Isaiah 19 - Bible Study in 5 Minutes

Isaiah 19 Short Summary:

Like Assyria and Babylon, Egypt struggled with pride, and God was determined to remind them of their place in His universe. Isaiah 19 is an oracle of punishment and blessing on Egypt. The punishment would humble them, but God’s blessing would heal them and draw them to Himself.

Isaiah 19 Bible Study

TIMELINE:

• The prophetic ministry of Isaiah spanned the reigns of King Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

• We do not know the exact date this oracle was spoken by Isaiah.

KEY CHARACTERS:

• Isaiah – The son of Amoz (1:1). God commissioned Isaiah as His prophet to Judah.

• The Nation of Egypt – A southern neighbor to Judah. They enslaved the people of Judah during the time of Moses.

DEFINITIONS:

• Oracle (19:1) - A divine announcement; a message from God.

• Necromancer (19:3) - A magician who practices magic related to the dead. Their work could span from communicating with the dead to reanimating dead people’s bodies and spirits.  

• City of Destruction (19:18) – The identity of this city has been the subject of long debate. Some scholars believe it is better translated “City of the Sun,” which would point to the city of Heliopolis in ancient Egypt.

OUTLINE:

• AN ORACLE AGAINST EGYPT (19:1-17):

  • Isaiah’s next prophesy concerned Egypt. Egypt was a place that symbolized slavery and oppression, but Isaiah spoke of a day when Judah would be lifted up above those who once enslaved them.

  • Isaiah described God riding on a cloud down to Egypt. Upon His arrival, all the idols and false gods of Egypt trembled.

  • God was going to cause turmoil in the Egyptian territory. He was going to cause the Egyptians to fight against each other and diminish the strength of the nation.

  • They would run to their idols, sorcerers, mediums, and necromancers for help, but they wouldn’t save them from God’s judgement.

  • God prophesied that He would submit the country to the rule of a hard and fierce king.

  • Along with civil trouble, God would bring natural troubles to Egypt. He foretold that the land’s rivers would be dried up and the earth parched (19:5). Fisherman would suffer, along with those who worked with reeds and cotton (19:8-9). Unemployment would spread and once prominent men would fall from their pedestals (19:10).

  • God mocked the “wise men” of Egypt, Pharaoh’s advisors who thought they could help Egypt out of the calamity. He said He would send a spirit of confusion amongst them, and they would cause Egypt to stumble like a drunk man.

  • On the day of God’s judgement, He would cause Egypt to tremble in fear of the God of Judah.

• FUTURE PEACE BETWEEN EGYPT, ASSYRIA, AND JUDAH (19:18-25):

  • Though Egypt would be humbled, God told Isaiah to prophesy about a future time when God’s blessing would fall on them.

  • Some of the cities of Egypt would be heavily influenced by the Jews, and hundreds of thousands would migrate to Egypt in upcoming years.

  • An altar would be built there to the God of Judah. Some historians believed this happened with Onias IV, the high priest, fled to Egypt and built a temple resembling the one in Jerusalem (Josephus, XII.9, 7).

  • Whether it points to that event or not, it’s clear that the knowledge of the Lord would permeate certain parts of Egypt, and this would prepare them for God’s blessing.

  • God would heal Egypt, even claiming them as His own people, and would build a highway between Egypt, Assyria, and Judah.

  • A highway was a sign of peace, facilitating trade, commerce, and diplomacy.

  • One day the Lord would bring peace between these bitter enemies, and they would all worship Him.

  • He would say of them, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance” (19:25).

APPLICATION:

• Judah, Egypt, and Assyria hated each other and had deep roots of bitterness reaching back hundreds of years.

• What could unify them and inspire them to worship the same God?

• Jesus!

• In Jesus, God unified all men through His universal sacrifice and salvation.

• Jesus was and still is the highway between nations.

• How can we learn to put aside national and racial differences to attain unity?

• We can do it by spreading the knowledge of the universal brotherhood found Jesus, and the communal salvation He extends to people from every background.