1Ausspruch über Ägypten. Siehe, Jehova fährt auf schneller Wolke und kommt nach Ägypten. Und die Götzen Ägyptens beben vor ihm, und das Herz Ägyptens zerschmilzt in seinem Innern. 2Und ich will Ägypten aufreizen gegen Ägypten; und sie werden streiten, ein jeder wider seinen Bruder und ein jeder wider seinen Nächsten, Stadt wider Stadt, Königreich wider Königreich. 3Und der Geist Ägyptens wird vergehen in seinem Innern, und ich will seinen Ratschlag zunichte machen: und sie werden die Götzen und die Beschwörer und die Zauberer und die Wahrsager befragen. 4Und ich will die Ägypter überliefern in die Hand eines harten Herrn; und ein grausamer König wird über sie herrschen, spricht der Herr, Jehova der Heerscharen. - 5Und die Wasser werden sich aus dem Meere verlaufen, und der Strom wird versiegen und austrocknen, und die Ströme werden stinken; 6die Kanäle Mazors nehmen ab und versiegen, Rohr und Schilf verwelken. 7Die Auen am Nil, am Ufer des Nil, und jedes Saatfeld am Nil verdorrt, zerstiebt und ist nicht mehr. 8Und die Fischer klagen, und es trauern alle, welche Angeln in den Nil auswerfen; und die das Netz ausbreiten auf der Wasserfläche, schmachten hin. 9Und beschämt sind die Wirker gehechelten Flachses und die Weber von Baumwollenzeug. 10Und seine Grundpfeiler sind zerschlagen; alle, die um Lohn arbeiten, sind seelenbetrübt. - 11Eitel Toren sind die Fürsten von Zoan, die weisen Räte des Pharao; ihr Ratschlag ist dumm geworden. Wie saget ihr zu dem Pharao: "Ich bin ein Sohn der Weisen, ein Sohn der Könige von ehemals?" 12Wo sind sie denn, deine Weisen? mögen sie dir doch verkünden und erkennen, was Jehova der Heerscharen über Ägypten beschlossen hat. 13Die Fürsten von Zoan sind betört, die Fürsten von Noph sind betrogen; es haben Ägypten irregeführt die Häupter seiner Stämme. 14Jehova hat in sein Inneres einen Geist des Schwindels ausgegossen, daß sie Ägypten irregeführt haben in all seinem Tun, wie ein Trunkener taumelt in seinem Gespei. 15Und von Ägypten wird keine Tat geschehen, welche Haupt oder Schwanz, Palmzweig oder Binse verrichte. - 16An jenem Tage werden die Ägypter wie Weiber sein; und sie werden zittern und beben vor dem Schwingen der Hand Jehovas der Heerscharen, die er wider sie schwingen wird. 17Und das Land Juda wird für Ägypten zum Schrecken sein. So oft jemand es bei den Ägyptern erwähnt, werden sie beben wegen des Ratschlusses Jehovas der Heerscharen, welchen er über sie beschlossen hat. 18An jenem Tage werden fünf Städte im Lande Ägypten sein, welche die Sprache Kanaans reden und bei Jehova der Heerscharen schwören werden. Eine wird die Stadt Heres heißen. 19An jenem Tage wird inmitten des Landes Ägypten ein Altar dem Jehova geweiht sein, und eine Denksäule nahe an seiner Grenze dem Jehova; 20und das wird zu einem Denkzeichen und zu einem Zeugnis sein dem Jehova der Heerscharen im Lande Ägypten. Denn sie werden zu Jehova schreien wegen der Bedrücker, und er wird ihnen einen Retter und Streiter senden und sie erretten. 21Und Jehova wird sich den Ägyptern kundgeben, und die Ägypter werden Jehova erkennen an jenem Tage; und sie werden dienen mit Schlachtopfern und Speisopfern, und werden Jehova Gelübde tun und bezahlen. 22Und Jehova wird die Ägypter schlagen, schlagen und heilen; und sie werden sich zu Jehova wenden, und er wird sich von ihnen erbitten lassen und sie heilen. 23An jenem Tage wird eine Straße sein von Ägypten nach Assyrien; und die Assyrer werden nach Ägypten und die Ägypter nach Assyrien kommen, und die Ägypter werden mit den Assyrern Jehova dienen. 24An jenem Tage wird Israel das dritte sein mit Ägypten und mit Assyrien, ein Segen inmitten der Erde; 25denn Jehova der Heerscharen segnet es und spricht: Gesegnet sei mein Volk Ägypten, und Assyrien, meiner Hände Werk, und Israel, mein Erbteil!
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Isa. 19:1-25)
burden--(See on
Isa 13:1).
upon . . . cloud-- (
Ps 104:3;
Ps 18:10).
come into Egypt--to inflict vengeance. "Egypt," in Hebrew, Misraim, plural form, to express the two regions of Egypt. BUNSEN observes, The title of their kings runs thus: "Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt."
idols--the bull, crocodile, &c. The idols poetically are said to be "moved" with fear at the presence of one mightier than even they were supposed to be (
Exod 12:12;
Jer 43:12).
2 set--stir up. GESENIUS translates, "arm."
Egyptians against the Egyptians--Lower against Upper: and Saitic against both. (See
Isa 3:10). 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.
3 spirit--wisdom, for which Egypt was famed (
Isa 31:2;
1Kgs 4:30;
Acts 7:22); answering to "counsel" in the parallel clause.
fail--literally, "be poured out," that is, be made void (
Jer 19:7). They shall "seek" help from sources that can afford none, "charmers," &c. (
Isa 8:19).
charmers--literally, "those making a faint sound"; the soothsayers imitated the faint sound which was attributed to the spirits of the dead (see on
Isa 8:19).
4 cruel lord--"Sargon," in Hebrew it is lords; but plural is often used to express greatness, where, one alone is meant (
Gen 39:2). The parallel word "king" (singular) proves it. NEWTON makes the general reference to be to Nebuchadnezzar, and a particular reference to Cambyses, son of Cyrus (who killed the Egyptian god, Apis), and Ochus, Persian conquerors of Egypt, noted for their "fierce cruelty." GESENIUS refers it to Psammetichus, who had brought into Egypt Greek and other foreign mercenaries to subdue the other eleven princes of the dodecarchy.
5 the sea--the Nile. Physical calamities, it is observed in history, often accompany political convulsions (
Ezek 30:12). The Nile shall "fail" to rise to its wonted height, the result of which will be barrenness and famine. Its "waters" at the time of the overflow resemble "a sea" [PLINY, Natural History, 85.11]; and it is still called El-Bahr," "the sea," by the Egyptians (
Isa 18:2;
Jer 51:36). 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.
6 they shall turn the rivers--rather, "the streams shall become putrid"; that is, the artificial streams made for irrigation shall become stagnant and offensive when the waters fail [MAURER]. 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. The same Hebrew word, Matzor, whence comes Mitzraim, expresses Egypt, and a place of "defense." HORSLEY, as English Version translates it, "embanked canals,"
reeds . . . flags--the papyrus. "Reed and rush"; utter withering.
7 paper-reeds--rather, pastures, literally, "places naked" of wood, and famed for rich herbage, on the banks of the Nile [GESENIUS]. Compare
Gen 13:10;
Deut 11:10. HORSLEY translates, "nakedness upon the river," descriptive of the appearance of a river when its bottom is bare and its banks stripped of verdure by long drought: so Vulgate.
the brooks--the river.
mouth--rather, "the source" [Vulgate]. "Even close to the river's side vegetation shall be so withered as to be scattered in the shape of powder by the wind" (English Version, "driven away") [HORSLEY].
8 fishers--The Nile was famed for fish (
Num 11:5); many would be thrown out of employment by the failure of fishes.
angle--a hook. Used in the "brooks" or canals, as the "net" was in "the waters" of the river itself.
9 fine flax--GESENIUS, for "fine," translates, "combed"; fine "linen" was worn by the rich only (
Luke 16:19). Egypt was famous for it (
Exod 9:31;
1Kgs 10:28;
Pro 7:16;
Ezek 27:7). The processes of its manufacture are represented on the Egyptian tombs. Israel learned the art in Egypt (
Exod 26:36). The cloth now found on the mummies was linen, as is shown by the microscope. WILKINSON mentions linen from Egypt which has five hundred forty (or two hundred seventy double) threads in one inch in the warp; whereas some modern cambric has but a hundred sixty [BARNES].
networks--rather, white cloth (
Esth 1:6;
Esth 8:16).
10 in the purposes--rather, "the foundations," that is, "the nobles shall be broken" or brought low: so
Isa 3:1;
Ps 11:3; compare
Isa 19:13, "The princes--the stay of the tribes. The Arabs call a prince "a pillar of the people" [MAURER]. "Their weaving-frames" [HORSLEY]. "Dykes" [BARNES].
all that make sluices, &c.--"makers of dams," made to confine the waters which overflow from the Nile in artificial fish-ponds [HORSLEY]. "Makers of gain," that is, the common people who have to earn their livelihood, as opposed to the "nobles" previously [MAURER].
11 Zoan--The Greeks called it Tanis, a city of Lower Egypt, east of the Tanitic arms of the Nile, now San; it was one the Egyptian towns nearest to Palestine (
Num 13:22), the scene of Moses' miracles (
Ps 78:12,
Ps 78:43). It, or else Memphis, was the capital under Sethos.
I am . . . son of the wise . . . kings--Ye have no advice to suggest to Pharaoh in the crisis, notwithstanding that ye boast of descent from wise and royal ancestors. The priests were the usual "counsellors" of the Egyptian king. He was generally chosen from the priestly caste, or, if from the warrior caste, he was admitted into the sacred order, and was called a priest. The priests are, therefore, meant by the expression, "son of the wise, and of ancient kings"; this was their favorite boast (HERODOTUS, 2.141; compare
Amos 7:14;
Acts 23:6;
Phil 3:5). "Pharaoh" was the common name of all the kings: Sethos, probably, is here meant.
12 let them know--that is, How is it that, with all their boast of knowing the future [DIODORUS, 1.81], they do not know what Jehovah of hosts . . .
13 Noph--called also Moph; Greek, Memphis (
Hos 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]. The military caste probably ruled in it: "they also are deceived," in fancying their country secure from Assyrian invasion.
stay of . . . tribes--rather, "corner-stone of her castes" [MAURER], that is, the princes, the two ruling castes, the priests and the warriors: image from a building which rests mainly on its corner-stones (see on
Isa 19:10;
Isa 28:16;
Ps 118:22;
Num 24:17, Margin;
Judg 20:2;
1Sam 14:28, Margin;
Zech 10:4).
14 err in every work thereof--referring to the anarchy arising from their internal feuds. 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;
Pro 9:2,
Pro 9:5), so Jehovah has poured among them a spirit of giddiness, so that they are as helpless as a "drunken man."
15 work for Egypt--nothing which Egypt can do to extricate itself from the difficulty.
head or tail--high or low (
Isa 19:11-
Isa 19:15, and
Isa 19:8-
Isa 19:10).
branch or rush--the lofty palm branch or the humble reed (
Isa 9:14-
Isa 9:15;
Isa 10:33-
Isa 10:34).
16 like . . . women--timid and helpless (
Jer 51:30;
Nah 3:13).
shaking of . . . hand--His judgments by means of the invaders (
Isa 10:5,
Isa 10:32;
Isa 11:15).
17 Judah . . . terror unto Egypt--not by itself: but at this time Hezekiah was the active subordinate ally of Assyria in its invasion of Egypt under Sargon. Similarly to the alliance of Judah with Assyria here is
2Kgs 23:29, where Josiah takes the field against Pharaoh-nechoh of Egypt, probably as ally of Assyria against Egypt [G. V. SMITH]. VITRINGA explains it that Egypt in its calamities would remember that prophets of Judah had foretold them, and so Judah would be "a terror unto Egypt."
thereof--of Judah.
it--Egypt.
18 In that day, &c.--Suffering shall lead to repentance. Struck with "terror" and "afraid" (
Isa 19:17) because of Jehovah's judgments, Egypt shall be converted to Him: nay, even Assyria shall join in serving Him; so that Israel, Assyria, and Egypt, once mutual foes, shall be bound together by the tie of a common faith as one people. So a similar issue from other prophecies (
Isa 18:7;
Isa 23:18).
five cities--that is, several cities, as in
Isa 17:6;
Isa 30:17;
Gen 43:34;
Lev 26:8. Rather, five definite cities of Lower Egypt (
Isa 19:11,
Isa 19:13;
Isa 30:4), which had close intercourse with the neighboring Jewish cities [MAURER]; some say, Heliopolis, Leontopolis (else Diospolis), Migdol, Daphne (Tahpanes), and Memphis.
language of Canaan--that is, of the Hebrews in Canaan, the language of revelation; figuratively for, They shall embrace the Jewish religion: so "a pure language" and conversion to God are connected in
Zeph 3:9; as also the first confounding and multiplication of languages was the punishment of the making of gods at Babel, other than the One God. Pentecost (
Acts 2:4) was the counterpart of Babel: the separation of nations is not to hinder the unity of faith; the full realization of this is yet future (
Zech 14:9;
John 17:21). The next clause, "swear to the Lord of Hosts," agrees with this view; that is, bind themselves to Him by solemn covenant (
Isa 45:23;
Isa 65:16;
Deut 6:13).
city of destruction--Onias; "city of the sun," that is, On, or Heliopolis; he persuaded Ptolemy Philometer (149 B.C.) to let him build a temple in the prefecture (nome) of Heliopolis, on the ground that it would induce Jews to reside there, and that the very site was foretold by Isaiah six hundred years before. The reading of the Hebrew text is, however, better supported, "city of destruction"; referring to Leontopolis, the site of Onias' temple: which casts a reproach on that city because it was about to contain a temple rivalling the only sanctioned temple, that at Jerusalem. MAURER, with some manuscripts, reads "city of defense" or "deliverance"; namely, Memphis, or some such city, to which God was about to send "a saviour" (
Isa 19:20), to "deliver them."
19 altar--not for sacrifice, but as the "pillar" for memorial and worship (
Josh 22:22-
Josh 22:26). Isaiah does not contemplate a temple in Egypt: for the only legal temple was at Jerusalem; but, like the patriarchs, they shall have altars in various places.
pillar--such as Jacob reared (
Gen 28:18;
Gen 35:14); it was a common practice in Egypt to raise obelisks commemorating divine and great events.
at the border--of Egypt and Judah, to proclaim to both countries the common faith. This passage shows how the Holy Spirit raised Isaiah above a narrow-minded nationality to a charity anticipatory of gospel catholicity.
20 it--the altar and pillar.
a sign--(of the fulfilment of prophecy) to their contemporaries.
a witness--to their descendants.
unto the Lord--no longer, to their idols, but to Jehovah.
for they shall cry--or, "a sign . . . that they cried, . . . and He sent to them a saviour"; probably, Alexander the Great (so "a great one"), whom the Egyptians welcomed as a deliverer (Greek, Soter, a title of the Ptolemies) out of the hands of the Persians, who under Cambyses had been their "oppressors." At Alexandria, called from him, the Old Testament was translated into Greek for the Greek-speaking Jews, who in large numbers dwelt in Egypt under the Ptolemies, his successors. Messiah is the antitype ultimately intended (compare
Acts 2:10, "Egypt").
21 oblation--unbloody.
22 return--for heathen sin and idolatry are an apostasy from primitive truth.
heal--as described (
Isa 19:18-
Isa 19:20).
23 highway--free communication, resting on the highest basis, the common faith of both (
Isa 19:18;
Isa 11:16). Assyria and Egypt were joined under Alexander as parts of his empire: Jews and proselytes from both met at the feasts of Jerusalem. A type of gospel times to come.
serve with--serve Jehovah with the Assyrians. So "serve" is used absolutely (
Job 36:11).
24 third--The three shall be joined as one nation.
blessing--the source of blessings to other nations, and the object of their benedictions.
in the midst of the land--rather, "earth" (
Mic 5:7). Judah is designed to be the grand center of the whole earth (
Jer 3:17).
25 Whom--rather, "Which," namely, "the land," or "earth," that is, the people of it [MAURER].
my people--the peculiar designation of Israel, the elect people, here applied to Egypt to express its entire admission to religious privileges (
Rom 9:24-
Rom 9:26;
1Pet 2:9-10).
work of my hands--spiritually (
Hos 2:23;
Eph 2:10).
In the reign of Sargon (722-715 B.C.), the successor of Shalmaneser, an Assyrian invasion of Egypt took place. Its success is here foretold, and hence a party among the Jews is warned of the folly of their "expectation" of aid from Egypt or Ethiopia. At a later period (
Isa 18:1-
Isa 18:7), when Tirhakah of Ethiopia was their ally, the Ethiopians are treated as friends, to whom God announces the overthrow of the common Assyrian foe, Sennacherib. Egypt and Ethiopia in this chapter (
Isa 20:3-
Isa 20:4) are represented as allied together, the result no doubt of fear of the common foe; previously they had been at strife, and the Ethiopian king had, just before Sethos usurpation, withdrawn from occupation of part of Lower Egypt. Hence, "Egypt" is mentioned alone in Isa. 19:1-25, which refers to a somewhat earlier stage of the same event: a delicate mark of truth. Sargon seems to have been the king who finished the capture of Samaria which Shalmaneser began; the alliance of Hoshea with So or Sabacho II of Ethiopia, and his refusal to pay the usual tribute, provoked Shalmaneser to the invasion. On clay cylindrical seals found in Sennacherib's palace at Koyunjik, the name of Sabacho is deciphered; the two seals are thought, from the inscriptions, to have been attached to the treaty of peace between Egypt and Assyria, which resulted from the invasion of Egypt by Sargon, described in this chapter;
2Kgs 18:10 curiously confirms the view derived from Assyrian inscriptions, that though Shalmaneser began, Sargon finished the conquest of Samaria; "they took it" (compare
2Kgs 17:4-6). In Sargon's palace at Khorsabad, inscriptions state that 27,280 Israelites were led captive by the founder of the palace. While Shalmaneser was engaged in the siege of Samaria, Sargon probably usurped the supreme power and destroyed him; the siege began in 723 B.C., and ended in 721 B.C., the first year of Sargon's reign. Hence arises the paucity of inscriptions of the two predecessors of Sargon, Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser; the usurper destroyed them, just as Tiglath-pileser destroyed those of Pul (Sardanapalus), the last of the old line of Ninus; the names of his father and grandfather, which have been deciphered in the palace of his son Sennacherib, do not appear in the list of Assyrian kings, which confirms the view that he was a satrap who usurped the throne. He was so able a general that Hezekiah made no attempt to shake off the tribute until the reign of Sennacherib; hence Judah was not invaded now as the lands of the Philistines and Egypt were. After conquering Israel he sent his general, Tartan, to attack the Philistine cities, "Ashdod," &c., preliminary to his invasion of Egypt and Ethiopia; for the line of march to Egypt lay along the southwest coast of Palestine. The inscriptions confirm the prophecy; they tell us he received tribute from a Pharaoh of "Egypt"; besides destroying in part the Ethiopian "No-ammon," or Thebes (
Nah 3:8); also that he warred with the kings of "Ashdod," Gaza, &c., in harmony with Isaiah here; a memorial tablet of him is found in Cyprus also, showing that he extended his arms to that island. His reign was six or seven years in duration, 722-715 B.C. [G. V. SMITH].
