Reflections on Isaiah 20

Isaiah 20 (Contemporary English Version)
1. King Sargon of Assyria gave orders for his army commander to capture the city of Ashdod.
   
2. About this same time the LORD had told me, "Isaiah, take off everything, including your sandals!" I did this and went around naked and barefoot
   
3. for three years. Then the LORD said: What Isaiah has done is a warning to Egypt and Ethiopia.
   
4. Everyone in these two countries will be led away naked and barefoot by the king of Assyria. Young or old, they will be taken prisoner, and Egypt will be disgraced.
   
5. They will be confused and frustrated, because they depended on Ethiopia and bragged about Egypt.
   
6. When this happens, the people who live along the coast will say, "Look what happened to them! We ran to them for safety, hoping they would protect us from the king of Assyria. But now, there is no escape for us."

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In the previous two chapters Isaiah has spoken oracles, or burdensome messages, against Cush and Egypt telling how they will be defeated and destroyed by the Assyrians. In this chapter he makes an emphatic point to those in Judah who had been thinking of going to these two nations, Cush and Egypt, to form an alliance against Assyria. Isaiah's point was that such a plan would be foolish. He made his point by taking off his sackcloth outer garment and removing his sandals to demonstrate how the people of Cush and Egypt would be led away naked by the Assyrians. It was an object lesson that Isaiah lived out for three years to point out that these nations could not protect themselves, let alone help Judah.

Whatever the loss that threatens us, be it an enemy, economic loss, job loss, or whatever, we are prone to depend upon upon our own resources or those of others we perceive to be greater than ours. But we too often fail to go to the One who is fully capable of providing us the safety we seek. God, who is the Creator of the universe, is the only one who is fully capable to protect us against any and all threats. Our worldview concerning origins does make a difference. If we take God out of the equation, we have also taken Him out of all equations, including our protection against threats such as what Judah was facing.