Bible Commentary

Isaiah 20:4

The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 20:4

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

So shall the King of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives. In Sennacherib's annals for the year B.C. 701, twelve years after this prophecy was given, we find the following passage: "The kings of Egypt, and the archers, chariots, and horsemen of the King of Meroe, a force without number, gathered and came to the aid of Ekron.

In the neighborhood of Eltekeh their ranks were arrayed before me, and they urged on their soldiers. In the service of Asshur, my lord, I fought with them, and I accomplished their overthrow. The charioteers and sons of the kings of Egypt, and the charioteers of the King of Meroe, alive in the midst of the battle, my hand captured".

Young and old. The intermixture of young and old, of full-grown males with women leading children by the hand or carrying them upon the shoulder, in the Assyrian sculptures, strikes us even on the most cursory inspection of them.

Naked and barefoot. Assyrian captives are ordinarily represented "barefoot." Most commonly they wear a single tunic, reaching from the neck to the knees, or sometimes to the ankles, and girt about the waist with a girdle.

It is probable that Egyptian and Ethiopian prisoners would be even more scantily clad, since the ordinary Egyptian tunic began at the waist and ended considerably above the knee.

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commentaryMatthew Henry on Isaiah 20:1-6Isaiah 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 garment…Matthew HenrycommentaryThreatenings against Egypt. (b. c. 713.)THREATENINGS AGAINST EGYPT. (B. C. 713.) God here, as King of nations, brings a sore calamity upon Egypt and Ethiopia, but, as King of saints, brings good to his people out of it. Observe, I. The date of this prophecy.…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 20:1-6EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 20:1-4Foolish trust rebuked by a strange sign. Few things are so difficult as to bring men to rely wholly and solely upon God. The circumstances of the time were these. Humanly speaking, Judaea lay absolutely at the mercy of…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 20:1-6A PROPHECY AGAINST EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA. The Assyrian inscriptions enable us to date this prophecy with a near approach to exactness. Ashdod was besieged by an Assyrian army twice in the reign of Sargon—in his ninth year…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 20:1-6The prophet as a sign. I. THE HISTORICAL CIRCUMSTANCES. The illusion of Egyptian unity had passed away again. The country was broken up under the rule of a number of petty kings, of whom Shabak, or So, or Seve (2 Kings…Joseph S. Exell and contributors