Isaiah_19-20
Isaiah 19-20 –
An Oracle Concerning Egypt – Isaiah 19:1-25 (ESV) V.1-15 – the destruction and changes for Egypt:
- The river Nile as the main artery of the nation. The mouth of the river was the ‘delta’ area that created a ‘garden like’ area. Now they are filled up. 6
- 7 – the paper reeds would be the papyri that was a source of great wealth of Egypt. – it ceased being the source of such. It is no longer a common plant of the area.
- 8 – There was a great fishing industry there, but no longer.
- V9 – “work in fine flax” would disappear. They excelled in producing linen milled at 3000,000 strands per pound.
- 11 – the “princes of Zoan are fools, the princes of Noph are deceived” Noph is Memphis today. – The reason is that there was so much intermarriage of actual brothers marrying sisters that the offspring were morons.
- 14-15 – It was reduced to a base kingdom. Poverty and wretchedness would overtake the nation. Failure of: false religion, material resources and failure of spiritual power. Cairo of today confirms this:
TODAY: Under Cairo’s impressive possessions, historical and present, is also a city where unemployment, pollution, sprawl, and unchecked overpopulation remain dominant and persistent issues for its residents. In January of 2011, young residents of the city took over the downtown public squares in opposition to decades of poverty and oppression. After weeks of unprecedented protests that gained international media coverage, the country’s long-standing dictator-ruler, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, was forced to step down. – Quote from: http://www.blackpast.org/gah/cairo-egypt-founded-c-969-d#sthash.tMFeVZH8.dpuf
- 16-17 – they would be afraid like women and will be their condition when they go into the Great Tribulation period.
Unfulfilled Prophecy: Isaiah 19:18-25
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.”
V.18 – The future: they, along with 4 others, would speak the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of hosts…
V.19-20 – The cross will yet be the place that the Egyptians will look instead of to a ‘crescent’.
V.21-22 – “he shall smite and heal it:” – The future for Egypt looks good as God will take over and bring things under his plan. This nation will enter and enjoy the Kingdom with Israel.
V.23 – “a highway out of Egypt to Assyria” – A freeway for them to go to Jerusalem to serve Christ the King.
V.24 – “Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria” – Note the exalted position of Egypt in the Kingdom.
V.25 – “Blessed be Egypt my people and Assyria..” – In the future this despised and debased nation will receive a ‘blessing’.
Chapter 19 closes on a high note and then chapter 20 goes into the prophecy of in three years Israel would be invaded.
A Sign Against Egypt and Cush – Isaiah 20:1-6 (ESV)
Isaiah 20:1-6 (ESV)
1 In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it—
2 at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,
4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt.
5 Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast.
6 And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”
Isaiah was to become a walking parable to Israel as a warning not to become confederate with Egypt. “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot…” ESV: “..indecently exposed”….
V.3-6 – The oracle is dated to the year of the Assyrian conquest of rebellious Ashdod (712 b.c.).
During this three-year period the prophet had walked around indecently exposed as an object lesson on Egypt’s and Cush’s fate. He wore just a loin cloth and barefoot. It was a sign that his servant because it will be “a sign and portent” against Egypt and Ethiopia to symbolize the way in which they will be carried off as exiles by the Assyrians.
Here is an illustration of the “Ancient Styles of Dress” from “Harper’s Bible Dictionary”:
