiah is referring to the people. The people shall be pealed from the earth the waters spoiled. Although this is the first portion that shows blatantly that this section is about the people it seems that the people knew, because of their culture, throughout the chapter that these references about the ground were really about them. Isaiah, uses metaphorical language throughout his entire book so it is likely that these people used metaphor also. It also seems likely that they used story telling as Isaiah seems to use a lot of connectors or linking words as part of his language. It may be that these people Isaiah is addressing used a lot of metaphoric language in their every day lives and as a method for story telling. It is in the metaphoric rhetoric that we see into the lives of these people of the earth and understand their fear of the wild animals and their understanding of growing things. Also we understand the impact that Isaiah's words would have on theme in his metaphors. They would understand very well exactly the horror of what Isaiah is warning against.