In our last article about Egypt, we looked at links between Israel and Egypt and some Egyptians mentioned in the Bible.  This week, we will look at a few prophecies made about Egypt in the Old Testament.

Let’s start with a prophecy that shows just how important Egypt is in God’s plans.  In Isaiah 20:1-5 we see that Isaiah went naked and barefoot for three years as a sign against Egypt and Cush (the southern area of Egypt).  Apart from the shame of being naked, imagine the cold of three winters spent without the warmth of clothing in a city where snow can fall!  Yet God wanted to make sure that everyone in Jerusalem understood the message that the nation must not rely on Egypt, whose support was as imaginary as the new clothes of Hans Christian Anderson’s emperor.

When Israel left Egypt during the Exodus, they were told not to return there – either for trade or for help.[1]  No chariots; no horses; nothing: but the nation looked to Egypt for support and security on and off throughout their history.

Later, when an Assyrian leader was doing his best to convince King Hezekiah to surrender, he laughed off the help Egypt could give, dismissing Egypt as a “broken reed of a staff”.[2]

God had already given them the same message through Isaiah in Isaiah 30:1-7, which finishes with:

 

Egypt had once been a superpower and continued to be more powerful than Judah, but their power was waning, and they were concentrating on their own interests, not those of Judah.

However, God not only derided the help Egypt would give, he also condemned Judah’s desire to assure their own security through treaties with other nations instead of looking for support from God.  Through Isaiah he said:

 

This lesson is still there for Israel to learn from today – and for other nations too.

Zedekiah was the last king of Judah.  He was made king by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and agreed to rule Judah as Nebuchadnezzar’s servant, but after a while, he decided to rebel and asked Egypt for help.  This was a very bad decision, because keeping promises is important to God.  In the end, Zedekiah breaking his promise sounded the death-knell for the kingdom of Judah.  God said through Ezekiel the prophet:

 

This should be a powerful warning for us, that if we want to please the God of Israel, we have to keep our promises.  Not only so, but Jesus later told us in Matthew 5:33-37 that he doesn’t want us to take oaths or anything special like that, just to do what we say we will do.

In the 6th century BC, Egypt’s importance in the world was waning, but there was much worse still to come for Egypt.

In 588-587BC, as Nebuchadnezzar and his army were besieging Jerusalem, the army of Egypt mobilised, and it seemed as if they were advancing to attack Nebuchadnezzar’s army in support of Judah.  Nebuchadnezzar led his army away to meet them, and Judah thought their salvation had come.  But through Jeremiah, God told King Zedekiah that his hopes were futile: Pharaoh would withdraw, and Nebuchadnezzar would return with his army, besieging and then burning Jerusalem.[3]   

During the 18-month siege of Jerusalem that followed, God also spoke through the prophet Ezekiel – already in captivity near Babylon.  God said that Egypt would be a desolate country among all the other countries that Nebuchadnezzar had made desolate, but that Egypt would be restored after 40 years.  However, from that time on, Egypt would never again be a great superpower; instead it would be a lowly nation.  History has seen this fulfilled, and it is still true today.  Great Egypt, the land of the magnificent pyramids and stunning golden treasures, is not an important nation.  God also said that Israel would never depend on Egypt again as they had done in the past.  This too is seen in the Middle East today.  Israel and Egypt are now at peace, but despite Egypt having more than 10 times the population of Israel, it is Israel that is the senior partner in the alliance.

There are also some fascinating prophecies about Egypt in Isaiah 19 that describe a much closer relationship between Egypt and Israel than exists at present.  Even more astonishingly, it also presents Egypt and Assyria (modern-day Iraq) as partners together with Israel!

Political alignments in the world change over time, but at the moment, the idea of Egypt, Iraq and Israel cooperating together to build a road that joins the three nations is almost incredible.

Yet God’s prophecies about Egypt in the past have been fulfilled, and that gives me confidence that at some time in the future, we will see the fulfilment of this prophecy also:

 

What an amazing change from the widespread hatred that currently exists in the region!

These are just a few of the prophecies about Egypt in the Bible, and I have concentrated mostly on longer-term prophecies.  Many short-term prophecies were also made at different times, such as Joseph’s prophecy of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of drought and Moses’ prophecy that Pharaoh would let the people of Israel go after he was forced to do so by the ten plagues.  There were also others in the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel that said Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon would attack Egypt, which he did shortly afterwards (eg. Ezekiel 30:9-16).

[1] Deuteronomy 17:16
[2] See 2 Kings 18:21; Isaiah 36:6.  God used a similar description himself about 130 years later in Ezekiel 29:6-7.
[3] Jeremiah 37:5-10

 

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The serial will start, God willing, at 9:00am on Tuesday, 21 September 2021 (AEDT).