My servant Isaiah. Isaiah shares this honorable title, "my servant," with a select few among God's saints—with Abraham (Genesis 26:24), Moses (Numbers 12:7), Caleb (Numbers 14:24), Job (Job 1:8; Job 42:7, Job 42:8), Eliakim (Isaiah 22:20), and Zerubbabel (Haggai 2:23).
It is a great acknowledgment for the Creator to make to the creature, that he really does him service. Three years. Probably from B.C. 713 to B.C. 711, or during the whole of the time that Philistia, Edom, Moab, and Judah were making representations to the Egyptians and Ethiopians, and endeavoring to obtain their aid.
It has been proposed, by an arbitrary emendation, to cut down the time to "three days;" but a three days' sign of the kind could not have been expected to have any important effect. The supposed "impropriety" of Isaiah's having "gone naked and barefoot" for three years arises from a misconception of the word "naked."
which is not to be taken literally (see the comment on verse 2). The costume adopted would be extraordinary, especially in one of Isaiah's rank and position; but would not be in any degree "improper."
It would be simply that of working men during the greater part of the day (see Exodus 22:26, Exodus 22:27).