Isaiah 19

— fought against Ashdod.] When Sennacherib’s army came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, (2 Kings xviii. 13,) he might send a detachment against this city, belonging probably at that time to Hezekiah’s dominions, 2 Kings xviii. 8. Ashdod or Azotus was a strong place, and afterwards held out twenty-nine years against Psammitichus king of Egypt. W. Louth, Bp. Louth.

— As whirlwinds in the south] See Job xxxvii. 9; Zech. ix. 14. The most vehement storms to which Judea was subject came from the great desert country to the south of it. Bp. Lowth.

Isaiah 19:2

2. — loose the sackcloth from off thy loins.] As it was a principal part of the prophetic office to denounce God’s judgment, so the Prophets commonly wore sackcloth, the habit of mourning, as suitable to their employment: (see Rev. xi. 3;) of this kind was the hairy garment by which Elias and John Baptist are described, 2 Kings i. 8; Matt. iii. 4. See also Zech. xiii. 4. W. Louth.

— naked and barefoot.] Those are said to be naked in the Scripture phrase, who go without their upper garment, or have put off the habit proper to their station or quality. See John xxi. 7; 1 Sam. xix. 24; and note on Job xxii. 6. Going barefoot was a sign of mourning, 2 Sam. xv. 30. Dr. Waterland, W. Louth.

Isaiah is described here walking in this manner as

a sign of the distress that awaited the Egyptians; the Prophets foreshamed things by actions as well as words, Ezek. xxiv. 18; Hos. i. 2, 3; iii. 1, 2; this mode of expressing important circumstances by actions being customary and familiar among all Eastern nations. The conduct of the Prophets on these occasions, considered with reflection on the importance of their ministry, and with allowance for difference of manners, will appear to have been not only very striking and impressive, but strictly agreeable to the design and decorum of the prophetic character. W. Louth, Dr. Gray. See the note on Gen. xxxii. 25.

Isaiah 19:3

3. — three years for a sign and wonder] Perhaps, at intervals during that time. Some think we should understand three days, a year being sometimes placed in prophetic language for a day: others apply the three years, not to Isaiah’s walking, but to the calamity foreshewn thereby to be to last three years; or to happen within three years. Others consider the account as narrative of a transaction in vision, or as a parable related by Isaiah. Dr. Gray.

Isaiah 19:6

6. — the inhabitant of this isle] The margin gives “country;” and so is the word sometimes to be taken. W. Louth. See note on chap. xi. 11; Gen. x. 5.

Chap. XXI. ver. 1. — desert of the sea.] Babylon, which was seated in a plain, and surrounded by water. The propriety of the expression consists in this, not only that any large collection of waters in the Oriental style is called a sea, but also that the places about Babylon are said from the beginning to have been overflowed with waters, and to have been called the sea. Compare Jer. ii. 13. Bp. Newton. It was a great barren morassy desert originally: such it became after the taking of the city by Cyrus: (see note on chap. xiv. 23;) and such it continues to this day. Bp. Louth.

The ten first verses of this chapter contain a prediction of the taking of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. It opens with the Prophet’s seeing at a distance the dreadful storm that is gathering and ready to burst upon it: the event is intimated in general terms; God’s orders

The fall of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. Before CHRIST about 714. pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

Isaiah 19:7

7. The paper reeds] The papyrus is the peculiar produce of the Nile, the streams drawn from it, and the lakes of Egypt: beside the principal article made from it, paper, and the boats on the Nile, (see note on chap. xviii. 2,) Pliny tells us, that the Egyptians applied it to various purposes, using the root for wood, and making of the bark, sails, ropes, clothes, &c. Vitringa. — by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks.] What is here translated “brooks,” is in Exod. vii. 19, (where there is a particular representation of the waters of Egypt, as here,) rendered “rivers;” both may signify the canals drawn from the Nile by Egyptian princes. Dr. Shaw tells us, that the soil near the banks of the Nile itself is very considerably deeper than at the extremity to which the inundations reach; from whence it should seem, that the land originally lay with a considerable descent to the river. To say then that things sown or cultivated near the mouths of the canals (which must have been in the lowest places, and sufficiently watered, when the higher grounds produced nothing, for want of moisture) should wither, is to describe the utmost failure of water. Harmer.

Isaiah 19:8

8. The fishers also shall mourn, &c.] There was great plenty of fish in Egypt: see Numb. xi. 5; (and the note on Exod. vii. 21;) the lakes abounding even more than the Nile; as Egmont, Pococke, and other travelers, tell us. Bp. Lowth. As the exhaustion and misery about to take place in Egypt has been already figured out under the emblem of the drying up of the Nile, the grand source of all its wealth; so the grief of the persons who would be the first and greatest sufferers by that calamity, the fishers, &c., is put to express the general despondency of all orders. Vitringa.

Isaiah 19:9

9. — they that weave networks.] “Networks,” or rather, “white works,” as in the margin, may mean wicker-work, white from the peeling of the twigs made use of. Fish may be caught by wicker-work, as well as by nets: and something of that kind appears in the Pranestine Mosaick Pavement, which Dr. Shaw has given us. Harmer, Parkhurst.

Isaiah 19:13

13. — Zoan—Noph] Zoan, or Tanis, was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt; see Numb. xiii. 22; Ps. lxxviii. 43. Noph is better known by the name of Memphis. W. Lowth. In verses 11—17 are recounted the immediate causes of the above-mentioned evils; the folly of the rulers, who valued themselves on their wisdom; and the cowardice and effeminacy of the people in general: Egypt would not have become a prey to so many foreign enemies, but through the excessive weakness of the Egyptians, both in counsel and in action; they had not the courage even to defend themselves, but trusted chiefly to their mercenaries, who, instead of defending, were often the first to betray them. Bp. Newton.

Isaiah 19:14

14. The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit &c.] The Lord in his justice hath given them up to a spirit of giddiness and perverseness: justly punishing their pride with the seduction of their leaders, who have caused Egypt to go wrong in all their enterprises. Bp. Hall. The calling of Egypt to the church. The covenant of Egypt, &c. Before CHRIST about 714.

Isaiah 19:17

17. And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, &c.] The threatening hand of God will be held out and shaken over Egypt, from the side of Judea, through which the Assyrians will march to invade it. Bp. Lowth.

18. In that day; That is, After that time. Bp. Newton. See the notes on chap. iv. 2; x. 20.

— shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan.] It is a way of speaking in Scripture to use a common definite number for an indefinite. See Amos i. 3. 6. 9; (and the note on Job v. 19.) “Shall speak the language of Canaan” signifies, that they shall worship God with the true Israelites. W. Lowth.

The whole passage to the end of the chapter contains a general intimation of the future propagation of the knowledge of the true God in Egypt and Syria, under the successors of Alexander; and, in consequence of this propagation of the early reception of the Gospel in the same countries, when it should be published to the world. Bp. Lowth. Many Jews, after Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jerusalem, fled into Egypt; and carried along with them Jeremiah, who there uttered most of his prophecies concerning the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. From thence some knowledge of God, and some notices of the prophecies, might easily be derived to the Egyptians. Alexander transplanted many of the Jews into his new city Alexandria: the first Ptolemy carried more; and his successors gave great encouragement to settlers: nor were the Jews less favoured by many of the Syrian kings. Bp. Newton.

— one shall be called, The city of destruction.] The margin reads, “The city of the sun,” and many suppose the city Heliopolis to be meant here, and that the other name is substituted for it (as being expressed in the Hebrew by a word which bears near affinity to the true name) by way of reproach, and implying withal, that the idol there worshipped should be utterly destroyed. Upon much the same principle Beth-el, which signifies the house of God, is called, when become the seat of idolatry, Beth-aven, that is, the house of vanity, Hos. iv. 15; x. 5. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 19:19

19. In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord &c.] The altar, sacrifice, oblation, and vows, mentioned here

and at ver. 21, are taken for the worship and service of God in general; it being common in the prophetick style to speak of future times in the language and according to the ideas of the present; of the spiritual worship God intended, by the known terms of the worship then used. W. Lowth, Bp. Chandler. The pillar in the border for a witness, alludes to that erected by Jacob at Beth-el, (Gen. xxviii. 18.) and to the altar built on the border of Jordan, Josh. xxii. 10. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 19:20

20. — because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour.] The conquest of Persia by Alexander might well be considered as a deliverance to Egypt: upon his coming the people all cheerfully submitted to him, out of hatred to the Persians, (see note on ver. 4.) so that he became master of the country without opposition. Bps. Lowth and Newton.

The words may also be fitly applied to the tyranny which the devil exercises over the pagan world, who are led captive by him at his will, from whence they can be redeemed only by the great Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 19:23

23—25. — a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, &c.] It is predicted here that Egypt and Assyria, which used to be at great enmity with each other, shall be united in the same worship by the intermediation of Israel. The kingdom of Syria, which was established by Selenius after the time of Alexander the Great, comprehending nearly the same countries with the ancient empire of Assyria, and in other respects resembling it, may be considered as the representative of Assyria in later times; (see note on Ashur, Numb. xxiv. 24.) now by means of the many Jews and proselytes who were resident in Syria and Egypt, the three countries, Israel, Egypt, and Syria, were in some measure united in the same worship; see Bp. Newton’s note on ver. 18. It was more fully accomplished when these countries became Christian: and we piously hope and believe, that it will still receive its more perfect completion in the latter days, when Mahometism shall be rooted out, and Christianity again flourish in those countries, when “the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel be saved,” Rom. xi. 25, 26. Vitringa, Bp. Newton.

The captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia. Before CHRIST about 714.