Isaiah 43:3

For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour,.... The Lord is the covenant God of his people, holy in himself, and the sanctifier of them, and their Saviour in time of trouble; and

For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. I gave Egypt for thy ransom.

I gave Egypt for thy ransom: this was fulfilled either, 1. When God smote the Egyptians, both first-born and others, in Egypt, and drowned Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for the safety and benefit of his people; or, 2. When the king of Assyria, either Sennacherib, as many think, or rather Esar-haddon, who designed to revenge his father’ s disgrace and loss before Jerusalem upon the Jews, but was diverted and directed by God to employ his forces against Egypt, and Ethiopia, and Seba, as it follows. See Poole "", &c. Ethiopia and Seba; the Sabeans, who were confederate with the Ethiopians or Cushites.

Isaiah 43:3 For I [am] the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt [for] thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.Ver. 3. I gave Egypt for thy ransom.] Quasi victimam piacularem a Sennacheribo mactandam loco Iudcea, in exchange for thee; so the Septuagint render it. This was done when Tirhakah, king of Egypt and Ethiopia, was beaten by Sennacherib, who was then making towards Jerusalem, which he had already devoured in his hopes. Thus, "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead." Saul and his people were afflicted by the Philistines, that David might escape. The Canaanites were rooted out, to make room for the Israelites. Charles V, and Francis, the French king, after a mutual agreement to root out Lutheranism, fall together by the ears, and the Church all the while hath her halcyons. So the Turks and Persians are at deadly feud, to the great safeguard of Christendom; and the Popish party are as a bulwark between those Mohammedans and the Protestants.

(3) I gave Egypt for thy ransom . . .—Speaking after the manner of men, the prophet paints Jehovah as surrendering Egypt and other kingdoms to the arms of Cyrus, as if they were a price paid to him for liberating the Jews of Babylon. Ethiopia (Heb., Cûsh) may be taken of either the Asiatic or African people that bore that name—Seba as Meroe, between the Blue and White Nile, the modern Dâr Sennâr. Historically, the words find a fulfilment in the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, who carried into effect his father’s plans. For the thought of the “ransom” comp. Proverbs 11:8; Proverbs 21:18, and the next verse. As a man would sacrifice any number of slaves to ransom a son, so was it in Jehovah’s dealings with His people.

Verse 3. I gave Egypt for thy ransom] This is commonly supposed to refer to the time of Sennacherib's invasion; who, when he was just ready to fall upon Jerusalem, soon after his entering Judea, was providentially diverted from that design, and turned his arms against the Egyptians, and their allies the Cushean Arabians, with their neighbours the Sabeans, probably joined with them under Tirhakah. See Isaiah 20:1-6 and Isaiah 37:9. Or as there are some reasonable objections to this opinion, perhaps it may mean more generally that God has often saved his people at the expense of other nations, whom he had, as it were in their stead, given up to destruction. Vitringa explains this of Shalmaneser's designs upon the kingdom of Judea after he had destroyed that of Samaria, from which he was diverted by carrying the war against the Egyptians, Cusheans, and Sabeans; but of this I think he has no clear proof in history. It is not to be wondered at that many things of this kind should remain very obscure for the want of the light of history, which in regard to these times is extremely deficient. "Did not Cyrus overcome these nations? and might they not be given for releasing the Jews? It seems to have been so from Isaiah 45:14." - Secker. Kimchi refers all this to the deliverance of Jerusalem from the invasion of Sennacherib. Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had come out to war against the king of Assyria, who was there - upon obliged to raise the siege of Jerusalem. Thus the Ethiopians, Egyptians, and Sabeans were delivered into the hands of the Assyrians as a ransom for Israel. - Kimchi. I cannot help thinking this to be a very rational solution of the text.

3. thy Saviour] or, “Deliverer”; a favourite designation of Jehovah with this prophet; Isaiah 43:11, ch. Isaiah 45:15; Isaiah 45:21, Isaiah 49:26 (Isaiah 60:16, Isaiah 63:8). The second half of the verse shews on how large a scale this deliverance is to be executed. I give Egypt as thy ransom …] The meaning appears to be that Cyrus will be compensated for the emancipation of Israel by the conquest of these African nations, which did not belong to the Babylonian Empire. As a matter of fact the conquest of Egypt was effected by Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus, although it is said to have been contemplated by Cyrus himself (Herod. 1:153) and is actually (though wrongly) attributed to him by Xenophon (Cyrop. VIII. 6. 20). Seba (Genesis 10:7; Psalms 72:10; ch. Isaiah 45:14) was, according to Josephus, Meroë, the northern province of Ethiopia, lying between the Blue and the White Nile. ransom is strictly a money payment by which a man escapes the forfeit of his life (see Exodus 21:30; Numbers 35:31 f.; Proverbs 6:35 &c.).

For I am the Lord thy God - This verse continues the statement of the reasons why he would protect them. He was Yahweh their God.

3, 4. I gave — Prophetic preterit for I will give. Egypt for thy ransom — Ransom from exile in Babylon through Cyrus. At a later time Cambyses took Egypt and made her subject, along with Ethiopia and Seba, on the upper Nile.