How do you understand Isaiah 19/ 18:25

[Ervinp]

Hi. Following is Isaiah 19/18:25

18 In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.[a]

19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lordin the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border.

20 It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a saviorand defender, and he will rescue them.

21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.

22 The Lordwill strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing[b] on the earth.

25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

How do you understand the above?

Love and Thanks

 

[Wick Stick]

Interesting... My knowledge of history of the region can't identify a specific fulfillment, though in the New Testament era there was a significant population of Jews/Christians in Egypt, so that era suggests itself.

 

[Ervinp]

It says in this part: They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.
Christians don’t offer sacrifices and grain offerings and it says Egyptians will come to God, not izraelis.
Thanks

 

[Ervinp]

Maybe it’s a metaphor like a lots of the book of Isaiah is when he says about sacrificing and offering grain. Or like you said, maybe it already happened. It’s a tough one to work out.

Love and Thanks

 

[Deborah_]

Many of the prophets use detailed terminology (sacrifices and altars) when they talk about worship, but it doesn't necessarily imply that the fulfilment will be in literal sacrifices and altars. What Isaiah seems to be trying to get across is that all Israel's enemies, from the most ancient (Egypt) to the most recent (in Isaiah's time, Assyria) will one day be part of God's Kingdom.

Incidentally, the Coptic church in Egypt is one of the oldest in the world.

 

[Wick Stick]

It says in this part: They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.
Christians don’t offer sacrifices and grain offerings and it says Egyptians will come to God, not izraelis.
Thanks

Agreed. Did small research and found that the 'City of Destruction' mentioned in verse 18 is most likely On-Heliopolis. There is a play on words there - Heliopolis is Greek meaning 'City of the Sun' and the phrase 'City of Destruction' is similar in Hebrew - just one letter different.

from Wikipedia:

Heliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, occupied since prehistoric Egypt.[1] It greatly expanded under the Old and Middle Kingdoms but is today mostly destroyed, its temples and other buildings having been scavenged for the construction of medieval Cairo. Most information about the ancient city comes from surviving records.

Given the state of the city (destroyed), it seems likely that the chapter has seen a literal fulfillment. If I were to put more effort in, we could probably use the date of this city's destruction to limit the time frames of when that happened and perhaps find the event. But I don't have that much time right now. Off to work...

 

[Ervinp]

If sacrificing and grain offerings is metaphorical, then how do we know that Isaiah 53 is literal?

 

[Wick Stick]

If sacrificing and grain offerings is metaphorical, then how do we know that Isaiah 53 is literal?

You have to look at the context and compare it to history.

"Everything is literal" is a beginner's way of understanding... something we give to children.

 

[Berean]

The Great Pyramid is introduced as a praise altar or a monument of witness and testimony unto the Lord God. Shortly Israel’s blind eyes will be opened to see that Jesus, a Jew, was indeed their true Savior. They will realize that Old Testament prophecies repeatedly spoke of him. Similarly, many Egyptians, even those living in Cairo, have never visited the Pyramid, the great testimony of a Savior in their own land, and it is related to Jesus.

The Pyramid will “speak” in the future, revealing its secrets. Just as Jesus, the Messiah of Israel and long identified with that nation, was unaccepted and unrecognized (until the near future), so the Pyramid in Egypt, which has been a testimony and has contained the message of Jesus as Savior, has been unrecognized in Egypt. The top stone is primarily about Jesus and his role as Savior. The Pyramid will speak in the future to the Egyptians, just as Jesus, like Joseph, will reveal his identity and speak unto his brethren. Just as with Joseph’s brothers, consternation and fear were followed by great rejoicing, so in the future surprise and fear will be followed by healing and comfort. God will “smite and [then] heal” Egypt (verse 22).

The Pyramid, then, will be especially significant to the Egyptians when they realize what the monument that was in their own land for thousands of years represents. “They shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors.” This portion of verse 20 is related to history at the time Shem was used of the Lord to superintend the building of the Pyramid. In Egyptian mythology Shem was considered to be the Savior because Nimrod greatly oppressed the people. With Nimrod and his associates occupying positions of cruelty and power, Ham asked his brother Shem to help. In the “land of Ham,” Ham was technically the king or pharaoh of Egypt, but in reality Nimrod superseded him in power and influence. Shem delivered the Egyptians and hence is a prototype of Jesus.

In verse 20, who are the “they” of the future, at this end of the age? Who will “cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors”? The Jews, the Egyptians, or the world? There is a double application. The Jews were oppressed in Egypt at the time of the Exodus, and Moses was sent as savior and deliverer, but that oppression does not fit the time setting of this picture of the Pyramid. The Egyptians were oppressed by King Nebuchadnezzar, but that was too small a fulfillment for such a powerful picture. The clue for the future is the prototype of Nimrod and those associated with him and his religion in the past—the “oppressors.” (Nimrod married his own mother.) The future fulfillment pertains to the world and its being inundated with “oppressors.” The world will cry for deliverance from Satan and the fallen angels. Remember how they (“mighty ... men of renown”) oppressed mankind before the Flood, filling the earth with lust and violence and taking women as they chose (Gen. 6:4). The world will be similarly oppressed when the fallen angels are loosed from their chains of darkness in the “judgment of the great day” (Jude 6). Only God’s great power can deliver the people from such evil, oppressive power. Only a greater supernatural force can deliver the world from the power of these supernatural beings. At the end of the First Dispensation, God used the Flood and other means, of which we can only conjecture, to thwart and imprison the fallen angels. A great force and power had to be used to chain or
imprison the fallen angels when they dematerialized. And in the future a great force and power will be needed to restrain the fallen angels.

The Pyramid identifies who the Savior is—he is the true and tried (top) stone, the head of the corner, which the builders rejected.

Verse 21: While it is true that Egypt will know the Lord in that day and give sacrifices and oblations to Him, Egypt is a picture of the world. The world will give recognition to Jesus as Savior and to the Kingdom of God, and will offer gifts, services, oblations, etc. Gentiles will want to show their cooperation. And they will “vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it” (consecrate).

The Pyramid is described as an altar, a pillar, a sign, and a witness. These terms break down as follows:
Altar = an altar of prayer and praise, a place of thanks and commemoration.
Pillar = a stone monument of victory.
Sign = something that is visible and/or tangible; for example, the Bible is a sign—and so is the Pyramid, which is the Bible in stone.
Witness = the Pyramid shows God’s foreknowledge in a number of ways: its passages and chambers are symbolic, picturing, among other things, Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection and the call of the Church; the top stone pictures Jesus; etc. The Pyramid testifies of God’s plan.

 

[GTW27]

Hi. Following is Isaiah 19/18:25

18 In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.[a]

19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lordin the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border.

20 It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a saviorand defender, and he will rescue them.

21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.

22 The Lordwill strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing[b] on the earth.

25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

How do you understand the above?

Love and Thanks

Sometimes the words of a true prophet are not understood by the prophet, nor the hearers until it comes to pass. These words will come to pass. I remember a prophet over 20 years ago said, There will come a day in this country that the people will not be seeking out a president for help, but will be seeking out a man of God to hear The Word of The Lord. This also will come to pass. Blessings!

 

[ChristinaL]

Interesting... My knowledge of history of the region can't identify a specific fulfillment, though in the New Testament era there was a significant population of Jews/Christians in Egypt, so that era suggests itself.

I dont believe this is historical, my own reading shows this to be end times, at the beginning of the Millenium

 

[quietthinker]

Hi. Following is Isaiah 19/18:25

18 In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.[a]

19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lordin the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border.

20 It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a saviorand defender, and he will rescue them.

21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.

22 The Lordwill strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing[b] on the earth.

25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

How do you understand the above?

Love and Thanks

It is speaking in metaphors. Just as 'Israel' is a metaphor for God's people, not just the Jews, so Egypt and Assyria are metaphors for the Gentiles. Of these folds they will hear the Good Shepherd's voice and there will be one flock and one Shepherd. See John 10:16

 

[ChristinaL]

It is speaking in metaphors. Just as 'Israel' is a metaphor for God's people, not just the Jews, so Egypt and Assyria are metaphors for the Gentiles. Of these folds they will hear the Good Shepherd's voice and there will be one flock and one Shepherd. See John 10:16

Its not a metaphor Egypt and Assyria are meant to be understood as just that

 

[quietthinker]

Its not a metaphor Egypt and Assyria are meant to be understood as just that

Christina, I see Jesus as what Paul describes as 'For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God'. 2 Cor. 1:20

It shifts how the OT is understood.