Isaiah 19:16-20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 19:1-17

Though the land of Egypt had of old been a house of bondage to the people of God, where they had been ruled with rigour, yet among the unbelieving Jews there still remained much of the humour of their fathers, who said, Let us make us a captain and return into Egypt. Upon all occasions they trusted to Egypt for help (Isa. 30:2), and thither they fled, in disobedience to God's express command, when things were brought to the last extremity in their own country, Jer. 43:7. Rabshakeh upbraided... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 19:18-25

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 19:16

In that day shall Egypt be like unto women ,.... Weak and feeble, as the Targum; fearful and timorous, even their military force; and devoid of wisdom, even their princes and nobles: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shaketh over it : which the Lord may be said to do, when he lifts up his rod, and holds it over a people, and threatens them with ruin and destruction; perhaps this may refer to what was done in Judea by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 19:17

And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt ,.... Not by reason of war breaking out between them, they being in strict alliance with each other at this time; but on account of what they should hear had befallen the land of Judea, and the cities of it, by the invasion of Sennacherib's army, which had taken and laid them waste; the tidings of which being brought them a panic would seize them, fearing that they should next fall a sacrifice to them, because of their alliance with them,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 19:18

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, Revelation 11:8 and of the five kingdoms that should revolt from it at the Reformation, as Cocceius thinks; who... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 19:19

In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt ,.... Josephus F3 Antiqu. l. 13. c. 3. sect. 1. 3. & de Bello Jud. l. 7. c. 10. sect. 2, 3, 4. , and other Jewish writers F4 T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 109. 2. , suppose this to be fulfilled when Onias, the son of Simeon the just, fled into Egypt, and obtained leave of Ptolemy king of Egypt, and Queen Cleopatra, to build a temple and an altar there, like those at Jerusalem, in order to draw the Jews... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 19:20

And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt ,.... This refers either to what goes before, that the altar and pillar were signs and witnesses that the Lord was believed in, professed, and worshipped there; or to what follows after, that the Lord's hearing the cries of men, and answering them, by sending a great Saviour to them, is a token and testimony for him of his great love unto them: for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 19:16

Shall Egypt be "The Egyptians shall be" - יהיו yihyu , they shall be, plural, MS. Bodl. Septuagint, and Chaldee. This is not proposed as an emendation, for either form is proper. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 19:17

And the land of Judah - The threatening hand of God will be held out and shaken over Egypt, from the side of Judea; through which the Assyrians will march to invade it. It signifies that kind of terror that drives one to his wit's end, that causes him to reel like a drunken man, to be giddy through astonishment. Such is the import of חג chag , and חגה chagah . Five MSS. and two editions have לחגה lechagah . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 19:18

The city of destruction "The city of the sun" - החרס עיר 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... read more

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