A New Voice of Freedom

Season 6, Podcast 73, Isaiah 20:1-6, “The Fall of Egypt.”

Ronald

Season 6, Podcast 73, Isaiah 20:1-6, “The Fall of Egypt.”

One very unique thing about Isaiah is that he was a man of his times. On the one hand, in today’s modern terminology, he would be a news anchor that reports the daily news. For example, 

Isaiah 20:1

1 In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;

Those are historical events. Historians tell us that Tartan was an Assyrian general sent by King Sargon to attack Ashdod, a philistine City. But Isaiah is far more than a reporter. With his prophetic mantle, he saw everything as symbolic. As we learned from Chapter 19, Egypt over time will suffer almost total devastation beginning with the above battle. To the prophet Isaiah, however, the Philistines, the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and the Assyrians play a much larger role than empire building. We must also throw into the mix the northern tribes of Israel and the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, although the tribe of Benjamin loses its identity as it is absorbed in the tribe of Judah.

The historical events described by Isaiah illustrate the hand of the Lord in the rise and fall of nations. Isaiah reveals to us how to read history. To the Lord nothing is in isolation. For example, the prophesies of Isaiah in Chapter 20 are not the result of a single battle but actually take centuries before Egypt is destroyed as a world power.  Assyria continues to expand its power.

We have learned from Isaiah, for example, that the Lord uses idol-worshiping nations such as Assyria and Babylon, to vex Israel for their disobedience. They have become idol worshipers just like their neighbors. Israel is no more righteous than their warring neighbors. 

The irony is that Assyria and Babylon and Egypt are also punished because they don’t recognize the hand of the Lord in their rise to power. They thought it was their own hand that brought about such great things. 

We easily forget one key point, the Lord giving the Promised Land to the House of Israel. The Lord gave the Israelites the Promised land not just to keep his covenant with Abraham, but also to punish the idol worshiping nations for not recognizing the hand of the true God in their lives. They weren’t destroyed to make way for the Israelites. They were destroyed because of their wickedness. Had they been righteous, they would have been allowed to keep their homeland. One key message to the Holy Bible is that God is no respecter of person. Listen to the prophets.

Acts 10:34

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

Romans 10:12

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

James 2:8-9

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

As soon as the Israelites turned their backs on the Lord and turned to idol worship, the same nations they displaced conquered them. The Lord did not favor the Israelites because they were the seed of Abraham. The Lord favored the Israelites because they were more righteous than everyone else in the region. Let me remind you what the Lord said to Abraham

Genesis 22:17-18

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 

They worshiped the only true and living God. When they became like the world, they were destroyed like the world. That is the message of Isaiah.