INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 19

God catches a cloud and has a first class seat as he heads for Egypt, the idols quake with fear and Egypt is paralyzed with panic.  God set everyone in Egypt against each other and  it was pandemonium.  She consulted her idols and wizards for counsel but found none.  God gives them a cruel ruler and turns all her wise men into dupes and dunces.  The rivers are dried up and unemployment is out the roof.  Egypt regains the grace of God and erects a monument at the border in his honor.  A highway is built between Assyria and Egypt and God proclaims Egypt as his people, Assyria as the work of his hands, and Israel as his inheritance.  The commentary section is a must read for the inquiring mind.

EXPOSITION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 19

1The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth 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 is an inspired prediction about Egypt.  God is riding in on a cloud and the idols of Egypt will quake and tremble and the hearts of the Egyptians will sink and their courage will melt.  Egypt is paralyzed with panic.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Psa 18:10  And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

Jer 43:8-13  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,  Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;  And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.  And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.  And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.  He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.  Read:  Jer 46:1-20 ; Eze 29:1-21; Joe 3:19; Joe 3:19

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.

God is going to rouse each other against each other.  It will be pure chaos and civil war.  Anarchy and street fighting and late night killings are common occurances.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ILLUMINATE THE TEXT:

Eze 38:21  And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

 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 that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

Egypt will be so demoralized that her counsel will be confused.  She will lose her wits and be confounded.  They will seek the idols and mutterers─the departed spirits─fortune tellers─necromancers and sorcerers─ghosts and wizards─she is desperate for answers but finds none. “This is a prophecy of what took place in Egypt about twenty-two years after the destruction of Sennacherib’s army; when, upon the death of Tirhakah (BC 688), not being able to settle about the succession, they continued for two years in a state of anarchy, confusion, and civil wars; which was followed by the tyranny of twelve princes, who, dividing the country among them, governed it for fifteen years; and at last, by the sole dominion of Psammiticus, which he held for fifty-four years.”  (Treasury of Scripture Knowledge)

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

INDORSE THE TEXT:

Psa 76:12  He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.

Jer 46:15  Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.

Eze 21:7  And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.  Read:  Isa 14:27; 2Sa 17:14; Job 5:12-13

4And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

God says that he is going to turn them over to a merciless master.  He is going to give them a cruel tyrant─a vicious king will rule over them.

“Nebuchadnezzar, who first conquered and ravaged Egypt, (BC 573), and the following year; and then, not only his successors, but Cambyses (who invaded Egypt, (BC 526), the son of Cyrus, and the whole succession of Persian kings till the time of Alexander, who were in general hard masters, and grievously oppressed the country.” (Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge)

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

Isa 20:4  So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

Jer 46:26  And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.

Eze 29:19-20  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.  I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.

 5And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.

Rivers will dry up─the river bed will look like a dry road bed─everything will dry up and be parched─baked in the sun─canals are stagnant and stink.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:

 

Eze 30:12  And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it.

Zec 10:11  And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.  Read:  Jer 51:36; Zec 14:18

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.

Everything that grew along the rivers and brooks is withering and dying.  The fishing industry is ruined.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

2Ki 19:24 -25 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.  Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

7The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

All the sown fields and bulrushes will die─all the crop land that depended on the Nile for irrigation will wither away.  The textile industry has come to a standstill─weavers aren’t weaving.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

ESTABLISH THE CERTAINTY OF THE TEXT:

Isa 32:20  Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

Jer 14:4  Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

Joe 1:17-18  The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.  How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

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

The fisherman who depended on the fishing industry to support his family is lamenting─they are out of work and no welfare roles.  Gloom and doom─dispirited, depressed─everyone who had a job is now jobless.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

PRESENT OVERWHELMING PROOF OF THE TEXT:

Exo 7:21  And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

Num 11:5  We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:

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

Those who combed the flax and wove the white linen cloth are hanging their heads and growing pale.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ATTEST TO THE TEXT:

1Ki 10:28-29  And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.  And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.

Pro 7:16  I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.

Eze 27:7  Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.

10And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.

The dam builders are grieved─the contractors and laborers who built canals are on the unemployment roles─everyone is downcast and sick of heart.  Some of the sluices had a sliding gate that acted like our locks and dams to aid in navigation and irrigation─the water was dried up and they were out of work.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ARE CONCLUSIVE AND FINAL:

Exo 7:19  And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

11Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?

The wisest counselors of Pharoah were stupid─they were utterly witless and made the silliest plans─some claimed to be wise on the basis that their ancestors were among the wise counselors of Egypt.  Not a wise man or woman left in Egypt.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT RATIFY THE TEXT:

Isa 29:14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Isa 44:25  That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;  Read:  Job 12:17; Psa 33:10; 1Co 1:19-20; 1Co 1:19-20; 1Ki 4:30; Act 7:22

 12Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.

The prophet taunts them by asking where their wise men are─if they are wise then why don’t they know what God is going to do to Egypt and do something about it.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT BEAR OUT THE TEXT:

1Co 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  Read:  Isa 47:10-13; Isa 47:10-13; Rom 11:33-34

13The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.

These befooled dupes─and many of them are chieftains of tribes have ruined Egypt with their dopey counsel.  They had even deceived themselves. They acted like dunces.  Their brains were like scrambled eggs.  They were as dopey as a dimwitted donkey.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT THE TEXT:

Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Jer 46:19  O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.

Eze 30:13-17  Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.  And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.  And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.  And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily.  The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity.

 14The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

God had infused them with a type of giddiness that caused them to lose sound judgment─it warped their wits─they addled around like a drunkard who loses his footing in his own vomit.   The educated pillars of society led Egypt into detours and dead ends.  God gave them the mind of a moron.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT SHED LIGHT ON THE TEXT:

Isa 29:10  For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

Isa 29:14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

1Ki 22:20-23  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

 15Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

No work to be had─high or low─top to bottom─head or tail─palm branch or rush.  Unemployment lines are staggering and nothing to eat.  Egypt is hopeless and past helping.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT         VERIFY THE TEXT:

Hab 3:17  Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Hag 1:11  And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

 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 shaketh over it.

Egypt is like a hysterical woman that is filled with fear and terrified.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT GIVE COUNTEREVIDENCE

TO THE TEXT:

Jer 30:5-7  For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.  Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?  Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

Jer 50:37  A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.

 17And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.

Just say Judah and the Egyptians will be terrified!  They can remember their fate when Israel left Egypt in the days of Moses.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CONFIRM THE TEXT:

Jer 43:8-13  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,  Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;  And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.  And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.  And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.  He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.  Read:  Jer 25:27-31; Jer 44:28-30

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.

Five cities will learn the language of the Jews without the aid of the Rosetta stone.  They will be swearing by the name of Jehovah and not their idols.  One of their cities will be called Heliopolis─the city of destruction or the city of the sun.  The city of Alexandria will be the place where the translation of the Bible was made from Hebrew to Greek.  The whole passage, from this verse to the end, contains a general intimation of the propagation of the knowledge of the true God in Egypt and Syria, under the successors of Alexander, and the early reception of the gospel in the same countries.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

GIVE AUTHORITIVE DATA TO THE TEXT:

Isa 45:23-25  I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.  Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.  In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

Jer 12:16-17 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people.  But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.

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.

A Jewish temple was built there and an altar to the Lord where sacrifices would be offered. There was a monument at the border crossing inscribed to the Lord.

THE FRIENDSHIP THAT WAS BETWEEN ONIAS AND PTOLEMY PHILOMETOR; AND HOW ONIAS BUILT A TEMPLE IN EGYPT LIKE TO THAT AT JERUSALEM.

  1. BUT then the son of Onias the high priest, who was of the same name with his father, and who fled to king Ptolemy, who was called Philometor, lived now at Alexandria, as we have said already. When this Onias saw that Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians and their kings, out of a desire to purchase to himself a memorial and eternal fame he resolved to send to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them that he might build a temple in Egypt like to that at Jerusalem, and might ordain Levites and priests out of their own stock. The chief reason why he was desirous so to do, was, that he relied upon the prophet Isaiah, who lived above six hundred years before, and foretold that there certainly was to be a temple built to Almighty God in Egypt by a man that was a Jew. Onias was elevated with this prediction, and wrote the following epistle to Ptolemy and Cleopatra: “Having done many and great things for you in the affairs of the war, by the assistance of God, and that in Celesyria and Phoenicia, I came at length with the Jews to Leontopolis, and to other places of your nation, where I found that the greatest part of your people had temples in an improper manner, and that on this account they bare ill-will one against another, which happens to the Egyptians by reason of the multitude of their temples, and the difference of opinions about Divine worship. Now I found a very fit place in a castle that hath its name from the country Diana; this place is full of materials of several sorts, and replenished with sacred animals; I desire therefore that you will grant me leave to purge this holy place, which belongs to no master, and is fallen down, and to build there a temple to Almighty God, after the pattern of that in Jerusalem, and of the same dimensions, that may be for the benefit of thyself, and thy wife and children, that those Jews which dwell in Egypt may have a place whither they may come and meet together in mutual harmony one with another, and he subservient to thy advantages; for the prophet Isaiah foretold that “there should be an altar in Egypt to the Lord God; and many other such things did he prophesy relating to that place.” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 13.3.1)

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

CARRY WEIGHT REGARDING THE TEXT:

Isa 66:23  And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

Zec 6:15  And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.

 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.

This sacred pillar at the border was a testimony that Egypt was honoring the Lord.  Their outcry will bring a deliverer who will put a stop to all the oppression that they had encountered.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Isa 55:13  Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Psa 50:15  And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

21And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.

This was serious business─The Egyptians will honor the Lord and know the Lord and sacrifice to him.  They will make vows and keep them.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ILLUMINATE THE TEXT:

Isa 55:5  Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

Hab 2:14  For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

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.

God hit Egypt with a blow and now he is going to heal them.  They are going to come back to God and he is going to heal them.  They will again have a robust economy.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT INDORSE THE TEXT:

Deu 32:39  See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

Job 5:18  For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Act 28:26-27  Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:  For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

23In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.

Egyptians and Assyrians will trade with each other and a trade route will run between both countries.  Christianity will spread like a forest fire across all of Asia.  The then known world will be known as the Holy Roman Empire.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

Isa 11:16  And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Isa 35:8-10  And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.  No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:  And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.   Read:  Isa 40:3-5; Eph 2:18-22

24In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:

This will prove to be a blessing to all three countries─each becoming a trading partner sharing the blessings of the trade route─an economic boom for all three countries.  A picture of the progress of Christianity in the civilization of the world.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:

Isa 49:6  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

Isa 49:22  Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.  Read:  Isa 66:12; Isa 66:19-21   

25Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

This triple alliance will be a blessing to all the world─these three will now be allies─Blessed be Egypt my people─Blessed be  Assyria the work of my hands─Blessed be Israel mine inheritance.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

Isa 61:9  And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.  Read:  Isa 65:23; Eph 1:3; Rom 9:24-25; 1Pe 2:10