Isaiah’s Prophecies About Cush (Ethiopia) and Egypt (Is. 18 – 20) in the Light of Two Historical Contexts: VIII–VII Centuries B. C. and I–IV Centuries A. D.

The article explores the literal-historical and messianic fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy about Cush and Egypt (Is. 18 – 20). On the one hand, the prophetic words are considered in a cultural-historical context in the VIII–VII centuries B. C. According to extra-biblical ancient Eastern sources, this period was marked by the spread of Assyria’s power to the east as far as Palestine and the border with Egypt, the consequence of which was a long Egyptian-Assyrian military confrontation that had a significant impact on the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah. All these processes were directly or indirectly connected with the partial fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy already before the eyes of his contemporaries, when the Israelites and Jews who had migrated to Egypt founded there temples dedicated to the Lord, the God of Israel. On the other hand, archaeological and historical research in recent decades has shed light on the social and religious changes that were taking place in Egypt in the 1st–4th centuries A. D. and that became the context for the messianic fulfilment of prophecy associated with the spread of Christianity. The paper concludes that the Jewish temples were prototypes of the temples of the Christian and New Testament Church. «Canaanite language» mentioned in the prophecy is identified with the Coptic language, which among Egyptian Christians became the language of faith in the Lord.

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