Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, Immanuel’s Land, and the Lord as Sanctuary or Stone

Isa 8:5-7 The heading or introduction, “And Jehovah proceeded still further to speak to me, as follows,” extends to all the following addresses as far as Isa 12:1-6. They all finish with consolation. But consolation presupposes the need of consolation. Consequently, even in this instance the prophet is obliged to commence with a threatening of judgment. “Forasmuch as this people despiseth the waters of Siloah that go softly, and regardeth as a delight the alliance with Rezin and the son of Remalyahu, therefore, behold!

the Lord of all bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, the mighty and the great, the king of Asshur and all his military power; and he riseth over all his channels, and goeth over all his banks. ” The Siloah had its name ( Shiloach , or, according to the reading of this passage contained in very good MSS, Shilloach ), ab emittendo , either in an infinitive sense, “shooting forth,” or in a participial sense, with a passive colouring, emissus, sent forth, spirted out (vid.

, Joh 9:7; and on the variations in meaning of this substantive form, Concord . p. 1349, s .) Josephus places the fountain and pool of Siloah at the opening of the Tyropoeon, on the south-eastern side of the ancient city, where we still find it at the present day (vid. , Jos. Wars of the Jews , v. 4, 1; also Robinson, Pal . i. 504). The clear little brook - a pleasant sight to the eye as it issues from the ravine which runs between the south-western slope of Moriah and the south-eastern slope of Mount Zion (V.

Schulbert, Reise , ii. 573) - is used here as a symbol of the Davidic monarchy enthroned upon Zion, which had the promise of God, who was enthroned upon Moriah, in contrast with the imperial or world kingdom, which is compared to the overflowing waters of the Euphrates. The reproach of despising the waters of Siloah applied to Judah as well as Ephraim: to the former because it trusted in Asshur, and despised the less tangible but more certain help which the house of David, if it were but believing, had to expect from the God of promise; to the latter, because it had entered into alliance with Aram to overthrow the house of David; and yet the house of David, although degenerate and deformed, was the divinely appointed source of that salvation, which is ever realized through quiet, secret ways.

The second reproach applied more especially to Ephraim. The 'eth is not to be taken as the sign of the accusative, for sūs never occurs with the accusative of the object (not even in Isa 35:1), and could not well be so used. It is to be construed as a preposition in the sense of “ and (or because) delight (is felt) with (i. e. , in) the alliance with Rezin and Pekah .

” (On the constructive before a preposition, see Ges. §116, 1: sūs 'ēth , like râtzâh ‛im .) Luzzatto compares, for the construction, Gen 41:43, v'nâthōn ; but only the inf. abs . is used in this way as a continuation of the finite verb (see Ges. §131, 4, a ). Moreover, משׂושׂ is not an Aramaic infinitive, but a substantive used in such a way as to retain the power of the verb (like מסּע in Num 10:2, and מספר in Num 23:10, unless, indeed, the reading here should be ספר מי).

The substantive clause is preferred to the verbal clause ושׂשׂ, for the sake of the antithetical consonance of משׂושׂס with מאס. It is also quite in accordance with Hebrew syntax, that an address which commences with כי יען should here lose itself in the second sentence “in the twilight,” as Ewald expresses it (§351, c ), of a substantive clause. Knobel and others suppose the reproof to relate to dissatisfied Judaeans, who were secretly favourable to the enterprise of the two allied kings.

But there is no further evidence that there were such persons; and Isa 8:8 is opposed to this interpretation. The overflowing of the Assyrian forces would fall first of all upon Ephraim. The threat of punishment is introduced with ולכן, the Vav being the sign of sequence (Ewald, §348, b ). The words “the king of Asshur” are the prophet’s own gloss, as in Isa 7:17, Isa 7:20.

Isa 8:5-7 The heading or introduction, “And Jehovah proceeded still further to speak to me, as follows,” extends to all the following addresses as far as Isa 12:1-6. They all finish with consolation. But consolation presupposes the need of consolation. Consequently, even in this instance the prophet is obliged to commence with a threatening of judgment. “Forasmuch as this people despiseth the waters of Siloah that go softly, and regardeth as a delight the alliance with Rezin and the son of Remalyahu, therefore, behold!

the Lord of all bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, the mighty and the great, the king of Asshur and all his military power; and he riseth over all his channels, and goeth over all his banks. ” The Siloah had its name ( Shiloach , or, according to the reading of this passage contained in very good MSS, Shilloach ), ab emittendo , either in an infinitive sense, “shooting forth,” or in a participial sense, with a passive colouring, emissus, sent forth, spirted out (vid.

, Joh 9:7; and on the variations in meaning of this substantive form, Concord . p. 1349, s .) Josephus places the fountain and pool of Siloah at the opening of the Tyropoeon, on the south-eastern side of the ancient city, where we still find it at the present day (vid. , Jos. Wars of the Jews , v. 4, 1; also Robinson, Pal . i. 504). The clear little brook - a pleasant sight to the eye as it issues from the ravine which runs between the south-western slope of Moriah and the south-eastern slope of Mount Zion (V.

Schulbert, Reise , ii. 573) - is used here as a symbol of the Davidic monarchy enthroned upon Zion, which had the promise of God, who was enthroned upon Moriah, in contrast with the imperial or world kingdom, which is compared to the overflowing waters of the Euphrates. The reproach of despising the waters of Siloah applied to Judah as well as Ephraim: to the former because it trusted in Asshur, and despised the less tangible but more certain help which the house of David, if it were but believing, had to expect from the God of promise; to the latter, because it had entered into alliance with Aram to overthrow the house of David; and yet the house of David, although degenerate and deformed, was the divinely appointed source of that salvation, which is ever realized through quiet, secret ways.

The second reproach applied more especially to Ephraim. The 'eth is not to be taken as the sign of the accusative, for sūs never occurs with the accusative of the object (not even in Isa 35:1), and could not well be so used. It is to be construed as a preposition in the sense of “ and (or because) delight (is felt) with (i. e. , in) the alliance with Rezin and Pekah .

” (On the constructive before a preposition, see Ges. §116, 1: sūs 'ēth , like râtzâh ‛im .) Luzzatto compares, for the construction, Gen 41:43, v'nâthōn ; but only the inf. abs . is used in this way as a continuation of the finite verb (see Ges. §131, 4, a ). Moreover, משׂושׂ is not an Aramaic infinitive, but a substantive used in such a way as to retain the power of the verb (like מסּע in Num 10:2, and מספר in Num 23:10, unless, indeed, the reading here should be ספר מי).

The substantive clause is preferred to the verbal clause ושׂשׂ, for the sake of the antithetical consonance of משׂושׂס with מאס. It is also quite in accordance with Hebrew syntax, that an address which commences with כי יען should here lose itself in the second sentence “in the twilight,” as Ewald expresses it (§351, c ), of a substantive clause. Knobel and others suppose the reproof to relate to dissatisfied Judaeans, who were secretly favourable to the enterprise of the two allied kings.

But there is no further evidence that there were such persons; and Isa 8:8 is opposed to this interpretation. The overflowing of the Assyrian forces would fall first of all upon Ephraim. The threat of punishment is introduced with ולכן, the Vav being the sign of sequence (Ewald, §348, b ). The words “the king of Asshur” are the prophet’s own gloss, as in Isa 7:17, Isa 7:20.

Isa 8:8 Not till then would this overflowing reach as far as Judah, but then it would do so most certainly and incessantly. ”And presses forward into Judah, overflows and pours onward, till it reaches to the neck, and the spreading out of its wings fill the breadth of thy land, Immanuel. ” The fate of Judah would be different from that of Ephraim. Ephraim would be laid completely under water by the river, i.

e. , would be utterly destroyed. And in Judah the stream, as it rushed forward, would reach the most dangerous height; but if a deliverer could be found, there was still a possibility of its being saved. Such a deliverer was Immanuel, whom the prophet sees in the light of the Spirit living through all the Assyrian calamities. The prophet appeals complainingly to him that the land, which is his land, is almost swallowed up by the world-power: the spreadings out ( muttoth , a hophal noun: for similar substantive forms, see Isa 14:6; Isa 29:3, and more especially Psa 66:11) of the wings of the stream (i.

e. , of the large bodies of water pouring out on both sides from the main stream, as from the trunk, and covering the land like two broad wings) have filled the whole land. According to Norzi, Immanuël is to be written here as one word, as it is in Isa 7:14; but the correct reading is Immân El , with mercha silluk (see note on Isa 7:14), though it does not therefore cease to be a proper name.

As Jerome observes, it is nomen proprium , non interpretatum ; and so it is rendered in the Sept. , Μεθ ̓ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός.

Isa 8:9-10 The prophet’s imploring look at Immanuel does not remain unanswered. We may see this from the fact, that what was almost a silent prayer is changed at once into the jubilate of holy defiance. “Exasperate yourselves, O nations, and go to pieces; and see it, all who are far off in the earth! Gird yourselves, and go to pieces; gird yourselves, and go to pieces!

Consult counsel, and it comes to nought; speak the word, and it is not realized: for with us is God. ” The second imperatives in Isa 8:9 are threatening words of authority, having a future signification, which change into futures in Isa 8:19 (Ges. §130, 2): Go on exasperating yourselves רעוּ( with the tone upon the penultimate, and therefore not the pual of רעה, consociari, which is the rendering adopted in the Targum, but the kal of רעע, malum esse ; not vociferari , for which רוּע, a different verb from the same root, is commonly employed), go on arming; ye will nevertheless fall to pieces ( Chōttu , from Châthath , related to Câthath , Confringi , Consternari ).

The prophet classes together all the nations that are warring against the people of God, pronounces upon them the sentence of destruction, and calls upon all distant lands to hear this ultimate fate of the kingdom of the world, i. e. , of the imperial power. The world-kingdom must be wrecked on the land of Immanuel; “ for with us ,” as the watchword of believers runs, pointing to the person of the Savour, “ with us is God .

”

Isa 8:9-10 The prophet’s imploring look at Immanuel does not remain unanswered. We may see this from the fact, that what was almost a silent prayer is changed at once into the jubilate of holy defiance. “Exasperate yourselves, O nations, and go to pieces; and see it, all who are far off in the earth! Gird yourselves, and go to pieces; gird yourselves, and go to pieces!

Consult counsel, and it comes to nought; speak the word, and it is not realized: for with us is God. ” The second imperatives in Isa 8:9 are threatening words of authority, having a future signification, which change into futures in Isa 8:19 (Ges. §130, 2): Go on exasperating yourselves רעוּ( with the tone upon the penultimate, and therefore not the pual of רעה, consociari, which is the rendering adopted in the Targum, but the kal of רעע, malum esse ; not vociferari , for which רוּע, a different verb from the same root, is commonly employed), go on arming; ye will nevertheless fall to pieces ( Chōttu , from Châthath , related to Câthath , Confringi , Consternari ).

The prophet classes together all the nations that are warring against the people of God, pronounces upon them the sentence of destruction, and calls upon all distant lands to hear this ultimate fate of the kingdom of the world, i. e. , of the imperial power. The world-kingdom must be wrecked on the land of Immanuel; “ for with us ,” as the watchword of believers runs, pointing to the person of the Savour, “ with us is God .

”

Isa 8:11-12 There then follows in Isa 8:11 an explanatory clause, which seems at first sight to pass on to a totally different theme, but it really stands in the closest connection with the triumphant words of Isa 8:9, Isa 8:10. It is Immanuel whom believers receive, constitute, and hold fast as their refuge in the approaching times of the Assyrian judgment.

He is their refuge and God in Him, and not any human support whatever. This is the link of connection with Isa 8:11, Isa 8:12 : “For Jehovah hath spoken thus to me, overpowering me with God’s hand, and instructing me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy; and what is feared by it, fear ye not, neither think ye dreadful.

” היד, “ the hand ,” is the absolute hand, which is no sooner laid upon a man than it overpowers all perception, sensation, and though: Chezkath hayyâd (viz. , âlai , upon me, Eze 3:14) therefore describes a condition in which the hand of God was put forth upon the prophet with peculiar force, as distinguished from the more usual prophetic state, the effect of a peculiarly impressive and energetic act of God.

Luther is wrong in following the Syriac, and adopting the rendering, “taking me by the hand;” as Chezkath points back to the kal ( invalescere ), and not to the hiphil ( apprehendere ). It is this circumstantial statement, which is continued in v'yissereni (“and instructing me”), and not the leading verb âmar (“ he said ”); for the former is not the third pers.

pret. piel , which would be v'yisserani , but the third pers. fut. kal , from the future form yissōr (Hos 10:10, whereas the fut. piel is v'yassēr ); and it is closely connected with Chezkath hayyâd , according to the analogy of the change from the participial and infinitive construction to the finite verb (Ges. §132, Anm. 2). With this overpowering influence, and an instructive warning against going in the way of “this people,” Jehovah spake to the prophet as follows.

With regard to the substance of the following warning, the explanation that has been commonly adopted since the time of Jerome, viz. , noli duorum regum timere conjurationem (fear not the conspiracy of the two kings), is contrary to the reading of the words. The warning runs thus: The prophet, and such as were on his side, were not to call that kesher which the great mass of the people called kesher (cf.

, 2Ch 23:13, “She said, Treason, Treason! ” kesher , kesher ); yet the alliance of Rezin and Pekah was really a conspiracy - a league against the house and people of David. Nor can the warning mean that believers, when they saw how the unbelieving Ahaz brought the nation into distress, were not to join in a conspiracy against the person of the king (Hofmann, Drechsler); they are not warned at all against making a conspiracy, but against joining in the popular cry when the people called out kesher .

The true explanation has been given by Roorda, viz. , that the reference is to the conspiracy, as it was called, of the prophet and his disciples ( “sermo hic est de conjuratione, quae dicebatur prophetae et discipulorum ejus” ). The same thing happened to Isaiah as to Amos (Amo 7:10) and to Jeremiah. Whenever the prophets were at all zealous in their opposition to the appeal for foreign aid, they were accused and branded as standing in the service of the enemy, and conspiring for the overthrow of the kingdom.

In such perversion of language as this, the honourable among them were not to join. The way of God was now a very different one from the way of that people. If the prophet and his followers opposed the alliance with Asshur, this was not a common human conspiracy against the will of the king and nation, but the inspiration of God, the true policy of Jehovah. Whoever trusted in Him had no need to be afraid of such attempts as those of Rezin and Pekah, or to look upon them as dreadful.

Isa 8:11-12 There then follows in Isa 8:11 an explanatory clause, which seems at first sight to pass on to a totally different theme, but it really stands in the closest connection with the triumphant words of Isa 8:9, Isa 8:10. It is Immanuel whom believers receive, constitute, and hold fast as their refuge in the approaching times of the Assyrian judgment.

He is their refuge and God in Him, and not any human support whatever. This is the link of connection with Isa 8:11, Isa 8:12 : “For Jehovah hath spoken thus to me, overpowering me with God’s hand, and instructing me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy; and what is feared by it, fear ye not, neither think ye dreadful.

” היד, “ the hand ,” is the absolute hand, which is no sooner laid upon a man than it overpowers all perception, sensation, and though: Chezkath hayyâd (viz. , âlai , upon me, Eze 3:14) therefore describes a condition in which the hand of God was put forth upon the prophet with peculiar force, as distinguished from the more usual prophetic state, the effect of a peculiarly impressive and energetic act of God.

Luther is wrong in following the Syriac, and adopting the rendering, “taking me by the hand;” as Chezkath points back to the kal ( invalescere ), and not to the hiphil ( apprehendere ). It is this circumstantial statement, which is continued in v'yissereni (“and instructing me”), and not the leading verb âmar (“ he said ”); for the former is not the third pers.

pret. piel , which would be v'yisserani , but the third pers. fut. kal , from the future form yissōr (Hos 10:10, whereas the fut. piel is v'yassēr ); and it is closely connected with Chezkath hayyâd , according to the analogy of the change from the participial and infinitive construction to the finite verb (Ges. §132, Anm. 2). With this overpowering influence, and an instructive warning against going in the way of “this people,” Jehovah spake to the prophet as follows.

With regard to the substance of the following warning, the explanation that has been commonly adopted since the time of Jerome, viz. , noli duorum regum timere conjurationem (fear not the conspiracy of the two kings), is contrary to the reading of the words. The warning runs thus: The prophet, and such as were on his side, were not to call that kesher which the great mass of the people called kesher (cf.

, 2Ch 23:13, “She said, Treason, Treason! ” kesher , kesher ); yet the alliance of Rezin and Pekah was really a conspiracy - a league against the house and people of David. Nor can the warning mean that believers, when they saw how the unbelieving Ahaz brought the nation into distress, were not to join in a conspiracy against the person of the king (Hofmann, Drechsler); they are not warned at all against making a conspiracy, but against joining in the popular cry when the people called out kesher .

The true explanation has been given by Roorda, viz. , that the reference is to the conspiracy, as it was called, of the prophet and his disciples ( “sermo hic est de conjuratione, quae dicebatur prophetae et discipulorum ejus” ). The same thing happened to Isaiah as to Amos (Amo 7:10) and to Jeremiah. Whenever the prophets were at all zealous in their opposition to the appeal for foreign aid, they were accused and branded as standing in the service of the enemy, and conspiring for the overthrow of the kingdom.

In such perversion of language as this, the honourable among them were not to join. The way of God was now a very different one from the way of that people. If the prophet and his followers opposed the alliance with Asshur, this was not a common human conspiracy against the will of the king and nation, but the inspiration of God, the true policy of Jehovah. Whoever trusted in Him had no need to be afraid of such attempts as those of Rezin and Pekah, or to look upon them as dreadful.

Isa 8:13-15 The object of their fear was a very different one. “Jehovah of hosts, sanctify Him; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your terror. So will He become a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence ( vexation ) to both the houses of Israel, a snare and trap to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and shall fall; and be dashed to pieces, and be snared and taken.

” The logical apodosis to Isa 8:13 commences with v'hâhâh (so shall He be). If ye actually acknowledge Jehovah the Holy One as the Holy One ( hikdı̄sh , as in Isa 29:23), and if it is He whom ye fear, and who fills you with dread ( ma‛arı̄tz , used for the object of dread, as mōrah is for the object of fear; hence “that which terrifies” in a causative sense), He will become a mikdâsh .

The word mikdâsh may indeed denote the object sanctified, and so Knobel understands it here according to Num 18:29; but if we adhere to the strict notion of the word, this gives an unmeaning apodosis. Mikdâsh generally means the sanctified place or sanctuary, with which the idea of an asylum would easily associate itself, since even among the Israelites the temple was regarded and respected as an asylum (1Ki 1:50; 1Ki 2:28).

This is the explanation which most of the commentators have adopted here; and the punctuators also took it in the same sense, when they divided the two halves of Isa 8:14 by athnach as antithetical. And mikdâsh is really to be taken in this sense, although it cannot be exactly rendered “asylum,” since this would improperly limit the meaning of the word. The temple was not only a place of shelter, but also of grace, blessing, and peace.

All who sanctified the Lord of lords He surrounded like temple walls; hid them in Himself, whilst death and tribulation reigned without, and comforted, fed, and blessed them in His own gracious fellowship. This is the true explanation of v'hâyâh l'mikdâs , according to such passages as Isa 4:5-6; Psa 27:5; Psa 31:21. To the two houses of Israel, on the contrary, i.

e. , to the great mass of the people of both kingdoms who neither sanctified nor feared Jehovah, He would be a rock and snare. The synonyms are intentionally heaped together (cf. , Isa 28:13), to produce the fearful impression of death occurring in many forms, but all inevitable. The first three verbs of Isa 8:15 refer to the “stone” ( 'eben ) and “rock” ( tzūr ); the last two to the “snare” ( pach ), and “trap” or springe ( mōkēsh ).

All who did not give glory to Jehovah would be dashed to pieces upon His work as upon a stone, and caught therein as in a trap. This was the burden of the divine warning, which the prophet heard for himself and for those that believed.

Isa 8:13-15 The object of their fear was a very different one. “Jehovah of hosts, sanctify Him; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your terror. So will He become a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence ( vexation ) to both the houses of Israel, a snare and trap to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and shall fall; and be dashed to pieces, and be snared and taken.

” The logical apodosis to Isa 8:13 commences with v'hâhâh (so shall He be). If ye actually acknowledge Jehovah the Holy One as the Holy One ( hikdı̄sh , as in Isa 29:23), and if it is He whom ye fear, and who fills you with dread ( ma‛arı̄tz , used for the object of dread, as mōrah is for the object of fear; hence “that which terrifies” in a causative sense), He will become a mikdâsh .

The word mikdâsh may indeed denote the object sanctified, and so Knobel understands it here according to Num 18:29; but if we adhere to the strict notion of the word, this gives an unmeaning apodosis. Mikdâsh generally means the sanctified place or sanctuary, with which the idea of an asylum would easily associate itself, since even among the Israelites the temple was regarded and respected as an asylum (1Ki 1:50; 1Ki 2:28).

This is the explanation which most of the commentators have adopted here; and the punctuators also took it in the same sense, when they divided the two halves of Isa 8:14 by athnach as antithetical. And mikdâsh is really to be taken in this sense, although it cannot be exactly rendered “asylum,” since this would improperly limit the meaning of the word. The temple was not only a place of shelter, but also of grace, blessing, and peace.

All who sanctified the Lord of lords He surrounded like temple walls; hid them in Himself, whilst death and tribulation reigned without, and comforted, fed, and blessed them in His own gracious fellowship. This is the true explanation of v'hâyâh l'mikdâs , according to such passages as Isa 4:5-6; Psa 27:5; Psa 31:21. To the two houses of Israel, on the contrary, i.

e. , to the great mass of the people of both kingdoms who neither sanctified nor feared Jehovah, He would be a rock and snare. The synonyms are intentionally heaped together (cf. , Isa 28:13), to produce the fearful impression of death occurring in many forms, but all inevitable. The first three verbs of Isa 8:15 refer to the “stone” ( 'eben ) and “rock” ( tzūr ); the last two to the “snare” ( pach ), and “trap” or springe ( mōkēsh ).

All who did not give glory to Jehovah would be dashed to pieces upon His work as upon a stone, and caught therein as in a trap. This was the burden of the divine warning, which the prophet heard for himself and for those that believed.

Isa 8:13-15 The object of their fear was a very different one. “Jehovah of hosts, sanctify Him; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your terror. So will He become a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence ( vexation ) to both the houses of Israel, a snare and trap to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and shall fall; and be dashed to pieces, and be snared and taken.

” The logical apodosis to Isa 8:13 commences with v'hâhâh (so shall He be). If ye actually acknowledge Jehovah the Holy One as the Holy One ( hikdı̄sh , as in Isa 29:23), and if it is He whom ye fear, and who fills you with dread ( ma‛arı̄tz , used for the object of dread, as mōrah is for the object of fear; hence “that which terrifies” in a causative sense), He will become a mikdâsh .

The word mikdâsh may indeed denote the object sanctified, and so Knobel understands it here according to Num 18:29; but if we adhere to the strict notion of the word, this gives an unmeaning apodosis. Mikdâsh generally means the sanctified place or sanctuary, with which the idea of an asylum would easily associate itself, since even among the Israelites the temple was regarded and respected as an asylum (1Ki 1:50; 1Ki 2:28).

This is the explanation which most of the commentators have adopted here; and the punctuators also took it in the same sense, when they divided the two halves of Isa 8:14 by athnach as antithetical. And mikdâsh is really to be taken in this sense, although it cannot be exactly rendered “asylum,” since this would improperly limit the meaning of the word. The temple was not only a place of shelter, but also of grace, blessing, and peace.

All who sanctified the Lord of lords He surrounded like temple walls; hid them in Himself, whilst death and tribulation reigned without, and comforted, fed, and blessed them in His own gracious fellowship. This is the true explanation of v'hâyâh l'mikdâs , according to such passages as Isa 4:5-6; Psa 27:5; Psa 31:21. To the two houses of Israel, on the contrary, i.

e. , to the great mass of the people of both kingdoms who neither sanctified nor feared Jehovah, He would be a rock and snare. The synonyms are intentionally heaped together (cf. , Isa 28:13), to produce the fearful impression of death occurring in many forms, but all inevitable. The first three verbs of Isa 8:15 refer to the “stone” ( 'eben ) and “rock” ( tzūr ); the last two to the “snare” ( pach ), and “trap” or springe ( mōkēsh ).

All who did not give glory to Jehovah would be dashed to pieces upon His work as upon a stone, and caught therein as in a trap. This was the burden of the divine warning, which the prophet heard for himself and for those that believed.

Isa 8:16 The words that follow in Isa 8:16, “Bind up the testimony, seal the lesson in my disciples,” appear at first sight to be a command of God to the prophet, according to such parallel passages as Dan 12:4, Dan 12:9; Rev 22:10, cf. , Dan 8:26; but with this explanation it is impossible to do justice to the words “in my disciples” ( b'ilmmudâi ). The explanation given by Rosenmüller, Knobel, and others, viz.

, “by bringing in men divinely instructed” ( adhibitis viris piis et sapientibus ), is grammatically inadmissible. Consequently I agree with Vitringa, Drechsler, and others, in regarding Isa 8:16 as the prophet’s own prayer to Jehovah. We tie together (צרר, imperf. צור = צר) what we wish to keep from getting separated and lost; we seal ( Châtam ) what is to be kept secret, and only opened by a person duly qualified.

And so the prophet here prays that Jehovah would take his testimony with regard to the future, and his instruction, which was designed to prepare for this future - that testimony and thorah which the great mass in their hardness did not understand, and in their self-hardening despised - and lay them up well secured and well preserved, as if by band and seal, in the hearts of those who received the prophet’s words with believing obedience ( limmūd , as in Isa 50:4; Isa 54:13). For it would be all over with Israel, unless a community of believers should be preserved, and all over with this community, if the word of God, which was the ground of their life, should be allowed to slip from their hearts.

We have here an announcement of the grand idea, which the second part of the book of Isaiah carries out in the grandest style. It is very evident that it is the prophet himself who is speaking here, as we may see from Isa 8:17, where he continues to speak in the first person, though he does not begin with ואני.

Isa 8:17 Whilst offering this prayer, and looking for its fulfilment, he waits upon Jehovah. “And I wait upon Jehovah, who hides His face before the house of Jacob, and hope for Him.” A time of judgment had now commenced, which would still last a long time; but the word of God was the pledge of Israel’s continuance in the midst of it, and of the renewal of Israel’s glory afterwards. The prophet would therefore hope for the grace which was now hidden behind the wrath.

Isa 8:18 His home was the future, and to this he was subservient, even with all his house. “Behold, I and the children which Jehovah hath given me for signs and types in Israel, from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth upon Mount Zion. ” He presents himself to the Lord with his children, puts himself and them into His hands. They were Jehovah’s gift, and that for a higher purpose than every-day family enjoyment.

They subserved the purpose of signs and types in connection with the history of salvation. “ Signs and types :” 'oth (sign) was an omen or prognostic (σημεῖον) in word and deed, which pointed to and was the pledge of something future (whether it were in itself miraculous or natural); mopheth was either something miraculous (τέρας) pointing back to a supernatural cause, or a type (τύπος, prodigium = porridigium ) which pointed beyond itself to something future and concealed, literally twisted round, i.

e. , out of the ordinary course, paradoxical, striking, standing out (Arab. aft , ift , res mira , δεινόν τι), from אפת (related to הפך, אבך) = מאפת, like מוסר = מאסר. His children were signs and enigmatical symbols of the future, and that from Jehovah of hosts who dwelt on Zion. In accordance with His counsel (to which the עם in מעם points), He had selected these signs and types: He who could bring to pass the future, which they set forth, as surely as He was Jehovah of hosts, and who would bring it to pass as surely as He had chosen Mount Zion for the scene of His gracious presence upon earth.

Shear-yashub and Mahershalal were indeed no less symbols of future wrath than of future grace; but the name of the father ( Yesha'hâhu ) was an assurance that all the future would issue from Jehovah’s salvation, and end in the same. Isaiah and his children were figures and emblems of redemption, opening a way for itself through judgment. The Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 2:13) quotes these words as the distinct words of Jesus, because the spirit of Jesus was in Isaiah - the spirit of Jesus, which in the midst of this holy family, bound together as it was only to the bands of “the shadow,” pointed forward to that church of the New Testament which would be found together by the bands of the true substance.

Isaiah, his children, and his wife, who is called “the prophetess” ( nebi'ah ) not only because she was the wife of the prophet but because she herself possessed the gift of prophecy, and all the believing disciples gathered round this family - these together formed the stock of the church of the Messianic future, on the foundation and soil of the existing massa perdita of Israel.

Isa 8:19 It is to this ecclesiola in ecclesia that the prophet’s admonition is addressed. “And when they shall say to you, Inquire of the necromancers, and of the soothsayers that chirp and whisper:-Should not a people inquire of its God? for the living to the dead? ” The appeal is supposed to be made by Judaeans of the existing stamp; for we know from Isa 2:6; Isa 3:2-3, that all kinds of heathen superstitions had found their way into Jerusalem, and were practised there as a trade.

The persons into whose mouths the answer is put by the prophet (we may supply before Isa 8:19 , “Thus shall ye say to them;” cf. , Jer 10:11), are his own children and disciples. The circumstances of the times were very critical; and the people were applying to wizards to throw light upon the dark future. 'Ob signified primarily the spirit of witchcraft, then the possessor of such a spirit (equivalent to Baal ob ), more especially the necromancer.

Yidd‛oni , on the other hand, signified primarily the possessor of a prophesying or soothsaying spirit (πύθων or πνεῦμα τοῦ πύθωνος), Syr. yodūa‛ (after the intensive from pâ‛ul with immutable vowels), and then the soothsaying spirit itself (Lev 20:27), which was properly called yiddâ'ōn (the much knowing), like δαίμων, which, according to Plato, is equivalent to δαήμων.

These people, who are designated by the lxx, both here and elsewhere, as ἐγγαστρόμυθοι, i. e. , ventriloquists, imitated the chirping of bats, which was supposed to proceed from the shadows of Hades, and uttered their magical formulas in a whispering tone. What an unnatural thing, for the people of Jehovah to go and inquire, not of their won God, but of such heathenish and demoniacal deceivers and victims as these ( dârash 'el , to go and inquire of a person, Isa 11:10, synonymous with shâ'ar b' , 1Sa 28:6)!

What blindness, to consult the dead in the interests of the living! By “ the dead ” ( hammēthim ) we are not to understand “the idols” in this passage, as in Psa 106:28, but the departed , as Deu 18:11 (cf. , 1 Sam 28) clearly proves; and בּעד is not to be taken, either here or elsewhere, as equivalent to tachath (“instead of”), as Knobel supposes, but, as in Jer 21:2 and other passages, as signifying “for the benefit of.

” Necromancy, which makes the dead the instructors of the living, is a most gloomy deception.

Isa 8:20 In opposition to such a falling away to wretched superstition, the watchword of the prophet and his supporters is this. “To the teaching of God ( thorah , Gotteslehre), and to the testimony! If they do not accord with this word, they are a people for whom no morning dawns. ” The summons, “to the teaching and to the testimony” (namely, to those which Jehovah gave through His prophet, Isa 8:17), takes the form of a watchword in time of battle (Jdg 7:18).

With this construction the following אם־לא (which Knobel understands interrogatively, “Should not they speak so, who, etc.? ” and Luzzatto as an oath, as in Psa 131:2, “Surely they say such words as have no dawn in them”) has, at any rate, all the presumption of a conditional signification. Whoever had not this watchword would be regarded as the enemy of Jehovah, and suffer the fate of such a man.

This is, to all appearance, the meaning of the apodosis שׁהר אין־לו אשׁר. Luther has given the meaning correctly, “If they do not say this, they will not have the morning dawn;” or, according to his earlier and equally good rendering, “They shall never overtake the morning light,” literally, “They are those to whom no dawn arises. ” The use of the plural in the hypothetical protasis, and the singular in the apodosis, is an intentional and significant change.

All the several individuals who did not adhere to the revelation made by Jehovah through His prophet, formed one corrupt mass, which would remain in hopeless darkness. אשׁר is used in the same sense as in Isa 5:28 and 2Sa 2:4, and possibly also as in 1Sa 15:20, instead of the more usual כּי, when used in the affirmative sense which springs in both particles out of the confirmative ( namque and quoniam ): Truly they have no morning dawn to expect.

Isa 8:21-22 The night of despair to which the unbelieving nation would be brought, is described in Isa 8:21, Isa 8:22 : “And it goes about therein hard pressed and hungry: and it comes to pass, when hunger befals it, it frets itself, and curses by its king and by its God, and turns its face upward, and looks to the earth, and beyond distress and darkness, benighting with anguish, and thrust out into darkness. ” The singulars attach themselves to the לו in Isa 8:19, which embraces all the unbelievers in one mass; “therein” ( bâh ) refers to the self-evident land ( 'eretz ).

The people would be brought to such a plight in the approaching Assyrian oppressions, that they would wander about in the land pressed down by their hard fate ( niksheh ) and hungry ( râ'eb ), because all provisions would be gone and the fields and vineyards would be laid waste. As often as it experienced hunger afresh, it would work itself into a rage ( v'hithkazzaqph with Vav apod .

and pathach , according to Ges. §54, Anm.) , and curse by its king and God, i. e. , by its idol. This is the way in which we must explain the passage, in accordance with 1Sa 14:43, where killel bēholim is equivalent to killel b'shēm elohim , and with Zep 1:5, where a distinction is made between an oath layehovâh , and an oath b'malcâm ; if we would adhere to the usage of the language, in which we never find a בּ קלל corresponding to the Latin execrari in aliquem (Ges.)

, but on the contrary the object cursed is always expressed in the accusative. We must therefore give up Psa 5:3 and Psa 68:25 as parallels to b'malco and b'lohâi : they curse by the idol, which passes with them for both king and God, curse their wretched fate with this as they suppose the most effectual curse of all, without discerning in it the just punishment of their own apostasy, and humbling themselves penitentially under the almighty hand of Jehovah.

Consequently all this reaction of their wrath would avail them nothing: whether they turned upwards, to see if the black sky were not clearing, or looked down to the earth, everywhere there would meet them nothing but distress and darkness, nothing but a night of anguish all around ( me‛ūph zūkâh is a kind of summary; mâ‛ūph a complete veiling, or eclipse, written with ū instead of the more usual ō of this substantive form: Ewald, §160, a ). The judgment of God does not convert them, but only heightens their wickedness; just as in Rev 16:11, Rev 16:21, after the pouring out of the fifth and seventh vials of wrath, men only utter blasphemies, and do not desist from their works.

After stating what the people see, whether they turn their eyes upwards or downwards, the closing participial clause of Isa 8:22 describes how they see themselves “thrust out into darkness’ ( in caliginem propulsum ). There is no necessity to supply הוּא; but out of the previous hinnēh it is easy to repeat hinno or hinnennu ( en ipsum ). “ Into darkness :” ăphēlâh ( acc.

loci ) is placed emphatically at the head, as in Jer 23:12.

Isa 8:21-22 The night of despair to which the unbelieving nation would be brought, is described in Isa 8:21, Isa 8:22 : “And it goes about therein hard pressed and hungry: and it comes to pass, when hunger befals it, it frets itself, and curses by its king and by its God, and turns its face upward, and looks to the earth, and beyond distress and darkness, benighting with anguish, and thrust out into darkness. ” The singulars attach themselves to the לו in Isa 8:19, which embraces all the unbelievers in one mass; “therein” ( bâh ) refers to the self-evident land ( 'eretz ).

The people would be brought to such a plight in the approaching Assyrian oppressions, that they would wander about in the land pressed down by their hard fate ( niksheh ) and hungry ( râ'eb ), because all provisions would be gone and the fields and vineyards would be laid waste. As often as it experienced hunger afresh, it would work itself into a rage ( v'hithkazzaqph with Vav apod .

and pathach , according to Ges. §54, Anm.) , and curse by its king and God, i. e. , by its idol. This is the way in which we must explain the passage, in accordance with 1Sa 14:43, where killel bēholim is equivalent to killel b'shēm elohim , and with Zep 1:5, where a distinction is made between an oath layehovâh , and an oath b'malcâm ; if we would adhere to the usage of the language, in which we never find a בּ קלל corresponding to the Latin execrari in aliquem (Ges.)

, but on the contrary the object cursed is always expressed in the accusative. We must therefore give up Psa 5:3 and Psa 68:25 as parallels to b'malco and b'lohâi : they curse by the idol, which passes with them for both king and God, curse their wretched fate with this as they suppose the most effectual curse of all, without discerning in it the just punishment of their own apostasy, and humbling themselves penitentially under the almighty hand of Jehovah.

Consequently all this reaction of their wrath would avail them nothing: whether they turned upwards, to see if the black sky were not clearing, or looked down to the earth, everywhere there would meet them nothing but distress and darkness, nothing but a night of anguish all around ( me‛ūph zūkâh is a kind of summary; mâ‛ūph a complete veiling, or eclipse, written with ū instead of the more usual ō of this substantive form: Ewald, §160, a ). The judgment of God does not convert them, but only heightens their wickedness; just as in Rev 16:11, Rev 16:21, after the pouring out of the fifth and seventh vials of wrath, men only utter blasphemies, and do not desist from their works.

After stating what the people see, whether they turn their eyes upwards or downwards, the closing participial clause of Isa 8:22 describes how they see themselves “thrust out into darkness’ ( in caliginem propulsum ). There is no necessity to supply הוּא; but out of the previous hinnēh it is easy to repeat hinno or hinnennu ( en ipsum ). “ Into darkness :” ăphēlâh ( acc.

loci ) is placed emphatically at the head, as in Jer 23:12.

Isa 9:1 After the prophet has thus depicted the people as without morning dawn, he gives the reason for the assumption that a restoration of light is to be expected, although not for the existing generation. “For it does not remain dark where there is now distress: in the first time He brought into disgrace the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and in the last He brings to honour the road by the sea, the other side of Jordan, the circle of the Gentiles.

” כּי is neither to be taken as equivalent to the untranslatable ὃτι recitativum (Knobel), nor is there any necessity to translate it “but” or “nevertheless,” and supply the clause, “it will not remain so. ” The reason assigned for the fact that the unbelieving people of Judah had fallen into a night without morning, is, that there was a morning coming, whose light, however, would not rise upon the land of Judah first, but upon other parts of the land.

Mū‛âp and mūzâk are hophal nouns: a state of darkness and distress. The meaning is, There is not, i. e. , there will not remain, a state of darkness over the land ( lâh , like bâh in Isa 8:21, refers to 'eretz ), which is now in a state of distress; but those very districts which God has hitherto caused to suffer deep humiliation He will bring to honour by and by ( hēkal = hēkēl , according to Ges.

§67, Anm. 3, opp. hicbı̄d , as in Isa 23:9). The height of the glorification would correspond to the depth of the disgrace. We cannot adopt Knobel’s rendering, “as at a former time,” etc. , taking עת as an accusative of time and כּ as equivalent to כּאשׁר, for כּ is never used conjunctionally in this way (see Psalter, i. 301, and ii. 514); and in the examples adduced by Knobel (viz.

, Isa 61:11 and Job 7:2), the verbal clauses after Caph are elliptical relative clauses. The rendering adopted by Rosenmüller and others ( sicut tempus prius vilem reddidit , etc. , “as a former time brought it into contempt”) is equally wrong. And Ewald, again, is not correct in taking the Vav in v'hâ - acharōn as the Vav of sequence used in the place of the Cēn of comparison.

הראשׁון כּעת and האחרון are both definitions of time. The prophet intentionally indicates the time of disgrace with כּ, because this would extend over a lengthened period, in which the same fate would occur again and again. The time of glorification, on the other hand, is indicated by the accus. temporis , because it would occur but once, and then continue in perpetuity and without change.

It is certainly possible that the prophet may have regarded hâ - acharōn as the subject; but this would destroy the harmony of the antithesis. By the land or territory of Naphtali ( 'artzâh , poet. for 'eretz , as in Job 34:13; Job 37:12, with a toneless ah ) we are to understand the upper Galilee of later times, and by the land of Zebulun lower Galilee. In the antithetical parallel clause, what is meant by the two lands is distinctly specified: (1.)

“the road by the sea,” derek hayyâm , the tract of land on the western shore of the sea of Chinnereth; (2.) “the other side of Jordan,” ‛ēber hayyardēn , the country to the east of the Jordan; (3.) “the circle of the Gentiles,” gelı̄l haggōyim , the northernmost border-land of Palestine, only a portion of the so-called Galilaea of after times. Ever since the times of the judges, all these lands had been exposed, on account of the countries that joined them, to corruption from Gentile influence and subjugation by heathen foes.

The northern tribes on this side, as well as those on the other side, suffered the most in the almost incessant war between Israel and the Syrians, and afterwards between Israel and the Assyrians; and the transportation of their inhabitants, which continued under Pul, Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmanassar, amounted at last to utter depopulation (Caspari, Beitr . 116-118).

But these countries would be the very first that would be remembered when that morning dawn of glory should break. Matthew informs us (Mat 4:13.) in what way this was fulfilled at the commencement of the Christian times. On the ground of this prophecy of Isaiah, and not of a “somewhat mistaken exposition of it,” as Renan maintains in his Vie de Jésus (Chapter 13), the Messianic hopes of the Jewish nation were really directed towards Galilee.

It is true that, according to Jerome, in loc. , the Nazarenes supposed Isa 9:1 to refer to the light of the gospel spread by the preaching of Paul in terminos gentium et viam universi maris . But “the sea” ( hayyâm ) cannot possibly be understood as referring to the Mediterranean, as Meier and Hofmann suppose, for “the way of the sea” ( derek hayyâm ) would in that case have been inhabited by the Philistines and Phoenicians; whereas the prophet’s intention was evidently to mention such Israelitish provinces as had suffered the greatest affliction and degradation.

Isa 9:2 The range of vision is first widened in Isa 9:2. : “The people that walk about in darkness see a great light; they who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light shines. ” The range of vision is here extended; not to the Gentiles, however, but to all Israel. Salvation would not break forth till it had become utterly dark along the horizon of Israel, according to the description in Isa 5:30, i.

e. , till the land of Jehovah had become a land of the shadow of death on account of the apostasy of its inhabitants from Jehovah ( zalmâveth is modified, after the manner of a composite noun, from zalmūth , according to the form kadrūth , and is derived from צלם, Aeth. salema , Arab. zalima , to be dark). The apostate mass of the nation is to be regarded as already swept away; for if death has cast its shadow over the land, it must be utterly desolate.

In this state of things the remnant left in the land beholds a great light, which breaks through the sky that has been hitherto covered with blackness. The people, who turned their eyes upwards to no purpose, because they did so with cursing (Isa 8:21), are now no more. It is the remnant of Israel which sees this light of spiritual and material redemption arise above its head.

In what this light would consist the prophet states afterwards, when describing first the blessings and then the star of the new time.

Isa 9:3 In Isa 9:3 he says, in words of thanksgiving and praise: “Thou multipliest the nation, preparest it great joy; they rejoice before Thee like the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they share the spoil. ” “The nation” ( haggoi ) is undoubtedly Israel, reduced to a small remnant. That God would make this again into a numerous people, was a leading feature in the pictures drawn of the time of glory (Isa 26:15; Isa 66:8; Zec 14:10-11), which would be in this respect the counterpart of that of Solomon (1Ki 4:20).

If our explanation is the correct one so far, the only way to give an intelligible meaning to the chethib לא, taking it in a negative sense, is to render it, as Hengstenberg, Hitzig, and others have done, “Thou multipliest the nation to which Thou hadst formerly not given great joy,” which must signify, per litoten , “the nation which Thou hadst plunged into deep sorrow. ” But it is unnatural to take any one of the prophetic preterites, commencing with hicbı̄d in Isa 9:1, in any other than a future sense.

We must therefore give the preference to the Keri לו, and render it, “Thou makest of the nation a great multitude, and preparest it great joy. ” The pronoun loo is written first, as in Lev 7:7-9; Job 41:4 ( keri ), probably with the emphasis assumed by Drechsler: “to it, in which there was not the smallest indication of such an issue as this. ” The verbs “multiplied” ( higdaltâ ) and “increased” ( hirbithâ ) are intentionally written together, to put the intensity of the joy on a level with the extensiveness of the multitude.

This joy would be a holy joy, as the expression “before Thee” implies: the expression itself recals the sacrificial meals in the courts of the temple (Deu 12:7; Deu 14:26). It would be a joy over blessings received, as the figure of the harvest indicates; and joy over evil averted, as the figure of dividing the spoil presupposes: for the division of booty is the business of conquerors.

This second figure is not merely a figure: the people that are so joyous are really victorious and triumphant.

Isa 9:4 “For the yoke of its burden and the stick of its neck, the stick of its oppressor, Thou hast broken to splinters, as in the day of Midian. ” The suffixes refer to the people ( hâēâm ). Instead of soblō , from sōbel , we have intentionally the more musical form סבּלו (with dagesh dirimens and chateph kametz under the influence of the previous u instead of the simple sheva ).

The rhythm of the v. of anapaestic. “ Its burden ” ( subbolo ) and “its oppressor” ( nogēs bō ) both recall to mind the Egyptian bondage (Exo 2:11; Exo 5:6). The future deliverance, which the prophet here celebrates, would be the counterpart of the Egyptian. But as the whole of the great nation of Israel was then redeemed, whereas only a small remnant would participate in the final redemption, he compares it to the day of Midian, when Gideon broke the seven years’ dominion of Midian, not with a great army, but with a handful of resolute warriors, strong in the Lord (Judg 7).

The question suggests itself here, Who is the hero, Gideon’s antitype, through whom all this is to occur? The prophet does not say; but building up one clause upon another with כּי, he gives first of all the reason for the cessation of the oppressive dominion of the imperial power - namely, the destruction of all the military stores of the enemy.