Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 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.
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. ( ) The received text has ‘r hahere, 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 ( below). ( ) Another reading, found in some Hebrew MSS. and followed by the Vulg., is ‘r haeres, “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. ( ) The LXX. reads “city of Righteousness” ( ‘r haedeq). 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 ere, and the reference was to Heliopolis; that this was altered by the Egyptian Jews to edeq and by those of Palestine to here (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.
[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 Juda, 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.]
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
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 Asedik – The city Asedek. The Chaldee, The city of the house of the sun ( beyith shemesh), which is to be destroyed. The Syriac, The city of Heres. The common reading of the Hebrew text is, ‘iyr haheres. This reading is found in most MS. editions and versions. The word 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 ( hacheres) is found in sixteen manuscripts, and has been copied in the Complutensian Polyglot. This word ( 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 Prideauxs 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, Asedek – The city of Asedek, as if the original were tsedaqah – 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 ( heres), and the word sun ( cheres), is a change of a single letter where one might be easily mistaken for the other – the change of the Hebrew letter (h) into the Hebrew letter (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 ( 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 19:18
The language of Canaan
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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. The city of destruction – “The city of the sun”] 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, ir hacheres, the city of the sun. This possibly may have been the original reading. The present text has 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 heres, pro cheres, ut alibi scribitur beith aven pro beith El: ish bosheth pro ish baal, c. Vide Lowth in loc.” – Secker. “It seems that the prophet designedly wrote heres, destruction, for cheres, the sun: as elsewhere beith aven, the house of iniquity, is written for beith El, the house of God ish bosheth for ish baal,” c. But on the supposition that air haheres is the true reading, others understand it differently. The word 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 , 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 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 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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.
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 peoples 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 mans 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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18-22. In that day, c.Sufferingshall lead to repentance. Struck with “terror” and “afraid”(Isa 19:17) because ofJehovah’s judgments, Egypt shall be converted to Him: nay, evenAssyria shall join in serving Him so that Israel, Assyria, and Egypt,once mutual foes, shall be bound together by the tie of a commonfaith as one people. So a similar issue from other prophecies(Isa 18:7; Isa 23:18).
five citiesthat is,several cities, as in Isa 17:6;Isa 30:17; Gen 43:34;Lev 26:8. Rather, fivedefinite 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.
language of Canaanthatis, 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 areconnected in Zep 3:9; as alsothe first confounding and multiplication of languages was thepunishment of the making of gods at Babel, other than the One God.Pentecost (Ac 2:4) was thecounterpart of Babel: the separation of nations is not to hinder theunity of faith; the full realization of this is yet future (Zec 14:9;Joh 17:21). The next clause,”swear to the Lord of Hosts,” agrees with this view; thatis, bind themselves to Him by solemn covenant (Isa 45:23;Isa 65:16; Deu 6:13).
city of destructionOnias;”city of the sun,” that is, On, or Heliopolis; hepersuaded Ptolemy Philometer (149 B.C.)to let him build a temple in the prefecture (nome) of Heliopolis, onthe ground that it would induce Jews to reside there, and that thevery site was foretold by Isaiah six hundred years before. Thereading of the Hebrew text is, however, better supported,”city of destruction“; referring to Leontopolis, thesite of Onias’ temple: which casts a reproach on that city because itwas 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” (Isa19:20), to “deliver them.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Re 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 1Co 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:
and swear to the Lord of hosts; not by him, but to him, which sometimes is put for the whole of religious worship, De 6:13 and signifies a bowing, a submission, and subjection to him; compare
Isa 45:23 with Ro 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 Ps 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
At first there is only slavish fear; but there is the beginning of a turn to something better. “In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing to Jehovah of hosts: ‘Ir ha-Heres will one be called.” Five cities are very few for Egypt, which was completely covered with cities; but this is simply a fragmentary commencement of Egypt’s future and complete conversion. The description given of them, as beginning to speak the language of Canaan, i.e., the sacred language of the worship of Jehovah (comp. Zep 3:9), and to give themselves up to Jehovah with vows made on oath, is simply a periphrastic announcement of the conversion of the five cities. (different from , Isa 65:16, as Isa 45:23 clearly shows) signifies to swear to a person, to promise him fidelity, to give one’s self up to him. One of these five will be called Ir ha – Heres . As this is evidently intended for a proper name, la’echat does not mean unicuique , as in Jdg 8:18 and Eze 1:6, but uni . It is a customary thing with Isaiah to express the nature of anything under the form of some future name (vid., Isa 4:3; Isa 32:5; Isa 61:6; Isa 62:4). The name in this instance, therefore, must have a distinctive and promising meaning.
But what does Ir ha – Heres mean? The Septuagint has changed it into , equivalent to Ir hazzedek (city of righteousness), possibly in honour of the temple in the Heliopolitan nomos , which was founded under Ptolemaeus Philometor about 160 b.c., during the Syrian reign of terror, by Onias IV, son of the high priest Onias III, who emigrated to Egypt.
(Note: See Frankel on this Egyptian auxiliary temple, in his Monatschrift fr Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums, 1852, p. 273ff.; Herzfeld, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, iii. 460ff., 557ff.; and Grtz, Geschichte der Juden, iii. 36ff.)
Maurer in his Lexicon imagines that he has found the true meaning, when he renders it “city of rescue;” but the progressive advance from the meaning “to pull off’ to that of “setting free” cannot be established in the case of the verb haras ; in fact, haras does not mean to pull off or pull out, but to pull down. Heres cannot have any other meaning in Hebrew than that of “destruction.” But as this appears unsuitable, it is more natural to read Ir ha – cheres (which is found in some codices, though in opposition to the Masora).
(Note: But no Greek codex has the reading (see Holmes-Parsons’ V. T. Graecum c. var. lect. t. iv. on this passage), as the Complutensian has emended it after the Vulgate (see the Vocabluarium Hebr. 37 a, belonging to the Complutensian).)
This is now generally rendered “city of protection” (Rosenmller, Ewald, Knobel, and Meier), as being equivalent to an Arabic word signifying divinitus protecta . But such an appeal to the Arabic is contrary to all Hebrew usage, and is always a very precarious loophole. Ir ha – cheres would mean “city of the sun” ( cheres as in Job 9:7 and Jdg 14:18), as the Talmud in the leading passage concerning the Onias temple (in b. Menahoth 110 a) thinks that even the received reading may be understood in accordance with Job 9:7, and says “it is a description of the sun.” “Sun-city” was really the name of one of the most celebrated of the old Egyptian cities, viz., Heliopolis, the city of the sun-god Ra, which was situated to the north-east of Memphis, and is called On in other passages of the Old Testament. Ezekiel (Eze 30:17) alters this into Aven, for the purpose of branding the idolatry of the city.
(Note: Heliopolis answers to the sacred name Pe – ra , house of the sun-god (like Pe – Ramesses , house of Ramses), which was a name borne by the city that was at other times called On (old Egyptian anu ). Cyrill, however, explains even the latter thus, (“On, according to their interpretation, is the sun”), which is so far true according to Lauth, that Ain , Oin , Oni , signifies the eye as an emblem of the sun; and from this, the tenth month, which marks the return of the sun to the equinoctial point, derives its name of Pa – oni , Pa – one , Pa – uni . It may possibly be with reference to this that Heliopolis is called Ain es – sems in Arabic (see Arnold, Chrestom. Arab. p. 56 s.). Edrisi (iii. 3) speaks of this Ain es – sems as “the country-seat of Pharaoh, which may God curse;” just as Bin el – Faraun is a common expression of contempt, which the Arabs apply to the Coptic fellahs .)
But this alteration of the well-attested text is a mistake; and the true explanation is, that Ir – hahares is simply used with a play upon the name Ir – hacheres . This is the explanation given by the Targum: “Heliopolis, whose future fate will be destruction.” But even if the name is intended to have a distinctive and promising meaning, it is impossible to adopt the explanation given by Luzzatto, “a city restored from the ruins;” for the name points to destruction, not to restoration. Moreover, Heliopolis never has been restored since the time of its destruction, which Strabo dates as far back as the Persian invasion. There is nothing left standing now out of all its monuments but one granite obelisk: they are all either destroyed, or carried away, like the so-called “Cleopatra’s Needle,” or sunk in the soil of the Nile (Parthey on Plutarch, de Iside, p. 162). This destruction cannot be the one intended. But haras is the word commonly used to signify the throwing down of heathen altars (Jdg 6:25; 1Ki 18:30; 1Ki 19:10, 1Ki 19:14); and the meaning of the prophecy may be, that the city which had hitherto been Ir – ha – cheres , the chief city of the sun-worship, would become the city of the destruction of idolatry, as Jeremiah prophesies in Isa 43:13, “Jehovah will break in pieces the obelisks of the sun-temple in the land of Egypt.” Hence Herzfeld’s interpretation: “ City of demolished Idols ”. It is true that in this case ha – heres merely announces the breaking up of the old, and does not say what new thing will rise upon the ruins of the old; but the context leaves no doubt as to this new thing, and the one-sided character of the description is to be accounted for from the intentional play upon the actual name of that one city out of the five to which the prophet gives especial prominence. With this interpretation – for which indeed we cannot pretend to find any special confirmation in the actual fulfilment in the history of the church, and, so to speak, the history of missions – the train of thought in the prophet’s mind which led to the following groove of promises is a very obvious one.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Promises to Egypt. | B. C. 710. |
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. 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 a great one, and he shall deliver them. 21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, 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 the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. 24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: 25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
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.
I. They shall speak the language of Canaan, the holy language, the scripture-language; they shall not only understand it, but use it (v. 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. xlii. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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, v. 20. See Ps. lxv. 2. When they cry to God by reason of their oppressors, the cruel lords that shall rule over them (v. 4) he shall be entreated of them (v. 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, 1 Sam. viii. 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, v. 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 LXX., 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 (v. 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 (v. 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. xi. 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verse 18-25: THE PROMISE OF BLESSING
1. In a far-reaching prophecy Isaiah sees Egypt acknowledging the true God because of His marvelous works, (Verse 18-21; see on Isa 11:15-16; Isa 27:12; Mic 7:15).
a. An altar and a pillar will be erected in Egypt as a “sign and witness” to the Lord of hosts, (Verse 19-20a). It is possible that “altar” and “pillar” are simply used as symbols of devotion, (cf. Jos 22:26-27; Lev 26:1; Deu 12:5; Deu 16:22).
b. When they call on the Lord he Will send a mighty Savior to deliver them, (Verse 20b; Isa 43:3; Isa 43:11; Isa 45:15; Isa 45:21; Isa 49:25).
c. The Lord will, in that day, so reveal Himself to the Egyptians that they may know, worship and serve Him with their whole hearts, (Verse 21; Isa 56:7; Isa 60:7; Zec 14:16-18; Mal 1:11).
2. There is coming a day in which Egypt, Assyria and Israel will be joined in an intimate and joyful union for the service of Jehovah; and they will exult in the glorious blessedness of His favor, (Verse 22-25; Isa 27:13).
a. The vision of Isaiah is as broad as his loving and caring heart.
b. The love of the Most High embraces Gentile nations in its broad outreach, (Verse 23-25; Isa 45:22).
c. Had Israel learned this lesson (and shared the heart-care of the almighty) from the beginning, her history would have been much different (Psa 81:13-16); her humiliation unnecessary.
d. For Egypt there is to be a glorious future, but NOT JUST YET! as will appear in the next chapter.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. In that day there shall be five cities. After having threatened the Egyptians, and at the same time explained the reason of the divine judgment, he comforts them, and promises the mercy of God. He declares that they will be in part restored, and will regain a prosperous and flourishing condition; for he says that out of six cities five will be saved, and only one will perish. He had already foretold a frightful destruction to the whole kingdom, so that no one who examines the former prediction can think of anything else than a condition that is past remedy. He therefore promises that this restoration will be accomplished by the extraordinary kindness of God, so that it will be a kind of addition to the redemption of the Church, or a large measure of the grace of God, when the Redeemer shall be sent.
The manner of expression is somewhat obscure, but if we observe it carefully, there is no difficulty about the meaning; for the Prophet means that on1y the sixth part of the cities will be destroyed, and that the rest will be saved. The difficulty lies in the word ההרס, ( hăhĕrĕs.) Some read it החרס, ( hăchĕrĕs,) that is, of the sun, but they have mistaken the letter ה ( he) for ח ( cheth,) which resembles it. Those who explain it “of the sun,” think that the Prophet spoke of Heliopolis; (41) but this does not agree with the context; and he does not merely promise that five cities would be restored, (for how inconsiderable would such a restoration have been!) but generally, that five cities out of six would be saved. We know that the cities in Egypt were very numerous. I do not mention the fables of the ancients, and those who have assigned to them twenty thousand cities. But still, there must have been a vast number of cities in a country so highly celebrated, in a kingdom so flourishing and populous, with a climate so mild and temperate. Let us then suppose that there were a thousand cities in it, or somewhat more. He says that only the sixth part will perish, that the rest will be restored, so that but few will be destroyed. From what follows it is evident that this restoration must be understood to relate to the worship.
Speaking with the lip of Canaan. By the word lip he means the tongue, ( συνεκδοχικῶς,) taking a part for the whole. He expresses their agreement with the people of God, and the faith by which they will make profession of the name of God; for by the tongue he metaphorically describes confession. Since there was but one language which acknowledged and professed the true God, that is, the language of that nation which inhabited the land of Canaan, it is evident that by such a language must be meant agreement in religion. It is customary enough to employ these modes of expression, “to speak the same language,” or, “to speak a different language,” when we intend to describe agreement or diversity of opinion. But at the same time it must be remembered that it is not every kind of agreement that is sufficient, as if men were to form a conspiracy about the worship which they preferred, but if they agree in the truth which was revealed to the fathers. He does not merely say that the Egyptians will speak the same language, but that they will speak the language of Canaan. They must have changed their language, and adopted that which God had sanctified; not that the dialect was more holy, but it is commended on account of its containing the doctrine of truth.
This ought to be carefully observed, that we may understand what is the true method of agreement. We must by all means seek harmony, but we must see on what conditions we obtain it; for we must not seek any middle course, as is done by those who overturn religion, and yet who wish to be regarded as peace-makers. Away with such fickle and changeful tongues! Let the truth itself be preserved, which cannot be contained but in the word. Whosoever shall determine to agree to it, let him talk with us, but away with every one who shall corrupt it, choose what language he may. Let us abide firmly by this. It will therefore be impossible for the Egyptians to speak the language of Canaan till they have first relinquished their own language, that is, till they have relinquished all superstitions. Some refer this to the age of Ptolemy, but it is absurd, and we may infer from what follows that the Prophet speaks of piety and of the true worship of God.
And swearing by Jehovah of hosts. First, employing a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, he shews that their conversation will be holy, by exhibiting a single class of them, for in swearing they will make profession that they worship the true God. It may also be read, swearing to the Lord, or, by the Lord, for ל ( lamed) often signifies by. If we read, “to the Lord,” the meaning will be, that they will promise obedience to him, and that by a solemn oath, as when any nation promises fidelity to its prince; as if he had said, “They will acknowledge the authority of God, and submit to his government.” But since another reading has been more generally approved, I willingly adopt it; for since one part of the worship of God is swearing, by taking a part for the whole, as I have said, it fitly describes the whole of the worship of God. Again, to “swear by the Lord” often means to testify that he is the true God. (Deu 6:13.) In a word, it denotes a perfect agreement with the Church of God.
Hence we ought to learn that outward confession is a necessary part of the true worship of God; for if any person wish to keep his faith shut up in his heart, he will have but a cold regard for it. (Rom 10:9.) True faith breaks out into confession, and kindles us to such a degree that we actually profess what we inwardly feel. “To me,” says the Lord in another passage, “every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear.” (Isa 45:23.) Accordingly, there ought to be an outward worship and outward profession wherever faith dwells. It ought also to be observed, that those things which belong to the worship of God ought not to be applied to any other purpose, and therefore it is a profanation of an oath if we swear by any other. It is written, “Thou shalt swear by my name.” (Deu 6:13.) Accordingly, he is insulted and robbed of his honor, if the name of saints, or of any creature, be employed in an oath. Let it likewise be observed with what solemnity oaths should be made; for if by swearing we profess to worship God, we ought never to engage in it but with fear and reverence.
One shall be called the city of desolation. When he devotes to destruction every sixth city, he means that all who are not converted to God, so as to worship him, perish without hope of salvation; for he contrasts the cities of Egypt which shall begin to acknowledge God with those which are destined to destruction. Where the worship of God is wanting, nothing but destruction can remain behind. הרס ( hĕrĕs) denotes execration and curse, which is followed by ruin and eternal death.
(41) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
AN ALTAR AND A SAVIOUR FOR EGYPT
Isa. 19:18-20. In that day shall five cities, &c.
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, 11661168). 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 Gods 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.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(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 prophets 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.
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 Ezekiels transformation of On into Aven, nothingness, or vanity (Eze. 30:17), or Hoseas 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 Gideons breaking down the image of Baal, in Jdg. 6:25; and in Jeremiahs prophecy (Jer. 43:13), He shall break the pillars in the house of the sun, we may probably trace an allusive reference to Isaiahs 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 Philomtor, which for some two centuries shared with the Temple at Jerusalem the homage of Egyptian Jews. Onias and his followers pointed to Isaiahs words as giving a sanction to what their brethren in Palestine looked on as a rival and sacrilegious worship.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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.
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.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of hosts. One will be called ‘the city of destruction’.
When related to Egypt the number ‘five’ is of especial significance. It contained within it the essence of completeness. Thus these ‘five cities’ are like the ‘seven churches’ of Revelation. They speak of five major cities, but as comprising all cities. And yet at the same time they are a reminder that just as it is ‘a remnant’ of Israel that are the holy seed (Isa 6:13), so will it be of Egypt. Five cities are a significant fraction of the whole.
Furthermore Egyptians were very proud of their language. They regularly judged the manhood of others by whether they could speak Egyptian. They considered that if a man could not speak Egyptian he was not really a man. They saw language as the essence of what a man is. But now they would gladly forsake their language for the despised language of Canaan. It will be a complete reversal of their situation. They will turn from their culture and their gods so that they may serve the living God and talk His language. Indeed they will make their oaths to Him and become His people. It is a picture of their total submission to Yahweh.
‘One will be called ‘the city of destruction’.’ The naming of this city presents the final picture of what will have happened. All that was Egypt (as seen by an Israelite) would be destroyed. Its pride, its arrogance, its mastery, its gods. And this will be symbolised in the renaming of the city. All that was displeasing to Yahweh will have been destroyed, and Egypt will be in submission to Him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 19:18. In that day, &c. The latter part of this prophesy contains an account of the salutary benefits, temporal as well as spiritual, which God would bestow on Egypt after the above-mentioned calamity. Isaiah, to whom God had most clearly revealed the mystery of the calling of the nations to the grace of Christ, every where takes occasion to speak of it; and frequently finishes his prophesies concerning the nations, with a promise of the salutary blessings determined by God for them; but he does this no where more explicitly than in the present passage. He takes the most convenient occasion of passing from one argument to the other: he had said, that some of the Egyptians, when, under this calamity and oppression, they should observe the impotence of their gods, and seriously reflect upon the true cause of this judgment, should turn their minds to the God of Israel, and, under the sense of what he had foretold by his prophets, should tremble with fear at the mention of him. Isaiah teaches that this servile fear and trembling should in time [after that day, or time] be turned into religious fear; with this effect, that many Egyptians, not all, should speak the language of Canaan; that is to say, profess the true religion. For the analysis of this period, see on the 1st verse. The proposition has two members or gradations, distinguished by the prophet. The former in this verse, wherein the prophet assures us, that after the time of the preceding calamity, there should be five cities in Egypt, who should profess the true religion, and that one of them should be Heliopolis; for, instead of the city of destruction, we may read, the city of the sun, or Heliopolis, a celebrated city in Egypt, and most particularly remarkable for its superstition. It is said, that the conversion of the Egyptians should be effected principally in five cities. If a certain number be not put for an uncertain, the five cities wherein the worship of the one true God was first received, were, Heliopolis, which is particularly named in the text, and the four others, mentioned Jer 44:1 viz. Migdol, or Magdolum, Tahpanhes, or Daphe, Noph, or Memphis, and that in the country of Pathros, or Thebais, not mentioned by name, perhaps Amonno or Diospolis. There the Jews chiefly resided at that time; and some good men, mingled among them, might open these prophesies to the Egyptians; and they themselves, when they saw them fulfilled, might embrace the Jewish religion. See Bishop Newton, vol. 1: p. 374 and Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
) EGYPT BY DEGREES CONVERTED WHOLLY TO THE LORD, AND THE THIRD IN THE CONFEDERATION WITH ASSYRIA AND ISRAEL
Isa 19:18-25
18In 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.
19In 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.
20And 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.
21And 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.
22And 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.
23In 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.
24In that day shall Israel be the third
With Egypt and Assyria.
25Even 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 occurs only here. with must be distinguished from its use with . The latter is to swear by one (Isa 62:8; Amo 6:8; Amo 8:7, etc.); the former is to swear, to oblige ones self to another by oath, (Zep 1:5; Gen 24:7; Gen 50:24; Exo 13:5; Psa 132:2, etc.). or . Sixteen Codd. have the latter reading, also several editions. The LXX. indeed reads , 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 , and among the ancient versions at least the Syriac decidedly so reads (for , which Aqc. and Theod. read, could stand also for ). Thus critically the reading is the best supported. The authority of the Masora is for it. But the reading 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: , i.e., the city Beth-Shemes quae futura est ad evertendum, i.e., quae evertetur. And the fact that the treatise Menachot reads is certainly proof that weighty authorities supported this reading. Add to this that 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 = 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. fr Luth. Theol. 1841, III.), whom Drechsler and Delitzsch follow, is therefore of the opinion that the Prophet, by a slight change wrote instead of , but will have this word 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 by the name ; Hos 4:15; Hos 5:8 (comp. Amo 5:5) calls by the name (for which moreover an actual and neighboring Jos 7:2 gave the handle); Isa 7:6 changes the name into , although he uses it in pausa; and Isa 21:11 he introduces Edom under the name of (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 , house of revelation, it should be called house of concealment (or fossae, latrinae); has the city been called , house of the king, it should be called house of the dog; instead of the all-seeing eye, call it the eye of thorns.Further examples of the kind see in Buxtorff, Lex., Chald., Talmud, et rabb., p. 1086 sq., s. v., Thus we see that as a twisting of must either be opposed to the context or to the usus loquendi. I therefore hold to be the original correct reading. But means the sun (Jdg 1:35, where it is remarkable that a little before, Isa 19:23, a 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 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 ( ) 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 : . 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 of our verse was changed by them to . There are in fact six MSS. that read expressly city of the curse; and the 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 as the orthodox reading, and the fixing of the same by the Masorets.Comp. moreover, Reinke in the Tb. 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 Beitrgen zur Eklr. des A. T. Giesen 1872, Band VIII., p. 87 sqq.
Isa 19:20. The combination occurs only here. Of more frequent occurrence is , Deu 13:2; Deu 28:46; Isa 20:3. 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. with latent transitive notion; Exo 10:26; comp. Gen 30:29.
Isa 19:22. The reason why Isaiah uses the word 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, audientem se praestitit alicui; only here in Isaiah; comp. Gen 25:21; 2Sa 21:14; 2Sa 24:25.
Isa 19:23. see Isa 7:3. can only be understood as the abbreviation of the statement that occurs entire immediately before with application there to Egypt alone. The same service () shall Egypt perform in union with Assyria. The Prophet could so much the more readily express himself thus, in as much as is used also elsewhere (Job 36:11) in the same absolute way.
Isa 19:24. is in itself tertia; yet not merely pars, but size, degree generally, designated by three. Compare 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. cannot be construed as simple relative pronoun. For then the suffix in must be referred to 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 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 EgyptAssyria 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 daydestruction.
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 admits either of these senses, or rather applications, the question must depend upon the meaning given to the rest of the clause. Even on Calvins 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 as a proper name. All the interpretations which have now been mentioned [the one Dr. Naegelsbach favors being included in the numberTr.] 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 givesand 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 Ptolomus Philometor (180145) at Leontopolis in the Nome of Heliopolis (Josephus Antiq. 12, 9, 7; 13, 3, 13; 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 (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. Naegelsbachs own remark in the exegetical comment on Isa 19:2-4 above, p. 224. Nothing was less in Isaiahs 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 dayheal 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 Gods 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 , 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 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 definitiveshall 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 Hebronwithout 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 just as here, and Jdg 2:16; Jdg 2:18 the performance of the judges whom God sent to the people, is designated , and the judges are on that account expressly called deliverers, saviours, (Jdg 3:9; Jdg 3:15; Jdg 6:36; Jdg 12:3). , 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 daymine inheritance.
Isa 19:23-25. It is observed in verses 1922, 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. Israels 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 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 my people (comp. Isa 3:12; Isa 10:2; Isa 10:24, and often), Assyria work of my hands, (comp. Isa 60:21; Isa 64:7 and often), but Israel retains the name of honor , 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.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
I beseech the Reader to remark every word in these verses. Let him observe how the sweet promises contained in them open. In that day, namely, the gospel day; the day of Christ, which Abraham, ages back, but now so much nearer, saw afar off; rejoiced and was glad. And how blessed is the promise to Egypt in this day. Egypt, had been miserably spoken of before, but now in mercies. So is it in all the transitions from nature to grace. The language of Canaan is the language of the gospel; so that Egypt, shall partake with Israel in the mercies of redemption, and shall speak the same language. And observe, that this is to be not in one or two instances, but by towns and cities; yea, five at once, as if to intimate that day of gospel grace, when the Holy Ghost shall be poured out upon all flesh, agreeably to the promise, Joe 2:28-32 ; Act 2:17-21 . Neither is this all: for an altar to the Lord shall be set up in Egypt. Christ is the New Testament Altar, and the Egyptians, like Israel, shall present all their offerings upon Him, and in Him, and by Him: neither doth the blessing of gospel grace stop here; for when the poor sinner, under convictions of sin, and the oppressions of the enemy, is constrained to cry out unto the Lord, the Lord will send a Saviour, and a great one, and he will deliver him from all his burden, and from all his sins. Pray, Reader, pause over this precious scripture, for it is indeed most precious; and say, to whom but to Jesus the almighty Saviour of lost sinners, can this refer? Indeed was not his name called Jesus by the angel, for this express reason, because he should save his people from their sins? Mat 1:21 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Five cities.
Speak the language of Canaan.
And swear to the Lord of hosts.
One shall be called the city of destruction,
a Nempe susceptione baptismi. – Piscat.
b Joseph. Ant., lib. xiii. cap. 6.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 19:18
18In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.
Isa 19:18 This is a separate paragraph. It denotes a conversion from idol worship to the worship of YWHH. The language of Canaan would denote Hebrew (BDB 488 I). This may be an allusion to Isa 6:5 or even Gen 11:1.
The phrase swearing allegiance (BDB 989, KB 1396, Niphal PARTICIPLE) denotes a new relationship with Judah’s God (cf. Isa 19:19-25). This has always been the purpose of divine judgment!
In that day, see Special Topic: That Day . Notice the recurrent phrase, in that day, Isa 19:16; Isa 19:18-19; Isa 19:23-24. This points toward specific future days.
1. one of judgment and dread, Isa 19:16-17
2. one of conversion (Isa 19:18-22) and worldwide worship (Isa 19:23-25)
Again, a current crisis (cf. Isa 19:20) in the ANE reflects an eschatological event. Judgment has a redemptive purpose (cf. Isa 19:22). Evil, rebellion, and ignorance will not be the last word! YHWH has an eternal redemptive plan and purpose for the whole world (cf. Isa 19:24 b).
five cities The reason for this specific number is uncertain. It denotes a conversion, but not a complete (i.e., half of ten, see Special Topic: Symbols and Numbers in Scripture at Isa 11:12) conversion. The question remains, To whom does it refer?
1. cities of Jewish settlers
2. cities of Egyptian deities
Because of Isa 19:19-25 I choose option #2. This context is not addressing Jews, but Egyptians.
NASB, NKJVthe City of Destruction
NRSV, TEV,
NJBthe City of the Sun
The MT’s destruction (BDB 249) appears only here. The VERB of the same root (BDB 248) means to throw down, break, or tear down. It may be a play on the Egyptian city who worshiped the Sun god (On, Heliopolis).
1. , city of the Sun (BDB 357, cf. DSS, Targums, Vulgate)
2. , city of destruction
The implication is that the temples to Re (Sun god) have been torn down.
The Hebrew word sun has the same consonants as ban (BDB 356, i.e. devoted to destruction). There may be a double wordplay.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
five cities. These were probably Heliopolis, Leontopolis, Daphne, Migdol, and Memphis.
the language of Canaan: i.e. the Hebrew language, by the multitude of Jews that went thither.
destruction. The primitive reading was doubtless hazedek = “righteousness”, which the Septuagint simply transliterates, aoeoek. From a desire not to compete with “Jerusalem”, which bore this name (Isa 1:26), it was altered to cheres, which in Chaldee = “the sun”, or in Greek = “Heliopolis”, which is the reading in many MSS., two early printed editions, and the margins of the Authorized Version and Revised Version But when the temple at Jerusalem was cleansed and restored, the temple at Heliopolis was deemed schismatic; and, by altering one letter (= CH, for = H), cheres (the sun) was altered to heres (destruction). Hence the present reading of the current Hebrew text.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 19:18-22
Isa 19:18
“In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah of hosts; one shall be called the city of destruction.”
“Five cities …” This verse is considered very difficult, not only as to the identity of these cities, but as to the significance of only five being mentioned, and even as to what is meant by the language of Canaan!
“The reference to the five cities is not to be taken literally”; We understand it as meaning “only a few.” One plausible meaning of the verse is that it refers to the establishment, through the Jews, of a foothold in Egypt, a kind of beach-head for monotheism, which would aid the spread of the gospel in ages to come. Rawlinson pointed out that this actually occurred after the conquest by Alexander the Great, who established large numbers of Jews in Alexandria; and that this became a great stronghold of monotheism. The LXX version of the Hebrew scriptures was produced there; and the rendition of the Hebrew into the Greek might even be called a prerequisite to the gospel age. This version (LXX) proved to be a key in the evangelism of the world, God’s first signal that the Greek language would be the language of inspiration in the New Testament. Significantly, this break-through occurred in Egypt. The translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, which, after Alexander the Great, became the universal language of the whole world was indeed significant. (1) It `froze’ all of the great prophecies pointing to the Messiah, so that they could never be altered; indeed the entire Old Testament was hardened into facts of history,” known by the whole world and incapable of being changed. Present day critics cannot get around the witness of the Septuagint (LXX) any more than could the infidels of Jesus’ day. The Septuagint (LXX) was translated about 250 B.C.
Isa 19:19-22
“In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to Jehovah. And it shall be a sign for a witness unto Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto Jehovah because of oppressors, and he will send them a saviour and a defender, and he will deliver them. And Jehovah shall be known to Egypt and, the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day; yea, they shall worship with sacrifice and oblation, and shall vow a vow unto Jehovah, and shall perform it. And Jehovah will smite Egypt, smiting and healing; and they shall return unto Jehovah, and he will be entreated of them, and will heal them.”
Archer’s understanding of this we believe to be correct. He wrote:
“There would even be an altar erected unto Jehovah (Isa 19:19) in Egypt. Such an altar was erected by a Jewish high priest named Onias in the reign of Ptolemy VI; and this was an earnest of the later conversion of Egyptians to Christianity. And God here promised to send them a saviour (Isa 19:20). Historically, this was first fulfilled when Alexander the Great freed the oppressed peoples from their yoke of Persian submission; but in the higher dimension, it stands for the coming of the divine Saviour who would free them from their sins.
Regarding this temple (including an altar, of course) that Onias built in Alexandria, Josephus has this:
“This Onias resolved to send to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them that he might build a temple in Egypt like that in Jerusalem, and might order Levites and priests out of their own stock. The chief reason why he was so desirous to do this, was, that he relied upon the prophet Isaiah who lived about six hundred years earlier, and foretold that there was certainly to be a temple built to Almighty God in Egypt.
In like manner, Isa 19:21-22, are doubtless references to the “Christianization” of Egypt (and the whole world) during the Messianic age. Egypt served God with sacrifice and oblation “in the same sense as the rest of the Church (Mal 1:1). Isaiah, writing in the eighth century B.C., would of course, describe the worship of God in the only terms that the people of that time could understand.
Isa 19:18-22 PENITENT: Persuaded of Jehovahs sovereignty, many Egyptians will some day (In that day) repent, change their minds and actions, and worship Him. In that day can only, as we shall develop, refer to the Messianic age, the church. Five cities is probably a figure of speech meaning a considerable number of people. Amos uses the phrase, For three transgressions, yea for four, and does not intend to say Israel had committed only four transgressions. Isaiah does not mean to say only five cities. While there are five cities speaking the language of Canaan, a sixth city shall be called destruction. In other words, there will still be some in Egypt who will not repent just as the rest of mankind did not repent after the judgments portrayed in Rev 9:20 ff. Speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing to Jehovah of hosts is to speak the language in which the God of the Israelites is worshiped. That, of course, does not mean the Egyptians would speak Hebrew any more than it means they would speak Greek (the language of the New Testament). It means they would speak truth as opposed to falsehood. It means they would give allegiance to Jehovah-they would come into covenant relationship with Him. They would become citizens of Jehovahs kingdom (the church). It is doubtful that it could mean great numbers of the Egyptians would become Jewish proselytes.
We take the altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt to be prophetic of the worship of the one true God being established when the gospel was preached there and people became Christians in the first century A.D. The statement that sacrifices (Isa 19:22) will be offered does not limit the meaning of this passage to Old Testament practices for there are certain sacrifices to be offered in the New Testament church (Cf. Heb 13:15-16). The pillar is in Hebrew matztzevah which is a stone pillar resembling an obelisk. Such a pillar was erected by Jacob (Gen 28:16-22) to memorialize the presence of God. The pillar in Egypt is figurative of saying that when one approaches the border of Egypt he comes to a land that is also the Lords for the presence of Jehovah is here (in the church). This is an especially vivid figure for Isaiahs Jewish audience. It is being predicted to them that one day Palestine will not be the only land where the presence of Jehovah dwells. The universal kingdom of Jehovah (the church) will extend into Egypt as well as Palestine!
The Jews who wrote the Septuagint (cir. 300 B.C.) thought this prophecy of Isaiah (and Ezekiel and Jeremiah) against Egypt was fulfilled in the days on Onias, a Jew of great distinction and a high priest. In 160 B.C. Onias IV, was compelled to flee Palestine. He fled to Egypt and sought and received permission from the Egyptian monarch, to build a temple like that in Jerusalem and even pointed the king Ptolemy to this passage in Isaiah for authority to build it. Josephus, the Jewish historian records this for us. Titus Vespasian destroyed this temple in Egypt in 70 A.D. when he destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. We believe this passage has a much larger and grander fulfillment than that, as subsequent verses will show.
Whatever the language of Canaan, the altar, the pillar, they were to be a sign and for a witness unto Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt. These things were to signify and testify that these Egyptians were Gods people and He was their God. For now, as Gods people, they who were formerly oppressors would become the oppressed. As Jesus said, If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (Joh 15:19). But now these Egyptians are in covenant relationship to Jehovah and they may have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus (Heb 10:19 ff) and cry unto God and He will strengthen them, save them and deliver them.
Jehovah shall be known to Egypt and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah, in that day. Their relationship shall be experiential as well as mental. They will enter into a life-style of belief. It will be done willingly. The offering of vows is done not by way of obligation or legislation but by willingness (Num 30:1 ff). Furthermore, since these Egyptians are true children of God, they will be treated like His children. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens, etc. . . . (Heb 12:3-17). If God does not chasten, they are illegitimate children. Jehovah will smite and heal in order to turn them constantly to Him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that day: Isa 19:19, Isa 19:21, Isa 2:11, Zec 2:11
shall five: Isa 11:11, Isa 27:13, Psa 68:31
speak: Zep 3:9
language: Heb. lip, Gen 11:1
and swear: Isa 45:23, Isa 45:24, Deu 10:20, Neh 10:29, Jer 12:16
destruction: Heb. Heres, or, the sun, Instead of heres “destruction,” which is also the reading of Aquila, Theodotion, and the Syriac, fifteen manuscripts and seven editions have cheres “the sun;” agreeable to Symmachus, the Arabic, and Vulgate; while the Chaldee takes in both readings; and the LXX reads , “the city of righteousness,” a name apparently contrived by the party of Onias, to give credit to his temple. As, however, heres in Arabic signifies a lion, Conrad Ikenius is of opinion that the place here mentioned is not Heliopolis, as is commonly supposed, but Leontopolis in the Heliopolitan nome, as it is termed in the letter of Onias to Ptolemy. The whole passage, from this verse to the end, contains a general intimation of the propagation of the knowledge of the true God in Egypt and Syria, under the successors of Alexander, and the early reception of the gospel in the same countries.
Reciprocal: Psa 63:11 – sweareth Isa 65:16 – he that Jer 43:13 – Bethshemesh Jer 48:47 – Yet will I bring Jer 49:6 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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 , city of the sun, or, city 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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 19:18-25. 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.
Isa 19:18. Herodotus reckons the cities of Egypt as 20,000. Five is thus a very small proportion. These cities are apparently inhabited by Hebrew-speaking Jews. The Jews in Egypt nearly all spoke Greek, and the LXX translation was made because they were unable to read the Scriptures in Hebrew.The city of destruction: the text is uncertain. There are two Heb. variantsHeres, destruction, and Heres, sun. The former is also rendered lion, and the reference supposed to be to Leontopolis, where Onias IV built a Jewish temple in 170 B.C. The translation, however, seems far-fetched: the rendering destruction does not suit the favourable tone of the prophecy; it may be a correction made by Palestinian Jews to express the anticipated doom of the Egyptian temple. Similarly the LXX, city of righteousness, may be a deliberate Alexandrian alteration to secure sanction for the Egyptian temple. On the whole it seems best to read city of the sun; in that case Heliopolis (i.e. sun-city) is meant. Leontopolis was situated in the district of Heliopolis.
Isa 19:19. The altar is intended for sacrifice, and thus the author rises above the limitation of sacrifice to the Temple at Jerusalem. The pillar is probably simply memorial, and in that case does not conflict with the prohibition of pillars in Dt. It is placed at the border of Egypt to testify of Yahweh to all who enter the country.
Isa 19:23. Assyria probably means Syria (Isa 11:11*).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
19:18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt {q} speak the language of Canaan, and {r} swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of {s} destruction.
(q) Will make one confession of faith with the people of God, by the speech of Canaan, meaning the language in which God was then served.
(r) Will renounce their superstitions and protest to serve God correctly.
(s) Meaning of six cities, five would serve God, and the sixth would remain in their wickedness: and so there would be but one lost.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
In that day, the populations of five Egyptian cities would speak Hebrew out of deference to the Jews and commitment to Yahweh. While five is not many, Isaiah evidently meant that as many as five (quite a few in view of Egypt’s previous massive idolatry), and perhaps more, would do so (cf. Gen 11:1). One of these five would be called the City of Destruction (Heb. heres), perhaps because of the destruction that God would bring to Egypt. Another possibility is that "destruction" should read "sun" (Heb. heres with a het rather than a he). In this case the City of the Sun, On (Gr. Heliopolis), is in view. On was a center of the worship of the sun god in Egypt, so this may point to an end of idolatry there.