(21) The Egyptians shall know the Lord . . .--Here also we note what we may venture to call the catholicity of Isaiah's mind. The highest of all blessings, the knowledge of God as He is (John 17:3), was not to be the exclusive inheritance of Israel, but was to be shared even by the nation whom she had reason to regard as her hereditary enemy.

Sacrifice and oblation.--The two words describe respectively the slain victims and the meat, or rather, meal, offerings of the Law. Did the prophet, we ask, think of such sacrifices as literally offered in Egypt, or did he look beyond the symbol to the thing symbolised? The builders of the temple at Leontopolis took the former view. Those who have entered into the mind and spirit of Isaiah will be inclined, perhaps, to take the latter. A literal fulfilment has been found in the fact that Ptolemy Euergetes (B.C. 244) came to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices in the Temple.

Verse 21. - The Lord shall be known; rather, shall make himself known, as in Ezekiel 20:5, 9; by answering prayer, by spiritual influences, and the like. The Egyptians shall know the Lord (comp. Jeremiah 31:34, "They shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest"). And shall do sacrifice and oblation; rather, shall serve with sacrifice and oblation. The bulk of the Jews settled in Egypt, together with their Egyptian proselytes, went up year by year to worship Jehovah at Jerusalem, and make offerings to him there (see Zechariah 14:16-19). Christian Egypt worshipped God with sacrifice and oblation in the same sense as the rest of the Church (Malachi 1:11).

19:18-25 The words, In that day, do not always refer to the passage just before. At a time which was to come, the Egyptians shall speak the holy language, the Scripture language; not only understand it, but use it. Converting grace, by changing the heart, changes the language; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So many Jews shall come to Egypt, that they shall soon fill five cities. Where the sun was worshipped, a place infamous for idolatry, even there shall be a wonderful reformation. Christ, the great Altar, who sanctifies every gift, shall be owned, and the gospel sacrifices of prayer and praise shall be offered up. Let the broken-hearted and afflicted, whom the Lord has wounded, and thus taught to return to, and call upon him, take courage; for He will heal their souls, and turn their sorrowing supplications into joyful praises. The Gentile nations shall not only unite with each other in the gospel fold under Christ, the great Shepherd, but they shall all be united with the Jews. They shall be owned together by him; they shall all share in one and the same blessing. Meeting at the same throne of grace, and serving with each other in the same business of religion, should end all disputes, and unite the hearts of believers to each other in holy love.And the Lord shall be known to Egypt,.... The means of knowing him would be granted them; which were partly through the Bible being translated into the Greek language, at the request of Ptolemy king of Egypt, which was then understood in that country, and this was a considerable time before the coming of Christ; and chiefly through the Gospel being brought hither by the Evangelist Mark, and others, whereby many of them were brought to a spiritual, experimental, and evangelical knowledge of Christ:

and the Egyptians shall know the Lord; own and acknowledge him, profess faith in him, hope of happiness by him, love of him, and subjection to him, his Gospel and ordinances:

and shall do sacrifice and oblation; not such sacrifice and oblation as were enjoined by the ceremonial law, since those would be now abrogated; but the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, praise, and good works, and of the presentation of themselves, as a holy, living, and acceptable sacrifice to God, their reasonable service: under these ceremonial rites is signified the whole spiritual worship of the New Testament:

yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it; lay themselves under obligation to serve the Lord, and act according to it; see Ecclesiastes 5:4 and this is to be understood not of legal vows, as that of the Nazarite, or any other, but of the spiritual one of praise and thanksgiving; see Psalm 50:14.