At that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
//The prophet Isaiah is sometimes pictured as one of the more aristocratic, at least in comparison to other prophets. He has access to the king and other higher-ups. This makes God’s instruction in today’s verse even more bizarre.
God tells Isaiah to walk around naked for three years. Why? To illustrate the shame of Egyptians and Ethiopians, who would soon be captured and taken into captivity.
Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared–to Egypt’s shame. –Isaiah 20:3-4
I have to ask. Does this make Isaiah the first to “walk like an Egyptian”?
