Over the past 2 weeks:
Isaiah 14:3-23 Babylon; Prophecy of destruction by the Assyrians.
Isaiah 14:24-27 Assyria; Prophecy that Assyrian will be removed from God's land.
Isaiah 14:28-32 Philistia; Prophecy that they would not have peace after Ahaz.
Isaiah 15:1 to 16:14 Moab; Prophecy for these cousins, for shelter rejected.
Isaiah 16:15 to 17:14 Damascus (and mingled Israel); Judgment, a remnant, and purification.
Isaiah 18:1-7 Cush (Ethiopia); A world military and political power that God sees and limits.
We continue this week with other nations and begin with Egypt. It is important to note that each of these prophecies are specific but build and develop principles for godly living and God's sovereignty.
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. 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; 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; 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.
Isaiah 19:1-4
At this point God begins to make it clear that His sovereignty extends to Israel's old enemy Egypt. His actions are proactive. God acts first to change the world for Egypt. These first four verses deal with the social decay that God will allow to sweep over them. We mentioned God's “common grace” over the last few weeks and here we see it again. When a nation has peace, it is always God who should be glorified. The “hard master” and “fierce king” is likely the Ethiopian Pharaoh Piankhi but there are other candidates fulfilling this prophecy between the time of Isaiah and the time of Christ.
Then the prophecy moves to an economic topic.
And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be dry and parched, and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away. 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. The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast a hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets on the water. The workers in combed flax will be in despair, and the weavers of white cotton. Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed, and all who work for pay will be grieved.
Isaiah 19:5-10
We don't generally have the same feeling for a connection to agriculture that existed in the time of this prophecy. First we have drought that is so severe that plants die along the banks of the river. The agricultural lands will be dry and dead and wind erosion will take place (will be driven away). The fishing industry will fail as saltwater intrudes into the best fishing (using both hooks and nets) in the delta. Egypt was famous for its fiber production of flax and the combing out and weaving of the “cotton” or flax into linen was a major industry. They grow cotton now but not when this prophecy was given and the reference is to the processing of flax which requires pools of water and would likely stop in a drought. Then we get to something that we can easily connect with. Those who are pillars in the land or those who are the “movers and shakers” like CEO etc are crushed by financial failure and those who work for wages, like most of us, are grieved or distressed. The key factor of an emotional or distress or fear of what is going on economically is stressed by Isaiah. It is bigger than the environmental and economic failure. And yet, as always, they don't turn to God at this point. They do use the gods with little “g” that serve as good luck charms and all those who claim to predict the future but not God with a capital “G”.
So in this prophecy we have social, economic, and then political failure.
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”? Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt. 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. 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. And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
Isaiah 19:11-15
Zoan was the seat of power in the northeast delta region. Even the Ethiopians has a northern base in Zoan. So the wisest are unable to read the signs of the times and give bad counselor. Memphis was in the southern part of the delta and would be confused in all that God was bringing to pass. In staggering they wouldn't know “which was was up.” There would be nothing that anyone of any stature either great or small would be able to do. And yet God has a plan for blessing Egyptians and Assyrians.
In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 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 19:16-25
Although we are still waiting to see this prophecy completed (perhaps again) we also must admit that the early church in this region after Christ looks like a fulfillment to this prophecy. We have the remnants of those fellowships in the Egyptian Orthodox and in the Ethiopian Orthodox fellowships. This prophecy would be striking in Isaiah's day since the Egyptians were the historic enemy and the Assyrians were the current enemy. God however was going to save all sorts of people. If it weren't so then you wouldn't be a Christian since few of us have a middle eastern heritage.
God repeats “In that day” over and over in this passage and looks forward to a revival and a time of blessing. The Christian Church in the first century expanded through Egypt and Alexandria in particular was a center of influence. So we've seen at least a portion of this prophecy in history but I think we can look for an additional fulfillment.
The “City of Destruction” was a typical Hebrew play on words turning Heliopolis from City of the Sun to City of Destruction.
Think of how great a Grace God has brought about that Egypt who were repeatedly told to “Let my people go” is now called “my people”. We as mostly children of European pagans and worse than barbarians can rejoice at what God has done. The Egyptians were constantly opposed and God saved many and will likely save many more and we are also the beneficiaries of such Grace that we, as Paul said quoting Hosea “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ” “ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ” (Romans 9:25-26; See Hosea 2:23 and 1 Peter 2:10) .
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— 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. 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, 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. Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. 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 20:1-6
Sargon is one of the people other than the Ethiopian Pharaoh Piankhi that may be a fulfillment of God's prophecy about Egypt. Piankhi ruled Egypt about 715BC and Sargon took Ashdod in 711BC. Clearly, as Isaiah demonstrated, Sargon caught them with their pants down. All the coastal trading towns were terrorized. Egyptians and Ethiopians were taken into captivity and the forces that the coastal towns and trading cities had expected to protect them didn't protect them. Ashdod was in the “highway” between Egypt and Assyria so it, like Philistia, was subject to getting taken by the greater power of the day. So the people of Ashdod and all of northeast Egypt would brag about Egyptian and Ethiopian power and those in Judah would have wondered about Isaiah wandering around buck-nekked for 3 years prior to the conquest.
Our confidence must stand in Christ and in no one else. I like the song, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust, the sweetest frame, but wholely lean on Jesus name.” The language is a little old fashioned but we need the attitude. No matter how sweet a person is, you can't trust their body or frame. We need to completely or wholly, that is in every part, lean on Jesus' name. As we mentioned last week, power is seductive and we have a real inclination to seek power and trust in the power of men. We need to make sure that our hearts are set on God so that we have a right and prudent attitude about power.
It isn't that God will not use a people with power but He isn't constrained by the powers that exist in the world. He will raise up one people and cause another to fade and fall. His people will trust in Him and not in human power but if they do otherwise then He'll act as a faithful shepherd and correct our ways of thinking.
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