Isaiahchapter 19
25 verses · Isaiah · 8th century BC · The Prophets
The waters of the Nile will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and empty.
Introduction
Isaiah, The Prophets, Isaiah Overview.
Isaiah's word against Egypt was spoken to Judeans who hoped Egypt would protect them from Assyria. Egypt was the oldest and richest power they knew, and everything in it depended on the Nile. The first half of the chapter is judgment, set out trade by trade and counselor by counselor. The second half is a run of short promises, each opening with the words in that day. Listen for the point where the chapter turns, and for the names it gives to Egypt and Assyria at the end. Few chapters of the prophets reach so far beyond Israel.
Context
- Who
- Judeans tempted to buy Egyptian protection
- What
- An oracle of judgment on Egypt's gods, rulers and economy, followed by promises that Egypt and Assyria will worship the LORD with Israel.
- Where
- Egypt, from the Nile's fisheries and flax fields to the royal cities of Zoan in the Delta and Memphis.
- When
- Most likely between about 715 and 701 BC, describing a decline that unfolded over the following century.
- Why
- To warn Judah against trusting Egypt, and to show that the God of Israel means to bring even the great empires to Himself.
Historical context
Egypt was the Nile, and the Nile was one annual flood. The river rose, spread over the fields, dropped its silt, and receded; canals and dikes carried the water inland and reservoirs held it. Everything hung on that. So when Isaiah says the waters will fail and the riverbed dry up, he is not describing an inconvenience. He is describing the end of a civilization's engine.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Then he lists the industries in order. Fishermen with hooks and dragnets mourn, Nile fishing fed the country. The workers in combed flax and the weavers of white cloth are ruined; linen was Egypt's signature export, and the reed and papyrus beds beside the water supplied its paper and its boats. The chapter reads like a trade report.
The political picture is accurate to the era. Egypt in these decades really was divided against itself, with rival dynasts in the Delta before the Nubians consolidated the country, and then it fell to Assyria, Esarhaddon in 671 BC and Ashurbanipal in 663, when Thebes was sacked. Isaiah also names its famous advisors: the princes of Zoan in the Delta and of Noph, that is Memphis, and the wise men whose reputation for ancient wisdom was known everywhere. He says the counselors will give stupid counsel, which is the sharpest thing you could say about Egypt.
The last third turns astonishing. An altar to the LORD in the middle of Egypt, five cities speaking the language of Canaan, Egyptians praying and being answered. Jewish communities did in fact take root there: a colony at Elephantine, far up the Nile, had its own temple to the God of Israel in the 400s BC, documented in their own Aramaic letters, and Alexandria later held one of the largest Jewish populations on earth.
Significance
To hearers weighing an Egyptian alliance, the message was: the partner you want is about to be a client state with a broken economy and bad advice.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
And then the horizon widens past anything a treaty could deliver, a highway from Egypt to Assyria with Israel in the middle, and God calling Egypt his people and Assyria the work of his hands. The two empires that ground Israel between them end up worshipping alongside her.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No part of this chapter is read in the synagogue. Probed for this lane, the site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot 0 and haftarah uses 0 for Isaiah 19, and no festival reading for the book. Across chapters 1 to 22 of Isaiah the same probe found a Haftarah only in chapters 1, 6, 7 and 9.
How it is read
Rashi is the main commentator on this chapter in the corpus, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Ibn Ezra is quoted from the Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah, translated by M. Friedlander in 1873, which Sefaria reports as Public Domain.
The Lord riding on a light cloud comes "quickly to send easily and quickly the decree of His word to punish Egypt" (Rashi on Isaiah 19:1:1). The princes of Zoan who boast of wise fathers are asked by Ibn Ezra "why do they not know what God has decided for Egypt" (Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 19:12:1).
The five cities of the eighteenth verse draw Rashi's longest note. He cites Seder Olam, chapter 23. After Sennacherib's defeat Hezekiah released the armies Sennacherib had brought from Egypt and Cush, and they took on themselves "the kingdom of heaven" and went home. Rashi then reports that some of the Sages, in Menahot 109b, read the verse of the altar in Egypt of the temple of Onias (Rashi on Isaiah 19:18:1). On the altar in the land of Egypt Ibn Ezra reports a Midrash that reads the altar as the slaughter of the Egyptians (Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 19:19:1). Rashi reads the altar as "a sign and for a witness between them and the Omnipresent" (Rashi on Isaiah 19:20:1).
The chapter closes with Israel as a third beside Egypt and Assyria. Rashi explains the three: "there was no prominent nation in the world at that time like Egypt and like Assyria" (Rashi on Isaiah 19:24:1). The highway of the twenty-third verse is "a paved road by which they will always go from Egypt to Assyria" (Rashi on Isaiah 19:23:1).
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 40 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 7 in the Talmud and 33 in the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 1 it holds Eikhah Rabbah 2:1, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 12:12:1 and Midrash Tehillim 104:5. On verse 2 it holds Eikhah Rabbah 1:53, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 9:4 and Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 7:1. On verse 4 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 1:3, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bamidbar 3:1 and Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 3:1. On verse 5 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 32:33:4. On verse 6 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 1:41, Ein Yaakov, Sotah 1:48 and Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 2:3:5.
On verse 8 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sukkah 3:1, Jerusalem Talmud Horayot 3:3:4 and Jerusalem Talmud Pesachim 8:8:4. On verse 9 it holds Midrash Tanchuma, Vayeilech 2:1, Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Zuta 14:1 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 940:22. On verse 11 it holds Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 5:1:2, Midrash Mishlei 27:2 and Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 5:6. On verse 12 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Megillah 1:27 and Midrash Tanchuma, Miketz 3:1. On verse 13 it holds Berakhot 63b:13, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Berakhot 9:19 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Taanit 1:19.
On verse 16 it holds Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vaera 8:1, Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 9:5 and Shemot Rabbah 8:2. On verse 17 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 46:16:3. On verse 18 it holds Menachot 109b:21 and Menachot 110a:1. On verse 19 it holds Ein Yaakov, Yoma 4:2 and Jerusalem Talmud Yoma 6:3:7. On verse 22 it holds Ein Yaakov, Megillah 1:34 and Megillah 13b:13.
On verse 24 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 27:1 and Bamidbar Rabbah 15:14. On verse 25 it holds Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Zuta 12:1.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Isaiah 19:1:1 to 19:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 19:12:1 to 19:19:1, Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873, reported Public Domain; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/isaiah/19.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Isaiah 19: parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, and no festival reading for the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The LORD Rides a Swift Cloud into Egypt
Isaiah 19:1-3
the LORD rides on a swift cloud: The burden against Egypt opens as "The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him", the language the Exodus used of the plagues against the gods. Civil collapse follows, "Egyptian against Egyptian", and a people will "resort to idols". Barnes traces the internal wars to the dynastic strife of the period.
Isaiah 19:1
“The burden of Egypt;.... Or a prophecy concerning Egypt, as the Arabic version; a very grievous one, declaring many calamities that should come upon them. The Targum is, "the burden of the cup of cursing, to make the Egyptians drink.'' The people of the Jews reposed great confidence in the Egyptians their allies; wherefore, in order to break this confidence, it was necessary they should be acquainted with the destruction that was coming upon them, which is the design of this prophecy.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Isaiah 19:1
“The burden of Egypt - This is the title to the prophecy. For the meaning of the word “burden,” see the note at Isa 13:1. The word ‘Egypt’ in the original is מצרים mı̂tserayı̂m; and it was so called after Mizraim the second son of Ham, and grandson of Noah. Sometimes it is called Mazor 2Ki 19:24; Isa 19:6; Isa 37:25; Mic 7:12; where, however, our English version has rendered the word by “besieged place or fortress.” The ancient name of the country among the inhabitants themselves was “Chimi or Chami” (Χημυ Chēmu).”
I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian: The Septuagint turns kingdom against kingdom into province against province, the old divisions of Egypt. Wesley records that the one kingdom of Egypt was later divided into twelve kingdoms, and Egyptian fought Egyptian. Henry counts the fight as their sin and their sentence.
Isaiah 19:2
“And I will set - (סכסכתי sı̂ksaketı̂y). This word (from סכך sākak) means properly “to cover,” to spread over, to hide, conceal, to protect. Another signification of the verb is, to weave, to intermingle. It may mean here, ‘I will arm the Egyptians against each other’ (Gesenius); or, as in our version, ‘I will mingle, confound, or throw them into discord and strife.’ The Septuagint renders it, Ἐπεγερθήσονται Epegerthēsontai - ‘They shall be excited,’ or, ‘raised up.’ Symmachus, Συμβαλῶ Sumbalō.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:2
“NEWTON refers it to the civil wars between Apries and Amasis at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion; also between Tachos, Nectanebus, and the Mendesians, just before Ochus subdued Egypt. kingdom against kingdom--The Septuagint has "nome against nome"; Egypt was divided into forty-two nomes or districts.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I will frustrate their plans: The spirit emptied out is the wisdom Egypt was famous for, and Acts 7:22 says Moses was educated in all of it. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the Hebrew verb means poured out. Their counsel runs dry before their river does.
Isaiah 19:3
“And the spirit of Egypt - (see Isa 19:1). They shall be exhausted with their long internal contentions and strifes; and seeing no prospect of deliverance, and anxious that the turmoils should end, they shall seek counsel and refuge in their gods and necromancers, but in vain. Shall fail - (נבקה nâbeqâh). Margin, ‘Be emptied.’ The word means, literally, “to pour out, empty, depopulate.” Here it means that they would become disheartened and discouraged.”
Isaiah 19:4-6
Egypt is delivered "into the hands of harsh masters". The Nile, the river Egypt honored as a god, is judged: "The waters of the Nile will dry up". Delitzsch and Barnes note that the flood of the Nile carried the whole economy of Egypt, so its failure strikes the nation.
Isaiah 19:4
“A cruel lord “Cruel lords” - Nebuchadnezzar in the first place, and afterwards the whole succession of Persian kings, who in general were hard masters, and grievously oppressed the country. Note, that for קשה kasheh, lord, a MS. reads קשים kashim, lords, agreeable to which is the rendering of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The waters of the Nile will dry up: Egypt has almost no rain, so every field sown along the river waits on the waters of the Nile rising. When the river rose short of twelve cubits, the land stayed dry and famine followed. Henry cites Zechariah 14:18 for the same need.
Isaiah 19:5
“A public record is kept at Cairo of the daily rise of the water at the proper time of overflow, namely, August: if it rises to a less height than twelve cubits, it will not overflow the land, and famine must be the result. So, also, when it rises higher than sixteen; for the waters are not drained off in time sufficient to sow the seed.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The canals will stink: The verb for stink is rare, and Barnes and Clarke take it as to turn rancid. Water standing in the shrinking canals of Egypt goes foul, and the reeds and rushes wither along them. Older versions read the verb as turning the rivers away.
Isaiah 19:6
“HORSLEY, with the Septuagint, translates, "And waters from the sea shall be drunk"; by the failure of the river water they shall be reduced to sea water. brooks of defence--rather, "canals of Egypt"; "canals," literally, "Niles," Nile canals, the plural of the Egyptian term for the great river.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:6
“Shall turn the rivers far away “Shall become putrid” - האזניחו heeznichu. This sense of the word, which Simonis gives in his Lexicon, from the meaning of it in Arabic, suits the place much better than any other interpretation hitherto given; and that the word in Hebrew had some such signification, is probable from 2Ch 29:19, where the Vulgate renders it by polluit, polluted, and the Targum, by profaned, and made abominable, which the context in that place seems plainly to require.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Isaiah 19:7-10
The bulrushes by the Nile: The trades of the Nile fall: "the fishermen will mourn", and "The workers in flax will be dismayed". Verse 10 carries the loss down to "all the hired workers". Gill and Clarke identify linen as the chief export of Egypt in Isaiah's day, the real wealth of the nation.
Isaiah 19:7
“The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks,.... Not at the fountain or origin of the Nile and its streams, but by the sides thereof; on the banks of which grew a reed or rush, called by the Greeks "papyrus" and "biblus"; from whence come the words "paper" and "bible", or book, of which paper was anciently made; even as early as the times of Isaiah, and so, many hundreds of years before the times of Alexander the great, to which some fix the era of making it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:7
“The paper reeds - (ערות ‛ârôt). This is not the word which occurs in Isa 18:2, and which, it is supposed, means there the papyrus (see the note on that place). Interpreters have been divided in regard to the meaning of the word here. Gesenius derives it from ערה ‛ârâh, “to be naked, open, bare;” and supposes that it means an open place, a place naked of wood, and that it here denotes the pastures on the banks of the Nile.”
Then the fishermen will mourn: Israel in the wilderness remembered the fish of Egypt, eaten freely, at Numbers 11:5. Clarke cites Diodorus on the countless fish in the Nile and still more in its lakes. A dry river empties the fishermen's nets and the nation's table.
Isaiah 19:8
“The fishers also “And the fishers” - There was great plenty of fish in Egypt; see Num 11:5. “The Nile,” says Diodorus, lib. i., “abounds with incredible numbers of all sorts of fish.” And much more the lakes. So Egmont, Pococke, etc.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The workers in flax will be dismayed: Flax grows in wet ground, and the flax of Egypt had already been struck once, in the hail of Exodus 9:31. Clarke explains fine flax as combed flax. The weaver of fine linen depends on the water of the Nile.
Isaiah 19:9
“Moreover - In addition to the calamities that will come upon the fishermen, the drying up of the river will affect all who are supported by that which the overflowing of its waters produced. They that work in short flax - Egypt was celebrated anciently for producing flax in large quantities, and of a superior quality (see Exo 9:31; 1Ki 10:28). The fine linen of Egypt which was manufactured from this is celebrated in Scripture Pro 7:16; Eze 27:7. The Egyptians had early carried the art of manufacturing linen to a great degree of perfection.”
The workers in cloth will be dejected: The words here are hard, and the versions divide. One reading takes the first word as the foundations of Egypt, meaning its princes, the same men called cornerstones in verse 13. The ruin then runs from the princes of the land down to the hired worker.
Isaiah 19:10
“And they shall be broken, etc. “Her stores” - שתתיה shathotheyha, αποθηκαι, granaries. - Aquila. All that make sluices and ponds for fish “All that make a gain of pools for fish” - This obscure line is rendered by different interpreters in very different manners.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Isaiah 19:11-13
The princes of Zoan are mere fools: The wisdom of Egypt is mocked by name: "The princes of Zoan are mere fools". Verse 13 brings the same charge against "the princes of Memphis". Matthew Henry and Joseph Addison Alexander note that Zoan and Memphis were royal capitals, so the judgment reaches the seat of government.
Isaiah 19:11
“Surely the princes of Zoan are fools,.... Zoan was a very ancient city of Egypt, it was built within seven years of Hebron in the land of Judah, Num 13:22 here it was that the Lord did those miracles, by the hands of Moses and Aaron, before Pharaoh and his people, in order to oblige him to let Israel go, Psa 78:12 by which it appears that it was then the royal city, as it seems to have been now; since mention is made of the princes of it, who usually have their residence where the court is.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:11
“Surely the princes - The following verses, to Isa 19:16, are designed to describe further the calamities that were coming upon Egypt by a want of wisdom in their rulers. They would be unable to devise means to meet the impending calamities, and would actually increase the national misery by their unwise counsels. The word ‘princes’ here is taken evidently for the rulers or counselors of state. Of Zoan - The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Chaldee, render this ‘Tanis.’ Zoan was doubtless the Tans of the Greeks (Herod. ii.”
Where are your wise men now?: Barnes hears the prophet turning to Pharaoh about the wise counselors of his court. They claimed to reveal the future, yet none of them could tell what the LORD of Hosts had planned against Egypt. Isaiah 47:13 mocks the counselors of Babylon the same way.
Isaiah 19:12
“Let them come” - Here too a word seems to have been left out of the text. After חכמיך chochameycha, thy wise men, two MSS., one ancient, add יבאו yibu, let them come; which, if we consider the form and construction of the sentence, has very much the appearance of being genuine: otherwise the connective conjunction at the beginning of the next member is not only superfluous but embarrassing. See also the Version of the Septuagint, in which the same deficiency is manifest.
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the princes of Memphis are deceived: Memphis, on the west bank of the Nile, was the capital of Lower Egypt and a seat of its kings. Wesley reads the cornerstones of her tribes as the chief counsellors of the provinces. The men meant to hold the building up pulled it down.
Isaiah 19:13
“The princes of Zoan - (the note at Isa 19:11). This “repetition” is intensive and emphatic, and shows the deep conviction of the prophet of their folly. The design is to show that “all” the counselors on which the Egyptians depended were fools. The princes of Noph - The Vulgate, the Septuagint, and the Chaldee, render this ‘Memphis,’ and there is no doubt that this is the city intended. The name Memphis may have easily arisen from Noph. It was written also “Moph,” and hence, Memphis. It is called “Menouf” by the Copts and Arabians.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:13
“Greek, Memphis (Ho 9:6); on the western bank of the Nile, capital of Lower Egypt, second only to Thebes in all Egypt: residence of the kings, until the Ptolemies removed to Alexandria; the word means the "port of the good" [PLUTARCH].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Isaiah 19:14-15
a spirit of confusion: "The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion", so that "Egypt has been led astray". Verse 15 closes with a proverb: "head or tail, palm or reed". John Gill notes that the same pairing of head and tail falls earlier at 9:14-15, naming ruler and prophet.
Isaiah 19:14
HORSLEY translates, "with respect to all His (God's) work"; they misinterpreted God's dealings at every step. "Mingled" contains the same image as "drunken"; as one mixes spices with wine to make it intoxicating (Isa 5:22; Pr 9:2, 5), so Jehovah has poured among them a spirit of giddiness, so that they are as helpless as a "drunken man."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The confusion poured into Egypt ends in paralysis. Henry takes head and tail as the whole people, from the prince to the worker, and a land prospers while all of them work. Barnes applies it to prince, politician and priest alike.
Isaiah 19:15
“Neither shall there be any work - The sense is, that there shall be such discord that no man, whether a prince, a politician, or a priest, shall be able to give any advice, or form any plan for the national safety and security, which shall be successful. Which the head or tail - High or low; strong or weak: those in office and those out of office; all shall be dispirited and confounded. Rosenmuller understands by the head here, the “political” orders of the nation, and by the tail the “sacerdotal” ranks.”
Five Cities Speaking the Language of Canaan
Isaiah 19:16-17
the Egyptians will be like women: "In that day the Egyptians will be like women", and "The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt". Clarke and Henry observe that Egypt, usually the power Judah feared, now trembles "whenever Judah is mentioned". The phrase "In that day" marks a turn from judgment to a longer horizon.
Isaiah 19:16
“Shall Egypt be “The Egyptians shall be” - יהיו yihyu, they shall be, plural, MS. Bodl. Septuagint, and Chaldee. This is not proposed as an emendation, for either form is proper.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt: Judah lay on the road from Assyria to Egypt. Clarke and Henry read the terror as Egypt watching the army lay waste its neighbour and knowing the next march led south to its border.
Isaiah 19:17
“And the land of Judah - The fear and consternation of Egypt shall be increased when they learn what events are occurring there, and what Yahweh has purposed in regard to it. Shall be a terror - This cannot be understood to mean that they were in danger from an invasion by the Jews, for at that time they were not at war, and Judah had no power to overrun Egypt.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:17
“We know not of any event in which this prophecy can be thought to have its full accomplishment short of the conversion of Egypt to the faith of Christ, by the preaching (as is supposed) of Mark the Evangelist, and the founding of many Christian churches there, which flourished for many ages.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the language of Canaan: Five cities "will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD", and one "will be called the City of the Sun". Gill and Barnes set out the two readings of the name, ir ha-heres, city of destruction, and ir ha-cheres, city of the sun, likely Heliopolis.
Isaiah 19:18
“THIS is a very remarkable prophecy. Attempts have been made to explain it, as if it were already fulfilled. I believe all such attempts to be utter failures. This promise stands on record to be, fulfilled at some future day In those bright days for which some of us are looking, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, so the waters cover the sea, then shall this word to Egypt be verified; yea, and God shall be glorified both by Egypt and Assyria, as well as in the land of Israel.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3515: “The Fruits of Grace” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:18
“The city of destruction “The city of the sun” - עיר החרס ir hacheres. This passage is attended with much difficulty and obscurity. First, in regard to the true reading. It is well known that Onias applied it to his own views, either to procure from the king of Egypt permission to build his temple in the Hieropolitan Nome, or to gain credit and authority to it when built; from the notion which he industriously propagated, that Isaiah had in this place prophesied of the building of such a temple.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Isaiah 19:19-22
an altar to the LORD: There will be "an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of Egypt" as a sign. He will send "a savior and defender to rescue them", and Egypt will "acknowledge the LORD". Henry sets "He will strike them but heal them" beside the plagues of the Exodus.
He will send them a savior and defender: The pattern is the one Judges repeats for Israel: oppressors, a cry to the LORD, and a deliverer sent, as at Judges 3:9. Egypt now cries out where Israel cried out in Egypt at Exodus 3:7. Wesley names the savior as Christ.
Isaiah 19:20
“And it shall be for a sign - The altar, and the pillar. This shows that the altar was not to be for sacrifice, but was a “memorial,” or designed to designate a place of worship. They shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressors - That is, oppressed and borne down under the exactions of their rulers, they shall seek deliverance from the true God - one instance among many of the effect of affliction and oppression in leading people to embrace the true religion.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:20
“A witness - To testify that they own the Lord for their God. Cry - Being sorely distressed, they shall turn unto the true God. A great one - A great or mighty saviour, even Christ.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The LORD will make Himself known to Egypt: Pharaoh once asked who the LORD was and said he did not know Him, at Exodus 5:2. The plagues were sent so that the Egyptians would know that He is the LORD, at Exodus 7:5. Here that knowledge comes as worship.
Isaiah 19:21
“And the Lord shall be known to Egypt - Shall be worshipped and honored by the Jews who shall dwell there, and by those who shall be proselyted to their religion. And the Egyptians shall know the Lord - That many of the Egyptians would be converted to the Jewish religion there can be no doubt. This was the result in all countries where the Jews had a residence (compare the notes at Act 2:9-11). And shall do sacrifice - Shall offer sacrifices to Yahweh.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:21
“In Christ Jesus all distinction of nations is taken away; and a spiritual altar, a gospel church, in the midst of the land of Egypt, is as acceptable to God as one in the midst of the land of Israel; and spiritual sacrifices of faith and love, and a contrite heart, please the Lord better than an ox or bullock.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
He will strike them but heal them: Job 5:18 says of God that He strikes and His hands also heal. Jerome sets the verse beside Hebrews 12:6, where the Lord disciplines the one He loves. The plague becomes the road back.
Isaiah 19:22
“And the Lord shall smite Egypt - That is, in the manner described in the previous part of this prophecy Isa 19:2-10. And heal it - Or restore it to more than its former splendor and prosperity, as described in the previous verses Isa 19:18-20. He shall send it a saviour; he shall open new sources of prosperity; and he shall cause the true religion to flourish there. These advantages would be more than a compensation for all the calamities that he would bring upon it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 19:22
“But all these deliverances wrought for them, as those for Israel, were but figures of gospel salvation. Doubtless Jesus Christ is the Saviour and the great one here spoken of, whom God will send the glad tidings of to the Egyptians, and by whom he will deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, that they may serve him without fear, Luke i.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
A Highway from Egypt to Assyria
a highway from Egypt to Assyria: "In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria", the powers that had crushed Israel. Barnes and Alexander note that in the century of Isaiah the two empires were locked in rivalry. The highway returns as a figure for the removal of every barrier to the nations.
Isaiah 19:23
“There shall be a highway - A communication; that is, there shall be an alliance between Egypt and Assyria, as constituting parts of one empire, and as united in the service of the true God. The same figure of a “highway” is found in Isa 11:16 (see the note on that place). The truth was, that Alexander, by his conquests, subjected Assyria and Egypt, and they constituted parts of his empire, and were united under him.”
Isaiah 19:24-25
Israel will join a three-party alliance: The LORD pronounces the blessing, "Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance". Egypt and Assyria, the empire that destroyed the northern kingdom, receive titles the book elsewhere gives to Israel alone. The oracle that opened with judgment on Egypt ends with Egypt inside the blessing.
Isaiah 19:24
“In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria,.... There shall be a triple alliance between them; Jew and Gentile shall be made one, the middle wall of partition being broken down; yea, Israel, or the Jews, shall be the third, or the Mediator between them both, or the means of uniting the Gentiles together, since the Gospel of peace was to go out from them, as it did.”
2 more voices on this verse
Isaiah 19:24
“In that day shall Israel be the third - That is, the three shall be united as one people. Instead of being rival, hostile, and contending kingdoms, they shall be united and friendly; and instead of having different and jarring religions, they shall all worship the same God. The prophecy rather refers to the spread of the true religion, and the worship of the true God, than to a political or civil alliance. Even a blessing - It shall be a source of blessing, because from Judea the true religion would extend into the other lands.”
Isaiah 19:24
“Israel is that third in whom Egypt and Assyria agree, and is therefore a blessing; for those are real and great blessings to their generation who are instrumental to unite those that have been at variance. (2.) They shall all be a blessing to the world: so the Christian church is, made up of Jews and Gentiles; it is the beauty, riches, and support of the world.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Paul applies the words of Hosea at Romans 9:25 to God calling as His people those who were outside. Clarke takes the three blessings as the conversion of all three lands to the LORD. The burden began with the idols of Egypt trembling.
Isaiah 19:25
“Whom - That is, which people, Israel, Egypt, and Assyria; of whom he speaks as of one people, because they are all united into one church. My people - This title, and those which follow, that were peculiar to the people of Israel, shall now be given to these and all other nations.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; George Adam Smith, The Book of Isaiah, Expositor's Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Joseph Addison Alexander, Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius, THE DIVINE INSTITUTES 4:13; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.