| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Isaiah Chapter
Twenty
Isaiah 20
Chapter Contents
The invasion and conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia.
Isaiah was a sign to the people by his unusual dress,
when he walked abroad. He commonly wore sackcloth as a prophet, to show himself
mortified to the world. He was to loose this from his loins; to wear no upper
garments, and to go barefooted. This sign was to signify, that the Egyptians
and Ethiopians should be led away captives by the king of Assyria, thus
stripped. The world will often deem believers foolish, when singular in
obedience to God. But the Lord will support his servants under the most trying
effects of their obedience; and what they are called upon to suffer for his
sake, commonly is light, compared with what numbers groan under from year to
year from sin. Those who make any creature their expectation and glory, and so
put it in the place of God, will, sooner or later, be ashamed of it. But
disappointment in creature-confidences, instead of driving us to despair,
should drive us to God, and our expectation shall not be in vain. The same
lesson is in force now; and where shall we look for aid in the hour of necessity,
but to the Lord our Righteousness?
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Isaiah》
Isaiah 20
Verse 1
[1] In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon
the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
Sargon — Sennacherib, who, before he came to Jerusalem, came up
against and took all the walled cities of Judah, of which Ashdod might be
reckoned one, as being in the tribe of Judah.
Verse 2
[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.
Sackcloth — Which he wore in token of his
grief for the calamities that were already come upon Israel, and were coming
upon Judah.
Naked — Not wholly naked, but without his upper garment, as
slaves and prisoners used to do, whose posture he was to represent.
Bare-foot — After the manner of mourners and
captives.
Verse 3
[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;
Three years — Not constantly, but when he went
abroad among the people, to whom this was appointed for a sign.
A sign — When this judgment should come, namely, three years
after this prophecy.
Verse 4
[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.
Uncovered — Having their garments cut off by
the middle.
Verse 5
[5] And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their
expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
They — All that shall trust to them. But under this general
expression the Israelites, seem to be principally intended.
Verse 6
[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?
Of the country — Of this land, in which the
prophet was, and to whose inhabitants, these words were uttered.
Such — So vain is our hope placed upon such a people as are
unable to deliver themselves.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Isaiah》
20 Chapter 20
Verse 1
In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod
The purpose of the chapter
Judah, alarmed by the capture of Samaria, and the rapid extension
of the Assyrian invasion, looked for assistance from Egypt.
And the aim of this brief chapter is to recall king and people from any such
reliance, by the announcement that the King of Assyria would shortly prevail
against Egypt, and lead into captivity multitudes of prisoners. (F. B.
Meyer, B. A.)
The date of the prophecy
The date of the prophecy is assured. The expedition mentioned took
place in 711 B.C., and is minutely related in two of Sargon’s own inscriptions.
See Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, vol. 2. (Cambridge
Bible for Schools.)
The Tartan,
The Tartan, Assyrian, turtanu, i.e., Commander-in-chief. (A.
B.Davidson, LL. D.)
Verses 1-6
Verse 1
In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod
The purpose of the chapter
Judah, alarmed by the capture of Samaria, and the rapid extension
of the Assyrian invasion, looked for assistance from Egypt.
And the aim of this brief chapter is to recall king and people from any such
reliance, by the announcement that the King of Assyria would shortly prevail
against Egypt, and lead into captivity multitudes of prisoners. (F. B.
Meyer, B. A.)
The date of the prophecy
The date of the prophecy is assured. The expedition mentioned took
place in 711 B.C., and is minutely related in two of Sargon’s own inscriptions.
See Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, vol. 2. (Cambridge
Bible for Schools.)
The Tartan,
The Tartan, Assyrian, turtanu, i.e., Commander-in-chief. (A.
B.Davidson, LL. D.)
Verse 2
Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins
Isaiah stripped and barefooted
Owing to the great importance which is attributed to clothing from
the standpoint of Oriental culture and manners, anyone who appears without the
upper garment is already regarded as naked and bare.
Isaiah has to lay off the garment of the preacher of repentance and of the
mourner, so that only his tunic remains; and in this dress, and moreover
barefooted, he has to appear in public. It is the costume of a man who had been
robbed and disgraced, of a beggar, it may be, or a prisoner of war. (F.
Delitzsch.)
God’s appointment magnifies mean things
The appointment of God renders those things and actions which in
themselves seem mean and contemptible, momentous and useful: it stamps them
with real dignity and importance, and makes them truly instructive. View the
ceremonial institutions of the Old Testament, such as circumcision, abstinence
from particular kinds of food and of raiment, uncleanness contracted by
touching certain objects, and sprinkling the tabernacle with blood, and they
appear trifling and ridiculous. Contemplate them again as the ordinances of
God, infinitely wise and gracious, and you may discern their excellence and
extensive utility. Look at our prophet as he is here described, and you see an
odd appearance; but consider him acting by Divine commission, that he might
represent to his countrymen the future naked and destitute condition to which
those nations were to be reduced in whom they foolishly placed their
confidence, and every circumstance acquires new consequence. (R. Macculloch.)
Isaiah’s obedience
When we are in the way of our duty we must trust God both with our
credit and with our safety. (M. Henry.)
God’s purpose dignifies what might otherwise be scandalous
If the dress was scandalous, yet the design was glorious. (M.
Henry.)
Verse 5
They shall be . . . ashamed of . . . their expectation
Unreasonable expectations
A great deal of the discomfort, a large proportion of the
disappointments of the world, may be traced to unreasonable expectations--to
the fact that men will persist in expecting what they have no right to expect
at all, or to expect in that precise form or degree.
Indeed, so many of the expectations cherished in this world are so vain and
unreasonable, involving those who entertain them in such necessary
disappointment, that someone has sardonically observed, “Blessed is the man who
expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” But, while we would not
take so gloomy a view of human life as this, we cannot help feeling that much
of the worry and mortification of life may be accounted for by our expecting
what we have no right to expect. We all suffer from the same complaint, in
larger or lesser degree. The symptoms differ in different individuals; the
disease is radically the same. Young and old, rich and poor, learned and
ignorant, masters and servants, buyers and sellers, husbands and wives, parents
and children, pastors and people--all, in some way or other, and to some extent
or other, are the victims of unreasonable expectations. Life with all of them
would be a brighter, smoother, pleasanter thing, if they expected less. As we
grow older we ought to grow wiser in this respect. Having regard only to the
ordinary intercourse and social relationships of life--how many complaints
would be hushed, how much irritation would be allayed, how much needless
mortification be averted, how much resentment cease, how many fancied slights
and injuries appear inconsiderable, if, instead of brooding over our rights,
which we imagine have been withheld or invaded, we were to sit down, and
quietly, dispassionately consider what, living in a world like this, we might,
on the whole, reasonably expect. If we were thus to inquire we should find that
we were getting more than we deserved; and that, for the most part, we were
being treated by others quite as fairly, honourably, and tenderly as we were in
the habit of treating them. (T. M. Morris.)
Unreasonable expectations in relation to religion
The subject of unreasonable expectations is of almost illimitable
extent, and in further dwelling upon it I would limit my remarks to three
points--
I. THE THINGS
WHICH GOD’S PEOPLE UNREASONABLY EXPECT. Nothing can be more plain than that our
expectations as Christians should be limited by the teaching and promise of
God’s Word. We are safe so long as we rest in the promise of God.
I. It is
unreasonable to expect that you can place yourselves in any false position,
form any unworthy association, engage in any questionable occupation, and be
saved from the natural consequences of so doing. Lot was a very good man, but
he made a very great mistake. If, in your legitimate business,--if, in
sustaining any of the just relationships of life, you meet with danger or
temptation, you may reasonably expect that God will grant you all the necessary
assistance and protection. But if the danger or temptation be of your own
seeking, it is likely that God will teach you wisdom by leaving you to endure
the consequences of your rashness or perversity. It is unreasonable for you to
expect that you can touch pitch and not be defiled, take fire in your bosom and
not be burned, nourish a viper and not be stung.
2. It is unreasonable to expect that you should grow in grace, or
realise any very high degree of enjoyment in the Divine life, if all the while
you are neglecting or insufficiently using the means of growth, the sources of
enjoyment which are placed within your reach.
3. It is unreasonable to expect in Christian life what our Master
expressly warns us against expecting. Many seem disappointed because they do
not find the way of Christian pilgrimage perfectly smooth and pleasant from its
commencement to its close. Your Master tells you plainly that you have to lay
your account with suffering and trial, with disappointment and danger. The
Christian life is never represented as one of ease and self-indulgence, but
rather as a state of warfare. You are treading in the footsteps of those who,
in uninterrupted succession, have walked in the same rough way.
4. I might easily enumerate many other unreasonable expectations in
which Christians are tempted to indulge. It is unreasonable to expect results
from unassisted human nature which can only flow from Divine grace. It is
unreasonable to expect from an attempted conformity to the law what can only be
secured by a simple dependence on the Gospel. It is unreasonable to expect that
we shall find on earth what can be only realised in heaven, or that we can
derive from any inferior and created source what can only be found in the
centre and sum of all excellency, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
II. THE THINGS
WHICH ARE UNREASONABLY EXPECTED OF GOD’S PEOPLE.
1. There are those who make it a matter of reproach against religion,
and prefer it as an excuse for their unbelief, that the Gospel, the religion of
the Cross, does not come up in sundry particulars to their idea of what a
religion which claims man’s acceptance and confidence ought to be. Such
objections we may dismiss as the fruit of unreasonable expectations, for all,
save the most shallow and pretentious of such objectors, are ready to confess
that there are “more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in their
philosophy.”
2. There are those who do not go so far as to object against religion
as unreasonable, who seem to resent it as an injury that any measure of mystery
should attach to any of the statements of Scripture. In reply to this, several
things may be said. It might be said that, taking into account what this
revelation professes to be, it was reasonable to expect that the truths communicated,
while intelligible on the one side, should lose themselves in mystery on the
other. And it might be further remarked, in reference to many of those who thus
object, that they make but very little use of such light as they confessedly
have. Is it not the part of reason first of all to inquire whether the Bible be
an authentic and authoritative revelation from heaven to earth, and then, if
its claims to be so regarded are substantiated to the satisfaction of reason,
is it not the very part and office of reason to sit submissively at the feet of
the Divine Teacher and learn of Him?
3. There are many who but very slightly interest themselves in the
truth which Christians hold, who seem to take much pleasure in narrowly
scrutinising the lives which Christians live. The real or alleged
inconsistencies of professing Christians do not afford any ground of reasonable
objection against the Gospel, or any valid excuse for its continued rejection.
In judging of any practical system, we must have reference to what it professes
to be, and to accomplish. If you confine attention to those who are the sincere
and genuine followers of the Lamb, it is unreasonable to expect that they
should manifest in this world an absolute perfection of character. Such
perfection, we believe, can be only realised when this body of sin and death
shall have been laid aside.
III. THE THINGS
WHICH THOSE WHO ARE NOT GOD’S PEOPLE UNREASONABLY EXPECT FOR THEMSELVES.
1. It is unreasonable to expect that anything which the world
contains can meet the need, or satisfy the desire, of man’s immortal soul.
2. It is unreasonable to expect that in religion anyone can serve two
masters. No such thing as neutrality is possible in religion, and, strictly
speaking, there is no such thing as indecision.
3. It is unreasonable to expect that sinful men can satisfy the
requirements of the law, and avert its penalty, by any obedience they can
render, by any penance they can endure.
4. It is unreasonable to expect that those who, enjoying Gospel
light, die despising Gospel grace, will be in any wise benefited by the
uncovenanted mercies of God.
5. It is unreasonable to expect that you can spend a sinful, worldly
life, and men have a comfortable death and a happy eternity.
6. It is unreasonable to expect that, because you pass muster in this
world, and occupy a moderately creditable position among your fellow men, that
therefore you will do moderately well ]n another world; and that, if you do not
shine forth conspicuously with the best, you will go through the gates into the
city, unnoticed among the crowd.
7. It is unreasonable to expect that, because sentence is not
speedily executed against an evil work, that therefore it never will be; and
that, because the present order of things has continued so long, that therefore
it will continue forever. (T. M. Morris.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》