Isaiah 19

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. 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.”

Target Date: Sunday, 9 June 2024

Thoughts on the Passage:

There is no direct indictment of the sins of Egypt in this passage. No accusation of injustice, and though idolatry is mentioned, there is no direct reference to the sinfulness of it being the cause of God’s judgment.

In addition to the comfort the hearers received from the news of Babylon and Assyria and Damascus’s judgment, this one is of a different class: Egypt was

Sermon Text:

Chapters 19 and 20 represent a new oracle, this time regarding Egypt and Cush (what is today called Ethiopia).

You may remember that in chapter 18, Cush was used to describe the end of the known world.

Here in these chapters, we see an oracle of God about these two peoples.

There may be some here who don’t know where these nations are on the map, and it will be somewhat important later, so let’s get our bearings.

If Judah, specifically the capital of Jerusalem, is right here in Alex City, then Israel, the Northern kingdom would be in Birmingham.

Egypt would be located in Louisiana, with its capitol around New Orleans. (SW about 350 miles)

Cush, would be directly south 200 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Their arch-enemies, Assyria, would be located somewhere around Boston, Massachusetts. (NE about 900 miles)

There is no significant mention I know of in the Old Testament of peoples or nations further away than these nations that the nations of Israel had interaction with.

They were, for all practical purposes, the edge of their maps.

I want you to notice something about this passage as well: what does God declare the Egyptians guilty of in this passage?

the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt – true. But where does God declare the sins of the Egyptians against Him?

Yes, in verse 2, He says the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence.

And we know idolatry is a grave offense against God.

We know that;

the Jews who are hearing the prophecy of Isaiah know that;

but do the Egyptians know that?

Would God judge them for sins they had committed in ignorance?

I have three answers for that question:

1. Ignorance does not make you righteous.

God is holy and righteous. He demands that those who come to Him be holy and righteous as well.

When we ask if God would judge people for sins done in ignorance, we show in the question a misunderstanding of what holiness and righteousness mean.

It is as if we think that righteousness simply means we do the best we can to avoid committing a sin.

That if we keep away from adultery, murder, theft, and the other prohibitions of the Ten Commandments, we are being good.

Or maybe, we take the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 and deepen these sins into “heart sins” as well.

If ignorance or obedience to the Law was all that is necessary for God to accept someone, there was never a reason to send Jesus Christ into the world.

But these commandments are what our Lord describes as “the little things”:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. – Matthew 23:23

Not murdering, not lying, paying your tithe – little things.

The weightier things: justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

The Holy Spirit sums it up in Hebrews 11:6:

without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

2. No one can be ignorant of God and what is good.

When the Holy Spirit through Paul deals with this very question in Romans 1:18-23, He says:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Ignorance of God is not the problem of men – the willful rejection of God is our problem.

The pride that says we will find our own way.

Trust our own wisdom.

Look to our own power.

Use our own wits.

Make our own alliances.

So that we do not NEED God’s blessing.

And that brings us to the third answer I will give this morning because it IS the point of this passage.

3. The Jews, the people whose ancestors had walked across the dry ground that moments before had bee the Res Sea, who had heard the thundering voice of God from the mountain, who had seen His deliverance time and time again –

They were looking for allies.

The Assyrians were dangerous, and the war was going badly for them, so they sought help from anyone they could.

And Egypt was the biggest ally they could find.

They were capable of matching up against Assyria and Babylon, they thought.

But where was their trust in God through all this?

They believed then what many Christians believe now:

That God anoints political solutions to solve troubles.

And that trusting God’s Spirit is weakness in the face of an overwhelming army or a terrifying nation.

That God works best through worldly power, strong groups of believers, and maybe some willing unbelievers, flexing their muscles.

What they really needed was a powerful alliance that would protect them.

And then once they were safe, they could serve God in ease and comfort.

But the primary message of this passage is the futility of the king and the people of Judah trusting in any nation because their sovereign God controlled all the events that Egypt would go through as well.

If you have ever seen a puppet show, one where the marionette is controlled from above, consider this: who is stronger, the wooden puppet or the puppeteer?

Is there anything the puppet can lift that the puppeteer cannot?

But all the time, believers in God will put their trust in people and systems in this world that are entirely under the control of God.

And we claim we are trusting Him THROUGH those things.

That is EXACTLY the same thing Aaron and all Israel did when they made the golden calf at the foot of the mountain of God and called IT Yahweh!

They were “trusting God”, bowing down to “God”, THROUGH the idolatrous calf.

So we find it is not Egypt’s idolatry that is indicted even in this passage: it is the idolatry of the people that should have known better.

The nation that had the Law.

It was an idolatry of powerful worldly alliances, trusting in them to accomplish God’s will.

When they had no faith at all that God would act on their behalf and in answer to their prayers.

And so God declares in advance what He will do with Egypt in verses 1-17.

The three great advantages Egypt had were her religious organization, her wealth, and her great wisdom and learning.

And they were all truly powerful.

We sometimes forget how OLD Egypt is. They are ancient.

They were one of the very first civilizations to rise after the great flood.

The pyramids, one of the truly awesome works in all history, are much more ancient than most people realize.

The oldest ones were already almost 1500 years old WHEN MOSES WAS BORN.

The Egyptian idolatrous religions, which formed the foundation of its government, had been in place all that time, 1000 years before Abram followed God’s call and left another idolatrous city, Ur.

The Egyptian priests were well-established, and in verses 1-4, God describes how He will strike that religious/ political system;

There will be civil war and rebellions throughout Egypt.

And they will be so weakened, they will be conquered from outside.

This is probably a good place to say that it might be a mistake to look for a literal TIME when all these prophecies were fulfilled at the same time and place.

That is simply not what Isaiah (or the Holy Spirit behind him) was trying to get across.

Egypt, through a very long history, had several periods when these things too place.

That IS the point – God is sovereign over them, and He causes these upheavals in His time for His purposes.

That is why Judah must trust HIM and not the Egyptians for their safety.

One commentator put it this way, and I think it is wise:

the picture is metaphorical, as one would speak in a metaphorical way of Britain’s demise by saying that her navy is sunk, her universities are empty, her throne abandoned, without any of those being literally true.

Much of what we have seen and will continue to see in Isaiah is poetic, descriptive, and, in some cases, hyperbole.

That is – with one exception:

When the prophets speak of the Christ, the Messiah of God, they are quite specific and accurate.

We have seen that already in our study of Isaiah, and will see it much more, God willing, ere the end.

But that is because Jesus Christ is the POINT of the Scriptures – of course the Holy Spirit would be specific about Him.

But to think that this prophecy of Isaiah points to some unknown Pharaoh who only mattered in the newspapers of the day, I think, trivializes Isaiah’s message.

So the first thing that Isaiah shows God’s control of is the religious/political system. The second is the Nile itself.

The Nile River is THE REASON Egypt rose to greatness in the middle of the great Desert.

The Nile, runs the last 1000 miles of its great length (over 4100 miles) without any other rivers flowing into it.

What that means is that the river flooded every year because of the snow melt, and it would overflow its banks, washing away the trash and filth of Egypt, and depositing rich well-watered topsoil for them to plant in.

It was predictable, regular, and vital to the wealth of the nation.

It was this very thing that Joseph, in Genesis, took advantage of to prepare for the drought God warned him about.

But God had only to strike the Nile, and the Sahara Desert would win the battle.

The crops would shrivel and die.

The life in the great river would die or move upstream.

And through that great famine, powerful and lowly would all suffer.

One aside, I cannot help but think that when God talks about “Those who are pillars”, he could be referring to the great buildings of Egypt where the Pharaoh’s likenesses were literally the columns that stand in front of the building.

The third thing God could strike was the vaunted wisdom and learning of Egypt.

Only 100 or so years after Isaiah wrote this prophecy, a man named Pythagoras left his Greek homeland and traveled to Egypt to learn their secrets, particularly their mathematics.

The Assyrians were warriors; the Phoenicians were tradesmen; but the Egyptians were scholars.

But even in all their wisdom, they would not recognize God’s plan for Egypt.

And so, very quickly, what WAS God’s plan for Egypt? Utter destruction? Wiping them out as thoroughly as the city of Sodom?

In verse 18 – He declares He has His people in Egypt, from among the Egyptians.

They “speak the language of Canaan” and they “swear allegiance to the Lord of Hosts”.

They are God’s people from among that people.

God has every intention to SAVE HIS people, wherever they are.

O look at the grace, the love, the mercy of our great God.

To people who deserve only His wrath, He lavishes His grace and salvation.

To those who have only their sin and ruined condition to offer Him, He brings them out to Himself, and calls them sons and daughters.

All through the completed work of Jesus Christ.

His blood that was shed to remove our guilt and sin;

His righteousness that was given to clothe us – He has done EVERYTHING necessary for our complete salvation.

Don’t read past verse 22 – it is important:

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.

Striking and healing.

Precious child of God, don’t fool yourself into some tortured interpretation of this like: He strikes some (the wicked) but He heals the faithful.

No – those who the Lord strikes, He also raises.

Saul was struck down headed for Damascus, and he was healed.

Time and again, as an apostle named Paul, he was struck so that they left him for dead, but he was healed.

Stephen, one of the Seven, was struck down, and he saw our Lord standing at the side of God.

And not just these great examples in Scripture (and I could spend hours going though many more), but how many have come to Christ in faith BECAUSE God struck them?

Because He crushed their plans, or their self-righteousness, or their vaunted identities they had build for themselves?

Make no mistake: God has no respect for the work of your hands, for the maintenance of your legacy, for the support of your dignity, or for the advancing of your fame and reputation.

He loves YOU, and He will strip all these other things away to save you.

He will rip through all your riches and all your accomplishments and all your wisest thoughts to save you.

Like the Emergency Room team, if you come into the ER wearing a thousand-dollar outfit, they will cut it to shreds in seconds to place the paddles on your chest to get your heart beating properly again.

There is nothing you have, nothing you have made of yourself, that is so dear and so valuable as the salvation He delivers to you.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? – Matthew 16:26