Isaiah 20:1-6

Egypt's Captivity symbolised

This chapter is assigned in the title to the time when Sargon besieged Ashdod (711 b.c.). The Philistine city was at that time the centre of revolt. Sargon interposed and set up a new king, but the people were dissatisfied and substituted another; the siege and capture of Ashdod by the Assyrians followed. It seems that the Palestinian peoples who revolted against Assyria relied upon the support of Egypt. Isaiah, by putting on captive's garb, and walking the streets of Jerusalem for three years, indicates in a striking manner the vanity of their expectations.

2-6. Isaiah's striking action intended to symbolise the captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia, which would confound those who looked to them for aid.