Isaiah 20

Someone perhaps will say, "Was it not disgraceful for a man to walk naked among the people since he must meet both men and women? Must not his appearance have shocked the gaze of all, but especially that of women? Do we not ourselves generally abhor the sight of naked men? And are not men's private parts covered with clothing that they may not offend the gaze of onlookers by their unsightliness?" I agree, but you must consider what this act represented and what was the reason for this outward show; it was that the young Jewish youths and maidens would be led away into exile and walk naked, "as my servant Isaiah walked," he says, "naked and barefoot." This might have been expressed in words, but God chose to enforce it by an example that the very sight might strike more terror, and what they shrank from in the body of the prophet they might utterly dread for themselves. Wherein lay the greater abhorrence: in the body of the prophet or in the sins of the disbelievers?

That it may be more fully clear that prophets look not to themselves or what lies at their feet but to heavenly things, Stephen, when he was being stoned, saw the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Then he did not feel the blows of the stones, he did not heed the wounds of his body, but, fastening his eyes on Christ, he clung to him. So, too, Isaiah did not notice his nakedness but made himself the instrument of God's voice, that he might proclaim what God spoke within him.

Truly I grieve that while falsehood is so respected, there should be such negligence as regards the truth, that many are ashamed of seeming too devoted to our holy religion, not considering his words who says, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me before men, of him will I also be ashamed before my Father which is in heaven." But Moses was not thus ashamed, for though invited into the royal palace he "esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." David was not thus ashamed when he danced before the ark of the testimony in the sight of all the people. Isaiah was not thus ashamed when he walked naked and barefoot through the people, proclaiming the heavenly oracles.…But the things that viewed corporeally are unseemly, when viewed in regard to holy religion become venerable, so that they who blame such things will involve their own souls in the net of blame. Thus Michal reproves David for his dancing and says to him, "How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of his handmaids!" And David answered her, "It was before the Lord, who chose me before your father and before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel."

In the year in which Tartan came into Azotus, when Sargon king of the Assyrians had sent him, and he had fought against Azotus and taken it. At that time the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaiah son of Amos, saying: Go and loose the sackcloth from your loins, and take your shoes from your feet: and he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said: As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot, a sign and portent of three years will be upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia. So will the king of the Assyrians drive off the captivity of Egypt and the exile of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they will be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their hope, and of Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this island will say in that day: Behold, this was our hope, those to whom we fled for help, to free us from the face of the king of the Assyrians; and how shall we be able to escape? We have set down the whole content of this passage so that we may discuss each point part by part. Azotus, which in Hebrew is called ESDOD (אשדוד), was a most powerful city of Palestine, one of the five cities: Sargon king of the Assyrians, who is called by seven names, sent the commander of his army, whose name was Tartan, and took it and held it.

In the year that Tartan came into Ashdod, when Sargon the king of the Assyrians had sent him, and he had fought against Ashdod and had taken it, at that time the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying: Go, and loose the sackcloth from your loins, and take your shoes off your feet. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said: As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot, it shall be a sign and portent of three years upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia. So shall the king of the Assyrians lead away the captivity of Egypt and the exile of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their hope, and of Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day: Was this our hope, to whom we fled for help, that they might deliver us from the face of the king of the Assyrians? And how shall we be able to escape? For Tartan the Seventy translated Thanatan, and for Sargon, Arna: what these mean we cannot know. For we cannot invent false etymologies for false names. Now these are not Hebrew names but Assyrian, and of them we have learned that they sound thus: Tartan, he gave a tower, or superfluous, or putting far off; and Sargon prince of the garden. This king of Assyria, whom we read of above as the great mind, has very many generals, of whom one is Tartan, lifted up in pride, and going far in wickedness, and greater than the rest; and he is sent to attack Ashdod, which in Hebrew is called ASDOD (אשדוד), and means fire of generation; and the general of the king of Assyria overcomes those who serve generation and lust. And the king of the Assyrians, Sargon, prince of gardens, is fittingly said to be given over to pleasure and luxury. Indeed Ahab king of Israel too desired to turn the vineyard of Naboth into a garden (1 Kgs 21); and Naboth, understanding this according to the laws of tropology, chose to die rather than do it, lest his father's inheritance and ancient possession be turned into the delights of an impious king.

Isaiah goes naked without blushing as a type of captivity to come.

And this is to be noted, that before Ashdod is taken the Prophet is clothed in sackcloth and has his feet shod, so that he may indeed lament those who have been wounded by the fiery darts of the devil and serve lust, but may nonetheless himself go shod, so as to be able to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and walk safely through the desert of this world, in which there are serpents and scorpions and thirst for good things. But after Ashdod has been taken, as a type of the captivity of Egypt and the exile of Ethiopia, he walks barefoot and naked. For in the holy Land, to which he hastens to go, he could neither stand nor walk clothed in sackcloth and with his feet covered with skin, for the Lord says: Loose the shoe from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground (Exod 3:5).

In the year that. Here the time of destruction is set out, and it is divided into three parts. And first is set out something that signifies, namely a prophetic deed; second, the signification of the deed: and the Lord said (Isa 20:3); third, he shows the effect of the thing signified: and they shall be afraid, and confounded (Isa 20:5).

Concerning the first, he does three things. First, the time of the prophecy is set out: in the year that Tharthan entered into Azotus, a city of the Philistines, Amos 1:7–8: where also is Gaza, Geth, Accaron, Ascalon, Azotus. Sargon, who is Sennacherib, according to Jerome, for he had six names, which were Sargon, Senach, Phua, Salmanasar, Theglathphalasar and Asarad. By the hand, that is, in a work concordant with his words: I have used similitudes by the hands of the prophets (Hos 12:10).

Now the Prophet is commanded to lay aside the sackcloth and the shoes and walk naked and barefoot, and to be a sign and portent to the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, who persecuted the people of God and were made low on account of their pride. For Egypt means persecuting or afflicting; Ethiopians, lowly and cast down; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled (Luke 14:11). These are to be led into captivity and to suffer torments of three years (Exod 12), of which years we read in the Psalms: I thought upon the days of old, and I had the eternal years in mind (Ps 76 [77]:6). Let us not think these are small punishments, but punishments drawn out over long ages.

At the time, then, when the neighboring city was taken, Isaiah is commanded to lay aside his tunic of sackcloth (for this was the garb of the prophet lamenting the sins of the people), and the shoes from his feet, which the Seventy call caligae, and to go about naked and barefoot, presenting a type of the captivity of the Egyptians and of the Ethiopians, who had been a help to the Egyptians: that just as Isaiah walked naked and displayed his unsightliness to the onlookers with bare buttocks, so all Egypt and Ethiopia, when the Assyrian ravaged them, should become naked, and nothing at all should remain in the land. And let no one think this contrary to the prosperity promised above to the Egyptians: for there, after the evils, future blessedness is foretold; whereas here the present captivity is narrated, in which, having destroyed Israel and Damascus and the Philistines, he went straight on to Egypt, and overcame them and the Ethiopians alike. And lest this seem doubtful to anyone, let us set down the testimony of Isaiah himself: And Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Libnah: for he had heard that he had set out from Lachish: and he heard men saying of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia: He has come out to fight against you (2 Kgs 19:8-9). And at the same time we learn the obedience of the prophets: that a man of noble birth (for the Hebrews relate that Isaiah was the father-in-law of Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah) did not blush to go about naked, but, judging nothing more honorable than the commands of God, laid aside the sackcloth, and when it was thrown off he was naked, having had before only one tunic, and that of haircloth.

Second, he sets out the divine command: go, and loose: and Ezechiel shall be unto you for a sign of things to come (Ezek 24:24).

Third, the fulfillment of the command: and he did so, below: and I do not resist (Isa 50:5).

And when it is said: A sign and portent of three years will be upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, this signifies that Egypt and Ethiopia were to be laid waste by the Assyrians for three years.

And the Lord said. Here the signification of the aforementioned deed is set out.

And first, as to the time for which the persecution lasted: three years, signified by the three days in which he went naked: a day for a year I have appointed to you (Ezek 4:6).

And in that very captivity and exile of Egypt shall go the young and the old, who have been hardened in wickedness and have come to the vices of full age: naked, so that all their crimes may be laid bare (for nothing (Luke 8:17) is hidden that shall not be revealed), and barefoot, because they will not be able to eat the Passover of the Lord; for whoever eats it has his loins girded, and holds a staff in his hand, and stands with shod feet, lest, passing through the wilderness of this world, he be bitten by serpents (Exod 12). Then their buttocks, through which dung is voided, shall be uncovered, and all the shame of Egypt shall be shown, so that those shall be confounded who had their hope in Egypt and in Ethiopia, and shall see their glory changed into confusion; so much so that the inhabitant of this isle, that is, of the world, who is not a stranger and a sojourner, but longed to have a perpetual possession of the world, shall say in his confusion: Is this Egypt, and is this Ethiopia, whose help we hoped for, that they might deliver us from the prince of this world? How then shall we be able to escape, when those in whom we had our hope are taken captive?

Second, as to the author of the destruction: so shall the king be led: in that day shall messengers go forth from my face in ships to destroy the confidence of Ethiopia (Ezek 30:9).

Third, as to the condition of the destruction, into universality: young and old; into baseness: naked, namely, captivity: there is no cure for you (Jer 46:11).

Then, he says, the inhabitant of this island will say, that is, Jerusalem, which is beaten by the waves of the neighboring nations: Was this our hope? And did we flee to these to give us help, who could not rescue themselves from the evil of captivity? This, then, is the order of the providence of God, who disposes the whole race of men by his ineffable judgment. Against the wrath of God Israel hoped in Damascus: let the city be destroyed which, against his will, gives help to the impious. Judah hoped in the Egyptians: let Egypt too be destroyed. The Egyptians trusted in the Ethiopians: let the Ethiopians too be conquered by the Assyrians. The Assyrians grew proud, thinking the victory to be not God's but their own strength's: let them too be conquered by the Babylonians. Babylon lifted up its head against God: let it too be overcome by the Medes and Persians. The Persians and Medes in part persecuted the people of God, and the most savage ram tossed all the peoples toward the East and the West: let the he-goat Alexander come and trample him under his feet. And let him who was lifted up beyond measure perish by poison, and his kingdom be divided into parts; and when it has long been dashed against itself, let it be ravaged as the Roman conquers. The Roman himself has torn the flesh of the saints with iron teeth and claws and with bloody mouth: let a stone be cut from the mountain without hands, and let it crush like potsherds the kingdom that was first most mighty and of iron, and then brittle and weak (Dan 2).

And they shall be afraid. Here he places the effect on the Jews; first, fear, and they shall be afraid; second, confusion, and confounded.

Even as islands have been set in the midst of the sea, churches have been established in the midst of this world, and they are beaten and buffeted by different waves of persecution. Truly these islands are lashed by waves every day, but they are not submerged. They are in the midst of the sea, to be sure, but they have Christ as their foundation, Christ who cannot be moved.

Third, the expression of both of these effects: and the inhabitants of this isle, that is, Jerusalem, which was incessantly beaten by waves of persecution, like an isle beaten by the waves of the sea.

Lo this was our hope, in which their confusion is expressed, and how shall we be able to escape, in which their fear is expressed, below: the strength of Pharaoh shall be to your confusion (Isa 30:3).