Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"My servant Isaiah"
Text: Isaiah 20:3
NOT EASY TO BE A PROPHET OF GOD
It was not easy to be a prophet of God, sent to prophesy difficult messages. This time round, the message of the LORD had to be acted out.
“Then the LORD said,
‘Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years
for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia,
so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners
and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot,
with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.'”
Isaiah 20:3-4
1. Isaiah as the object lesson.
a) This was explained carefully.
i) He would be walking dressed as he was (naked and barefoot).
ii) The duration would be three years.
b) He was to be “a sign and wonder”.
i) Against Egypt.
ii) Against Ethiopia.
c) These two nations would be defeated by Assyria.
i) They were allied together.
ii) They believed that they were strong enough to resist
and even to defeat Assyria.
iii) They were wrong.
iv) The captives of Egypt and Ethiopia would become
“naked and barefoot” as slaves of the Assyrians.
2. Assyrian’s conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia.
a) Typical action of the Assyrians of all they conquer.
i) The defeated people become captives.
ii) They become slaves of the Assyrians.
b) The slaves would include:
i) The young (children).
ii) The old.
c) The attire of the slaves.
i) No outer garments.
ii) Whatever clothes they may have.
iii) Barefoot (no sandals).
d) Some are humiliated on purpose.
i) Garments are cut off, exposing the buttocks.
ii) This was cruelly designed to humiliate the captive Egyptians and Ethiopians.