“What fools are the officials of Zoan! Their best counsel to the king of Egypt is stupid and wrong. Will they still boast to Pharaoh of their wisdom? Will they dare brag about all their wise ancestors? Where are your wise counsellors, Pharaoh? Let them tell you what God plans, what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is going to do to Egypt. The officials of Zoan are fools, and the officials of Memphis are deluded. The leaders of the people have led Egypt astray. The Lord has sent a spirit of foolishness on them, so all their suggestions are wrong. They cause Egypt to stagger like a drunk in his vomit. There is nothing Egypt can do. All are helpless— the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.”
Isaiah 19:11-15 NLT
What we pilgrims know about the ancient nation of Egypt we obtain from the stories of Joseph and Moses. Joseph’s story commenced in Genesis 35, as the son of Jacob and Rachel. After some skulduggery by his brothers, he ended up in Egypt, initially as a slave of a senior military man in the Pharaoh’s army. From there, and via a prison sentence, Joseph became the first minister in Pharaoh’s government, an extremely important and powerful position. We read about the famine in that region, which extended as far as Canaan, and how Joseph saved the Egyptian people and his own family. The Israelites settled in Egypt, initially as shepherds, but they subsequently became slaves, building Pharaoh’s cities and tombs. It was during that period that Moses was born, and we all know the story of Moses and how he escaped the command of Pharaoh that all boys were to be killed at birth, a staple of children’s books of Bible stories. But the educated Moses got into trouble and was forced to run for his life to the land of Midian, where he married a daughter of the priest there. After about forty years of tending sheep, Moses came upon a burning bush, where God commissioned him to return to Egypt to lead God’s people out into the promised land. In the accounts of the conversations between Moses and Pharaoh, we find more background information that supports the verses we read today from Isaiah 19.
Isaiah’s prophecy refers to the foolish “official of Zoan”. Zoan was a major political and economic centre located in the northeastern Nile Delta region of Egypt. It served as a royal capital and a renowned seat of government, power, and ancient wisdom. So to call its officials “fools”, saying that “their best counsel to the king of Egypt is stupid and wrong”, indicated that there must have been wisdom available that was better than theirs. But of course there was, because God’s wisdom is perfect. James wrote, “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace-loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favouritism and is always sincere” (James 3:17). But the officials in Zoan had no chance because their human wisdom was lacking, and because “the Lord [had] sent a spirit of foolishness on them, so all their suggestions [were] wrong”.
Perhaps, as we pause at this point, we look at the decisions our own governments are making in the central and devolved regions of the UK. Regardless of politics and parties, decision-making sometimes looks foolish when we try to view it through the eyes of God and His ways. Sadly, that accusation even extends to our national Christian denominations, but in the end, history will be the judge. In Isaiah’s prophecy, we read, “The leaders of the people have led Egypt astray”, and perhaps the same accusation will be levelled at our governments with the benefit of hindsight.
But the central thrust of the verses before us today is that human wisdom has its limitations. Paul wrote, “As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish” (1 Corinthians 1:19-20). Of course, Paul was referring to the Cross of Christ, considered foolish, offensive and nonsense by the Jews and the Greeks, “But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:24-25). But as we read on in the Isaiah 19 prophecy, we find that a day would come when the Egyptians would join with other enemies of God to worship Him, their foolishness replaced by the knowledge of the wisdom of the cross.
We pilgrims should know quite a bit about wisdom, because we need only open the pages of the Bible to find many references to God’s wisdom. For example, there is Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil”. Sound advice, because we know that as we stay close to God, we are assured of living our lives the way He desires for us. There is plenty of “foolish counsel” available in the world today, mostly because a moral compass is lacking. We look on as the debates between different ideologies rage on, bringing much heat but little light into the lives of our fellow citizens. We look on as wars and conflicts blight our planet, bringing misery to so many people. We look on as the various “faiths” each claim its own solution to mankind’s woes. But quietly in God’s corner, kneeling at His footstool, we find the wisdom we need to make our way on our journey to glory. His Word is the only true source of the wisdom we need to counter the foolishness of the godless people around us.
Dear Father God. It is only in You that we can find the words of eternal life and the Source of true wisdom. The world around us may scoff and ridicule, but as we stand firm, we will weather the storms of life, coming into Glory worshipping and praising our wonderful Saviour, Jesus. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 