EGYPT - ISAIAH 19
EGYPT
Isaiah 19
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
January 30, 2011
Isaiah 19:2: “I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians: And they will each fight against his brother, and each against his neighbor; city against city and kingdom against kingdom. That the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; and I will confound their strategy.”
Isaiah prophesies in chapters 19 and 20 of the dealings of the Lord with the nation of Egypt and the Lord’s Divine plan for the nation. Civil war, drought, and devastation will plague Egypt as a result of the Assyrian invasion (Muslim culture). All of this doom on Egypt is ordained and controlled by the Lord. The end result of the Lord’s dealings with this nation is a wholesale turning of the Egyptians to God such as has never yet taken place.
19:1: “The oracle concerning Egypt: Behold the Lord is riding on a swift cloud (the chariot throne of God in motion), and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble in His presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them… (Vs. 16) “in that day, the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble, and be in dread because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of Hosts, which he is going to wave over them.”
The poem has three stanzas. The first stanza of this oracle depicts civil war, culminating in the rise of a fierce king.
19: 3b-4: “So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead, and to mediums and spiritists. Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master, and a mighty king will rule over them” (“lords of severity” ”kings of strength”).
The native Egyptian religion will provide no rescue or relief. Various possible historical settings for this oracle have been considered. Different commentators offer choices. David F. Payne in F.F. Bruce Bible Commentary offers the Ethiopian Pinkhi in 715 B.C.
The second stanza (verse 5-10) describes a further disaster, showing in detail how the Egyptian economy would break down, due not to warfare but to the failure of the annual flooding of the Nile, on which Egypt’s whole fertility and prosperity have always depended. I did do some research on the internet to check out droughts in recent years in Egypt. There have been droughts re-occurring since 2008. One of the problems provoking these riots is the shortage of food subsidies.
Thus the accession of the fierce king of verse 4 will bring no stability to the country; indeed the last stanza (11-15) presents dramatically the helplessness of the king, by indicating the total lack of advice that is available even to his wise counselors. We could interpret this as “his government”.
19:11-12: “The princes of Zoan are mere fools. The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings? “Where are they? Where are your wise men? And let them tell you now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed upon Egypt.”
The present riots are in-part due to the high rate of unemployment in the nation. Verse 15 contains a proverbial description of total helplessness. “And there will be no work for Egypt which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.”
In verses 16-24, Isaiah sets out God’s purposes beyond judgment and disaster. So now a greater length looks beyond the historical events of 715 B.C. and outlines the divine plan for Egypt. These verses build up a clear picture of God’s intentions.
Verses 17-18 could have been fulfilled in the days of the Assyrian King Sennacherib (Se-naka-rib). It could also be prophetic of the current unrest in Jordan. “And the land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the Lord of hosts which He is purposing against them. In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the Lord of Hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.”
The City of Destruction is rather obscure. However, MT reads, “City of the Sun” which means that Yahweh’s influence will reach even to the city named after Egypt’s most important deity, the sun-god, Re.
By New Testament times, a very large number of Jews had taken up residence in Egypt.
Wikipedia:
“Religion in Egypt controls many aspects of social life and is endorsed by law. The 2006 census counting method did not include religion, so the number of adherents of the different religions are usually rough estimates made by religious and non-governmental agencies.
Egypt is predominantly Muslim, with Muslims comprising between 80% and 90% of a population of around 80 million Egyptians[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The vast majority of Muslims in Egypt are part of the Sunni Islam. A significant number of Muslim Egyptians also follow native Sufi orders, [10] and there is a minority of Shi'a numbering a few thousands.
The remainder of Egyptians, numbering between 10% and 20% of the population,[11] belongs to the native Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox Christian Church.[2][4][5][6][7] The most recent declarations, made by Pope Shenouda III and bishop Morkos of Shubra in 2008, put forward the number of Orthodox Copts in Egypt as being over 12 million. Other estimates made by church officials estimate this number to be 16 million. Protestant churches claim a membership of about 300,000 Egyptians, [12] and the Coptic Catholic Church is estimated to have a similar membership among Egyptians.[8][9] Based on these estimates, the total number of Christians in Egypt is between 15% and 20% of a total population of 80 million Egyptians. While some government sources have claimed a percentage of around 6 to 10%,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] a number of published sources such as the Washington Institute, in addition to some of the Coptic sources, uphold that Christians represent more than 10% of the total population and claim that they actually still compose up to 15 or even 20% of the Egyptian population.[21][22][23][24][25][26”
Verses 19-23 then are clearly prophetic and continue to look beyond any historical events known to us.
The ancient world was not ill-supplied with trade-routes, though no doubt the road from Assyria to Egypt was long and arduous. The existence of the highway between them implies in this case not the march of armies but peaceful and prosperous intercourse with no barriers between. I think we can assume there is now a highway between the Middle Eastern nations.
19-23: “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 near its border. And it will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion and He will deliver them. Thus the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice an offering and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to them and will heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.”
Between Egypt and Assyria lay Syria and Palestine, but---says the prophet---that territory will be fragmented no longer, but will consist of a united Israel (of Davidic dimensions) on a par with the mighty imperial powers. Harmony reigns between the three states, for all worship the same God which will certainly be a blessing to the whole earth.
The passage attests the prophet’s startling faith (in an era when Judah was so puny and powerless) and also his breadth of tolerance. It would take a very high level of faith in the year 2011 to prophecy this Word.
19: 24-25: ‘In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth. whom the Lord of hosts has blessed saying, “Blessed is Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
There was a Jewish temple built in Egypt in 1 B.C. Some believe this is a fulfillment of this prophecy. However, only Jesus Christ can fulfill Verse 20. “He shall send them a Savior and a Great One, and He shall deliver them.”
Egypt has to be one of the “sheep nations” because it was to Egypt the Lord sent Mary and Joseph after Jesus was born. The Lord has used Egypt as a refuge nation for the Jews.
Genesis 12:10: “And there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.”
Genesis 15:18: ‘On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “ to your descendant I have given this land. From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.”
Also, it was to Egypt the Lord sent Joseph to save Israel in time of famine.
Genesis 45: 8-9: “So now it was not you who sent me here (speaking to his brothers), but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of his entire house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, “thus says your son, Joseph; God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry.”
Genesis 45: 13: “So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”
Joseph told his brothers that God made him:
- A father to Pharaoh
- Lord of all Pharaoh’s house
- a ruler throughout the land of Egypt
- Lord of all Egypt.
Preached by: Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from Key Word Study Bible, New American Standard; Bibliography, F. F. Bruce Bible Commentary, David F. Payne. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those from whom I have gleaned.