Isaiah is the fullest revelation of Christ in the Old Testament - so much so, that it is often called "the gospel according to Isaiah." The prophetic nature of the book of Isaiah is one of the great proofs that the Bible is the word of God, for Isaiah lived some 724 years before Christ. The many passages looking forward to the Messiah point so clearly to Christ and are fulfilled in him, and thereby constitute an unanswerable argument for the divine inspiration of the book.
Chapter 19 of Isaiah is divided in two parts. The first is from verse 1 through 17 and the second is from verses 18 to 25. Isaiah calls the first section an "oracle." Thirteen of the 16 times when Isaiah uses the word "mas"a" (burden or oracle), it has the meaning of a coming series of calamities rather than simply a load to carry. For instance, 13:1 is therefore a description of troublous times for Egypt within the time context when there was a strong Jewish state that is described in the chapter and the extension of Jewish worship with a temple in the heartland of Egypt. The last part of chapter 19 is very well have been fulfilled in the Macabbean period, according to Joseph Blenkinsopp. In that case the first part of the "Mas'a" is said to take place "in that day." Verse 17 is a historical condition that will limit the context to the period just previous to and following the "Helenization" of the nation under Antiochus the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes and the Hasmonean period which followed. Judah had regained independence and military strength under the protection of a rising Roman power.
Isaiah 19 - 1 Through 17.
1. The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst.
Here is a message about Egypt: Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud and approaches Egypt.
