| General Tartan, commander in chief in Syria, stormed the city of Ashdod and captured it. In the same year (712 B.C.) Isaiah was told to remove his sackcloth and shoes and to walk naked and barefoot for three years. This was a symbol that God was going to strip the clothing and shoes from the people of Egypt and Ethiopia and send them with their bare buttocks to Exile. In the meantime Israel and the costal people will be dismayed for their hope was in their allies Egypt. The commentary section will shed more light on the subject. |
1In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it.
Around the year of 712 (BC) Tartan, one of the generals of Sargon, king of Assyria, was sent to storm and capture Ashdod. This city was about 18 miles northeast of Gaza and was one of 5 principal citys of the Philistines. In 1963 a monument was discovered in Ashdod commemorating Sargon’s victory over Ashdod.
CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES
THAT ILLUMINATE THE TEXT:
Amo 1:8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD. Read: 2Ki 18:17; 1Sa 6:17; Jer 25:20-27; Jer 25:29-33
2At 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.
Isaiah was told by the Lord to remove his sackcloth and shoes and walk around half clad with a loin cloth covering his private parts and his buttock uncovered.
CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES
THAT LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:
Mic 1:8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
Joh 21:7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. Read: Jer 13:1-11; Jer 19:1-15; Eze 4:5; 2Ki 1:8; Zec 13:4; Exo 3:5; Jos 5:15; Eze 24:17-23; 1 Sam. 19:24; 2Sa 6:20; 2Sa 6:20; Job 1:20-22; Act 19:16; Num 14:33-34; Eze 4:5; Rev 11:2-3; Isa 18:1-7 –
3And 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;
Disrobed and barefoot Isaiah will walk in public for the next three years as a wonder and sign and warning to Egypt. He was a walking, living billboard and a public announcement of the coming doom on Egypt and Ethiopia.
CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES
THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:
Isa 19:4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
Eze 30:18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.
4So 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.
Sargon the king of Assyria with his mighty army defeats the king of Egypt and marches a long line of prisoners in chains, naked and barefooted all the way to Assyria where they were sold as slaves to other nations. The prophet Isaiah with his bare buttock had told them for three years that they would be on parade shuffling off to exile amid mockery and jeers. The prophecy proved to be true.
CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES
THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:
Isa 3:17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.
Jer 13:22 And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
Mic 1:11 Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive of you his standing.
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
5And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
The leaders of Israel were confounded and turned pale because they trusted in the power of Egypt to save them from Babylonia.
CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT PRESENT OVERWHELMING PROOF OF THE TEXT:
Isa 30:6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
Eze 29:6-7 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
6And 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?
The inhabitants along the coast─the Philistines and the people of Tyre and Sidon─will say “look at our hope, now what are we going to do─if this can happen to Egypt what are we going to do. How are we going to escape exile, captivity and slavery?”
CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES
THAT RATIFY THE TEXT:
Jer 47:4-7 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor. Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself? O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it. Read: Isa 30:1-7; Isa 31:1-3; Heb 2:3
