Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 19:4

And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

4. R.V. And I will give over (lit. “shut up”) the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel (“hard”) lord (in Hebr. plur. of majesty), &c. The words suggest a foreign ruler and are quite applicable to any Assyrian monarch likely to undertake the conquest of Egypt. Esarhaddon in 672 and again Asshurbanipal in 662 ravaged the country as far as Thebes; the Empire was broken up into twenty petty principalities, and all attempts at revolt were sternly suppressed until 645, when Psammetichus, one of the native princes, succeeded in shaking off the Assyrian yoke and uniting Egypt under his own sway.

the Lord, the Lord of hosts ] here, as always, in confirmation of a threat. See on Isa 1:24.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And the Egyptians – The Egyptian nation; the entire people, though divided into factions and contending with each other.

Will I give over – Margin, Shut up. The Hebrew word ( sakar) usually has the sense of shutting up, or closing. Here it means that these contentions would be closed or concluded by their being delivered to of a single master. The Septuagint renders it, Paradoso – I will surrender.

Into the hands of a cruel lord – Hebrew, Lords of cruelty, or severity. The word rendered lord, meaning master, is in the Hebrew in the plural number ( ‘adony). It is, however, generally supposed that it is pluralis excellentiae – denoting majesty and dignity, and applicable to a single monarch. The connection requires this, for the state here described would be different from that where many rule, and it seems to suppose that one should succeed to the many who had been contending. In the parallel member, also, a name in the singular number is used – a fierce king; and as this evidently denotes the same, it follows that the word here is used to denote a single monarch. The plural form is often thus used in the Hebrew (see Psa 7:10; Eze 29:3; Hos 12:1). God here claims jurisdiction over the nation, and says that he will do it – a most striking illustration of the power which he asserts over contending people to deliver them to whomsoever he will.

Dr. Newton supposes that this was Nebuchadnezzar, or more properly Cambyses, by whom Egypt was made subject to the authority of Persia, and who was eminently a cruel man, a madman. But the more probable interpretation is that which refers it to Psammetichus. twelve kings were in contention, of whom he was one. He called in the aid of the Arabians, the pirates of Caria and Iona (Herodot. ii. 152; see the Analysis of the chapter; Diod. i. 66). This was in the twentieth year of the reign of Manasseh. Psammetichus reigned fifty-four years and was succeeded by Nechus his son, called in Scripture Pharaoh-Necho, and often mentioned under that name. Psammetichus, during a considerable part of his reign, was engaged in wars with Assyria and Palestine. He is here called a cruel lord; that is, an oppressive monarch, probably because he secured the kingdom by bringing in to his aid foreign mercenaries – robbers and pirates, and because his wars made his government oppressive and burdensome.

A fierce king – Hebrew, A king of strength – a description particularly applicable to one who, like Psammetichus, had subdued eleven rivals, and who had obtained the kingdom by conquest.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 4. A cruel lord – “Cruel lords”] Nebuchadnezzar in the first place, and afterwards the whole succession of Persian kings, who in general were hard masters, and grievously oppressed the country. Note, that for kasheh, lord, a MS. reads kashim, lords, agreeable to which is the rendering of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

A fierce king; either,

1. The king of Assyria or Chaldea; or,

2. Those twelve petty kings, the singular number being put for the plural; or,

3. Psammetichus, who being at first one of those twelve kings, waged war with the rest, and subdued them, and conquered all the land of Egypt, and ruled it with rigour.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

4. cruel lord“Sargon,”in Hebrew it is lords; but plural is often usedto express greatness, where, one alone is meant (Ge39:2). The parallel word “king” (singular) proves it.NEWTON makes the generalreference to be to Nebuchadnezzar, and a particular referenceto Cambyses, son of Cyrus (who killed the Egyptian god, Apis), andOchus, Persian conquerors of Egypt, noted for their “fiercecruelty.” GESENIUSrefers it to Psammetichus, who had brought into Egypt Greek and otherforeign mercenaries to subdue the other eleven princes of thedodecarchy.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the Egyptians will I give over into the hands of a cruel lord,…. Not of Sennacherib king of Assyria, which way go many interpreters, both Christian and Jewish, as Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi; nor of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, as in Jer 46:25 but either of the twelve tyrants that rose up after the death of Sethon above mentioned; for the word is in the plural number, “lords”, though the adjective rendered “cruel” is singular; or else Psammiticus, the father of Pharaohnecho, that slew Josiah; and who conquered the other eleven tyrants, and ruled alone, for the space of fifty four years, with great rigour; and the same is designed in the next clause:

and a fierce king shall rule over them; it is reported of Psammiticus, that he gave such offence to his subjects, that two hundred thousand of his soldiers left him, and went into Ethiopia a. Vitringa interprets this of the Persian emperors, into whose hands Egypt fell, as Cambyses and Ochus; and who, according to historians, were very cruel princes. That there might be no doubt of the sure and certain accomplishment of this prophecy, it is added,

saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts; of the armies above and below; and who does what he pleases among the kings and kingdoms of the earth.

a See Raleigh’s History of the World, B. 2. c. 27. sect. 3. p. 357.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

4. And I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master. (28) He now shews what will happen to the Egyptians, after having lost courage and been deprived of understanding. Nothing will be left for them but to be reduced to slavery; for a nation destitute of these must fall of its own accord, even though it were not violently attacked by any enemy. Of such aids, therefore, God deprives those on whom he determines to take vengeance, and shuts them out from every method of upholding their liberty. Yet the Prophet threatens what is still more shocking, that not only will the empire of which the Egyptians proudly vaunted fall down, but the inhabitants also will undergo hard bondage. Though the adjective קשה, ( kāshĕh,) cruel, is in the singular number, yet he says in the plural number, that they shall be subject to lords, which is harder to endure than if there had been but one lord to whom they were subject.

And a powerful king (29) shall rule over them. He means that the power of the tyrant to whom he will subject them shall be so great, that it will not be easy to restore them to liberty. Historians shew that various changes occurred in many countries, which they who subdued them were unable to hold and retain; for to keep what has been obtained is often more difficult than to conquer. But the Prophet intimates that this condition will not be easily changed, and that the bondage of the Egyptians shall be of long duration, because no one will dare to enter the lists with an exceedingly powerful conqueror. We may also understand the meaning to be, that the princes of smaller nations will deal more gently with their people than more powerful monarchs, who, relying on their greatness, allow themselves to do whatever they please; for, reckoning their power to be unlimited, they set no bounds to their freedom of action, and rush forward, without restraint, wherever their passions drive them. Whether the one view or the other be adopted, it will amount to this, that the Egyptians, who consider themselves to be the highest and most distinguished of all men, shall fall under the power of another, and shall be oppressed by hard bondage, that is, by the bondage of a powerful king, whom no one will dare to oppose. Hence we see how great is the folly of men who are desirous to have a powerful and wealthy king reigning over them, and how justly they are punished for their ambition, though it cannot be corrected by the experience of every day, which is everywhere to be seen in the world. France and Spain, at the present day, boast that they are governed by mighty princes, but feel to their cost how little advantage they derive from that which dazzles them by a false pretense of honor. But on this subject we have spoken formerly in another place. (30) (Isa 8:6.)

(28) Bogus footnote

(29) Bogus footnote

(30) Bogus footnote

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(4) Into the hand of a cruel lord.The later history of Egypt presents so many pictures of oppressive government, that it is hard to say to which of them the picture thus drawn bears most resemblance. Sargon, or Esarhaddon, or Psammetichus, who became king of Egypt on the breaking up of the dodecarchy, or Nebuchadnezzar, or Cambyses, has, each in his turn, been identified as presenting the features of the cruel lord.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

4. A fierce king Rather, a strong, powerful king, but such as proved a cruel master. As without much doubt the prophecy is general, this one character may apply to several rulers Nebuchadnezzar, Psammetichus, and Cambyses the most merciless of whom, however, was Psammetichus. See SMITH’S Dictionary of Biography.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments