Slices
Prepare
‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’ (Isaiah 55:9). Pause and meditate on God’s loving, mysterious and sometimes hidden care.
Bible passage
A prophecy against Egypt
19 A prophecy against Egypt:
See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.
2 ‘I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian –
brother will fight against brother,
neighbour against neighbour,
city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will bring their plans to nothing;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
the mediums and the spiritists.
4 I will hand the Egyptians over
to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,’
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
5 The waters of the river will dry up,
and the river bed will be parched and dry.
6 The canals will stink;
the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
The reeds and rushes will wither,
7 also the plants along the Nile,
at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field along the Nile
will become parched, will blow away and be no more.
8 The fishermen will groan and lament,
all who cast hooks into the Nile;
those who throw nets on the water
will pine away.
9 Those who work with combed flax will despair,
the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.
10 The workers in cloth will be dejected,
and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.
11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;
the wise counsellors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
‘I am one of the wise men,
a disciple of the ancient kings’?
12 Where are your wise men now?
Let them show you and make known
what the Lord Almighty
has planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan have become fools,
the leaders of Memphis are deceived;
the cornerstones of her peoples
have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has poured into them
a spirit of dizziness;
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15 There is nothing Egypt can do –
head or tail, palm branch or reed.
16 In that day the Egyptians will become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the Lord Almighty raises against them. 17 And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the Lord Almighty is planning against them.
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.
19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in 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 saviour and 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 Lord will 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 on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.’
Explore
The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks spent his life promoting dialogue between the great Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. In his book Not in God’s Name,* he writes of these often difficult relationships in terms of a family feud. Drawing on some of the great family stories of the Old Testament, he argues that God’s reconciling ways can be seen in the most bitter family disputes.
This reading ends on an even more controversial note. After multiple chapters of judgement against Assyria and Egypt, God offers a surprising resolution. After a period of judgement, Egypt will turn back to the Lord, and Assyria will join them in common worship. A highway of praise will connect these warring nations and God’s blessing will not be restricted to Israel but shared with Egypt and Assyria (vs 23–25).
This vision of universal peace and fellowship has already been seen in Isaiah (2:4), but this closing verse has a tender ring to it. After judgement comes healing and the Gentiles (us?) will be fully included in God’s kingdom.
Respond
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit’ (Ephesians 2:17,18). Give thanks for God’s reconciling love.
Deeper Bible study
‘There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, / like the wideness of the sea. / There’s a kindness in God’s justice, / which is more than liberty.’1
The spotlight turns onto Egypt, a nation whose very mention would flood the mind of God’s people with memories of domination. However, Egypt was possibly ‘a repository of ancient wisdom’ and a ‘resource for protection’ against Assyria.2 Egypt might just be the answer to Judah’s needs. Isaiah erases any such idea by exposing the bankruptcy of Egyptian religion and wisdom and the fragility of their society. The Bible is never slow to mock idolatry as a human creation that fails to answer the big issues. It leaves people without hope and without God in the world (vs 1,3).3 In images recalling the plagues of Egypt, we see every sector of Egyptian society impacted by loss of hope, leading to despair and dejection (vs 5–10). All the things they currently depend on are shown to be empty (vs 9,10). There are no words of wisdom, no strategic ideas about how to deliver themselves – ‘There is nothing Egypt can do’ (v 15). Their sense of lostness and inertia is met by the Lord's setting up an altar in the heart of Egypt (v 19), the very place where he has been least acknowledged. He will graciously make himself known to them and in their new-found humility they will cry out to God – and he will answer (vs 20,21).
The Lord does his work of striking and healing (v 22). There is always a restorative purpose in striking, always a provision for healing in the worst times of trial. All this judgement, all these woes – yet the end is blessing: blessing for Egypt, the Assyrians and Israel. The inclusive God draws together diverse nations for his blessing (v 25), foreshadowing the universal call of the gospel and the wisdom of God being displayed in the breaking down of historical divisions.
Are there people you think are, realistically, beyond redemption? Are there divisions in your church or with other churches that seem irresolvable? Does this passage make you think again?
1 F W Faber, 1814–63 2 John Goldingay, Isaiah – Understanding the Bible, Baker Books, 2001 3 Eph 2:12
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 13,14; Luke 18
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for the team at Local Mission Partner Re:Generation as they deliver It’s Your Move to Year 6 children in Harrow. May each child know that God loves them and is with them in this time of transition. Praise God for all the doors he has opened this academic year.
