Isaiah 19:1-20:6
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[CONTEXT] Please turn with me to Isaiah 19:1.
Isaiah chapters 19-20 give us God’s oracle (i.e., His word) against Egypt.
As the Assyrian threat grew larger, so did the temptation for Judah to trust in other countries for help.
But trusting in other nations was tantamount to distrusting God.
In terms of Egypt, God asks His people, “Why trust Egypt when Egypt has nothing to offer you?”
“Why trust Egypt when Egypt will betray you?”
“Why not trust Me, Your God, who exercises authority over Egypt?”
“Why not look to Me, the One to whom Egypt must one day look?”
[TS] Tonight we’ll look at Isaiah 19-20 in three SEGMENTS…
...but before we dive in, let’s pray together.
[PRAYER]
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
SEGMENT #1: Egypt, Utterly Helpless Before God (Isaiah 19:1-15)
SEGMENT #1: Egypt, Utterly Helpless Before God (Isaiah 19:1-15)
[EXP] Why would Judah be tempted to trust in Egypt?
One reason was her idols, but God says in Isaiah 19:1-4 that He will come to make Egypt’s idols tremble at His presence.
1 The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. 2 “So 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. 3 “Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confound their strategy, So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead And to mediums and spiritists. 4 “Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master, And a mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord God of hosts.
In the scene Isaiah paints for us, God comes riding on a swift cloud as only He can to topple the idols of Egypt.
Those hearts of idolators melt within them (19:1).
Civil war breaks out as one group of idolators fights against another (19:2).
Then there is demoralization and desperation as Egypt turns to more idols and even ghosts of the dead, mediums, and spiritists (19:3).
And then Egypt falls under the rule of tyrant, a cruel master, which is what it was trying to avoid, but what God brought in judgment (19:4).
In Isaiah 19:4, He said, “ I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master.”
That cruel master would Assyria.
Another reason Judah may have been tempted to trust in Egypt was her river, but God says in Isaiah 19:5-10 that her river was about to dry up.
5 The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry. 6 The canals will emit a stench, The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; The reeds and rushes will rot away. 7 The bulrushes by the Nile, by the edge of the Nile And all the sown fields by the Nile Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. 8 And the fishermen will lament, And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will pine away. 9 Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax And the weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected. 10 And the pillars of Egypt will be crushed; All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.
One commentator wrote, “It is not an overstatement to say that without the Nile there would be no Egypt. Without the life-giving flow of water out of central Africa the Sahara would simply extend unbroken to the shores of the Red Sea...”
The Sahara Desert extends across North Africa with Egypt to its east. There is little to no rainfall east of the Sahara, which means that Egypt is completely dependent on the Nile River for its water.
If the Nile were to dry up, Egypt would be no more.
This is what God says will happen when the waters from the sea dry up and the river becomes parched and dry (19:5).
When the Nile is in flood, it looks like a sea with the low hills appearing to be islands and the water stretching to the horizon.
But it will dry up and so will the canals and streams (19:6a).
The reeds and rushes, which are glass-like plants, will rot (19:6b-7a).
The farmers will lament as the irrigated fields dry up (19:7b).
The fisherman will lament because there’ll be no point in throwing out a hook or casting a net (19:8).
The linen manufacturers will be dejected because they manufacturing of Egyptian linen was dependent on the Nile (19:9).
With the drying up of the Nile, these heads of Egyptian commerce will be crushed, and the workers grieved to the soul (19:10).
Judah may have been tempted to trust in Egypt because of its wisdom as well, but God said that the foolishness of Egyptian wisdom was about to be revealed.
11 The princes of Zoan are mere fools; The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you men say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”? 12 Well then, where are your wise men? Please let them tell you, And let them understand what the Lord of hosts Has purposed against Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, The princes of Memphis are deluded; Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray. 14 The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; They have led Egypt astray in all that it does, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit. 15 There will be no work for Egypt Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.
Egypt prided itself on wisdom.
It had its own wisdom literature, its own reflections on the nature and meaning of life, but Isaiah says that Egypt’s wisdom will be as useless as its toppled idols and parched river.
Zoan and Memphis were important Egyptian cities with wisemen who served as Pharaoh’s wisest advisors…
…but they were stupid (19:11a).
Although they claimed to belong to class of Egyptian wisemen, there was nothing wise about them (19:11b).
They could not discern what the Lord was doing (Isaiah 19:12).
They were foolish and acted foolishly; they were deluded and acted according to their delusions (19:13).
They were considered the cornerstones, the direction-settings for the rest of Egypt, but they were leading the people astray (19:14).
They were making Egypt stumble like a drunk man stumbling around in his vomit (19:14b).
This is God’s judgment on Egypt, and as the NLT puts Isaiah 19:15…
15 There is nothing Egypt can do. All are helpless— the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.
From high society to low class, everyone in Egypt will feel the judgment of God.
So, God ask His people, “Why would trust in Egypt?
For its idols?
I’m going to topple those.
For its river?
I’m going to dry it up.
For its wisdom?
I’m going to show the world how stupid it is.”
There is no reason Judah should be trusting in Egypt rather than trusting in God.
[TS]...
SEGMENT #2: Egypt, Eventual Worshiper of God (Isaiah 19:16-25)
SEGMENT #2: Egypt, Eventual Worshiper of God (Isaiah 19:16-25)
[EXP] The phrase “in that day” is repeated 5 times in Isaiah 19:16-25.
It’s there in vv. 16, 18, 19, 23, and 24.
It means that what Isaiah foretells here will likely only come about in the end times, the conclusion of all things.
With each use of the phrase, Egypt moves from being terrorized by the thought of YHWH to joining with Assyria and Israel in worship of YHWH.
The first usage of “in that day” is Isaiah 19:16-17…
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. 17 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.
The description of God’s judgment on Egypt in Isaiah 19:1-15 is heightened in vv. 16-17.
God’s judgment will be so severe that Egypt will be terrorized by the mere thought of Judah’s God.
But notice the second usage of “in that day” in Isaiah 19:18…
18 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.
It may not seem like five cities is all that much, but when we understand the contempt that Egypt had for Judah, it would be unbelievable to think that even one Egyptian city would turn to the Lord—let alone five, one of which is called the City of Destruction.
This is likely Heliopolis, which was home to the Egyptian sun-god.
Even a city devoted to an Egyptian false god—and a city devoted to destruction as a result of idolatry—will be redeemed and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts.
Egypt will by God’s grace go from being terrorized by the thought of Judah’s God to speaking Judah’s language to swearing allegiance to YHWH, Judah’s God.
This is amazing grace.
Notice the third usage of “in that day” in Isaiah 19:19-22…
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 near its border. 20 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. 21 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 and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. 22 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.
These verses show the depth of Egypt’s future relationship with God.
Egypt will worship Him (19:19).
Egypt will witness for Him (19:20a).
Egypt will cry to Him, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion to deliver them (19:20b).
If this is during the thousand year reign of Jesus, then it is possible that this Savior and Champion will be Jesus Himself.
At the very least, it is God Himself who responds to Egypt’s cry for deliverance as He would to Judah’s.
Notice the fourth and fifth usages of “in that day” in vv. 23-25…
23 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. 24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
These must’ve been astounding verses for God’s people to initially hear.
The words of judgment on Egypt would’ve been easy enough to accept, but these words of reconciliation would’ve been staggering.
The symbol of the highway in v. 23 means that the barriers between Egypt, Assyria, and God are removed.
Together these nations come with the apostate nation of Israel to worship the God of Judah.
As hard as it would’ve been for Isaiah’s audience to believe at the time, these pagan nations would become a God-glorifying blessing int he midst of the earth.
God even says that He will call Egypt “My People,” Assyria “The Work of My Hands,” and Israel “My Inheritance.”
This language is elsewhere only used of God’s people.
This is YHWH’s pure grace.
[TS]...
SEGMENT #3: Egypt, No Place for Judah’s Trust (Isaiah 20:1-6)
SEGMENT #3: Egypt, No Place for Judah’s Trust (Isaiah 20:1-6)
1 In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, 2 at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet.” And he did so, going naked and barefoot. 3 And the Lord said, “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5 “Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast. 6 “So the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, such is our hope, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and we, how shall we escape?’ ”
[EXP] Ashdod was a great Philistine city about 33 miles west of Jerusalem.
It had relied on Egyptian promises for help against the Assyrians, but Sargon the king of the Assyrians took Ashdod when Egypt reneged on its promise of support.
How could Judah trust in Egypt for help?
Furthermore, God told Isaiah to demonstrate what was about to happen to Egypt so all Judah could see.
Soon, Assyria would take Egypt captive, leading away the prisoners naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered.
This was to shame the Egyptians and the Ethiopians (i.e., the Cushites) who joined in with them…
…but this was to also show the absurdity of hoping in Egypt as God’s judgment drew near in the form of Assyria.
As inhabitants of the coastland like Philistia watched Assyria lead the Egyptian captives away, they were left asking, “How will we escape?”
As the people of Judah watched the Egyptians led away naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, He in essence asked them, “So this was your hope? This is what you were trusting in rather than trusting in Me?”
[TS]...
Conclusion
Conclusion
It is foolish to trust in anyone or anything rather than God.
All idols are as nothing before Him; They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless (cf. Isa. 40:17).
He alone is the Living God.
He holds all nations in His hand and does with them as He pleases.
He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, “What have you done?” (Dan. 4:35)
There is no wisdom that can stand against Him.
30 There is no wisdom and no understanding And no counsel against the Lord.
And there is no grace apart from Him.
10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
Tyrants and trials and temptations will rise up against us just as Assyria rose up against Judah, but when they do we trust in the Lord.
He is God.
He is sovereign.
He is wisdom.
He is grace.
He is our hope.
He is our help.
And after we’ve suffered a little while, we shall escape this world of death and destruction.
In His kindness God has called us to share in His eternal glory by trusting in His Son Jesus Christ who died on the cross to pay the price for our sins and rose from the dead to make us right with God.
When we trust Jesus, we have every assurance of being restored and made strong, of being strengthened and made steadfast.
In short, don’t trust the Egypts of this world.
They cannot deliver you.
Trust in God.
The death and resurrection of Jesus is proof that He can and will save you.
[PRAYER]