Isaiah 19:17
17 And the land ['adamah] of Judah [Yahuwdah] shall be a terror [chaga']
unto Egypt [Mitsrayim], every one that maketh
mention [zakar] thereof shall be afraid [pachad] in himself, because [paniym]
of the counsel [`etsah] of the LORD [Yahovah] of hosts [tsaba'], which he
hath determined [ya`ats] against it. KJV-Interlinear
17 And the land of Judah will
become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of
it, because of the purpose of the Lord of hosts which He is purposing against
them. NASB
This is not referring
to the imminent invasion of Judah by Sennacherib or the implications against
Egypt, for this verse indicates that it is Judah that is the source of the fear
of the Egyptians, not the enemies of Judah.
The word for counsel, ‘etsah,’
means advice, plan, purpose.
Against it, can refer
to either Egypt and/or Judah.
And so somewhere along
the line, a discussion of Judah, as it existed in Isaiah’s day, or Israel, as
it will exist in that final era of history, will enter into the conversation. Today on the internet we call it trending, or
current stories, or topics of discussion.
And so it will be in
Egypt. Not so much in every corner with
every person, but there will arise pockets of conversations that will begin to
look to Israel. And the reference to
Judah, indicates the object of the conversation is the Jews, not Christians per
se.
And, the conversation
will include references to God in general, and to Jesus Christ in lesser
terms. For the majority of the people in
Egypt will be talking in general terms, while there will be a limited number
who will be talking about the prophecies, about Christ, about Gods plan and
purpose in all of these terrible events in Egypt and in the world.
When people do not know
the specifics of a matter, they have a tendency to exaggerate or distort the
details, and even when their details are not correct, the gist of their
conversation may be near correct, or correct enough such that they should know
that there is much more to the story.
Normal and concerned people
would investigate more, while indifferent people are satisfied enough to just
participate in the gossip.
In any case, the
general population will be close to the answer to all of their problems, but
close in not enough.
Pushed to the very
brink of human extinction, one would think that people would be extremely
serious and concerned about the why’s of their problems and the solutions
needed, but being so indifferent toward God and Christ and all things of truth,
they will make the wrong decisions again and again, except for a very small
number whose eyes will finally open and they will finally get it. But that is getting ahead of our study a bit.
The correct cause of
all of their problems is due to Gods plan, to Gods promises to the Jews, and to
Satan’s opposition to it all, in addition to mans indifference and rejection of
Gods word. So they will be close to the
answer, but they will not close in enough to God and change toward God and
Christ, instead they will turn in the opposite direction and direct their hate
toward Israel. Thus the Armageddon war
and their leading and opening role in that war.
Jesus Christ controls
history. He has a plan for all of human
history and He has a specific plan for each individual, which means you.
It would be a terrible
loss, if you get close to figuring it all out, but turn away and miss out on
the greatest opportunity in all of human history.
