In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.
In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them.
So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them. The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.” (New International Version)
Yahweh is so much more than an ancient local Israelite deity. This is the Lord God almighty, creator of heaven and earth. God is the Lord of the universe, and Israel is not just a sliver of land in the Middle East.
As such, all peoples belong to God. And God is concerned for all the nations. In the ancient world, the Lord was even concerned for places like Egypt and Assyria – two nations which historically treated Israel with contempt and oppression.
The Lord God, Yahweh, as the prophet Isaiah stated, will be revealed to the Egyptians, so that they, too, will worship the Lord with sacrifices and offerings. They will revere God with a monument to Yahweh’s saving power.
The Egyptians will make religious vows and fulfill them. And there will also be relations with Assyria. Israel will exist alongside – and literally geographically in the middle – the powers of Egypt and Assyria. And Israel will serve as a blessing between them.
In other words, God will choose to bless, bringing both religious and political balance and peace. It is rather extraordinary that the Lord speaks of Egypt as “my people” and Assyria as “my handiwork.” God’s vision is always much larger than our own puny human sight or imagination.
In a biblical book filled with sad visions of judgment and God’s wrath, today’s Old Testament lesson is a beautiful vision of hope and peace. This, my friends, is what can be! It doesn’t have to be a pipe dream that various peoples who are historical enemies of one another can walk together in the peace and wholeness of God’s blessing. This is no impossible, although it appears highly improbable.
It takes little effort to hold onto hate and enmity; but it takes a great deal of energy to work on peacemaking, and loving those who have harmed others so terribly.
The fact of the matter is that Yahweh responds to every people who cry out in their oppression – even those who were once oppressors themselves.
That is called “grace,” and it is why grace is so scandalous, because a lot of folks don’t want to see grace extended to those they dislike, hate, and even want dead.
God will do for other nations what God did for Israel, in delivering them from their harsh slavery. The Lord’s ears hear everyone on the earth, and not just some people.
All of the hard-hearted resistance of the past, personified so stubbornly in the Pharaoh who would not let go of Israel, is remarkably overcome and reversed.
This is how it always seems to operate throughout history, including today. People cry out and are delivered, then worship the God who granted them grace and freedom. We very often come to believe because we were in some sort of awful trouble, which caused us to cry out and acknowledge the God who saves.
God both strikes and heals, attacks and helps. God moves people from rancorous relationships to robust reconciliation.
People, however, are not passive in any of this process. Those who are already blessed and enjoy God must relinquish any sort of exclusive thoughts or practices and be willing to share their identity and privilege with others who were once enemies.
Unity, harmony, wholeness, and a true ecumenical spirit and vision will bring people together. The benefits are wonderful, yet let it also be acknowledged that reconciliation and relationships require giving up any sense of being better than the other, or holding on to primacy of positions and power.
Stated positively, it means that we embrace a diversity of people, including them in every way possible, because we discern them as being equals, and not so different from me.
God has other chosen people besides me and you. Can you accept that?
“Egypt comes home to its true self only as Israel opens its sense of privilege to its adversaries.”
Walter Brueggemann
The Lord opposes the arrogant and proud, but gives grace to the humble. God will gladly deliver and welcome all peoples.
If we have the spiritual eyes to see, we will notice and observe that the world is God’s chosen people.
O God, hear our humble prayer, so that we may serve you in holiness and faith, giving voice to your divine presence among us until the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 