Isaiah 19

The Egyptians were the Jews’ principal confederates, at the time of Sennacherib’s invasion: (see 2Kingsxviii. 21, &c.) who arc often reproved by this prophet for their vain confidence in Egypt, as that which would fail and disappoint them. (See xx. 5, 6. xxx. 2, &c.xxxi. 1, &c.) Accordingly, as the prophet foretells the conquest of Egypt by Sennacherib, (chap, xx.) who overran Egypt and Ethiopia, the Jews’ confederates, before he besieged Jerusalem; so this chapter seems to be a general prophecy against Egypt, denouncing the several calamities it should suffer from the time of Sennacherib’s invasion, till the entire change of affairs it should undergo under the government of the twelve tyrants, which at last ended in the sole government of Psaramitichus. Scaliger understands this prophecy of Sabacon, who slew Bocchoris, and made himself king of Egypt, in the last year of Ahaz’s reign. (Can. Isagog. p. 318.) This opinion seems to me not to ngree very well with ver. 17. Some explain the chapter of Sennacherib’s, Tirhaka’s, or Tarachus’s conquest’ of Egypt. who should be the last king of his family: Egypt was one of the ancientest kingdoms in the world, and pretended that the Chaldeans themselves were derived from thence, as Diodorus Siculus affirms, (lib. ii.) though these vied antiquity with the former: but the Egyptians were not content with such a pretence to antiquity, as might be made goo’d by substantial proofs, but would needs have it, that the first men in the world arose out of the mud and slime of the river Nile; as may be seen in the same author. (Hist. lib. ii. cap. 2.) [Tlie son of ancient kings.] The kings of Egypt derived their royal dignity from Misraim, the son of Ham; upon winch account Egypt is called the land of Ham, Psal. lxxviii. 51. cv. 23. cvi. 22.]

Isaiah 19:1

JoEHOLD the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud. God’s visible appearance is described by his riding upon the wings of the wind, (Psal. xviii. 10." civ. 3.) and his riding upon the heavens, (Deut. xxxiii. 1G. Psal. Ixviii. 4.) which expressions allude to the cloud of glory in which the Schechinah used to appear. And the idols of Egypt shallbe moved at his presence.] To be moved, either signifies that the evil spirits which are* worshipped in their idols, shall be under a great consternation, when God brings his judgments upon them and their worshippers: or else it may be meant of their being removed and carried captive, as Jeremy afterward foretold, (xliii. 12.) When God executes his’ judgments upon a heathen nation, he is said to punish the idols of that people:*so particularly it is said of Egypt, Exod. xii. 12. and of Babylon, Isa. xxi. 9. xlvi. 1. Jer. 1. 2. li. 44.:

Isaiah 19:2

Tliey shall fight every one against his brother — city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. One province against another; so the Septuagint very properly render it, No^oc nrt vojiov: the several divisions of that country being called nonii; and tribes here, (ver. 13.) This was fulfilled after their king Sethon’s death, when the country was divided into twelve petty governments, and Psammitiehus, ruler of one of these, at last subdued all the rest. (See note on ver. 4.)

Isaiah 19:3

And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the council thereof. Both the courage and the wisdom of the Egyptians shall fail them in the time of their greatest need. (See ver. 11, 12, &c.) The wisdom of Egypt was famous in those times all the world over: (see 1 Kings iv. 40. Acts vii. 22.) and from thence the Greeks, in aftertimes, derived their knowledge. And they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, &c.] As it was usual for idolaters to do in their distress; (see xlvii. 12.) and the Jews themselves sometimes did in imitation of the ill customs of their neighbours. (See viii. 19.)

Isaiah 19:4

And the Egyptians will I give into thehand of a cruel lord, &c. This most interpreters understand of Psammitichus. (See note on ver. 2.)

Isaiah 19:5

And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. Treraellius shews out of Herodotus that this was literally fulfilled under the government of the twelve petty tyrants who ruled Egypt after Sethon. But the expression may the more probably be metaphorical, and denote the decay.of the Egyptian strength, by metaphors taken from the decrease of the river Nile; upon the overflowing of which river all the plenty and prosperity of Egypt depended. Thus the king of Egypt is described, Ezek. xxix. 3. as a dragon (i. e. a whale, or crocodile) lying in the midst of many tvateis, and boasting of his strength, by saying, My river is my own, &c. Scaliger understands it of a great drought which occasioned a dearth, by the failing of the inundation of the Nile. (Can. Isagog. p. 318.)

Isaiah 19:6

And the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried tip. Jesrt Matzor, in the Hebrew: the same expression w r e meet with again, xxxvii. 25. which is there trans- I lated, the rivers of besieged places: such as were of use to defend cities against a siege. But Bochart(Phaleg. lib. iv. cap. 24.) translates it the rivers of Egypt, and shews that the word Matzor denotes Egypt sometimes, and may be fitly translated so in both these places of Isaiah, and likewise in Mieah vii. 12. which place our translation renders very obscurely, thus, In that day he shall come unto thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even unto the river: but supposing Matzor to signify Egypt, the word runs plainly thus, They shall come unto thee from Assyria to the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the river [Euphrates], which was the boundary of Assyria: and the sense is, that the Jews shall return from their several dispersions whither they were scattered; which is often expressed in the prophets by their return from Assyria and Egypt, as hath been observed in the notes upon xi. 15, 16.

Isaiah 19:7

And the paper-reeds — by the mouth of the brook — shall wither. Paper was an invention of the Egyptians; and was first made of a reed that grew upon the banks of the Nile, w r hieh is therefore thus described by Ovid, (Metamorph. i.) " Papyriferi septemfluaflumina Nili." Accordingly the paper-reeds are said here to grow by the mouth of the brooks, that is, by the shore, or side of the brooks; expressed elsewhere by the lip of the river, (Gen. xli. 3. Exod. ii. 3.) speaking of.tho Nile..

Isaiah 19:8

The fishers also shall mourn, &c. The same metaphor is still continued, to signify, that all sort of trade and business shall cease, by reason of the great commotions which distract the kingdom.

Isaiah 19:9

Moreover they that work iu fine flax, and they that weave net-work, shall be confounded. Fine flax, and linen made out of it, was a principal commodity of Egypt: (see 1 Kings x. 28. Prov. vii. 16. Ezek. xxvii. 7.) and was the habit of their priests and other great men, both in Egypt and in other countries. (See Gen. xli. 42. Esth. viii. 15. Dan. x. 5. Luke xvi. 19.) The?iet-works which follow, or white-works as the margin reads, seem to have been fine weaved works made of the same materials.

Isaiah 19:11

Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish. See the following verses. Zoan or Tanis was one of the ancientest cities in Egypt; (sec Numb. xiii. 22.) and the metropolis of the kingdom in Moses’s time. (See Psal. lxxviii. 43.) Pharaoh was a name common to all tho Egyptian kings. How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?] It was in vain that the court-flatterers extolled their king for his extraordinary abilities, which were derived to him by a “succession of many generations; which yet should not fail in Sethon or Sevecus,

Isaiah 19:12

Where are thy wise men? And let them tell thee now, &c. The wise men of Egypt and the magicians are joined together, Gen. xli. S. and the prophet tells them here, that with all their skill in the arts of divination they could not foresee the evils impending over their country, nor tell how to prevent them. (Compare xlvii. IS.)

Isaiah 19:13

The princes of Noph are deceived. Noph is better known by the name of Memphis; it is called Moph, IIos. ix. 16. which comes very near that name. They that are the stay of the tribes thereof] The governors of the several provinces, or nomi. (See before on ver. 2.)

Isaiah 19:14

They have caused Egypt to err in every work thei-eof as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. God’s judgments are often called the cup of his tvrath: (see particularly Jer. xxv. 16, 17.) because they deprive men not only of their strength, but even of that common prudence and presence of mind, which is requisite for the due management of their affairs; according to that observation, Quos Jupiter perdere vult, dementat.

Isaiah 19:15

Neither shall there be any tvork for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do. All orders and degrees of men shall fail in the discharge of their duty, from the highest to the lowest. (Compare ix. 14.)

Isaiah 19:16

In that day shall Egypt be like women, &c. When God intends the destruction of any people, he commonly takes from them their strength and courage, so that a thousand of them shall flee at the rebuke of one, as our prophet speaks, xxx. 17. (Compare Deut. xxviii. 25. Jer. 1. 37. Nahum iii. 13.) This is what the heathens expressed by a panic terror; but Isaiah more properly calls it here, the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, God’s holding his rod over a people, and still threatening them with severer judgments.’ (Compare x. 32. xi. 15.)

Isaiah 19:17

And the land ofJudah shall be a terror unto Egypt. Egypt was subdued by Sennacherib before he besieged Jerusalem, as may be gathered from xx. 5, 6. But before that, we read of Sennacherib’s invading Judea, and taking all its fenced cities, (2 Kings xviii. 13.) which is placed by Archbishop Usher three years before his besieging Jerusalem. It is this first invasion the prophet here probably alludes to, and saith, that the report of it caused great terror in Egypt, being neighbours and allies to the Jews.

Isaiah 19:18

In that day. There is no necessity this should be understood of the same time spoken of in the foregoing part of the chapter, as hath been already observed in several instances. (Sec note on iv. 2.) vol. in. Shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan.] It is u way of speaking in.Scripture, to use a definite common number for an indefinite. (Seepartk, cularly Amos i. 3. 6. 9, &c.) So heve five cities denote several cities: and of these it is prophesied that they shall speak the language of Canaan, that they shall worship God with the true Israelites, and with one heart and one mouth glorify the true God together with them. (Compare Zeph. iii. 9.) Or, as some explain it, they shall be of one mind with the true servants of God: so the phrase is used, Josh. ix. 2. where it is “said that the kings gathered themselves to fight with Joshua with one consent. It is in the Hebrew with one month. As the Christians are the true seed of Abraham, to whom all the promises belong, so they are some^ times even in the New Testament styled by the name of Jews: (see Rom. ii. 29. Gal. vi. 16. Rev. ii. 9.) but nil along in the Old Testament they are described by the titles, the privileges, and the rites of worship, which belong to the Jews. (See notes on ver. 19. lvi. 7. Ixvi. 23.) This place cannot be understood with Grotius, of the Jews going down into Egypt for fear of Sennacherib; for this is what they are severely reproved for, and judgments threatened to both nations upon that account (chap. xxx, xxxi. of this prophecy); whereas what is here said,is spoken as a promise of mercy and comfort. (See note on xviii. 7.) Learned men observe from this place, where the Jews 5 language is called the language of Canaan, that the Hebrew is the same with the old Phoenician language, as appears from many instances. (See Bishop Walton’s Prolegom. iii. 11—13, &c. ad Biblia Polyglott.) And swear to the Lord of hosts.] Swear allegiance and fidelity to him: (see Nehem. x. 29. Isa. xlv. 23) some render the words, Swear by the Lord of hosts, in opposition to the false gods the heathens used to swear by. Swearing being a religious invocation of the name of God; it is particularly recommended among other religions duties, (See Deut. vi. 13. x. 20. Jer. iv. 2. Psal. Ixiii. 11.) One shall be called, The city of destruction.] Ox,The city of the sun, as our margin reads: for our interpreters and several others suppose, that the Hebrew word Heres may stand for Cheres; so the expression will denote that city which was called by the Greeks Heriopolis, or the city, of the sun: as several other cities had their names from the sun’s having an imago or temple there: such was Kir-haresh among the Moabites,(xvi.7.11.) and Beth-shemesh among the Canaanites,(Josh. xvi.10.) [There was a city in Egypt, called Beth-shemesh, mentioned Jer. xliii. 13.] But. still it may be inquired for what reason the prophet should disguise the name of this city, and not speak it out plain? To which question wo may return this satisfactory answer, that the prophet would not call the city by its proper name Nir Cheres, as detesting the name of the idol to which it was dedicated, but chose rather to eall it, by way of reproach/ Nir Heres, implying that the idol there worshipped should be utterly destroyed. The Jews were forbidden to make mention of the names of the heathen idols, if they could avoid it. (See Exod. xxiii. 13. Josh, xxiii. 7. Psal. xvi. 4.) So they either changed the names of the places dedicated to idol-worship, or else they gave nicknames to. them and their idols, and substituted such a word as had some affinity with the true name, but withal expressed their abhorrence and detestation of it. Thus they called Baal Bosheth, 3T