In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
The chapter holding this promise lays out the revolutions and future state of Egypt as invaded, conquered and spoiled, put forever into the hands of strangers, reduced to the basest of kingdoms, left with no more a prince of its own, brought to renounce idolatry with its idols and images ceasing, and afflicted with drying rivers and wasted land. Within that sweep, verses 1-13 point to its subjection to the Macedonians under Alexander the Great. The promise itself joins Israel as a third alongside Egypt and Assyria to be a blessing in the midst of the land.
It foretells the spread and preaching of God's truth and the gospel in Egypt and Assyria in New Testament times. That spread bore fruit in Egypt when many Jews settled there, the Scriptures were translated into Greek, and Egypt became a center of worship and later of strong Christian churches. Together with Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the whole chapter stands as fulfilled proof that the Bible foretold Egypt's history for more than twenty-four centuries. The prophecy to which the promise belongs was probably fulfilled centuries ago, not in modern times.
The chapter holding this promise lays out the revolutions and future state of Egypt as invaded, conquered and spoiled, put forever into the hands of strangers, reduced to the basest of kingdoms, left with no more a prince of its own, brought to renounce idolatry with its idols and images ceasing, and afflicted with drying rivers and wasted land. Within that sweep, verses 1-13 point to its subjection to the Macedonians under Alexander the Great. The promise itself joins Israel as a third alongside Egypt and Assyria to be a blessing in the midst of the land.
It foretells the spread and preaching of God's truth and the gospel in Egypt and Assyria in New Testament times. That spread bore fruit in Egypt when many Jews settled there, the Scriptures were translated into Greek, and Egypt became a center of worship and later of strong Christian churches. Together with Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the whole chapter stands as fulfilled proof that the Bible foretold Egypt's history for more than twenty-four centuries. The prophecy to which the promise belongs was probably fulfilled centuries ago, not in modern times.