Isaiah20
New Living Translation
1In the year when King Sargon of Assyria sent his commander in chief to capture the Philistine city of Ashdod,
2the Lord told Isaiah son of Amoz, “Take off the burlap you have been wearing, and remove your sandals.” Isaiah did as he was told and walked around naked and barefoot.
3Then the Lord said, “My servant Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot for the last three years. This is a sign—a symbol of the terrible troubles I will bring upon Egypt and Ethiopia.
4For the king of Assyria will take away the Egyptians and Ethiopians as prisoners. He will make them walk naked and barefoot, both young and old, their buttocks bared, to the shame of Egypt.
5Then the Philistines will be thrown into panic, for they counted on the power of Ethiopia and boasted of their allies in Egypt!
6They will say, ‘If this can happen to Egypt, what chance do we have? We were counting on Egypt to protect us from the king of Assyria.’”
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.
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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.
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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.
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Warns of the shame and confusion resulting from trusting in Egypt for protection.
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David walking barefoot and weeping serves as a sign of mourning and humiliation.
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Ezekiel acts as a sign to Israel, showing how they will act when judgment falls.
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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.
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Micah laments by going stripped and naked, mirroring Isaiah's symbolic actions.
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Illustrates the prophetic principle relating days to years in symbolic judgment actions.
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Records the historical fulfillment of No-Amon (Thebes) in Egypt being carried away captive.
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