Today's Favorite Verse: Isaiah 20:2-3

Today's Favorite Verse: Isaiah 20:2-3

"At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;"

I wondered if God really wanted a prophet to walk naked? I looked at the footnote for naked and it says, "IE without an upper garment, like a slave or exile." OK, so that was a symbol of slavery or bondage. Then the next verse makes sense because it refers to Egypt and Ethiopia. The verses continue to say they were prisoners and captives. I also found this in the Old Testament Student Manual Kings-Malachi.

What Was Meant by Isaiah Walking “Naked and Barefoot”?

“With the great importance attached to the clothing in the East, where the feelings upon this point are peculiarly sensitive and modest, a person was looked upon as stripped and naked if he had only taken off his upper garment. What Isaiah was directed to do, therefore, was simply opposed to common custom, and not to moral decency. He was to lay aside the dress of a mourner and preacher of repentance, and to have nothing on but his tunic (cetoneth); and in this, as well as barefooted, he was to show himself in public.” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary, 7:1:372.)

Day 2858