Isaiah 19:18

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.”