barefooted

November 22, 2017

Wailing for the countryside of Judah (Mic 1:8-1:9)

“I will lament!

I will wail!

I will go barefoot!

I will go naked!

I will make lamentations

Like the jackals!

I will mourn

Like the ostriches!

Her wound is incurable.

It has come to Judah.

It has reached

To the gate

Of my people,

To Jerusalem.”

Next Micah lamented and wailed about the countryside around Jerusalem.  Micah was going to go barefooted and naked in his lamentation, just like the jackals or the ostriches that put their head in the sand.  This was an incurable wound to Judah that had reached the gates of Jerusalem, the holy people.

August 3, 2016

Yahweh and the defeat of Egypt and Ethiopia (Isa 20:3-20:5)

“Yahweh said.

‘Just as my servant Isaiah

Has walked naked and barefoot

For three years,

As a sign against Egypt,

As a portent against Ethiopia,

So shall the king of Assyria

Lead away the Egyptians as captives.

The Ethiopians also will be exiles,

Both the young and the old,

The naked and the barefoot,

With buttocks uncovered,

To the shame of Egypt.

They shall be dismayed.

They shall be confounded

Because of Ethiopia,

Their hope,

As well as Egypt

Their boast.’”

Now we have the oracle of Yahweh, via Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah had been naked for 3 years, as a sign against Egypt and Ethiopia. Now, the Assyrian king would capture Egypt and Ethiopia. They will be lead away as captives and exiles. No one will be saved. The young and the old will all be captured naked and barefooted. Thus the symbolism of Isaiah will actually happen to the Egyptians and Ethiopians as their naked butts will bring them shame. They will be dismayed and confused. Their hope and their boast about Egypt and Ethiopia will come to an end.

August 3, 2016

The naked Isaiah (Isa 20:2-20:2)

“At that time,

Yahweh had spoken

To Isaiah,

Son of Amoz,

Saying.

‘Go!

Loose the sackcloth

From your loins!

Take your sandals

Off your feet!’

He had done so.

He was walking naked.

He was walking barefooted.”

The time frame is between 722-705 BCE, perhaps around 711 BCE, when Yahweh spoke to Isaiah, the son of Amoz. He told him to go out and loosen his loin cloth and take off his sandals. Isaiah was to walk around naked and barefooted. Quite often prophets were asked by God to do strange things as a symbol and witness for the other Israelites.