Isaiah Chapter 19

Verses 1-10: The burden of Egypt is a message of both judgment and hope for Egypt. Isaiah then pictures the coming Egyptian civil war of the seventh century B.C. The Egyptians fell to Esarhaddon of Assyria (in 671 B.C.). Idols, charmers, familiar spirits, wizards refer to various aspects of Egyptian religion, which was dominated by the occult. The cruel lord and fierce king are references to the Assyrian overlords who were to dominate Egypt for nearly 20 years.

(In verses 1-4), disunity and internal strife because of idolatry are to spell the end of Egypt’s greatness.

Isaiah 19:1: “The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.”

“Burden” is a prophecy against Egypt. There is a physical Egypt and there is a symbolic Egypt (the world). In this sense, I believe this is speaking of the world. The world away from God would be a more specific designation.

“The LORD riding upon a swift cloud” means the LORD will come quickly. Clouds are vehicles for the Lord’s coming to execute judgment elsewhere.

God will destroy the idols just as He did with the 10 plagues He brought on Egypt and the Pharaoh in Genesis. We know that God can melt our hearts when He gets ready.

Isaiah 19:2 “And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, [and] kingdom against kingdom.”

In the physical, this could be speaking of the different rulers within the country fighting among their selves. This is speaking of upheaval within the country. In the spiritual sense, the world (Egypt), is always trying to do others in for their own self gain.

They do not care whether it is a brother, or not. They are thinking of their own flesh and do not care what happens to others.

Noted for its internal strife through the centuries, the nation will experience even worse under God’s judgment.

Isaiah 19:3 “And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.”

“Familiar spirits … wizards”: Internal strife will lead to disorientation and depression. With nowhere else to turn, the Egyptians will consult spiritualists. Israelites of Isaiah’s day did the same (8:19).

“The spirit of Egypt” is the spirit of evil in the world. It is worldliness. They were a sinful people seeking power and fame. If we were to go through all the lists of sins that physical Egypt committed, we would find the same sins those worldly people (out of fellowship with God), are committing today.

Instead of going to the true source of help in their lives (God), they go to fortune-tellers, wizards, and all sorts of evil people for help. They are caught up in worldliness. They take no thought of God. Their failure will come because of their unfaithfulness to God.

They are evil and directly opposed to God.

Isaiah 19:4 “And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.”

Egypt was subject to foreign rule beginning with the Assyrian conquest of the middle seventh century B.C.

At the time of Moses, there were hundreds of false gods in Egypt. The ten plagues were directed at the false gods of Egypt. It seems even the plagues did not stop Egypt from worshiping false gods. God is not slack, but longsuffering. He gave them ample time to seek forgiveness and turn to God.

(Verse 4), is speaking of the day of punishment which comes on these idol worshippers. It is the very same thing, even if they are not living in Egypt. God will not always look the other way. His punishment may be long in coming, but it is sure they will be punished.

In physical Egypt, they were given over to cruel kings. In spiritual Egypt, they are given over to the devil himself.

Verses 5-10: we see that God will act to take away the country’s only fresh water resource, the Nile and its tributaries.

Isaiah 19:5 “And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.”

In Egypt, it is a serious happening when the Nile dries up. Their livelihood and their own well-being is influenced by how much water comes from the Nile. Perhaps, that is why they worshipped the Nile.

Whether you are part of physical Egypt or spiritual Egypt, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Lord. God has cut off their water supply. This could bring about famine in the land.

Isaiah 19:6 “And they shall turn the rivers far away; [and] the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.”

If there is no water, the plants dry up and die. The “brooks of defense” had been water which surrounded an area making a natural defense. There was usually just one bridge over the water to give access to the outside world. The fortress would be easier to protect from the enemy with the water completely around it.

Isaiah 19:7 “The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no [more].”

The alluvial deposits left by the flooding of the Nile yielded rich agricultural crops, permitting Egypt to export grain to the rest of the world.

The crops had been planted next to the Nile for irrigation. Some of it had actually been like a rice field which is under water part of its growth period. This just speaks of total crop failure. This type of crop failure is brought on by God.

Isaiah 19:8 “The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.”

There are no fish where the water dries up. The fish will all die. It really would not matter whether you were an individual fishing, or whether you were a commercial fisherman, the results are the same.

The loss of the Nile’s important fishing business would mean a great loss to Egypt’s population.

Isaiah 19:9 “Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.”

This “fine flax” is speaking of linen. There would be nothing to make the linen from. They would have no linen for sale to their usual buyers.

Egypt was famous for its production of linen from flax. Both the growth of the plant and the manufacture of the cloth depended on water.

Isaiah 19:10 “And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices [and] ponds for fish.”

The “they” refer to its foundations or pillars.

God was to remove the foundations or “pillars”, on which the working class depended. The word refers either generally to the economic structure of the society or specifically to the upper class which organized the businesses of the land.

Some will try to build their own ponds and wet areas to keeptheir crops from dying, but God will see to it that it does not help. It appears also, that these ponds were made for fish, as well. Fish are not good from stagnant water.

Verses 11-17: Isaiah predicts the failure of Egyptian wisdom, and the pride of Egyptian culture. Princes of Zoan refer to the capital of Tanis. Noph is Memphis, located at the apex of the Delta. Egypt will fall into utter confusion because the Lord has mingled a perverse spirit among the Egyptians to cause them to err in their discernment. Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt because Egypt is so weakened that even little Judah frightens her.

Verses 11-15: God’s judgment was to confound Egypt’s famed wisdom (1 Kings 4:30).

Isaiah 19:11 “Surely the princes of Zoan [are] fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I [am] the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?”

“Zoan” This major city of northern Egypt east of the Nile Delta region was the first large city a Semite would encounter in traveling toward the Nile. “Tanis” was also a name of this city that was a capital of northern Egypt at one point when the country split into two parts.

The 30th chapter of Ezekiel speaks of the destruction of Zoan by fire. It seems princes ruled in this area. God calls them fools. They were worshipping false gods.

The fact that they were descended from some one, did not give them the wisdom they needed. The advice they received was bad. True wisdom comes from the One True God.

(In this verse and verse 12), we see that whatever wisdom Egypt’s experts may have possessed formerly, they were helpless to deal with the crisis because they were ignorant of the Lord’s judgment against the land.

Isaiah 19:12 Where [are] they? where [are] thy wise [men]? And let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.

God is saying through Isaiah here, if they are so wise, let them advise you now. The wise men of all the ages put together are no comparison to the wisdom of God. God says, Tell them what the LORD is about to do and let them advise you how to avoid it.

The wisdom of this world is but foolishness to the LORD of all the earth.

Isaiah 19:13 “The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, [even they that are] the stay of the tribes thereof.”

Noph is an ancient Memphis which was the capital of northern Egypt at one time. This city had leaders who were in a state of confusion regarding a true perspective on Egypt’s crisis.

“The stay of the tribes” were the cornerstones. If the cornerstones of a society suffer from delusion, they can do nothing else than delude the people they lead.

When the blind lead the blind, they both fall in the ditch.

Isaiah 19:14 “The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken [man] staggereth in his vomit.”

In the lesson just prior to this one, we learned that the Egyptians had been worshipping false gods. They even practiced sorcery and witchcraft. We see that part of their punishment God brought upon them was a perverse spirit. This spirit was one that brought confusion among the leaders.

Since their mind was controlled by this perverse spirit, they could not make good clear decisions, and everything they put their hand to failed. They were so confused; they were staggering as a drunken man would stagger.

The Lord had caused dizziness that resulted in a complete loss of productivity when the invaders came.

Isaiah 19:15 “Neither shall there be [any] work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.”

This is just saying they could profit from nothing they did. Everyone is pulling in his own direction. Not anyone is working in union with anyone else. I want to stop and remind you, Egypt in the symbolic sense, means the unconverted world.

Our world is in just such a state of confusion today. The only true unity that any of us have is in Jesus Christ our Savior and LORD.

From (verse 16 to the end of this chapter), turning from Egypt’s destitution just described (in verses 1-15), the prophet proceeds to describe Egypt’s eventual turning to the true God, “in that day” (verse 16), referring to the time of the millennial rule of Christ. These features have not been true of Egypt yet.

Isaiah 19:16 “In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.”

In this particular instance, being “like unto women” means they have become weak. Their hearts are failing them for fear of things God is bringing upon the earth. When God shakes the earth, it is time to be afraid, because who is able to win against God, no one?

God’s judgment will immobilize mighty Egypt to the point that the nation realizes it is defenseless and helpless.

The shaking taking place then, and the wrath that is to come on the earth, is very similar. The only thing that would have stopped the shaking was repenting and turning to God.

Isaiah 19:17 “And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.”

Egypt had come into confrontation once before against Judah and their God. I am sure that they were aware of the terrible plagues God had brought on Egypt to get the Pharaoh to release His people. They are not so much afraid of Judah, as they are of Judah’s God.

The LORD of hosts has taken counsel against Egypt in behalf of Judah. When Judah attacks Egypt, it is God really using Judah. This is what brings the fear.

Instead of Judah fearing Egypt, the reverse will be true. God’s great power on behalf of Israel will cause this to happen. Such will occur at Christ’s second advent.

Isaiah 19:18 “In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.”

“Five cities”: Humanly speaking, the chances of even one Egyptian city turning to the Lord were remote, but divinely speaking, there will be five times that many.

Language of Canaan: Egypt is to speak the language of Judah. Not only are they to fear Judah, (verse 17), they are also to convert to Judah’s form of worship.

“Swear to the Lord of hosts”: Egypt will “in that day” turn to God in a dramatic way. This prophecy anticipates the personal reign of the Davidic King on earth.

“City of destruction”: More likely this was the “City of the Sun,” i.e., Heliopolis, which was the home of the Egyptian sun god (see Beth-shemesh”; Jer. 43:12-13).

We see in this, that certain parts of Egypt will have begun to believe in the God of Judah. This says that at least five cities have begun speaking the language of Canaan. This does not just mean they are speaking Hebrew, but means they have accepted the God of the Hebrews.

We see from this that before Christ came to the earth as Savior and Lord, there was a group who were worshipping Jehovah in Egypt. We do know from history that a Christian church was begun in Alexandria, probably established by Mark.

It seems that one of the cities that turned to the worship of Jehovah had been an evil city (city of destruction), where they had worshipped the sun god. They have been converted, and now place their faith in the One True God.

“Swear by the LORD of hosts”, just means they have placed their trust and faith in Him.

Isaiah 19:19 “In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.”

“Altar … pillar”: These speak figuratively of Egypt’s conversion to the Lord “in that day” of the Messiah’s reign on earth (Genesis 28:22).

We do know that there will be a place set aside to meet with God. There are many who connect this with the great pyramid. I will not make that assumption here.

We do not need facts to lead us to the Lord. He will accept simple faith, and nothing else. I believe we would be in error to look to a pyramid to give us answers from God.

I have said many times that I believe the reason we have never been able (in the masses), to see Noah’s ark with our natural eyes, is the fact that God does not want us to come to Him because of being convinced in our mind by things we see with our natural eye. He wants us to come to Him with faith in our heart.

John 20:29 “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed.”

Isaiah 19:20 “And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.”

“Savior” God is to act on behalf of Egypt as He did earlier in delivering Israel (Judges 2:18; 3:9, 15; 6:7-9; 10:11-12).

In my opinion, this is not speaking of physical Egypt alone. Jesus Christ is the Savior. He came to save all mankind. There are signs that do verify things of Christ. Jesus said it was wrong to base what we believe on signs alone.

Luke 11:29 “And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet.”

The sign in the verse above, however, is not God giving them a sign, but them giving Him a sign. Their recognition of God is a sign to God they are no longer heathen, but seeking the One True God. Now God has a people even in Egypt.

Isaiah 19:21 “And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform [it].”

We see from this that, the Lord became recognized by some Egyptians. In the physical, there were Egyptian Jews who went to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. These converts have taken their belief in God so seriously that they do not take vows casually. They make sure that they keep their vows to Him.

The future kingdom will be a time when everyone will know the Lord, because the New Covenant will dominate, (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:11; Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14).

Isaiah 19:22 “And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal [it]: and they shall return [even] to the LORD, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them.”

This is saying that God reached down with His right hand, and touched Egypt, and healed them. “Smite”, in this instance is not a blow, but a touch. Smiting can, also, be like a father correcting a child which causes them to come to Him in a fuller sense.

Just as a parent disciplines a child for purposes of betterment, so the Lord has dealt and would deal with Egypt, (Hos. 6:1).

Isaiah 19:23 “In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.”

“Highway out of Egypt to Assyria”: The two great warring nations of Israel’s time are to reach a lasting peace with each other during “that day” of Christ’s reign (27:13; 2:2-4).

This is saying that, the Assyrians will worship with the Egyptians. There will not be barriers between these two nations anymore. It is so strange, but those of us who have decided to follow Jesus have no barriers between brothers and sisters of other nationalities.

Christians do not see black and white people; they see their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Isaiah 19:24 “In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, [even] a blessing in the midst of the land:”

“A blessing in the midst of the land”: Israel “in that day” will become what God intended her to be, a blessing to the rest of the world.

These 3 have been enemies in the past. They will come together in a common faith. Their belief in God makes them one. The blessing, of course, comes from God. They will be blessing each other also, in the fact that there is no more war.

Isaiah 19:25 “Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed [be] Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.”

“My people … the work of my hands”: Elsewhere scripture uses these epithets to speak only of Israel. In the future kingdom, Israel is to be God’s instrument for drawing other nations into His fold.

Egypt had a great deal to do with the Scriptures being translated from Hebrew into Greek. Their Zeal for God was great. Great works for God are never overlooked by Him. They will be blessed greatly. Egypt has always been a place of refuge for God’s people, as well.

Two times that quickly come to mind, are when Jesus was brought by Mary and Joseph there when He was a baby to keep Herod from killing Him. The other time was when Joseph was sold into slavery and rose to second in command in Egypt. That will bring them great blessings, as well.

The believers in Assyria kept idolatry from overcoming the land. They kept alive the belief in the One True God. Israel was God’s chosen people from the beginning. He had saved them from great trouble in Egypt, and brought them to the land God had promised Abraham.

They had been given the law of God by Moses on their way to the Promised Land. They actually gave us the Old Testament. They kept wonderful records which have helped us know of the past. They belong to God. They are His inheritance.