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 "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
( The "five cities" of Isaiah
19:
= 
= 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."
1 See longer note on Jeremiah 42-44.
