“Egyptian Interest”

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

In the Bible in Isaiah 19:19-20, what exactly is this "altar" or "pillar?" Is it possible that it can be referring to a pyramid?

Sincerely,
Pointedly Asking

Dear Pointedly Asking,

We don’t know for sure what the altar or pillar was, but it may have been an altar set up by a Jewish man named Onias during the days of Ptolemy.  In chapter nineteen, Isaiah prophesies that Egypt will be destroyed (Isa 19:1).  Nobody knows for sure whether this refers to the conquest of Egypt by Piankhi or to the conquest by Esarhaddon.  In either case, when Assyria attacked Egypt, Judah was on the side of Assyria, and God’s people left their mark on that land by building altars to Jehovah in Egyptian territory.  That is the most likely fulfillment of Isa. 19:19-20.

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