Isaiah's next oracle concerns Egypt. It is a 'bad news/good news" kind of message.
Isaiah begins with the bad news. A day of trouble is coming to Egypt. Isaiah says that there will be internal strife, a hard king, and a polluted Nile. It is hard to overestimate just how important and central the Nile is to Egypt. Isaiah warns of a future with a dried up and befouled Nile, when those who make their living from its abundance will experience unemployment and loss.
How bad will things get? Isaiah writes of the counselors advising Pharaoh, "The Lord has poured into them a spirit of confusion; and they have made Egypt stagger in all its doings as a drunkard staggers around in vomit. Neither head nor tail, palm branch or reed, will be able to do anything for Egypt" (vs. 14-15).
Fortunately, the prophet has a word of good news, for Egypt, Assyria and Judah. God will bring them all together and unite them under His Lordship. "On 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 heritage" (vs. 24-25).
Isaiah reminds us that all the people of the world, and all the nations of the earth, truly belong to God. He is at work to bring everyone under His compassionate rule.
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