Isaiah 20

King Azuri of Ashdod organized a revolt against the Assyrian overlords in about 713 BC. A couple years later, Assyrian king, Sargon, sent his army to crush the revolt. This report shows up in ancient Assyrian documents. Ashdod apparently appealed to Egyptians for help. Ethiopia, known then as Cush, was running Egypt at the time. The king of Egypt was an Ethiopian named Shahaka. Egyptians apparently did not respond since there’s no record of Assyrians invading Egypt until about 40 years later. Egyptians did try to come to the rescue of Jerusalem in 701 BC, but Assyrian king Sennacherib ran them off.

Sackcloth, a rough fabric like burlap feed sacks. People in Bible times dressed in rough clothes as an expression of mourning or sadness. Our version in the Western world is to wear black clothes or an armband. Isaiah, who constantly delivered bad news, may have felt clothes of sackcloth was the appropriate attire for what he was doing in life.