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Isaiah 20 (ESV)
A Sign Against Egypt and Cush
In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it— at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”
“Trust me.” Has anyone ever said that to you? What’s been your experience as you extended trust to others? In my experience, when a salesperson says, “trust me”, red flags automatically are raised.
But when my wife says “trust me,” there’s hardly any hesitation, although, given her occasional mischievousness, I hesitate slightly if I believe her invitation to trust is connected to a prank.
This chapter continues to press the concern about who will hold the trust of the people of God.
This chapter records the only time when Isaiah is called to act out a prophecy. Isaiah’s actions are referred to as a “living parable”. Ezekiel and Hosea are other prophets who are called to act as living parables, and their calls to action in that role are much more frequent or longer-term.
As with the previous chapter, the point of this living parable is all about trust. Why would the southern kingdom of Judah put their trust in Egypt to protect it from the Assyrians when, in just a short time, Egypt will fall to the Assyrians, the very ones that Egypt is promising to protect Judah from?
And please don’t miss the fact that Isaiah doesn’t perform this living parable for a few hours, days, or weeks. Isaiah is a living parable for three years! For three years, Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot.
The best scholarship suggests that Isaiah wasn’t completely naked, that he was able to wear a loincloth, which would expose his buttocks, but the point was literally there for all to see. Egypt would be defeated by the Assyrians and carried away in shame, naked, exposed, and barefoot.
This is a stark prophecy that should have shaken the people of the southern kingdom of Judah and its king to their core, as it raised the question, “Who will Judah trust to protect them, the Lord or other nation-states that will be conquered themselves?”
Their “trust” question is still with us today. Who or what will hold your trust? Finite, limited human beings? Resources that are here one day and gone the next? Your own strength and ability? Or will you trust the Lord, the Maker, Creator, and Sustainer of all things, who has never failed to keep His promises, the very One who sent and gave His own Son Jesus to us so that we might not perish but be saved?
God bless you, and know that you are constantly in my prayers.
Scott
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