In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it— at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking naked and barefoot. Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’ ”
Isaiah 20:1-6
Sargon is one of the people other than the Ethiopian Pharaoh Piankhi that may be a fulfillment of God's prophecy about Egypt. Piankhi ruled Egypt about 715BC and Sargon took Ashdod in 711BC. Clearly, as Isaiah demonstrated, Sargon caught them with their pants down. All the coastal trading towns were terrorized. Egyptians and Ethiopians were taken into captivity and the forces that the coastal towns and trading cities had expected to protect them didn't protect them. Ashdod was in the “highway” between Egypt and Assyria so it, like Philistia, was subject to getting taken by the greater power of the day. So the people of Ashdod and all of northeast Egypt would brag about Egyptian and Ethiopian power and those in Judah would have wondered about Isaiah wandering around naked for 3 years prior to the conquest. The ambassadors that Isaiah prophesied against must have been amazed at his message.
Our confidence must stand in Christ and in no one else. I like the song, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust, the sweetest frame, but wholely lean on Jesus name.” The language is a little old fashioned but we need the attitude. No matter how sweet a person is, you can't trust their frame or body in more modern English. We need to completely or wholly, that is in every part, lean on Jesus' name. As we mentioned last week, power is seductive and we have a real inclination to seek power and trust in the power of men. We need to make sure that our hearts are set on God so that we have a right and prudent attitude about power.
God may use a people with power but He isn't constrained by the powers that exist in the world. He will raise up one people and cause another to fade and fall. His people will trust in Him and not in human power; however, if we forget and do otherwise then He'll act as a faithful shepherd and correct our ways of thinking.
The next Scripture refers to Babylon but has a different attitude toward Babylon as the Prophet sees the buffer against Assyria dissolving. This begins the second cycle in this section of prophecies. The first cycle stressed the sovereignty of God in all the affairs of men and the second cycle shows a darker view of the horror of judgment on mankind. In addition, the first cycle is more historical and the second cycle (while still historical) will be more principle oriented.
The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end. Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield! For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees. When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.”
Isaiah 21:1-7
The nomads would ride one animal to battle leading their best horse for battle. Hence the pairs.
Babylon, the wilderness of the sea (or land of the Persian Gulf) was a buffer and an ally of Judah against Assyria is going down and the princes of Arabia will be overrun. Isaiah had longed to see the twilight of Babylon but now it is a cause for trembling. Hezekiah had been lured into a link with Babylon by a leader of Babylon named Merodach-Baladan. He was opposed to Assyria and looking for allies. This prophecy likely is related to the fall of Babylon in 689 when Sennacherib had finally had enough of the recurring rebellions. It is said he filled the city with the corpses, smashed their gods, leveled the walls, and ran large quantities of water through the residue. It is possible that this destruction formed the basis of Jesus parable of the unfaithful servant (Mathew 21:33-41) and Sennacherib did send and then lose his son in trying to rule Babylon. That would mean that this foreshadowed the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD after Christ's resurrection. That might also help explain the impact that delivering the prophecy had on Isaiah. He might not have fully understood why it hit him so hard.
The other aspect of this second cycle of prophecies is that they related to general principles. Babylon is man's rule of man in a presumed absence of God. Like we have today. Many world rulers presume to rule without acknowledging God to themselves or others as the supreme ruler. So the destruction is the end of mankind's rule without God. Ultimately, the horror of sin under judgment will cause us to react like Isaiah did.
Then he who saw cried out: “Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights. And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!” And he answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.” O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.
The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?” The watchman says: “Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again.”
The oracle concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, caravans of Dedanites. To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle. For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
Isaiah 21:8-17
Isaiah himself served as the watchman. His vision of horsemen with pairs would mean warriors were coming home in victory still leading their war horses rather than having running away in defeat. Babylon fell and Sennacherib beat it to a pulp. Babylon and its gods are shattered. The confident men who looked for security within their skills are fallen. The people of God are threshed and winnowed. It is hard to know (by faith) that you are God's when you are on the threshing floor but there is no place else to go so you stand where He has put you.
God is committed to our welfare and working out His plan for our life. The author of the 23rd Psalm knows that the path can be hard but there is no better path.
Dumah was a son of Ishmael the word means silence. This small section is a word to a particular gentile but it also would be a word to wait patiently. Seir is equivalent to Edom so the question if from and Edomite and there was even a town called Dumah in Edom. The gentiles didn't understand the times they lived in but God's word to them was to wait.
Tema was an oasis city that was 200 miles east of the Red Sea. The Dedanites were an Arabian tribe in that area and Kedar was an Arabian tribe that gave the name to the northern extension of the desert. This is a prophecy of refugees lodging off the path in thickets for added safety and the loss of power in Arabia.
The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops, you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle. All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away. Therefore I said: “Look away from me; a let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.” For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains. And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates. He has taken away the covering of Judah. In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
Isaiah 22:1-11
It is possible that calling Jerusalem “the Valley of Vision” was Isaiah's way of saying that Jerusalem, for him, was a dark low place now and not a city build on a hill. There is no way to justify the shouting, tumult, and exultation on the rooftops that was taking place. They had run away and the slain had not fought or died in siege. The leaders had run away. Isaiah's mood is opposite that of the city because God has a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion coming.
Isaiah doesn't want the curiosity of sympathy of people who are so out of touch with God.
Elam was east of Babylon, independent and allied with Babylon during Isaiah's life. According to Motyer the location of Kir is unknown and this Kir is not the Kir of Moab. The picture of chariots and horses describe an occupation and siege the ruins the countryside and eventually topples cities.
God took away the covering and protection over Judah because of their sins. The peoples response was to run to the weapons storehouse next to the temple, fortify the city, and try to fix the water sources so that they would not need to trust God. Jerusalem's water supply required constant faith in God for their protection. They didn't have a good supply of water for a siege. Ahaz and Hezekiah both tried to do things to protect the water and reduce faith in God.
I used to live way out in the desert about 60 miles from Tucson but I worked in Tucson. I was really poor and I was living rent free out in the desert. I had bad tires and at one point I had no spare. I trusted God to get me back and forth without a spare. I saved my money and bought a used tire for a spare. It was a tremendous relief and I remember the relief of thinking that “now I have a spare” and of course less faith was required to get back and forth to work. Well I dropped the spare in the trunk and then thought I should check the pressure in the remaining tires. I went to top of the tire and the valve stem came off like it was made of wax. The air rushed out, I said yes Lord, and put the spare on and went home without a spare. God lets me have spares nowadays. God's will take us through difficult times to teach us the principle of trusting only in Him. Israel had an ungodly motive in digging extra sources of water. They didn't want to trust God. I was tired of trusting God to get home. Now I realize that 4 tires and a spare won't get you home all the time either. God gets you home. Everyday it is God's Grace that gets you where you are going and not you yourself.
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