Isaiah — Chapter 19

The burden of Egypt. Behold the Lord will ascend upon a swift cloud, and will enter into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence. God's entry into Egypt on a 'light cloud' = interpreted as the Blessed Virgin carrying the infant Christ into Egypt (the Flight into Egypt, Matt.2:14), during which the idols of Egypt literally fell (cited from Sozomen, Rufinus, and the Egyptian saints' traditions). The 'commotion of Egypt's heart' = both the civil wars of later Ptolemaic Egypt and the spiritual turmoil preceding conversion.

The princes of Tanis are become fools, the princes of Memphis are become blind: and they have deceived Egypt, the stay of the tribes. Egypt's proud counselors are fools — God has made them drunk on a spirit of error (v.14). Lapide: all human wisdom that ignores divine revelation is ultimately foolishness, however sophisticated it appears.

In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt, speaking the language of Chanaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts. The five cities of Egypt speaking 'the language of Canaan' (= Hebrew, the language of the Scriptures) = the flourishing Christian communities of Alexandria and Egypt — fulfillment seen in Philo, Origen, Athanasius, Cyril, and the great Alexandrian school of theology. Lapide: 'the language of Canaan' = the Christian faith.

In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a monument of the Lord at the borders thereof. The altar in Egypt = the Christian Church and Mass celebrated throughout Egypt; the pillar at the border = possibly the monastery of St. Anthony at the border of the desert, or the churches of Alexandria. Fulfilled in the extraordinary flourishing of Egyptian Christianity (Anthony, Pachomius, Athanasius, the Desert Fathers).

In that day shall Israel be the third to the Egyptian and the Assyrian: a blessing in the midst of the land. The final peace: Egypt, Assyria, and Israel united in worship of the Lord — the Church as the 'third party' uniting East and West, Jews and Gentiles. 'My people, My work of hands, My inheritance' applied to all three nations = the equality of all nations in the Church.

Benedictus populus meus Aegyptus, et Assur opus manuum mearum, et Israel hereditas mea

Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage. The three nations — sworn enemies — now united as one people of God. Lapide: this is the mystery of the Church as the universal gathering of all nations, Jew and Gentile, under one Head. Egypt ('my people' — the Gentile Church closest to God's heart), Assyria ('the work of my hands' — the Gentile Church formed and shaped by God's grace), Israel ('my inheritance' — the Jewish remnant in the Church). Applied to the eschatological conversion of the Jews: at the end, Israel will join Egypt and Assyria (all nations) in the one Church.