CHAPTER 19

(714 B.C.)

THE FALL OF EGYPT

¹The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His Presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. (This Verse mentions the idols of Egypt. Egypt has always been symbolic of the world. The Deliverance of the Children of Israel out of Egypt symbolizes the Born-Again experience, as well as victory over Satan, concerning the Child of God.

This speaks of the Second Coming, when Egypt will accept the Lord.)

²And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. (When this civil war in Egypt will take place in connection with these last-day events is not stated, but it is clear that at Armageddon men will be so confused that they will turn on each other [Zech. 14:13-14].)

³And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them who have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. (Egypt, except for the short time under Joseph [Gen., Chpt. 41], has always been ruled, at least indirectly, by demon spirits. At the time of the Antichrist, they will consult these spirits, but all in vain.)

⁴And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts. (This Passage tells us that the Lord will allow Egypt to be defeated by the Antichrist. This will happen at approximately the outset of the Great Tribulation.)

DESOLATION

⁵And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. (The sea referred to here is probably the Nile. The rivers wasted and dried up refer, no doubt, to a phenomenon of nature brought about by the Lord, which will take place during the time of the Great Tribulation, beginning possibly with the invasion of the Antichrist.)

⁶And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.

⁷The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and everything sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. (During the time of the Great Tribulation, which will last for some seven years, the Lord Himself will disturb the planetary bodies, causing tremendous disturbance on Earth. Egypt will probably be greatly affected by this [Rev. 6:12-17].)

⁸The fishers also shall mourn, and all they who cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they who spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

⁹Moreover they who work in fine flax, and they who weave networks, shall be confounded.

¹⁰And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all who make sluices and ponds for fish. (These Verses merely reflect the fact of industries being brought to a standstill during the time of the Great Tribulation.)

CAUSE OF DESTRUCTION

¹¹Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say you unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? (The princes of Verses 11 through 13 refer to the priest-princes. They were a travesty of Gods kings and priests. They claimed superhuman knowledge and royal descent.)

¹²Where are they? where are your wise men? and let them tell you now, and let them know what the LORD of Hosts has purposed upon Egypt. (This is a tremendous challenge! The Prophets of Jehovah addressed it more than once to the prophets of idolatry, for only God can foretell what will surely happen!)

¹³The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they who are the stay of the tribes thereof. (Zoan was the seat of the Egyptian Court. It was there that Moses announced the ten plagues. Once again, God calls the leaders of Egypt deceived fools. They are deceived because they listen to these counselors who receive their information from demon spirits.)

¹⁴The LORD has mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. (While the leaders of Egypt will not understand it, still, the cause of their problems is demon spirits. It is the same presently in many nations of the world.)

¹⁵Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do. (In ancient times, Egypt was supposed to be the center of wisdom. There will be no wisdom in the coming day of the Great Tribulation. There will be nothing but confusion.)

EGYPTS ULTIMATE DELIVERANCE; MILLENNIAL BLESSINGS, PEACE

¹⁶In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the Hand of the LORD of Hosts, which He shakes over it. (This Verse is the portrayal of wrath and judgment that shall come in that day. It pertains basically to the Battle of Armageddon, which will cause Egypt much more trouble than normal, due to the fact that the LORD of Hosts will express a particular anger toward it, because of Egypts perverseness toward Israel.)

¹⁷And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, everyone who makes mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of Hosts, which He has determined against it. (In the coming Battle of Armageddon, Judah will have the counsel of the LORD of Hosts, while Egypt will be trusting in demon spirits. The outcome is inevitable!)

¹⁸In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of Hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction. (The five great cities of ancient Egypt were originally cities of unrighteousness. Here, they will be turned to cities of Righteousness. This will be in the Kingdom Age, after the Second Coming.)

¹⁹In that day shall there be an Altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a Pillar at the border thereof to the LORD. (An Altar and a Pillar, not altars and pillars, for there is only one way of Redemption and one Testimony. Obviously, this Altar will be for men to offer Sacrifices to God in the Millennium, like the one to be used in Jerusalem for the same purpose during this period.

The Pillar is to be used only as a sign and witness to commemorate an event, which speaks of Egypts Deliverance by the Lord from the Antichrist.)

²⁰And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a Saviour, and a Great One, and He shall deliver them. (The Saviour and Great One will be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Only He can deliver.)

²¹And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yes, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it. (Now, the Glory of the Lord will cover Egypt, and they will gladly serve Him.

Upon this Altar mentioned in Verse 19, they will do sacrifice and oblation. This will be in the Kingdom Age.)

²²And the LORD shall smite Egypt: He shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and He shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them. (Before the healing can come, the smiting must come first, which it shall!)

²³In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyr ia, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. (In that day refers to the Millennium. Consequently, the animosity, hatred, and anger which have characterized this area of the world since the dawn of time have now finally been wrested away from Satan, and the land will then be ruled by the Lord of Glory. The hatred is now gone.)

²⁴In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land (these three nations speak of Noahs three sons, which refer to the entire world, and will become servants to Jehovah; the human race consists of these three great families: Assyria, Israel, and Egypt, i.e., Japheth, Shem, and Ham [Gen. 9:27]; these three countries, Israel, Egypt, and Assyria [modern Iraq], instead of being a curse, will now be a blessing):

²⁵Whom the LORD of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the Work of My Hands, and Israel My inheritance. (This tells us that the Arabs will ultimately come to Christ, thereby disavowing the religion of Islam. Actually, it will be no more, as well as all the other religions of the world. In that Glad Day, there will be One Saviour, Who is the worlds Redeemer, Who is the Lord Jesus Christ.)