Isaiah 8:21

And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. More detailed description of the despair which they shall fall into who sought necromancy instead of God. (taking Maurer's translation) implies that too late they shall see how much better it would have been for them to have sought "to the law," etc. (). Now they are given over to despair. Therefore, while seeing the truth of God, they only "curse their King and ... God;" foreshadowing the future like conduct of those belonging to the "kingdom of the beast," when they shall be visited with divide plagues (, "They blasphemed t...

21._Then they shall pass through that land. _Not to permit believers to be ensnared by the common errors, he adds how dreadful is the punishment which awaits the ungodly when they have revolted from God, and have labored to induce others to join in the same revolt. The passage is somewhat obscure; but the obscurity arises from the want of proper attention in examining the words. The verb עבר (_gnabar_) is emphatic; for by _passing through _he means that _uncertainty _in which men wander up and down, and are not able to find a resting-place, or any permanent abode. To the indefinite verb we must supply a noun, _The Jews shall pass_. By the pronoun בה, (_bahh_,) _in it_, (136) he means Judea, which the Lord had preferred to all other countries; and therefore it is easily understood, though the Prophet does not ex

17-22 The prophet foresaw that the Lord would hide his face; but he would look for his return in favour to them again. Though not miraculous signs, the children's names were memorials from God, suited to excite attention. The unbelieving Jews were prone to seek counsel in difficulties, from diviners of different descriptions, whose foolish and sinful ceremonies are alluded to. Would we know how we may seek to our God, and come to the knowledge of his mind? To the law and to the testimony; for there you will see what is good, and what the Lord requires. We must speak of the things of God in the words which the Holy Ghost teaches, and be ruled by them. To those that seek to familiar spirits, and regard not God's law and testimony, there shall be horror and misery. Those that go away from God, go out of the way of all good; for fretfulness is a sin that is its own punishment. They shall de...

Verse Isaiah 8:21. _HARDLY BESTEAD_ - "Distressed"] Instead of נקשה _niksheh,_ _distressed_, the _Vulgate, Chaldee_, and _Symmachus_ manifestly read נכשל _nichshal, stumbling, tottering through weakness, ready to_ _fall_; a sense which suits very well with the place. _AND LOOK UPWARD_ - "And he shall cast his eyes upward."] The learned professor _Michaelis_, treating of this place (Not. in de Sacr. Poes. Hebr. Prael. ix.) refers to a passage in the Koran which is similar to it. As it is a very celebrated passage, and on many accounts remarkable, I shall give it here at large, with the same author's farther remarks upon it in another place of his writings. It must be noted here that the learned professor renders נבט _nibbat_, הביט hibbit, in this and the parallel place,...

AND THEY SHALL PASS - The people who have been consulting necromancers. This represents the condition of these who have sought for counsel and direction, and who have not found it. They shall be conscious of disappointment, and shall wander perplexed and alarmed through the land. THROUGH IT - Through the land. They shall wander in it from one place to another, seeking direction and relief. HARDLY BESTEAD - Oppressed, borne down, agitated. The meaning is, that the people would wander about, oppressed by the calamities that were coming upon the nation, and unalleviated by all that soothsayers and necromancers could do. AND HUNGRY - Famished; as one effect of the great calamities that would afflict the nation. THEY SHALL FRET THEMSELVES - They shall be irritated at their own f

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 8:1 THE SIGN OF MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ. The sign of Immanuel was recondite. In its more spiritual sense it appealed to faith in an event far distant. Even in its literal import, it was not calculated to cheer and encourage more than a few, since neither the maiden nor the child was pointed out with any distinctness. A fresh sign was therefore given by God's goodness to reassure the mass of the people—a sign about which there was nothing obscure or difficult. Isaiah himself should have a son born to him almost immediately, to whom he should give a name indicating the rapid approach of the spoiler, and before this child should be able to utter the first words which childhood ordinarily pronounces, "Father," "Mother," Damascu

AND THEY SHALL PASS THROUGH IT,.... The land, as the Targum and Kimchi supply it; that is, the land of Judea, as Aben Ezra interprets it. Here begins an account of the punishment that should be inflicted on the Jews, for their neglect of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and their rejection of the Messiah: HARDLY BESTEAD AND HUNGRY; put to the greatest difficulty to get food to eat, and famishing for want of it; which some understand of the time when Sennacherib's army was before Jerusalem, as Aben Ezra; but it seems better, with others, to refer it to the times of Zedekiah, when there was a sore famine, Jeremiah 52:6 though best of all to the besieging of Jerusalem, by the Romans, and the times preceding it, Matthew 24:7 and it may also be applied to the famine of hearin

CHAPTER 8 Jehovah's Word Through Isaiah and the Assyrian Announced 1. _The divine instruction and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah 8:1)_ 2. _The Assyrian to come (Isaiah 8:5)_ 3. _The answer of faith (Isaiah 8:9)_ 4. _A word to the faithful remnant (Isaiah 8:11)_ 5. _The coming great distress (Isaiah 8:21)_ The names are significant. Isaiah heard the word “Maher-shalal-hash-baz,” and then is told to call his newborn son by this name. The name means “swift for spoil, hasty for prey.” Isaiah's other son was named “Shear-Jashub,” whic

ISAIAH 8:19 TO ISAIAH 9:1. SOME FRAGMENTARY UTTERANCES. These fragments are of uncertain date and authorship, corrupt in text and obscure in sense. The first, Isaiah 8:19 f., is a warning against necromancers. Probably the words of those who advocate consulting them continue to the end of Isaiah 8:19. We should render Isaiah 8:19_ b,_ should not a people seek unto their elohim? on behalf of the living should they not seek unto the dead? The elohim are the spirits of the dead, so described in...

THEY: i.e. they who live not in the light of God's Word. IT: i.e. Immanuel's land. The singular number and same verb, referring back to Isaiah 8:8. HARDLY BESTEAD. in hard case. FRET THEMSELVES. Compare. Revelation 16:11; Revelation 16:21. LOOK UPWARD: [in vain]....