The context for this passage can be set along the lines of geography and history. Geographically, we find Egypt to the south, Assyria to the north, and Judah in between. History tells us that Judah had previously fled from the attacking arms of Israel and Syria into the arms of Assyria – like “running from two mice to take refuge with the cat” (Oswalt). But in the context of this chapter, the cat has snacked on the two mice and it remains hungry. And there’s only 1 mouse left. So we have Assyria (the great cat) to the North, and Egypt the new cat (and the old slavemaster from the time of Joseph and Moses) to the South. Which cat will Judah take refuge in this time?
Judah’s dilemma is evident. Assyria is a real threat: they’ve seen what she did to Israel. Egypt seems like a real option. And the temptation to seek refuge in their slavemaster is not a new one. After all, Israel had once grumbled to Moses in the desert: maybe we should go back. Solomon had entered into a marriage alliance and received horses and linen from Egypt. And there is a genuine “comfort'“: better the enemy you know (Egypt) than the one you don’t (Assyria). Faced with all of this turmoil, what would Judah do?
In a time of temptation and uncertainty, God speaks to Israel in this oracle through the prophet. This oracle to Egypt is delivered by the prophet Isaiah in two parts: the poetry of Isaiah 19:1-15 presents us with unfolding scenes of chaos — a global confusion with fighting, trembling, pillars wobbling, economy collapsing and drunken princes staggering. Then the oracle transits to the prose of Isaiah 19:16-25, which contains a surprising end to the story. The big picture is this: there are times when we are able to trace God’s sentence of judgment back to our sin. These times can be, for the repentant, times of not just judgment, but mercy.
(A) Egypt smitten: the idolatrous nation, proud in its wealth & wisdom, is struck down (Isa 19:1-15)
In Isaiah 19: 1, we see four mentions of ‘Egypt’. Egypt will be mentioned against four more times in just the first four verses, leaving us with no doubt as to who this oracle is about. Motyer describes Egypt as the first and most memorable adversary of the Lord’s people. But here, we meet an Egypt that presents itself as a potential ally of God’s people. Yet – Egypt should be concerned, says the oracle, as despite appearances, what awaits it is social, economic, and political collapse. Judah will find no security in looking to Egypt and Isaiah tells us why: Egypt is under judgment.
With judgment, we expect a judge. So the oracle begins not with Egypt, nor with Judah, but with the announcement of an arrival. God is arriving, and He is ferried by swift clouds, an image first found in Psalm 104. The Psalm sketches for us a picture of a God who is great, and who rides on the clouds – that’s how great God is. He has complete mastery of nature - the great mountains and waters, the springs and rivers that gush forth so donkeys can drink and trees can grow for birds to nest in. And as the Psalmist surveys creation, and its majesty, and its Maker, he closes his psalm with a prayer in Psalm 104:35 – let the wicked be no more. When you consider the wonder and goodness of creation, sin and wickedness are so out of place that they call for judgment. In the Psalm, the God-on-the-clouds gives life through acts of mercy to creation and acts of judgment on sin. Both are life-giving, and what this great God’s arrival means for you really depends on who you are.
This is a good time to ask a seemingly obvious question: Who is this oracle for? In a sense, God is speaking to Egypt. But consider the word “LORD” (YHWH), the covenant name of Exodus 34 revealed to Moses. Every nation then could claim a “god”. But when you hear this name, you know exactly who it is that is arriving, acting, accomplishing His plan and purpose. These are oracles that are addressed to the nations, but for Judah’s ears. Judah was being taught that when empire presents itself as mimicking a God who is eternal, all able and all powerful, God Himself in mercy intrudes on the illusion and shatters it.
Through this oracle, God would send two messages to Judah:do not take refuge in Egypt and do not reject Egypt forever. Judah is not to take refuge in Egypt because Egypt is under judgment. God’s judgment peels back the disguise to help Judah consider the hidden cost of Egypt’s powers & pleasures.
When the LORD arrives on the scene, He heads first for the idols of Egypt (Isa 19:1b). We have seen this before in the Exodus where God warred against the false gods of Egypt and conquered them. The outcome here is that the hearts of the Egyptian people melt when the idols are destroyed, because they have placed their security in these idols.
In this period, Egypt was unsurpassed in idol worship. Various sources place her gods at over a thousand in number, and history paints a portrait of a nation collecting god after god! From the perspective of Pharaoh and the ‘empire’, this is a good growth strategy. The more gods the merrier, because gods bring with them adherents. The more gods Egypt gathered in, the more her numbers would swell, her army grow, and the nation feel invincible. Today, this is not unfamiliar to us. There are religions with multiple deities: one for the earth, one for mercy, and so on.. and this can be perceived as being “broad-minded” and inoffensive in our day.
However, this did not work for YHWH, who declares that there is no other god before Him. When the idols tremble and fail, we see an Egypt stirred into a frenzy by God (Isa 19:2-3). The disunity is vivid and viral – from neighbour to city to kingdom – and it gives us a sense of the sheer size of Egypt, and thus the size of her collapse. The bigger Egypt is, the harder she falls, and in this God shows Judah how the largeness of empire works against empire. As the idols fall, infighting spreads like wildfire throughout the proud nation.
Strangely enough, we find the Egyptians turning to an unholy quartet of idols, sorcerers, mediums and necromancers in Isaiah 19:3. This is futile to us for their idols have already been tried and found failing. Egypt, in her desperation, returns to the very cause of her collapse to ask for help. Don’t we do this too? Perhaps we try to cure the fundamental dissatisfaction of work with overwork or our anxiety about financial security with more investment and stock-watching. For others, our desperate attempt to cling to youth and beauty is met with pills and procedures. Isaiah’s words call us to reflect: What is your hope and trust in? Who is your worship given to? What is your worship going to cost you? When the idol wobbles, so will you.
In the end, their disunity makes them easily devoured. If we recall the cruel reign of Egypt in Exodus 1:8-14, God’s indictment is seen in the punishment dealt out. Egypt had once been the hard master over Israel. They would now be subjected to harsh rule themselves. Egypt’s outcome mirrors Egypt’s own cruel activity, and that reminds us that God’s judgment is fit. It is not always discernible, but when we see it we are to be instructed. When we have our time in the sun, how do we use it? If you are a leader in your church, how would those under you describe your use of your authority? Do you often lean on it at the slightest disagreement? How do you respond when embarrassed? How often do you admit when you mess up?
Whichever (or whoever) the hard master is - Nebuchadnezzar (568 B.C), Alexander the Great (332 B.C.), and many others have been named as instances of judgment fulfilled – it is clear that Egypt historically turns out to be not much of a refuge — quite an ineffective and unreliable ally, despite her apparent might at the time of Judah’s Big Decision.
We began with the hypothesis is that this is an oracle to Egypt, for Judah’s ears. This is how God addresses Judah’s temptation to trust in Egypt. And God makes it clear who the primary actor in all this is: the three-fold repetition of “I will” echoes through this opening section. I will stir up the idolatrous; I will confound them till they look for life among the dead; I will give them over to the sort of king, the sort of master, they rejoiced in being. This is the LORD’s fitting and appropriate judgment: a warning against the sort of empire, who grows by worshipping more and more idols, and a call to Judah not to be deceived by Egypt’s largeness, but to ask what it cost. Judah is to see how Egypt’s largeness, its power, its endless self-serving, puffs it up until it set itself against God, to deny Him and defy Him, and it ultimately falls hard by the LORD’s hand. We can expect this to continue.
In Isaiah 19:5-10, the word ‘Nile’ is repeated five times. Once again, just like the Exodus, God heads for the Nile to make His point. Oswalt remarks that “Egypt exists because of the Nile”, which presented “a dependable body of water to sustain crop life regardless of rainfall.” It was a steady source of riches, and firm fuel for Egypt’s economy. The Nile is Egypt’s lifeline but if it were to fail, so would all the activities that sustains the nation’s life.
This is exactly what we find in Isaiah 19: 5-7, where there is picture after picture of death and decay. The once thriving river is now dry and parched to the point of rot. In Isaiah 19:7, Isaiah stacks up adjectives to paint a stretch of time in a single sentence: All that is sown is parched and dries up. No water, no life. It is driven away to the point of being no more such that when you look at the ground that you tilled and sowed, that seemed so safe, so secure, it is as if none of that ever happened. These verses describe a total failure of economy, emptiness where fullness was to be expected. Isaiah 19: 8 begins to describe the knock-on effect – it is not just plants, but fisheries, and in Isaiah 19:9 we see how even flax and cotton suffer. This is poignant because flax is the source material for linen, which is the proud export of Egypt. In Exodus 26:1, the curtains of Israel’s own temple are made from Egyptian linen. This disaster strikes at the heart of Egypt’s pride. As the Nile dries up, so does the food it offered to fishers and the industry it supported. In the end, the pillars (nobles, princes) and those who work for gain (common people who have to earn a living) are crushed and grieved (Isa 19:10).
The great Nile that had seemed so promising turns out to be a complete let down. Its economic promises prove empty. You might even say that what the Nile offered was a pyramid scheme. There is no lasting life to be found in Egypt, because Egypt’s life was derivative. Like Egypt’s Nile, many things in life that are wise and good will over-reach, and promise us eternal safety. The lesson of the Nile is that even the most secure thing isn’t. If every empire has expired, which one of its promises of security & safety that it offers you in exchange for your compromise won’t expire too?
As we consider that the Nile is God’s goodness on loan, we are also meant to see that unlike the great God on the clouds in Psalm 104 who is the Creator, the Egyptians (and all of us) are derivative creators. All our skill, expertise, mastery, is us working with borrowed material, and borrowed breath. Are we aware that our time, our health is borrowed? Our raw material is given to us on loan, and we will answer to God for what we do with it, whether that is resources in our care, or people in our care – none of that is ours to deal with as we please. Isaiah says to Judah and to us: if you see in the Nile life, you see rightly. But it is borrowed life. God gave that to them – and He can take it away.
Judah, do not embrace Egypt because her wealth calls to your greed and fear of lack – consider the compromises she will require of you. Egypt is your enemy, not your friend, and this enemy’s seemingly invincible economy will fall. Why not put all of your trust in the source?
As we see Egypt’s social and economic promises fail, we turn to her political pillars (Isa 19:11a, 13). Zoan and Memphis are cities in Egypt, and the princes are described as “counselors of Pharaoh” and “the cornerstones of her tribes”. In short, the princes are the leaders of the tribes of Egypt who give the king of Egypt counsel.
They have a list of names for themselves — “son of the wise”, “son of ancient kings” (Isa 19:11b).Not only are they leaders, they have a claim to royal lineage. They probably were pretty smart, having been educated in royal courts. But God calls them fools that give “stupid counsel”. Why? Isaiah says – if your leaders were truly wise, they would direct their minds to the LORD and discern His plans and His purposes and would worship Him. If they were truly able, they would know His will and what is coming Egypt’s way. Instead, their storehouse of knowledge becomes to them a stumbling block. The phrase comes to mind: they are too smart for their own good.
They train up their reasoning but cannot explain the source of their reason, or why their mind is rational at all. They study the patterns of nature, but cannot tell you why nature should have a pattern or be capable of study. They can describe, dissect, diagram matter – but it is all intellectual games to them. They cannot tell you who deserves devotion, whose image dignifies us, what destiny lies ahead, or why any of it ultimately matters. This is a foretaste of what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1 – the learned Greeks seek wisdom, but the wisdom of God is wholly different from a wisdom that impresses, that looks and sounds smart, or that insists on its own way.
The outcome, once again, is collapse. We hear from Isaiah that God “mingles” (stirs in thoroughly) a spirit of confusion through all of Egypt as her leaders lead her into folly. We have already read of confusion in Isaiah 19:2-4 and the societal collapse as trusted idols wobble. Now we see this from the top down: Egypt’s trusted leaders have led her astray because at their best, they could only lead her to themselves. The outcome is widespread wobbling (‘stagger’ is repeated thrice). If your cornerstones, or your ‘pillars’, have fallen, your own fall is not far behind. The image of a drunk man slipping in vomit completes this: no one in Egypt would be capable of responding to the coming crisis.
To complete the picture, you have two opposing pairs — neither head nor tail, and neither palm branch nor reed (Isa 19:15). Palm grows tall, and was often present in royal courts. In contrast, reed is coarse, cheap, and abundant in marshes, without any worth. We are to see that no one in Egypt can save Egypt now, not her idols, not her Nile, not her wisest prince. It’s in the verse: there will be nothing that Egypt may do. This is the same indictment of Israel in Isaiah 9:14-15 – their leaders do not inquire of God, and guide the people astray. Their smarts only help them to stay stubborn.
Isaiah 19:1-15 shows us a God who knows the details of our struggles. Do not think that God is unsympathetic or uncaring about Judah’s real experience of temptation. Here is God taking their struggle very seriously with a point by point rebuttal. God clearly gets that Egypt has a pull on Judah – and He cares. Is God saying the same to you today? Which idols is He bringing to mind? Whether material abundance (here today, gone tomorrow), or the wisdom of man (which is folly). The danger for Judah and for us is not just that Egypt worships idols, but that we do too. Egypt trusts in the economy, we do too. Egypt is charmed by worldly wisdom, we are too. We know that Judah is weak. If we are honest with ourselves, by how tiny the temptations that fell us are, we know we are weak too.
Our response must be to know the danger, and to look closely at what gleams or glimmers. When it seems like Judah really needs what Egypt provides, she needs to sober up to see that Egypt is a risk, not a refuge. What Egypt offers comes at a high price, and it does not last. Though she looks strong with all her idols, she merely awaits collapse. Her resources are really God’s provision given at God’s permission, and God Himself will supply what Judah needs. Do not be charmed by the apparent learning of powerful leaders for wisdom is not to be found in them, but in the LORD. We must also know the deliverer, the LORD, the one from the mountain with Moses, the one who brought Israel out of Egypt. God’s call to Judah and to us is to know Egypt for the danger she poses, and know the LORD as their true deliverer.
(B) Egypt healed: the LORD is sovereign in judgment and mercy (Isa 19:16-25)
Five events and changes take place in Isaiah 19:16-21. The first deals with fear. In Isaiah 19:16-17, we read of two things that are feared — The LORD’s hand, and the mere mention of the land of Judah. Egypt now, we are told, is marked by fearful hearts (Isa 19:1). The phrase “like women” here mean that they will not react like fighting men. They are at war, for, as we have read how “the LORD of hosts” is mentioned. This will happen “in that day” and is not their present state. Yet, this day is what this will all lead to and where things are headed. This is part of the reason why we link these chapters to Isaiah 2, where it tells us what happens “in the last days”.
The first step towards Egypt’s return to God, strangely, will be fear. Imagine an Egyptian who remembers his great great great grandfather’s stories about Jehovah and the locusts. How would he feel if he heard news that the LORD was coming? Perhaps fear from past judgment remembered. As Motyer put it, “What turns out to be the beginning of blessing [seems at first like] more trouble: [they know the power of God’s uplifted hand, and they fear] what the Lord is planning against them.”
Secondly, we are told about unity in Egypt. Though marked by disunity and infighting now (Isa 19:2), in Isaiah 19:18, we see unity, in the form of speaking the same language and allegiance to the same LORD. The hand of the LORD comes down powerfully, but not in judgment. They begin to speak like the people of God (c.f. Zeph 3:9). While the details here would require further investigation. the main point is: God has acted such that for five cities in Egypt, their words and their loyalties now lead to God.
Thirdly, Isaiah speaks about their worship. Egypt was shown to be in panic and running to idols earlier (Isa 19:13). Idols were everywhere and very much a part of life. But that has now changed. We see an altar and a pillar, signifying worship and memorial (Isa 19:19). It seems like whatever took place earlier (Isa 19:18) has gone deep to the very heart of the land, and as wide as its borders are wide.
Just as idolatry is a whole-life contamination, so turning to the LORD is a whole-life restoration. There is something that they give up. The discovery of new love and loyalty does lead to sacrifice. Like Abraham they build an altar, and like Jacob they erect a pillar of remembrance. This is not without cost to Egypt - the altar represents a meeting place of love and sacrifice, and shows a heart that says, “because I love, I will give”.
Read together, we see how the new language and allegiance spoken of in Isaiah 19:18 marks the turn to repentance and faith, and Isaiah 19:19 shows us that salvation is not a one-off but a continuing, ever-growing, all-consuming re-alignment of worship for what our heart truly loves, adores, and pledges allegiance to. No part of Egypt is spared – no part of us should be spared either.
The passage goes on to speak of oppression. Earlier, we read of how the cruelty of Egypt the slavemaster merited, made their punishment just & appropriate (Isa 19:4). However, this makes Isaiah 19:20 inexplicable: “When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender, and He will rescue them”. Justice for the oppressor makes sense. But mercy for the oppressor? Would you rescue an oppressor?
The sheer undeserved nature of all this comes out through the contrast. Judgment is merited and is just but kindness is surprising and mind-boggling. God comes to the rescue of those who taught His people to cry out in pain — when they cry out in pain. This is a mercy that is undeserved, only received.
Lastly, we read of the effects on their agriculture. Isaiah 19:5-10 gives us a picture of crop failure. However, in Isaiah 19:21, God makes Himself known to Egypt, and they respond with vows, sacrifices, offerings. These words are the same words used for Israel’s vows, sacrifices, offerings in Exodus and Leviticus. Though the earlier verses told of a complete failure of the economy and agriculture, by the end of the chapter, they have fruit and grain and flocks to offer once more. We see how the LORD restores and provides what they need for their worship.
What kind of a God is this? This is one who makes Himself known to a people, hears their cries for mercy, delivers them from oppressors. As a result, the people return to the LORD, swear allegiance, build altars and pillars, worship with sacrifice and offering. This sounds just like Judah – but it is Egypt!
That is not all. Isaiah 19:23 builds on Isaiah 19:21, which built on Isaiah 19:18. Who will worship the LORD? First five cities, then the whole country of Egypt, then the world (as represented by Assyria and Egypt). Isaiah 19:24 tells you that Israel, Assyria, Egypt, have a third each (equal shares). All three are blessed, and we do not distinguish between them in blessedness. However, Isaiah 19:25 distinguishes between them through God’s intimate and specific address to each of them — Egypt, Assyria and Israel. Egypt too, is called “my people” and Assyria is referred to as the “work of my hands”. These were previously what God reserved fro Israel (c.f. Exo 3:7, Isa 29:23).
Motyer sums it up this way: “The three titles people, handiwork and inheritance have always belonged to Israel. In Egypt Pharaoh’s word once was ‘Let my people go’ (Exo 5:1), but now Egypt is my people.”
How amazing is this. As we mentioned at the start of the study, the geopolitical context of that time meant that Assyria was located up top and Egypt down below with Judah caught in the middle. Judah faced threats of being attacked on all fronts. In its vulnerability and defenselessness, it becomes the place of peace for the nations. Who would have thought that the powers converging on Judah would mean not wailing and destruction, but worship and devotion?
This happens because “they will return to the LORD” (Isa 19:22, and in some versions, it is translated as “turn to the LORD”). To be with God and His people, Egypt must repent and turn from their ways, their self-reliance, their idol worship, and to the LORD. Repentance is an ingredient for entry and precedes reconciliation. But don’t miss this: it begins with the LORD striking and healing.
When Hosea confronts the unrepentance of Israel and Judah in his prophecy, he says in chapter 6: “Come, let us return to Jehovah; for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.” Striking and healing is Judah’s story too, and it is our story too. Don’t forget who you are! You are part of God’s people because you have been brought in! Is your heart ready for the sort of generosity that this chapter ends with? Would you rather that evil people turn, or does some part of you just wish they would be conveniently destroyed? Do you struggle to trust in God’s mercy?
Consider also who you are in this oracle. Instinctively, you may imagine yourself to be Judah, the tempted one, fighting off the allure of the world. That is right. But consider also what power you wield, and who you have it over. Consider your country, and the ways that it is Egypt-like. Is it economically prosperous because it is breaking the backs of others with little regard for their safety or humanity? Does it force them into harsh conditions to extract economic output? If this is true of your country, then God’s extravagant offer to Egypt is for you too. God makes Himself known in Isaiah 19 as a God of justice and mercy – justice so that we might not be numb to sin, and mercy so that we might not despair but instead repent, turn and worship Him. And you cannot worship God with one hand and rob your neighbour with the other. He will deal with that with purifying fire in this life, or the fire that does not go out in the next. Do you struggle to trust in God’s judgment?
If you find the sort of judgment and the sort of mercy described in this passage unrealistic, you aren’t wrong. Humanly speaking, the sort of repentance and restoration that Egypt is called to is impossible. But all of this will happen in that day, an undated future time that belongs wholly to the reign of God. The LORD who comes on the clouds is the Creator. Out of nothingness and death, He can bring life. Christ died for our sins and was raised to life. We who were once dead in our trespasses now walk in newness of life. Maybe you find no power in yourself to forgive or to repent. Humanly speaking, that might feel impossible. But could God repeat the impossible since He has, already, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, shown that He has the power to do the impossible? Could He not work the same power in our hearts, to make the unrepentant powers repentant and therefore, make the unforgiving forgive?
This chapter gave us many small lessons along the way about not trusting in idols, wealth, intellect. But there’s a big big ask at the end: Can we trust the sovereign love of God? His choice is more merciful than we’d like. Can we trust it enough to entrust ourselves and others to it, whether for refuge, or in repentance for our sins, or both?
Isaiah 19 really is a long love letter, and in it we see the love of God more patient than we think to prodigal hearts, bigger than we think, wider than we think, which is the only reason why we find ourselves in it this day. Let us go to God for help to trust Him.