Isaiah 20:6

God’s people can now see for themselves that to depend on political agreements is hopeless. Only the *Lord can save them.

emperor ~ royal ruler over an empire.
empire ~ group of many countries that a powerful king had seized.
seize ~ to take a person’s possessions away from that person, either by law, or in a war. Or, to overcome a city or nation in order to rule it. Or, to take a person as a prisoner or a slave.
Philistine ~ a person from the country called Philistia, or anything that had a relationship with the country called Philistia.
Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible. In the original language, God’s names mean ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
Assyrian ~ a person from the country called Assyria; or anything that has a relationship with the country called Assyria.
seize ~ to take a person’s possessions away from that person, either by law, or in a war. Or, to overcome a city or nation in order to rule it. Or, to take a person as a prisoner or a slave.
empire ~ group of many countries that a powerful king had seized.
seize ~ to take a person’s possessions away from that person, either by law, or in a war. Or, to overcome a city or nation in order to rule it. Or, to take a person as a prisoner or a slave.
BC ~ ‘Before Christ’ (for dates before the birth of Jesus Christ).'

Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

Countries near Judah

Isaiah Chapter s 13 to 23

Gordon Churchyard

The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

Chapter 20

v1 In the year [711 *B.C.] the [commander called] the Tartan came to Ashdod. [That was] when Sargon, the king of Assyria, sent him. [The commander] fought against Ashdod’s [people] and he defeated [them].

v2 In that period, the *LORD spoke. [He spoke] by the hand of Isaiah, Amoz’s son. [The *LORD] said, ‘Go [home]. Take the rough hairy clothes off from your body and take the shoes off from your feet.’ And [Isaiah] did that. As he walked about, he was naked. And his feet were bare.

v3 And the *LORD said [this]. ‘For three years, my servant Isaiah was naked as he walked about. And he had bare feet. That showed something special against Egypt and Cush. And [it was] a *prophecy [against them].

v4 This is what the king of Assyria [will do]. He will take away [people] from Egypt as prisoners. And [he will take away people] from Cush as *exiles. Young people and old people will go. They will be naked and they will have bare feet. [People] will see their bottoms. That will make the people from Egypt ashamed.

v5 They (some other people) will be very unhappy and they will be ashamed. They had hoped that [people from] Cush [would help them]. Also, they had said proudly that [people from] Egypt [would help them].

v6 The people that live along this coast will say this in those days. “Look! This happened to the people from whom we hoped [to get help]. We went to them for help. [We did that] to escape from the king of Assyria. And now, we will not be able to escape [from him].” ’

Notes

Verse 1 ‘B.C.’ means ‘years Before Christ came to the Earth’. The Tartan was the leader of the army from Assyria. King Sargon, who sent him, wrote a record of this war. That record still exists. It includes these words. ‘I marched to Ashdod. I fought against it. I defeated it.’ Sargon was king of Assyria from 722 until 705 B.C. Ashdod was a city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was about 50 kilometres west from Jerusalem. It was in the country called Philistia.

Verse 2 This verse starts with an extraordinary statement. ‘The *LORD spoke. [He spoke] by the hand of Isaiah.’ So probably, Isaiah wrote with his hand the words that the *LORD spoke. *Jews wore hairy clothes when they were very sad. They made the hairy clothes from very rough cloth. Prophets probably wore those rough hairy clothes. The prophets were the men who told God’s messages to people. In Matthew 3:4 we can read about John the Baptist. He is called ‘the Baptist’ because of a ceremony called baptism, which he carried out. Matthew tells us an interesting fact about John’s clothes. John wore clothes that someone had made from camels’ hair. That was a similar rough cloth. But at this time, Isaiah wore no clothes and he wore no shoes.

Verse 3 ‘Walked’ means what Isaiah did for those three years. He never wore clothes or shoes! This was the only time when Isaiah acted a prophecy. ‘Prophecy’ here means a message about something that will happen. Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea also acted some prophecies.

Verse 4 The people cannot escape. An ‘exile’ is someone that is away from his own country. He is away because an enemy has taken him away. It made people very ashamed if other people could see their bottoms. But armies that defeated people often made those people naked.

Verse 5 We may ask who ‘they’ are here. Look back to the note before Isaiah 19:1. In that note, we read this. Judah’s army must not go together with Egypt’s army to fight against Assyria’s army. So ‘they’ means the people in Judah, and perhaps it means also the people in Philistia (called Philistines). The Philistines lived on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. That was about 50 kilometres west from Jerusalem. Soldiers from Cush will not help those people. Nor will soldiers from Egypt help. Then there will be nothing to talk about in a proud manner.

Verse 6 ‘This coast’ means the coast near Ashdod in Philistia. ‘The people that live along this coast’ probably means the people in Philistia. It probably means also the *Jews that lived near them. ‘In those days’ probably means the time when Assyria’s soldiers will defeat the armies of Egypt and Cush. If Egypt’s and Cush’s armies cannot escape from Assyria’s army, then nobody can! In *Hebrew, the people ask this question. ‘And now, how shall we escape [from him]?’ The answer to the people’s question is probably ‘No way’! ‘There is no way to escape!’

Final note

In these two Chapter s, Isaiah says this to the *Jews. ‘Do not go together with Egypt’s or Cush’s army to fight against Assyria. Assyria will defeat them both.’

Something to do

1. Many countries have these things:

• internal war

• economic failure

• bad leaders.

When you hear about such a country, then pray for that country. Pray that God’s promises in Isaiah 19:21-25 will happen to that country too.

2. Read about God as he ‘rides on the clouds’. You can find such descriptions in Psalms 18:10-12; Psalms 68:4; Psalms 68:33; and Psalms 104:3.

3. Read God’s rules against any conversation with the spirits of dead people. Those rules are in Deuteronomy 18:9-14.

4. In Chapter s 19 and 20 (and in their notes) we read about Judah, Jerusalem, Ashdod, Egypt, Zoan, Noph (Memphis), Cairo, Cush, Assyria. Study a map to discover where those places were.

5. Read about Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea when they acted some *prophecies. See Jeremiah 19:1-15; Jeremiah 32:6-12; Jeremiah 32:37-44; Ezekiel 5:1-17; and Hosea 1:2.

heavens ~ either the home of God or the skies.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
lord ~ master. With a capital L, it can be a name for God.
LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YAHWEH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YAHWEH.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
prophecy ~ the words of a prophet.
prophet ~ someone who tells people what God is saying.
exile ~ an exile is a person who lives away from his home and country. We say that he or she is ‘in exile’.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.