… which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers. – Isaiah 18:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 15, 2020): Isaiah 18

It really wasn’t that long ago that Africa remained unexplored. Before the European scramble to colonize Africa in the late 19^th Century, as many as 10,000 different political systems were operating, and fighting, on the continent. Some were simple nomadic family units, others were well run kingdoms, but in either case, it was these leaders who ruled Africa. And many of these states, great or small, did not welcome outsiders. Maybe the popular picture of the slave trade in Africa is of white slave traders going to Africa and trapping the unsuspecting Africans and forcing them onto ships to be taken, in the early days, to the Arab states, but later to Europe and the New World. But that is not really the way it worked. White people did not venture very far into the African continent to get their slaves. The slaves were often caught by other Africans and brought to coastal cities where they could be sold to the White slaver. When slavery was finally abolished in Europe and the New World, it demanded a severe change in economics for the African nations involved in the slave trade. But Africa, itself, remained a mystery. It was a violent place where few non-Africans ever ventured. History books are filled with stories of travelers killed in Africa by the African warriors. Central Africa was a mysterious place, a land inhabited by monsters and creatures of our dreams, and warriors able to fall on the unsuspecting traveler at a moment’s notice.

The Kingdom of Kush existed on the North East corner of this mysterious continent, just south of Egypt. In the late 8^th century B.C.E., Kush made inroads within Egypt, capturing the southern portions of the country. Why this happened is a subject of argument, but Isaiah might throw some light on the subject. Much of what Isaiah writes about at this point in time concerns the Assyrian Empire. The attention of the world was focused on what the Assyrians might do next. And concern about the Assyrians had even reached down into Africa. Egypt and Kush had made a pact against Assyrian aggression moving onto the continent. But, when the moment of the Assyrian attack came, they wanted a buffer zone on the other side of the Red Sea.

Enter Judah. Isaiah comments that Kush had sent “envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water.” Just as Syria and Israel had wanted Judah to join their alliance against the Assyrians, so the Kingdom of Kush and the Egyptians wanted to entice Judah to align with them. The hope was likely that the African nations could attempt to make their stand against Assyria in Judah rather than in Africa.

Isaiah recognized the fearsome ability of the Kushite warrior, who was greatly feared, but the answer is still going to be no. Judah would rely on God, and not on an alliance with another nation, in its defense from the Assyrians. And so Kush turned to its northern neighbor and tried to find a buffer zone there, away from the home of the tall and smooth-skinned people.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 19 & 20