Isaiah 19 Footnotes

19:18-25 Were there ever five cities in Egypt that swore allegiance to Israel’s God, was there ever a Jewish altar in Egypt for worship, did God miraculously send a Savior to deliver the Egyptians, and was there ever a highway connecting Jerusalem, Egypt, and Assyria? Some suggest that the prophecy was fulfilled after the exile when a group of Hebrews fled to Egypt, settled in four Egyptian cities (Jr 44:1) and later built a temple in Leontopolis around 170 BC. This approach is problematic since most of those who fled to Egypt rejected the Lord or worshiped him along with pagan deities. Another approach sees these words fulfilled after the spread of Christianity to Egypt during the Byzantine era. A third view is that this prophecy awaits fulfillment during the future eschatological period (Is 2:2-4).