Isaiah 20:5

And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. THEY - the Philistine allies of Egypt, who trusted in it for help against Assyria. SHALL BE ... ASHAMED OF ETHIOPIA THEIR EXPECTATION, AND OF EGYPT THEIR GLORY - a warning to the party among the Jews who, though Judah was then the subordinate ally of Assyria, were looking to Egypt as a preferable ally (). Ethiopia was their "expectation," for Palestina had not yet obtained, but hoped for alliance with it. Egypt was their "glory" - i:e., boast (), because the alliance with it was completed....

5._And they shall be afraid. _He now shews for whose benefit he had foretold these things about the Egyptians and Ethiopians. It was in order that the Jews might learn amidst their afflictions to hope in God, and might not have recourse to foreign aid, which the Lord had forbidden....

AND THEY SHALL BE AFRAID - The Jews, or the party or faction among the Jews, that were expecting aid from allied Ethiopia and Egypt. When they shall see them vanquished, they shall apprehend a similar danger to themselves; and they shall be ashamed that they ever confided in a people so little able to aid them, instead of trusting in the arm of God. EGYPT THEIR GLORY - Their boast, as if Egypt was able to save them. The word rendered here ‘glory’ (תפארת _tiph'ereth_) means properly, “ornament, praise, honor;” and then it may mean the “object” of glory, or that in which people boast or confide. That is its sense here (compare Isaiah 10:12; Isaiah 13:19;...

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 20:1 A 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 and in his eleventh year. On the former occasion it is probable that the arms of a general (Tartan) were employed; on the latter it is nearly certain that Sargon made the expedition in person. The capture of Ashdod, here mentioned, is consequently the first capture. Egypt and Ethiopia were at the time united under one head, Shabak, or Shabatok; and the inhabitants of Ashdod looked to this quarter for deliverance from the Assyrian power. Shortly after the first capture, they revolted, deposed the king whom Sargon had set over them,

AND THEY SHALL BE AFRAID AND ASHAMED,.... That is, those that trusted and depended upon the Egyptians and Ethiopians, particularly the Jews after mentioned, shall be "afraid" that it will be their turn next, that they also shall be taken and carried captive; and they shall be "ashamed" that they have put their trust and confidence in those nations, and not in the Lord: OF ETHIOPIA THEIR EXPECTATION; from whom they expected assistance and protection, particularly when Tirhakah king of Ethiopia went out against the king of Assyria, that he would have been a match for him, and have overcome him, and so have freed them from such a powerful enemy: AND OF EGYPT THEIR GLORY; who was their ally, and a very potent one, and in whom they gloried; but now should be ashamed, when both those people on whom they relied were carried captive....

CHAPTER 20 The Near-Punishment of Egypt by Assyria 1. _Isaiah walks naked and barefooted (Isaiah 20:1)_ 2. _The meaning of his action (Isaiah 20:3)_ 3. _Egypt punished by Assyria (Isaiah 20:4) _ A strong party in Jerusalem looked to Egypt for help from the threatening Assyrian invasion. This prophecy shows the utter hopelessness of expecting help from Egypt. The victory of Assyria over Egypt is predicted....

ISAIAH 20. THE SIGN OF EGYPT'S OVERTHROW. The year in which the Assyrian Tartan, or commander-in-chief, came to Ashdod was 711. This city had been in negotiation with Egypt against Assyria, and so too had Judah, Moab, and Edom. Isaiah had protested against this policy by the sign here recorded. To show the futility of trusting in Egypt and Ethiopia he put off his outer garment, and for three years walked stripped and barefoot like a captive, symbolising the fate that was coming on these lands. Ashdod was quickly captured, many of its inhabitants were taken to Assyria and their place supplied by other exiles, as had been the case with Samaria. We do not know how Judah was treated. The desperate measures taken by Isaiah, and the summary punishment of Ashdod, may have kept Judah from open rebellion. Isaiah 20:2 seems to represent the command to walk in captive's dress as given to Isaiah in...

EXPECTATION. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct), for the help expected from Egypt. EGYPT THEIR GLORY. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct), for the Egyptians, in whom they gloried....

The effect which the sight of these miserable gangs of captives will produce on the inhabitants of Palestine. This is the real motive of the prophecy. Hezekiah probably took the warning. _they shall be afraid_ R.V. better: DISMAYED. The subject is indefinite "men....

AND THEY SHALL BE AFRAID, &C.— We have, in these words, the consequence of the divine judgment upon the Egyptians and Cushites; and the scope of the prophesy, namely, to convince the inhabitants of Palestine, and, among these, some factious persons in Jerusalem, of the vanity of the confidence which they placed in the Egyptians and Cushites, as their tutelar deity; for when they should see the completion of this prophesy, they would then condemn their own folly, for placing their expectations on so feeble a defence. All the maritime places, or places on the sea-coast, are called by the word אי _ai, isle;_ the prophet therefore may here mean the seacoasts of Palestine, where was the city of Ashdod, or _Azotus._ Some, who imagine that the Scriptures call any place or country an _isle,_ suppose that the prophet means Judah, or Jerusalem; but the truth seems to be, that he is to be understoo...