CHAPTER XXI.

NOTICES OF EGYPT IN ISAIAH.

"The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth 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 of it. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians; and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hands of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts. . . . Surely the princes of Zoan are fools; the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish; how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord hath purposed upon Egypt. The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof."-ISA. xix. 1-13.

It was a principal part of the mission of Isaiah during the reign of Hezekiah to dissuade the Jews from placing their dependence on Egypt in the struggle wherein they were engaged, with the prophet's entire consent and approval, against the Assyrians. Egypt,

it was revealed to him, was no sure stay, no trustworthy ally, no powerful protector; she would fail in time of need, either unwilling or unable to give effectual help. (See ch. xx. 6; xxx. 3, 7; xxxi. 1-3.) Nor was this the worst. So long as king and people put their trust in an "arm of flesh," and did not rely upon God, God's arm was straitened, and he could. not work the miraculous deliverance, which He was prepared to work, "because of their unbelief." Isaiah's prophecies with respect to Egypt are thus, almost entirely, depreciatory and denunciatory. He is bent on showing that she is a power on whom no dependence can be wisely placed, in the hope that he may thereby prevent Hezekiah and his princes from contracting any alliance with the Egyptian monarch.

In this first prophecy he announces two calamities as about to befall Egypt, either of which is sufficient to render her an utterly worthless ally. The first of these calamities is civil war. The Egyptians are about to "fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom." It is a remarkable illustration of this prophecy to find, as we do, from an inscription of Piankhi-Merammon,' that about B. C. 735 Egypt was divided up among no fewer than twenty-two princes, of whom four bore the title of "king," and that a civil war raged among them for some considerable time. Tafnekht, prince of Sais, began the disturbance by a

1 See "Records of the Past," vol. ii., pp. 81-104; and compare Brugsch, "Geschichte Ægyptens,” pp. 682-707.

series of skilfully arranged encroachments upon his neighbours. "During several years he laid siege successively to the fortresses which were held by the independent military chiefs and the petty princes of the western portion of Lower Egypt. Once master of all the territory to the west of the middle branch of the Nile, Tafnekht, respecting the dominion of the dynasty of Tanis over the Eastern Delta, proceeded to mount the stream, in order to make himself master of Central Egypt, and even with the intention of essaying the conquest of Upper Egypt, which was in the possession of the Ethiopian kings of Napata at this period. The stronghold of Meri-tum, now Meydoum, the district of Lake Moris, the city of Heracleopolis, with its king Pefaabast, and that of Hermopolis, with its king Osorkon, recognised his authority as sovereign. He also made himself master of

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Aphroditopolis, and, pursuing his career of success, was in course of conquering the canton of Ouab, with its capital, Pa-matsets, when the chiefs of the upper and lower country who had not yet bowed their heads to his yoke invoked the aid of the Ethiopian monarch." Piankhi gladly responded to the call, and in the course of one or two campaigns succeeded in despoiling Tafnekht of all his conquests, and in restoring Egypt to tranquillity. He then reigned for some years in peace; but at his death disturbances broke out afresh. Bocchoris, or Bok-en-ranf, who succeeded Tafnekht at Sais, had a reign as troubled 1 1 Lenormant, "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. ii. p. 344.

as his predecessor's. "It was," says M. Lenormant,' 'an incessant struggle against the petty princes, a continuous series of wars, first for the subjection of the Delta and Central Egypt, nay, even temporarily of the Thebaid, and then for the preservation of his conquests, and the maintenance with much difficulty of a precarious dominion." In the end Bocchoris succumbed to Shabak, the successor of Piankhi, who punished his rebellion, as he considered it, by burning him alive. A third occasion of civil war, belonging to a somewhat later date, is mentioned by Herodotus. Psammetichus, the founder of the twenty-sixth dynasty, had to contend, according to this author, with eleven of his brother princes before he succeeded in uniting all Egypt under his sceptre. Briefly, it may be said that Egypt from about B. C. 735 to B. C. 650, suffered from a continued series of civil wars, which rendered her exceptionally weak, and caused her to fall an easy prey alternately to the Ethiopians and the Assyrians.

The other calamity prophesied is that of conquest by a foreign king of a fierce and cruel temper. "The Egyptians will I give over into the hands of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord" (ver. 4). The Egyptian and Assyrian records show that, between the years B. C. 750 and B.C. 650, Egypt was conquered at least five times, and was ruled by at least eight foreign monarchs. The first con

1 Lenormant, "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. ii., p. 349.

2 Manetho ap. Syncell., “Chronograph.,” p. 74, B.

series of skilfully arranged encroachments upon his neighbours. "During several years he laid siege successively to the fortresses which were held by the independent military chiefs and the petty princes of the western portion of Lower Egypt. Once master of all the territory to the west of the middle branch of the Nile, Tafnekht, respecting the dominion of the dynasty of Tanis over the Eastern Delta, proceeded to mount the stream, in order to make himself master of Central Egypt, and even with the intention of essaying the conquest of Upper Egypt, which was in the possession of the Ethiopian kings of Napata at this period. The stronghold of Meri-tum, now Meydoum, the district of Lake Moris, the city of Heracleopolis, with its king Pefaabast, and that of Hermopolis, with its king Osorkon, recognised his authority as sovereign. He also made himself master of Aphroditopolis, and, pursuing his career of success, was in course of conquering the canton of Ouab, with its capital, Pa-matsets, when the chiefs of the upper and lower country who had not yet bowed their heads to his yoke invoked the aid of the Ethiopian monarch." Piankhi gladly responded to the call, and in the course of one or two campaigns succeeded in despoiling Tafnekht of all his conquests, and in restoring Egypt to tranquillity. He then reigned for some years in peace; but at his death disturbances broke out afresh. Bocchoris, or Bok-en-ranf, who succeeded Tafnekht at Sais, had a reign as troubled

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1 Lenormant, "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne,” vol. ii. p. 344.