April 20, 2011

Isaiah 19-20
The early church fathers had some interesting theories of interpretation. Usually their interpretations were quite fanciful in as much as they usually followed an allegorical method. Such method often leads to some very imaginative interpretations. Isaiah says, “Behold the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt.” Jerome thought that the swift cloud was, “Certainly holy Mary, who was heavy with child by no human seed. Behold the Lord has entered the Egypt of this world on a swift cloud, the Virgin,” Homilies on the Psalms II (Psalm 77). But in a ‘historical, cultural, grammatical’ method of interpretation, when did God ever ride into Egypt on a swift cloud during or after the ministry of Isaiah? In a military sense the answer is never; although one commentator has suggested that perhaps it is a reference to Israel’s victory in the six-day war of 1967. While I don’t buy Jerome’s thought of the cloud being the virgin, I do think it is a reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do appreciate the early father’s attempts to compare Scripture with Scripture. For that reason I like Chrysostom’s thought:
(At the Mount of Transfiguration) The Father uttered a voice out of the cloud. Why out of the cloud? Because this is how God appears. For a “cloud and darkness are around him.” “He sits on a light cloud,” and “He makes clouds his chariot.” “A cloud received him out of their sight.” “As the Son of Man coming in the clouds.”
His voice comes from a cloud so that they might believe that the voice proceeds from God. Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 56.5.
Surely, Egypt did fall to the hands of a ‘cruel master, and a fierce king.’(v.4) In 670 B.C. (shortly after Isaiah’s demise) Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, subdued Egypt. Interesting, Judah was spared the invasion of Assyria, yet Egypt fell. After that time Egypt never again reached its former glory. Egypt’s economy was based up upon the stability of the Nile River. Isaiah prophesies the ruin of the river wrecking the economy. The other destructions seem to lead to a revival in Egypt (v.16-25) The exact interpretation of this has been given many fulfillments. However, Athanasius seems to view it as a prophecy of the triumphs of the gospel of Christ in his native land after the edict of Milan. He says:
The thing is happening before our very eyes, here in Egypt; and thereby another prophecy is fulfilled, for at no other time have the Egyptians ceased from their false worship save when the Lord of all, riding as on a cloud, came down here in the body and brought the error of idols to nothing and won over everybody to Himself and through Himself to the Father.
That is the glory of our Lord Jesus. He takes what seem to be giants in our lives, like Egypt was to Judah, and He reduces them to nothing. What seemed an impossibility in Isaiah’s day, that Egypt could ever be humbled, became reality within a few short years after Isaiah’s death. It was completely fulfilled within a few centuries of Jesus’ coming. What giant is there in my life? He will subdue it in due time for the praise of His glorious grace! He will use it to build righteousness in me! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john