Archive for March, 2011

Isaiah 19:16 In That Day…

Posted in Isaiah with tags , , , , , on March 28, 2011 by paulthepoke

Verses 16-25 are a unit that results in the return of Christ and the Millennial Kingdom. The section starts with fear, which leads to correction, which ultimately leads to peace. These verses talk and end when there is peace between Egypt, Israel, and Assyria. These areas will all worship the God of Israel and they will all be called “my people” by God.

In March 2011, this seems unthinkable and impossible. Imagine going to the Middle East and telling the Arab and Muslim people, the key to peace is to turn to and worship the triune God of the Bible. Imagine going to Israel and telling Jews, the key to peace is to turn to Jesus Christ as Messiah. There is a ton of passion over there. How well do you think those concepts would be accepted?

These verses are bound together by the term “in that day”. The phrase “in that day” is noted six times in these nine verses. Five times it is the start of a sentence and one time it ends a sentence in the NASB translation.

Verse 16: In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in dread because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He is going to wave over them.

This is an example of idiomatic language. Focus on the verbs tremble and dread. It is a word pair of charad and pachad.

Tremble or charad (Hebrew): to tremble, quake, move about, be afraid, be startled, be terrified

Dread or pachad (Hebrew):  to fear, tremble, revere, dread, be in awe or dread

Why the need for all of this fear? The text is emphatic, God is the cause! It is stated twice that God is waiving His hand. The concept is to swing or wield His hand over them. The grammar is a Hiphil stem verb which indicates God is actively causing things to happen. Lastly, there is the military term LORD of hosts. He is the military commander directing the action.

Before anyone gets upset and their pants get in a wad, spare me the “God is a sexist” nonsense. God is an equal opportunist when it comes to inciting fear. He can also whip men into a frenzy of panic just as well. Ezekiel 21:7 provides a nice example of men being scared. God is talking to nation Israel through the prophet.

“And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming; and every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes and it will happen,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

The phrase … all knees will be weak as water… is another way of saying they wet down their leg. In our culture, they whizzed their pants. It is just a matter of fact, declares the Lord GOD.

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Isaiah 19:14-15 God Reviews

Posted in Isaiah with tags , , , , , , on March 23, 2011 by paulthepoke

The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; they have led Egypt astray in all that it does, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

As a point of review, it is the LORD who is making all of these events happen. The text tells how this is happening. The idiomatic language in the verse drives home the point. It is God who is pouring and mixing the distortion, perversion, and warping into the Egyptians. The country has no clue what it is doing.

Their actions are consistent with a drunk who staggers in his vomit. The Bible is not boring. It tells of people partying like rock stars 2,700 years ago. There were people back in the day who had tiger blood. I am sure some of them had Adonis DNA. The Egyptians dabbled in the occult (see Exodus with Moses and the plagues). Some of them were “warlocks” if you will. So those who boast of their partying prowess, sorry you are just not that fresh. The Bible reports there have been fools doing this for centuries. God practically and accurately points out this behavior leads to poor decisions and causes one to wander about.

There will be no work for Egypt which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

More review from God. Unemployment is the reminder, no work. It does not matter who you are, what socioeconomic class one belongs, there will be no work.

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Isaiah 19:11-13 Poor Egyptian Counsel

Posted in Isaiah with tags , on March 16, 2011 by paulthepoke

Verse 11: The princes of Zoan are mere fools; the advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you men say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?

Zoan is located in the Nile Delta area. Specifically, Zoan was located on the eastern bank of the Tanitic branch of the Nile near the border of the Sinai. It was called Tanis by the Greeks. At times throughout history, Zoan was the capital of Egypt. Numbers 13:22b … (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) The city was noted before Abraham. It was the dwelling place of the Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus. Zoan continued in importance until the time of Alexander the Great. It means, place of departure.

As God sees them, the leaders of this area are not smart. The best counsel that leadership has been offered is stupid, brutish, and dull-hearted.  They are described as wicked fools in verse 13. These are the best and the brightest in Egypt. God asks the rhetorical question, “How can you claim to be wise?” There is some debate with scholars if this is idiomatic language or does one of the guys actually claim to be a direct descendant of ancient Egyptian kings. Either way, bad advice.

Verse 12: Well then, where are your wise men? Please let them tell you, and let them understand what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.

God wants to know. Where are the wise men? He challenges the intelligencia of Egypt. What is it that God has in store? Egypt’s best minds in the past did not know God’s intentions. The Egyptians could not interpret Pharaoh’s dream in Genesis 41:8 Now in the morning his spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh. He eventually called upon Joseph who credited God for the insight as to the meaning of the dreams. The Egyptians could not understand the mind of God in the past. And this will be the case in the future.

Verse 13: The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, the princes of Memphis are deluded; those who are the cornerstone of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

Noph is the Hebrew name of the Egyptian city Memphis (Greek and Latin form).  Noph or Memphis is the capital of Lower Egypt and of all Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Its ruins have been carried away over time.  The stones have been used in buildings in other places. Not much is left today. Noph is located on the western side of the Nile to the south of Cairo. Noph means “presentability”.

The leaders from this area south of modern day Cairo are “deluded”. They are deceptive and shady.

The leaders and consultants mentioned in the text are from the northern ends of Egypt to the southern ends of Egypt. Opinions and advice will be sought from all reaches of Egypt. They are all crooked fools.

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Isaiah 19:5-10 Egyptian Great Depression

Posted in Isaiah with tags , , , , , , , on March 8, 2011 by paulthepoke

The waters from the sea will dry up, and the river will be parched and dry. The canals will emit a stench, the streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; the reeds and rushes will rot away. The bulrushes by the Nile, by the edge of the Nile and all the sown fields by the Nile will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. And the fishermen will lament, and all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away. Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax and the weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected. And the pillars of Egypt will be crushed; all the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

… and the river will be parched and dry… The Nile River and the Aswan High Dam are Egypt’s lifeline. About 95% of Egypt’s population lives within twelve miles of the river. The Nile River is Egypt’s main source of drinking and fresh water. Water purification plants are located on the Nile. The Aswan High Dam provides about half of Egypt’s electrical power supply. The river is also a major factor in the tourism industry. Nile River cruises will be out of business without a river. The brick industry will cease to function without water.

… and all the sown fields by the Nile will become dry… Egypt’s agriculture depends entirely on irrigation. Egypt’s agricultural sector is one of the most productive in the world. This will change without water from the Nile. With irrigation, two crops per year can be produced. Farmers do not have to pay for water used in irrigation.

The Aswan Dam has allowed Egypt to reclaim about 2.07 million acres from the Delta along the Nile Valley, increasing the country’s irrigated area by a third. About 1.03 million acres, mostly in Upper Egypt, were converted from flood irrigation. Approximately half a million families have been settled on these new lands.

Today, 95 percent of the wheat and rice crops are used to satisfy domestic consumption. Wheat yields in Egypt have tripled between 1952 and 1991 due to increased availability of water from the dam. Despite the increases, Egypt continues to be a large importer of food. Egypt is the world’s largest wheat importer. Egypt is already feeling the pinch of decreased wheat imports from the Russian drought of the 2010 summer and the Australian floods of 2011.

Areas where rice and sugar grow have seen cultivation increase. Two crops of rice can be grown each year, but sugar cane has a growing period of almost one year.

And the fishermen will lament… Lake Nasser formed by the Aswan Dam has arguably the best freshwater fishing in the world for Nile perch and Tiger Fish. Other species include catfish (the giant Vundu being the biggest) and tilapia.  There are over thirty species of fish in the lake. Sardine fishing is also part of the Nile River economy.

…the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax and the weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected… Cotton has been the country’s largest agricultural export product for many years. Egyptian cotton is known for its superiority among the world cotton varieties. Textile factories and farmers will cease to operate.

…all the hired laborers will be grieved in soul…Without irrigation from the Nile…unemployment and chaos.

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