153
T h e
B u s i n k s s
April 1931
K i n g ’ s
Does the United States Appear in Prophecy? By C anon F. E. H owitt ( Hamilton, Ontario, Canada )
C . ■' is® . ! »chapter begins should be translated “ho.” It is a call to attention. I want to call your attention, first, to the “land shadowing with wings.” What are we to understand by that expression? I consulted a good many commentators. They near ly all apply this prophecy to Egypt. They do so because it is the land that lies beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. That is a very indefinite statement, and it does not necessarily follow that it is Egypt at all. But to corroborate their view that the allusion is to Egypt, they cite as proof the fact that it is “a land shadowing with wings.” This is how they interpret the wings: They say they are the two strips of land and mountain on either side of the Nile, which practically form Egypt. I can see no such likeness myself. Then it has been suggested by one- or two commenta tors that the expression may refer to the winged disc which was the symbol of authority in the land of Egypt. You will see it carved upon the monuments and temples at the present time, and there is no doubt that it symbolized authority in days gone by. Even if it were Egypt that is referred to, Egypt is not such a land as is spoken of here. Egypt is (compara tively speaking) an insignificant country today; it does not send ambassadors by the sea. I mean it does not send ambassadors everywhere. It may be represented in the United States and in England and in some of the other leading countries, but it certainly has no ambassadors all over the world, as one would be led to infer would be the case from the statement here. This is a very important cotintry that “sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels-of bulrushes.” Therefore, I do not think this con clusion will hold. “W ater -D r in k in g V essels ” Let me say a word about the “vessels of bulrushes.” Dr. Cummings, a very competent Hebrew scholar, in speaking of this passage says that when our translators in 1611 (the ones who gave us our Authorized Version) translated this passage, they did not know what to make of this text. Therefore, they translated this word “vessels of bulrushes.” The word really, he tells us, signifies a ’“water-drinking vessel.” He says that it can apply just as well, and probably much better, to steamships. Steam ships were not heard of in those days. If they had put “steamships” there, they would not have known what it meant. There was no such word. The best interpre tation they could devise was to call them “vessels of bul rushes.” The fact of the case is, it refers to the present day; they are “water-drinking vessels,” and every ocean liner is a “water-drinking vessel.” It is propelled by steam, and it has to take water in, in order to make the steam by which it travels. What are we to understands by this “land shadowing with wings” ? From what I have already said, you w,ill see that the general impression of commentators is that
“Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia : That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and-trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled” (Isa. 18:1, 2) ! HE question has often been asked—is the United States found in prophecy? The answer almost invariably is “no” ; and that was my own opin ion until very recently. I was well aware of the teaching of the Anglo-Israelites who claimed that the United States was Manasseh and that England was Ephraim; but that did not satisfy me. Some years ago, I went very carefully into the teachings of the Anglo-IsraeliteS, and, while I was greatly taken with them at the outset, I began to examine their proof texts in the light of their context, and I found that they did not teach what they were sup posed to teach. In this case especially, how can the Unit ed States be Manasseh and England Ephraim ? Manasseh was the elder son of Joseph, and Ephraim was the younger son. How can the younger be made to represent the elder? Is not England older than the United States? How can the mother be made to represent the daughter? I could not accept such teaching as that. It seemed to be incredible to me. Therefore, I rejected the idea of trying to make out that the United States was spoken of -in the Word of God under the figure of Manasseh. Yet it seemed strange that a nation that has taken such a prom inent part in world politics as has the United States, and that apparently is destined to play a tremendously impor tant part in the days to come, should not find reference in the Word of God. Therefore I set thyself to seek again and to find, if possible, if anything could be construed as being truly an allusion to the United States. • I came to the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah, and the more I studied it, the more I began to believe that it did refer thereto. While I speak with great diffidence, not authoritatively at all, I am going to show you the line of my hypothesis; and then I leave it with you to say whether you think this passage refers to the United States or not. This chapter is professedly a most difficult chapter to interpret. Bishop Louth, who wrote voluminously on Isaiah, says: “This is one of .the most obscure prophecies; the people to whom it is addressed, the person he sends, the ambassadors, the nations to whom they are all sent are extremely doubtful.” No commentator has ever, to my knowledge, definitely stated to whom this chapter re fers. Therefore, we are not contradicting any accepted teaching when we apply it to the United States. W hy E gypt I s N ot M eant Now for the reason: Let me say, first of all, that this chapter brings before us two separate peoples. There is the “land shadowing with wings,” and there is the people “scattered and peeled.” The word “woe” with which the
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