Unlike other famous prophets Isaiah is not one for spectacles and performance art - his power is in his poetry. But in today’s chapter, as the political situation looms dire over Jerusalem’s future, in a desperate attempt to rouse the people and wake them up, he embodies the future of fury, and models what exile would be like. It’s a singular example of how this prophet rails against the political trends not just with words but with his entire body - a powerful, if unsuccessful act of protest-art.
Many have followed in his barefoot footsteps. In 2005, Syrian born American artist Hala Faisal, demonstrated the war on Iraq as well as the occupation of Palestine by using her body as a public billboard in NYC’s Washington Sq. Park.
The historical context is clear and indicated in the first verse of this short chapter. Ashdod, the Philistine port city rebelled against Assyria in the year 712 BCE. Historical records support this biblical claim. Ashdod was not alone in its attempt to shake off the heavy taxes and cruel resettlement policies of Assyria. Sargon II sends troops to silence the rebellion and eventually heads over there himself. King Hezekiah of Judah watches closely - would Jerusalem’s fate be similar? He has already begun the plans for his own revolt against Assyria, counting on support from the rival superpower - Egypt.
Isaiah is against the revolt and does not think that reliance on Egypt is a good strategy. He combines political thought with religious conviction. Instead of relying on other nations and foreign aid, he keeps preaching, let’s get back to basics - our god, our humble ways, justice and care for the local needs instead of grand illusions of independence and pride. To demonstrate his dramatic protest he takes off his shoes and clothing, a sign of mourning and loss:
בָּעֵ֣ת הַהִ֗יא דִּבֶּ֣ר יְהֹוָה֮ בְּיַ֣ד יְשַֽׁעְיָ֣הוּ בֶן־אָמוֹץ֮ לֵאמֹר֒ לֵ֗ךְ וּפִתַּחְתָּ֤ הַשַּׂק֙ מֵעַ֣ל מׇתְנֶ֔יךָ וְנַעַלְךָ֥ תַחֲלֹ֖ץ מֵעַ֣ל רַגְלֶ֑ךָ וַיַּ֣עַשׂ כֵּ֔ן הָלֹ֖ךְ עָר֥וֹם וְיָחֵֽף׃
“At that time, YHWH had spoken to Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, untie the sackcloth from your loins and take your sandals off your feet,” which he had done, going naked and barefoot.”
Isaiah 20:2
What does ‘removal of sack’ mean? Scholars think that it means Jeruaslem was already in a state of deep anxiety, praying for salvation by donning a sackcloth - a familiar trope for times of stress and need. But Isaiah is taking it a step further - he’s moving from prayer for hope to a dramatic demonstration of the price of losing - only slaves walk around naked and barefoot. This will be the fate of Judah, he warns, we will fall like Ashdod, crash like Egypt, be sold into slavery and exile just like Israel to the north. In his despair he names Jerusalem ‘an island’ surrounded by enemies, waiting its turn to be turned over to loss.
The next verse claims he kept this on for three years. Many later commentaires were outraged by the notion that this noble elder would be walking around barefoot and naked for such a long time but this is the simple reading of this troubling text.
Who are the prophets and the artists of today who will embody our looming climate crisis? How do we walk the talk of what it takes to slow or pause the fast pace of global warming, digital divides, economic gaps and endless hatred?
Isaiah’s prophecies evoke the courage of activists and artists, revolutionaries and reformers who sometimes succeed or sometimes did not. Ronda Kaysen who wrote about Faisal’s 2005 protest, notes that:
“History is riddled with individual acts of civil disobedience that embody a larger moment in history — Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus, Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk who in 1963 famously lit himself on fire in Saigon, an image that came to symbolize the Vietnam War.
“Yesterday it was one woman sitting in front of the president’s ranch, today it is one woman taking off her clothes in Washington Square Park, and tomorrow it will be somebody else,” said Daniel Perez, Faisal’s pro-bono lawyer. “Ultimately, it is going to force the Bush administration to cut its losses and get the hell out.”
It took many more protests and political moves for that to happen - but the message was eventually heard, as Faisal’s protest, same as Isaiah’s, keeps echoing today, as timely as ever - take off your shoes, walk humbly on this earth, ground yourself in the naked truth: none of us are islands, connected to each other and each other’s fates like waves in an infinite sea.
Image: Syrian-American artist @HalaFaisal protesting in NYC, 2005 AM NY
“Like Watchmen in the Night”
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You are understandably modest, dear Amichai, but I know you are a prophetic performance artist, By "prophetic" I mean a person who sees deeply where the forms of idolatry distort reverential and relational reality, By "performance" I mean the embodied---walk the walk---of going "naked" (vulnerable) into the world, year after year. And by "artist" I mean the use of creativity and spontaneity to challenge the norms of behavior and attention.