Why Isaiah Preached in the Nude for Three Years

Isaiah 20:1-4  “In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet." And he did so, going naked and barefoot. And the LORD said, "Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.” (The year spoken of in verse one is 711 BC.)

The Israelites feared attack by the mighty Assyrian Empire led by King Sargon and allied themselves with Egypt and Ethiopia instead of depending on God for their protection. For three years* Isaiah preached in a completely naked state to show to the Israelites that the Egyptians and Ethiopians would be carried away naked and barefoot by the Assyrians. They would be utterly humiliated and unable to defend themselves or Israel. 

*The number three occurs 467 times in the Bible. This number is believed by many Christians to be a reference to the Trinity. Three is the number of perfection or completion. To  repeat a word or idea sequentially is to emphasize it. In Isaiah 6:3 the Lord God Almighty is praised as “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

The First Archeologist?

    Nabu-na'id (aka Nabonidus) reigned from 556-539 BCE as the king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.  He is not mentioned in the Bible, being overshadowed by his father, Nabu-kudurri-usur (aka Nebuchadnezzar), and by his son Bel-shar-usur (aka Belshazzar).  On 29 October 539 BCE, he ran away as Babylon was taken by Kurose (aka Cyrus), King of Persia.  In Daniel 5: 2-22 his father is named as the father of his son.  This may have been literally true or the listing may have been due to a common Semitic practice of naming an important  ancestor as the father of a person.

    In northern Bablyon, at Sippur, Nabonidus found a temple platform built by NrimSin, son of Sargon I (2400 BCE).  He had the site excavated for its treasures and catalogued.