Isaiah 19-21

Isaiah 19
1-17 An Oracle concerning Egypt

• When the LORD comes "riding on a swift cloud" to Egypt, 1) their idols will tremble, 2) their hearts will melt, 3) they will fight each other (always an effective means of destruction), 4) their plans will be confounded, and 5) they will be delivered into the hand of a fierce king.
• And there's more: The Nile will dry up, which will cause 1) its tributaries to become foul, 2) crops sown by the river to fail, 3) the fisherman to lose their trade, 4) the weavers to lose their work, 5) all who work for wages to be grieved. Trickle-down economics!
• And now an indictment against Egypt's leaders. You are foolish and give stupid counsel to Pharaoh. God has caused them to become fools, deluded and as confused as drunkards.
• The Egyptians will be like women and tremble with fear.
• The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt.

18-25 Egypt, Assyria and Israel Blessed

• On that day: 5 cities will swear allegiance to God. (One will be called the City of the Sun.)
• In the center of Egypt will be an altar, and on the border a pillar to the LORD - signs of a savior to come.
• God will strike Egypt, and they will return to the LORD.
• Assyria and Egypt will be at peace and worship together -- and will be joined by Israel.
• The LORD will say, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage."

Note: Commentators are all over the place on verses 18-25, depending on their point of view on prophecy. Suffice it to say that at this first reading, I'm certainly not qualified to ascertain its meaning and time of fulfillment, whether it's ancient history or to be fulfilled in Christ and His early church. Because of my point of view of Old Testament prophecy, though, I would eliminate fulfillment in our future.

Isaiah 20
1-5 Isaiah Dramatizes the Conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia

• Isaiah receives a command from God in the same year King Sargon of Assyria sends a commander-in-chief (Tartan) to defeat Ashdod.
• The command? To walk naked (probably not bare, but stripped of his outer clothes, which was demeaning to a prophet and exposed him to the elements of nature) and barefoot for 3 years as a sign that Egypt and Ethiopia would be taken captive by Assyria and would be led away naked and barefoot.
• This sight will dismay the Israelites, who have put their confidence in Ethiopia and Egypt to deliver them from Assyria.

Isaiah 21
1-17 Oracles concerning Babylon, Edom and Arabia

• Babylon: Isaiah imagines himself a watchman warning of the invasion of "the wilderness of the sea" (Babylon) by the Medes and the Persians.
• v. 10 - "The God of Israel, I announce to you." The destruction may take the form of the Medes and Persians, but it's really God's judgment on Babylon. This is an astounding phrase, and one that reminds me of Philippians 2:10-11. "...so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. " Sooner or later, all will be "introduced" to the Creator and His Son.
• Edom: The people of Dumah (a region of Edom, which probably is used for the whole country) are anxiously asking the watchman what he sees coming.
• Arabia ("the desert plain') would be overrun within a year, its citizens becoming fugitives in the wilderness. Jamieson, Fausett and Brown think this probably happened during the wars between Assyria and Egypt, because this region "lay somewhat on the intermediate line of march."