Verse 1
THE BURDEN OF EGYPT
Although this chapter has the same subject as the previous one, it came at a later date and was attended by different circumstances. There are several things of particular interest in these brief verses: (1) there is the three-year witness of Isaiah's going naked and barefoot; (2) there is the only reference to Sargon in the Old Testament; and (3) the absolute promise of God to Judah of their deliverance from this particular threat of the Assyrians.
Our title here mentions only Egypt, although it also includes Ethiopia. Both countries at the time of this prophecy were united under an Ethiopian dynasty.
"In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it."
Ashdod was one of the five principal cities of the Philistines, the others being Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron and Gath. Ashdod is called Azotas in Acts 8:40. It was a stronghold, a kind of key to the capture of Egypt, and it was the site of a temple of Dagon, which was destroyed by Samson.
Until recently, Tartan was thought to be the personal name of Sargon's general in charge of the war against Ashdod; but, "The word is not a proper name, but a title of office, the equivalent of `commander-in-chief.'"[1] Until excavations in this century, there were some who questioned the very existence of Sargon; but the excavations have revealed again the absolute trustworthiness of the Bible. "Sargon founded the last and greatest of the Assyrian dynasties; he was the successor to Shalmaneser and the father of Sennacherib."[2] In the Bible, Shalmaneser is apparently the conqueror; but it seems that the final phase of the conquest was completed by Sargon in 722 B.C., a fact confirmed in 2 Kings 18:10 in the statement, not that "He took it," but that "They took it." Sargon succeeded Shalmaneser just before the siege of Samaria was completed in 722 B.C., and reigned till 705 B.C., when he was succeeded by Sennacherib."[3]
"It is possible to date this passage very precisely. Isaiah 20:1 makes mention of the fact that Isaiah's symbolic act (going naked and barefoot) was interpreted to the people in the year that Ashdod fell to Sargon's commander-in-chief. Sargon's inscriptions date that event in 711 B.C."[4] Since Isaiah had already been walking naked and barefoot for a period of three years, that symbolical protest actually began in 714 B.C.
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