Isaiah 19:21

And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) The Egyptians shall know the Lord . . .—Here also we note what we may venture to call the catholicity of Isaiah’s mind. The highest of all blessings, the knowledge of God as He is (John 17:3), was not to be the exclusive inheritance of Israel, but was to be shared even by the nation whom she had reason to regard as her hereditary enemy.

Sacrifice and oblation.—The two words describe respectively the slain victims and the meat, or rather, meal, offerings of the Law. Did the prophet, we ask, think of such sacrifices as literally offered in Egypt, or did he look beyond the symbol to the thing symbolised? The builders of the temple at Leontopolis took the former view. Those who have entered into the mind and spirit of Isaiah will be inclined, perhaps, to take the latter. A literal fulfilment has been found in the fact that Ptolemy Euergetes (B.C. 244) came to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices in the Temple.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:18-25 The words, In that day, do not always refer to the passage just before. At a time which was to come, the Egyptians shall speak the holy language, the Scripture language; not only understand it, but use it. Converting grace, by changing the heart, changes the language; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So many Jews shall come to Egypt, that they shall soon fill five cities. Where the sun was worshipped, a place infamous for idolatry, even there shall be a wonderful reformation. Christ, the great Altar, who sanctifies every gift, shall be owned, and the gospel sacrifices of prayer and praise shall be offered up. Let the broken-hearted and afflicted, whom the Lord has wounded, and thus taught to return to, and call upon him, take courage; for He will heal their souls, and turn their sorrowing supplications into joyful praises. The Gentile nations shall not only unite with each other in the gospel fold under Christ, the great Shepherd, but they shall all be united with the Jews. They shall be owned together by him; they shall all share in one and the same blessing. Meeting at the same throne of grace, and serving with each other in the same business of religion, should end all disputes, and unite the hearts of believers to each other in holy love.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the Lord shall be known to Egypt - Shall be worshipped and honored by the Jews who shall dwell there, and by those who shall be proselyted to their religion.

And the Egyptians shall know the Lord - That many of the Egyptians would be converted to the Jewish religion there can be no doubt. This was the result in all countries where the Jews had a residence (compare the notes at Acts 2:9-11).

And shall do sacrifice - Shall offer sacrifices to Yahweh. They would naturally go to Jerusalem as often as practicable, and unite with the Jews there, in the customary rites of their religion.

And oblations - The word מנחה minichāh 'oblation,' denotes any offering that is not a "bloody" sacrifice - a thank-offering; an offering of incense, flour, grain, etc. (see the notes at Isaiah 1:13) The sense is, that they should be true worshippers of God.

They shall vow a vow ... - They shall be sincere and true worshippers of God. The large numbers of the Jews that dwelt there; the fact that many of them doubtless were sincere; the circumstances recorded Acts 2:9-11, that Jews were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost; and the fact that the true religion was carried to Egypt, and the Christian religion established there, all show how fully this prediction was fulfilled.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. oblation—unbloody.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Shall know the Lord; shall acknowledge, and love, and serve him; for words of knowledge in Scripture commonly include affection and practice, as hath been often observed.

Shall do sacrifice and oblation; shall worship God spiritually; which yet is signified by typical phrases, as it is Malachi 1:11, and in many other places.

And perform it; they shall not only profess and promise piety, but shall seriously and diligently practise it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord shall be known to Egypt,.... The means of knowing him would be granted them; which were partly through the Bible being translated into the Greek language, at the request of Ptolemy king of Egypt, which was then understood in that country, and this was a considerable time before the coming of Christ; and chiefly through the Gospel being brought hither by the Evangelist Mark, and others, whereby many of them were brought to a spiritual, experimental, and evangelical knowledge of Christ:

and the Egyptians shall know the Lord; own and acknowledge him, profess faith in him, hope of happiness by him, love of him, and subjection to him, his Gospel and ordinances:

and shall do sacrifice and oblation; not such sacrifice and oblation as were enjoined by the ceremonial law, since those would be now abrogated; but the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, praise, and good works, and of the presentation of themselves, as a holy, living, and acceptable sacrifice to God, their reasonable service: under these ceremonial rites is signified the whole spiritual worship of the New Testament:

yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it; lay themselves under obligation to serve the Lord, and act according to it; see Ecclesiastes 5:4 and this is to be understood not of legal vows, as that of the Nazarite, or any other, but of the spiritual one of praise and thanksgiving; see Psalm 50:14.

Geneva Study Bible

And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do {x} sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow to the LORD, and perform it.

(x) By these ceremonies he comprehends the spiritual service under Christ.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. shall be known] Rather: shall make himself known, as R.V. marg.

sacrifice and oblation] animal and vegetable offerings, see on Isaiah 1:11; Isaiah 1:13.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - The Lord shall be known; rather, shall make himself known, as in Ezekiel 20:5, 9; by answering prayer, by spiritual influences, and the like. The Egyptians shall know the Lord (comp. Jeremiah 31:34, "They shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest"). And shall do sacrifice and oblation; rather, shall serve with sacrifice and oblation. The bulk of the Jews settled in Egypt, together with their Egyptian proselytes, went up year by year to worship Jehovah at Jerusalem, and make offerings to him there (see Zechariah 14:16-19). Christian Egypt worshipped God with sacrifice and oblation in the same sense as the rest of the Church (Malachi 1:11). Isaiah 19:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When Egypt became the prey of Islam in the year 640, there was already to be seen, at all events in the form of a magnificent prelude, the fulfilment of what the prophet foretells in Isaiah 19:21, Isaiah 19:22 : "And Jehovah makes Himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians know Jehovah in that day; and they serve with slain-offerings and meat-offerings, and vow vows to Jehovah, and pay them. And Jehovah smites Egypt, smiting and healing; and if they return to Jehovah, He suffers Himself to be entreated, and heals them." From that small commencement of five cities, and a solitary altar, and one solitary obelisk, it has now come to this: Jehovah extends the knowledge of Himself to the whole of Egypt ענודע, reflective se cognoscendum dare, or neuter innotescere), and throughout all Egypt there arises the knowledge of God, which soon shows itself in acts of worship. This worship is represented by the prophet, just as we should expect according to the Old Testament view, as consisting in the offering of bleeding and bloodless, or legal and free-will offerings: ועבדוּ, viz., את־יהוה, so that עבד is construed with a double accusative, as in Exodus 10:26, cf., Genesis 30:29; or it may possibly be used directly in the sense of sacrificing, as in the Phoenician, and like עשׂה in the Thorah; and even if we took it in this sense, it would yield no evidence against Isaiah's authorship (compare Isaiah 28:21; Isaiah 32:17). Egypt, though converted, is still sinful; but Jehovah smites it, "smiting and healing" (nâgoph verâpho', compare 1 Kings 20:37), so that in the act of smiting the intention of healing prevails; and healing follows the smiting, since the chastisement of Jehovah leads it to repentance. Thus Egypt is now under the same plan of salvation as Israel (e.g., Leviticus 26:44; Deuteronomy 32:36).