INTRODUCTION

The first sequence of five “burdens” of Isaiah begins with Babylon (chs. 13-14) and ends with Egypt (chs. 19-20). Isaiah is working backward in redemptive history, from Judah’s future conqueror to Israel’s earliest slave master.

THE TEXT

“The burden against Egypt. Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt; the idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst. I will set Egyptians against Egyptians . . . ” (Isaiah 19:1-20:6).

RIDING A CLOUD

Yahweh travels in a cloud. It is His war chariot, consisting of myriads and myriads of angels (v. 1; cf. Ezekiel 1-3). In the plagues, Yahweh came to Egypt to battle Egypt’s gods (Exodus 12:12), and Isaiah prophesies that it is going to happen all over again. When their idols tremble and fall, the people lose heart as well, and turn to spirits and ghosts for help (Isaiah 19:1, 3). The gods they trusted prove worthless.

NATION AGAINST NATION

A series of events follows Yahweh’s coming to Egypt. Everything that the chapter describes is the result of Yahweh’s advent. First, as Jesus’ coming divided brother against brother (Matthew 10:34-36), so Yahweh’s coming to Egypt divides Egypt (Isaiah 19:2). Yahweh judges nations by fomenting civil war. Second, the warring Egyptians are subdued by a “cruel master” and a “mighty king” (19:4). As often happens in history, tyranny arises from social turmoil. Egypt herself comes under a savage king, and that sets them up for an exodus. The following verses evoke the plagues and the passage through the sea: waters dried up (v. 5), canals emit a stench as they did when the fish died in the bloody water (v. 6; cf. Exodus 7:18), fields devastated by drought (v. 7). Third, Yahweh will confuse the wise men of Egypt so that they become stupid (vv. 11-13). Their decisions will be like the decisions of drunkards, and they will trip and fall because of a “spirit of distortion” (vv. 14-15).

ALTAR AND PILLAR

Though Yahweh comes to disrupt Egypt and make it fall, His ultimate aim is redemptive. On the far side of the judgment, Egypt will set up an altar to worship Israel’s God in the center of the land and a pillar to Yahweh will mark Egypt’s border (Isaiah 19:19), a witness that Yahweh is Savior and Mighty One of Egypt too (v. 20). He strikes, but He strikes in order to heal (v. 22). Plus, the Assyrians who in Isaiah’s day were fighting Egypt will one day join Egyptians in worshiping Israel’s God (v. 23). Plus, Isaiah prophesies that Egypt and Assyria will take preeminence over Israel. Israel the firstborn yields first place to her traditional enemies (vv. 24-25). We see the realization of this prophecy in the new covenant: Egypt was a great center of early Christianity, and there were Christians in Assyria from the first century A.D.

NAKED AND BAREFOOT

For the time being, though, Assyria and Egypt are still at war. Yahweh tells Isaiah to go naked and barefoot like a slave (Isaiah 20:2-3) as a sign that the king of Assyria will take captives from Egypt and Cush, leaving the Philistine city of Ashdod exposed (vv. 1, 4-6). All of these international conflicts are preparing the ground for “that day” when Yahweh will come to join Egypt, Assyria, and Israel in worship and blessing.