Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Isaiah Chapter 20
Metaphysically Interpreting Isaiah 20:1-6
20:1In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it; 20:2at that time Jehovah spake by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put thy shoe from off thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 20:3And Jehovah said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia; 20:4so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 20:5And they shall be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. 20:6And the inhabitant of this coast-land shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and we, how shall we escape?
April 7, 1929: Isaiah 20:1-2
In Isaiah 20 we are taught a lesson against trusting in the outer for deliverance and safety. According to an old hymn:
“The arm of flesh will fail you; Ye dare not trust your own.”
The king of Assyria had conquered the kingdom of Israel and had taken the Israelites captive. Then he came up against Judah. Hezekiah, the king of Judah, gave him all the silver from the house of Jehovah and from the king's house. He also cut off the gold from the doors and pillars of the temple and gave it to the Assryian king.
Hezekiah was trusting to Egypt's help against Assyria, which was a very foolish thing to do because of Egypt's unreliability. Egypt represents the darkness and ignorance of the purely physical in man when unillumined by Spirit. Isaiah, in laying aside his prophet's clothing and walking naked and barefoot, teaches us that we are sure to experience the absence of true power and strength, if we forget that our overcoming might is spiritual and not material.
Isaiah's lesson bore fruit; through the power of God the hosts of Assyria (the sense reasonings of the intellect) were defeated, and Judah (true spiritual understanding) was delivered. (See II Kings, chapters 18 and 19, in conjunction with Isaiah 20.)
– UNITY magazine.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 01-19-2014
