The "Altar to Jehovah in the Land of
Egypt" (Isaiah 19:19).
This Is Appendix 81 From The Companion Bible.
The fulfillment of this prophecy took place in 1
B.C., and is recorded by Josephus (Antiquities xiii. 3.
1-3; 6;
Wars 7. 10, 3; and Against
Apion, 2. 5) :-
In consequence of wars between the Jews and Syrians,
O NIAS IV, the High Priest, fled to Alexandria; where, on account of his
active sympathy with the cause of Egypt against Syria, he was welcomed by
PTOLEMY PHILOMETOR, and rewarded by
being made prince over the Jews in Egypt,1 with the title of
Ethnarch and Alabarch. Josephus says :-
"Onias asked permission from Ptolemy and
Cleopatra to build a temple in Egypt like that at Jerusalem, and to
appoint for it priests and Levites of his own Nation. This he devised,
relying chiefly on the prophet Isaiah, who, 600 years before predicted
that a temple must be builded in Egypt by a Jew to the supreme God. He
therefore wrote to Ptolemy and Cleopatra the following epistle :-
- 'Having come with the Jews to Leontopolis of the Heliopolite
district, and other abodes of my Nation, and finding that many had
sacred rites, not as was due, and were thus hostile to each other, which
has befallen the Egyptians also through the vanity of their religions,
and disagreeing in their services, I found a most convenient place in
the fore-mentioned stronghold, abounding with wood and sacred animals. I
ask leave, then, clearing away an idol temple, that has fallen down, to
build a temple to the supreme God, that the Jews dwelling in Egypt,
harmoniously coming together, may minister to thy benefit. For Isaiah
the prophet has predicted thus : "There shall be an altar in
Egypt to the LORD God"; and he prophesied many other such things
concerning the place.'
- "The King and Queen replied : 'We have read thy
request asking leave to clear away the fallen temple in Leontopolis of
the Heliopolite nome. We are surprised that a temple should be pleasing
to God, settled in an impure place, and one full of sacred animals. But
since thou sayest that Isaiah the prophet so long ago foretold it, we
grant thee leave, if, according to the Law we may not seem to have
offended against God.'" (Antiquities. xiii. 6.)
The place of this temple was the identical spot
where many centuries before, Israel had light in their dwellings while the
rest of Egypt was suffering from a plague of darkness. Here again was
light in the darkness, which continued for more than 200 years (about 160
B.C. to A.D. 71), when it was closed by Vespasian.
The Jerusalem Jews were opposed to, and jealous of,
this rival temple; and, by changing two letters almost identical in form
( =
H (or CH) to = H) turned "the city of the sun"
(cheres) into "the city of destruction"
(heres). But the former reading is found in many codices,
two early printed editions, and some ancient versions, as well as in the
margins of the Authorized Version and Revised Version. The Septuagint
reading shows that the Hebrew Manuscripts from which that version was
made, read 'ir-ha-zedek = "the city of
righteousness."
The "five cities" of Isaiah
19: 18 were probably
Heliopolis (the city of the sun, where this temple was built),
Leontopolis, Daphne, Migdol, and Memphis.
NOTE
1 See longer note on
Jeremiah
42-44.
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