Isaiah 19-20

What’s Happening?

God intends for Judah to become the center of a global community of people who are at peace with one another and worship the true God of history and the world. However, the Assyrian army threatens to destroy Judah. Judah’s king is desperate for help, and the nation of Egypt is eager to give it. By the time Isaiah delivered this prophecy, Egypt had funded many anti-Assyrian rebellions and promised military aid to any king willing to join the fight against the growing empire. But Isaiah tells Judah’s king that accepting Egyptian aid is foolish. Egypt has nothing that God has not already promised to give Judah. Besides, Egypt has a track record of breaking its promises. So, in a series of three prophetic oracles, Isaiah attempts to convince Judah to stay true to their calling and trust God by resisting an Egyptian alliance.

In his first oracle, Isaiah encourages Judah to trust God by exposing Egypt’s helplessness before Israel's God. All of Egypt’s deities tremble in fear before God (Isaiah 19:1). As a result, the Egyptians who worship these gods are filled with fear too. In their anxiety, they attack and destroy each other, which makes them an easier target for Assyria to conquer (Isaiah 19:2-4). Historically, the Nile River has been the source of Egypt’s wealth and power, but Isaiah prophecies that God will dry up the Nile and Egypt’s economy with it (Isaiah 19:5-11). Similarly, Egypt’s philosophers, astrologers, and seers were world-renowned. But all of them be proven foolish and dim-sighted when they fail to foresee Egypt’s fall (Isaiah 19:12-15). Isaiah warns Judah that everything Egypt boasts about, its religion, river, and wisdom, is about to fall. Instead of accepting Egypt’s aid, they should trust Israel’s God.

In his second oracle, Isaiah says that Judah shouldn’t come under Egypt’s power because one day soon, Egypt will submit to Judah. Soon, Judah will instill fear in the hearts of Egyptian soldiers, and God will conquer them (Isaiah 19:16-17). Five Egyptian cities will even change the official language of their nation to that of God’s people (Isaiah 19:18). In the heart of Egyptian polytheism, sacrifices will be offered to Israel’s God. Whenever Egyptians are oppressed, they will call out to Israel’s God, and he will treat them like his own people and deliver them (Isaiah 19:19-22). In that day, instead of preparing for war, enemies will be reconciled. Judah, Egypt, and even Assyria will build a highway together, and together, all three nations will be called God’s people and bring blessing to the earth (Isaiah 19:23-25). If Judah trusts God, the whole world will be at peace, so they should trust God with their nation’s future and refuse Egyptian aid in its fight against Assyria. 

Isaiah’s final oracle is given shortly after Egypt betrays one of their allies, allowing Assyria to conquer the city of Ashdod. In response, Isaiah strips off his clothes and sandals and walks around basically naked for three years (Isaiah 20:1-2). It’s a picture of what will happen to Egypt for its treachery. Soon, Assyria will conquer Egypt, strip its citizens, and march them into exile. The application for Judah is clear: the only way Judah becomes a global community of peace and love for God is to trust God for their nation’s survival by rejecting Egyptian aid (Isaiah 20:4-6).

Where is the Gospel?

God intends for Judah to become the center of a global community of people who are at peace with one another and worship the true God of history and the world. Trusting any other ally will prove foolish and fatal to these purposes. Judah must trust their God if their nation is to survive and become the nation God intends them to be. Ultimately, Judah didn’t listen to Isaiah, and they abandoned faith in their God. However, God remained faithful to his plans for his people by sending Jesus to bring peace to the world, just as Isaiah prophecied. 

Jesus trusted God as Judah and her kings were meant to. And in his faithfulness to God, Jesus begins to gather an international community of reconciled enemies. During his life, Jews who were at odds, like the Judean zealot Simon and the Roman sympathizer Matthew, put aside their differences and became co-leaders in Jesus’ new Kingdom (Mark 3:13-19). And many of Jesus’ first followers were a diverse crowd of Samaritans, Roman centurions, and Jews. For centuries, each of these people had been at odds with one another, but in Jesus, those conflicts were set aside, and a new international Kingdom began to take shape (John 4, Matthew 8:5-13). Threatened by Jesus’ claims of kingship and his growing following, the leaders of Israel sacrificed Jesus to save their own skin (John 11:50). But Jesus rose from the dead. The powers of Rome and Israel were confounded, God’s international Kingdom gained eternal sovereignty, and people worldwide began to join it (Acts 2:24). 

Now, if you call on King Jesus for aid, he will deliver you and claim you as his own. You will be invited into a global community of people whom God has brought peace to through his cross (Ephesians 2:14). Don’t be like Judah’s king. There is no lasting peace or freedom apart from the God of Israel. Trusting the gods of the world is foolish and fatal. Instead, trust Jesus and he will save you. 

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who is worthy of your trust. And may you see Jesus as the faithful king who rules a Kingdom of peace, which all are into welcome into by faith.