‘And the spirit of Egypt will be made void in its midst, and I will destroy its counsel, and they will seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to those who have familiar spirits, and to the wizards, and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord, and a fierce king will rule over them, says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.'
The weak and demoralised state Egypt will find itself in is made apparent. Their ‘spirit is void in their midst', all heart will have gone, their rulers will be weak, ineffective and lacking in wisdom, unable to give proper counsel and make right decisions. Compare Isaiah 19:14 where it is made clear that this is the work of Yahweh.
And it is because of this that they will seek to all the means of divination because they have nowhere reliable to turn to. Man tends to seek to the occult when he is spiritually bankrupt. But it will do them no good. All their idols and diviners cannot help them. There is here a reminder to Judah of the folly of trusting in the same things (Isaiah 8:19). The picture is a pathetic one of desperate people with nowhere to turn. Certainly not a people to rely on!
It is a reminder that finally the plight of all nations is in the hands of God. It is the coming of Yahweh riding on the clouds that has done this. He it is Who is responsible for their political dilemma and weakness.
The result will be conquest by an outsider. The Cushites under their princes Kashta and Piankhi, who were in fact strongly influenced by Egyptian culture, first conquered upper Egypt. Then Piankhi successfully moved down into lower Egypt, although he did not consolidate his position. That was left to his successor Shabaka who completed the task. Now a cruel lord and a fierce king ruled over them. And this was all due, says Isaiah, to the action of the sovereign Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
The prophecy has in mind that Egypt's future destiny is to be a conquered people. In the not too distant future Egypt will be occupied by the Assyrian empire under Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal of Assyria (see chapter 20), followed by occupation by Babylon, then by Persia, then by the Grecian empire, and then by Rome. Its time of great power was over. So the main point is that Egypt cannot be trusted because it is itself weak and from now on subject to conquest.