Isaiah 20

Against Egypt and Cush

In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him) and fought against Ashdod, and took it, 2 at that same time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and remove the sackcloth from your waist, and take off your sandals from your feet”. And he did so, walking about naked and barefoot.

3 And the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked about naked and barefoot three years as a sign and wonder against Egypt and against Ethiopia, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead the Egyptians away prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5 And they will be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their hope, and of Egypt their glory.

20:5 This would include the Philistines who looked to Egypt for help.⚜

6 And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, ‘See, such is our hope, where we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And how will we escape?’ ”

20:1-6 Ashdod was near the border of Judah. Judah and Jerusalem were endangered by Assyria’s armies. Some in Judah brought pressure on the king to make an alliance with Egypt (v 5; Isa 30:1-2; 31:1). God made Isaiah a sign to the people that the allied peoples of Egypt and Cush would themselves be put to shame and led away capture. Victorious armies in those days sometimes stripped conquered enemies and led them away.⚜