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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