The burden concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall tremble at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
All Commentaries on Isaiah 19:1 Go To Isaiah 19
Bede
AD 735
Such brief downpours are rightly compared with the shallow, inflated boasting of secular teaching which often seems to pour forth an endless, deep river of eloquence and broad learning but soon dries up entirely, as though it had never existed at all, where the sun of justice and the summer of evangelical radiance shine. The Lord himself laments this state of affairs through the prophet: “They abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves broken cisterns which cannot hold water.” Isaiah also says, “Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a light cloud and will come to Egypt,” and again, “The water of the sea will dry up and the river will be desolate and arid.” “A well of living waters,” he said, “which flows from Lebanon,” that is, from the church, whose life is both clear and deep. For Lebanon, which means “clarity,” fills its camps with saving streams of wisdom for its subjects, as though they were an audience, like the Lord promises in the Gospel: “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture teaches, ‘rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’ ” Explaining this, the Gospel adds, “He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him would receive.”
