Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 19:23
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.
23. a highway ] leading of course through Palestine. The ancient enmity between the two empires is laid aside in consequence of their common acceptance of the religion of Jehovah. Egypt shall serve (Jehovah) with Assyria.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
23 25. The incorporation of Egypt and Assyria in the kingdom of God. On the hypothesis that the prophecy is post-exilic “Assyria” will here denote the power to whom the reversion of the ancient Assyrian Empire had fallen. See on ch. Isa 11:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
There shall be a highway – A communication; that is, there shall be an alliance between Egypt and Assyria, as constituting parts of one empire, and as united in the service of the true God. The same figure of a highway is found in Isa 11:16 (see the note on that place). The truth was, that Alexander, by his conquests, subjected Assyria and Egypt, and they constituted parts of his empire, and were united under him. It was true, also, that there were large numbers of Jews in both these countries, and that they were united in the service of the true God. They worshipped him in those countries; and they met at Jerusalem at the great feasts, and thus Judah, Assyria, and Egypt, were united in his worship.
And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt – There shall be free and uninterrupted contact between the two nations, as parts of the same empire.
And the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians – In the same armies; under the same leader. This was the case under Alexander the Great. Or the word serve may mean that they would serve God unitedly. So Lowth and Noyes render it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 19:23-25
In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria
Israel, Egypt, and Assyria
Israel is no longer alone Gods people, Gods creation, Gods inheritance, but Egypt and Assyria are each a third sharer with Israel.
In order to express this, Israels three names of honour are mixed together, and each of three peoples receives one of the precious names, of which inheritance is assigned to Israel as pointing back to the beginning of its history. This essential equalisation of the heathen peoples with Israel is no degradation to the latter; for although henceforth there exists no essential distinction of the peoples in their relation to God, it is nevertheless always Israels God who attains recognition, and Israel is the people which, according to the promise, has become the medium of blessing to the earth. (F. Delitzsch.)
The significance of the prophecy
These nations represent to the prophet the heathen world which was eventually to be incorporated in the kingdom of God. The prediction can never be realised for those nations, because they have ceased to exist; but it will yet be realised in that great peace of the world, which is the hope of all the nations of mankind. (C. A. Briggs, D. D.)
A forecast of the triumph of Christianity
Never had the faith of the prophet soared so high or approached so near to the conception of a universal religion. (Prof. Robertson Smith.)
The holy triple alliance
The two great powers which have hitherto met only as foes are to meet in the worship of Jehovah. And in consequence of this there is to be fellowship between them. And this is brought about by the little central state. Israel has reached the grand end of its calling; it becomes a blessing to the whole circuit of the earth. It is a grand prophecy destined to find its full accomplishment in the latter days.
I. IT IS GODS PURPOSE TO PERFECT THE RACE THROUGH INTERNATIONAL INTERCOURSE AND FRIENDSHIP. Chronic national antagonism is not Heavens design. Neither is the design of God respecting the various peoples that they should dwell in a state of isolation. The Divine purpose is manifestly that the several nations shall complete each other through sympathy and reciprocity.
1. Geography indicates this. The good things of nature are not all found in any one land; reciprocity is designed and necessitated by the very dispositions of soil and climate.
2. Ethnology also gives a reason for national sympathy and intercourse. No one national type includes all perfections. The nations need one another. History shows us the solidarity of the race and how wonderfully any one people is enriched by the contributions of the rest. Take our own nation. In our gardens are the flowers and fruits of all climates. In a thousand ways our neighbours have contributed to make us what we are. The Italians and French taught us silk weaving. The Flemings taught us our fine woollen trade. The Venetians showed us how to make glass. A German erected our first paper mill. A Dutchman began our potteries. The Genoese taught us to build ships. And so history reveals that through successive generations the several nations have enriched each other in art, industry, literature, jurisprudence, language, philosophy, government, and religion. The thought of God is the brotherhood of man, and all things prove it.
II. THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS THE SUPREME UNIFYING POWER OF THE RACE. In the fulness of its meaning this is what our text signifies. The lesson here for us is that the marriage of nations will take place where other marriages are celebrated–at the altar of God. In other words, the unifying power of the race is the highest religious faith–the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Some suppose that the ameliorative reconciling influence will be found in commerce. But there are malign influences which defeat the benign influences of trade.
2. Others think that the principle of unity will be found in the cultivation of cosmopolitan literature. The influence of great literature is pacifying, but it must also be remembered that such literature feeds patriotism, which is a peril.
3. Many build great hopes on science. Science reveals the unity of nature, but it teaches also that all nature is full of strife, and civilisation itself is built on antagonism. It is only as a great faith changes the spirit of man that discords will resolve themselves into harmonies.
III. GOD HAS IN A VERY SPECIAL MEASURE COMMITTED UNTO US THE VERY EDIFYING GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. To a large extent England in this age occupies the position that Israel occupied of old–it is our special calling to bring all nations to the obedience of the faith. As Palestine came between Egypt and Assyria so this island comes in a wonderful manner between the Old World and the New. God gave spiritual gifts in a remarkable degree to Israel, and God has given us richly the treasure of His Gospel. God has also given to us special powers for the diffusion of the Gospel. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The missionary religion
This was the glorious vision of the statesman prophet, a new world arising out of the confusions and struggles of the old, a redeemed humanity, of which these now extinct peoples are the symbol, united by the benediction of God.
I. WE MUST NOT READ INTO THESE WORDS ANY COMPROMISE WITH THE RELIGION OF EGYPT AND ASSYRIA. He did not mean that the faith of Israel was the third with the faiths of the Nile and the Euphrates. Perhaps the most insidious foe of the missionary spirit is the suggestion that Christianity is only one among many religions and rival creeds. It is contradicted by all the facts of Scripture and of human experience. The study of comparative religion so far from blinding us to the gleams of truth and the broken lights of heathenism, enables us to feel more deeply how faint and broken they are. The stars are invisible to us in the glory of the noon. Yet if we descend into some deep pit we lose the daylight and we see the stars. So in all ages some elect souls, sunk in the deep and horrible pit of heathenism, have seen shining far above them the pure, peaceful stars of God. Their faint light has not been enough to live by, not enough for guidance or hope, only enough to reach the remoteness of heaven and God, enough for aspiration and to keep alive the great questions of human existence and destiny. Some of our modern teachers have gone down into the deep pit, and they have forgotten that they themselves are the children of the day. We solemnly deny that any religion is suited to any people, either East or West, which cannot give cleansing to the conscience, or power to the will, or peace to the heart, which is silent where it should speak most clearly, which can cast no light beyond the grave, which does not honour womanhood and protect childhood. Heathenism is man seeking God. The Gospel is God coming down to seek man. In its essence the Gospel is unchangeable, yet there is much in our religion which is capable of adaptation to the conditions, tastes, and temperaments of different races.
II. We see in our text THE WIPING OUT OF NATIONAL PREJUDICES AND RACIAL ANIMOSITIES IN A COMMON SALVATION. Egypt was the ancient foe and oppressor of Israel. The pages of Isaiah are full of warnings against the broken reed of Egypt. The prophet saw the gathering storm and knew that Assyria should scatter the nation and destroy the city and the temple. Yet he spoke of both as resting with Israel under the blessing of God. But, more than that, the known world of Isaiahs day was bounded on the west by Egypt and on the east by Assyria. They stand for the world, because they were then the confines of the world. Six centuries later the world of St. Paul was larger still Our world is the whole world, but it has not outgrown the love or the promise or the duty. This larger outlook rests upon three chief grounds.
1. The brotherhood of man.
2. All the great redemptive facts are toy humanity.
3. The purposes of God are for mankind.
III. It only remains to ask whether this promise of a redeemed humanity is only a dream, and a glowing but unsubstantial vision, or IS IT A DIVINE REALITY? If it rested upon an obscure word in an ancient prophecy we might fear to press it. But it is the burden of Scripture. It was the vision of Christ as He rejoiced in spirit and cried, And if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me. But it is the method of God to use human instruments. He accepts the tribute of His peoples love, and He makes the wrath of man to praise Him. (J. H. Shakespeare, M. A.)
Gods purposes worked out
1. God intends that each single nation of the earth shall make the most of itself for the good of all other nations.
2. God is ruling over all the nations, and is working out His great and glorious purposes through them. (D. Gregg, LL. D.)
Gods converting grace
These are mysterious words, which certainly have not been fulfilled. There was a partial fulfilment of them on the day of Pentecost, when we learn that Medea, Parthians, Elamites, together with dwellers in Mesopotamia, joined with those of Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, and Judea, in acknowledging the power of the exalted Saviour, and the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. But just beyond the veil which hides the immediate future, we are doubtless destined to see greater things than these. In any case, we may take the prophets words as illustrating the truth, that none are beyond the pale of Divine mercy; that God can change persecutors into apostles, and that the elements that make men bad will, beneath converting grace, be the constituents of strong and holy lives. God rejoices to take those who have been strong in the service of Satan, and make them lowly and devoted servants of the Cross. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Isaiahs wide outlook and cosmopolitan sympathies
We shall never do the Jewish religion justice till we pay attention to what its greatest prophets thought of the outside world, how they sympathised with this, and in what way they proposed to make it subject to their own faith.
1. There is something in the very manner of Isaiahs treatment of foreign nations which causes the old charges of exclusiveness to sink in our throats. Isaiah treats these foreigners at least as men. Take his prophecies on Egypt or on Tyre or on Babylon–nations which were the hereditary enemies of his nation–and you find him speaking of their natural misfortunes, their social decays, their national follies and disasters, with the same pity and with the same purely moral considerations, with which he has treated his own land. When news of those far away sorrows comes to Jerusalem, it moves this large-hearted prophet to mourning and tears. He breathes out to distant lands elegies as beautiful as he has poured upon Jerusalem. He shows as intelligent an interest in their social evolutions as he does in those of the Jewish State. He gives a picture of the industry and politics of Egypt as careful as his pictures of the fashions and statecraft of Judah. In short, as you read his prophecies upon foreign nations, you perceive that before the eyes of this man humanity, broken and scattered in his days as it was, rose up one great whole, every part of which was subject to the same laws of righteousness, and deserved from the prophet of God the same love and pity. To some few tribes he says decisively that they shall certainly be wiped out, but even them he does not address in contempt or in hatred. The large empire of Egypt, the great commercial power of Tyre, he speaks of in language of respect and admiration; but that does not prevent him from putting the plain issue to them which he put to his own countrymen: If you are unrighteous, intemperate, impure–lying diplomats and dishonest rulers, you shall certainly perish before Assyria. If you are righteous, temperate, pure, if you do trust in truth and God, nothing can move you.
2. But he who thus treated all nations with the same strict measures of justice and the same fulness of pity with which he treated his own, was surely not far from extending to the world the religious privileges which he so frequently identified with Jerusalem. In his old age, at least, Isaiah looked forward to the time when the particular religious opportunities of the Jew should be the inheritance of humanity. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
The dominating influence of national righteousness
The moral is this: When the leading nation of the world is true to God and His principles, knowing no compromise and no hesitation; when it lives these principles, incorporates them into its laws and institutions, builds them into the code by which it governs its international relations, makes them part of its foreign policy, and, so far as it has it in its power, insists upon other nations honouring them and administering their affairs by them kit is always sure to win the day, and to rule as a mighty influence among all the nations of the world, and to lift them up toward the level of its own high civilisation. (D. Gregg, LL. D.)
A transformed world
No one who has seen the lovely Bay of Naples can ever forget it. The magnificent stretch of waters, the twenty or thirty miles of memorable coast that girdle it, the vast city with its painted palaces, its domes and spires, Vesuvius with nodding plume of fire and vapour, and over all the sky blue as Aarons mantle. Now, geologists tell us that that lovely bay is really the crater of an extinct volcano. In primitive ages it was a vast and awful abyss of flame and fury, but the fires died down, the lava ceased to flow, the smoke rolled away, the glorious sea overflowed the crater, and now the lovely waters sleep and dream, reflecting the lights and colours of the sky. This world, for ages, has been a veritable mouth of hell. But its fires are slackening, its wrath abates, its darkness is less dense, its desolations and miseries come to a perpetual end, and truth and justice, mercy and kindness, are covering it as the great deep profound. (W. L. Watkinson.)
One Gospel for all
Gods Gospel is made not for Englishmen, but for all men. Many think the Gospel is a very beautiful thing–if you would only keep it at home; but the moment you try to apply it to anybody else, it will not suit them. Try it upon the negro; he is too low. Try it upon the Hindoo; he is too high. Each of these must have a religion of his own; one would not suit them all. The rice that forms a suitable food for the natives of hot climates is not suitable for the bleak north. The food that is suitable for the north, the clothing and house suitable for the north, are not suitable for the tropics, and so with religion. A man looked into the eye of an Anglo-Saxon, says William Arthur, and found it blue, and into the eye of a negro and found it black, and he said, These are different organisations; you are not so bewildered as to think you can enlighten both these eyes with the same sun. You must have a sun for each of them; you must have different suns, you see, because the eyes are differently organised. Very well, that is exceedingly fine in theory, but try it–try whether the sun which God put in the heaven will not illuminate the pale eye of the northerner and the dark eye of the southerner. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
The universal language
When Haydn was prevailed upon to visit England for the first time, Mozart said to him, You have no training for the great world, and you speak too few languages. Haydn replied, My language is understood by all the world. The power of the name of Jesus is, however, more universal in its appeal than the power of great music. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23. Shall there be a highway] Under the latter kings of Persia, and under Alexander, Egypt, Judea, and Assyria lived peaceably under the same government, and were on such friendly terms that there was a regular, uninterrupted intercourse between them, so that the Assyrian came into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and Israel became the third, i.e., was in strict union with the other two; and was a blessing to both, as affording them some knowledge of the true God, Isa 19:24.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; they who were implacable enemies one to another, and both to the church and people of God, shall now be reconciled and united together in the service of God, and love to his church.
Shall serve, to wit, the Lord, who is easily understood from Isa 19:21,25.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. highwayfreecommunication, resting on the highest basis, the common faith of both(Isa 19:18; Isa 11:16).Assyria and Egypt were joined under Alexander as parts of his empire:Jews and proselytes from both met at the feasts of Jerusalem. A typeof gospel times to come.
serve withserveJehovah with the Assyrians. So “serve” is usedabsolutely (Job 36:11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria,…. It signifies that there should be peace between them, all hostilities should cease, free trade and commerce with each other should be opened, and nothing should hinder communion with one another; which some think had some show of accomplishment in the times of Psammiticus; but it chiefly refers to Gospel times, and to the Christian communion between one nation and another, that receive the Gospel, though before implacable enemies, as the Egyptians and Assyrians were:
and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria: which is expressive of entire concord and harmony between them, such as was among the first Christians:
and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians; that is, the Lord, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; they shall both serve the Lord with one shoulder and consent, unite in prayer to the Lord, in hearing the word, and attending on other ordinances. Some render it, “the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians” g; not as being their lords and masters in a servile way, but by love, as saints do or should serve one another, doing all kind offices of love to each other; see Ga 5:13.
g “et serviet Aegyptius Assyrio”, Cocceius; “et servient Aegyptii ipsi Assur”, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Asshur, as we already know from Isa 18:1-7, is equally humbled; so that now the two great powers, which have hitherto only met as enemies, meet in the worship of Jehovah, which unites them together. “In that day a road will run from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur comes into Egypt, and Egypt to Asshur; and Egypt worships ( Jehovah) with Asshur.” is not a sign of the accusative, for there can be no longer any idea of the subjection of Egypt to Asshur: on the contrary, it is a preposition indicating fellowship; and is used in the sense of worship, as in Isa 19:21. Friendly intercourse is established between Egypt and Assyria by the fact that both nations are now converted to Jehovah. The road of communication runs through Canaan.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
23. In that day. The Prophet now foretells that the Lord will diffuse his goodness throughout the whole world; as if he had said, “It will not be shut up in a corner, or exclusively known, as it formerly was, by a single nation.” Here he speaks of two nations that were the most inveterate enemies of the Church, and that appeared to be farther removed than any other from the kingdom of God; for much more might have been expected from distant nations, because the nations here mentioned openly made war with God and persecuted his Church. And if the Lord is so gracious to the deadly enemies of the Church, that he pardons and adopts them to be his children, what shall be the case with other nations? This prophecy thus includes the calling of all nations.
There shall be a highway. Now, when he says that, in consequence of a highway having been opened up, there will be mutual access that they may visit each other, he describes brotherly intercourse. We know that the Egyptians carried on almost incessant wars with the Assyrians, and cherished an inveterate hatred towards each other. He now foretells that the Lord will change their dispositions, and will reconcile them to each other, so that they will have mutual communications, mutual coming in and going out, in consequence of laying open the highways which were formerly shut. Here we ought to observe what we formerly remarked at the fourth verse of the second chapter, (52) namely, that when men have been reconciled to God, it is likewise proper that they should cherish brotherly kindness towards each other. Strife, quarreling, disputes, hatred, and malice, ought to cease when God has been pacified. We need not wonder, therefore, that he says that a highway to Egypt is opened up for the Assyrians; but this ought undoubtedly to be referred to the reign of Christ, for we do not read that the Egyptians were on a friendly footing with the Assyrians till after they had known Christ.
And the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians, (or, with the Assyrians.) (53) This clause may be rendered, “shall serve God;” but as the name of God is not expressed here, it may refer to the Assyrians, which is also pointed out by the particle את (ĕ th.) (54) It may therefore be explained thus. They who formerly burned with a desire to injure one another will be changed in their dispositions, and will desire to shew kindness. In short, the fruit of true repentance will be made evident, for they who formerly distressed each other in mutual wars will lend mutual aid. And this opinion will agree very well with those words of the Prophet with which they stand connected. Yet I do not set aside another interpretation which is almost universally adopted, namely, “They who formerly worshipped other gods will henceforth acknowledge one God, and will assent to the same confession of faith.” I leave every one to adopt that interpretation which he thinks best. If the latter interpretation be preferred, the Prophet makes brotherly love to flow from godliness, (55) as from its source.
(52) Bogus footnote
(53) Bogus footnote
(54) Bogus footnote
(55) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(23) In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria.The prophets horizon at once brightens and expands. Palestine was in his time the battle-field of the two great empires. The armies of one of the great powers crossed it both before and after, as in the case of Shishak, Zerah, Tirhakah, Necho, Sargon, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, on their march against the other. The prophet looks forward to a time when the long-standing discord should cease (Assyria, or the power which succeeded her, gaining for a time the suzerainty), and both should be joined with Israel, as in a three-fold cord, not easily broken. Like other bright ideals of the future, it yet waits for its complete fulfilment. The nearest historical approximation to it is, perhaps, found in the Persian monarchy, including, as it did, the territory of Assyria, of Israel, and of Egypt, and acknowledging, through the proclamations of Cyrus, Jehovah as the God of heaven (Ezr. 1:2). May we connect this prediction with Isaiahs distinctly defined anticipation of the part which Persia was to play in the drama of the worlds history as an iconoclastic and monotheistic power, and so with the dominant idea of Isaiah 40-66?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. A highway out of Egypt In like manner with “Egypt,” Assyria is to be humbled. Both these great powers are to go down, and the trampling upon Judah by their great armies is to cease. Peace between them is simply the work of divine chastisement causing both, in some degree, to acknowledge Jehovah as the mightiest ruler of the earth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come to Egypt, and the Egyptian to Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.’
In Isaiah’s day, and in the conceptions of Judah, there were two great nations, one to the north, Assyria, and one to the south, Egypt (to the east was desert and to the west the sea). They could be seen as representing all nations. Between them was bitter enmity. They were irreconcilable. The highway between them, which led through Palestine, was a highway for armies, a highway of conquest. And so seemingly it would always be. And yet here was the impossible promise that one day a highway of peace and brotherhood would be built along which each would pass to the other, and they would worship the same God together.
And in the early days of the Christian church this became so. The universal church was united as one and met together in councils and in fellowship and worshipped together, acknowledging that they were one, all serving a Jewish, but universal, Messiah and Deliverer. And in days to come at the final triumph of Christ the true remnants of Egypt and Assyria will be one with all nations, serving and worshipping Yahweh.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 19:23-25. In that day shall there be a high way We have here the wonderful consequence of this benefit of divine grace toward the Egyptians, namely, their spiritual alliance with the Assyrians and Israelites, with a great abundance of the divine blessing. The sum of the period is, that the Egyptians, being brought to the knowledge of true religion, should enjoy a communion of that religion with the Assyrians, from whom they were formerly greatly divided; and that they should cultivate this communion by an easy way; that is, in the most friendly and amicable manner, as the Assyrians do in return with the Egyptians, and that both should be in communion with the Israelites; that they should constitute one church, composed as it were of three members, should enjoy the same spiritual privileges, and in this state should jointly share a large degree of the divine blessings: things which, however unlikely when Isaiah wrote, were abundantly proved by the event; for the Jews were not only favoured by the Egyptians, as we have shewn in the former note, but also by the kings of Syria. Seleucus Nicator made them free of the cities which he built in Asia and the lower Syria, and of Antioch itself, the capital of his kingdom, and granted the same rights and privileges to them as to the Greeks and Macedonians. Antiochus the Great published several decrees in favour of those who dwelt in Mesopotamia and Babylon. Josephus informs us, that they gained many proselytes in Antioch; and thus, by means of the Jews and proselytes dwelling in Egypt and Syria, Israel, Egypt, and Syria, were in some measure united in the same worship. But the prophesy was more fully accomplished when their countries became Christian, and multitudes in each nation were made members of the same body in Christ Jesus. See Bishop Newton.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Egypt had often been a broken reed to the house of Judah, who, notwithstanding the misery their fathers had there endured, were ever flying thither for help, and making this their confidence, though ever to their hurt. God therefore will in the destruction of Egypt cut off this false resource. We have here,
1. The terror of Egypt, and the helplessness of their idol-gods, when the Lord cometh on the swift cloud, in terrible majesty, hastening as a judge to condemn the malefactors; or as a general at the head of his troops, with impetuous speed, and irresistible power, to lay the country waste before him. At his presence the idols, like Dagon’s image before the ark, shall be confounded, and their courageous soldiers be utterly dispirited. Note; Before an avenging God who can stand?
2. Intestine feuds shall embroil them, and lay them more open to the invader. Note; They are the greatest enemies of their country, who foment a spirit of faction, and seek to embroil brother against brother.
3. A spirit of infatuation and folly shall seize the Egyptians. Their princes and wisest counsellors, notwithstanding their boasts of science, and descent from a long train of illustrious ancestors, are become brutish and fools, unable to discover the divine purposes; neither can their idols or magicians inform them. Deceived themselves, their princes have deceived their country; and they who should have been the stay thereof, hasten its destruction. Like men intoxicated with wine, they have drunk of the cup of error, and every step they take is wrong. Their counsels are weak, unsteady, perverse, and by them the state is led to the precipice of ruin. Note; It is a needful and weighty petition of the Litany of the church of England, That it may please thee to endue the Lords of the council and all the nobility, with grace, wisdom, and understanding.
4. They shall be sold into the hand of a cruel lord or lords; either the twelve tyrants who succeeded Sethon, or Psammiticus who united the monarchy under himself; or rather the Persian emperors, Cambyses and Ochus, to whom the character aptly applies. See the Critical Annotations. Note; (1.) A tyrant king is the scourge of his land. (2.) How great reason have we to bless God for the mild government we enjoy!
5. The sources of their riches and commerce should be cut off, and want and wretchedness ensue. The Nile, the great cause of Egypt’s fertility, shall fail them, occasioned by such a drought as would prevent its usual overflowing, or by the imprudent attempts of their kings, one of whom Pharaoh Necho, by endeavouring to join the Nile with the Red Sea, is said to have greatly weakened its force; the consequence of which would be, [1.] That their defence would be gone, the ditches with the water of the Nile filled round their fortified places being drained. [2.] That famine would be in their land, because, as they have no rain in Egypt, the Nile not rising as usual, nothing would grow; and if the reeds on its banks, from whence paper and a variety of other things were made, withered for want of moisture, much more would all the fruits of the ground. [3.] Even their fish, which in such vast plenty abounded, would be no more: the river dried up, the fishermen destitute of employment would mourn, and the people, who were generally supported by the fish, be reduced to deep distress. Nor shall the rich be able to supply their tables, when their sluices and ponds shall alike be exhausted. [4.] Their manufactories, for want of flax, shall be at a stand: they who wove in the loom, or spun, or made their nets, now unemployed, would pine away in want, and an entire stop be put to their trade and commerce, there being no work which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do. Note; Our common blessings are grievously overlooked; but one year of drought, that should destroy our harvest, would sensibly teach us the value of the mercies that we disregard. May our ingratitude and unmindfulness of God never provoke him thus to plague us!
6. The devastation of Judaea by the Assyrian hosts would spread a panic among them; pangs shall come upon them as on a travailing woman, beholding the hand of the Lord thus lifted up; justly apprehensive of the vicinity of the victorious army; and fearing that, if God’s own people be not spared, Egypt may not hope to escape, against which the decree is gone forth. Note; (1.) When one sinner is cut down, it becomes the survivors to look and tremble. (2.) When the wicked persist in their perverse way, the counsel of the Lord is determined for their destruction.
2nd, In the midst of wrath a beam of mercy gladdens the dreary scene. There is yet hope in their end, and spiritual blessings in store, which would infinitely outweigh the heaviest temporal calamities. The accomplishment of this prophesy may refer to the conversion of many of them by the Jews, who fled into Egypt from the Assyrians; but still more to the times of the Gospel, when Egypt, by the preaching of St. Mark and others, was early converted to the Christian faith; and also, perhaps, to some great events which should precede the establishment of Christ’s universal reign.
1. Their cities shall speak the language of Canaan, becoming acquainted with the word of God, and conversing with the people of God. One shall be called the city of destruction, or, of the Sun: where idolatry was most rooted, the grace of God shall be most prevalent; or, the city which refused the Gospel, would be devoted to ruin. Note; (1.) When the soul is converted to God, we learn a new language; the love of God in Christ, and his rich salvation, known and believed, are the pleasing subjects of our conversation, a language which to the world appears strange and unknown. (2.) That soul is doomed to destruction which continues a stranger to the divine teachings, and experimentally unacquainted with the truths of gospel grace.
2. The worship of God should be publicly established. The names of idols should come no more into their lips, but their appeals be made to the heart-searching Jehovah, and to the Lord Jesus would they pledge their fidelity. To him shall they go, as the only altar where atonement had been made for their sins, and where acceptance of their services can be alone obtained. And in the utmost borders a pillar shall be erected, intimating the general profession of the faith of Christ throughout the land. Note; (1.) An oath is a solemn act of religion, and therefore to God alone must we appeal. (2.) Christ is our altar, in and by whom alone our persons and services can be accepted of God.
3. God’s truth being thus embraced, and his ordinances of worship established, they would be a sign between him and his people. In time of distress, when they cry unto him, he will hear and answer them; and, by a Saviour, a great one, yea, an Almighty Saviour, Jesus, deliver them from every oppressor, from sin, Satan, death, hell, and every foe.* Note; God’s ears are ever open to the prayers of his people, and Jesus ever near to help his afflicted ones. While we pray, he will never leave nor forsake us. (2.) They who feel that they have great sins, and tremble under their great corruptions, should remember that they have a great Redeemer, able to save to the uttermost.
* For the literal interpretation see the Critical Annotations.
4. They shall be brought to the knowledge of God, and, as the blessed effect of it, shall have their hearts engaged to him, paying the grateful tribute of praise and thanksgiving for his mercies. By the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek at Alexandria, the knowledge of divine truth was, in a measure, laid open; but more especially were they enlightened, when the ministers of Christ carried the Gospel thither, and preached unto them the grace which is in Jesus Christ.
5. By his word and providences he will smite their hearts, effectually awakening their consciences; and as he wounds, healing them, forgiving their sins, and converting their souls. Note; When God wounds, it is to heal, not to destroy.
6. They shall be admitted into the communion of God’s saints. All quarrels now terminated, Egypt and Assyria should become friends, and maintain intimate intercourse, and both unite in the service of the same God; and Israel, which lay between them, through the Saviour, who was of their stock, should become a blessing to them; and, cordially uniting with them, the distinction of Jew and Gentile shall cease, when they become one fold under one shepherd. For thus God, as their common Father, will regard them. Egypt is equally his people with Israel his inheritance, and blessed in the same covenant of grace; and Assyria, alike the work of his hands, will be created anew in Christ Jesus, and all united in him, and members one of another. Note; They who are the servants of the same God, bought with the same blood, and begotten by the same spirit, should unite in love, lay aside all animosities, and with one mind and one mouth join in his worship and praise.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
What a blessed close doth the prophet make of this sweet sermon of prophecy, in the end of the chapter! The gospel church is said to be an highway for the people; and so it is, when the Lord lifts up his standard through the earth. The enclosure of Israel, that had been kept for ages, is then thrown down; and both Jew and Gentile are brought into one fold, under one Shepherd, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Oh! the felicity, when Christ shall be universally acknowledged, as the Lord Jehovah’s Christ; the one, the only ordinance of heaven for salvation to all the earth! Lord, I would say (and the Reader will surely join my soul in the prayer of faith), hasten thy blessed purposes, and let that sweet promise to our Shiloh be accomplished, when he shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; when men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 19:23 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.
Ver. 23. In that day there shall be an highway, &c. ] All hostility shall cease, and a blessed unanimity be settled among Christ’s subjects of several nations; hereunto way was made by the Roman empire, reducing both these great countries into provinces.
And the Egyptians shall serve.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 19:23
23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
Isa 19:23 There will be a free-flowing movement between nations for the purpose of worshiping YHWH. The nations have come!
It is interesting how many times Isaiah uses the imagery of a highway.
1. a highway for the exiled Jews to return, Isa 11:16; Isa 57:14
2. a highway for Gentile worshipers to come, Isa 19:23
3. a highway of holiness, Isa 26:7; Isa 35:8; Isa 43:19; Isa 49:11; Isa 51:10
4. a Messianic highway, Isa 40:3; Isa 42:16
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
In that day: i.e. the glorious future, the day of the LORD. Not the same as Isa 19:11. highway. See note on Isa 7:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 19:23-25
Isa 19:23
“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 worship with the Assyrians.”
What is envisioned here is the uniting of once hostile peoples in the service of God through Jesus Christ in the age of Messiah. This vision of a highway, in Isaiah’s prophecy is a reference to “the way of truth.” See also Isa 11:16; Isa 35:8; Isa 40:3; Isa 62:10. Thus, “the highway” appears as a favorite metaphor in Isaiah; and it should also be noted that it appears repeatedly through all sections of the prophecy, witnessing for the unity and integrity of Isaiah.
Dummelow pointed out that there were many helpful and preparatory influences leading up to the gospel age, such as, “Cyrus’ proclamation recognizing Jehovah as the God of heaven. To this may be added the establishment of Jewish synagogues all over the world, the reading of the prophets (after the Torah was forbidden to be read) and the continued reading of both after the Torah could again be read publicly, the near-universal adoption of the Greek language, the translation of the LXX, etc. etc.
Isa 19:24-25
“In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth; for that Jehovah of hosts hath blessed them, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.”
Isa 19:25 has been called, “The most universal word in the prophecy. Sublimely it is said that Egypt and Assyria will take their place alongside Israel as the peoples of God. This passage cannot mean that Israel will be superior to Assyria and/or Egypt, nor that either of them will be superior to Israel. Here is the unity of all mankind in Christ Jesus. No one has any special entrance because of his race; and no one is denied on account of his race or former enmity against God or his people. “It only means that God’s ancient promise that in Abraham and his seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Gen 12:1-3) will now be fulfilled.
What a glorious work God has accomplished in redeeming even his ancient enemies, bringing all men into one holy body of the redeemed. “How clearly all this was envisioned by God’s great prophet. This marvelous conception of “breaking down the middle wall of partition,” destroying the enmity between races, inviting all men to share and share alike in the gospel, the same terms of entry for everyone ever born on earth, the same holy standard of conduct for all, etc., etc. – All of these wonderful things constitute the burden of the entire New Testament. This grand new fellowship will be the New Israel of God, which is the Messianic Church. See Rom 9:24-26, and 1Pe 2:9-10. “These final two verses look beyond all historical events known to us; above all, it is their symbolical teaching that is important.?
Isa 19:23-25 PEACEFUL: NOW we have portrayed in figurative language the consequences of Gods redemptive work in Egypt. Egypt and Assyria were inveterate enemies for many centuries. But when the universal kingdom of God is established (the church) men out of every tribe and tongue will join together in peace and unified worship of Jehovah. The reference is not to any literal highway or literal Egypt and Assyria. These two nations stood at opposite poles geographically and opposed each other politically. They represent or symbolize the conversion of all the heathen and the formation of those converted into a kingdom of peace. What God will accomplish in His redemptive work, in establishing His kingdom of peace, will be a divine reversal of what occurred at Babel. At the tower of Babel the world was dispersed, and a division of mankind occurred. Languages were confused. Ideologies grew and competed and opposed one another and wars ensued. This divided mankind fought to maintain individuality and rebellion against God, each nation characterized by this in common, that it did not know nor worship Jehovah. Many nations fought one another proposing that their ideology was what would be best for the whole world and so empires rose and fell in attempting to unify the world under one human ideology. Jehovah called out a people (the Jews) and began His work of redeeming and unifying all who would in a kingdom of men once again be ruled over by God and Truth. But even this called out people (for the most part) rejected Gods Messiah and His Messianic kingdom. But Gods new kingdom of unity and peace was intended to be universal from the very start. And so the prophets, especially Isaiah, predicted it. We believe Eph 2:11-22 are the precise fulfillment of this passage as well as that of Isa 2:1-4 (see our comments there) and many other universalized passages of the O.T. Prophets.
If this be the proper application of this passage, then the Israel joined as a third party with Egypt and Assyria in Isa 19:24 is the Israel of God of Gal 6:16 which is none other than the New Testament church. It would take a Jew who is one inwardly (Cf. Rom 2:28-29) to ever agree to a unity such as is described in Isa 19:24-25.
The ultimate fulfillment of this passage is, therefore, Messianic. It has to do with Christ and the Church. This has come to pass and they who were strangers and foreigners in Egypt and Assyria, and yes, even in Israel, will be found in that building, fitly framed together, which groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord (Eph 2:11-22).
It is interesting that these three areas, Egypt, Israel and Assyria are the three areas where we find some of the earliest of the missionary endeavors of the infant church. At the beginning of the 4th century (300-400 A.D.) parts of the Scriptures had been translated into more than one of the Egyptian vernaculars and the foundations had been laid of a native Egyptian church known as Coptic. By the end of the 5th century the Christian faith had become rooted among native Egyptian stock and in time was the dominant religion of the land. The Coptic church, numbering 22,000 members at the turn of the 20th century, still flourishes in parts of Egypt and Ethiopia.
At Dura-Europos, on the river Euphrates (where ancient Assyria was located) on the great road between Antioch and Ctesiphon, 20th century excavation has revealed a building which was used as a Christian church as far back as the year 232 A.D. There are still many Christians in Armenia (Assyria).
There were people from Egypt and parts of Libya and Mesopotamia in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:8-13) and some of them were converted. Here the seeds were sown in the hearts of men who returned to their homelands with the gospel of peace and thus the prophecy of Isaiah came to pass (see also the Ethiopian eunuch, Act 8:26-40).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Isa 11:16, Isa 35:8-10, Isa 40:3-5, Eph 2:18-22, Eph 3:6-8
Reciprocal: Gen 25:18 – toward Deu 32:43 – Rejoice Psa 87:4 – this man Psa 96:3 – General Isa 11:11 – Egypt Isa 27:13 – and they Isa 45:14 – The labour Isa 60:3 – the Gentiles Jer 12:16 – built Mic 7:12 – also Zec 9:7 – he that Zec 10:10 – out of the Act 2:10 – Egypt Act 10:11 – and a Act 15:17 – the residue Rom 3:29 – General Col 3:11 – there
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ISRAEL A UNITING BOND
In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt into Assyria.
Isa 19:23
I. In the prophets view the three ancient foes, Egypt, Assyria, and Israel, are to be friends and allies, a blessing to all the earth, because they themselves have been blessed by God. Assyria and Egypt have passed away, and neither ever became worshippers of the true God. How then are we to understand this prophecy? I think that in this prophecy we have to distinguish between the religious and moral truths revealed by God to prophets, and the form in which the prophets expressed them. God revealed the principles and laws by which He ordered the government of the world. These great spiritual and moral laws were applied by the prophets themselves to the affairs of the Jewish and other nations. Isaiah understood that the God of Israel was the only God, and would at last be known to all the kingdoms of the earth. Egypt perished, Assyria perished, but the prophet had given a true testimony. God was not the God of the Jews only, but of all men.
II. It does not appear that any serious effort was made by the Jews to bring other nations to worship God.The book of Jonah is to my mind an imaginative story, with some slight substratum of historic fact, intended to rebuke the indifference of the Jews to the condition of the world outside. We have no evidence that the rebuke produced the least effect.
Professor Max Mller divided the religions of the world into the class opposed to missionsJudaism, Brahminism, and the religion of Zoroasterand those which have always had the missionary spirit in them, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. The non-missionary religions were dead, the others were still alive. The proselytes of Judaism were made without any formal missionary effort, Christianity was missionary from its very origin. The coming of Christ was the revelation of the love of God for the human race.
III. The Gospel is plainly a gospel for all mankind.There is not a man among the vast populations of heathen cities, or among the wandering tribes of tropical countries, or living a cheerless life on the shores of Arctic seas, who might not claim for himself all the spiritual blessings which have been revealed in the lives of the greatest saints.
Complete indifference to the religious state of others is impossible to a really Christian man. We begin to pray for the salvation of others as soon as we begin to pray for our own.
As our love for others extends beyond our own family and our own country, we shall have the same kind of solicitude for the salvation of men in heathen lands as for the salvation of our own flesh and blood. The old Jewish exclusiveness has not died out. It is as hard, as mean, as unloving as ever. Let us care for our country, it says, and leave other races to their lower symbols of the Eternal and the Divine. That is false as a philosophy, it is simply demoniacal as a law of Christian conduct. The Christian Gospel is not the growth of our civilisation. It comes as a revelation direct from God, and so is suited for every nation.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Isa 19:23-25. In that day, &c. Here the prophet proceeds to show the effect of this benefit of divine grace toward the Egyptians, namely, their spiritual alliance with the Assyrians and Israelites, with a great abundance of the divine blessings. There shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria A happy correspondence and intercourse settled. And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, &c. They who were implacable enemies one to another, and both to the church of God, shall now be reconciled and united together in the service of God, and love to his church. In that day shall Israel be the third The third party in that sacred league, whereby all of them oblige themselves to serve God. With Egypt and with Assyria These are named, because they were the most obstinate enemies to Gods church, but they are here put for all the Gentiles. Even a blessing That is, Israel shall be a blessing. This is peculiar to Israel, who is not only a third party, but is the most eminent of the three, as being the fountain by which the blessing is conveyed to the other two; because Christ was to be born of them, and the gospel-church and ordinances were first established among them, and from them derived to the Gentiles. In the midst of the land Or, of those lands, namely, Egypt and Assyria, between which Israel lay: or, in the midst of the earth, as , more properly means: which may be added, to imply that Gods blessing should be conveyed from and by Israel, not only to the Egyptians and Assyrians, but to all the nations of the earth, in the midst of which the land of Israel might well be said to be. Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless That is, which people, Israel, Egypt, and Assyria; of whom he speaks as of one people, because they were all to be united into one church. Blessed be Egypt my people This title, and those which follow, that were peculiar to the people of Israel, should now be given to these and all other nations.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:23 In that day shall there be a highway from {y} Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
(y) By these two nations, which were then chief enemies of the Church, he shows that the Gentiles and the Jews would be joined together in one faith and religion, and would all be one fold under Christ their shepherd.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Human reconciliation between the major powers of the world will also characterize that day. Note the spread of peace from a few cities (Isa 19:18), to a whole country (Isa 19:19), and now to the whole world (Isa 19:23). In Isaiah’s day, Israel found herself caught between Egypt and Assyria, but in the future both of these enemies would join in worshipping Israel’s God. A highway between these superpowers existed in the prophet’s day, but marching armies often used it.