Isaiah 19:4
4 And ['eth] the Egyptians [Mitsrayim] will I give over [caker]
into the hand [yad] of a cruel [qasheh] lord ['adown]; and a fierce
[`az] king [melek] shall rule [mashal] over
them, saith [na'um] the Lord ['adown], the LORD [Yahovah] of
hosts [tsaba'].
KJV-Interlinear
4 "Moreover, I will deliver
the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master, And a mighty king will rule over
them," declares the Lord God of hosts.
NASB
The cruel ruler or
lord, ‘adown,’ describes this ruler in the plural, referring to his dynamic
appeal and majestic presentation. This
is not Christ, but the anti-christ, who is described elsewhere as dynamic,
popular, and very cruel, to say the least.
Remember that this prophecy
is describing Egypt in the final days of history, where Egypt is in a state of
civil war, where there are many sides or factions, none of which have any
control over any of the others, but there will come along a ruler who is
described here in the plural, not because he is many people but because he is
dynamic and appealing and has many attributes.
But too, he is also ruthless
and cruel.
The phrase, ‘fierce
king,’ describes one who takes control by violent force or by conquest.
And as we have already
seen in our Revelation study, the anti-christ will not only sweep through
Europe and the western nations, but he will also extend his authority over
Egypt and the rest of the world, placing his own rulers in charge of the
nations of the world. Satan of course,
is the real brains and driving force behind all of this, to subdue the entire
world so that he can eliminate Christians, but especially the Jews, from off
the face of the planet.
Not being very
successful, Satan will initiate the final great war, Armageddon, in order to
wipe out all of humanity, just to make sure there is no one for Christ to
deliver at the Second Advent. This evil
plan too, will fail.
But as for Egypt, they will
be in an all-out civil war, destabilizing the entire region, and the
anti-christ will sweep in and overwhelm all of the factions and whip them into
line, violently. This will lay the
groundwork for the invasion of Israel late in the Tribulation, but prior to
that and even perhaps prior to the Rapture, Egypt may well be very unstable, or
perhaps the Rapture by removing Christians and removing the restraint on sin,
will contribute to their instability, paving the way for the anti-christ to
move into the region early in the Tribulation, shortly after or simultaneously
with the takeover of the western nations.
Of course we speculate on
these details, but it does exercise the imagination some.
The only things we do
know for sure is that Egypt, in a state of chaos, will be taken over by a dynamic
but cruel ruler in those final days of history.
And there is but one dynamic ruler in all the world at that time, who is
the anti-christ.
Being Christians, we
won’t see those events as the Rapture will remove all Christians from the
world, in the final event of our dispensation, leaving us and all Christians,
from our dispensation, out of the Tribulation.
But this also gives us
a principle of truth, in that when you ignore God, Christ, doctrine and your
spiritual life, then you leave yourself open to a chaotic life, and to being fooled
and deceived by dynamic leaders as well as being taken over or led astray or
taken advantage of, by cruel leaders, who don’t really care about you.
