이사야 Chapter 19

Translation: ESV

1

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.

Key Message

When God comes, all the idols of the world tremble, and no god can stand before the LORD.

▸God comes to Egypt riding on a cloud.

God comes to Egypt riding on a cloud. 'Riding on the cloud' is an expression of God's power and presence. The idols of Egypt trembling before the LORD indicates the impotence of Egypt's gods.

Related Verses

And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic.
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.

Key Message

Internal division is the most destructive form of judgment; God can judge through internal strife without sending any external enemy.

▸Civil war and social division are the means of judgment.

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.

Key Message

Human wisdom and magic are powerless before God's judgment, and in that desperation people turn to even darker things.

▸Egypt's wisdom and spirit becomes emptied, and they turn to idols and sorcerers.

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.

Key Message

Those who reject God end up under the domination of even crueler human rulers.

▸God will hand Egypt over to a cruel master and a fierce king.

5

And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be parched and dry,

Key Message

God can cut off the lifeline of any civilization; even the greatest human civilization is fragile before God.

▸The Nile drying up means the foundation of Egyptian civilization is disappearing.

6

And the canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away.

Key Message

The collapse of the natural environment sustaining civilization is the content of judgment, which is the created order responding to sin.

▸The canals connected to the Nile dry up and stink.

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.

Key Message

Prosperity established through God's blessing can completely disappear through God's judgment.

▸Even the fertile meadows around the Nile wither and disappear.

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.

Key Message

Judgment affects every stratum of society and causes even the most everyday means of living to disappear.

▸The collapse of the fishing industry is described.

9

Those who work in combed flax will be in despair, and the weavers of white cotton will be dismayed.

Key Message

No matter how excellent one's craft, it is powerless before God's judgment; human civilization and industry are under God's sovereignty.

▸Egypt was famous for its linen fabric.

10

Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed, and all who work for wages will be grieved.

Key Message

Judgment reaches evenly across all strata of society; even lower workers are not exempt from economic judgment.

▸Even the lower workers of the textile industry are all affected.

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"?

Key Message

Human wisdom and learning become foolishness before God's judgment, and family pride is of no use.

▸Egypt's wise counselors become foolish.

12

Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.

Key Message

True wisdom is knowing God's will; knowledge without God is the foolishness of not knowing the most important thing.

▸Egypt's wise men are mocked with a rhetorical question.

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.

Key Message

When leaders abandon God's wisdom, the entire nation is deluded and heads toward destruction.

▸The leaders of Egypt's two important cities—Zoan and Memphis—become foolish and deluded.

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.

Key Message

Those who reject God become confused, walk the wrong path, and advance toward catastrophe.

▸God mingling a spirit of confusion within Egypt is one way of judgment.

15

And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

Key Message

No matter how capable one is, no one can save a nation when God's judgment has been determined.

▸Every stratum of society—from head (leaders) to tail (lower classes), from the lofty to the humble—cannot save Egypt.

16

In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand of the LORD of hosts when he shakes it over them.

Key Message

No matter how powerful a nation, it trembles with fear when the hand of the LORD shakes over it.

▸A new section begins with 'In that day.

17

And the land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the LORD of hosts has purposed against it.

Key Message

A small nation with God can become a terror to a great power—this is the principle of God's reversal.

▸This is a paradoxical declaration that Judah will become a terror to Egypt.

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.

Key Message

God's salvation reaches even to foreign lands, and a community worshipping God is formed even in the land of enemies.

▸A remarkable prophecy: five cities in Egypt will speak Hebrew (the language of Canaan) and serve the LORD.

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.

Key Message

God's salvation is not limited to Israel but is a universal salvation in which centers of worship are established even in foreign lands.

▸A remarkable prophecy that an altar and a pillar to the LORD will be erected in the center and on the border of Egypt.

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.

Key Message

Even Gentiles who cry to God will receive salvation, and God hears the cry of all peoples.

▸When the Egyptians cry to the LORD, God will send them a savior.

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.

Key Message

God making himself known to Gentiles is the basis of mission, and Gentiles too can become a true worshipping community.

▸God makes himself known to the Egyptians.

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.

Key Message

God's judgment is not aimed at destruction but at healing and restoration, and he heals those who plead with him.

▸Striking and healing appear together.

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.

Key Message

Under the Messiah's rule, even historical enemies will be reconciled and together serve God—this is the vision of complete peace.

▸A remarkable vision of historic enemies Egypt and Assyria connected by a highway and together serving the LORD.

24

In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,

Key Message

God's salvation is not only for Israel but for the whole world, including historical enemies.

▸A remarkable declaration that Israel, Egypt, and Assyria together will be 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."

Key Message

God's 'my people' is not limited to Israel, and in the New Testament this vision is realized for all nations through Jesus Christ.

▸This is one of the most remarkable verses in the book of Isaiah.