18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and

swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.
19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and
a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of
Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send
them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in
that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD,
and perform it.
22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return
even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them. (Isa 19)

This article investigates whether the prophecy in Isaiah 19 is mentioning any evidences from
Egypt at the current date, by discussing and trying to understand any possible implicit or
explicit meanings of the next words:

1- Five cities: GOD fully completed the creation in six days, so number six is symbolically
denoting the fullness and the completion of the things.
Stepping only one number down brings number five which is symbolically denoting the un-
fullness of the things, so five cities -mentioned in "verse 18"- could mean un-fullness of both
the land of Egypt and the Egyptians, so it possibly symbolizes a subsection relationship of
minor group of Egyptian population to the all, in contrary to words "Egypt" and "the
Egyptians" -mentioned in "verse 21"- to explicitly denote the full land of Egypt and the all
people of Egypt.
Nowadays the Christian Egyptians only represent around 10% of Egyptian population.
According to a published statistic of Egyptian cities and their populations (at that link), a
table listing 202 cities of Egypt with 31.13 millions inhabitants from the total of 72.8 millions
gross Egypt population (year 2006), this means that five cities population could represent the
following percentage to the gross of Egypt population :

Percentage of five cities in Egypt to the gross population = 5 = 2.48%

202
This result is quite consistent with the anticipated diminishing Christians of Egypt percentage
in coming near future.

2- Language of Canaan: Canaan is the grandfather of Palestinians who are nowadays

speaking Arabic.
Nowadays the Egyptians are speaking Arabic as well as the Palestinians.

3- Swear to the LORD of hosts: Not only Jews who glorify the LORD of hosts but also the
Christians whose faith in the incarnated LORD of hosts, Jesus Christ.
Nowadays the Christians of Egypt are praising LORD of hosts in their churches, monasteries
and dioceses spread all over the land of Egypt.

4- City of Destruction: it is a translation of Hebrew word "Abaddon" which is synonymous

to word "sheol", the realm of the dead.
In Fact there is one city in Egypt has a meaning name equal to the English word of
"cemetery" which is synonymous to the word of "sheol", this city is named "QUS" and
"QUS" word in old Egyptian "Coptic" language means "cemetery".
"QUS" is located 645 KM south of Cairo and it has around half million inhabitants.
Nowadays there is a Coptic orthodox diocese in the city of "QUS"
Accordingly the complete interpretation of verse 18 could be as follows:
In that day only a subsection of Egyptians would speak same language as of Canaan and
praise the LORD of hosts in their dioceses which one of them has a name meaning of
"cemetery".

19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and
a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.

5- Pillar at the border: Lead by Marcus the evangelist, breaching to Christianity started
from city of Alexandria and sooner it spread all over the land of Egypt.
City of Alexandria is located in northern Mediterranean border line of Egypt and it was
holding one of the earliest worldwide Holy Sees.
Withstanding against the heresy of Arius, the first Alexandrian church and her fathers are
considered a pillar of Orthodox faith not only for Egypt and Egyptians but also for the rest of
the Christian world.

6- Altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt: Around 1000 A.D. Cairo was
erected and became the capital of Egypt, and since 1,100 A.D. the Holy See of Marcus the
evangelist was transferred from Alexandria to Cairo.

20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of
Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send
them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.

7- Opressors : Nowadays the Christian minority of Egypt is oppressed by Moslem majority

and many invocations are risen to the LORD to save his people in Egypt and to glorify
himself among the rest of the Egyptians.

21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in
that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD,
and perform it.

8- Egypt, and the Egyptians: Explicit words denoting all of Egyptians and the fullness of
Egypt, and this verse in Isaiah prophecy is not fulfilled yet.

22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return
even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.

9- he shall smite and heal it : In order to be glorified among Egyptians the LORD shall
smite Egypt then he shall heal it miraculously, and this verse in Isaiah prophecy is not
fulfilled yet.

Examples of previous GOD chastisements as mentioned in the holy bible:

1- The 10 plagues of Egypt during Exodus pharaoh. (Exodus 7 to Exodus 11)
2- Chastisements with pestilences was used often by GOD against Israelites as in 1Ch21:14

Example of previous GOD massive healing miracle:

Because GOD has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his
way and live, so GOD offered Israelites in the past the fiery serpent that every one that is
bitten, when he look upon it, shall live.
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and
much people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken
against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the
serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and
it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if
a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Nu 21)

But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the
adoption of sons. (Ga 4:4)
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. (Php 2:8)
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (Joh 3:15)

GOD mercy be with the all, the day and to the end of days,
Amen

From Egypt

11 Sept. 2009