Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 19:18

"In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah of hosts; one shall be called The city of destruction." — Isaiah 19:18 (ASV)

In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan. —The prophecy is, it will be noticed, parallel to that affecting Ethiopia in Isaiah 18:7, and at least expresses the yearnings of the prophet’s heart for the conversion of Egypt to the worship of Jehovah. Like the previous prediction, it connects with Psalm 87:0, as recording the admission of proselytes from other countries, and also from Rahab (i.e., Egypt).

The “five cities” represent either a specific number used for an unspecified one (Isaiah 30:17; Isaiah 17:6; Leviticus 26:8; 1 Corinthians 14:19), or possibly the actual number of the chief or royal cities of Egypt. The “language of Canaan” is Hebrew, and the prediction is that this will become the speech of the worshippers of Jehovah in the Egyptian cities. There is to be one universal speech for the universal Church of the true Israel.

And swear to the Lord of hosts. —The oath, as in the parallel phrase of Isaiah 45:23, is one of allegiance, and implies, therefore, something like a covenant of obedience.

The city of destruction. —There is probably something like a play on words involving the name of the Egyptian city On (the Greek Heliopolis, the City of the Sun; Hebrew, Ir-ha-kheres) and the word the prophet actually uses (Ir-ha-cheres), meaning the “city of destruction.”

This paronomasia, similar in character to Ezekiel’s transformation of On into Aven (“nothingness” or “vanity,”Ezekiel 30:17) or Hosea’s transformation of Beth-el (“house of God”) into Bethaven (“house of nothingness,”Hosea 4:15), was intended to indicate the future demolition of the sun-idols.

This interpretation is supported by the Targum on this passage, which states: “Bethshemesh (i.e., Heliopolis), whose future fate shall be destruction.”

Furthermore, the word for “destruction” is cognate with the verb used for Gideon’s breaking down the image of Baal (Judges 6:25). In Jeremiah’s prophecy, He shall break the pillars in the house of the sun (Jeremiah 43:13), we may also probably trace an allusive reference to Isaiah’s language.

Other meanings, such as “city of rescue,” “city of protection,” or “city of restoration,” have been suggested, but on inadequate grounds. The Vulgate gives civitas solis.

The Septuagint rendering, “city asedek” (apparently following a different Hebrew reading and meaning “city of righteousness”), was probably connected historically with the erection of a Jewish temple at Leontopolis by Onias IV in the time of Ptolemy Philomêtor. This temple, for some two centuries, shared with the Temple in Jerusalem the homage of Egyptian Jews.

Onias and his followers pointed to Isaiah’s words as giving sanction to what their brethren in Palestine looked on as a rival and sacrilegious worship.