Interpretation Helps for Isaiah 18-20, 30

• Isaiah 18:4-6: in the face of hostility of the nations, the Lord will not act immediately; but when they are in the full growth of summer (height of power) he will cut them down.
• 18:7 says gifts will be brought to the Lord after he cuts down the Assyrians. This is fulfilled in 2 Chronicles 32:23.
• 19:2 talks about Egyptian being against Egyptian. Somehow the judgment of God will stir political unrest, even civil war. 19:4 says a fierce king will rule over them. This is the king of Assyria.
• 19:17 says "the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians. This is because the Egyptians start to recognize the judgment is from Judah's God.
• 19:18 talks of five cities. This represents that some of the Egyptians, but not all, will turn to the Lord.
• 19:20: when the Egyptians cry out to the Lord he will send them a savior, ultimately Jesus.
• 19:22: the Egyptians will be struck with a plague and then healed. This is the discipline God sends on his people to cause them to repent and turn back to him.
• Isaiah 19:23-25: this whole section means that Gentiles will join Jews in the Church.
• Isaiah 20:1: Ashdod was a city in Philistia, a center of the movement against Assyria and a buffer for Egypt.
• In Isaiah 30:26, where it talks about the moon being bright as the sun and the sun being seven times brighter, this represent the exceeding glory of God's salvation.
• In 30:33 Topheth is a city outside of Jerusalem, a place of burning. Here children were sacrificed to the god Molech. Later it became a garbage dump. Topheth was a synonym for hell in the discourses of Jesus.