Isaiah 30:6,7

These verses are marked as an independent oracle by a heading in the enigmatic style of those in ch. 21, 22. Some commentators regard the title as an editorial note which has crept into the text from the margin; but the substance of the oracle, which is a parallel to, rather than a continuation of, Isaiah 30:1, favours the supposition that it was originally distinct. From the analogy of Isaiah 21:1; Isaiah 21:13; Isaiah 22:1, we should expect the superscription to be suggested by some striking phrase in the body of the prophecy. There is, however, nothing in the text as it stands to suggest "beasts of the south." "The south" means the Negeb, the desert region to the south of Judah, traversed by the Jewish ambassadors on their way to Egypt. The "beasts" might be either the beasts of burden painfully making their way through it (Isaiah 30:6) or the wild animals by which it is haunted (Isaiah 30:6). That the expression refers to the hippopotamus (Job 40:15) as a symbol of Egypt is a hazardous speculation. The text is probably corrupt, and Duhm's suggestion that the title reproduces some lost words at the beginning of the oracle is probably on the right track, although his proposed reconstruction may not command assent.