19-20. Isaiah Chapters Nineteen and Twenty
Isaiah Chapters 19, 20
These give the oracle concerning Egypt. Jehovah "rideth upon a swift [or light] cloud," that is to say, He is about to display His judicial dealings. Civil war would ruin the nation (Isaiah 19:2). Idolatry and spiritism were rampant among the Egyptians, but the futility of all this would become evident. The cruel lord, the fierce king (Isaiah 19:4) was probably not a foreign invader, such as Sargon or Nebuchadnezzar, but an Egyptian monarch himself, as, e.g., Pharaoh Necho.
There were to be further calamities, in connection with the sea and the Nile, i.e., the commerce carried on in regard to them. The various characteristic occupations would come to grief (Isaiah 19:5-10). The princes of Zoan (an ancient capital of Egypt), advisers and wise men would all be of no avail. So with Noph, or Memphis, a renowned city near Cairo. God can judicially impart a perverse spirit of self-will to rulers, to their own doom (Isaiah 19:14). Hardness of heart would give place to timidity and fear (Isaiah 19:16). The rest of the nineteenth chapter points, as in other prophecies, first to a more immediate fulfillment and then to the yet future time of the Millennial Kingdom. There are five paragraphs each beginning with "In that day." The day consists of a period extending from the impending judgments upon Egypt to the end of the present age and the Second Advent of Christ.
Firstly, Judah was about to be the divine instrument of judgment (Isaiah 19:16-17). Secondly, the attitude of Egypt toward Israel would be changed. There would come a time when the language spoken in Canaan would be the language spoken in Egypt, to a limited extent ("five cities"). This was fulfilled when in the empire founded by Alexander the Great the Hellenistic Greek language became the common tongue in Canaan and elsewhere and was adopted in Egypt (where the Septuagint Version was produced). "The city of destruction" (lit., the city Ir-ha-heres) probably indicates the destruction of idolatry (Isaiah 19:18). That took place, after the successive invasions of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians and Greeks.
Thirdly, there would come a time when an altar would be erected to the Lord in the midst of the land, and "a pillar" at the border. The Jewish religion actually spread in Egypt (Isaiah 19:21). Synagogues were built, and one especially at Heliopolis, and later on a church was erected at Alexandria. Subsequently Egypt was smitten (Isaiah 19:22) by the power of Islam. Islam will not prevail permanently. There will be healing.
Fourthly, we are directed to the change to take place at the beginning of the Millennial reign of Christ. A road will run from Egypt to Assyria. Both nations, whose separate aim had been the conquest of the world, will unite to serve the Lord.
Fifthly, Israel will be the intermediary in the Assyrian-Egyptian combine. Instead of being subdued by each, as formerly, God’s people will reach their destined height of power and glory; they will be "a blessing in the midst of the earth," and will be God’s own inheritance (cp. Acts 2:39 and Acts 3:25-26). In chapter 20 we are taken back to the conquest of Egypt by Assyria. As Philistia was allied with Egypt, Tartan, Sennacherib’s chief of command, subdued that country (represented by Ashdod) on the way (Isaiah 20:1). Isaiah himself was appointed as a sign of the impending overthrow of Egypt and Ethiopia. The coastland ("isle" in Isaiah 20:6 stands for all Palestine).