the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet." And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot. Sermons
I. REVELATION IN NATURE. We often speak of a voice in nature. That voice God may employ. The beautiful, the sublime, the gentle, affect us, and bring to us thoughts of God's goodness, wisdom, and power. This kind of revelation St. Paul recognizes, pleading thus at Lystra (Acts 14:17), "Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness;" and writing thus to the Romans (Romans 1:20), "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." What is called natural religion is that common knowledge of God, and of our duty to God, which comes through nature alone; and God has so made us kin with nature, has so set us in relation with an external world, that we can receive moral impressions through it. II. REVELATION IN INCIDENTS. Events of personal life and of public history convey God's mind to us. And therefore so much of our Bible is but a treasured record of facts and incidents. Our Lord's life on the earth was full of incidents, and we find in these the truths which God purposed, by Christ, to teach us. We are constantly receiving fresh revelations, new to us individually, though not new to the world, through the circumstances of public or of private life. We often think of this as God's voice in providence. III. REVELATION IN MINDS. Or in those parts of man that are distinct from the senses. What we think of as the spiritual nature of man, including his conscience. God's witness in this part of our being is argued by St. Paul, when, writing of the heathen, to whom a book revelation has not been given, he says (Romans 2:15), "Which show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another." We must guard against the notion that God has put all his will into a book, and has now no direct access to our souls. What is true is that we can test all direct revelations by their harmony with the revelation that is written. IV. REVELATION IN SYMBOLS. Since symbols do convey ideas to men, God may use them. Illustrate by vision of divided pieces to Abraham; pillar of cloud to Israel; angel with drawn sword to David; fire-flash to Israel on Carmel, etc. And, to take symbols of another character, the prophets acted things before the people, making impressions without employing words - as Isaiah here; as Zedekiah's horns (1 Kings 22:11); Jeremiah's yokes (Jeremiah 27:2); Ezekiel's lying on his side (Ezekiel 4:4); and Agabus' binding himself with his girdle (Acts 21:11). V. REVELATION IN WORDS. The more ordinary method of communication between man and man. This opens up the opportunity of showing (1) the reasonableness and (2) the practical efficiency of a book revelation, and of commending that Collection of revelations which we call Holy Scripture. Howsoever God may be pleased to speak to us, our duty is to heed, listening with the cherished purpose that we will carry out the Divine will in all holy and loving obedience. - R.T.
Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins. Owing to the great importance which is attributed to clothing from the standpoint of Oriental culture and manners, anyone who appears without the upper garment is already regarded as naked and bare. Isaiah has to lay off the garment of the preacher of repentance and of the mourner, so that only his tunic remains; and in this dress, and moreover barefooted, he has to appear in public. It is the costume of a man who had been robbed and disgraced, of a beggar, it may be, or a prisoner of war.(F. Delitzsch.) (R. Macculloch.) ( M. Henry.) If the dress was scandalous, yet the design was glorious.( M. Henry.) People Amoz, Isaiah, Sargon, TartanPlaces Ashdod, Assyria, Cush, EgyptTopics Amoz, Barefoot, Body, Draw, Foot, Hast, Hips, Isaiah, Loins, Loose, Loosed, Loosen, Naked, Robe, Sackcloth, Sandal, Sandals, Saying, Shoe, Shoes, Spake, Spoke, Spoken, Stripped, Unclothed, Waist, WalkingOutline 1. A type prefiguring the shameful captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia.Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 20:2Library The Section Chap. I. -iii. The question which here above all engages our attention, and requires to be answered, is this: Whether that which is reported in these chapters did, or did not, actually and outwardly take place. The history of the inquiries connected with this question is found most fully in Marckius's "Diatribe de uxore fornicationum," Leyden, 1696, reprinted in the Commentary on the Minor Prophets by the same author. The various views may be divided into three classes. 1. It is maintained by very many interpreters, … Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Sargon of Assyria (722-705 B. C. ) Isaiah Links Isaiah 20:2 NIVIsaiah 20:2 NLT Isaiah 20:2 ESV Isaiah 20:2 NASB Isaiah 20:2 KJV Isaiah 20:2 Bible Apps Isaiah 20:2 Parallel Isaiah 20:2 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 20:2 Chinese Bible Isaiah 20:2 French Bible Isaiah 20:2 German Bible Isaiah 20:2 Commentaries Bible Hub |