Isaiah 20 KJV
A Sign Against Egypt and Cush
Isaiah Chapter 20: A Sign Against Egypt and Cush
Isaiah's three-year sign-act of going stripped and barefoot directly mirrors the Assyrian practice of parading high-ranking Egyptian and Cushite captives in humiliating nudity, a detail rooted in Sargonid reliefs and royal annals rather than generic shame imagery.
1n the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
2 At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
4 So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
5 And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
6 And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?
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Did You Know?
Isaiah's three-year sign-act of going stripped and barefoot directly mirrors the Assyrian practice of parading high-ranking Egyptian and Cushite captives in humiliating nudity, a detail rooted in Sargonid reliefs and royal annals rather than generic shame imagery.
The chapter functions as a deliberate counter-narrative to the optimistic Cushite embassy described in Isaiah 18, reframing the same African powers from potential allies into objects of divine derision through embodied prophecy.
Unlike most prophetic sign-acts that last hours or days, this one extends across multiple years, forcing Judah to confront the prolonged geopolitical fallout of trusting Egypt before the predicted Assyrian campaigns under Esarhaddon materialized.
Theologically, the oracle collapses the distinction between foreign policy and covenant fidelity by treating military alliance with Cush-Egypt as functional idolatry, a motif that echoes the golden-calf episode yet targets statecraft instead of cult objects.
The prose form of Isaiah 20 stands out against the surrounding poetic oracles, signaling a shift from visionary poetry to public, verifiable enactment intended to silence court debate over Egyptian aid during the Ashdod crisis.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain Tartan โ probably the same general as was sent by Sennacherib against Hezekiah (2Ki 18:17). GESENIUS takes "Tartan" as a title. Ashdod โ called by the Greeks Azotus (Ac 8:40); on tโฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Isaiah 20 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: Continuation of the subject of the nineteenth chapter, but at a later date. Captivity of Egypt and ethiopia.
- 1
- Tartan โ probably the same general as was sent by Sennacherib against Hezekiah (2Ki 18:17). GESENIUS takes "Tartan" as a title. Ashdod โ called by the Greeks Azotus (Ac 8:40); on the Mediterranean, one of the "five" cities of the Philistines. The taking of it was a necessary preliminary to the invasion of Egypt, to which it was the key in that quarter, the Philistines being allies of Egypt. So strongly did the Assyrians fortify it that it stood a twenty-nine years' siege, when it was retaken by the Egyptian Psammetichus. sent โ Sargon himself remained behind engaged with the Phยnician cities, or else led the main force more directly into Egypt out of Judah [G. V. SMITH].
- 2
- by โ literally, "by the hand of" (compare Eze 3:14). sackcloth โ the loose outer garment of coarse dark hair-cloth worn by mourners (2Sa 3:31) and by prophets, fastened at the waist by a girdle (Mt 3:4; 2Ki 1:8; Zec 13:4). naked โ rather, "uncovered"; he merely put off the outer sackcloth, retaining still the tunic or inner vest (1Sa 19:24; Am 2:16; Joh 21:7); an emblem to show that Egypt should be stripped of its possessions; the very dress of Isaiah was a silent exhortation to repentance.
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