The Book Of Isaiah. Day 80, A Prophecy Against Egypt, Part Four

Isaiah has been predicting collapse for ancient Egypt. This is going to take place in the form of governmental failings, drought that will affect agriculture and the fishing industry and the trading of goods, civil unrest within the nation, and invasion and subjugation by other empires.

Now he says: "In that day the Egyptians will become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the Lord Almighty raises against them. And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the Lord Almighty is planning against them." (Isaiah 19:16-17)

The interpretation of verses 16-17 is unclear. Judah itself would be conquered in a little over one hundred years after Isaiah gave this message and it is difficult to see how, during Isaiah's time or afterwards, the Egyptians would have shuddered in fear at the mention of the name of Judah. Most scholars appear to believe these verses predict a time that has not yet come to pass and I tend to agree with that assessment. 

Whenever the Bible uses the term "in that day" it is often a reference to the end times or to the eternal kingdom of the Messiah. We can see that verse 16 may have been fulfilled in antiquity, when the Lord allowed great disasters to befall Egypt, but verse 16 seems so closely connected to verse 17 (including the use of the word "and" between the two verses) that this may indicate a future event. The "fear" and the "terror" Egypt will experience at that time may indicate a reverent fear of Judah's God and a widescale turning to Him.

In our own day only about ten percent of Egyptians are Christian and there are so few Jews that a percentage cannot even really be calculated, so it seems clear that Isaiah's prediction has not yet fully come true. This next segment may have been partially fulfilled in antiquity but most of it remains to be fulfilled as well.

"In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun. In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border." (Isaiah 19:18-19) What does Isaiah mean when he says five cities of Egypt will speak the language of the land of Canaan? Does he mean they will speak the language of the descendants of Jacob, to whom the Lord gave the land of Canaan? Scholars are divided in their opinion of this prophecy and some scholars don't offer an opinion on it at all.

An altar to the Lord was indeed built during the time when the Greeks were Pharaohs of Egypt. A Jewish high priest named Onias built a temple, including an altar, in Alexandria when Ptolemy VI was king of Egypt. During that time there were a number of converts to Christianity in Egypt. However, there is reason to believe that Isaiah's prediction will be fulfilled in bigger ways in times to come. 

When we continue our study of this chapter in our next session, we will discuss how some of Isaiah's prophecy in Chapter 19 may have been partially fulfilled in the time of Alexander the Great and thereafter. But we will also discuss the fact that not all of Isaiah's prophecy fits into history, leading us to believe that much of it regards a time still to come.