Isaiah 19

Isaiah 19:1-17

This is the burden of Egypt. 1. It should be greatly unabused, and become so contemplable among the nations as it was now considerable, through a complication of judgments which God could deny some them, ver. 1—17. 2. At length God’s holy religion should be established in it, ver. 18—25.

1. The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 3. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the veranda. 4. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, such the LORD, the LORD of hosts. 5. And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the rivers shall be wafted and dried up. 6. And they shall turn the rivers far away, and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither. 7. The paper-reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing flown by the brooks shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. 8. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. 9. Moreover, they that work in fine flax, and they that weave net-works shall be confounded. 10. And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make thieves and ponds for fish. 11. Surely the princes of Zaan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the Son of the wise, the Son of ancient kings? 12. Where are they? where are they wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purported upon Egypt. 13. The princes of Zaan are become fools, the princes of Noah are deceived, they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the slay of the tribes thereof. 14. The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof, and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof: as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. 15. Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush may do. 16. In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear, because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shacketh over it. 17. And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof, shall be afraid in himself; because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts which he hath determined against it.

Or, that I ask, xxx. g 1 Kings I ask, shall not be. h 1 Kings i, 15. Prov. vi, 16. 1 Rom. iii. 16. 2 Rom. i. 16. 1 Cor. i. 20. 1 Jer. ii. 17. § I ask, the corners, i. e. 1 Jer. ii. 2 J. 1 Kings 1 Cor. ii. 3 Chap. viii. 5. 1 Chap. ii. 1 Jer. ii. 30. 2 Jer. ii. 15. 3 Chap. ii. 4 Chap. 1 Hor. ii.

1. THE burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 3. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the veranda. 4. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, such the LORD, the LORD of hosts. 5. And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the rivers shall be wafted and dried up. 6. And they shall turn the rivers far away, and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither. 7. The paper-reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing flown by the brooks shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. 8. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. 9. Moreover, they that work in fine flax, and they that weave net-works shall be confounded. 10. And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make thieves and ponds for fish. 11. Surely the princes of Zaan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the Son of the wise, the Son of ancient kings? 12. Where are they? where are they wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purported upon Egypt. 13. The princes of Zaan are become fools, the princes of Noah are deceived, they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the slay of the tribes thereof. 14. The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof, and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof: as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. 15. Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush may do. 16. In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear, because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shacketh over it. 17. And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof, shall be afraid in himself; because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts which he hath determined against it.

Egypt had often been a broken reed to the house of Judah, who, notwithstanding the misery their fathers had there endured, were ever flying thither for help, and making this their confidence, though ever to their hurt. God therefore will in the destruction of Egypt cut off this false resource. We have here,

1. The terror of Egypt, and the helplessness of their idol-gods, when the Lord cometh on the swift cloud, in terrible majesty, hailening as a judge to condemn the malefaction; or as a general at the head of his troops, with impetuous speed, and irresistible power, to lay the country under before him. At his presence the idols, like Dagon’s image before the ark, shall be confounded, and their courageous folgers be utterly dispirited, v. 1. Nies, Before an avenging God who can stand!

2. Intestine feuds shall embroil them, and lay them more open to the invader, v. 2, which may refer to the civil war, when Flammiticus feared the kingdom; or to that between Aprius and Amalia, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Nies, They are the greatest enemies of their country, who foment a spirit of faction, and seek to embroil brother against brother.

3. A spirit of infatuation and folly shall seize the Egyptians, v. 3. Their princes and wicki counsellors, notwithstanding their beasts of Sutures, and descent from a long train of flush-trious ancestors, are become brutish and fools, unable to discover the divine purpoise; neither can their idols or magicians inform them, v. 11, 12. Deceived themselves, their princes have deceived their country; and they who should have been the slay thereof, hasten its destruction, v. 13. Like men intoxicated with wine, they have drunk of the cup of error, and every step they take is wrong. Their counsels weak, unsteady, perverse, and by them the slain is led to the precipice of ruin, v. 14. Nies, It is a needful and weighty petition of our Litancy, That is men please else to realize the Lords of the council and all the nobility with grace, wisdom, and understanding.

4. They shall be told into the hand of a cruel lord, or lords; either the twelve tyrants who succeeded Bethou, or Flammiticus, who united the monarchy under himself; or rather the Persian emperors, Camhyles and Orban, to whom the character highly agrees. Nies, (1.) A tyrant king is the courage of his land. (2.) What reason have we to bless God for the mild government we enjoy!

5. The sources of their riches and commerce should be cut off, and want and wretchedness entom. The Nile, the great cause of Egypt’s territory, shall fail them, occasioned by such a drought as would prevent its usual overflowing, v. 5. or by the impounded attempts of their kings, one of whom, Pharaoh Neches, by endeavouring to join the Nile with the Red Sea, is said to have greatly weakened its losses; the consequences of which would be, [1.] That their defence would be gone, the slitches which the water of the Nile filled round their fortified places being drained, v. 6. [2.] That famine would be in their land, because, as they have no rain in Egypt, the Nile not rising as usual, nothing would grow; and if the reeds on its banks, from whence paper and a variety of other things were made, withered for want of moisture, much more would all the fruits of the ground, v. 7. [3.] Even their fish, of which such vast plenty abounded, would be no more: the river dried up, the fishermen desirous of employment would mourn, and the people who generally led thereon be reduced to deep stiffness. Nor shall the rich be able to supply their tables, when their fauces and ponds should alike be exhausted, v. 8—10. [4.] Their manufactures for want of fars should be at a stand: they who move in the loom, or lynch, or made their nets, now unemployed, in want would pine away, v. 11. and an entire ship be put to their trade and commerce, there being no work which head or tail, branch or rush may do, ver. 15. Nies, Our common blessings are grievously overlooked; but one year of drought, that should destroy our harvest, would desibly reach us the value of the mercies we disregard. May our ingratitude and unmindfulness of God never promise him thus to plague us!

6. The ruin of Judea by the Afyrian hosts would spread a panic among them; panga shall come upon them as on a travailing woman, beholding the hand of the Lord into blind up; justly apprehensive of the vicinity of the victorious army, and fearing that if God’s own people are not spared, Egypt may not hope to escape, against which the decree is gone forth, v. 16, 17. Nies, (1.) When one famer is cut down, it becomes the survivors to look and tremble. (2.) When the wicked perish in their perverse way, the counsel of the Lord is determined for their destruction.

7. ¶ In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts: one shall be called the city of destruction. 19. In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the moulds of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD. 20. And it shall be for a sign, and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD, because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour and a great one, and he shall deliver them. 21. And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation, yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD,

c Zeph. ii. Dost. v. 1. Or, Zeh. v. 19. Or, Jer. iii. 16. Or, the See 1 Gen. 1 Jer. ii. 2 Jud. xxii. Tit. ii. 13. 4 1. Tim. vi. 5 Zeph. iii. 6 M. 1. 8 Easel. v. Before Chill 24. Mal. vi. 1. Hch. 20. 24.