4 The Chosen People | MARCH 2020
Israel and Her
Neighbors: Isaiah 19
by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.
Abridged
No other nation on the face of the earth is so bound
up with the history of Israel and the kingdom of God
through the ages as the nation of Egypt. There are
in excess of seven hundred references to Egypt in the Bible,
with some 125 of those references found in the formula: “I
am the Lord your God who brought you up from the land
of Egypt.” This passage in Isaiah 19 preserves for us one
of the most amazing expressions, not only of international
envisages the divine use of heavy judgment on that nation
for the purpose of bringing about that nation’s healing and
conversion as a people.
Egypt. In these verses, God announces that he will make a
“highway from Egypt to Assyria,” which today is modern
Iraq. But what is meant here goes beyond the existence of an
international roadway that connects the old Mesopotamian
Valley nation with Egypt; it no doubt included trade and
cultural interaction, but now it would involve especially the
joint worship of these three nations, who have had a record
of bitter hostility and violence with one another throughout
history. Imagine representatives of currently Muslim
countries participating in joint worship services to the Lord
go in both directions: from Iraq to Egypt and from Egypt to
Iraq—both with Israel!
more breathtaking than all the previous promises: These
same three nations, who up to this point in history have been
at such terrible odds with each other and the great disturbers
of the peace of the rest of the world, will turn around and
suddenly become a blessing on earth (v. 24). What is more,
God will bless each of the three nations individually. He
will call Egypt, “My people;” Assyria/Iraq will be named,
“My handiwork;” and Israel will be known by God as, “My
inheritance,” (v. 25). Those are the names that had at one
time or another been the exclusive names for Israel, but now
were being shared with her former enemies!
The picture that God paints as to what will happen in
deadlocked nations—Israel, Egypt, and Iraq—will be changed
by the grace of God to function as a blessing to all the world.
God will include all the nations of the world
in His triumph. Even Egypt, that was
once most hospitable to Israel, will be
converted in the end times, as Jews and
Arabs go to the house of God together.
What a day that will be!
Isaiah 19:18-25
In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be
speaking the language of Canaan and swearing
allegiance to the Lord of hosts; one will be called
the City of Destruction.
In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in
the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to
the Lord near its border. It will become a sign
and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of
Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of
oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and
a Champion, and He will deliver them. Thus the
Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the
Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. They
will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and
will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. The
Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so
they will return to the Lord, and He will respond
to them and will heal them.
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to
Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt
and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians
will worship with the Assyrians.
In that day Israel will be the third party with
Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of
the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed,
saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria
the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”