Isaiah20
New King James Version
1In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it,
2at the same time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3Then the Lord said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia,
4so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
5Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory.
6And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, ‘Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?’ ”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Isaiah 20.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The invasion and conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia. (1-6).
vv1-6
Isaiah was a sign to the people by his unusual dress, when he walked abroad. He commonly wore sackcloth as a prophet, to show himself mortified to the world. He was to loose this from his loins; to wear no upper garments, and to go barefooted. This sign was to signify, that the Egyptians and Ethiopians should be led away captives by the king of Assyria, thus stripped. The world will often deem believers foolish, when singular in obedience to God. But the Lord will support his servants under the most trying effects of their obedience; and what they are called upon to suffer for his sake, commonly is light, compared with what numbers groan under from year to year from sin. Those who make any creature their expectation and glory, and so put it in the place of God, will, sooner or later, be ashamed of it. But disappointment in creature-confidences, instead of driving us to despair, should drive us to God, and our expectation shall not be in vain. The same lesson is in force now; and where shall we look for aid in the hour of necessity, but to the Lord our Righteousness?
Key Words
שָׁנֶה: a year (as a revolution of time)
תַּרְתָּן: Tartan, an Assyrian
שָׁלַח: to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)
סַרְגּוֹן: Sargon, an Assyrian king
מֶלֶךְ: a king
אַשּׁוּר: Ashshur, the second son of Shem; also his descendants and the country occupied by them (i.e. Assyria), its region and its empire
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
אַשְׁדּוֹד: Ashdod, a place in Palestine
לָחַם: to feed on; figuratively, to consume; by implication, to battle (as destruction)
לָכַד: to catch (in a net, trap or pit); generally, to capture or occupy; also to choose (by lot); figuratively, to cohere
Cross References
Isaiah 20Mentions Tartan, the Assyrian commander sent by the king of Assyria, demonstrating historical continuity.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Establishes Isaiah and his children as prophetic signs and wonders in Israel.
Supported by JFB
Illustrates the shameful exposure of captives, specifically cutting garments to expose the buttocks.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Confirms that prophets typically wore coarse, hairy garments or sackcloth as their distinctive mantle.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Describes Elijah's hairy garment and leather girdle, parallel to Isaiah's symbolic prophet garb.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Provides a biblical parallel for 'naked' meaning stripped of outer garments rather than entirely unclothed.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Demonstrates the idiom 'naked' used for a person wearing only their inner tunic.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Warns of the shame and confusion resulting from trusting in Egypt for protection.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
David walking barefoot and weeping serves as a sign of mourning and humiliation.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Ezekiel acts as a sign to Israel, showing how they will act when judgment falls.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Depicts judgment using the same imagery of uncovering legs and thighs in shameful captivity.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Denounces those who go down to Egypt for help instead of trusting the Lord.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Micah laments by going stripped and naked, mirroring Isaiah's symbolic actions.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Illustrates the prophetic principle relating days to years in symbolic judgment actions.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Records the historical fulfillment of No-Amon (Thebes) in Egypt being carried away captive.
Supported by JFB