Isaiah 19:2

And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. I WILL SET - stir up. The same Hebrew (siksakti) as in Isaiah 9:11, where see note. Compare margin here-literally, to fold and mix together like thorns (Nahum 1:10) [akin to showk, to entwine with thorns]. Compare Luke 21:10. Gesenius translates, 'I will arm'-cover with arms [akin to caakak (H5526), to thickly cover]. THE EGYPTIANS AGAINST THE EGYPTIANS - Lower against Upper Egypt, and Saitic against...

2._And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians. _Here he describes more particularly the calamity which the Lord had determined to bring on Egypt. By the expression, _I will set, _he means the internal struggles, in which those who ought to be mutual defenders cut down one another; and no evil can be more destructive than this to a state or a people. It was of importance also to convince the Jews that God, in whose hands are the hearts of men, (Proverbs 21:1,) could by his unseen influence inflame the Jews to mutual animosities, that they might slay each other, though they were victorious over foreign enemies. Hence we learn that nations never rise in a seditious manner, unless the Lord _set them _against each other, as when one brings forward gladiators to the place of combat. He inflames their minds for battle, and prompts them to slay each other by mutual wounds; a

1-17 God shall come into Egypt with his judgments. He will raise up the causes of their destruction from among themselves. When ungodly men escape danger, they are apt to think themselves secure; but evil pursues sinners, and will speedily overtake them, except they repent. The Egyptians will be given over into the hand of one who shall rule them with rigour, as was shortly after fulfilled. The Egyptians were renowned for wisdom and science; yet the Lord would give them up to their own perverse schemes, and to quarrel, till their land would be brought by their contests to become an object of contempt and pity. He renders sinners afraid of those whom they have despised and oppressed; and the Lord of hosts will make the workers of iniquity a terror to themselves, and to each other; and every object around a terror to them....

AND I WILL SET - (סכסכתי _sı̂ksaketı̂y_). This word (from סכך _sākak_) means properly “to cover,” to spread over, to hide, conceal, to protect. Another signification of the verb is, to weave, to intermingle. It may mean here, ‘I will arm the Egyptians against each other’ (Gesenius); or, as in our version, ‘I will mingle, confound, or throw them into discord and strife.’ The Septuagint renders it, Ἐπεγερθήσονται _Epegerthēsontai_ - ‘They shall be excited,’ or, ‘raised up.’ Symmachus, Συμβαλῶ _Sumbalō_. Syriac and Chaldee, ‘I will excite.’ The sense is, that there would be discord and civil war, and this is traced to the agency or overruling providence of God - meaning that he would “permit and overrule” it. Compare the notes at...

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 19:1 THE BURDEN OF EGYPT. It has been doubted whether this prophecy refers to the conquest of Egypt by Piankhi, as related in the monument which he set up at Napata, or to that by Esarhaddon, of which we gain our knowledge from the inscriptions of his son, Asshur-bani-pal. In the former case, we must suppose it written as early as B.C. 735; in the latter, its date might be as late as B.C. 690. The division of Egypt, "kingdom against kingdom," is a circumstance rather in favor of the earlier date; but the "cruel lord," and the mention of the "princes of Zoan and Noph," are decisive for the later. Piankhi is anything rather than a "cruel lord," being particularly mild and clement; Napata (Noph) is under him, and cannot be said to have been "deceived" or to have "seduced

AND I WILL SET THE EGYPTIANS AGAINST THE EGYPTIANS,.... Or mingle and confound them together; in which confusion they should fall upon and destroy one another, as the Midianites did: the phrase is expressive of rebellions and civil wars, as the following words explain it; and which show, that the calamities of Egypt should be brought upon them, not by means of a foreign invasion, but by internal quarrels, and other means, which the Lord would in judgment send among them: AND THEY SHALL FIGHT EVERYONE AGAINST HIS BROTHER, AND EVERYONE AGAINST HIS NEIGHBOUR; and destroy one another: CITY AGAINST CITY; of which there were great numbers in Egypt; in the times of Amasis, it is said s, there were twenty thousand: [AND] KINGDOM AGAINST KINGDOM; for though Egypt was but originally one kingdom, yet upon the death of Sethon, one of its kings, who had been a priest of Vulcan, there being no succ...

CHAPTER 19 The Burden of Egypt 1. _The judgment announced (Isaiah 19:1)_ 2. _Egypt blest with Israel in the last days (Isaiah 19:16) _ Egypt has passed through many judgments. Hundreds of years after the divine predictions had been given the Word of the Lord was accomplished. The final judgment upon Egypt comes in that day when the Lord appears in visible glory. Egypt will come, like other nations, to the front once more at the close of the times of the Gentiles. But mercy is also in store for Egypt. Egypt will be called “His people.” When the Lord smites Egypt that land will return to Him. It will then be lifted out of the dust and receive a place of blessing only second to that which Israel will enjoy....

ISAIAH 19. ORACLE ON EGYPT. This is one of the most difficult Chapter s in the book. It falls into two sections, Isaiah 19:1 and Isaiah 19:18. If Isaiah 19:1 is in the main from Isaiah, it probably refers to an anticipated conquest of Egypt by Assyria. Three possibilities are then open: (_a_) the defeat of Egypt by Sargon at Raphia in 720 B.C. (pp. 59, 71); (_b_) the occasion which called forth the similar prophecy in Isaiah 20; (_c_) the early part of Sennacherib's reign, when Judah was planning an alliance with Egypt. It is true that no Assyrian king ruled over Egypt till 672, when Esarhaddon did so (p. 60). But it is better to regard the cruel lord and fierce king, into whose power Egypt is to be deliv

SET THE EGYPTIANS, &C. Referring to the anarchy consequent on the defeat of Egypt by Sargon (688 B.C.)...

The dissolution of the Egyptian nationality by the judicial intervention of Jehovah....