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In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of Armies. One will be called “The city of destruction.”
In that day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border. It will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of Armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them.
Isaiah 19:18-20 sits inside this longer paragraph.
The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?” Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt. The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, who are the cornerstone of her tribes. Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit. Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do. In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of Yahweh of Armies’s hand, which he shakes over them. The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the plans of Yahweh of Armies, which he determines against it. In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of Armies. One will be called “The city of destruction.”
In that day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border. It will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of Armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them. Yahweh will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will vow a vow to Yahweh, and will perform it. Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to Yahweh, and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them.
In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of Armies. One will be called “The city of destruction.”
In that day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border.
It will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of Armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them.
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.
In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
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.
In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called The city of destruction.
In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
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 will send them a saviour, and a defender, who will deliver them.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv18–20 Meaning, of six cities, five should serve God, and…
Meaning, of six cities, five should serve God, and the sixth remain in their wickedness: and so of the sixth part there should be but one lost.
Shall renounce their superstitions and protest to serve God aright.
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Shall make one confession of faith with the people of God: by the speech of Canaan, meaning the language wherein God was then served.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv18–20 Isa 19:18 In that day shall five cities in…
Isa 19:18 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.
Ver. 18. In that day.] When the gospel shall be there preached, whether by Mark the evangelist or others, as Clement, Origen, Didymus.
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Five cities.] A considerable number of Egyptians.
Speak the language of Canaan.] Called the Jews’ language, {Isa 36:11; Isa 36:13} the Hebrew tongue, wherein were written the lively oracles of God. This language, therefore, the elect Egyptians shall learn, and labour for that "pure lip," {Zep 3:9} to "speak as the oracles of God"; {1Pe 4:11} "wholesome words"; {2Ti 1:13} "right words"; {Job 6:25} "words of wisdom"; {Pro 1:6} "of truth and soberness"; {Act 26:25} to be examples to others, not only in faith and conversation, but also "in words and communication." {1Ti 4:12}
And swear to the Lord of hosts.] Devote themselves to his fear and service, taking a corporal oath for that purpose as in baptism, {a} and other holy covenants, whereupon haply they might be enabled to speak with tongues, the holy tongue especially, as most necessary for Christians. Here then we have a description of a true Christian, not such as the Jesuits in their catechism give us, viz., A Christian is he who believeth whatsoever the church of Rome commandeth to be believed, swearing fealty to her.
One shall be called the city of destruction,] i.e., Nevertheless there shall be a few cities that shall despise Christian religion; and shall therefore be destroyed for neglecting so great salvation. It shall be easier for Sodom one day than for such. Others render the text Heliopolis, or the city of the sun, shall be accounted one, sc., of those five converted cities, and become consecrated to the Sun of righteousness. {b}
{a} Nempe susceptione baptismi. - Piscat.
{b} Joseph. Ant., lib. xiii. cap. 6.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv18–20 In that day; after that time, as this phrase…
In that day; after that time, as this phrase is used, Isa 4:2; 18:7, and oft elsewhere. In the times of the gospel, which are oft noted in the prophets by that very expression.
Five cities; a considerable number of their chief cities, a certain number being put for an uncertain.
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Speak the language of Canaan; profess the Jewish religion, agree with them in the same mind; which is fitly signified by speaking the same language, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Thus the changing and purifying of a people’s lips is used to signify the change of their hearts and lives, Zep 3:9; and praising God with one mouth, to note their unity or consent in the faith, Rom 15:6.
Swear to the Lord of hosts: it is well observed by some learned interpreters, that he doth not say swear by the Lord, which is the most common phrase, and which, being one eminent part and act of worship, is put for the whole; but swear to the Lord; which phrase is also used 2Ch 15:14; Psa 132:2; Isa 45:23; and it implies the dedication, or oblation, and yielding up of a person or thing to the Lord, by a solemn vow, or covenant, or oath, as appears by the places now quoted. In like manner God is said to swear to a man, Deu 26:15, and one man to another, Gen 21:23, when they oblige themselves by oath to do such or such a thing for them. And therefore what is called swearing to God, Isa 45:23, is rendered or expounded bowing the knee (which signifies the subjection of a man’s self) to God, and confessing to God, Rom 14:11.
One; not one of the five, for they are supposed to be saved in the foregoing clause; but one city, or another city, the sixth city. As divers cities shall be converted and saved, so some other cities shall continue in their impenitency, and be destroyed. Others render this clause thus, one of them
shall be called, ( or, shall be; for to be called is oft put for to be.) The city of the sun; or, as the Grecians call it, Heliopolis; which the Egyptians called On, Gen 41:45; which was a very eminent city, and a chief seat of idolatry, being a city of priests, as Strabo reports; and therefore its conversion to the faith was more wonderful.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v18 Out of the thick and threatening clouds of the…
Out of the thick and threatening clouds of the foregoing prophecy the sun of comfort here breaks forth, and it is the sun of righteousness. Still God has mercy in store for Egypt, and he will show it, not so much by reviving their trade and replenishing their river again as by bringing the true religion among them, calling them to, and accepting them in, the worship of the one only living and true God; and these blessings of grace were much more valuable than all the blessings of nature wherewith Egypt was enriched. We know not of any event in which this prophecy can be thought to have its full accomplishment short of the conversion of Egypt to the faith of Christ, by the preaching (as is supposed) of Mark the Evangelist, and the founding of many Christian churches there, which flourished for many ages. Many prophecies of this book point to the days of the Messiah; and why not this? It is no unusual thing to speak of gospel graces and ordinances in the language of the Old Testament institutions. And, in these prophecies, those words, in that day, perhaps have not always a reference to what goes immediately before, but have a peculiar significancy pointing at that day which had been so long fixed, and so often spoken of, when the day-spring from on high should visit this dark world. Yet it is not improbable (which some conjecture) that this prophecy was in part fulfilled when those Jews who fled from their own country to take shelter in Egypt, when Sennacherib invaded their land, brought their religion along with them, and, being awakened to great seriousness by the troubles they were in, made an open and zealous profession of it there, and were instrumental to bring many of the Egyptians to embrace it, which was an earnest and specimen of the more plentiful harvest of souls that should be gathered in to God by the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Josephus indeed tells us that Onias the son of Onias the high priest, living an outlaw at Alexandria in Egypt, obtained leave of Ptolemy Philometer, then king, and Cleopatra his queen, to build a temple to the God of Israel, like that at Jerusalem, at Bubastis in Egypt, and pretended a warrant for doing it from this prophecy in Isaiah, that there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt; and the service of God, Josephus affirms, continued in it about 333 years, when it was shut up by Paulinus soon after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; see Antiq. 13.62-79, and Jewish War 7.426-436. But that temple was all along looked upon by the pious Jews as so great an irregularity, and an affront to the temple at Jerusalem, that we cannot suppose this prophecy to be fulfilled in it.
Observe how the conversion of Egypt is here described.
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I. They shall speak the language of Canaan, the holy language, the scripture-language; they shall not only understand it, but use it (Isa 19:18); they shall introduce that language among them, and converse freely with the people of God, and not, as they used to do, by an interpreter, Gen 42:23. Note, Converting grace, by changing the heart, changes the language; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Five cities in Egypt shall speak this language; so many Jews shall come to reside in Egypt, and they shall so multiply there, that they shall soon replenish five cities, one of which shall be the city of Heres, or of the sun, Heliopolis, where the sun was worshipped, the most infamous of all the cities of Egypt for idolatry; even there shall be a wonderful reformation, they shall speak the language of Canaan. Or it may be taken thus, as we render it - That for every five cities that shall embrace religion there shall be one (a sixth part of the cities of Egypt) that shall reject it, and that shall be called a city of destruction, because it refuses the methods of salvation.
II. They shall swear to the Lord of hosts, not only swear by him, giving him the honour of appealing to him, as all nations did to the gods they worshipped; but they shall by a solemn oath and vow devote themselves to his honour and bind themselves to his service. They shall swear to cleave to him with purpose of heart, and shall worship him, not occasionally, but constantly. They shall swear allegiance to him as their King, to Christ, to whom all judgment is committed.
III. They shall set up the public worship of God in their land (Isa 19:19): There shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, an altar on which they shall do sacrifice and oblation (Isa 19:21); therefore it must be understood spiritually. Christ, the great altar, who sanctifies every gift, shall be owned there, and the gospel sacrifices of prayer and praise shall be offered up; for by the law of Moses there was to be no altar for sacrifice but that at Jerusalem. In Christ Jesus all distinction of nations is taken away; and a spiritual altar, a gospel church, in the midst of the land of Egypt, is as acceptable to God as one in the midst of the land of Israel; and spiritual sacrifices of faith and love, and a contrite heart, please the Lord better than an ox or bullock.
IV. There shall be a face of religion upon the nation, and an open profession made of it, discernible to all who come among them. Not only in the heart of the country, but even in the borders of it, there shall be a pillar, or pillars, inscribed, To Jehovah, to his honour, as before there had been such pillars set up in honour of false gods. As soon as a stranger entered upon the borders of Egypt he might perceive what God they worshipped. Those that serve God must not be ashamed to own him, but be forward to do any thing that may be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts. Even in the land of Egypt he had some faithful worshippers, who boasted of their relation to him and made his name their strong tower, or bulwark, on their borders, with which their coasts were fortified against all assailants.
V. Being in distress, they shall seek to God, and he shall be found of them; and this shall be a sign and a witness for the Lord of hosts that he is a God hearing prayer to all flesh that come to him, Isa 19:20. See Psa 65:2. When they cry to God by reason of their oppressors, the cruel lords that shall rule over them (Isa 19:4) he shall be entreated of them (Isa 19:22); whereas he had told his people Israel, who had made it their own choice to have such a king, that they should cry to him by reason of their king, and he would not hear them, Sa1 8:18.
VI. They shall have an interest in the great Redeemer. When they were under the oppression of cruel lords perhaps God sometimes raised them up mighty deliverers, as he did for Israel in the days of the judges; and by them, though he had smitten the land, he healed it again; and, upon their return to God in a way of duty, he returned to them in a way of mercy, and repaired the breaches of their tottering state. For repenting Egyptians shall find the same favour with God that repenting Ninevites did. But all these deliverances wrought for them, as those for Israel, were but figures of gospel salvation. Doubtless Jesus Christ is the Saviour and the great one here spoken of, whom God will send the glad tidings of to the Egyptians, and by whom he will deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, that they may serve him without fear, Luk 1:74, Luk 1:75. Jesus Christ delivered the Gentile nations from the service of dumb idols, and did himself both purchase and preach liberty to the captives.
VII. The knowledge of God shall prevail among them, Isa 19:21. 1. They shall have the means of knowledge. For many ages in Judah only was God known, for there only were the lively oracles found; but now the Lord, and his name and will, shall be known to Egypt. Perhaps this may in part refer to the translation of the Old Testament out of Hebrew into Greek by the Septuagint, which was done at Alexandria in Egypt, by the command of Ptolemy king of Egypt; and it was the first time that the scriptures were translated into any other language. By the help of this (the Grecian monarchy having introduced their language into that country) the Lord was known to Egypt, and a happy omen and means it was of his being further known. 2. They shall have grace to improve those means. It is promised not only that the Lord shall be known to Egypt, but that the Egyptians shall know the Lord; they shall receive and entertain the light granted to them, and shall submit themselves to the power of it. The Lord is known to our nation, and yet I fear there are many of our nation that do not know the Lord. But the promise of the new covenant is that all shall know the Lord, from the least even to the greatest, which promise is sure to all the seed. The effect of this knowledge of God is that they shall vow a vow to the Lord and perform it. For those do not know God aright who either are not willing to come under binding obligations to the Lord or do not make good those obligations.
VIII. They shall come into the communion of saints. Being joined to the Lord, they shall be added to the church, and be incorporated with all the saints. 1. All enmities shall be slain. Mortal feuds there had been between Egypt and Assyria; they often made war upon one another; but now there shall be a highway between Egypt and Assyria (Isa 19:23), a happy correspondence settled between he two nations; they shall trade with one another, and every thing that passes between them shall be friendly. The Egyptians shall serve (shall worship the true God) with the Assyrians; and therefore the Assyrians shall come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria. Note, It becomes those who have communion with the same God, through the same Mediator, to keep up an amicable correspondence with one another. The consideration of our meeting at the same throne of grace, and our serving with each other in the same business of religion, should put an end to all heats and animosities, and knit our hearts to each other in holy love. 2. The Gentile nations shall not only unite with each other in the gospel fold under Christ the great shepherd, but they shall all be united with the Jews. When Egypt and Assyria become partners in serving God Israel shall make a third with them (Isa 19:24); they shall become a three-fold cord, not easily broken. The ceremonial law, which had long been the partition-wall between Jews and Gentiles, shall be taken down, and then they shall become one sheep-fold under one shepherd. Thus united, they shall be a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, Isa 19:24, Isa 19:25. (1.) Israel shall be a blessing to them all, because of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, and they were the natural branches of the good olive, to whom did originally pertain its root and fatness, and the Gentiles were but grafted in among them, Rom 11:17. Israel lay between Egypt and Assyria, and was a blessing to them both by bringing them to meet in that word of the Lord which went forth from Jerusalem, and that church which was first set up in the land of Israel. Qui conveniunt in aliquo tertio inter se conveniunt - Those who meet in a third meet in each other. Israel is that third in whom Egypt and Assyria agree, and is therefore a blessing; for those are real and great blessings to their generation who are instrumental to unite those that have been at variance. (2.) They shall all be a blessing to the world: so the Christian church is, made up of Jews and Gentiles; it is the beauty, riches, and support of the world. (3.) They shall all be blessed of the Lord. [1.] They shall all be owned by him as his. Though Egypt was formerly a house of bondage to the people of God, and Assyria an unjust invader of them, all this shall now be forgiven and forgotten, and they shall be as welcome to God as Israel. They are all alike his people whom he takes under his protection. They are formed by him, for they are the work of his hands; not only as a people, but as his people. They are formed for him; for they are his inheritance, precious in his eyes, and dear to him, and from whom he has his rent of honour out of this lower world. [2.] They shall be owned together by him as jointly his, his in concert; they shall all share in one and the same blessing. Note, Those that are united in the love and blessing of God ought, for that reason, to be united to each other in charity.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv18–20 In that day shall five cities in the land…
In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt,.... Here opens a scene of mercy, a prophecy of good things to the Egyptians in future times; for this is not to be understood of the selfsame time, that the former calamities would come upon them; but of some time after that; and not of Egypt, spiritual or mystical, that is, Rome, or the antichristian jurisdiction, so called, Rev 11:8 and of the five kingdoms that should revolt from it at the Reformation, as Cocceius thinks; who interprets the above prophecy of the antichristian state, and names the five kingdoms that should break off from it, and did; as Great Britain, the United States of Holland, Denmark and Norway, Swedeland, the people of Germany, and those near them, as Bohemia, Hungary, Transylvania, and Helvetia; but Egypt literally is here designed; and its five cities either intend just so many principal ones, as some think, namely, Memphis, Tanis, Alexandria, Bubastis, and Heliopolis; or rather it is a certain number for an uncertain; and to be understood either of many, as five out of six, since afterwards one is mentioned, as to be destroyed; or rather of a few, as five out of twenty thousand, for so many cities are said to have been in Egypt (y); and so this number is used in Scripture for a few; see Co1 14:19 and the prophecy respects the conversion of them, which some think was fulfilled in some little time after; either by some Jews fleeing to Egypt when Judea was invaded, and Jerusalem besieged by Sennacherib, who making known and professing the true religion there, were the means of converting many of the Egyptians; or, as the Jews (z) think, it had its accomplishment when Sennacherib's army was destroyed, and what remained of them, consisting of Egyptians and other people, were dismissed by Hezekiah, and being used kindly by him, embraced the true religion, and carried it with them into Egypt, and there professed and propagated it; but it seems most likely to refer to later times, the times of the Gospel, when it was carried and preached in Egypt by the Evangelist Mark, and others, to the conversion of them, which is expressed in the following words:
speak the language of Canaan; the Hebrew language, which continued from the time of the confusion in the posterity of Shem, and in the family of Heber, from whom Abraham descended; which was not the language of the old Canaanites, though that was pretty near it, but what the Jews now at this time spake, who dwelt in the land of Canaan: but though this language is here referred to, and might be learned, as it is where the Gospel comes, for the sake of understanding the Scriptures in the original; yet that is not principally meant, but the religion of the Christian and converted Jews; and the sense is, that the Egyptians, hearing and embracing the Gospel, should speak the pure language of it, and make the same profession of it, and with one heart and mouth with them glorify God, and confess the Lord Jesus: and when a sinner is converted, he speaks a different language than he did before; the language of Canaan is the language of repentance towards God, faith in Christ, love to them, and all the saints; it is self-abasing, Christ exalting, and free grace magnifying language; it is the language of prayer to God for mercies wanted, and of praise and thanksgiving for mercies received, and especially for Christ, and the blessings of grace in him; it is the language of experience, and what agrees with the word of God: and in common conversation it is different from others; not swearing, or lying, or filthiness, or foolish jesting, or frothy, vain, and idle talk, are this language; but what is savoury, and for the use of edifying:
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and swear to the Lord of hosts; not by him, but to him, which sometimes is put for the whole of religious worship, Deu 6:13 and signifies a bowing, a submission, and subjection to him; compare Isa 45:23 with Rom 14:11 it is swearing allegiance to him, owning him to be their Lord, King, and Lawgiver, and a resolution to obey him in all his commands and ordinances, see Psa 119:106,
one shall be called the city of destruction; not one of the five cities before mentioned; because all such as believe with the heart unto righteousness, and with the mouth make confession agreeably to it, shall be saved; but the sense is, that one and all, and everyone of these cities, and all such persons in them as speak not the language of Canaan, who neither embrace the Gospel, nor become subject to Christ, shall be devoted to destruction: though there is a Keri and Cetib of these words; it is written "heres", destruction, but it is read "cheres", the sun; and there was a city in Egypt called Bethshemesh, the house of the sun, Jer 43:13 and by the Greeks Heliopolis (a); and by the Latins Solis Oppidum (b); and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "and one shall be called the city of the sun"; that is, Heliopolis, where the sun was worshipped, and from whence it had its name; and so the words are a display of the grace of God, that in that city, which was the seat of idolatrous worship, there the sun of righteousness should arise, and there should be a number of persons in it that should profess his name. The Targum takes in both the writing and reading of this passage, and renders it,
"the city of Bethshemesh, which is to be destroyed, shall be called one of them.''
(y) Herodot. l. 2. c. 177. (z) T. Bab. Menachot fol. 109. 2. and 110. 1. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 23. p. 66. (a) Herodot. l. 1. c. 3. 7. 8. 9. 59. 63. (b) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 9. and 6. 29.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv18–20 In that day - After that time. In the…
In that day - After that time. In the times of the gospel. Five - A considerable number of their chief cities: a certain number being put for an uncertain. Speak - Profess the Jewish religion, agree with them in the same mind; which is fitly signified by speaking the same language. Swear - This implies the dedication, and yielding up of a person or thing to the Lord, by a solemn vow, or covenant. One - Not one of the five, but another city, the sixth city. As divers cities shall be converted and saved, so some other cities shall continue in their impenitency, and be destroyed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18–19 Verse 18. The city of destruction - "The city…
Verse 18. The city of destruction - "The city of the sun"] עיר החרס ir hacheres. This passage is attended with much difficulty and obscurity. First, in regard to the true reading. It is well known that Onias applied it to his own views, either to procure from the king of Egypt permission to build his temple in the Hieropolitan Nome, or to gain credit and authority to it when built; from the notion which he industriously propagated, that Isaiah had in this place prophesied of the building of such a temple. He pretended that the very place where it should be built was expressly named by the prophet, עיר החרס ir hacheres, the city of the sun. This possibly may have been the original reading. The present text has עיר ההרס ir haheres, the city of destruction; which some suppose to have been introduced into the text by the Jews of Palestine afterwards, to express their detestation of the place, being much offended with this schismatical temple in Egypt. Some think the latter to have been the true reading, and that the prophet himself gave this turn to the name out of contempt, and to intimate the demolition of this Hieropolitan temple; which in effect was destroyed by Vespasian's orders, after that of Jerusalem, "Videtur propheta consulto scripsisse הרס heres, pro חרס cheres, ut alibi scribitur בית און beith aven pro בית אל beith El: איש בשת ish bosheth pro איש בעל ish baal, c. Vide Lowth in loc." - Secker. "It seems that the prophet designedly wrote הרס heres, destruction, for חרס cheres, the sun: as elsewhere בית און beith aven, the house of iniquity, is written for בית אל beith El, the house of God איש בשת ish bosheth for איש בעל ish baal," c. But on the supposition that עיר ההרס air haheres is the true reading, others understand it differently. The word הרס heres in Arabic signifies a lion and Conrad Ikenius has written a dissertation (Dissert. Philol. Theol. XVI.) to prove that the place here mentioned is not Heliopolis, as it is commonly supposed to be, but Leontopolis in the Heliopolitan Nome, as it is indeed called in the letter, whether real or pretended, of Onias to Ptolemy, which Josephus has inserted in his Jewish Antiquities, lib. xiii. c. 3. And I find that several persons of great learning and judgment think that Ikenius has proved the point beyond contradiction. See Christian. Muller. Satura Observ. Philolog. Michaelis Bibliotheque Oriental, Part v., p. 171. But, after ali, I believe that neither Onias, Heliopolis, nor Leontopolis has any thing to do with this subject. The application of this place of Isaiah to Onias's purpose seems to have been a mere invention, and in consequence of it there may perhaps have been some unfair management to accommodate the text to that purpose; which has been carried even farther than the Hebrew text; for the Greek version has here been either translated from a corrupted text, or wilfully mistranslated or corrupted, to serve the same cause. The place is there called πολις Ασεδεκ, the city of righteousness; a name apparently contrived by Onias's party to give credit to their temple, which was to rival that of Jerusalem. Upon the whole, the true reading of the Hebrew text in this place is very uncertain; fifteen MSS. and seven editions have חרס cheres, the city of Hacheres, or, of the sun. So likewise Symmachas, the Vulgate, Arabic, Septuagint, and Complutensian. On the other hand, Aquila, Theodotion, and the Syriac read הרס heres, destruction; the Chaldee paraphrase takes in both readings.
The reading of the text being so uncertain, no one can pretend to determine what the city was that is here mentioned by name; much less to determine what the four other cities were which the prophet does not name. I take the whole passage from the 18th verse to the end of the chapter, to contain a general intimation of the future propagation of the knowledge of the true God in Egypt and Syria, under the successors of Alexander; and, in consequence of this propagation, of the early reception of the Gospel in the same countries, when it should be published to the world. See more on this subject in Prideaux's Connect. An. 145; Dr. Owen's Inquiry into the present state of the Septuagint Version, p. 41; and Bryant's Observations on Ancient History, p. 124. - L.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv18–20 Isa 19:18. In that day — After that time,…
Isa 19:18. In that day — After that time, as this phrase is often used; that is, in the times of the gospel. This latter part of the prophecy contains an account of the salutary benefits which God would bestow on Egypt after the above-mentioned calamities. “Isaiah, to whom God had most clearly revealed the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles to the grace of Christ, everywhere takes occasion to speak of it; and frequently finishes his prophecies concerning the nations with a promise of the spiritual blessings designed for them by God; but he does this nowhere more explicitly than in the present passage;” in which one cannot but observe with what ease he passes from the one argument to the other. He had said that some of the Egyptians, when under these calamities, should be afraid of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he should shake over Egypt, and should fear, because of his counsel which he had determined against it; and he now teaches, that this servile fear and dread should hereafter be turned into a religious fear, with this effect, that five cities in the land of Egypt, that is, that many of their chief cities, a certain number being put for an uncertain, should speak the language of Canaan — That is, should profess the Jewish religion, or agree with the Jews in their worship of one living and true God. Thus, I will turn to the people a pure language, (Zep 3:9,) signifies, I will restore to the people a pure religion; or, I will change and purify their conversation, their hearts and lips, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. And shall swear to the Lord of hosts — Swearing to the Lord implies the dedication and yielding up of a person or thing to the Lord, by a solemn vow or covenant, as appears from 2Ch 15:14; Psa 132:2; Isa 45:23-24. One — Or one of them, namely, of the five; shall be called the city of destruction — Or, of the sun, as it is in the margin of our Bibles, meaning Heliopolis, a famous city in Egypt, and a chief seat of idolatry, being a city of the priests, as Strabo reports; and therefore its conversion to the faith was the more wonderful. It must be acknowledged, however, that there is much uncertainty as to the true reading of the text, whether it be עיר החרס, city of the sun, or, עיר החרםcity of destruction, and therefore “no one,” as Bishop Lowth justly observes, “can pretend to determine what the city was that is here mentioned by name; much less to determine what the four other cities were which the prophet does not name.” “I take the whole passage,” says he, “from the eighteenth verse to the end of the chapter, to contain a general intimation of the future propagation of the knowledge of the true God in Egypt and Syria, under the successors of Alexander; and, in consequence of this propagation, of the early reception of the gospel in the same countries, when it should be published to the world.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv18–20 In that day - The word ‘day’ is used…
In that day - The word ‘day’ is used in Scripture in a large signification, “as including the whole period under consideration,” or the whole time that is embraced in the scope of a prophecy. In this chapter it is used in this sense; and evidently means that the event here foretold would take place “somewhere” in the period that is embraced in the design of the prophecy. That is, the event recorded in this verse would occur in the series of events that the prophet saw respecting Egypt (see Isa 4:1). The sense is, that somewhere in the general time here designated Isa 19:4-17, the event here described would take place. There would be an extensive fear of Yahweh, and an extensive embracing of the true religion, in the land of Egypt.
Shall five cities - The number ‘five’ here is evidently used to denote an “indefinite” number, in the same way as ‘seven’ is often used in the Scriptures (see Lev 26:8). It means, that several cities in Egypt would use that language, one of which only is specified.
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The language of Canaan - Margin, ‘Lip of Canaan.’ So the Hebrew; but the word often means ‘language.’ The language of Canaan evidently means the “Hebrew” language; and it is called ‘the language of Canaan’ either because it was spoken by the original inhabitants of the land of Canaan, or more probably because it was used by the Hebrews who occupied Canaan as the promised land; and then it will mean the language spoken in the land of Canaan. The phrase used here is employed probably to denote that they would be converted to the Jewish religion; or that the religion of the Jews would flourish there. A similar expression, to denote conversion to the true God, occurs in Zep 3:9 : ‘For there I will turn to the people a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.’
And swear to the Lord of hosts - That is, they shall “devote” themselves to him; or they shall bind themselves to his service by solemn covenant; compare Deu 10:20; Isa 45:20, where conversion to God, and a purpose to serve him, is expressed in the same manner by “swearing” to him, that is, by solemnly devoting themselves to his service.
One shall be called - The name of one of them shall be, etc. Why “one” particularly is designated is not known.
The city of destruction - There has been a great variety of interpretation in regard to this expression. Margin, ‘Heres,’ or, ‘The sun.’ The Vulgate, ‘The city of the sun;’ evidently meaning Heliopolis. The Septuagint Ασεδέκ Asedik - ‘The city Asedek.’ The Chaldee, ‘The city of the house of the sun (שׁמשׁ בית bēyith shemesh), which is to be destroyed.’ The Syriac, ‘The city of Heres.’ The common reading of the Hebrew text is, ההרס עיר 'iyr haheres. This reading is found in most MS. editions and versions. The word הרס heres commonly means “destruction,” though it may also mean “deliverance;” and Gesenius supposes the name was to be given to it because it was to be a “delivered” city; that is, it would be the city to which ‘the saviour’ mentioned in Isa 19:20, would come, and which he would make his capital. Ikenius contends that the word ‘Heres’ is taken from the Arabic, and that the name is the same as Leontopolis - ‘The city of the lion,’ a city in Egypt. But besides other objections which may be made to this interpretation, the signification of “lion” is not given to the word in the Hebrew language.
The common reading is that which occurs in the text - the city of “Heres.” But another reading (החרס hacheres) is found in sixteen manuscripts, and has been copied in the Complutensian Polyglot. This word ( חרס cheres) properly means the “sun,” and the phrase means the city of the sun; that is, Heliopolis. Onias, who was disappointed in obtaining the high priesthood (149 b.c.) on the death of his uncle Menelaus, fled into Egypt, and ingratiated himself into the favor of Ptolemy Philometer and Cleopatra, and was advanced to the highest rank in the army and the court, and made use of his influence to obtain permission to build a temple in Egypt like that at Jerusalem, with a grant that he and his descendants should always have a right to officiate in it as high priests. In order to obtain this, he alleged that it would be for the interest of Egypt, by inducing many Jews to come and reside there, and that their going annually to Jerusalem to attend the great feasts would expose them to alienation from the Egyptians, to join the Syrian interest (“see” Prideaux’s “Connection,” under the year 149 b.c. Josephus expressly tells us (“Ant.” xiii. 3. 1-3), that in order to obtain this layout, he urged that it had been predicted by Isaiah six hundred years before, and that in consequence of this, Ptolemy granted him permission to build the temple, and that it was built at Leontopolis. It resembled that at Jerusalem, but was smaller and less splendid. It was within the Nomos or prefecture of Heliopolis, at the distance of twenty-four miles from Memphis. Onias pretended that the very place was foretold by Isaiah; and this would seem to suppose that the ancient reading was that of ‘the city of the sun.’ He urged this prediction in order to reconcile the Jews to the idea of another temple besides that at Jerusalem, because a temple erected in Egypt would be an object of disapprobation to the Jews in Palestine. Perhaps for the same reason the translation of Isaiah in the Septuagint renders this, Ἀσεδέκ Asedek - ‘The city of Asedek,’ as if the original were צדקה tsedâqâh - ‘The city of righteousness’ - that is, a city where righteousness dwells; or a city which was approved by God. But this is manifestly a corruption of the Hebrew text.
It may be proper to remark that the change in the Hebrew between the word rendered ‘destruction’ (הרס heres), and the word ‘sun’ (חרס cheres), is a change of a single letter where one might be easily mistaken for the other - the change of the Hebrew letter ה (h) into the Hebrew letter ח (ch). This might have occurred by the error of a transcriber, though the circumstances would lead us to think it not improbable that it “may” have been made designedly, but by whom is unknown. It “may” have been originally as Onias pretended and have been subsequently altered by the Jews to counteract the authority which he urged for building a temple in Egypt; but there is no certain evidence of it. The evidence from MSS. is greatly in favor of the reading as in our translation (הרס heres), and this may be rendered either ‘destruction,’ or more probably, according to Gesenius, ‘deliverance,’ so called from the “deliverance” that would be brought to it by the promised saviour Isa 19:20.
It may be added, that there is no evidence that Isaiah meant to designate the city where Onias built the temple, but merely to predict that many cities in Egypt would be converted, one of which would be the one here designated. Onias took “advantage” of this, and made an artful use of it, but it was manifestly not the design of Isaiah. Which is the true reading of the passage it is impossible now to determine; nor is it important. I think the most probable interpretation is that which supposes that Isaiah meant to refer to a city saved from destruction, as mentioned in Isa 19:20, and that he did not design to designate any particular city by name. The city of Heliopolis was situated on the Pelusian branch of the Nile, about five miles below the point of the ancient Delta. It was deserted in the time of Strabo; and this geographer mentions its mounds of ruin, but the houses were shown in which Eudoxus and Plato had studied.
The place was celebrated for its learning, and its temple dedicated to the sun. There are now no ruins of ancient buildings, unless the mounds can be regarded as such; the walls, however, can still be traced, and there is an entire obelisk still standing. This obelisk is of red granite, about seventy feet high, and from its great antiquity has excited much attention among the learned. In the neighboring villages there are many fragments which have been evidently transferred from this city. Dr. Robinson who visited it, says, that ‘the site about two hours N. N. E. from Cairo. The way thither passes along the edge of the desert, which is continually making encroachments, so soon as then ceases to be a supply of water for the surface of the ground. The site of Heliopolis is marked by low mounds, enclosing a space about three quarters of a mile in length, by half a mile in breadth, which was once occupied by houses, and partly by the celebrated temple of the sun. This area is now a plowed field, a garden of herbs; and the solitary obelisk which rises in the midst is the sole remnant of the splendor of the place. Near by it is a very old sycamore, its trunk straggling and gnarled, under which legendary tradition relates that the holy family once. rested.’ (“Bib. Researches,” vol. i. pp. 36, 37.) The illustration in the book, from the Pictorial Bible, will give an idea of the present appearance of Heliopolis.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv18–20 Chanaan. Hebrew. The Israelites had a connection with Egypt,…
Chanaan. Hebrew. The Israelites had a connection with Egypt, which the prophets often blame, chap. xxx. 2. Ezechias trusted in their aid, when he refused to pay tribute to the Assyrians. Many at that time, or afterwards, retired thither, and served God unmolested, chap. xi. 2., and Jeremias xlii. More established themselves in the country under Alexander [the Great] and the Ptolemies. (3 Machabees viii.) But this prediction was more fully accomplished by the propagation of the Christian religion. Grace no where shone forth more brightly than in this country, once the seat of superstition. --- Sun. Hebrew, "of desolation." But the copies have varied. It is supposed to denote the city On, Genesis xli. 45. (Calmet) --- Prideaux (p. 2. b. 4.) accuses the Jews of willfully corrupting this text in the Septuagint. (Kennicott)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v18 18 In that day 35shall five cities in the…
ג) EGYPT BY DEGREES CONVERTED WHOLLY TO THE LORD, AND THE THIRD IN THE CONFEDERATION WITH ASSYRIA AND ISRAEL
Isa_19:18-25
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18 In that day 35shall five cities in the land of Egypt
36Speak 37the language of Canaan,
And 38swear to the Lord of hosts;
One shall be called, 39The city of 40destruction.
19 In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord
In the midst 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 41a great one,
42And he shall deliver them.
21 And the Lord shall be known to Egypt,
And 43the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day,
And shall do sacrifice and oblation;
44Yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it.
22 And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it:
And they shall return even to the Lord,
And he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.
23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria,
And 45the Assyrian shall come into Egypt,
And 46the Egyptian into Assyria,
And 47the Egyptians shall serve with 48the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be the third
With Egypt and Assyria.
25 Even a blessing in the midst of the 49land: 50whom the Lord of hosts 51shall bless, saying:
Blessed be Egypt my people,
And Assyria the work of my hands,
And Israel mine inheritance.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Isa_19:18. The expression שְׂפַת כ׳ occurs only here.—נִשְׁבַּע with לְ must be distinguished from its use with בְּ. The latter is “to swear by one” (Isa_62:8; Amo_6:8; Amo_8:7, etc.); the former is “to swear, to oblige one’s self to another by oath,” (Zep_1:5; Gen_24:7; Gen_50:24; Exo_13:5; Psa_132:2, etc.). הַהֶרֶם or הַחֶרֶם. Sixteen Codd. have the latter reading, also several editions. The LXX. indeed reads ἀσεδέκ, which is evidently a designed alteration resulting from the application of Isa_1:26 to the Egyptian city. But Symm., the Vulg. (civitas solis), Saadia, the Talmud (Menachot Fol. 110, A), also translate “city of the sun.” On the other hand the majority of codices and editions have הֶרֶם, and among the ancient versions at least the Syriac decidedly so reads (for Ἀρές, which Aqc. and Theod. read, could stand also for חֶרֶם). Thus critically the reading הֶרֶם is the best supported. The authority of the Masora is for it. But the reading חֶרֶם is, any way, very ancient Symmachus, Jerome, the Targumist met with it. And it must have enjoyed equal authority with the other reading. Else the Targumist would not have combined both readings when he writes: קַרְתָּא בֵית־שֶׁמֶשׁ דַּֽעֲתִידָא לְמֶֽחֱרַב, i.e., the city “Beth-Shemes quae futura est ad evertendum, i.e., quae evertetur.” And the fact that the treatise Menachot reads חֶרֶם is certainly proof that weighty authorities supported this reading. Add to this that הרם by no means affords a satisfactory sense. For the meaning “lion,” which some assume from the Arabic (haris “the render”) is very doubtful, first from the fact that it rests only on Arabic etymology. Yet more uncertain is the meaning liberatio, salus, amor, be it derived from the Syriac (which, as Gesen. in loc. demonstrates, rests on pure misunderstanding) or, with Maurer, from the Hebrew, by taking הֶרֶם = “tearing loose,” whereas it can only mean “rending in pieces, destroying.” And in this latter sense many expositors take the word. But how can a word of such mischievous import suit in a context so full of joy and comfort? Caspari (Zeitschr. für Luth. Theol. 1841, III.), whom Drechsler and Delitzsch follow, is therefore of the opinion that the Prophet, by a slight change wrote הרם instead of חרם, but will have this word הרם understood in the sense of “destroying the idolatry,” like Jer_43:13 prophesies the “breaking in pieces of the obelisks in the temple of the sun in the land of Egypt.” But against this view is the fact that such twisting of words occurs always only in a bad sense. Thus Eze_30:17 calls the city אוֹן by the name אָוֶן; Hos_4:15; Hos_5:8 (comp. Amo_5:5) calls בֵּית־אֵל by the name בֵּית־אָוֶן (for which moreover an actual and neighboring בֵּית־אָוֶן Jos_7:2 gave the handle); Isa_7:6 changes the name טָֽבְאֵל into טָֽבְּאַל, although he uses it in pausa; and Isa_21:11 he introduces Edom under the name of דּוּמָה (“silence of the dead”) and, finally the Talmud in the treatise Aboda sara (Fol. 46 a, in the German translation of Ewald, Nuremberg, 1856, p. 324) gives the following examples as prescribing the rule for changing the names of cities that have an idolatrous meaning: “Has such a city had the name בֵּית גַּלְיָא, “house of revelation,” it should be called בֵּית כַּרְיָא “house of concealment” (or fossae, latrinae); has the city been called בֵּית מֶלֶךְ, “house of the king,” it should be called בֵּית כֶּלֶב “house of the dog;” instead of עֵין כֹּל “the all-seeing eye,” call it עֵין קוֹץ “the eye of thorns.”—Further examples of the kind see in Buxtorff, Lex., Chald., Talmud, et rabb., p. 1086 sq., s. v., כַּריָא——Thus we see that הרם as a twisting of חרם must either be opposed to the context or to the usus loquendi. I therefore hold חֶרֶם to be the original correct reading. But חרם means “the sun” (Jdg_1:35, where it is remarkable that a little before, Isa_19:23, a בֵּית־שֶׁמֶשׁ is mentioned——, Isa_8:13; Isa_14:18; Job_9:7). I think, as older expositors (comp. Gesen. in loc.) and latterly Pressel (Herz. R. Encycl. X., p. 612) have conjectured, that it is not impossible that this name עיר־החרם in our verse was the occasion for seeking a locality near Heliopolis for the temple of Onias. The reason why it was not built immediately in or at Heliopolis was that a suitable site (ἐπιτηδειότατον τόπον) for building was found at Leontopolis, which was yet in the Nome of Heliopolis. That Onias in his petition to Philometor and Cleopatra evidently appealed in a special way to verse 19 proves nothing against the assumption that Isa_19:18 also had a significance for him. He even says expressly, after having quoted the contents of Isa_19:19 : “καὶ πολλὰ δὲ προεφήτευσεν ἄλλᾳ τοιαῦτα διὰ τὸν τόπον.” But if the Egyptian temple, which, according to Josephus (Bell. Judges 7, 10, 4), stood 343 years (it ought rather to say 243), was a great offence to the Hebrew Jews, it could easily happen that חרם of our verse was changed by them to הרם. There are in fact six MSS. that read expressly עִיר הַחֵרֶם “city of the curse;” and the Ἀσεδέκ of the LXX. is manifestly an intentional alteration in the opposite sense.——Therefore intentional changes pro et contra have undeniably been perpetrated. Thus is explained not only the duplicate reading in general, but especially, too, the tradition of הרם as the orthodox reading, and the fixing of the same by the Masorets.—Comp. moreover, Reinke in the Tüb. theol. Quart. Schrift. 1870, Heft I., on the imputed changes of the Masoretic text in Isa_19:18, and the remarks of the same writer in his Beiträgen zur Eklr. des A. T. Giesen 1872, Band VIII., p. 87 sqq.
Isa_19:20. The combination לאות ולער occurs only here. Of more frequent occurrence is אֹות וּמוֹכֶּת, Deu_13:2; Deu_28:46; Isa_20:3.——רָכ particip. = “contestant, champion,” comp. Isa_45:9; Jer_51:36; not an uncommon use of the word in Jdg_6:31; Jdg_11:25; Jdg_21:22.
Isa_19:21. עָכַר with latent transitive notion; Exo_10:26; comp. Gen_30:29.
Isa_19:22. The reason why Isaiah uses the word נָגַף is probably because this word is repeatedly used of the plagues of Egypt: Exod. 7:27; Exo_12:13; Exo_12:23; Exo_12:27; Jos_24:5—נעתר, audientem se praestitit alicui; only here in Isaiah; comp. Gen_25:21; 2Sa_21:14; 2Sa_24:25.
Isa_19:23. מְסִלָּה see Isa_7:3.——עברו can only be understood as the abbreviation of the statement that occurs entire immediately before with application there to Egypt alone. The same service (עבר) shall Egypt perform in union with Assyria. The Prophet could so much the more readily express himself thus, in as much as עָבר is used also elsewhere (Job_36:11) in the same absolute way.
Isa_19:24. שׁלישׁיה is in itself tertia; yet not merely pars, but size, degree generally, designated by “three.” Compare עגלת שׁלישׁיה Isa_15:5. Here it is the third element, the third factor that must be added in order to make the harmony complete.
Isa_19:25. אשׁר cannot be construed as simple relative pronoun. For then the suffix in ברכו must be referred to הארץ which will hardly do. It is therefore construed = “so that,” or “since,” and the suffix named is referred to the individual that each of the three forms by itself (comp. Isa_17:10; Isa_17:13). Therefore אשׁר here is a conjunction (Green (Gr., § 239, 1).
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Egypt will gradually be altogether converted to the Lord. At first, indeed, only five cities will serve Him (Isa_19:18), but soon the Lord will have an altar in Egypt, and a pillar dedicated to Him on the border (Isa_19:19) will at once announce to the approaching traveller that Egypt is a land that pays worship to Jehovah. Then, when they cry to the Lord, He will deliver them from oppression as He did Israel of old in the days of the judges (Isa_19:20). He will reveal Himself to them, and they will know Him and offer Him divine service in due form (Isa_19:21). He will, indeed, smite them like His own people, but then He will heal them again: but they will turn to Him, and He will let Himself be entreated of them (Isa_19:22). But not only Egypt—Assyria too will then be converted to the Lord. And between Egypt and Assyria there will be busy intercourse, and they will no more be enemies of one another, but serve the Lord in common (Isa_19:23). And Israel will be the third in the confederation, and that will be a great blessing from the Lord for the whole earth (Isa_19:24), who then will call Egypt His people, Assyria the work of His hand, but Israel always still His special inheritance.
2. In that day——destruction.
Isa_19:18. The fifth is the half of ten. It appears to me to be neither a small nor a great number (Corn. a Lapide). But if in the ten there lies the idea of completeness, wholeness, then five is not any sort of fraction of the whole, but the half, which added to itself forms the whole. By the five the ten is assured. There does not, therefore, lie in the five the idea of the mustard seed, but rather the idea of being already half attained. From passages like Gen_45:22; Exo_22:1; Num_7:17; Num_7:23; Mat_25:2; Mat_25:20; 1Co_14:19, it is not erroneously concluded that the five has a certain symbolical meaning. Besides this, in respect to the division of the year into seven months (of freedom from water) and five months (of the overflow) the five was a sacred number to the Egyptians. Comp. Ebers, l. c., p. Isaiah 359: “Seven and five present themselves as especially sacred numbers.” To think, as Hitzig does, of five particular cities (Heliopolis, Leontopolis, Migdol, Daphne, Memphis), is opposed to the character of the prophecy. Five cities, therefore, shall speak the language of Canaan, the sacred language, the language of the law. That is, they shall found a place in the midst of them for the worship of Jehovah.
[“The construction of Calvin (who understands five out of six to be intended) is to be preferred, because the others arbitrarily assume a standard of comparison (twenty thousand, ten thousand, ten, etc.); whereas this hypothesis finds it in the verse itself, five professing the true religion to one rejecting it. Most of the other interpretations understand the one to be included in the five, as if he had said one of them. As לאחת admits either of these senses, or rather applications, the question must depend upon the meaning given to the rest of the clause. Even on Calvin’s hypothesis, however, the proportion indicated need not be taken with mathematical precision. What appears to be meant is that five-sixths, i.e., a very large proportion, shall profess the true religion, while the remaining sixth persists in unbelief.” “It shall be said to one, i.e., one shall be addressed as follows, or called by the following name. This periphrasis is common in Isaiah, but is never applied, as Gesenius observes, to the actual appellation, but always to a description or symbolical title (see Isa_4:3; Isa_61:6; Isa_62:4). This may be urged as an argument against the explanation of הַהֶרֶם as a proper name.” “All the interpretations which have now been mentioned [the one Dr. Naegelsbach favors being included in the number—Tr.] either depart from the common text or explain it by some forced or foreign analogy. If, however, we proceed upon the only safe principle of adhering to the common text, and to Hebrew usage, without the strongest reasons for abandoning either or both, no explanation of the name can be so satisfactory as that given by Calvin (civitas desolationis) and the Eng. Version (‘city of destruction’).” J. A. A.]
The city of destruction.—Isaiah often expresses the future existence of a person or matter by a name, of which he says it shall be applied to the person in question (Isa_1:26; Isa_4:3; Isa_61:6; Isa_62:4). Here there seems to be intended, not so much a characteristic of the nature, as a mark that shall serve as a means for recognizing the fulfilment. For why does the Prophet give the name of only one city? Why does he not give the five cities a name in common? It seems to me that the Prophet saw five points that shone forth out of the obscurity that concealed the future of Egypt from his eyes. They are the five cities in which the worship of Jehovah shall find a place. But only one of these cities, doubtless the greatest and most considerable, does he see so clearly that he even knows its name. This name he gives—and thus is given a mark whereby to identify the time of the fulfilment. For if in the future there comes about a condition of things in Egypt corresponding to our prophecy, and if a city under those circumstances bears the name the Prophet gives here, then it is a sure sign that said condition is the fulfilment of the present prophecy. Now, from the dispersion of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar on, Egypt became, to a great part of the Israelites, a second home; in fact it became the place of a second Jehovah-Temple; later it even became a wholly Christian land.
That Jehovah-Temple was built by Onias IV. (according to another calculation II.) under Ptolomæus Philometor (180–145) at Leontopolis in the Nome of Heliopolis (Josephus Antiq. 12, 9, 7; 13, 3, 1–3; 20, 10; Bell. Judges 7, 10, 2-4), or rather was a ruined Egyptian temple restored. Built upon a foundation sixty feet high, and constructed like a tower, this temple, of course, did not in its outward form resemble that at Jerusalem. But the altar was accurately patterned after the one in Jerusalem. Onias (and probably in opposition to his fellow-countrymen) appealed to our passage. For the building, strictly interpreted, was of course unlawful. And it was steadily opposed by the Hebrew Jews with greater or less determination. But the Egyptian Jews, as said, thought themselves authorized in the undertaking by our passage, especially Isa_19:19. It is not impossible that the choice of the locality was conditioned by the fact that our passage originally read עיר הַחֶרֶם (see under Text. and Gram.) which was translated “city of the sun” and was referred to Heliopolis, the ancient On, the celebrated priestly city (Gen_41:45; Gen_41:50; Gen_46:20). [Would it not be a juster interpretation of the fulfilment of this prophecy in regard to the foregoing application to repeat, mutatis mutandis, Dr. Naegelsbach’s own remark in the exegetical comment on Isa_19:2-4 above, p. 224. “Nothing was less in Isaiah’s mind than to make those transactions the subject of a special prediction. Else how then is what follows to be applied, where it speaks of a Jehovah-altar in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar or obelisk dedicated to the Lord on the border of it? Can this be meant literally? If not, then neither can Isa_19:18 be understood literally.” Dr. Naegelsbach admits above that, “strictly interpreted,” the building of such a temple “was of course unlawful;” and the altar must be included in this statement. But in a matter appertaining to a legal and ceremonial worship a “strict interpretation,” which must mean “strictly legal,” is the only admissible interpretation. Deeds of formal worship that are unlawful by that interpretation cannot be right by any other interpretation, seeing that no other applies to them. How could Isaiah refer prophetically to such a matter as the mimic temple of Jehovah at Leontopolis in such language as we have in our verses 18, 19?—Tr.]
3. In that day——heal them.
Isa_19:19-22. What was only hinted in Isa_19:18, is in Isa_19:19 expressly affirmed: The Lord shall have an altar in Egypt. How this was fulfilled we have indicated already above. Egypt became not only a second home to the people of Israel. [But it must be remembered that this never received the token of God’s approval, who said Hos_11:5, “He shall not return into the land of Egypt.”—Tr.]. It became also the birth-place of a most significant form of development of the Jewish spirit. It became moreover a Christian land, and as such had played a prominent part in the history of the Christian church. Call to mind only Origen and Athanasius. If thus the prophecy of the altar of Jehovah in Egypt was literally fulfilled, so the prophecy of the מַצֵּבָה, “pillar,” was fulfilled in a way not so literally, but not therefore in a less real sense. The word means statua, “standing image,” cippus, “monument.” Jer. 43:14 so designates the numerous obelisks that were in Heliopolis. Often idol pillars are so designated (1Ki_14:23; 2Ki_3:2; 2Ki_10:27, etc.), the raising of which was expressly forbidden in the law (Lev_26:1; Deu_16:22). When it is announced here that a מצבה dedicated to Jehovah would be raised up, it is not meant that this would be for the purpose of divine service. Rather we see from “at the border” and also from Isa_19:20 that the pillar (the obelisk) should serve merely for a sign and mark by which any one crossing the border could know at once that he treads a land that is exclusively consecrated to the service of Jehovah. Altar and pillar, each in its place,—the pillar first and preparatory, the altar afterwards in the midst of the land and definitive—shall be sign and witness of it.
When we said above that this word was fulfilled not literally, yet not therefore less really, we mean it thus: that Egypt, when it ceased to be a heathen land certainly presented just as plainly to the eye of every one entering it the traces of its confession to the true religion, as we now a days observe more or less distinctly on entering a land, how it is with religion and religiousness there. [J. A. A., on verse 19. “A just view of this passage is that it predicts the prevalence of the true religion, and the practice of its rites in language borrowed from the Mosaic or rather from the patriarchal institutions. As we might now speak of a missionary pitching his tent at Hebron—without intending to describe the precise form of his habitation, so the Prophet represents the converts to the true faith as erecting an altar and a pillar to the Lord in Egypt, as Abraham and Jacob did of old in Canaan. [So for substance also Barnes.—Tr.]. Those explanations of the verse which suppose the altar and the pillar, or the centre and the border of the land to be contrasted, are equally at variance with good taste and the usage of the language, which continually separates in parallel clauses, words and things which the reader is expected to combine. See an example of this usage Isa_18:6. As the wintering of the beasts, and the summering of the birds are there intended to denote the presence of both beasts and birds throughout the year, so here the altar in the midst of the land, and the pillar at its border denote altars and pillars through its whole extent.”].
In what follows we observe the effort to show that the Lord will treat Egypt just like Israel. There will be therefore a certain reciprocity: Egypt conducts itself toward the Lord like Israel, therefore will the Lord conduct Himself toward Egypt as He has done toward Israel. Thus the second half of Isa_19:20 reminds one of that “crying of the children of Israel to Jehovah” that is so often mentioned in the book of Judges (Isa_3:9; Isa_3:15; Isa_4:3; Isa_6:6, etc.). In that survey of the times of the judges contained in Jdg_2:11 sqq. (at Isa_19:18 comp. Jdg_1:34; Jdg_6:9) the oppressors of Israel are called לֹחֲצִים just as here, and Jdg_2:16; Jdg_2:18 the performance of the judges whom God sent to the people, is designated הוֹשִׁיעַ, and the judges are on that account expressly called מוֹשִׁיעַ “deliverers, saviours,” (Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:15; Jdg_6:36; Jdg_12:3). הִצִּל, too, occurs in this sense in Jdg_6:9; Jdg_8:34; Jdg_9:17, etc.—In consequence of these manifold mutual relations Jehovah shall become known to the Egyptians. The expression “shall be known,” etc., recalls the celebrated passage Exo_6:3. “But by my name Jehovah, was I not known to them.” There the Lord reveals Himself to those that were held in bondage by the Egyptians; here is seen the remarkable advance that the Lord reveals Himself to the Egyptians themselves as Jehovah, that they, too, really know Him as such; serving Him in accordance with His law, they present sacrifice and oblation, i.e., bloody and unbloody offerings, and make vows to Him which they scrupulously perform as recognition of His divine majesty and grace (comp. Leviticus 27; Numbers 30; Deu_12:6; Deu_23:21 sqq.; Jer_44:25; Ps. 61:9; Psa_66:13; Psa_116:14; Psa_116:18, etc.). Egypt is like Israel moreover in this, that the Lord now and then chastises it as not yet sinless, but still heals again. The second half of Isa_19:22 is related to the first as particularizing the latter. In the first half it is merely said: Jehovah will smite and heal Egypt. But in the second half it is put as the condition of healing after the smiting that “they shall return,” etc. Thereby is affirmed that the Egyptians shall find grace only on this condition; and also that they will fulfil this condition. The contrast of smiting and healing reminds one of Deu_32:39, comp. Job_5:18; Hos_6:1 sqq.
4. In that day——mine inheritance.
Isa_19:23-25. It is observed in verses 19–22, that the climax of the discourse is not quite attained, for Egypt alone is spoken of, and an Egypt that needed to be disciplined. But now the Prophet rises to the contemplation of a glorious picture of the future that is extensively and intensively complete. Israel’s situation between the northern and southern world-powers had ever been to it the source of the greatest distress inwardly and outwardly. But precisely this middle position had also its advantage. Israel breaks forth on the right hand and on the left. The spirit of Israel penetrates gradually Egypt and Assyria, and thus binds together these two opponents into one, and that something higher. This the Prophet expresses by saying there will be a laid out road, a highway, leading from Egypt to Assyria and from Assyria to Egypt. Such a road must, naturally, traverse the land of Israel, in fact, according to all that precedes, we must assume that this road properly goes out from Israel in both directions. For it is the Lord that makes Himself known to Assyria as well as to Egypt (Isa_19:21), and both these unite in the service of the Lord. For it is clear that the concluding clause of Isa_19:23, does not mean that Egypt shall be subject to Assyria (see עברו in Text. and Gram.). Then Israel will no longer be the unfortunate sacrifice to the enmity of its two mighty neighbors, but their peer and the third member of their union. Thus a harmony will be established, and the threefold accord will be a blessing in the midst of the whole earth and for them, because the Lord will bless them. For Israel as the earthly home of the kingdom of God, and Assyria and Egypt as the natural world-powers represent the entire earth. From them the blessing must come forth upon all. But they must be so blest that the predicates, that hitherto Israel had alone, will be applied to all three. Egypt is called עַמִּי “my people” (comp. Isa_3:12; Isa_10:2; Isa_10:24, and often), Assyria מעשׂה ירי “work of my hands,” (comp. Isa_60:21; Isa_64:7 and often), but Israel retains the name of honor נחלתי, “mine inheritance,” for thereby it is characterized as the actual son of the house and head of the family.
Footnotes:
[33]From before the lifting of the hand, etc., which He lifteth against it.
[34]recall it
[35]Shall be.
[36]Speaking.
[37]Heb. the lip.
[38]swearing.
[39]Ir Ha-heres.
[40]Or, Heres, or the sun.
[41]champion.
[42]And shall, etc.
[43]Egypt.
[44]And.
[45]Assyria.
[46]Egypt
[47]Egypt.
[48]Assyria.
[49]earth.
[50]since.
[51]blesses them.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv18–20 In that day, &c.--Suffering shall lead to repentance. Struck…
In that day, &c.--Suffering shall lead to repentance. Struck with "terror" and "afraid" (Isa 19:17) because of Jehovah's judgments, Egypt shall be converted to Him: nay, even Assyria shall join in serving Him; so that Israel, Assyria, and Egypt, once mutual foes, shall be bound together by the tie of a common faith as one people. So a similar issue from other prophecies (Isa 18:7; Isa 23:18).
five cities--that is, several cities, as in Isa 17:6; Isa 30:17; Gen 43:34; Lev 26:8. Rather, five definite cities of Lower Egypt (Isa 19:11, Isa 19:13; Isa 30:4), which had close intercourse with the neighboring Jewish cities [MAURER]; some say, Heliopolis, Leontopolis (else Diospolis), Migdol, Daphne (Tahpanes), and Memphis.
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language of Canaan--that is, of the Hebrews in Canaan, the language of revelation; figuratively for, They shall embrace the Jewish religion: so "a pure language" and conversion to God are connected in Zep 3:9; as also the first confounding and multiplication of languages was the punishment of the making of gods at Babel, other than the One God. Pentecost (Act 2:4) was the counterpart of Babel: the separation of nations is not to hinder the unity of faith; the full realization of this is yet future (Zac 14:9; Joh 17:21). The next clause, "swear to the Lord of Hosts," agrees with this view; that is, bind themselves to Him by solemn covenant (Isa 45:23; Isa 65:16; Deu 6:13).
city of destruction--Onias; "city of the sun," that is, On, or Heliopolis; he persuaded Ptolemy Philometer (149 B.C.) to let him build a temple in the prefecture (nome) of Heliopolis, on the ground that it would induce Jews to reside there, and that the very site was foretold by Isaiah six hundred years before. The reading of the Hebrew text is, however, better supported, "city of destruction"; referring to Leontopolis, the site of Onias' temple: which casts a reproach on that city because it was about to contain a temple rivalling the only sanctioned temple, that at Jerusalem. MAURER, with some manuscripts, reads "city of defense" or "deliverance"; namely, Memphis, or some such city, to which God was about to send "a saviour" (Isa 19:20), to "deliver them."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv18–20 18. In that day — “Day” has here, probably,…
18. In that day — “Day” has here, probably, the large meaning of the whole period included in this prophecy.
Five cities — Probably meaning several — the definite number being used for an indefinite. Only a very few centuries later than the date of this prophecy, many of the large towns of Egypt were witness to a copious use of the Hebrew language and of the Hebrew worship; and it is probable that many Egyptians became proselytes to the Jewish religion, as was the fact elsewhere, wherever the Jews made settlements.
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City of destruction — Respecting one of these five, or several, cities, there shall be the name or designation “City of Destruction,” or, Ir-Haheres, “City of the Sun.” Many excellent critics suppose a play upon the Hebrew Heres and Hheras, (consult Furst, Gesenius, SMITH’S Bible Dictionary, and all the best commentaries.) If the word means sun, the city referred to was Heliopolis, where the sun had once been worshipped, on account of which comes the name Heliopolis, and still on account of which the doom of destruction was to come upon it. Literally, this did come, and there is now nothing left of it but walls crumbled to earth, and a single obelisk. On my visit to it in the winter of 1870 the whole level area was a flourishing wheatfield. Ewald explains the difficulty here somewhat as follows: “At first there are, perhaps, only five cities in Egypt in which Jehovah was worshipped by Israelites already settled there. One of which was so placed under the divine care that it was called the city of Fortune or Protection, (supposing the Hebrew word really to mean this, and not destruction;) that it was intended to be a place of resort for God’s people in the future, as one of the cities in Egypt (and probably this one) certainly did afford protection to the infant child Jesus.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–20 18. The verse may mean either (1) that an…
18. The verse may mean either (1) that an indefinite, but small, number of Egyptian cities shall be converted to the worship of Jehovah and adopt Hebrew as at least their sacred language; or (2) that at a certain epoch there shall be five (and no more) Jewish colonies in Egypt maintaining their national language and religion. On the former view “five” is a round number (as in ch. Isa_30:17; Gen_43:34; Lev_26:8; 1Sa_17:40; 1Sa_21:3; 2Ki_7:13), and the verse is a prophecy of the first beginnings of the conversion of Egypt—a “day of small things.” This interpretation, although grammatically defensible, is not natural. No parallel can be found in Isaiah’s writings to the anticipation of a gradual dissemination of the true religion by sporadic conversions. He always treats the nations as units, and it is very questionable if the idea of a religious schism within the Egyptian nationality could have presented itself to him or his contemporaries as a desirable thing, or a realisation of the Messianic hope. If we adopt the second view the prophecy must have been written at a time when the prospect of Hebrew-speaking Jewish communes in Egypt was a natural expression of the anticipation that the influence of the Jewish religion would extend to that country. This was not the case at the very late date maintained by some critics (b.c. 160). By that time the Egyptian Jews had so completely abandoned their native tongue that a Greek translation of the Scriptures had become necessary for their use. This part of the prophecy is more intelligible at a considerably earlier period, before the universal solvent of the Greek language had begun to leaven the varied nationalities of the old world.—It is of course impossible to identify the “five cities.” Hitzig has attempted it by the help of Jer_44:1, adding to the three towns there mentioned, Heliopolis and Leontopolis (see below).
one shall be called, The city of destruction] The exegesis of this clause is complicated by a diversity of text. (α) The received text has ‘îr hahereṣ, which in Hebrew can only mean “the city of Destruction.” The insurmountable objection to this reading is that it is inconsistent with the favourable general sense of the verse; for the translation “city of [the] destruction of idolatry, &c.” is quite unwarranted. Some, however, explain the word by haris, an Arabic epithet of the lion, rendering, “city of the Lion,” i.e. Leontopolis, where the Jewish Temple was built. This might be intelligible as a correction of the reading to be next mentioned; hardly as an independent text. Moreover, the Greek translator of Isaiah knew nothing of it, but followed an entirely different reading (γ below). (β) Another reading, found in some Hebrew MSS. and followed by the Vulg., is ‘îr haḥeres, “city of the Sun,” i.e. Heliopolis. This gives a good sense. Heliopolis, the biblical On (Gen_41:50, &c.), might be especially mentioned because of its great importance in the religion of Egypt, as it is (under the name “house of the Sun”) in Jer_43:13. (γ) The LXX. reads “city of Righteousness” (‘îr haççedeq). This reading, in itself the least probable of the three, is defended by some commentators as most in accordance with Isaiah’s use of names as descriptive of the essential quality of the objects (cf. Isa_1:26, Isa_4:3, Isa_7:14, Isa_9:6). So here “city of righteousness” is regarded not as the proper name of any one city, but an epithet applicable to any of the five. On the whole, the suggestion of Cheyne seems as plausible as any, that the original form was ḥereṣ, and the reference was to Heliopolis; that this was altered by the Egyptian Jews to çedeq and by those of Palestine to hereṣ (destruction), the motive in both cases being to establish a reference (in the first case favourable, in the second unfavourable) to the temple at Leontopolis. The latter variant, however, might be due to accident.
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[The Jewish Temple in Egypt was erected about 160 with the sanction of Ptolemy Philometor and his consort by Onias IV., the legitimate heir of the high-priesthood at Jerusalem. (Josephus, Ant. xiii. 3, 1 f.; Bell. Jud. vii. 10, 2 f.) It was a brilliant conception on the part of the priest, but was probably not dictated by very lofty motives. Having been ousted from his rights by the intrigues of the apostate party in Judæa, he sought by this means to retain the state and emoluments of a great ecclesiastical dignitary. His enterprise cannot have been regarded with friendly eyes by the patriotic party in Jerusalem, and afterwards when the new Temple began to divert the stream of Jewish liberality from Jerusalem, their antipathy increased. The temple was built, after the model of that at Jerusalem, on the ruins of an Egyptian temple of the lion-headed goddess Bast (hence the name Leontopolis) in the Heliopolitan nome.]
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–20 (18) In that day shall five cities in the…
(18) In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan.—The prophecy is, it will be noticed, parallel to that affecting Ethiopia in Isa_18:7, and at least expresses the yearnings of the prophet’s heart after the conversion of Egypt to the worship of Jehovah. Like the previous prediction, it connects itself with Psalms 87, as recording the admission of proselytes as from other countries, so also from Rahab (i.e., Egypt). The “five cities” stand either as a certain number for an uncertain (Isa_30:17; Isa_17:6; Lev_26:8; 1Co_14:19), or possibly as the actual number of the chief or royal cities of Egypt. The “language of Canaan” is Hebrew, and the prediction is that this will become the speech of the worshippers of Jehovah in the Egyptian cities. There is to be one universal speech for the universal Church of the true Israel.
And swear to the Lord of hosts.—The oath, as in the parallel phrase of Isa_45:23, is one of allegiance, and implies, therefore, something like a covenant of obedience.
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The city of destruction.—There is probably something like a play on the name of the Egyptian city On, the Greek Heliopolis, the City of the Sun (Heb., Ir-ha-kheres), and the word which the prophet actually uses (Ir-ha-cheres), the “city of destruction.” The paronomasia, like in character to Ezekiel’s transformation of On into Aven, “nothingness,” or “vanity” (Eze_30:17), or Hosea’s of Beth-el (“house of God”) into Bethaven (“ house of nothingness”) (Hos_4:15), was intended to indicate the future demolition of the sun-idols, and is so interpreted in the Targum on this passage, “Bethshemesh (i.e., Heliopolis), whose future fate shall be destruction.” The word for destruction is cognate with the verb used of Gideon’s breaking down the image of Baal, in Jdg_6:25; and in Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer_43:13), “He shall break the pillars in the house of the sun,” we may probably trace an allusive reference to Isaiah’s language. Other meanings, such as “city of rescue,” “city of protection,” “city of restoration,” have been suggested, but on inadequate grounds. The Vulg. gives civitas solis. The LXX. rendering, “city asedek,” apparently following a different reading of the Hebrew, and giving the meaning, “city of righteousness,” was probably connected historically with the erection of a Jewish temple at Leon-topolis by Onias IV., in the time of Ptolemy Philomêtor, which for some two centuries shared with the Temple at Jerusalem the homage of Egyptian Jews. Onias and his followers pointed to Isaiah’s words as giving a sanction to what their brethren in Palestine looked on as a rival and sacrilegious worship.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv18–20 Vers. 18-22. THE TURNING OF EGYPT TO JEHOVAH. The…
Vers. 18-22. THE TURNING OF EGYPT TO JEHOVAH. The chastisement of the Egyptians shall be followed, after a while, by a great change. Influences from Canaan shall penetrate Egypt (ver. 18), an altar shall be raised in her midst to Jehovah (ver. 19), and she herself shall cry to him for succor (ver. 20) and be delivered (ver. 20). Egypt shall even become a part of Jehovah"s kingdom, shall "know him," and serve him with sacrifice and oblation (ver. 21), and perform her vows to Jehovah, and have her supplications heard by him, and be converted and healed (ver. 22).
In that day. Not really the day of vengeance, but that which, in the prophet"s mind, is most closely connected with it the day of restitution whereof he has spoken perpetually. (Isa_1:25-27 Isa_2:2-4 Isa_4:2-6 Isa_6:13, etc.) The two are parts of one scheme of things, and belong in the prophet"s mind to one time. Shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan. It is quite true, as Mr. Cheyne remarks, that the Eastern Delta was from a very early date continually more and more Semitized by an influx of settlers from Palestine, and that Egyptian literature bears strong marks of this linguistic influence. But this is scarcely what the prophet intends to speak about. He is not interested in philology. What he means is that there will be an appreciable influx into Egypt of Palestinian ideas, thoughts, and sentiments. "Five" is probably used as a "round" number. The first manifest fulfillment of the prophecy was at the foundation of Alexandria, when the Jews were encouraged to become settlers by the concession of important privileges (Josephus, "Contr. Ap.," 2:4), and where they ultimately became the predominant element in the population, amounting, according to Philo ("In Flaec.," to nearly a million souls. The next great Palestinian influx was under Ptolemy YI (Philometor), when Onias fled from Palestine with a number of his partisans, and obtained permission to erect a Jewish temple near Heliopelis. The site of this temple is probably marked by the ruins at Tel-el-Yahoudeh ("Quarterly Statement" of Palest. Expl. Fund for July, 1880, pp. 137-139). It seems to have been a center to a number of Jewish communities in the neighborhood. In this double way Jehovah became known to Egypt before Christianity. A Christian Church was early established in Alexandria, possibly by St. Mark. Swear to the Lord of hosts; i.e. "swear fidelity to him." One shall be called, The city of destruction. Some manuscripts read Ir-ha-Kheres, "City of the Sun," for Ir-ha-heres, "City of Destruction," in which case the reference would be plainly to Heliopelis, which was in the immediate neighborhood of Tel-el-Yahoudeh, and which in the Ptolemaic period may well have fallen under Jewish influence. Even if Ir-ha-heres stand as the true reading, the name may still have been given with allusion to Heliopolis, the prophet intending to say, "That city which was known as the City of the Sun-God shall become known as the City of Destruction of the Sun-God and of idolatrous worship generally." That Heliopolis did actually fall under Jewish influence in the Ptolemaic period appears from a remarkable passage of Polyhistor, who says of the Exodus and the passage of the Red Sea, "The Memphites say that Moses, being well acquainted with the district, watched the ebb of the tide, and so led the people across the dry bed of the sea; but they of Heliopolis affirm that the king, at the head of a vast force, and having the sacred animals also with him, pursued after the Jews, because they were carrying away with them the riches which they had borrowed from the Egyptians. Then, they say," the voice of God commanded Moses to smite the sea with his rod, and divide it; and Moses, when he heard, touched the water with it, and so the sea parted asunder, and the host marched through on dry ground." Such an account of the Exodus would scarcely have been given by Egyptians unless they were three parts Hebraized.
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Vers. 18-22. Smiting and healing.
We may glean from these verses
I THAT THE BLOWS WHICH WE SURFER IN OUR ORDINARY EXPERIENCE COME FROM THE HAND OF GOD. No doubt the various calamities by which Egypt was afflicted came to her in the ordinary ways, and appeared to her citizens as the result of common causes. They accounted for them by reference to general laws, to visible human powers, to known processes and current events. Yet we know them to have been distinctly and decidedly of God, by whatever instrumentalities they may have been brought about. "The Lord shall smite Egypt" (ver. 22). So now with us; the evils which overtake us sickness, separation, disappointment, losses, bereavement, etc. may occur as the result of causes which we can discover and name; nevertheless they may be regarded as visitations, as chastisement, as discipline, from the hand of God.
II THAT THESE WOUNDS OF GOD"S CAUSING ARE INTENDED BY HIM TO ABOUND UNTO THE HEALTH OF THE WOUNDED SPIRIT. He shall smite and heal." God"s main purpose in smiting was to bring about a far healthier condition than existed before. Afterwards the chastening would "yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness;" and for this end chiefly, if not wholly, it was sent. We are to consider that this is always God"s design in sending affliction to his children. He smites that he may heal, and that the new health may be much better than the old that the blessing gained may greatly outweigh the loss endured. (2Co_4:17) To part with bodily health and to obtain spiritual soundness, to lose material possessions and secure treasures which make "rich toward God, this is to be enlarged indeed.
III THAT THE RESTORATION OF THE SMITTEN SPIRIT IS ATTENDED AND FOLLOWED BY VARIOUS BLESSINGS.
1. The soul addressing itself to God in earnest prayer. "They shall cry unto the Lord" (ver. 20); "He shall be entreated of them" (ver. 22). This is an act of returning from folly and forgetfulness unto the God who has been forsaken: "They shall return," etc. (ver. 22; see also ver. 21).
2. The soul seeking God"s acceptance in his appointed way. "There shall be an altar to the Lord" (ver. 19). However interpreted, this passage points to the special means appointed by God through Moses for obtaining forgiveness of sin, and suggests to us the one way repentance and faith by which we must seek and may find the Divine mercy.
3. Profession of attachment to God. These five cities should "swear to the Lord of hosts" (ver. 18), The pillar at the border would perhaps be an obelisk, making mention of his Name as the One that was worthy of human adoration.
4. The service of the lip. They would "speak the language of Canaan the language spoken by the people of God. Language is far from being everything, but it is far from being nothing (Psa_19:4; Matthew Rom_10:10). By truthful, kindly, helpful speech, and in sacred song, we may do much in serving and in pleasing God.
5. Consecration. "They shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and shall perform it;" the solemn presentation of self unto a Divine Savior and a lifelong redemption of the vow. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv18, 20 The language of Canaan
Isa_19:18
The language of Canaan
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Converting grace
Converting grace by changing the heart, changeth the language; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
(M. Henry.)
The language of Canaan
1. To speak the language of Canaan is to discourse on sacred subjects in a manner peculiar to those who enjoy Divine revelation, and are taught of God.
2. It is to treat of spiritual matters in that dialect which is best suited to their nature and importance, and which hath been employed for this purpose by patriarchs and prophets, by Jesus Christ Himself, His apostles and disciples in all ages.
3. This language of the people of God hath in it somewhat peculiar, whereby it may be distinguished from all other kinds of speech. It is quite free from vanity, detraction, falsehood, impurity, and folly, with which all other conversation is more or less tinctured; whilst much is said concerning the only true God, the great Messiah, the promises, ordinances, and commandments of Jehovah, with many other such delightful topics. (R. Macculloch.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v18 Isa_19:18-20. In that day shall five cities, &c.
AN ALTAR AND A SAVIOUR FOR EGYPT
Isa_19:18-20. In that day shall five cities, &c.
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I. God is able to raise up monuments and trophies of His grace in the most unlikely places (Isa_19:18-19). For the historical fulfilments of these predictions, see the ordinary commentaries. They should teach us not to despair of the progress of religion in the most unlikely places, the most unlikely times, among the most unlikely persons. The grace of God is able to subdue the hardest hearts, to enlighten the darkest minds, to convert the most guilty natures, to cast out Satan where his power seems strongest and his interest most secure. Despair not of your own salvation (H. E. I., 2376), of the salvation of those dear to you, of the final triumph of the cause of truth (H. E. I., 979, 1166–1168). But recollect that all that has been done has been done by the use of appropriate means: the altar to God in Egypt was built by human hands, the Ark was not built by miracle but by means; all the triumphs we anticipate are to be achieved by the diffusion of Divine truth, by the prayers and efforts of the Church. What effort are you making?
II. God often overrules the trials of life to produce a spirit of prayer, and to bring men to Himself. “They shall cry unto the Lord because of their oppressors [1045]
[1045] See Outline: SANCTIFIED AFFLICTION, chap. Isa_17:7-8.
III. It is God’s prerogative to raise up a Saviour (Isa_19:20). Whatever comforts or deliverances you have had through the medium of creatures, the hand of God is to be pre-eminently acknowledged in them all. Spiritually we need a great Saviour, and God has provided one equal to the emergency of the case. Our guilt is very great, our danger very threatening, our enemies very powerful, our ruin very awful, but help is laid on One that is mighty. The greatness of Christ as a Saviour appears from the essential dignity of His nature (Heb_1:1), from the certain efficacy of His atonement (Heb_7:25), from the countless number of the redeemed (Rev_7:9), from the completeness of the salvation He imparts (1Co_1:30).—Samuel Thodey.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18–19 there will be five cities in the land of…
there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak
This refers to the people of those cities. AT: "the people in five Egyptian cities will speak" (See: Metonymy)
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the language of Canaan
This refers to Hebrew, the language of the people of God living in the land of Canaan. Here Canaan represents the people who live there. AT: "the language of the people of Canaan" (See: Metonymy)
swear allegiance
"promise to be loyal"
One of these will be called
This can be stated in active form. "People will call one of these cities" (See: Active or Passive)
called The City of the Sun
It is not clear whether the Hebrew word translated "Sun" here means "sun" or "destruction." Is is also not clear what the name tells us about the city. AT: "the city called Sun City" or "the city called Destruction City" (See: Textual Variants)
translationWords
Canaan
oath
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18–20 19:18 five of Egypt’s cities: This is probably just…
19:18 five of Egypt’s cities: This is probably just a way of saying “a number of cities” (see also 17:6; 30:17). • Jews living in Egypt after the destruction of Jerusalem spoke Hebrew, here called the language of Canaan. • Heliopolis was devoted to Re, the sun god. At a time when Judah was resisting the Lord, Isaiah envisioned the Egyptians following the Lord.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.