Isaiah 19:16

In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) In that day shall Egypt be like unto “women.—This image of panic, terror, and weakness has been natural in the poetry of all countries (comp. Homer, “Achæan women, not Achæan men”), and appears in its strongest form in Jeremiah 48:41. In such a state, even the land of Judah, once so despised, shall become a source of terror.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 19:16-17. In that day shall Egypt be like unto women — Feeble and fearful, as it follows. The cowardice and effeminacy of the people in general, joined with their fear and trepidation, are here set forth as a second cause of their calamity; and the reason of this, among other things, is drawn from a sense of the divine judgment. They shall be like women, and fear, because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord, &c. — Because they shall perceive that they do not fight with men only, but with the Lord of hosts, who now lifts up his hand against them, as he did against their forefathers. The land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt — That is, the calamities brought on the land of Judah by the Assyrians and Chaldeans. When the Egyptians shall hear of the ravages and desolations made in Judah, by the army of Sennacherib, and shall afterward be informed of its overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar, they shall be dreadfully afraid of suffering the same calamities themselves, considering both their near neighbourhood to Judah, and their strict alliance therewith. Indeed Judah was their bulwark against the Assyrians and Babylonians, and when this bulwark was removed they had just cause to fear. “The threatening hand of God,” says Bishop Lowth, “will be held out, and shaken over Egypt, from the side of Judea; through which the Assyrians will march to invade it.” Every one that makes mention thereof, &c. — Poole thinks their fear of mentioning Judah’s name might proceed partly from a sense of their guilt and misconduct toward Judah, and an apprehension that the God of Judah was calling them to an account for it. Perhaps, also, as the next clause seems to imply, they might have heard of the prophecies uttered in Judah concerning these very calamities coming upon them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:1-17 God shall come into Egypt with his judgments. He will raise up the causes of their destruction from among themselves. When ungodly men escape danger, they are apt to think themselves secure; but evil pursues sinners, and will speedily overtake them, except they repent. The Egyptians will be given over into the hand of one who shall rule them with rigour, as was shortly after fulfilled. The Egyptians were renowned for wisdom and science; yet the Lord would give them up to their own perverse schemes, and to quarrel, till their land would be brought by their contests to become an object of contempt and pity. He renders sinners afraid of those whom they have despised and oppressed; and the Lord of hosts will make the workers of iniquity a terror to themselves, and to each other; and every object around a terror to them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In that day shall Egypt be like unto women - Timid; fearful; alarmed. The Hebrews often, by this comparison, express great fear and consternation Jeremiah 51:30; Nahum 3:13.

Because of the shaking of the hand - The shaking of the hand is an indication of threatening or punishment (note, Isaiah 10:32; Isaiah 11:15).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. like … women—timid and helpless (Jer 51:30; Na 3:13).

shaking of … hand—His judgments by means of the invaders (Isa 10:5, 32; 11:15).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Like unto women; feeble and fearful, as it follows.

Because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts; because they shall perceive that they do not fight with men only, but with the Lord of hosts, who now lifts up his hand against them, as he did against their forefathers, Exodus 14, the very remembrance whereof is very terrible to them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

In that day shall Egypt be like unto women,.... Weak and feeble, as the Targum; fearful and timorous, even their military force; and devoid of wisdom, even their princes and nobles:

and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shaketh over it: which the Lord may be said to do, when he lifts up his rod, and holds it over a people, and threatens them with ruin and destruction; perhaps this may refer to what was done in Judea by Sennacherib's army, which was an intimation to the Egyptians that their turn was next; and if the shaking of the Lord's hand over a people is so terrible, what must the weight of it be? Some think there is an allusion to Moses's shaking his rod over the Red sea when the Egyptians were drowned, in which the hand or power of the Lord was so visibly seen, and which now might be called to mind. Ben Melech observes, that when one man calls to another, he waves his hand to him to come to him; so here it is as if the Lord waved with his hand to the enemy to come and fight against Egypt, which caused fear and dread.

Geneva Study Bible

In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. like unto women] timid and faint-hearted (Nahum 3:13).

be afraid] Better, tremble, as R.V. the shaking (or “swinging”) of the hand … which he shaketh] i.e. the repeated blows with which he smites them, cf. Isaiah 30:32, Isaiah 10:32, Isaiah 11:15.

16, 17. The terror of Jehovah on the Egyptians. There is an allusion to the effect of the plagues in the time of the Exodus. See Exodus 10:7; Exodus 11:3; Exodus 12:33; Exodus 12:36. Then, as in this prophecy, the people of God became an object of fear to their enemies, through the strokes of Jehovah’s hand.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - In that day; or, at that time; i.e. when the Assyrian invasion comes. Shall Egypt be like unto women (comp. Jeremiah 51:30). So Xerxes said of his fighting men at Salamis: "My men have become women" (Herod., 8:88). Because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord (comp. Isaiah 11:15 and Isaiah 30:32). The Egyptians would scarcely recognize Jehovah as the Author of their calamities, but it would none the less be his hand which punished them. Isaiah 19:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The result of all these plagues, which were coming upon Egypt, would be fear of Jehovah and of the people of Jehovah. "In that day will the Egyptians become like women, and tremble and be alarmed at the swinging of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which He sets in motion against it. And the land of Judah becomes a shuddering for Egypt; as often as they mention this against Egypt, it is alarmed, because of the decree of Jehovah of hosts, that He suspendeth over it." The swinging (tenuphâh) of the hand (Isaiah 30:32) points back to the foregoing judgments, which have fallen upon Egypt blow after blow. These humiliations make the Egyptians as soft and timid as women (tert. compar., not as in Isaiah 13:7-8; Isaiah 21:3-4). And the sacred soil of Judah ('adâmâh, as in Isaiah 14:1-2; Isaiah 32:13), which Egypt has so often made the scene of war, throws them into giddiness, into agitation at the sight of terrors, whenever it is mentioned (אשׁר כּל, cf., 1 Samuel 2:13, lit., "whoever," equivalent to "as often as any one," Ewald, 337, 3, f; חגּא is written according to the Aramaean form, with Aleph for He, like זרא) in Numbers 11:20, קרחא in Ezekiel 37:31, compare כּלּא, Ezekiel 36:5, and similar in form to חפה in Isaiah 4:5).

The author of the plagues is well known to them, their faith in the idols is shaken, and the desire arises in their heart to avert fresh plagues by presents to Jehovah.