Isaiah 19:20

Isa 19:20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.

Ver. 20. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness.] The doctrine of Christ’s death is a clear testimony of God’s great love and kindness to mankind. {Rom 5:8}

For they shall cry unto the Lord for their oppressors.] As the Israelites sometimes had done under the Egyptian servitude. {Exo 3:9}

And he shall send them a Saviour.] Not Moses but Messias, that great Saviour; {a} for God had laid his people’s "help on one that is mighty." {Psa 89:19} See Tit 2:13.

{a} Servatorem et magnatem, vel magistrum.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_19:20

He shall send them a Saviour and a great one

A Saviour and a great one

The literal coincidences between the promise of a saviour and a great one, and the titles of Alexander the Great and Ptolemy the Saviour are noticeable and interesting.

(Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great delivered them from the grievous Persian yoke, and he and his successors greatly favoured the people and improved the country. He settled a great many Jews in Alexandria, giving them equal privileges with the Macedonians; and this Hebrew immigration was still further promoted by Ptolemy Soter, so that Philo reckoned that in his time there were a million Jews in the country. The temple of Onias, the LXX version of the Bible, the books of the Apocrypha, the philosophy and theology of Philo, indicate not only what these Jews were in themselves, but enable us to infer with certainty how great must have been their example and influence in humanising the Egyptians, and bringing them to the knowledge and worship of the true God. And still more were these results apparent, still more amply was this prophecy fulfilled, when Alexandria became one of the great centres of the Christian Church. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)

Who was the great Saviour promised to Egypt?

Even if the language of this verse by itself might seem to point to a particular deliverer, the comprehensive language of the context would forbid its reference to any such exclusively. If the chapter is a prophecy not of a single went but of a great progressive change to be wrought in the condition of Egypt by the introduction of the true religion, the promise of the verse before us must be, that when they cried God would send them a deliverer, a promise verified not once but often, not by Ptolemy or Alexander only, but by others, and in the highest sense by Christ Himself. (J. A. Alexander.)

The Messiah a great Saviour

I. GREAT IN HIS PERSON. God over all, blessed forever:--

II. GREAT IN THE CHARACTER HE SUSTAINS.

III. GREAT IN THIS WORKS HE PERFORMS.

IV. GREAT IN THE SALVATION HE BESTOWS.

V. GREAT IN THE GLORY TO WHICH HE IS NOW EXALTED. (R. Macculloch.)

A great Saviour provided

An old Mexican monk, in his dingy cell, once painted an allegorical picture, representing a beautiful maiden standing on an island, with only room for her feet to rest upon, while all around dashed and surged a lake of fire. The angry flames almost touched her, and yet she smiled, all unconscious of danger. More dreadful still, on each billows crest rides a malignant fiend, and they are closing around the seemingly defenceless girl, seeking to fasten chains about her limbs, that they may drag her into the burning lake. The maiden still smiles serenely, for she sees them not. A golden cord of grace, descending from above, is twined amidst her sunny hair, but death appears ready to cut the slender thread. A hand of help is reaching down to her, which she must take, or be lost in the fiery abyss. A company of attending angels anxiously await her decision, and this group completes the picture. This is no fancy sketch of the old painters brain, but it is your condition unless you have laid hold on Christ Jesus to deliver you. (J. N. Norton.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 19:20-22. And it shall be for a sign — Namely, the altar or pillar, last mentioned; and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts — To testify that they own the Lord for their God. For they shall cry unto the Lord because of their oppressors — Being sorely distressed, and finding that their idols are unable to help them, they shall turn unto the true God. And he shall send them a saviour, and a great one — In these words the prophet sets forth the cause of this happy change in Egypt, with its immediate effects, namely, their crying to the Lord in their distress, and his sending them a saviour, who should deliver them. “Here it is clearly foretold,” says Bishop Newton, “that a great prince, sent by God, from a foreign country, should deliver the Egyptians from their Persian oppressors, and heal their country, which was smitten of God, and afflicted: and who could this be but Alexander, who is always distinguished by the name of Alexander the Great, and whose first successor in Egypt was called the great Ptolemy, and Ptolemy Soter, or the saviour? Upon Alexander’s first coming into Egypt the people all cheerfully submitted to him out of hatred to the Persians, so that he became master of the country without any opposition. For this reason he treated them with humanity and kindness, built there a city, which, after his own name, he called Alexandria, appointed one of their own country for their civil governor, and permitted them to be governed by their own laws and customs. By these changes and regulations, and by the prudent and gentle administration of some of the first Ptolemies, Egypt revived, trade and learning flourished, and, for a while, peace and plenty blessed the land. But it is more largely foretold, that, about the same time, the true religion and the worship of the God of Israel should begin to spread and prevail in the land of Egypt; and what event was ever more unlikely to happen than the conversion of a people so sunk and lost in superstition and idolatry, of the worst and grossest kind? It is certain that many of the Jews, after Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jerusalem, fled into Egypt, and carried along with them Jeremiah the prophet, who there uttered many of his prophecies concerning the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. “From hence,” and by the means above described, “some knowledge of God, and some notice of the prophecies, might easily be derived to the Egyptians.” “By these means, the Lord must, in some degree, have been known to Egypt, and the Egyptians must have known the Lord — And, without doubt, there must have been many proselytes among them. Among those who came up to the feast of pentecost, (Act 2:10,) are particularly mentioned the dwellers in Egypt, and in the parts of Lybia about Cyrene, Jews and proselytes. Nay, from the instance of Candace’s eunuch, (Act 8:27,) we may infer that there were proselytes even beyond Egypt, in Ethiopia. Thus were the Jews settled and encouraged in Egypt, insomuch that Philo represents their number as not less than a hundred myriads, or ten hundred thousand men.” But though this prophecy concerning Egypt might have its first accomplishment in the deliverance of the Egyptians from the Persian yoke by Alexander the Great, and in that knowledge of the true God, and of his revealed will, which many of the Egyptians received under the government of the Ptolemies, through their intercourse with the Jews, and the translation of the Jewish Scriptures into the Greek language; yet, doubtless, this prediction has a further and higher aspect, as commentators in general have understood it, and refers to that spiritual redemption and salvation which the Egyptians, among many other ignorant and idolatrous Gentiles, were to receive, and actually did receive, by the coming of Christ, the great and only Saviour of lost mankind, and by the publication of his gospel to them. This appears still more evidently from the verses which follow. But the full and final accomplishment of this, as well as of many other important prophecies, shall not take place till Mohammedanism and idolatry shall be completely overthrown, and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19:20 The altar (19:19) would be a sign and a witness of the Egyptians’ religious connection with Israel (see 19:24-25). • God answers the prayers of those who cry to the Lord for help. • The Lord is a savior; he would protect the Egyptians even as he protected Jerusalem from the Assyrians.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

This declareth that this prophecy should be accomplished in the time of Christ.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

it--the altar and pillar.

a sign--(of the fulfilment of prophecy) to their contemporaries.

a witness--to their descendants.

unto the Lord--no longer, to their idols, but to Jehovah.

for they shall cry--or, "a sign . . . that they cried, . . . and He sent to them a saviour"; probably, Alexander the Great (so "a great one"), whom the Egyptians welcomed as a deliverer (Greek, Soter, a title of the Ptolemies) out of the hands of the Persians, who under Cambyses had been their "oppressors." At Alexandria, called from him, the Old Testament was translated into Greek for the Greek-speaking Jews, who in large numbers dwelt in Egypt under the Ptolemies, his successors. Messiah is the antitype ultimately intended (compare Act 2:10, "Egypt").

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(20) For they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors . . .—The words are almost as an anticipation of the great truth proclaimed in Joh_4:21. The prayers of the worshippers in spirit and in truth, whether Jews or proselytes, in Egypt should find as immediate an access to the ear of Jehovah as if they had been offered in the Temple at Jerusalem. If the people suffered under the oppression of a Pharaoh, or a Cambyses, or a Ptolemy, and prayed for deliverance, He would as certainly send them a saviour who should free them from the yoke as He had sent saviours to Israel of old in the persons of the judges (Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:15; Jdg_4:4). It is open to us to see a yet higher fulfilment in the fact that the message of the Gospel brought peace and joy to those who were weary and heavy laden in Egypt, as well as in Galilee; to those who were looking for redemption in Alexandria not less than to those who were looking for it in Jerusalem.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts] i.e. a reminder that He has a people in Egypt, and that by their presence the land is consecrated to Him.

The process of conversion in this and the following verses is finely conceived. First, the name of Jehovah is made known by the religious observances of the Jewish colonists and proselytes; then, in a time of trouble, the Egyptians turn to Him instead of to their false gods, and learn to know Him through His answer to their prayers (20, 21); finally this experience of Jehovah is deepened and purified by a discipline similar to that to which Israel was subjected in the time of the Judges (22).

the oppressors] Omit the art.; the reference is quite general.

a saviour] See Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:15; 2Ki_13:5.

a great one] Better: a champion. A special allusion to Ptolemy Soter, or to the Jewish generals who served under Ptolemy Philometor is not called for.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt,.... This refers either to what goes before, that the altar and pillar were signs and witnesses that the Lord was believed in, professed, and worshipped there; or to what follows after, that the Lord's hearing the cries of men, and answering them, by sending a great Saviour to them, is a token and testimony for him of his great love unto them:

for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors; as men awakened and convinced do, feeling the oppressions of a guilty conscience, and a tempting devil, and an ensnaring wicked world:

and he shall send them a Saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them; this is Christ, whom God sent in the fulness of time to be the Saviour of lost sinners; and he is a "great" one indeed, the great God, and our Saviour, Tit 2:13 who is the Son of God, the true God, and eternal life, who has all the perfections of deity in him; the Creator and Upholder of all things; and must have therefore great and sufficient abilities to save sinners to the uttermost; and those that come to God by him he does save and deliver from all their sins, and out of the hands of all their enemies, and from wrath, ruin, and destruction. Abarbinel (e) owns that the Messiah is here meant, as undoubtedly he is; and not the angel that destroyed Sennacherib's army, as Kimchi; for the text speaks not of the Jews, but of the Egyptians. Vitringa thinks that either Alexander, called the Great, or else Ptolemy the son of Lagus, who had the same epithet, and who was also called "Soter", the saviour, is here meant.

(e) Mashmiah Jeshua, fol. 13. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And it shall be for a sign - The altar, and the pillar. This shows that the altar was not to be for sacrifice, but was a “memorial,” or designed to designate a place of worship.

They shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressors - That is, oppressed and borne down under the exactions of their rulers, they shall seek deliverance from the true God - one instance among many of the effect of affliction and oppression in leading people to embrace the true religion.

And he shall send them a saviour - Who this “saviour” would be, has been a subject on which there has been a great difference of opinion. Grotius supposes that it would be “the angel” by which the army of Sennacherib would be destroyed. Gesenius thinks it was Psammetichus, who would deliver them from the tyranny of the eleven kings who were contending with each other, or that, since in Isa 19:4, he is called a ‘severe lord,’ it is probable that the promise here is to be understood of a delivering or protecting angel. But it is evident that some person is here denoted who would be sent “subsequently” to the national judgments which are here designated. Dr. Gill supposes that by the saviour here is meant the Messiah; but this interpretation does not suit the connection, for it is evident that the event here predicted, was to take place before the coming of Christ. Vitringa and Dr. Newton suppose with more probability that Alexander the Great is here referred to, who took possession of Egypt after his conquest in the East, and who might be called “a saviour,” inasmuch as he delivered them from the reign of the oppressive kings who had tyrannized there, and inasmuch as his reign and the reigns of those who succeeded him in Egypt, would be much more mild than that of the former kings of that country.

That Alexander the Great was regarded by the Egyptians as a saviour or deliverer, is apparent from history. Upon his coming to Egypt, the people submitted to him cheerfully, out of hatred to the Persians, so that he became master of the country without any opposition (Diod. Sic. xvii. 49; Arrian, iii. 3, 1; Q. Curtius, iv. 7, 8, as quoted by Newton). He treated them with much kindness; built the city of Alexandria, calling it after his own name, designing to make it the capital of his empire; and under him and the Ptolemies who succeeded him, trade revived, commerce flourished, learning was patronized, and peace and plenty blessed the land. Among other things, Alexander transplanted many Jews into Alexandria, and granted them many privileges, equal to the Macedonians themselves (Jos. “Bell. Jud.” ii. 18. 7; “Contra Ap.” ii. 4). ‘The arrival of Alexander,’ says Wilkinson (“Ancient Egyptians,” vol. i. pp. 213, 214), ‘was greeted with universal satisfaction.

Their hatred of the Persians, and their frequent alliances with the Greeks, who had fought under the same banners against a common enemy, naturally taught the Egyptians to welcome the Macedonian army with the strongest demonstrations of friendship, and to consider their coming as a direct interposition of the gods; and so wise and considerate was the conduct of the early Ptolemies, that they almost ceased to regret the period when they were governed by their native princes.’ Under the Ptolemies, large numbers of the Jews settled in Egypt. For their use, as has been remarked, the Old Testament was translated into Greek, and a temple was built by Onias, under the sixth Ptolemy. Philo represents the number of the Jews in Egypt in his time at not less than one million. They were settled in nearly all parts oF Egypt; but particularly in Heliopolis or the city of the sun, in Migdol, in Tahpanes, in Noph or Memphis, in Pathros or Thebais Jer 44:1 - perhaps the five cities referred to in Isa 19:18.

And a great one - (ורב vârâb). A mighty one; a powerful saviour. The name ‘great’ has been commonly assigned to Alexander. The Septuagint renders this, ‘Judging (κρίνων krinōn), he shall save them;’ evidently regarding רב râb as derived from ריב riyb “to manage a cause, or to judge.” Lowth renders it, ‘A vindicator.’ The word means “great, mighty;” and is repeatedly applied to a prince, chief, or captain 2Ki 25:8; Est 1:8; Dan 1:3; Dan 2:48; Dan 5:11.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Them. The Jews were miraculously rescued from the hands of Philopater, (Josephus, contra Apion ii.) or rather Christians are delivered from sin and Satan.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And it, the altar or pillar last mentioned,

shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord, to testify that they own the Lord for their God.

They shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors; being sorely distressed, and finding the weakness of their idols, they shall turn unto the true God.

A Saviour, and a great one; a great or mighty Saviour, by a common figure called hendiaduo, as a cloud and smoke is put for a smoking cloud, Isa 4:5; or, a Saviour and a Prince, even Christ, who is so called, Act 5:31, as is evident from the whole context, which apparently speaks of gospel times. And the emphatical phrase here used directed them to look for an extraordinary Saviour.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. And it — The “altar,” or the “pillar.” The idea of salvation and deliverance in this verse is, without doubt, the moral rescue which the land received on being delivered from its old time besetting idolatries.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It shall be for a sign. The outward tokens of Jehovah-worship shall witness to God that he has in Egypt now a covenant people, and he will deal with them accordingly. He shall send them a savior, and a great one. This does not seem to point to any earthly deliverer, but to the Savior from the worst of all oppressors, sin and Satan, whom they will need equally with the rest of his people.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It - The altar or pillar last mentioned. A witness - To testify that they own the Lord for their God. Cry - Being sorely distressed, they shall turn unto the true God. A great one - A great or mighty saviour, even Christ.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“And it shall be for a sign and for a testimony to Jehovah of Hosts in the land of Egypt, that they shall cry to Jehovah from the presence of oppressors, and He will send them a deliverer and a mighty one and save them.” This shall be a sign and a witness to (i.e., with respect to, in behalf of) Jehovah in the land of Egypt, viz. that when they cry, He will afford a providential testimony in behalf of His own being, presence, and supremacy, by saving those who cry to Him. If, as we have seen reason to believe, the chapter is a prophecy, not of a single event but of a great progressive change to be wrought in the condition of Egypt by the introduction of the true religion, the promise of the verse before us must be that when they cried God would send them a deliverer, a promise verified not once but often, not only by Ptolemy or Alexander, but by others, and in the highest sense by Christ Himself. In the language of this verse there is an obvious allusion to the frequent statement in the book of Judges, that the people cried to God and He raised them up deliverers who saved them from their oppressors (Jdg 2:16; Jdg 3:9; etc.).

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it shall be The altar shall be for a sign and for a witness between them and the Omnipresent.

a savior and a prince Heb. מוֹשִׁיעַ וְרָב, a savior and a prince.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

They shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, etc. Whosoever will be in trouble will come thither to bring his offering.

ורב And a great one.: a deliverer who is also a great man; a great deliverer. It would be a more natural explanation to take רב as participle of ריב to plead; a helper and a defender. Comp. רב chief (Est. 1:8)

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.