An oracle concerning Egypt.
Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight, each against another
and each against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3 and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound their counsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
and the mediums and the necromancers;
4 and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of a hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord God of hosts.
5 And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will be dry and parched,
6 and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
will be driven away, and will be no more.
8 The fishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets on the water.
9 The workers in combed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
10 Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who work for pay will be grieved.
11 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish;
the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you
that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools,
and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of her tribes
have made Egypt stagger.
14 The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 And there will be nothing for Egypt
that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed
16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. 17 And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.
18 In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.
19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. 21 And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. 22 And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” Isaiah 19 ESV
Isaiah 19 Concerning Egypt
1-4. Behold the Lord is riding on a swift cloud - Judgment coming.
…2He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent, 3laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.4He makes the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants.… Psalm 104: 2-4
And the idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence - Historically, the Egyptians have had many gods, idols made in the form of crocodiles, cats, and even Pharaohs who thought themselves gods.
i. “In Isaiah’s day there was no other nation on earth that was so much in the grip of superstition and filthy idolatry as Egypt. Apes, cats, frogs, crocodiles, lizards – everything was venerated by them.” (Bultema)
ii. At the time of the Exodus, when the Pharaoh of Egypt would not release the children of Israel from their captivity, the LORD also made the idols of Egypt to totter at His presence. He directed each of the plagues against a particular idol of Egypt.
· He knocked over the god Khnum, the guardian of the Nile, the god Hapi, the spirit of the Nile, and the god Osiris (who had the Nile as his bloodstream), when the waters were turned to blood.
· He knocked over the goddess Heqt, the frog-goddess of fertility, with the plague of frogs.
· He knocked over the goddess Hathor, a cow-like mother goddess, with the plague on livestock.
· He knocked over the god Imhotep, the god of medicine, with the plague of boils.
· He knocked over the god Nut, the sky goddess, with the plague of hail.
· He knocked over the whole system of Egyptian worship of their gods with loathsome lice and swarms of insects.
· He knocked over the god Seth, thought to be the protector of crops, with the plague of locusts.
· He knocked over the god Ra, thought to be the sun god, with the plague of darkness.
· He knocked over Osiris, the Egyptian god thought to be the giver of life, and the supposed deity of Pharaoh himself, with the plague against the firstborn. God made all the idols of Egypt to totter at His presence before, and Isaiah tells us He will do it again. - Enduring Word
And each against his neighbor - Part of it's fall from greatness will be civil war, a country divided. Their counsel will be confused and broken like their nation. The advice will lead to furthering the destruction, answers to one problem will increase another.
And the mediums and the necromancers - They have been here before in Moses time, all the mediums could do was multiply the problem. When men refuse the Creator they don't disavow all gods, even the atheist believes his reason, and or that of someone else considered wise, is sufficient to worship. Egypt knew there was a God, and when men's strength fails many become "spiritual", but God has provided for only one way to be right with Him, and he has denounced sorcery and superstition.
Into the hand of a hard master - They did not do so well against the Assyrians, and it is a good lesson for Judah, God has told you not to return to Egypt, so an alliance would be unprofitable. Israel already carried too much Egyptian residue with them from their 400 years in captivity.
5-10. And the river will be dry and parched - Looks like Osiris is having some circulatory issues. The Nile was central to so many aspects of Egyptian life and economy.
And all that is sown - No one would argue the essential nature of water to the body. This river also overflowed in the rainy season and caused great deposits of minerals and other nutrients that made very fertile ground. Egypt was able to produce enough grain during the 7 good years of Joseph's time that they were still able to feed themselves and sell to their neighbors during 7 lean years of drought.
The fishermen will mourn and lament - This should really get their attention, it got mine. The Nile was also a source of protein and industry.
Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed - The ones who oversee the affairs of trade, business and agriculture will not have an answer for this. Those that they employ will be grieved.
11-15. The wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel - Without knowledge and desire for the true God, then there is no way to know or understand His judgment. They can't begin to approach this correctly, so they speak from ignorance, saying what should be obviously foolish and without understanding. "Look, my title says, 'wise man', so I guess I am and what I say must be."
Have made Egypt stagger - The delusional can only offer more delusion.
…19For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.… 1 Corinthians 1: 19-21
16-24. The land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt - There is a certain amount of fulfillment seen today, in that Israel is once again a nation, has held off it's neighboring antagonists, and has superior military to Egypt.
Speak the language of Canaan -
i. “In the time of the Maccabees, the high priest Onias IV was forced to flee to Egypt, and there he built a temple that was similar to the one in Jerusalem. Some commentators relate the ‘altar’ of verse 19 to this structure.” (Wolf) This may relate to the City of the Sun prophecy, because the temple Onias IV built was in the province of Heliopolis.
The Egyptians will know the LORD in that day: There did come to be a widespread knowledge of the LORD in Egypt. In the days of Jesus, more than a million Jews lived in Egypt. In the early days of Christianity, there was a strong, vital church in Egypt for more than 600 years. -Enduring Word
It is interesting that the church thrived in northern Africa for so long and one of the greatest Theologians, Augustine, was born in Algeria in 354 AD.
Egyptians will know the Lord in that day - They will speak the same language, and along with Israel and Assyria they will honor Christ. I believe much of this looks forward to Christ Millennial reign.
So Jacob and everyone with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7There Jacob built an altar, and he called that place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed Himself to Jacob as he fled from his brother. Genesis 35: 6-7
A blessing in the midst of the earth - In that time people will recognize the God of Israel and Israel, His people, will be the light they were called to be.
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.4So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.… Genesis 12: 2-4
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