he reully does him service, 'l'hree year■, their overthrow. ~ chariotur, a11d - • Probubly from B.o. 713 to B.O. 711, or during of the Hlinga of Egypt, and the charioteers of the whole of the time th11t Philisti11, Edom, Oi,e King of Meroe, alfr,e in the midst of t!IIJ Moab, 11nd Judah were making rcpreseuta- battle,myhandcaptured" (G. Smith, •Eponym tions to the Egypti11ns nnd Ethiopians, and Canon,' pp. 133, 134). Young- and old. The cndenvouring to obtain their nid (see G. intermixtnre of young and old, of fall-grown Smith, 'Eponym Canon,' p. 1::10). It he.a males with women leading children by the been proposed, by e.n e.rbitre.ry emevdation, he.nd or carrying them upon the shonlder, to cut down the time to "tliree days;" but in the Assyrian sculptures, strikes ua even e. three days' sign of the kind could not on the most cursory inspection of them. have beon expected to he.l"e e.ny important Naked and barefoot. Aasyriau captives are efi"ect. _• The supposed "impropriel y" of ordinarily represented "barefoot.'' Most lso,ie.h's h11ving "gone no.keel e.nd barefoot" commonly they wear a single tunic, reaching for three years e.rises from a misconception from the neck to the knees, or sometimes to of .the word "ne.ked.'' which is not to be the e.nkles, and girt about the waist with a tnken literally (s'ee the comment on ver. 2). girdle. It is probable that Egyptian e.nd 'l'he costume ndopted would be extre.or- Ethiopian prisoners would be even more dinary, especie.lly in one of Ise.iah's re.nk scantily clad, since the ordinary Egyptian e.nd position ; but .would not be in e.ny degree tunic began e.t the waist and ended con- "improper." It would be simply the.t of siderably e.bove the knee. working men during the gree.ter po.rt of the Ver. 5.-They ahall be afraid and ashamed. de.y (see Exod. x'.x.ii. 2u, 27).. Those who have resorted to Egypt and Ver. 4.-So shall the Ring of Assyria. lead Ethiopia for e.id shall be "o.ahamed '' of awllY the Egyptians ·pnsoners, 11.nd the their folly in doing so, and " rifra.id" of itd Ethiopi:i.ns captives, : , ~ Sennqcherib's consequences (see the last clause of ver. 6). nnnals fof the year_ B.o. 701, twelve ]ears Ver. 6.-'l'he inhabitant of this isle ; rather, after. this prophecy was given, we. fin the of this coast (Knobel, Hitzig, Kay); i.e. of following pe.ssege: "The kings of Egypt, Pulestine generally, which was a mere strip and the e.rchers, chariots, and horsemen of of coast eompe.red with Egypt and Ethiopia. the King of Meroe, a. force without number, Sargon speaks of e.11 the fom powers who gathered e.nd came to the aid of Ekron. In e.t this time "sought to Egypt," as "dwell- the neighbourhood of Eltekeh their ranks ing beside the sea" (G. Smith, • Eponym were e.rrayed before me, e.nd they urged on Canon,' p. 130). Suoh is cur expeotatfon ; their soldiers. In the .service of Asshur, my re.ther, so hath. it gone with our e:,;pectaJ.ion ; lord, I fought with them, e.nd I e.ccoi:n'pliehed ie. with Egypt e.nd Ethiopie..
HOMILE'rICR. Ve~s. 1-4,..:...Foolish tr.t1St rebuked-by a strange sign. Few things are so difficult as to. bring men to rely wholly and solely upon Uod. The circumstances of the time were these. Humanly speaking, Judrea lay e,Lsolutely at the mercy of .A.ssyria. There was no existing power or combination of powers that could successrully contend at the time against the vast bodies of well-armed and well-disciplined soldiers which a. king of Assyria could bring into the field. Nothing could prolong Je~hh indep,,ndence for more tha.n a few years but some miraculous interposition of God on lie half of the Jewish people; But for God· to interpose miraculously, it was necessary that implicit tfllilt should be placed in him (Mark vi. 5; ix. 23, etc.). The Jews, however, could not briug themselves to believe that they had no help but Jehovah. They thought Egypt, or Egypt aod Ethiopia combioed, might well prove a match for Assyria, and were bent on placing themselves under the protection of the combined powers. The lesson of the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, whioh had trusted in Egypt (2 Kings xvii. 4), and then been destroyed by Assyria, we.s lost on them. In connection with .AshdoJ, they had actually sent ambassadors to Egypt to intreat assistance (eh. xx:x. 1-4). Then il was that Isainh received the special mission which was to warn his couotrymen of tho utter folly of trusting to humane.id. For three years he was to wear the sca11t clothing that Assyrian captives ordinarily wore, e.nnouncing that he did so io token that en, l,,ng the warrior~ of Egypt and Ethiopia would be se~n thus clad, on their way froi:Q E"nt to captivity at Nineveh. The unusual attire of the prophet could not but creatt a great sensation. It probably made a considerable impression on Hezekiah and hi~ counsellors. It was not forgotten; and if it did not at once cause the negotiations with Egypt to be broken uft", it produced the result that, when Isaiah'~ prediction was (ultilled TRE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [dll, ~ 1-6.
after the battle of Eltekeh, the Jewish monarch and people did in their-trouble turn to God. At_thc crisis of his d11.nger, Hezekiah made. appeal to the Almighty(ch. xxxvii. 4); and his appeal was followed by that destruction of the Assyrian host (eh. xx.xvii. 36) which caused the Assyrians to respect and fear the Jews thenceforward, and to allow them to retain their independence. Thus the life of the Jewish monarchy was extended for above a century.