20:1ffSargon II was king of Assyria from 722-705 B.C., and this event happened in 711 B.C. Isaiah graphically reminds Judah that they should not count on foreign alliances to protect them.
Life Application Study BibleIsaiahChapter 20
Isaiah 20
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original page: 1121
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20Isaiah 20
A Message about Egypt and Ethiopia
12 In 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! *They 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.’”
Textual footnotes
- 20:1 Ashdod was captured by Assyria in 711 3.c.
- 20:3 Hebrew Cush; also in 20:5.
Life Application Notes 3 notes
20:2God’s command to Isaiah to walk about naked for three years was a humiliating experience. God was using Isaiah to demonstrate the humiliation that Egypt and Ethiopia would experience at the hands of Assyria. But the message was really for Judah: Don’t put your trust in foreign governments, or you will experience this kind of shame from your captors. Human governments and institutions can never take God’s place.
20:2God asked Isaiah to do something that seemed shameful and illogical. At times. God may ask us to take steps we don’t understand. We must obey God in complete faith, for he will never ask us to do something wrong.