Isaiah 19:1-20:6 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 19:1-20:6. Let’s go!
Isaiah 19:1-17 (NIV)
1 An oracle concerning Egypt: See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.
2 “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian– brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.
4 I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
5 The waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry.
6 The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither,
7 also the plants along the Nile, at the mouth of the river. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched, will blow away and be no more.
8 The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away.
9 Those who work with combed flax will despair, the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.
10 The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.
11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise men, a disciple of the ancient kings”?
12 Where are your wise men now? Let them show you and make known what the LORD Almighty has planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan have become fools, the leaders of Memphis are deceived; the cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray.
14 The LORD has poured into them a spirit of dizziness; they make Egypt stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15 There is nothing Egypt can do– head or tail, palm branch or reed.
16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the LORD Almighty raises against them.
17 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.
On verses 1-17: Isaiah’s oracle about Egypt is not only a warning to Egypt; even more it is a warning to Isaiah’s own people of Judah not to rely on an alliance with Egypt as their hope against a larger power like Assyria. Isaiah speaks of how Egypt will suffer from internal division (v2), fear and hopelessness (v8-10), a lack of wise leadership (v11-13) and confusion (v14). Isaiah’s oracle is reminiscent of images in the book of Exodus many centuries before (v5-7) when the Nile stank and was no longer the water source that the Egyptians could depend on. Rather than Judah being impressed by Egypt, Egypt will be afraid of Judah, Isaiah says in verse 17, all because of what God has in store for Egypt.
Isaiah 19:18-25 (NIV)
18 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 Destruction.
19 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.
20 It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them.
21 So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them.
22 The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.
24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth.
25 The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”
On verses 18-25: Yet out of the devastation that Egypt will experience in verses 1-17, Isaiah says that Egypt will turn to the LORD. A nation that had long consulted idols, spirits of the dead, mediums and spiritists would finally turn to the LORD and experience a healing (v22) and a rescue (v23) that their idols and spiritists could never effect. Verses 23-25 even describe how Egypt, Assyria and Israel, long time enemies, would together worship the LORD.
What can we learn from this?
– Often times God breaks something or someone down because He wants to build them up stronger than they were before, with a newfound trust in Him.
– God’s kingdom is a multicultural kingdom consisting of people from different nations, colours and cultures.
Isaiah 20:1-6 (NIV)
1 In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it–
2 at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
3 Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,
4 so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared–to Egypt’s shame.
5 Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be afraid and put to shame.
6 In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?'”
On verses 1-5: In the same year that Assyria conquers the Philistine city of Ashdod (approximately 711 B.C. some scholars estimate), Isaiah does something shocking: as a visual illustration of the prophecies Isaiah had spoken concerning Egypt (in chapter 19) and Cush (in chapter 18), Isaiah walks around stripped naked and barefoot for 3 years. Scholars debate whether Isaiah was completely naked or wearing a loin cloth as well as whether he was walking around naked for parts of three years or for three whole years. In any event, the message to Judah was: do not think that an alliance with Egypt or Cush is going to save you (v6); what Judah needed was to trust in the LORD.
What can we learn from this? Just as Isaiah went around naked as per God’s command, just as Jesus was stripped bare on the cross, are you and I willing to humiliate ourselves for the sake of the message of the gospel? Will we bear our hearts to people who don’t know Jesus and try to share the Gospel with them, even at the risk of being rejected?
Like Isaiah, may we not be afraid to make fools of ourselves for God’s sake, knowing that people’s lives and eternity are at stake.
Father, thank You that Your heart is for people in every kingdom and nation on earth. May we not be afraid to speak up for You and to love justice the way You do. In Jesus’ name AMEN!
