Isaiah 20 Study Notes: Isaiah's Barefoot Sign
Tied to Assyria's capture of the Philistine city of Ashdod, this chapter tells how the LORD had Isaiah spend three years going stripped and barefoot as a living warning. Assyria will lead Egypt and Cush away as captives, shaming all who trusted them for rescue.
General
According to 20:1, which city did Sargon's commander capture?
Answer: Ashdod
Chapter 20 is dated by a historical event: Sargon of Assyria sent his chief commander against Ashdod, who took the city (20:1). Ashdod was one of the cities of the Philistines (1 Samuel 5:1). The LORD's command to Isaiah and the sign that follows are tied to that event. Isaiah had already called Assyria the instrument of the LORD's anger (Isaiah 10:5).
- Isaiah 20:1 (BSB)“Before the year that the chief commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it,”Assyria captures Ashdod under Sargon's commander.
- 1 Samuel 5:1 (BSB)“After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod,”Ashdod is named as a city of the Philistines.
- Isaiah 10:5 (BSB)“Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.”God calls Assyria the rod of His anger.
Theological
Which city's capture by Assyria provides the setting for chapter 20?
Answer: Ashdod
The sign-act of chapter 20 is anchored in a datable event: the capture of the Philistine city Ashdod (1 Samuel 5:1) by Sargon's chief commander (20:1). The LORD's word to Isaiah is tied to that event, as Assyria advances as the rod of the LORD's anger (Isaiah 10:5).
- Isaiah 20:1 (BSB)“Before the year that the chief commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it,”Assyria captures Ashdod under Sargon's commander.
- 1 Samuel 5:1 (BSB)“After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod,”Ashdod is named as a city of the Philistines.
- Isaiah 10:5 (BSB)“Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.”God calls Assyria the rod of His anger.
General
What did Isaiah's three-year sign mean, according to 20:3-4?
Answer: Assyria would carry off Egypt's and Cush's people as captives
The LORD explains that just as Isaiah went stripped and barefoot, so Assyria's king would lead away captives from Egypt and exiles from Cush, both young and old, stripped and barefoot, to Egypt's shame (20:3-4). Isaiah's body became a living picture of the humiliation coming on the nations others were trusting for help. God works through powers like Assyria to humble proud nations (Isaiah 10:5), and Isaiah warns that relying on Pharaoh's protection would end in shame (Isaiah 30:1-3).
- Isaiah 20:3 (BSB)“Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,”Isaiah's sign points to Egypt and Cush.
- Isaiah 10:5 (BSB)“Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.”God uses Assyria as the instrument of His judgment.
- Isaiah 30:1-3 (BSB)““Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin. They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade. But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.”Isaiah warns that trusting Pharaoh's protection will bring shame.
Theological
What does the LORD say Isaiah's sign foreshadowed (20:3-4)?
Answer: Assyria would carry off Egypt's and Cush's people as captives
Verses 3-4 interpret the sign: as Isaiah went stripped and barefoot, so Assyria's king would march off Egypt's captives and Cush's exiles, young and old, in the same humiliating condition, to Egypt's disgrace. The prophet's body enacts the coming shame of the powers others were leaning on. Assyria serves as the instrument of the LORD's judgment (Isaiah 10:5), and Isaiah 30:1-3 warns that seeking refuge in Pharaoh would end in disgrace.
- Isaiah 20:3 (BSB)“Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,”Isaiah's sign points to Egypt and Cush.
- Isaiah 10:5 (BSB)“Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.”God uses Assyria as the instrument of His judgment.
- Isaiah 30:1-3 (BSB)““Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin. They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade. But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.”Isaiah warns that trusting Pharaoh's protection will bring shame.
General
For how long did Isaiah walk stripped and barefoot as a sign (20:3)?
Answer: Three years
The LORD told Isaiah to remove his sackcloth and his sandals, and he obeyed, going about stripped and barefoot (20:2). God then explained that Isaiah's three years of this were a sign and warning about Egypt and Cush (20:3). Prophets sometimes acted out God's message: Ezekiel was told to lay siege to a model city as a sign to Israel (Ezekiel 4:3) and to say that he himself was a sign of the coming exile (Ezekiel 12:11).
- Isaiah 20:2 (BSB)“the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.”The LORD tells Isaiah to remove his sackcloth and sandals.
- Isaiah 20:3 (BSB)“Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,”Isaiah's three-year sign concerns Egypt and Cush.
- Ezekiel 4:3 (BSB)“Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.”Ezekiel also acted out a sign to Israel.
- Ezekiel 12:11 (BSB)“You are to say, ‘I am a sign to you.’ Just as it happened here, so will it be done to them; they will go into exile as captives.”Ezekiel was told that he himself was a sign of exile.
Theological
How long did Isaiah's sign-act of going stripped and barefoot last, according to 20:3?
Answer: Three years
At the LORD's command Isaiah removed his sackcloth and sandals and went about stripped and barefoot (20:2), and 20:3 specifies the duration: three years, serving as a portent concerning Egypt and Cush. Such enacted prophecy has parallels in Ezekiel's siege model (Ezekiel 4:3) and his self-identification as a sign of exile (Ezekiel 12:11).
- Isaiah 20:2 (BSB)“the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.”The LORD tells Isaiah to remove his sackcloth and sandals.
- Isaiah 20:3 (BSB)“Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,”Isaiah's three-year sign concerns Egypt and Cush.
- Ezekiel 4:3 (BSB)“Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.”Ezekiel also acted out a sign to Israel.
- Ezekiel 12:11 (BSB)“You are to say, ‘I am a sign to you.’ Just as it happened here, so will it be done to them; they will go into exile as captives.”Ezekiel was told that he himself was a sign of exile.
General
What will the people of the coastland conclude when Egypt and Cush fall (20:6)?
Answer: If their helpers fell, they themselves cannot escape
Those who pinned their hopes on Cush and boasted in Egypt will be put to shame (20:5). The people of the coastland will look at what happened to the nations they ran to for help against Assyria and ask how they can possibly escape (20:6). Trusting powerful nations instead of the LORD ends in shame. Isaiah later pronounces woe on those who look to Egypt for aid instead of looking to Israel's Holy One (Isaiah 31:1), the Assyrian envoy mocked Egypt as a splintered reed (Isaiah 36:6), and the psalmist warns not to trust in princes who cannot save (Psalm 146:3).
- Isaiah 20:5-6 (BSB)“Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed. And on that day the dwellers of this coastland will say, ‘See what has happened to our source of hope, those to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’””Those who trusted Egypt and Cush are left without escape.
- Isaiah 31:1 (BSB)“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.”Isaiah condemns relying on Egypt instead of the LORD.
- Isaiah 36:6 (BSB)“Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.”Egypt is pictured as a broken staff that wounds those who lean on it.
- Psalm 146:3 (BSB)“Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.”Mortal rulers cannot save those who trust in them.
Theological
What lesson do the coastland's inhabitants draw in 20:6 from the fall of Egypt and Cush?
Answer: If their helpers fell, they themselves cannot escape
Reliance on Cush and boasting in Egypt end in dismay and shame (20:5), and the coastland's inhabitants, seeing the fate of those to whom they ran for help against Assyria, conclude that escape is impossible (20:6). The lesson is the futility of trusting human powers in place of the LORD, a theme Isaiah presses in 31:1, illustrated by the Assyrian taunt about Egypt as a splintered reed (Isaiah 36:6), and stated in Psalm 146:3.
- Isaiah 20:5-6 (BSB)“Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed. And on that day the dwellers of this coastland will say, ‘See what has happened to our source of hope, those to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’””Those who trusted Egypt and Cush are left without escape.
- Isaiah 31:1 (BSB)“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.”Isaiah condemns relying on Egypt instead of the LORD.
- Isaiah 36:6 (BSB)“Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.”Egypt is pictured as a broken staff that wounds those who lean on it.
- Psalm 146:3 (BSB)“Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.”Mortal rulers cannot save those who trust in them.