Isaiah 19:24

Isa 19:24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, [even] a blessing in the midst of the land:

Ver. 24. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt.] The posterity of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, shall concur in the communion of saints; the pale and partition wall being taken away.

Even a blessiing in the midst of the earth.] The saints are so. Absque stationibus non staret mundus. If it were not for them, the world would soon shatter and fall in pieces.

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.

Thus is the way prepared for the highest point of all, which the prophet foretells in Isa 19:24, Isa 19:25 : "In that day will Israel be the third part to Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, since Jehovah of hosts blesseth them thus: Blessed be thou, my people Egypt; and thou Asshur, the work of my hands; and thou Israel, mine inheritance." Israel is added to the covenant between Egypt and Asshur, so that it becomes a tripartite covenant in which Israel forms the "third part" (sheilshiyyâh, tertia pars, like ‛ası̄ryyâh, decima pars, in Isa 6:13). Israel has now reached the great end of its calling - to be a blessing in "the midst of the earth" (b'kereb hâ'âretz, in the whole circuit of the earth), all nations being here represented by Egypt and Assyria. Hitherto it had been only to the disadvantage of Israel to be situated between Egypt and Assyria. The history of the Ephraimitish kingdom, as well as that of Judah, clearly proves this. If Israel relied upon Egypt, it deceived itself, and was deceived; and if it relied on Assyria, it only became the slave of Assyria, and had Egypt for a foe. Thus Israel was in a most painful vise between the two great powers of the earth, the western and the eastern powers. But how will all this be altered now! Egypt and Assyria become one in Jehovah, and Israel the third in the covenant. Israel is lo longer the only nation of God, the creation of God, the heir of God; but all this applies to Egypt and Assyria now, as well as to Israel. To give full expression to this, Israel's three titles of honour are mixed together, and each of the three nations receives one of the choice names - nachali, "my inheritance," being reserved for Israel, as pointing back to its earliest history. This essential equalization of the heathen nations and Israel is no degradation to the latter. For although from this time forward there is to be no essential difference between the nations in their relation to God, it is still the God of Israel who obtains this universal recognition, and the nation of Israel that has become, according to the promise, the medium of blessing to the world.

Thus has the second half of the prophecy ascended step by step from salvation to salvation, as the first descended step by step from judgment to judgment. The culminating point in Isa 19:25 answers to the lowest point in Isa 19:15. Every step in the ascending half is indicated by the expression "in that day." Six times do we find this sign-post to the future within the limits of Isa 19:16-25. This expression is almost as characteristic of Isaiah as the corresponding expression, "Behold, the days come" (hinneh yâm bâ'im), is of Jeremiah (compare, for example, Isa 7:18-25). And it is more particularly in the promising or Messianic portions of the prophecy that it is so favourite an introduction (Isa 11:10-11; Isa 12:1; compare Zech). Nevertheless, the genuineness of Isa 19:16-25 has recently been called in question, more especially by Hitzig. Sometimes this passage has not been found fanatical enough to have emanated from Isaiah, i.e., too free from hatred towards the heathen; whereas, on the other hand, Knobel adduces evidence that the prophet was no fanatic at all. Sometimes it is too fanatical; in reply to which we observe, that there never was a prophet of God in the world who did not appear to a "sound human understanding" to be beside himself, since, even assuming that this human understanding be sound, it is only within the four sides of its own peculiar province that it is so. Again, in Isa 19:18, Isa 19:19, a prophecy has been discovered which is too special to be Isaiah's, in opposition to which Knobel proves that it is not so special as is supposed. But it is quite special enough; and this can never astonish any one who can discern in the prophecy a revelation of the future communicated by God, whereas in itself it neither proves nor disproves the authorship of Isaiah. So far as the other arguments adduced against the genuineness are concerned, they have been answered exhaustively by Caspari, in a paper which he contributed on the subject to the Lutherische Zeitschrift, 1841, 3. Hvernick, in his Introduction, has not been able to do anything better than appropriate the arguments adduced by Caspari. And we will not repeat for a third time what has been said twice already. The two halves of the prophecy are like the two wings of a bird. And it is only through its second half that the prophecy becomes the significant centre of the Ethiopic and Egyptian trilogy. For chapter 19 predicts the saving effect that will be produced upon Egypt by the destruction of Assyria. And Isa 19:23. announces what will become of Assyria. Assyria will also pass through judgment to salvation. This eschatological conclusion to chapter 19, in which Egypt and Assyria are raised above themselves into representatives of the two halves of the heathen world, is the golden clasp which connects chapters 19 and Isa 20:1-6. We now turn to this third portion of the trilogy, which bears the same relation to chapter 19 as Isa 16:13-14 to Isaiah 15-16:12.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

19:24 Israel will be . . . a blessing in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 12:3).

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

third--The three shall be joined as one nation.

blessing--the source of blessings to other nations, and the object of their benedictions.

in the midst of the land--rather, "earth" (Mic 5:7). Judah is designed to be the grand center of the whole earth (Jer 3:17).

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

24. shall Israel be the third]—member of the Messianic League. For land read earth as R.V.

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.

In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria,.... There shall be a triple alliance between them; Jew and Gentile shall be made one, the middle wall of partition being broken down; yea, Israel, or the Jews, shall be the third, or the Mediator between them both, or the means of uniting the Gentiles together, since the Gospel of peace was to go out from them, as it did. Perhaps there may be an allusion to the situation of the land of Israel between Egypt and Assyria:

even a blessing in the midst of the land; or of the earth, the whole world, being the means of conveying the blessings of grace to the several nations of the world; the Messiah, in whom all nations are blessed, descending from them, and the Gospel being sent out from them unto all nations, which publishes the blessings of grace by Christ, and is the means both of the knowledge, application, and possession of them.

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

In that day shall Israel be the third - That is, the three shall be united as one people. Instead of being rival, hostile, and contending kingdoms, they shall be united and friendly; and instead of having different and jarring religions, they shall all worship the same God. The prophecy rather refers to the spread of the true religion, and the worship of the true God, than to a political or civil alliance.

Even a blessing - It shall be a source of blessing, because from Judea the true religion would extend into the other lands.

In the midst of the land - That is, “the united land” - composed of the three nations now joined in alliance. Judea was situated in the “midst” of this united land, or occupied a central position between the two. It was also true that it occupied a central position in regard to the whole earth, and that from it, as a radiating point, the true religion was disseminated throughout all nations.

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

Land. The apostles, who were true Israelites, (Haydock) procured the blessing of faith for these nations, (Calmet) to serve God with concord. (Haydock)

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).

The third; the third party, to wit, in that sacred league, whereby all of them oblige themselves to God.

With Egypt and with Assyria: these people are named because they were the most obstinate and malicious enemies to God’s church, and therefore in a special manner accursed by God; but they are here put synecdochically for all the Gentiles.

Even a blessing: this is peculiar to Israel, who is not only a third party, as the others are, but is the most eminent and blessed of the three, as being the fountain, or rather the conduit-pipe, by which the blessing is conveyed 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 the earth; which may be added, to imply that God’s blessing should be conveyed from and by Israel, not only to the Egyptians and the Assyrians, but to all the nations of the earth, in the midst of which the land of Israel might well be said to lie. Or, of that land of which I am here speaking; or, the singular number being put for the plural, of those lands, Egypt and Assyria, between which Israel lay.

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

24, 25. In that day — Here, doubtless, the Messianic “day.” The language here is but the prefiguration of great moral changes.

Shall Israel — The Israel through whom, according to God’s covenant with Abraham, “all nations shall be blessed.”

The third with Egypt and with Assyria — The three nations shall be at peace, and Israel shall be the instrument of spiritual revolutions in their midst. While Israel was untrue to Jehovah he was crushed between the great hostile world-powers; but repenting and returning, he is to become the means of bringing both Egypt and Assyria to the feet of Jehovah to become his people.

Much of implied reference is no doubt made here to the far and wide dispersion of the Jews, diffusing influences preparatory to the incoming gospel age; of which influences the first noted instalment was brought to view at the day of Pentecost.

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

In that day shall Israel be the third; rather, a third. Not third in rank, for ver. 25 shows that she would retain a pre-eminence, but the common intermediary, brining the other two together. A blessing in the midst of the land; rather, in the midst of the earth. Judaean monotheism, upheld by God"s people in Palestine, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, would be a blessing, not only to those three countries, but to the world at large. So, and still more, would Christianity.

The God-fearing man a blessing wherever he is found.

Israel is the type of the God-fearing man, and it is prophesied of Israel, as a nation, that when it is linked in friendly alliance with Egypt and Assyria, its testimony for the true God, and its example of noble living in the fear of God, would make it a blessing in the lands. The prophecy was fulfilled in the time of the Hasmonean princes. Compare the promise made to Abraham, as a man of God and man of faith, that "in him, and in his seed, all nations of the earth should be blessed". (Gen_22:18) Scripture intimates that the Jews have been the great conservators of the two foundation-truths, of

(1) God"s unity and

(2) God"s spirituality,

for the whole world, and that they are yet to be the great agents in the conversion of the world to God, as revealed in Jesus Christ; and perhaps no race is so widely scattered over the earth, or so efficiently represented in all lands, as the Jews. They may be a "blessing" indeed, when the veil is taken away, and they see in Jesus of Nazareth the world"s Messiah and Savior. We, however, for the purpose of this homily, think of the Jew in the world as representing the godly man set in various circumstances, and exercising a gracious influence in his circle, whatever it may be. He is a source of blessing, a means of blessing, and an object of blessing.

I HE IS A SOURCE OF BLESSING. This term brings up for consideration his unconscious influence the blessing which flows from the good man, by virtue of what he is, rather than of what he does. A beautiful picture, a work of perfect art, a gracious and gentle-mannered person, exert power for good apart from conscious intention. And so the pure are the "salt of the earth.

II HE IS A MEANS OF BLESSING. This term brings to view his conscious influence. For the good man lies under trust, and wants to be faithful. And the good man, by virtue of his goodness, is full of concern for the well-being of others; so his life must be an active charity. Like his Master, he is "ever going about, doing good," inventing ways in which he can become a blessing.

III HE IS AN OBJECT TO BE BLESSED. By God, whoso work he is doing, whose Name he is honoring, and whose service he is commending. God never forgets our work of faith and labor of love, but ensures that all who are a blessing are blessed. R.T.

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

The third - The third party, in that sacred league, whereby all of them oblige themselves to serve God. Egypt - These are named, because they were the most obstinate enemies to God's church, but they are here put for all the Gentiles. A blessing - This is peculiar to Israel, who is not only a third party, but is the most eminent of the three, as being the fountain, by which the blessing is conveyed 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. The land - Or, of those lands, Egypt and Assyria, between which Israel lay.

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

“In that day shall Israel be a third with respect to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.” The meaning obviously is that Israel should be one of three or a party to a triple union. The idea meant to be conveyed, is not merely that of equality in magnitude or power, but also that of intimate conjunction, as in the preceding verse. Blessing is here used in a comprehensive sense, as denoting at the same time a source of blessing, a means of blessing, and an object to be blessed.

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

Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria

The names of the three nations represent the people of those nations. AT: "the Israelites will be the third with the Egyptians and Assyrians" (See: Metonymy)

be the third with

Possible meanings are 1) "join together with" or 2) "be the third blessing with" or 3) "be equal to." (See: Ordinal Numbers)

Blessed be Egypt, my people; Assyria, the work of my hands; and Israel, my inheritance

The names of the three nations refer to the people of those nations. This can be stated in active form. AT: "I have blessed you, people of Egypt, because you are my people; and I have blessed you, people of Assyria, because I created you; and I have blessed you, people of Israel, because I securely possess you" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)

the work of my hands

Here "hands" refers to God's power and action. (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

Israel

Egypt

Assyria

bless

Yahweh of hosts

people group

hand

inherit

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Israel shall be a third to Egypt and to Assyria for a blessing, since there was no prominent nation in the world at that time like Egypt and like Assyria, and the Jews were humble in the days of Ahaz and in the days of Hoshea the son of Elah. And the prophet states that, through the miracle that will be performed for Hezekiah, Israel’s name will be greatly magnified, and they will be as prominent as one of these kingdoms in regards to blessing and greatness.

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.

שלשיה The third. Most of the commentators compare it with ושלשים and chiefs (Ex. 14:7); but they must presume the existence of the second degree before they speak of the third. More naturally it is derived from שלשה three, and explained by the third; for there will be in Assyria people that will know the Lord, and many more so in Egypt; and Israel will be a blessing in the midst of the land, for through him Egypt and part of Assyria will know the Lord.

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.