8
📚Moreover the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-shalal -hashbaz. 2 📚And I will take for myself faithful witnesses to record it, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah”.8:1-2 Maher-shalal-hash-baz is Hebrew for “swift to the plunder, quick to the spoil”. The phrase is a prophecy of defeat of the northern kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Syria by Assyria (v 4; Isa 5:26, 30; 7:16). It was given in this striking way to capture the attention of leaders and people. The prophecy was attested by two leading men in Judah before the event.⚜
3 📚And I went to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher shalal hashbaz.
8:3 Isaiah named his son Maher-shalal-hash-baz to further impress on the people what God had revealed to him. Isaiah’s wife is referred to as the prophetess. Some scholars believe this event is at least a partial fulfillment of Isa 7:14. However, there is no proof for this.⚜
4 📚For before the child has the knowledge to cry out, ‘My father’, and ‘my mother’, the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be taken away in front of the king of Assyria 📖”. 5 📚The LORD also spoke to me again, saying,
6 📚“Because these people 📖 refuse
the waters of Shiloah 📖 that go softly,
and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son,
7 📚Now therefore, look,
the Lord will bring on them
the waters of the River 📖,
strong and mighty,
the king of Assyria and all his glory;
and he will come up over all his channels,
and come up over all his banks,
8:7 God determined to punish Judah for its unbelief and wickedness by the very nation Judah had trusted to save them. The Assyrian armies would come like a flood on the land.⚜
8 📚And he will pass through Judah.
He will overflow and pass over.
He will reach up to the neck 📖,
and his wings will spread out to fill
the breadth of your land,
O Immanuel 📖”.
9 📚Associate yourselves,
O you people,
but you will be broken in pieces.
And give ear, all you of far countries.
Arm yourselves,
but you will be broken in pieces;
arm yourselves,
but you will be broken in pieces.
10 📚Take counsel together,
but it will come to nothing.
State the matter,
but it will not stand;
for God is with us.
11 📚For the LORD spoke thus to me
with a strong hand 📖,
and instructed me that I should not walk 📖
in the way of this people,
saying,
12 📚“Do not say ‘a conspiracy’,
about all that this people
call a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear, or be afraid.
13 📚The LORD of hosts is the one
you are to regard as holy;
and let him be your fear,
and let him be your dread.
8:12-13 They who fear God need not fear men. Notes on fear of God at Gen 20:11; Job 28:28; Ps 34:11-14; 111:10; Prov 1:7.⚜
14 📚And he will be as a sanctuary;
but as a stone of stumbling and
as a rock of staggering to both
the houses of Israel,
as a trap and as a snare to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 📚And many among them will stumble
and fall and be broken,
and be snared and captured”.
16 📚Bind up the testimony,
seal up the law among my disciples.
8:16 There are three views as to the speaker of these words – some say God the Father, some say the pre-incarnate Christ, some say Isaiah. In any case the meaning is the same. God’s revelation through Isaiah was to be preserved for believers.⚜
17 📚And I will wait on the LORD,
who hides his face 📖 from
the house of Jacob,
and I will look for him.
18 📚Look, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 📚And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards”, who whisper and mutter, should not a people seek their God? Why consult the dead in behalf of the living? 20 📚To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
8:19-20 A striking contrast between the whisperings and mutterings of men who try to consult the spirits of dead people, and the pure revelations of the Word of God. On the subject of mediums and wizards see Deut 18:9-15. Any person who speaks contrary to God’s word in the Bible has little or no spiritual enlightenment or understanding.⚜
21 📚And they will pass through the land, hard pressed and hungry. And when they are hungry it will happen that they will get in a frenzy, and curse 📖 their king and their God, and look upward. 22 📚And they will look toward the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom and anguish; and they will be driven into darkness 📖.
8:16-22 Who is speaking in this passage? It is not easy to determine. The LORD (Jehovah) has been speaking up to v 16. In v 17 the speaker says he will wait for the LORD (Jehovah). Is it then Isaiah speaking about himself? The last word in v 17 and first word in v 18 are applied to the Lord Jesus in Heb 2:13. Then are all these verses spoken by the Messiah using Isaiah as a mouthpiece? Or do these verses have a double fulfillment in both Isaiah’s day and Christ’s? Very often there is this mystery about prophecies uttered by God’s servants in the Old Testament. Their words sometimes seem to refer to themselves, but the Spirit of Christ Who inspired them meant the words to apply to Christ. For example, see Ps 16; 40; 41; 69; 72.⚜
8:21-22 God’s judgments were coming on the land in Isaiah’s day, are coming on the world in the future. Those who do not believe and obey God’s revelation will fall into the terrible condition described here.⚜