Isaia 19:12 Commento

As Assyria was a breaking rod to Judah, with which it was smitten, so Egypt was a broken reed, with which it was cheated; and therefore God had a quarrel with them both. We have before read the doom of the Assyrians; now here we have the burden of Egypt, a prophecy concerning that nation, I. That it should be greatly weakened and brought low, and should be as contemptible among the nations as now it was considerable, rendered so by a complication of judgments which God would bring upon them (v. 1-17). II. That at length God's holy religion should be brought into Egypt, and set up there, in part by the Jews that should flee thither for refuge, but more fully by the preachers of the gospel of Christ, through whose ministry churches should be planted in Egypt in the says of the Messiah (Isa 19:18-25), which would abundantly balance all the calamities here threatened.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 19 This chapter contains prophecies of various calamities that should come upon Egypt in a short time, and of the conversion of many of them to Christ in Gospel times. The calamities are many; the Lord's coming unto them, which their gods cannot prevent, nor stand before, nor save them, and at which the hearts of the Egyptians are dispirited, Isa 19:1 civil wars among themselves, Isa 19:2 want of counsel, which sends them to idols and wizards, but in vain, Isa 19:3 subjection to a cruel lord, Isa 19:4 drying up of their rivers and waters, so that the paper reeds wither, and fishes die; and hence no business for fishermen, nor for workers in flax, or weavers of nets, Isa 19:5 the stupidity of their princes and wise counsellors, given up by the Lord to a perverse spirit, so that they concerted wrong measures, and deceived the people, Isa 19:11 a general consternation among them, because of the hand and counsel of the Lord; and because of the Lord's people, the Jews, who were a terror to them, Isa 19:16 and then follows the prophecy of their conversion in later times, which is signified by their speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing to the Lord, Isa 19:18 by their erecting an altar, and a pillar to the Lord, which should be a sign and witness to him; and by their crying to him, and his sending them a Saviour, and a great one, Isa 19:19 by his being known unto them, by their offering sacrifice to him, and by his smiting and healing them Isa 19:21 and the chapter is concluded with a prophecy of that harmony, and agreement, and fellowship, that shall be between Jew and Gentile, between Egypt, Assyria, and Israel; and that the blessing of God should be upon them all, Isa 19:23.

Where are they? where are thy wise men?.... The magicians and soothsayers, the diviners and astrologers, who pretended, by their magic art and skill in judicial astrology, to foretell things to come: this is an address to the king of Egypt, who had such persons about him, and encouraged them, by consulting them on occasion, and rewarding them: and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt; or, "against it"; let them tell, if they can, and make known unto thee the purposes of God's heart, the things he has resolved upon, even the calamities and punishments he will shortly inflict upon the Egyptians, of which he has given notice by his prophets.

(Vers. 11-13.) The foolish princes of Tanis, the wise counselors of Pharaoh, gave foolish counsel: How can you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and make known what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt. The foolish princes of Tanis have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have caused Egypt to stagger, the cornerstone of its peoples. Tanis was the capital of Egypt, as the Psalmist declares, where Moses performed many signs that are described in Exodus: He set his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Tanis (Ps. 78:11). Memphis, also dedicated to magical arts, still shows traces of error from ancient times to the present. And this is briefly indicated, that with the coming of the Babylonian devastation, all the plans of the Magi, and of those who promised knowledge of the future, are proven foolishness, and with the advent of Christ everything is reduced to nothingness, not finding the advice of the Egyptian seers on how to suppress the Christian doctrine. However, the language of the Scriptures is that they place the angle for the kingdom, since it contains the peoples, and is the strongest in the whole house. And Christ, containing the walls of two peoples, is called the cornerstone (Ephesians II). And what he brings in: How will you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of the ancient kings, signifies that the Egyptians imitate their heroes and gods, namely Horus, Isis, Osiris, and Typhon.

(Verse 12 and following) How can you say to Pharaoh: I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and make known what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt. The princes of Tanis have become foolish, the princes of Memphis are deluded; the leaders of Egypt have led it astray. The Lord has poured into them a spirit of confusion; they have made Egypt stagger in all its undertakings, as a drunkard staggers and vomits. And Egypt will have no need for one who makes the head and tail bend and restrain. Heretics often say to their king or Pharaoh: We are the sons of the wise ones who from the beginning delivered to us the Apostolic teaching: We are the sons of the ancient kings who are called the kings of the philosophers, and we have knowledge of the Scriptures joined with secular wisdom. He now asks them, whether it be the king of the heretics himself, where are his wise men who despised Ecclesiastical simplicity: and he compels them to answer what the Lord of Sabaoth has thought concerning Egypt of this world, and what he will do in its consummation. The foolish princes of Taneos are approved, who held the lowly command of the heretics. All the princes of Memphis, who boast of polluting eloquence and speech, are confounded. For 'Memphis' signifies 'mouth' or 'from the mouth' and metaphorically means 'speech'. And what follows: They deceived the corner of Egypt, or according to the Septuagint: they will deceive Egypt through tribes, signifies that the kingdom of secular wisdom is shown to be foolish, and the leaders of individual doctrines, who are interpreted as tribes, are shown to have had foolish teachers. For the Lord has mixed for them the spirit of confusion, or errors, according to what is written: And as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a depraved mind (Rom. I, 24). And just as the holy one, Isaiah, can say: We will make the spirit of your salvation come upon the earth, so the sinner will make the spirit of error, that is, the spirit of malice. This is in accordance with what we read in Jeremiah: Your own wickedness will punish you, and your turning from me will rebuke you (Jerem. II, 19). But if a heretic is scandalized who does not accept the old Testament, which is said to be mixed with the spirit of error or confusion, let him hear the writing in the Apostle, that is, in the new Testament: God gave them up to the desires of their hearts in uncleanness (Rom. I, 24). And again: Therefore, God gave them up to shameful passions. And again: God gave them up to a reprobate sense, to do what is not fitting. But they are delivered up in the desires of their hearts, because they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things. Which indeed is not only read in the Epistle to the Romans, but also in the Epistle to the Thessalonians concerning the Antichrist: Because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying: That all may be judged who have not believed the truth but have consented to iniquity (2 Thess. 2:10). I think the Apostle Paul took this from the present reading of Isaiah, in which he says: The Lord hath mingled for them the spirit of error, and they have erred in all their works, as an intoxicated man staggereth and vomiteth, so also shall Egypt stagger and vomit because of her excess. Joel speaks of those who are drunk: Woe to those who are drunk without wine. And not only drunk, but also vomiting the madness of dragons, and the incurable madness of asps, so that after they vomit up this kind of wine, they understand their drunkenness and recognize that as long as they are drunk, they have neither beginning nor end, that is, neither head nor tail, but a trunk on both sides of the animal. For beginning and end, which both Symmachus and the Septuagint translated, Theodotion added the Hebrew words Chaphphe () and Agmon (), which Aquila interpreted as bent and perverse. In incurvo, senes intelligi volens; in perverso, lascivientes pueros, qui omniaperversa faciant; ac per hoc esse sensum, quod in Aegypto non solum caput desit et cauda, sed et senes et pueri, id est, et principium et finis.

Second, he mocks the confidence of the king: where now, and first, the question, below: there is none that can save you (Isa 47:15); second, the answer: fools have withered away, that is, have failed, as above.

By the significant type of breaking a potter's vessel, Jeremiah is directed to predict the utter desolation of Judah and Jerusalem, Jer 19:1-15. The prophets taught frequently by symbolic actions as well as by words.

"Let them come" - Here too a word seems to have been left out of the text. After חכמיך chochameycha, thy wise men, two MSS., one ancient, add יבאו yibu, let them come; which, if we consider the form and construction of the sentence, has very much the appearance of being genuine: otherwise the connective conjunction at the beginning of the next member is not only superfluous but embarrassing. See also the Version of the Septuagint, in which the same deficiency is manifest. Let them tell thee now "And let them declare" - For ידעו yidu, let them know, perhaps we ought to read יודיעו yodiu, let them make known. - Secker. The Septuagint and Vulgate favor this reading, ειπατωισαν, let them declare.

(Isa. 19:1-25) burden--(See on Isa 13:1). upon . . . cloud-- (Psa 104:3; Psa 18:10). come into Egypt--to inflict vengeance. "Egypt," in Hebrew, Misraim, plural form, to express the two regions of Egypt. BUNSEN observes, The title of their kings runs thus: "Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt." idols--the bull, crocodile, &c. The idols poetically are said to be "moved" with fear at the presence of one mightier than even they were supposed to be (Exo 12:12; Jer 43:12).

let them know--that is, How is it that, with all their boast of knowing the future [DIODORUS, 1.81], they do not know what Jehovah of hosts . . .