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A. M. 3294. midst thereof: and I will destroy || 7 The paper-reeds by the brooks, by A. M. 3294. the counsel thereof: and they shall the mouth of the brooks, and every ⚫ seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven them that have familiar spirits, and to the wi- away, 5 and be no more. zards.

4 And 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.

8 The 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.

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9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, 5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and and they that weave 6 net-works, shall be conthe river shall be wasted and dried up. founded.

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be more properly applied to what agrees better, in point of time, with other parts of the prophecy, the civil wars between Apries and Amasis, at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion; and the civil wars a little before the country was finally subdued by Ochus. It is no wonder, that in such distractions and distresses as these, the Egyptians, being naturally a cowardly people, should be destitute of counsel, and that the spirit of Egypt should fail in the midst thereof, as the prophet foretels, (verse 3,) and that, being also a very superstitious people, they should seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that had familiar spirits, and to the wizards. || But their divination was all in vain," God having determined that they should be subdued and oppressed by cruel lords and tyrants, as it follows.

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fed them was dried up. The brooks of defence shall be emptied-The several branches of the river Nile, which were a great defence to Egypt. The reeds —Which were useful to them for making their boats; shall wither-As they commonly do for want of water. The paper-reeds shall wither-These, by a needle, or other fit instrument, were divided into thin and broad leaves, which, being dried and fitted, were used, at that time, for writing; and consequently were a very good commodity for trade. Every thing sown by the brooks shall wither-And much more what was sown in more dry and unfruitful places. The fishers also shall mourn— Because they can catch no fish; which was a great loss to the people, whose common diet this was. They that work in fine flax-That make fine linen, which was one of their best commodities; shall be confounded-Either for want of flax to work on, or for want of a demand of that which they have worked, or opportunity to export it. They shall be broken, that make sluices, &c.—Their business shall fail, either for want of water to fill their ponds, or for want of fish to replenish their waters. But it is probable the expressions in these verses are metaphorical, and denote the decay of the strength, wealth, trade, and prosperity of Egypt, by metaphors taken from the decrease of the river Nile, upon the overflowing of which all the plenty and prosperity of that country depended. "The prophet," says Verses 5-10. The waters shall fail from the sea, Bishop Newton, "sets forth, in figurative language, &c. The river Nile shall cease to pour its usual the consequences of the forementioned subjection quantity of water into the sea, being wasted and and slavery, the poverty and want, the mourning dried up, as it follows. "Tremellius," says Lowth, and lamentation, the confusion and misery which "shows out of Herodotus, that this was literally should be entailed on both them and their posterity." fulfilled under the government of the twelve petty ty- The Nile, the reader must observe, is supposed to rants who ruled Egypt after Sethon. And Scaliger "figure out the whole kingdom of Egypt. understands it of a great drought, which occasioned reed, the lotus, the papyrus, and the other produca dearth, by the failing of the inundation of the tions of the Nile, signify the riches, merchandise, Nile." They shall turn the rivers-Those rivulets, and whatever was found in the flourishing state of by which the waters of the Nile were distributed Egypt. And, as when the waters of the Nile are into several parts of the land, shall be turned far withdrawn, or dried up, or do not rise to their proper away, as they must needs be, when the river which || height, all things languish and wither in Egypt, and

Verse 4. The Egyptians will I give into the hand of a cruel lord, &c.-This is the second calamity here threatened, and the most essential part of the prophecy; and "it may with great truth and propriety be understood of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, whose dominion was very grievous to the conquered nations: but with the greatest propriety and justice may be applied to the Persians, and especially to Cambyses and Ochus; one of whom put the yoke upon the neck of the Egyptians, and the other riveted it there, and who are both branded in history for cruel tyrants and monsters of men."-Bishop Newton.

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The

The desolations

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11 Surely the princes of Zoan || caused Egypt to err in every work A. M. 3294. are fools, the counsel of the wise coun- thereof, as a drunken man staggereth sellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say in his vomit. ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?

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

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Their chief counsellors; of the tribes-Of the provinces, which he calls by a title borrowed from the Hebrews, in whose language he spake and wrote this prophecy.

The Lord hath mingled-Hath poured out, or given them to drink, a perverse spirit -A spirit of error, or delusion, as the LXX. and Chaldee render it. That is, he has suffered them,

the greatest poverty and want ensue; so the kingdom of Egypt being depressed under the dominion of its cruel lords the Persians, who should rule it by|| rapacious governors, all things should languish in that kingdom; the cities, with the temples and ornaments, be subverted; their commerce, to which the Nile was so subservient, should fail; their riches be consumed by strangers, and their lands be left un-in punishment of their sins, to take foolish steps, and cultivated. In short, the face of the country should be desolate and melancholy, as when the Nile withheld its necessary overflowings."-See Vitringa,

follow pernicious counsels. They have caused Egypt to err in every work-In all their designs and undertakings. They have given such ill counsel, and pursued such wrong measures, that nothing has succeeded as it should. Neither shall there be any work which the head or tail may do―The people shall generally want employment, or, as some explain it, all orders of men, from the highest to the lowest, shall fail in the discharge of their duty, or be unsuccessful in all they undertake.

Verses 11-15. Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, &c.-Zoan was the chief city, in which the king and court frequently resided. In these verses the prophet describes "the immediate causes of these evils; 1st, The folly of the princes and rulers, who valued themselves upon their wisdom; and, 2d, The cowardice and effeminacy of the people in general. Egypt would not have become a prey to so many Verses 16, 17. In that day shall Egypt be like foreign enemies, but through the excessive weak- unto women-Feeble and fearful, as it follows. The ness of the Egyptians, both in counsel and in action. cowardice and effeminacy of the people in general, They had not the courage even to defend themselves. joined with their fear and trepidation, are here set They trusted chiefly to their Grecian and other forth as a second cause of their calamity; and the mercenaries, who, instead of defending, were often reason of this, among other things, is drawn from a the first to betray them."-Bishop Newton. How sense of the divine judgment. They shall be like say ye unto Pharaoh-Why do ye put such false women, and fear, because of the shaking of the and foolish words into Pharaoh's mouth? I am the hand of the Lord, &c.--Because they shall perceive son of the wise-Wisdom is hereditary and natural that they do not fight with men only, but with the to me. This vain opinion of himself they cherished || Lord of hosts, who now lifts up his hand against by their flatteries. The son of the ancient kings- || them, as he did against their forefathers. The land The prophet derides the vanity of the Egyptians, of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt--That is, the who used to boast of the antiquity of their nation, || calamities brought on the land of Judah by the and especially of their kings, who, as they pretended, Assyrians and Chaldeans. When the Egyptians shall had reigned successively for 10,000 years. Where hear of the ravages and desolations made in Judah, are thy wise men ?-Who pretended, that either by by the army of Sennacherib, and shall afterward be their deep policy, or by their skill in astrology, or || informed of its overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar, they magic, they could certainly foresee things to come. shall be dreadfully afraid of suffering the same caThe princes of Noph are deceived-Another chief lamities themselves, considering both their near city, and one of the king's seats, called also Moph, neighbourhood to Judah, and their strict alliance in the Hebrew text, (Hos. ix. 6,) and by other and therewith. Indeed Judah was their bulwark against later writers, Memphis. They that are the stay- || the Assyrians and Babylonians, and when this bul

r Zeph. iii. 9.- 12 Heb. the lip.13 Or, of Heres, or, of the sun. wark was removed they had just cause to fear. "The threatening hand of God," says Bishop Lowth, "will be held out, and shaken over Egypt, from the side of Judea; through which the Assyrians will march to invade it." Every one that makes mention thereof, &c.--Poole thinks their fear of mentioning Judah's name might proceed partly from a sense of their guilt and misconduct toward Judah, and an apprehension that the God of Judah was calling them to an account for it. Perhaps, also, as the next clause seems to imply, they might have heard of the prophecies uttered in Judah concerning these very calamities coming upon them.

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19 In that day shall there be an A. M. 3294. altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.

• Gen. xxviii. 18; Exod. xxiv. 4; Jos. xxii. 10, 26, 27. however, that there is much uncertainty as to the true reading of the text, whether it be y, city of the sun, or, y city of destruction, and therefore "no one," as Bishop Lowth justly ob|| serves, can pretend to determine what the city was that is here mentioned by name; much less to determine what the four other cities were which the || prophet does not name." "I take the whole passage," says he, "from the eighteenth verse to the end of the chapter, to contain a general intimation of the future propagation of the knowledge of the true God in Egypt and Syria, under the successors of Alexander; and, in consequence of this propagation, of the early reception of the gospel in the same countries, when it should be published to the world."

Verse 18. In that day-After that time, as this phrase is often used; that is, in the times of the gospel. This latter part of the prophecy contains an account of the salutary benefits which God would Verse 19. In that day shall there be an altar— bestow on Egypt after the above-mentioned calami- For God's worship; not a Levitical, but a spiritual ties. "Isaiah, to whom God had most clearly re- and evangelical altar, as appears from hence, that vealed the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles to the Levitical altar was confined to one place, Deut. the grace of Christ, everywhere takes occasion to xii. 13, 14. The altar is here put for the worship speak of it; and frequently finishes his prophecies of God, as it is in many places, both of the Old and concerning the nations with a promise of the spirit-New Testaments. And nothing is more common in ual blessings designed for them by God; but he the prophets than to speak of gospel worship in does this nowhere more explicitly than in the pre- those phrases of the law which were suitable to their sent passage;" in which one cannot but observe own age. And, accordingly, when they speak of with what ease he passes from the one argument to the Gentiles coming into the church, they represent the other. He had said that some of the Egyptians, them as serving the true God by such acts of devowhen under these calamities, should be afraid of tion as were most in use in their own time, and the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he should shake therefore could be best understood by those to whom over Egypt, and should fear, because of his counsel they directed their discourses. And a pillar—A which he had determined against it; and he now monument of the true religion; (he alludes to the teaches, that this servile fear and dread should here- ancient custom of erecting pillars to God;) at the after be turned into a religious fear, with this effect, border thereof-Of the land, as before in the midst that five cities in the land of Egypt, that is, that of it. The meaning is, There shall be evidences of many of their chief cities, a certain number being their piety in all places. This passage evidently put for an uncertain, should speak the language of implies that the temple-service, which was confined Canaan-That is, should profess the Jewish religion, to Jerusalem, should be abolished, as it was by the or agree with the Jews in their worship of one liv-introduction of Christianity, and that the God of Ising and true God. Thus, I will turn to the people a pure language, (Zeph. iii. 9,) signifies, I will restore to the people a pure religion; or, I will change and purify their conversation, their hearts and lips, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. And shall swear to the Lord of hosts-Swearing to the Lord implies the dedication and yielding up of a person or thing to the Lord, by a solemn vow or covenant, as appears from 2 Chron. xv. 14; Psa. cxxxii. 2; Isaiah xlv. 23, 24. One-Or one of them, namely, of the five; shall be called the city of destruction-Or, of the sun, as it is in the margin of our Bibles, meaning Heliopolis, a famous city in Egypt, and a chief seat of idolatry, being a city of the priests, as Strabo reports; and therefore its conversion to the faith was the more wonderful. It must be acknowledged, ||

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rael should be worshipped with the most solemn rites, even in the most abhorred and unsanctified places, such as the Jews esteemed Egypt to be. Such is the meaning of this prophecy, as it refers to the Christian dispensation, and such will be its more remote and ultimate accomplishment. But, in its primary sense, it seems to relate to the conversion of the Egyptians to the Jewish religion; which was brought about by the following progressive changes. "Alexander the Great transplanted many of the Jews to Alexandria, and allowed them extraordinary immunities, equal to those of the Macedonians themselves. Ptolemy Soter carried more of them into Egypt, who enjoyed such advantages that many of them were allured to settle there. Ptolemy Philadelphus redeemed and released the captive Jews; and in his and his father's reign, the Jewish

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not take place till Mohammedanism and idolatry blessing. This is peculiar to Israel, who is not only shall be completely overthrown, and the earth shall || a third party, but is the most eminent of the three, be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters as being the fountain by which the blessing is concover the sea. veyed to the other two; because Christ was to be born of them, and the gospel-church and ordinances were first established among them, and from them derived to the Gentiles. In the midst of the land— Or, of those lands, namely, Egypt and Assyria, between which Israel lay: or, in the midst of the earth, as p, more properly means: which may be added, to imply that God's blessing should be conveyed from and by Israel, not only to the Egyptians and Assyrians, but to all the nations of the earth, in the midst of which the land of Israel might well be said to be. Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless-That is, which people, Israel, Egypt, and Assyria; of whom he speaks as of one people, because they were all to be united into one church. Blessed be Egypt my people--This title, and those which follow, that were peculiar to the people of Israel, should now be given to these and all other nations.

Verses 23-25. In that day, &c.-Here the prophet proceeds to show the effect of this benefit of divine grace toward the Egyptians, namely, their spiritual alliance with the Assyrians and Israelites,|| with a great abundance of the divine blessings. There shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria -A happy correspondence and intercourse settled. And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, &c.—They who were implacable enemies one to another, and both to the church of God, shall now be reconciled and united together in the service of God, and love to his church. In that day shall Israel be the third -The third party in that sacred league, whereby all of them oblige themselves to serve God. With Egypt and with Assyria-These are named, be-|| cause they were the most obstinate enemies to God's church, but they are here put for all the Gentiles. Even a blessing-That is, Israel shall be a

CHAPTER XX.

We have in this chapter an addition to the discourse contained in the preceding, namely, a prediction of the carrying away of multitudes, both of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, into captivity by the king of Assyria. Here is, (1,) The sign by which this was foretold, which was the prophet's going, for some time, barefoot, and almost naked, like a poor captive, 1, 2. (2,) The explication of this sign, with the application of it to Egypt and Ethiopia, 3, 4. (3,) The scope and consequence of this prophecy, and the use the people of God should make of it, 5, 6.

NOTES ON CHAPTER XX.

Verse 1. In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod -Namely, to besiege it. Tartan is mentioned (2 Kings xviii. 17) as one of the generals of Sennacherib, who is generally supposed to be here meant by Sargon, which was probably one of the seven names by which Jerome, on this place, says he was called. Ashdod, or Azotus, was an eminent and strong city, formerly belonging to the Philistines, in the utmost part of the land of Canaan toward Egypt. Afterward, according to Herodotus, it held out twenty-nine years against Psammitichus, king of Egypt. It is likely that at this time it belonged to

Hezekiah's dominions, and that its inhabitants expected to be relieved during the siege by the Egyptians and Cushites, or Ethiopians. The taking of it, Bishop Lowth thinks, must have happened before Sennacherib's attempt on Jerusalem; when he boasted of his late conquests, chap. xxxvii. 25: and the warning of the prophet had a principal respect to the Jews also, who were too much inclined to depend on the assistance of Egypt.

Verse 2. Go loose the sackcloth from off thy loins -By the sackcloth is meant either the hairy garment usually worn by the prophets, or a mournful habit, such as was commonly made of sackcloth