VIII. (1) MOREOVER THE LORD SAID UNTO ME... — The prophecy that follows was clearly separated by an interval of some kind, probably about a year, from that in Isaiah 7. In the meantime much that had happened seemed to cast discredit on the prophet’s words. The child that was the type of the greater... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I TOOK UNTO ME FAITHFUL WITNESSES. — That the prophet’s challenge to his gainsayers might be made more emphatic, the setting-up of the tablet is to be formally attested. And the witnesses whom the prophet calls were probably men of high position, among those who had been foremost in advising the... [ Continue Reading ]
I... THE PROPHETESS... — The word may have been given by courtesy to a prophet’s wife as such. Elsewhere, however, as in the case of Deborah (Judges 4:4) and Huldah (2 Chronicles 34:22), it implies prophetic gifts. Possibly, therefore, we may think of the prophet and his wife as having been drawn to... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR BEFORE THE CHILD SHALL HAVE KNOWLEDGE TO CRY... — Here then was another sign like that of Isaiah 7:14. The two witnesses of Isaiah 8:2 were probably summoned to the circumcision and naming of the child, and the mysterious name at which all Jerusalem had gazed with wonder was given to the new-bor... [ Continue Reading ]
FORASMUCH AS THIS PEOPLE REFUSETH THE WATERS OF SHILOAH... — Grammatically, the words “this people” might seem to refer to Judah, and suggest the thought that the tyranny of Ahaz had made him so unpopular that his subjects welcomed the invaders. On this view Ahaz sought the alliance with Tiglath-pil... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WATERS OF THE RIVER... — “The river” is, as elsewhere (Joshua 24:2; Joshua 24:14), the Euphrates; here used (1) as the symbol of the Assyrian monarchy, as Shiloah had been of that of Judah, and (2) of the Assyrian armies that were to pour down like that river in the time of its inundations. The... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STRETCHING OUT OF HIS WINGS. — The metaphor within a metaphor is quite after the manner of Isaiah. The armies of Assyria are like a river in flood; the outspread waters on either side of the main stream are like the expanded wings of a great bird sweeping down on its prey. SHALL FILL THE BREADTH... [ Continue Reading ]
ASSOCIATE YOURSELVES, O YE PEOPLE... — Better, _O ye peoples._ The words are not limited to the confederacy of Syria and Ephraim, but are, as it were, a challenge to all the peoples of the earth, far and near. No plan against the Divine kingdom, of which the earthly kingdom of the house of David was... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD SPAKE THUS TO ME. — We enter on a new section, separated, probably, by a short interval of time, but dealing with the same subject. In the “strong hand” we have an anthropomorphic phrase, implying a specially high degree of the intensity of inspiration (1 Kings 18:46; 2 Kings 3:15; Ezek... [ Continue Reading ]
SAY YE NOT, A CONFEDERACY... — The words have been very differently interpreted. (1) The confederacy has been thought to be that between Syria or Ephraim, which had at first filled the people with terror, and then had seemed so powerful that men had been willing to join it (Isaiah 7:2; Isaiah 8:6).... [ Continue Reading ]
SANCTIFY THE LORD OF HOSTS HIMSELF... — The words contain an implicit appeal to the revelation of the Divine Name in Isaiah 6:3. Had the prophet’s disciples entered into the meaning of that “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts?” Had they learnt to sanctify Jehovah Sabaoth, to recognise the power... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL BE FOR A SANCTUARY ... — Literally, _he shall become a hallowed thing,_ with the implied thought as in Ezekiel 11:16, that the sanctuary is also an asylum (1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28). In that sanctuary, in the presence of Jehovah, there was a refuge from all terror, the answer to all m... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MANY AMONG THEM SHALL STUMBLE, AND FALL... — The accumulation of words more or less synonymous has obviously, as before, the emphasis of iteration. Possibly for the prophet and his disciples, each word had a distinct ethical significance, which we can only partially recover. Looking to the figur... [ Continue Reading ]
BIND UP THE TESTIMONY... — The intensity of feeling in which the prophetic utterance of Isaiah 8:11 had its birth, is followed by a corresponding solemnity at its close. The words which had been so full of meaning for the prophet himself are to be impressed on the disciples of Jehovah (for it is He... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL WAIT UPON THE LORD, THAT HIDETH HIS FACE... — The words come in somewhat abruptly, but not to the extent that justifies the assumption of some critics that a verse has been lost. The prophet enforces precept by example. He has learnt to conquer the feverish desire to know the future, whic... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM THE LORD HATH GIVEN ME... — In the mystic significance of his own name (Isaiah — _Salvation of Jehovah_) and of the names of his sons: _Remnant shall return._ and _Speed-plunder, Haste-spoil,_ possibly also in that of Immanuel, the prophet finds a sufficient revelatio... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY SHALL SAY UNTO YOU... — This then was the temptation to which the disciples of Isaiah were exposed, and to which they were all but yielding. Why should not they do as others did, and consult the soothsayers, who were in such great demand (Isaiah 2:6), as to the anxious secrets of the c... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY. — The words are only remotely and by analogy an exhortation to the study of Scripture in general, or even to that of the Law of Moses in particular. “The law and the testimony” are obviously here, as in Isaiah 8:16, the “word of Jehovah,” spoken to the prophet himsel... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SHALL PASS THROUGH IT... — _i.e.,_ through the land over which hangs the sunless gloom. The abruptness with which the verse opens, the absence of any noun to which the pronoun “it” may refer, has led some critics (Cheyne) to transpose the two verses. So arranged, the thought of the people f... [ Continue Reading ]