Beginning in chapter 13, Isaiah calls out nation after nation, beginning with Babylon, for their treacheries and wrongdoings. In addition to Babylon, there is Assyria (“I will break the Assyrian in my land” 14:25) and Philistia and Moab and Syria and Ethiopia and Egypt and Edom and Arabia. All these nations have mercilessly opposed the people of God and deserve to experience the wrath of Israel’s God, which makes these verses quite poignant: “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance’” (19:23-25). Think about it. The nations that deserve wrath will receive mercy instead. Amazing! But, then, our God is amazing.
What glories were described of old!
What wonders are of Zion told!
Thou city of our God below,
Thy fame shall Tyre and Egypt know.
Egypt and Tyre, and Greek and Jew,
Shall there begin their lives anew;
Angels and men shall join to sing
The hill where living waters spring. -- Isaac Watts (1740)
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