Isaiah 19:20

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. -Suffering shall lead to repentance. Struck with "terror" and "afraid" (Isaiah 19:17), because of Yahweh'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 (Isaiah 18:7; Isaiah 23:18). Verse 18. IN THAT DAY SHALL FIVE CITIES IN THE LAND OF EGYPT - i:e., several cities; as in...

20._And he will send them a Savior. _We cannot serve God unless he first bestow his grace upon us; for no one will dedicate himself to God, till he be drawn by his goodness, and embrace him with all his heart. He must therefore call us to him before we call upon him; we can have no access till he first invite us. Formerly he shewed that they must be subdued by various afflictions in order that they may submit to God, and now he repeats the same thing; for men never deny themselves and forsake idle follies any farther than the scourge compels them to yield obedience. But he likewise adds another kind of invitation, that, having experienced the kindness of God, they will freely approach to Him. _They will cry unto the Lord. _The _cry _of which he speaks proceeds from faith, for they would never resort to this refuge till they had been allured and delighted by the goodness of God. When the...

18-25 The words, "In that day," do not always refer to the passage just before. At a time which was to come, the Egyptians shall speak the holy language, the Scripture language; not only understand it, but use it. Converting grace, by changing the heart, changes the language; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So many Jews shall come to Egypt, that they shall soon fill five cities. Where the sun was worshipped, a place infamous for idolatry, even there shall be a wonderful reformation. Christ, the great Altar, who sanctifies every gift, shall be owned, and the gospel sacrifices of prayer and praise shall be offered up. Let the broken-hearted and afflicted, whom the Lord has wounded, and thus taught to return to, and call upon him, take courage; for He will heal their souls, and turn their sorrowing supplications into joyful praises. The Gentile nations shall not onl...

AND IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN - The altar, and the pillar. This shows that the altar was not to be for sacrifice, but was a “memorial,” or designed to designate a place of worship. THEY SHALL CRY TO THE LORD BECAUSE OF THE OPPRESSORS - That is, oppressed and borne down under the exactions of their rulers, they shall seek deliverance from the true God - one instance among many of the effect of affliction and oppression in leading people to embrace the true religion. AND HE SHALL SEND THEM A SAVIOUR - Who this “saviour” would be, has been a subject on which there has been a great difference of opinion. Grotius supposes that it would be “the angel” by which the army of Sennacherib would be destroyed. Gesenius thinks it was Psammetichus, who would deliver them from the tyranny of the eleven kings who were contending with each other, or that, since in...

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 IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN AND FOR A WITNESS UNTO THE LORD OF HOSTS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT,.... This refers either to what goes before, that the altar and pillar were signs and witnesses that the Lord was believed in, professed, and worshipped there; or to what follows after, that the Lord's hearing the cries of men, and answering them, by sending a great Saviour to them, is a token and testimony for him of his great love unto them: FOR THEY SHALL CRY UNTO THE LORD BECAUSE OF THE OPPRESSORS; as men awakened and convinced do, feeling the oppressions of a guilty conscience, and a tempting devil, and an ensnaring wicked world: AND HE SHALL SEND THEM A SAVIOUR, AND A GREAT ONE, AND HE SHALL DELIVER THEM; this is Christ, whom God sent in the fulness of time to be the Saviour of lost sinners; and he is a "great" one indeed, the great God, and our Saviour, Titus 2:13

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....

Five cities in Egypt will speak Hebrew and swear fealty to Yahweh. One shall be called city of the sun. There will be an altar to Yahweh in Egypt, and an obelisk to Him at its border, which shall witness for Him; and He will send a deliverer from their oppressors, so that they will worship Him with the animal and vegetable offerings and perform vows to Him. Then He will treat them as He had often treated Israel, smiting them for transgression, and healing them when they repented after their chastisement. Then a highway will lead from Egypt through Palestine to Assyria, that there may be free intercourse between them; for not only Egypt but also Assyria will serve Yahweh, and Israel will be united with these two empires as the third member of the league. ISAIAH 19:18. Herodotus reckons the cities of Egypt as 20,000. Five is thus a very small proportion. These cities are apparently inha

SIGN. See note on Isaiah 7:11....

_for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts_ i.e. a reminder that He has a people in Egypt, and that by their presence the land is consecrated to Him. The process of conversion in this and the following verses is finely conceived. First, the name of Jehovah is made known by the religious observances of the Jewish colonists and proselytes; then, in a time of trouble, the Egyptians turn to Him instead of to their false gods, and learn to know Him through His answer to their prayers (20, 21); finally this experience of Jehovah is deepened and purified by a discipline similar to that to which Israel was subjected in the time of the Judges (22). _the oppressors_ Omit the art.; the reference is quite general. _a saviour_ See Judges 3:9; Judges 3:15;...