Isaiah 19
Isaiah • Sermon • Submitted
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So we pick up again in Isaiah with a very interesting Chapter, Ch 19. In which we will see the fulfillment of thing during our lifetimes and one which has stood for thousands of years.
Now Chapter 19 is speaking about Egypt. The burden or heavy message against Egypt. Egypt is another of those ancient cities that has been linked to Israel from the very beginning. From the time Abram went to Egypt in because of famine to its mention in when the two witnesses are murdered Egypt is a big part of the story.
Lets get into it; :
The burden against Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt; the idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst. "I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; everyone will fight against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst; I will destroy their counsel, and they will consult the idols and the charmers, the mediums and the sorcerers. And the Egyptians I will give into the hand of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them," says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
Egypt is known for its many idols and gods it worshiped. Here God is telling them that their idols cannot stand before Him, the idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, each of the ten plagues were against a god of Egypt.
He knocked over the god Khnum, the guardian of the Nile, the god Hapi, the spirit of the Nile, and the god Osiris (who had the Nile as his bloodstream), when the waters were turned to blood. He knocked over the goddess Heqt, the frog-goddess of fertility, with the plague of frogs. He knocked over the goddess Hathor, a cow-like mother goddess, with the plague on livestock. He knocked over the god Imhotep, the god of medicine, with the plague of boils. He knocked over the god Nut, the sky goddess, with the plague of hail. He knocked over the whole system of Egyptian worship of their gods with loathsome lice and swarms of insects. He knocked over the god Seth, thought to be the protector of crops, with the plague of locusts. He knocked over the god Ra, thought to be the sun god, with the plague of darkness. He knocked over Osiris, the Egyptian god thought to be the giver of life, and the supposed deity of Pharaoh himself, with the plague against the firstborn. God made all the idols of Egypt to totter at His presence before, and Isaiah tells us He will do it again!
Isaiah continues that "I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; everyone will fight against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst; I will destroy their counsel, and they will consult the idols and the charmers, the mediums and the sorcerers. Prophesying that great civil war and strife was tom come, which occurred. According to one bible commentator (Poole) "Not many years after this time it was divided into twelve several kingdoms, between whom there were many and cruel wars, as is related by the historians of those times."
Further Isaiah foretells of The Egyptians I will give into the hand of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them. It is unclear who exactly this refers to perhaps, the Assyrian Sargon or Nebuchadnezzar.
V5 -10 The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and dried up. The rivers will turn foul; the brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up; the reeds and rushes will wither. The papyrus reeds by the River, by the mouth of the River, and everything sown by the River, will wither, be driven away, and be no more. The fishermen also will mourn; all those will lament who cast hooks into the River, and they will languish who spread nets on the waters. Moreover those who work in fine flax and those who weave fine fabric will be ashamed; and its foundations will be broken. All who make wages will be troubled of soul.
This seems to be a fulfillment of the Aswan Dam project of the 1950’s where ancient Egyptian Temples were moved to higher ground to avoid being under water. The dam was funded by the USSR and had turned out to be an ecological nightmare.
What went wrong? The flooding of the Nile used to bring millions of tonnes of silt on to the arable land along the banks of the Nile and into the Nile Delta area where the river discharged in to the Mediterranean Sea. Today most if this is trapped in the dam at Aswan, while the Mediterranean which used to be kept at bay by the full force of the river, and the fresh silt deposits every year, is eating up the coastline around the delta.
The loss of a nutrient supply from the river has killed the sardine industry in the South East Mediterranean Sea. The stagnant waters in the Nile Delta area at the entrance to the Sea have encouraged a plague of disease-bearing snails called "bilharzia" here and in the irrigation canals. The dam has halted the yearly supply of silt that farmers relied upon to fertilize their crops and brick-builders used to make their bricks. It has hastened the flow of peasants from the countryside to the towns, where their sprawling shanty towns compete with valuable agricultural land. The sardine industry, cotton industry and agriculture of the Nile valley have all been damaged by the damming of the water, and there have been no great advantages to offset these losses.
Ezekiel also prophesied about this: God said: "I will make the rivers (of Egypt) dry... and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers" ().
"I will also destroy the idols, (Abu Simbel?... the entire "god-worship" of idols) and I will cause their images to cease out of the land of Noph... and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt" ().
Isaiah wrote as follows: "And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river (of Egypt) shall be wasted and dried up... the reeds and flags shall wither...
Video - Aswan Dam, Egypt 5:19
Isaiah continues
V11 - 15 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools; Pharaoh's wise counselors give foolish counsel. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?" Where are they? Where are your wise men? Let them tell you now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt. The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also deluded Egypt, those who are the mainstay of its tribes. The LORD has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst; and they have caused Egypt to err in all her work, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. Neither will there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, palm branch or bulrush, may do.
It seems to me Isaiah is chastising the wisemen who came up with the idea of the dam. Now the people have no way to support them selves. The have forgotten, The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. ().
V 16 - 17 In that day Egypt will be like women, and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He waves over it. And the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt; everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts which He has determined against it.
The land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt: This is a switch! For thousands of years, the land of Judah lay submissively in the shadow of the great Egyptian Empire. The LORD prophesies a day when Judah will be more mighty than Egypt, and the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt. Of course, this is fulfilled today, when Israel has military superiority over Egypt.
Isaiah continues with a positive word to Egypt.
V 18 - 22
In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear by the LORD of hosts; one 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. And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them. Then the LORD will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. And the LORD will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the LORD, and He will be entreated by them and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Many Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria; a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, "Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance."
Here we have two really remarkable verses in Verse 19 & 20 which we will look at in detail.
In whole this section is referring to the Millennium when the nation of Egypt is worshipping Yahweh along with the Assyrians. Its hard to imagine but at some point this will be true. Peace in Middle East will happen under the Reign of Jesus Christ in the Millennium.
Now let’s focus in on 19 & 20.
V19 , 20 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. And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them.
Many believe that this verse 19 is referring to the Great Pyramid of Giza. Giza is at the border of upper and lower Egypt and is in the midst of Egypt. At that geographical point lies the Great Pyramid.
The more you learn about the Pyramid the more intriguing it gets.
Hand out
Video. The Great Pyramid - Part 6 of 7, 9:26
