Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Isaiah 19:17

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely
Isaiah 19:17ues

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.