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Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’; and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’
Isaiah 8:1-3 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’; and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’ For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”
Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’;
and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’
Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
And the LORD said unto me: 'Take thee a great tablet, and write upon it in common script: The spoil speedeth, the prey hasteth;
and I will take unto Me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.'
And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a son. Then said the LORD unto me: 'Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Meaning, after the common fashion, because all men might…
Meaning, after the common fashion, because all men might read it.
That thou mayest write in great letters, to the intent it may be more easily read.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Isa 8:1 Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take…
Isa 8:1 Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz.
Ver. 1. Take thee a great roll.] Or, Volume; so called either because it was rolled up together like the web upon the pin; or, as others, because it revealeth that unto us which otherwise we knew not. Blasphemous was that jeer of the Jews who called the evangel or gospel Aven gillaion, a volume of vanity. And no better was that of Bishop Bonner’s chaplain, who called the Bible, that blessed book, in scorn, his "little pretty God’s book." This one small piece of it is here styled grande volumen, a great roll, for the fulness of the matter in fewness of words.
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And write in it with a man’s pen.] That is, plainly and clearly, {a} that when it shall be fastened to the gate of the temple, or some way else be exposed to public view, "he that runneth may read it," {Hab 2:2} and he that readeth may understand it. And not be so written as that was, {Dan 5:5; Dan 5:7} which none could read and unriddle but the prophet himself. Nor be, as Aristotle’s Acroamatics, published and yet unpublished. {b}
Concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.] Make speed to the spoil, hasten the prey; words whereby God calleth the King of Assyria out of his country to take the spoil speedily of Syria and Samaria; both which groaned for his coming, and hanged for his mowing. This was afterwards given for a name to Isaiah’s newly born babe, viz., at his circumcision; and that before two sufficient witnesses, who might attest both the child’s name and the reason of it, which the prophet likely told them. Such another compound name was Shear-jashub, {Isa 7:3} Zorobabel, Hagio-Christophorites, &c, and among us Keep-Sabbath, Hope-still, &c.
{a} Chald. vertit Scripturam claram {see Isa 30:8}
{b} Eκδεδομενος και ουκ εκδεδομενος
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–3 A great roll; or, a great volume, because the…
A great roll; or, a great volume, because the prophecy to be written in it was large, and God would have it written in very large and legible characters.
With a man’s pen; with such a pen as writers use, Psa 41:6; Jer 8:6, that so all may read and understand it.
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Concerning Maheshalal-hash-baz; concerning that thing which is signified by the name of thy child, which is here mentioned by way of anticipation, as not being given him till Isa 8:3, i.e. concerning that which God is making haste to do, the giving p the kingdoms of Syria and Israel for a prey to the Assyrian, as this name is explained, Isa 8:4.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 In these verses we have a prophecy of the…
In these verses we have a prophecy of the successes of the king of Assyria against Damascus, Samaria, and Judah, that the two former should be laid waste by him, and the last greatly frightened. Here we have,
I. Orders given to the prophet to write this prophecy, and publish it to be seen and read of all men, and to leave it upon record, that when the thing came to pass they might know that God had sent him; for that was one end of prophecy, Joh 14:29. He must take a great roll, which would contain those five chapters fairly written in words at length; and he must write in it all that he had foretold concerning the king of Assyria's invading the country; he must write it with a man's pen, in the usual way and style of writing, so as that it might be legible and intelligible by all. See Hab 2:2, Write the vision, and make it plain. Those that speak and write of the things of God should avoid obscurity, and study to speak and write so as to be understood, Co1 14:19. Those that write for men should write with a man's pen, and not covet the pen or tongue of angels. And forasmuch as it is usual to put some short, but significant comprehensive title before books that are published, the prophet is directed to call his book Maher-shalal-hash-baz - Make speed to the spoil, hasten to the prey, intimating that the Assyrian army should come upon them with great speed and make great spoil. By this title the substance and meaning of the book would be enquired after by those that heard of it, and remembered by those that had read it or heard it read. It is sometimes a good help to memory to put much matter in few words, which serve as handles by which we take hold of more.
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II. The care of the prophet to get this record well attested (Isa 8:2): I took unto me faithful witnesses to record; he wrote the prophecy in their sight and presence, and made them subscribe their names to it, that they might be ready, if afterwards there should be occasion, to make oath of it, that the prophet had so long before foretold the descent which the Assyrians made upon that country. He names his witnesses for the greater certainty, that they might be appealed to by any. They were two in number (for out of the mouth of two witnesses shall every word be established); one was Uriah the priest; he is mentioned in the story of Ahaz, but for none of his good deeds, for he humoured Ahaz with an idolatrous altar (Kg2 16:10, Kg2 16:11); however, at this time, no exception lay against him, being a faithful witness. See what full satisfaction the prophets took care to give to all persons concerned of the sincerity of their intentions, that we might know with a full assurance the certainty of the things wherein we have been instructed, and that we have not followed cunningly-devised fables.
III. The making of the title of his book the name of his child, that it might be the more taken notice of and the more effectually perpetuated, Isa 8:3. His wife (because the wife of a prophet) is called the prophetess; she conceived and bore a son, another son, who must carry a sermon in his name, as the former had done (Isa 7:3), but with this difference, that spoke mercy, Shear-jashub - The remnant shall return; but, that being slighted, this speaks judgment, Maher-shalal-hash-baz - In making speed to the spoil he shall hasten, or he has hastened, to the prey. The prophecy is doubled, even in this one name, for the thing was certain. I will hasten my word, Jer 1:12. Every time the child was called by his name, or any part of it, it would serve as a memorandum of the judgments approaching. Note, It is good for us often to put ourselves in mind of the changes and troubles we are liable to in this world, and which perhaps are at the door. When we look with pleasure on our children it should be with the allay of this thought, We know not what they are yet reserved for.
IV. The prophecy itself, which explains this mystical name.
1. That Syria and Israel, who were now in confederacy against Judah, should in a very little time become an easy prey to the king of Assyria and his victorious army (Isa 8:4): "Before the child, now newly born and named, shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and My mother" (which are usually some of the first things that children know and some of the first words that children speak), that is, "in about a year or two, the riches of Damascus, and the spoil of Samaria, those cities that are now so secure themselves and so formidable to their neighbours, shall be taken away before the king of Assyria, who shall plunder both city and country, and send the best effects of both into his own land, to enrich that, and as trophies of his victory." Note, Those that spoil others must expect to be themselves spoiled (Isa 33:1); for the Lord is righteous, and those that are troublesome shall be troubled.
2. That forasmuch as there were many in Judah that were secretly in the interests of Syria and Israel, and were disaffected to the house of David, God would chastise them also by the king of Assyria, who should create a great deal of vexation to Judah, as was foretold, Isa 7:17. Observe, (1.) What was the sin of the discontented party in Judah (Isa 8:6): This people, whom the prophet here speaks to, refuse the waters of Shiloah that go softly, despise their own country and the government of it, and love to run it down, because it does not make so great a figure, and so great a noise, in the world, as some other kings and kingdoms do. They refuse the comforts which God's prophets offer them from the word of God, speaking to them in a still small voice, and make nothing of them; but they rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son, who were the enemies of their country, and were now actually invading it; they cried them up as brave men, magnified their policies and strength, applauded their conduct, were well pleased with their successes, and were hearty well-wishers to their designs, and resolved to desert and go over to them. Such vipers does many a state foster in its bosom, that eat its bread, and yet adhere to its enemies, and are ready to quit its interests if they but seem to totter. (2.) The judgment which God would bring upon them for this sin. The same king of Assyria that should lay Ephraim and Syria waste should be a scourge and terror to those of their party in Judah, Isa 8:7, Isa 8:8. Because they refuse the waters of Shiloah, and will not accommodate themselves to the government God has set over them, but are uneasy under it, therefore the Lord brings upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, the river Euphrates. They slighted the land of Judah, because it had no river to boast of comparable to that; the river at Jerusalem was a very inconsiderable one. "Well," says God, "if you be such admirers of Euphrates, you shall have enough of it; the king of Assyria, whose country lies upon that river, shall come with his glory, with his great army, which you cry up as his glory, despising your own king because he cannot bring such an army as that into the field; God shall bring that army upon you." If we value men, if we over-value them, for their worldly wealth and power, it is just with God to make them thereby a scourge to us. It is used as an argument against magnifying rich men that rich men oppress us, Jam 2:3, Jam 2:5. Let us be best pleased with the waters of Shiloah, that go softly, for rapid streams are dangerous. It is threatened that the Assyrian army should break in upon them like a deluge, or inundation of waters, bearing down all before it, should come up over all his channels, and overflow all his banks. It would be to no purpose to oppose or withstand them. Sennacherib and his army should pass through Judah, and meet with so little resistance that it should look more like a march through the country than a descent upon it. He shall reach even to the neck, that is, he shall advance so far as to lay siege to Jerusalem, the head of the kingdom, and nothing but that shall be kept out of his hands; for that was the holy city. Note, In the greatest deluge of trouble God can and will keep the head of his people above water, and so preserve their comforts and spiritual lives; the waters that come into their souls may reach to the neck (Psa 69:1), but there shall their proud waves be stayed. And here is another comfortable intimation that though the stretching out of the wings of the Assyrian, that bird of prey, though the right and left wing of his army, should fill the breadth of the land of Judah, yet still it was Immanuel's land. It is thy land, O Immanuel! It was to be Christ's land; for there he was to be born, and live, and preach, and work miracles. He was Zion's King, and therefore had a peculiar interest in and concern for that land. Note, The lands that Immanuel owns for his, as he does all those lands that own him, though they may be deluged, shall not be destroyed; for, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, Immanuel shall secure his own, and shall lift up a standard against him, Isa 59:19.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Moreover the Lord said unto me,.... This is another…
Moreover the Lord said unto me,.... This is another prophecy, confirming the same thing that was promised in the preceding chapter Isa 7:1; namely, safety to the Jews from the two kings of Syria and Israel, which combined against them:
take thee a great roll; or volume, a writing book, a roll of parchment, in which form the ancients used to write, Psa 40:7. The Targum renders it, a "table"; a writing table, such an one as Zacharias called for, Luk 1:63 and this was to be a "great" or large one, because much was to be written in it; or what was to be written was to be written in large letters:
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and write in it with a man's pen; such as men usually write with; and in such a style and language as may be easily understood by men, even though unlearned; and so clearly and plainly, that he that runs may read; and so the Targum,
"write in it a clear writing;''
very plain, and explicit, and legible:
concerning Mahershalalhashbaz; a son of the prophet Isaiah, so called, Isa 8:3 whose name was very significant, and was given him on purpose to express the sudden destruction of the enemies of Judah. The Targum renders it,
"hasten to seize the prey, and to take away the spoil.''
Some translate it, "in hastening the prey, the spoiler hastens"; perhaps it may be better rendered, "hasten to the spoil, hasten to the prey"; as if the words were spoken to the Assyrian monarch, to hasten to the spoil of Damascus and Samaria; and the repetition of the same thing in different words may have respect to the spoils of both, see Isa 8:4 and for the greater confirmation of the thing. Gussetius has a very peculiar fancy about the sense of this text; he observes that rendered a "pen", signifies some hollow vessel, in which things were put; and supposes that it here designs a man's chest, or some such thing, in which garments might be laid up and reserved: and is the singular of a word used in Isa 3:23, for some sort of luxurious garments wore by women; so that, upon the whole, the reading and sense of the words are, that the prophet is bid to take a large garment of the above sort, and write upon it, putting it into the chest. This for Mahershalalhashbaz; signifying it was to lie there till this child was born; and intimating hereby, that the women, far from battle, would be spoiled of their soft and precious garments, as well as the men be slain in war (m), though this is more tolerable than the fancy of Huetius (n), that the whole is an euphemism, in modest terms, expressing the prophet's coition with his wife.
(m) Vid. Comment. Ebr. p. 286. (n) Demonstr. Evangel. prop. 7. parag. 15. p. 352.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Syria and Israel should be subdued by Assyria, ver.…
Syria and Israel should be subdued by Assyria, ver. 1-4. Judah also should be afflicted, ver. 5-8. God's judgments irresistible, and to be feared, ver. 9-13. The Lord is a sanctuary to the godly, a stone of stumbling to the wicked, ver. 14, 15. The prophecy sure, God to be waited on, necromancers not to be consulted, but the prophecy, their misery, ver. 16-22.
A roll - Or, a great volume, because the prophecy to be written in it was large, and God would have it written in large and legible characters. Pen - With such a pen as writers use. Concerning - Concerning that thing which is signified by the name of the child, which is here mentioned by way of anticipation.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v1 Prediction respecting the conquest of Syria and Israel by…
CHAPTER VIII
Prediction respecting the conquest of Syria and Israel by the
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Assyrians, 1-4.
Israel, for rejecting the gentle stream of Shiloah, near
Jerusalem, is threatened to be overflowed by the great river of
Assyria, manifestly alluding by this strong figure to the
conquests of Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser over that kingdom,
5-7.
The invasion of the kingdom of Judah by the Assyrians under
Sennacherib foretold, 8.
The prophet assures the Israelites and Syrians that their
hostile attempts against Judah shall be frustrated, 9, 10.
Exhortation not to be afraid of the wrath of man, but to fear
the displeasure of God, 11-13.
Judgments which shall overtake those who put no confidence in
Jehovah, 14, 15.
The prophet proceeds to warn his countrymen against idolatry,
divination, and the like sinful practices, exhorting them to
seek direction from the word of God, professing in a beautiful
apostrophe that this was his own pious resolution. And to
enforce this counsel, and strengthen their faith, he points to
his children, whose symbolic names were signs or pledges of
the Divine promises, 16-20.
Judgments of God against the finally impenitent, 21, 22.
The prophecy of the foregoing chapter relates directly to the kingdom of Judah only: the first part of it promises them deliverance from the united invasion of the Israelites and Syrians; the latter part, from Isa 8:17, denounces the desolation to be brought upon the kingdom of Judah by the Assyrians. The sixth, seventh, and eighth verses of this chapter seem to take in both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. "This people that refuseth the waters of Shiloah," may be meant of both: the Israelites despised the kingdom of Judah, which they had deserted, and now attempted to destroy; the people of Judah, from a consideration of their own weakness, and a distrust of God's promises, being reduced to despair, applied to the Assyrians for assistance against the two confederate kings. But how could it be said of Judah, that they rejoiced in Rezin, and the son of Remaliah, the enemies confederated against them? If some of the people were inclined to revolt to the enemy, (which however does not clearly appear from any part of the history or the prophecy,) yet there was nothing like a tendency to a general defection. This, therefore, must be understood of Israel. The prophet denounces the Assyrian invasion, which should overwhelm the whole kingdom of Israel under Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser; and the subsequent invasion of Judah by the same power under Sennacherib, which would bring them into the most imminent danger, like a flood reaching to the neck, in which a man can but just keep his head above water. The two next verses, 9 and 10, Isa 8:9; Isa 8:10, are addressed by the prophet, as a subject of the kingdom of Judah, to the Israelites and Syrians, and perhaps to all the enemies of God's people; assuring them that their attempts against that kingdom shall be fruitless; for that the promised Immanuel, to whom he alludes by using his name to express the signification of it, for God is with us, shall be the defence of the house of David, and deliver the kingdom of Judah out of their hands. He then proceeds to warn the people of Judah against idolatry, divination, and the like forbidden practices; to which they were much inclined, and which would soon bring down God's judgments upon Israel. The prophecy concludes at the sixth verse of Isa 9:6 with promises of blessings in future times by the coming of the great deliverer already pointed out by the name of Immanuel, whose person and character is set forth in terms the most ample and magnificent.
And here it may be observed that it is almost the constant practice of the prophet to connect in like manner deliverances temporal with spiritual. Thus the eleventh chapter, setting forth the kingdom of Messiah, is closely connected with the tenth, which foretells the destruction of Sennacherib. So likewise the destruction of nations, enemies to God, in the thirty-fourth chapter, introduces the flourishing state of the kingdom of Christ in the thirty-fifth. And thus the chapters from xl. to xlix. inclusive, plainly relating to the deliverance from the captivity of Babylon, do in some parts plainly relate to the greater deliverance by Christ.
NOTES ON CHAP. VIII
Verse 1. Take thee a great roll - "Take unto thee a large mirror"] The word גליון gillayon is not regularly formed from גלל galal, to roll, but from גלה galah, as פדיון pidyon from פדה padah, כליון killayon from כלה, calah, נקיון nikkayon from נקה nakah, עליון elyon from עלה alah, c., the י yod supplying the place of the radical ה he. גלה galah signifies to show, to reveal properly, as Schroederus says, (De Vestitu Mulier. Hebr. p. 294,) to render clear and bright by rubbing; to polish. גליון gillayon, therefore, according to this derivation, is not a roll or volume: but may very well signify a polished tablet of metal, such as was anciently used for a mirror. The Chaldee paraphrast renders it by לוח luach, a tablet, and the same word, though somewhat differently pointed, the Chaldee paraphrast and the rabbins render a mirror, Isa 3:23. The mirrors of the Israelitish women were made of brass finely polished, Ex 38:8, from which place it likewise appears that what they used were little hand mirrors which they carried with them even when they assembled at the door of the tabernacle. I have a metalline mirror found in Herculaneum, which is not above three inches square. The prophet is commanded to take a mirror, or brazen polished tablet, not like these little hand mirrors, but a large one; large enough for him to engrave upon it in deep and lasting characters, בחרט אנוש becheret enosh, with a workman's graving tool, the prophecy which he was to deliver. חרט cheret in this place certainly signifies an instrument to write or engrave with: but חריט charit, the same word, only differing a little in the form, means something belonging to a lady's dress, Isa 3:22, (where however five MSS. leave out the י yod, whereby only it differs from the word in this place,) either a crisping-pin, which might be not unlike a graving tool, as some will have it, or a purse, as others infer from 2Kg 5:23. It may therefore be called here חרט אנוש cheret enosh, a workman's instrument, to distinguish it from חרט אשה cheret ishshah, an instrument of the same name, used by the women. In this manner he was to record the prophecy of the destruction of Damascus and Samaria by the Assyrians; the subject and sum of which prophecy is here expressed with great brevity in four words, מהר שלל הש בז maher shalal hash baz; i.e., to hasten the spoil, to take quickly the prey; which are afterwards applied as the name of the prophet's son, who was made a sign of the speedy completion of it; Maher-shalal-hash-baz; Haste-to-the-spoil, Quick-to-the-prey. And that it might be done with the greater solemnity, and to preclude all doubt of the real delivery of the prophecy before the event, he calls witnesses to attest the recording of it.
The prophet is commanded to take a great roll, and yet four words only are to be written in it, מהר שלל הש בז maher shalal hash baz, Make haste to the spoil; fall upon the prey. The great volume points out the land of Judea; and the few words the small number of inhabitants, after the ten tribes were carried into captivity.
The words were to be written with a man's pen; i.e., though the prophecy be given in the visions of God, yet the writing must be real; the words must be transcribed on the great roll, that they may be read and publicly consulted. Or, חרט אנוש cherot enosh, the pen or graver of the weak miserable man, may refer to the already condemned Assyrians, who though they should be the instruments of chastening Damascus and Samaria, should themselves shortly be overthrown. The four words may be considered as the commission given to the Assyrians to destroy and spoil the cities. Make haste to the spoil; Fall upon the prey, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Isa 8:1. Moreover, the Lord said unto me —…
Isa 8:1. Moreover, the Lord said unto me — Here begins “the second section of this discourse, which reaches to the seventh verse of the next chapter, and is nearly of the same argument with the preceding; being prophetical, and containing matter both of comfort and reproof. It may be divided into two parts. The first part, in the first four verses, contains a confirmation and sign of the prediction concerning the sudden subversion of the kingdoms of Syria and Israel. The second part more fully and distinctly explains the purpose of God with respect both to the Israelites and Jews, for the consolation of the pious, and the terror of the impious and carnal, among them.” Take thee a great roll — Or, a great volume, because the prophecy to be written in it was large: and God would have it written in very large and legible characters; and write in it with a man’s pen — With such a pen as writers use, that so all may read and understand it. Bishop Lowth, deriving the word גליון, here rendered roll, from גלה, to show, to reveal, rather than from גלל, to roll, translates it, a large mirror, or polished tablet of metal, like those which were anciently used for mirrors, and also for engraving on. Accordingly, he renders the word חרשׂ, which we translate a pen, a graving tool. “In this manner,” says he, “the prophet was to record the prophecy of the destruction of Damascus and Samaria by the Assyrians: the subject and sum of which prophecy are here expressed, with great brevity, in four words, maher, shalal, hash, baz; that is, to hasten the spoil, to take quickly the prey: which was afterward applied as the name of the prophet’s son, who was made a sign of the speedy completion of it; Haste-to-the-spoil, Quick-to-the-prey. And that it might be done with the greater solemnity, and to preclude all doubt of the real delivery of the prophecy before the event, he calls witnesses to attest the recording of it.” Concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz — Concerning that thing which is signified by the name of the child, which is here mentioned by way of anticipation, as not being given him till Isa 8:3; that is, concerning that which God is making haste to do, the giving up Syria and Israel for a prey to the Assyrians.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Take thee a great roll - The word which…
Take thee a great roll - The word which is here translated ‘roll’ more properly signifies tablet. So the Chaldee renders it. Those tablets were made of wood, metal, or stone, for the purpose of writing on; see Isa 30:8; Hab 2:2. On these tablets, or smooth plates, writing was performed by cutting the letters with an iron stylus, or small chisel. The process was slow, but the writing was permanent. They sometimes used the skins of animals, or the bark of trees, and subsequently the papyrus of Egypt (compare the note at Isa 19:7); and it is possible that Isaiah may have used such a roll or volume on this occasion; compare Isa 8:16.
With a man’s pen - The word “pen” here (חרט chereṭ) denotes the iron stylus, which was used to engrave or cut the letters in the metal or wood. The phrase ‘a man’s pen,’ has been variously interpreted. The Chaldee renders it, ‘Write in it an open, or clear writing, or an expanded writing;’ meaning that he should make it clear and distinct, so as to be easily read. The Syriac, ‘Write on it in the (usual) custom of men.’ The word which is translated ‘man’s אנושׁ 'ĕnôsh usually denotes common men, the lower ranks, in opposition to the higher ranks of society. And probably the direction means simply, ‘write on it in letters such as men commonly use; in a plain, open, distinct manner - without using any mysterious emblems or characters, but so that men may read it distinctly and easily.’ A parallel place occurs in Hab 2:2 : ‘Write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.’
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Concerning - Hebrew ל (le). This preposition may denote concerning, of, or to. I understand it here as referring to the heading or title of the prophecy. This was to be set over the prophecy, as a running title, to denote the main subject of it. The subject is indicated in the name which is immediately added.
Maher - Hasten; or, he shall hasten. “Shalal.” Spoil, or prey.
Hash - Hasten, or make speed.
Baz - Spoil, or prey. The name used here is a repetition of the same idea - denoting haste in seizing prey, or spoil; and is repeated to give emphasis, and to excite attention. The idea is, that the Assyrian would hasten to his plunder - that it would be accomplished with speed. This name was to be given to a child of Isaiah; and this child was to be a sign of the event which was signified by the name; see Isa 8:18; compare Hab 2:2-3.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Book. This mystery would require a large explanation. (Worthington)…
Book. This mystery would require a large explanation. (Worthington) --- Pen. Literally, "style." (Haydock) --- Write intelligibly. Here all is plain. (Calmet) --- Take. Protestants, "concerning Mahershalalchashbaz." Marginal note, "in making speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey." (Haydock) --- Chashbaz, the son of Isaias, was a sign that Syria and Israel should soon be rendered desolate; and in a more elevated sense, he shewed that Christ should overturn the powers of hell. (Calmet) --- The virgin’s son [Jesus Christ] took the prey from the devil, who before possessed almost all the world. (Worthington) --- Urias. Probably the high priest, who afterwards weakly complied with the king’s idolatrous order, 4 Kings xvi. 10. (Calmet) --- Yet at this time, he was a credible witness. (Haydock) --- Zacharias. A person to us unknown. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER Isa_8:1-4
2. ISAIAH GIVING THE WHOLE NATION A SIGN BY THE BIRTH OF HIS SON MAHER-SHALAL-HASH -BAZ
CHAPTER Isa_8:1-4
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1MOREOVER the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with 2a man’s pen concerning1 Maher-shalal-hash-baz. And I took unto me faithful witnesses 3to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
On Isa_9:1. חֶרֶט (found only here and Exo_32:4), is an instrument for cutting in, engraving in wood, metal, wax, etc., the chisel, style. It stands here as stylus, metonymically as efficiens pro effecto, i. e., the writing instrument stands for the writing. חרט אנוש seems to me not to mean writing of the common man in distinction from that of men of higher degree, say, a popular as distinguished from priestly writing. [In an ordinary and familiar hand, J. A. ALEXANDER, BARNES.] For in the first place it is very doubtful if אֱנוֹשׁ has this meaning. The word is distinguished from אָדָם (comp. Psa_73:5) but only by its poetic use. It occurs in Isaiah six times, here, and Isa_13:7; Isa_13:12; Isa_24:6; Isa_33:8; Isa_51:7; Isa_56:2. In the second place we have no trace of there being two sorts of writing in use among the Hebrews before the exile. The passages Hab_2:2; Psa_45:2, cited by some in support of the notion, prove nothing. I much rather believe that a contrast of human and superhuman writing is meant. For as Paul distinguishes between human and angel tongues (1Co_13:1) so we may distinguish between human and angel writing. Of the latter, Dan_5:5 sqq. offers us an example. Comp. Exo_32:32; Psa_69:29; Psa_139:16; Dan_12:1; Rev_19:12; Rev_20:12; Rev_20:15; Rev_21:12; Rev_21:27. For the prophets were not merely “hearers of the words of God,” but also “men whose eyes were open,” “who saw the vision of the Almighty” (Num_24:3-4). The לְ is variously explained. It is taken as constructio periphrastica (acceleratura sunt spolia or accelerationi spolia, comp. Gen_15:12; Jos_2:5; Isa_10:32; Isa_37:26; Isa_38:20, etc.), as depending on כְּתֹב in the sense of commanding (1Ch_21:17), as sign of dedication, or as stating the object. The first two explanations are inadmissible, because לְ would then fit only the first member (מהר as infinitive), not the second (חָשׁ particip.). לְ can thus be taken only as a dedication or as stating the aim. Both these ways of explaining it agree in not taking מהר as infin., but as a verbal adjective like Zep_1:14 (comp. מָאֵן מַקֵּל). But they differ in sense. This can be no dedication in the common sense. For there is no gift to be presented to Maher-shalal, only the attention of the nation is directed to him. The לְ can define therefore only the reference or the destiny, the aim. It is thereby said that this tablet with its inscription concerns a Maher-shalal-hash-baz, but of whom absolutely nothing is known, not even whether a person or a thing. Comp. Eze_37:16. The case is different with Jer_46:2; Jer_48:1; Jer_49:1. Comp. on Jeremiah 46. sqq.
On Isa_9:2. ואעידה וגו׳ the LXX. translates μάρτυράσ μοι ποίησον as if וְהָעִֽידָה stood in the text. So, too, the SYR., CHALD. and ARAB. in the London Polyglotte, which HITZIG follows. The VULG. translates: ”et adhibui;” it therefore read וָאָעִֽידָה; and so, too, would EICHHORN, DE WETTE, ROORDA, KNOBEL, and others read. But, after mature consideration, I find there is no ground for departing from the reading of the text. It is perfectly supported by testimony. First of all it is the more difficult reading, and both the others give evidence of being attempts to relieve the difficulty by correction. Then, too, Isaiah never uses the cohortative form with the weakened sense, as it occurs elsewhere with the Vav consec. imperf. in the first pers., especially in Dan., Ezra, and Neh. Thus the form וָאָעִֽידָה especially occurs Neh_13:21 (along with וָאָעִיד ibid. Isa_9:15). Why did not Isaiah write וָאָעֵיד as Jeremiah did in precisely the same sense, Isa_32:10? Comp. 1Ki_2:42. The form וְאָעִידָה is found Deu_31:28; Psa_50:7; Psa_81:9; Jer_6:10, everywhere as cohortative.—העיד עדים like Jer_32:10; Jer_32:25; Jer_32:44.
On Isa_9:4. יִשָּׂא = “one will bear.”—חַיִל in the sense of possession, riches, treasures is found beside here Isa_10:14; Isa_60:5; Isa_60:11; Isa_61:6.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Moreover the Lord said——the king of Assyria.
Vers 1-4. A compound token! First, Isaiah is to take a large tablet (only found beside Isa_3:23; here is meant certainly a tablet coated with smooth wax), and write on it with human handwriting some words. It is therefore assumed here that there is a superhuman handwriting (see Text. and Gram.) and that the Prophet could understand and make use of it (comp. Dan_5:5 sqq.). But Isaiah must not employ this superhuman, but common, human writing. Isaiah must write on the tablet “Maher-shalal-hash-baz.” It is clear that when he wrote these words they were not designated as the name of a son to be expected. For, first, there is nothing of this in the text. Second, there is a two-fold gradation of the prophecy wherein the first stage gives a pledge of the second. The words on the tablet are the prophecy of a Maher-shalal-hash-baz to be looked for; the appearance of the latter is therefore the fulfilment of this prophecy, and so the guaranty that the event, to which the significant name itself in turn refers, shall certainly come to pass.
The Lord commands the Prophet therefore to set up a tablet with the inscription mentioned, and at the same time makes known his will, that Uriah and Zechariah shall act as witnesses. What they are to witness is as little stated as that Isaiah shall accomplish the will of the LORD in regard to the witnesses and that he actually did this. The latter is assumed as being a matter of course. This scantiness is too common in the prophetic manner of narrating to cause us any surprise. The former is to be obtained from the context. For when we read immediately after: “And I went unto the Prophetess,” etc., it is plain that the witnesses should testify that Isaiah, at the time he set up the tablet, had communicated to them that he would approach his wife, and that she, in consequence, would become pregnant and bear a son. But why, it may be asked, did not the Prophet declare this publicly? Not out of regard for propriety certainly; for there would not have been anything the least offensive in doing so. But why must then the witnesses receive this announcement? I can think of no other reason than the enmity and vindictiveness of Ahaz. He was, we may be sure, only half rejoiced at the quieting of his fears in regard to the impending danger from Rezin and Pekah. The way in which he, according to Isa_7:10 sqq., received that reassuring announcement, and what was connected with it as a further finger-board for the remote future (Isa_7:17 sqq.), all this was calculated to embitter him and his against the Prophet. Had, therefore, the Prophet announced publicly the pregnancy of his wife, the mother and child might have incurred danger. This was easiest avoided by imparting the announcement only to witnesses, who, however, were in such esteem with the nation, that their assurance that they had at the proper time received such a communication from the Prophet was universally credited. Then we obtain the following chain of events. First, the tablet. This, makes known in general that the LORD purposes a great crisis of war, and that it is to be looked for shortly. Immediately thereupon the witnesses receive the announcement of the pregnancy of the Prophetess, The son is born, and thereby, on the authority of the witnesses, is given to all, the pledge that the event to which the inscription of the tablet and the corresponding name of the child pointed, shall really come to pass.
Whether Uriah is the priest mentioned, 2Ki_16:10 sqq. [BARNES, J. A. ALEXANDER], who, out of regard for Ahaz, placed in the temple the altar made after the heathen pattern, is just as doubtful as whether Zechariah is identical with the one said to be the author of Zechariah 9-11, or with the son of Asaph (2Ch_29:13).
Isaiah’s wife is hardly called Prophetess, because she was the wife of a Prophet, but because she herself was a prophetic woman. We do not indeed know of prophecies of which she was the authoress, but she, along with other things of the Prophet’s family, was set for a sign and wonder (Isa_9:18).
Our exposition of Isa_7:14 of itself shows that the present history is not coincident with Isa_7:10 sqq., and therefore that Maher-shalal is not identical with Immanuel. Yet the present narrative is nearly related to Isa_7:10 sqq. In both, pregnancy and the birth of a son are pledges of deliverance. In both, a stage of development in the child is made the measure that defines the period of the deliverance. But a child can say father and mother, sooner than it can distinguish between good and evil. If then, as also the place of the passage in the book, indicates, what is now narrated, took place somewhat later than the events Isa_7:10 sqq., it agrees very well. Both have the same objective end, viz., the rendering harmless Syria and Ephraim. Therefore the later one must use the shorter time measure. As Pekah and Rezin lived during the events prophesied here, yet the former died B. C. 739, so the transactions related here must fall between B. C. 743 and 739. The king of Assyria did not at that time destroy Samaria. He only desolated a few border regions (2Ki_15:29). But as we showed at Isa_7:17, that the prophecy contemplated two events, inwardly related, but separated as to time, so it is here. That first, preliminary devastation of the region of Ephraim bears the later one (2Ki_17:6) so really in it, that the Prophet is justified in comprehending both together.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa_7:1. “Hierosolyma oppugnatur, etc. Jerusalem is assaulted but not conquered. The church is pressed but not oppressed.”—Foerster.
2. On Isa_7:2. “Quando ecclesia, etc. When the Church is assaulted and Christ crucified over again in His elect, Rezin and Pekah, Herod and Pilate are wont to form alliance and enter into friendly relations. There are, so to speak, the foxes of Samson, joined indeed by the tails, but their heads are disconnected.”—Foerster.—“He that believes flees not (Isa_28:16). ‘The righteous is bold as a lion’ (Pro_28:1). Hypocrites and those that trust in works (work-saints) have neither reason nor faith. Therefore they cannot by any means quiet their heart. In prosperity they are, indeed, overweening, but in adversity they fall away (Jer_17:9).” Cramer.
3. On Isa_7:9. (“If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”) “Insignis sententia, etc. A striking sentiment that may be adapted generally to all temptation, because all earnest endeavor after anything, as you know, beguiles us in temptation. But only faith in the word of promise makes us abide and makes sure whatever we would execute. He warns Ahaz, therefore, as if he said: I now promise you by the word, it shall be that those two kings shall not hurt you. Believe this word! For if you do not, whatever you afterwards devise will deceive you: because all confidence is vain which is not supported by the word of God.”—Luther.
4. On Isa_7:10-12. “Wicked Ahaz pretends to great sanctity in abstaining from asking a sign through fear of God. Thus hypocrites are most conscientious where there is no need for it: on the other hand, when they ought to be humble, they are the most insolent. But where God commands to be bold, one must be bold. For to be obedient to the word is not tempting God. That is rather tempting God when one proposes something without having the word for it. It is, indeed, the greatest virtue to rest only in the word, and desire nothing more. But where God would add something more than the word, then it must not be thought a virtue to reject it as superfluous. We must therefore exercise such a faith in the word of God that we will not despise the helps that are given in addition to it as aids to faith. For example the Lord offers us in the gospel all that is necessary to salvation. Why then Baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Are they to be treated as superfluous? By no means. For if one believes the word he will at the same time exhibit an entire obedience toward God. We ought therefore to learn to join the sign with the word, for no man has the power to sever the two.
But do you ask: is it permitted to ask God for a sign? We have an example of this in Gideon. Answer: Although Gideon was not told of God to ask a sign, yet he did it by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, and not according to his own fancy. We must not therefore abuse his example, and must be content with the sign that is offered by the Lord. But there are extraordinary signs or miracles, like that of the text, and ordinary ones like Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Yet both have the same object and use. For as Gideon was strengthened by that miraculous event, so, too, are we strengthened by Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, although no miracle appears before our eyes.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther. Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, also asked the Lord to show him the right wife for Isaac by means of a sign of His own choosing, (Gen_24:14).
It ought to be said that this asking a sign (opening the Bible at a venture, or any other book) does not suit Christian perfection (Heb_6:1). A Christian ought to be inwardly sensible of the divine will. He ought to content himself with the guarantees that God Himself offers. Only one must have open eyes and ears for them. This thing of demanding a sign, if it is not directly an effect of superstition (Mat_12:39; Mat_16:4; 1Co_1:22), is certainly childish, and, because it easily leads to superstitious abuses, it is dangerous.
5. On Isa_7:13. “Non caret, etc. That the Prophet calls God his God is not without a peculiar emphasis. In Zec_2:12 it is said, that whoever touches the servants of God touches the pupil of God’s eye. Whoever opposes teacher and preacher will have to deal with God in heaven or with the Lord who has put them into office.”—Foerster.
6. On Isa_7:14. “The name Immanuel is one of the most beautiful and richest in contents of all the Holy Scripture. ‘God with us’ comprises God’s entire plan of salvation with sinful humanity. In a narrower sense it means ‘God-man’ (Mat_1:23), and points to the personal union of divinity and humanity, in the double nature of the Son of God become man. Jesus Christ was a God-with-us, however, in this, that for about 33 years He dwelt among us sinners (Joh_1:11; Joh_1:14). In a deeper and wider sense still He was such by the Immanuel’s work of the atonement (2Co_5:19; 1Ti_2:3). He will also be such to every one that believes on Him by the work of regeneration and sanctification and the daily renewal of His holy and divine communion of the Spirit (Joh_17:23; Joh_17:26; Joh_14:19-21; Joh_14:23). He is such now by His high-priestly and royal administration and government for His whole Church (Mat_28:20; Heb_7:25). He will be snch in the present time of the Church in a still more glorious fashion (Joh_10:16). The entire and complete meaning of the name Immanuel, however, will only come to light in the new earth, and in the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev_21:3; Rev_21:23; Rev_22:5).”—Wilh. Fried. Roos.
Isa_8:7. On Isa_8:5 sqq. “Like boastful swimmers despise small and quiet waters, and on the other hand, for the better display of their skill, boast of the great sea and master it, but often are lost in it,—thus, too, did the hypocrites that despised the small kingdom of Judah, and bragged much and great things of the power and splendor of the kingdom of Israel and of the Syrians; such hypocrites are still to be found now-a-days—such that bear in their eye the admiranda Romae, the splendor, riches, power, ceremonies and pomp of the Romish church, and thereupon ‘set their bushel by the bigger-heap.’ It is but the devil’s temptation over again: ‘I will give all this to thee.’ ”—Cramer.—“Fons Siloa,” etc. “The fountain of Siloam, near the temple, daily reminded the Jews that Christ was coming.”—Calvin on Joh_9:7.
8. On Isa_8:10. “When the great Superlatives sit in their council chambers and have determined everything, how it ought to be, and especially how they will extinguish the gospel, then God sends the angel Gabriel to them, who must look through the window and say: nothing will come of it.”—Luther.—“Christ, who is our Immanuel, is with us by His becoming man, for us by His office of Mediator, in us by the work of His sanctification, by us by His personal, gracious presence.”—Cramer.
9. On Isa_8:14-15. Christ alone is set by God to be a stone by which we are raised up. That He is, however, an occasion of offence to many is because of their purpose, petulance and contempt (1Pe_2:8). Therefore we ought to fear lest we take offence at Him. For whoever falls on this stone will shatter to pieces (Mat_21:44).” Cramer.
10. On Isa_8:16 sqq. He warns His disciples against heathenish superstition, and exhorts them to show respect themselves always to law and testimony. “They must not think that God must answer them by visions and signs, therefore He refers them to the written word, that they may not become altogether too spiritual, like those now-a-days who cry: spirit! spirit! … Christ says, Luke 16 : They have Moses and the prophets, and again Joh_5:39 : Search the Scriptures. So Paul says, 2Ti_3:16 : The Scripture is profitable for doctrine. So says Peter, 2Pe_1:9 : We have a sure word of prophecy. It is the word that changes hearts and moves them. But revelations puff people up and make them insolent.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther.
Chap. 9–11. On Isa_9:1 sqq. (2). “Postrema pars, etc. The latter part of chap. 8 was νομικὴ καὶ ἀπειλητική (legal and threatening) so, on the other hand, the first and best part of chap. 9 is εὐαγγελικὴ καὶ παραμυθητική, (evangelical and comforting). Thus must ever law and gospel, preaching wrath and grace, words of reproof and words of comfort, a voice of alarm and a voice of peace follow one another in the church.” Foerster.
12. On Isa_9:1 (2). Both in the Old Testament and New Testament Christ is often called light. Thus Isaiah calls Him “a light to the gentiles,” Isa_42:6; Isa_49:6. The same Prophet says: “Arise, shine (make thyself light), for thy light is come,” Isa_60:1. And again Isa_9:19 : “The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light.” In the New Testament it is principally John that makes use of this expression: “The life was the light of men,” Joh_1:4, “and the light shined in the darkness,” Joh_9:5. John was not that light, but bore testimony to the light, Joh_9:8. “That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” Joh_9:9. And further: “And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,” Joh_3:19. “I am the light of the world,” (Joh_8:12; Joh_9:5; comp. Joh_12:35).
13. On Isa_9:1 (2). The people that sit in darkness may be understood to comprise three grades. First, the inhabitants of Zebulon and Naphtali are called so (Isaiah 8:23), for the Prophet’s gaze is fixed first on that region lying in the extreme end of Palestine, which was neighbor to the heathen and mixed with them, and on this account was held in low esteem by the dwellers in Judah. The night that spreads over Israel in general is darkest there. But all Israel partakes of this night, therefore all Israel, too, may be understood, as among the people sitting in darkness. Finally, no one can deny that this night extends over the borders of Israel to the whole human race. For far as men dwell extends the night which Christ, as light of the world, came to dispel, Luk_1:76 sqq.
14. On Isa_9:5 (6). Many lay stress on the notion “child,” inasmuch as they see in that the reason for the reign of peace spoken of afterwards. It is not said a man, a king, a giant is given to us. But this is erroneous. For the child does not remain a child. He becomes a man: and the six names that are ascribed to Him and also the things predicted of His kingdom apply to Him, not as a child, but as a man. That His birth as a child is made prominent, has its reason in this, that thereby His relation to human kind should be designated as an organic one. He does not enter into humanity as a man, i.e. as one whose origin was outside of it, but He was born from it, and especially from the race of David. He is Son of man and Son of David. He is a natural offshoot, but also the crowning bloom of both. Precisely because He was to be conceived, carried and born of a human mother, and indeed of a virgin, this prophecy belongs here as the completion and definition of the two prophetic pictures Isa_7:10 sqq.; Isa_8:1 sqq.—“He came down from heaven for the sake of us men, and for our bliss (1Ti_1:15; Luk_2:7). For our advantage: for He undertook not for the seed of angels, but for the seed of Abraham (Heb_2:16). Not sold to us by God out of great love, but given (Rom_5:15; Joh_3:16). Therefore every one ought to make an application of the word ‘to us’ to himself, and to learn to say: this child was given to me, conceived for me, born to me.”—Cramer.—“Cur oportuit, etc. Why did it become the Redeemer of human kind to be not merely man nor merely God, but God and man conjoined or θεάνθρωπον? Anselm replies briefly, indeed, but pithily: Deum qui posset, hominem, qui deberet.” Foerster.
15. On Isa_9:5 (6). “You must not suppose here that He is to be named and called according to His person, as one usually calls another by his name; but these are names that one must preach, praise and celebrate on account of His act, works and office.” Luther.
16. On Isa_9:6. “Verba pauca, etc. A few words, but to be esteemed great, not for their number but for their weight.” Augustine. “Admirabilis in, etc. Wonderful in birth, counsellor in what He preaches, God in working, strong in suffering, father of the world to come in resurrection, Prince of peace in bliss perpetual.” Bernard of Clairvaux. In reference to “a child is born,” and “a son is given,” Joh. Cocceius remarks in his Heb. Lex. s. v. יֶלֶד: “respectu, etc., in respect to His human nature He is said to be born, and in respect to His divine nature and eternal generation not indeed born, but given, as, Joh_3:16, it reads God gave His only begotten Son.”
“In the application of this language all depends on the words is born to us, is given to us.” The angels are, in this matter, far from being as blessed as we are. They do not say: To us a Saviour is born this day, but; to you. As long as we do not regard Christ as ours, so long we shall have little joy in Him. But when we know Him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, as a gift that our heavenly Father designed for us, we will appropriate Him to ourselves in humble faith, and take possession of all His redeeming effects that He has acquired. For giving and taking go together. The Son is given to us; we must in faith receive Him.” J. J. Rambach, Betracht. über das Ev. Esaj., Halle, 1724.
On Isa_9:6 (7). “The government is on His shoulders.” “It is further shown how Christ differs in this respect from worldly kings. They remove from themselves the burden of government and lay it on the shoulders of the privy counsellors. But He does not lay His dominion as a burden on any other; He needs no prime minister and vicegerent to help Him bear the burden of administration, but He bears all by the word of His power as He to whom all things are given of the Father. Therefore He says to the house of Jacob (Isa_46:3 sq.): Hearken unto me ye who were laid on my shoulders from your mothers’ womb. I will carry you to old age. I will do it, I will lift, and carry and deliver,—on the contrary the heathen must bear and lift up their idols, (Isa_46:1; Isa_46:7).”—Rambach. “In the first place we must keep in mind His first name: He is called Wonderful. This name affects all the following.” “All is wonderful that belongs to this king: wonderfully does He counsel and comfort; wonderfully He helps to acquire and conquer, and all this in suffering and want of strength. (Luther, Jen. germ. Tom. III. Fol. 184 b.). ” “He uses weakness as a means of subduing all things to Himself. A wretched reed, a crown of thorns and an infamous cross, are the weapons of this almighty God, by means of which He achieves such great things. In the second place, He was a hero and conqueror in that just by death, He robbed him of his might who had the power of death, i.e., the devil (Heb_2:14); in that He, like Samson, buried His enemies with Himself, yea, became poison to death itself, and a plague to hell (Hos_13:14) and more gloriously resumed His life so freely laid down, which none of the greatest heroes can emulate.”—Rambach.
17. On Isa_9:18 (19) sqq. True friendship can never exist among the wicked. For every one loves only himself. Therefore they are enemies one of another; and they are in any case friends to each other, only as long as it concerns making war on a third party.
Isaiah 10-18. On Isa_10:4. (Comp. the same expression in chap. 10). God’s quiver is well filled. If one arrow does not attain His object, He takes another, and so on, until the rights of God, and justice have conquered.
19. On Isa_10:5-7. “God works through men in a threefold way. First, we all live, move and have our being in Him, in that all activity is an outflow of His power. Then, He uses the services of the wicked so that they mutually destroy each other, or He chastises His people by their hand. Of this sort the Prophet speaks here. In the third place, by governing His people by the Spirit of sanctification: and this takes place only in the elect.”—Heim and Hoffmann.
20. On Isa_10:5 sqq. “Ad hunc, etc. Such places are to be turned to uses of comfort. Although the objects of temptation vary and enemies differ, yet the effects are the same, and the same spirit works in the pious. We are therefore to learn not to regard the power of the enemy nor our own weakness, but to look steadily and simply into the word, that will assuredly establish our minds that they despair not, but expect help of God. For God will not subdue our enemies, either spiritual or corporal, by might and power, but by weakness, as says the text: my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2Co_12:9).—Luther.
21. On Isa_10:15. “Efficacia agendi penes Deum est, homines ministerium tantum praebent. Quare nunc sibilo suo se illos evocaturum minabatur (cap. Isa_5:26; Isa_7:18); nunc instar sagenae sibi fore ad irretiendos, nunc mallei instar ad feriendos Israelitas. Sed praecipue tum declaravit, quod non sit otiosus in illis, dum Sennacherib securim vocat, quae ad secandum manu sua et destinata fuit et impacta. Non male alicubi Augustinus ita definit, quod ipsi peccant, eorum esse; quod peccando hoc vel illud agant, ex virtute Dei esse, tenebras prout visum est dividentis (De praedest Sanctt.).”—Calvin Inst. II. 4, 4.
22. On Isa_10:20-27. “In time of need one ought to look back to the earlier great deliverances of the children of God, as to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or later, from the hand of the Midianites. Israel shall again grow out of the yoke.”—Diedrich.
Isaiah 11-23. On Isa_11:4. “The staff of His mouth.” “Evidence that the kingdom of Christ will not be like an earthly kingdom, but consist in the power of the word and of the sacraments; not in leathern, golden or silver girdles, but in girdles of righteousness and faith.”—Cramer.
24. On Isa_11:10 sqq. If the Prophet honors the heathen in saying that they will come to Christ before Israel, he may be the more readily believed, when Isa_11:11 sqq., he gives the assurance that the return out of the first, the Egyptian exile, shall be succeeded by a return out of the second, the Assyrian exile, (taking this word in the wider sense of Isaiah). It is manifest that the return that took place under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only an imperfect beginning of that promised return. For according to our passage this second return can only take place after the Messiah has appeared. Farthermore, all Israelites that belong to “the remnant of Israel,” in whatever land they may dwell, shall take part in it. It will be, therefore, a universal, not a partial return. If now the Prophet paints this return too with the colors of the present (Isa_11:13 sqq.), still that is no reason for questioning the reality of the matter. Israel will certainly not disappear, but arise to view in the church of the new covenant. But if the nation is to be known among the nations as a whole, though no more as a hostile contrast, but in fraternal harmony, why then shall not the land, too, assume a like position among the lands? But the nation can neither assume its place among nations, nor the land its place among lands, if they are not both united: the people Israel in the land of their fathers.
25. On Isaiah 11 “We may here recall briefly the older, so-called spiritual interpretation. Isa_11:1-5 were understood of Christ’s prophetic office that He exercised in the days of His flesh, then of the overthrow of the Roman Empire and of Antichrist, who was taken to be the Pope. But the most thorough-going of those old expositors must acknowledge, at Isa_11:4, that the Antichrist is not yet enough overthrown, and must be yet more overthrown. If such is the state of the case, then this interpretation is certainly false, for Isa_11:4 describes not a gradual judgment, but one accomplished at once. There have been many Antichrists, and among the Popes too, but the genuine Antichrist described 2 Thessalonians 2, is yet to be expected, and also the fulfillment of Isa_11:4 of our chapter. Thereby is proved at the same time that the peaceful state of things in the brute world and the return of the Jews to their native land are still things of the future, for they must happen in that period when the Antichristian world, and its head shall be judged by Christ. But then, too, the dwelling together of tame and wild beasts is not the entrance of the heathen into the church, to which they were heretofore hostile, and the return of the Jews is not the conversion of a small part of Israel that took place at Pentecost and after. The miracles and signs too, contained in Isa_11:15-16 did not take place then. We see just here how one must do violence to the word if he will not take it as it stands. But if we take it as we have done, then the whole chapter belongs to the doctrine of hope (Hoffnungslehre) of the Scripture, and constitutes an important member of it. The Lord procures right and room for His church. He overthrows the world-kingdom, together with Antichrist. He makes of the remnant of Israel a congregation of believers filled with the Spirit, to whom He is near in an unusual way, and from it causes His knowledge to go out into all the world. He creates peace in the restless creatures, and shows us here in advance what more glorious things we may look for in the new earth. He presents to the world a church which, united in itself, unmolested by neighbors, stands under God’s mighty protection. All these facts are parts of a chain of hope that must be valuable and dear to our hearts. The light of this future illumines the obscurity of the present; the comfort of that day makes the heart fresh.” Weber, der Prophet Jesaja, 1875.
Chap. 12–26. On Isa_12:4 sq. “These will not be the works of the New Testament: sacrificing and slaying, and make pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the Holy Sepulchre, but praising God and giving thanks, preaching and hearing, believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. For to praise our God is good; such praise is pleasant and lovely” (Psa_147:1). Cramer.
27. On Chap. 12 “With these words conclude the prophetic discourses on Immanuel. Through what obscurity of history have we not had to go, until we came to the bright light of the kingdom of Christ! How Israel and the nations had to pass through the fire of judgment before the sun arises in Israel and the entire gentile world is illumined! It is the, same way that every Christian has to travel. In and through the fire we become blessed. Much must be burnt up in us, before we press to the full knowledge of God and of His Son, before we become entirely one with Him, entirely glad and joyful in Him. Israel was brought up and is still brought up for glory, and we too. O that our end too were such a psalm of praise as this psalm!” Weber, Der Pr. Jes. 1875.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–3 I took--rather, "The Lord said to me, that I…
I took--rather, "The Lord said to me, that I should take," &c. [MAURER].
Uriah--an accomplice of Ahaz in idolatry, and therefore a witness not likely to assist the prophet of God in getting up a prophecy after the event (Kg2 16:10). The witnesses were in order that when the event should come, they might testify that the tablet containing the prophecy had been inscribed with it at the time that it professed.
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Zechariah-- (Ch2 29:13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 The Roll, Isa_8:1-4.
The Roll, Isa_8:1-4.
1. Take thee a great roll — This was a wooden or metallic tablet, probably covered with a surface of wax for writing on with a stylus; large, so as to be easily read by the public when put up as an inscription. See note on Luk_1:63.
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Write… with a man’s pen — In the regular letters of a human alphabet, so as to be readily read and understood by men. See note on Rev_13:18.
Concerning — That is, it relates to, or, it is in these words. Maher-shalal-hash-baz — Which, translated, means, Hastens booty, prey hastens. The spoils of war are at hand. Capture and pillage are close upon the assailed.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. Comp. ch. Isa_30:8; Hab_2:2. a great roll] a…
1. Comp. ch. Isa_30:8; Hab_2:2. a great roll] a great tablet (R.V.). The word is used in ch. Isa_3:23 of polished metal mirrors; here it means a smooth flat tablet of wood, stone or metal.
with a man’s pen] i.e. “in common characters” (R.V. marg.) easily legible and understood by the people (Hab_2:2). Such a direction bears witness to an extensive knowledge of writing in Isaiah’s time. The famous inscription in the Siloam tunnel, belonging probably to this age, is thought to have been carved by the workmen for their amusement.
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Maher-shalal-hash-baz] That is, “Haste-spoil-speed-booty.” Syntactically the enigmatic legend is capable of more than one construction. Most probably the verbs are participles; and then the nouns may be either nominative to them, or in the accusative of direction. I.e. we may translate either “Spoil hasteneth—booty speedeth” or “Hasting to (the) spoil—speeding to (the) booty.” The last seems preferable. (Comp. Goethe’s Raufebold, Habebald, Eilebeute in the second part of Faust.)
concerning] is in Hebr. simply “to” or “for,” a formula of dedication common on seals and epitaphs. The tablet relates to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
1–4. The twofold sign of Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 (1) Moreover the Lord said unto me . .…
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 Immanuel had been born, but there were no signs as yet of the downfall of the northern kingdom. The attack of Rezin and Pekah, though Jerusalem had not been taken, had inflicted an almost irreparable blow on the kingdom of Judah. Multitudes had been carried captive to Damascus (2Ch_28:5). Many thousands, but for the intercession of the prophet Oded, would have eaten the bread of exile and slavery. The Edomites were harassing the south-eastern frontier (2Ch_28:15-17). The commerce of the Red Sea was cut off by Rezin’s capture of Elath (2Ki_16:6). To the weak and faithless Ahaz and his counsellors, it might well seem that the prospect was darker than ever, that there was no hope but in the protection of Assyria. If such was the state of things when the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, was he to recant and confess that he had erred? Was he to shrink back into silence and obscurity? Far otherwise than that. He was to repeat all that he had said, more definitely, more demonstratively than ever.
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Take thee a great roll . . .—Better, a large tablet. The noun is the same as that used for “mirrors” or “glasses” in Isa_3:23. The writings of the prophet were commonly written on papyrus and placed in the hands of his disciples to be read aloud. For private and less permanent messages men used small wooden tablets smeared with wax, on which they wrote with an iron stylus. (Comp. Job_19:24; Isa_30:8.) Here the tablet was to be large, and the writing was not to be with the sharp point of the artist or learned scribe, but with a “man’s pen,” i.e., such as the common workmen used for sign-boards, that might fix the gaze of the careless passer-by (Hab_2:2), and on that tablet, as though it were the heading of a proclamation or dedication, he was to write TO MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ. That mysterious name, which we may render “Speed-plunder, haste-spoil,” was, for at least nine months, to be the enigma of Jerusalem.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Vers. 1-4. THE SIGN OF MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ. The sign of…
Vers. 1-4. 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," Damascus and Samaria should be despoiled.
Take thee a great roll; rather, a large tablet. The word is the same as that used for "mirror" in Isa_3:23. Write in it with a man"s pen; i.e. "write upon it with the pen used by ordinary men in opposition to the implements of an engraver. The tablet was probably to be hung up to view in a public place, (comp. Isa_30:8) so that all mightread, and the writing was therefore to be such as was in ordinary use. Concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. These were the words which were to be written on the tablet, which was to be otherwise left blank. They would naturally excite curiosity, like the strange names placarded in modern streets. The name is literally, "Plunder speeds, spoil hastens." It has been imitated by Goethe in his "Habebald-Eilebeute" ("Faust," act 4. sc. 3).
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HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-4. Symbolic utterances.
THE PROPHET"S POPULAR METHOD. He wished to inspire hope in the people as well as in the king to expel the panic fear of the two northern kings, and impress the expectation that the two capitals of these kings would themselves be taken and sacked. The way in which he set about this was simple yet remarkable.
1. He took a large tablet, and wrote therein in "popular characters," i.e. in large text, distinct from the literary character, perhaps a character half pictorial, the words "Hasten-booty, Speed-spoil," or "Booty-quick, Spoil-speed." In those days there were no newspapers, no puffing placards staring from the walls, and books were only for the learned. This was suggestive to write up a sentiment or suggestion like this for the public eye. To this day in the East, if you ask the people their reason for believing this or that, their answer will be, "Is it not written? Men did not write books to deceive us." To write this pregnant phrase was, then, to impress it on the popular imagination. "Go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever". (Isa_30:8) "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it". (Heb_2:2) Then, to fix the solemn act of putting up the tablet in memory, he takes two witnesses Uriah the high priest, (2Ki_16:10) and Zechariah, perhaps "mayor of Jerusalem" at the time.
2. Next, he gave this same mystic name to a son born about the same time, so that the boy might be, as it were, a "living epistle" by means of his significant name, "known and read of all men," and keeping alive in their hearts the hopeful prophecy of his father. Before the boy can lisp his parents" names, that prophecy will be fulfilled, and the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the Assyrian king.
(1) The lessons of the teacher need to be addressed to the senses of the multitude. The sign for the eye, the parable for the imagination, the illustration which "strikes," the epigram and "winged word" which fastens in the memory, all may be pressed into the service.
(2) Pith and condensation should be studied. A sermon is not wasted if the text sticks, or if a single pregnant saying has lodged itself in the mind, as a seed to stir and quicken thought to purpose. J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-4. Orders of service.
We may serve God in more ways than one. There is
I UNWILLING SERVICE. We may conclude, from 2Ki_16:10, 2Ki_16:11, that Uriah the priest (ver. 2) had no real interest in the service of Jehovah; that he did what Isaiah requested of him with an indifferent, if not a positively reluctant mind. We may be "requisitioned" by the great King in the long warfare he is conducting. He who is rebelliously refusing to place his intelligence, his spiritual nature, his resources, at the command of the Divine Savior, need not be surprised if he finds himself constrained to serve his generation against his will. By violent excesses sinful men have made their own cause odious; by shameful cruelty, calling out heroic endurance, they have made the cause of truth most honorable in the eyes of men. God can make the wrath and the foolishness and even the stubbornness (e.g. Pharaoh) of men to praise him.
II UNCONSCIOUS SERVICE. The little infant was a "sign" to the prophet and the people; it rendered a service in its own way, but it must have been an entirely unconscious one. It is a painful, and should be a preserving thought, that when we do wrong we "know not what we do, how heinous is our offence, or how large and long will prove to be its issues. On the other hand, it is a pleasant and inspiring thought, that when we are doing right, in our several spheres and according to our various powers and opportunities, we do not know what service we are rendering. It may be one much more highly esteemed than we imagine at the time. (see Mat_25:37-40) It may be one that has far more valuable and lasting results than we could possibly calculate. Especially is it true of the little child, that he is unconsciously serving his kind. The infant in the family has a softening, sweetening, humanizing influence of which it knows nothing, but which is very beautiful and valuable. Ever and everywhere will it be found that "the little child shall lead them whom no other force will either draw or drive.
III ACCEPTABLE SERVICE. This is:
1. Intelligent. Whatever the exact significance of "writing with a man"s pen" (ver. 1), it is suggestive of the double truth that, in working for God, we should
(1) put out all our powers in their fullness and in their maturity, and should
(2) speak (or write) words adapted to the capacity of those whom we address. Many who seek to serve throw away their opportunity, because they do not the fitting as well as the excellent thing; only too often the best is the enemy of the good.
1. Prudent. (Ver. 2.) The prophet placed his prophecy beyond reach of cavil by securing two unexceptionable witnesses, one of them being the more convincing because his sympathies were on the other side; his testimony, therefore, none could challenge. Though conscious of the most complete integrity, it is often wise and well to be fortified by the evidence of others. Prudence as well as zeal has its place in the catalogue of Christian graces.
2. Faithful. It was no smooth message which the prophet was to deliver (ver. 4). The very name of the child was to be a standing threat of impending evil (ver. 3). Not only he who now speaks for God, but every Christian man, is bound to render this faithful service; his words and his life are to testify against the vice, the levity, the worldliness, the ungodliness, of his age; they are also to bear witness to the excellency and beauty of unselfish and loyal service. C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Vers. 1, 3. Prophecy in a name.
The interpretation of this name demands some acquaintance with the history of the times, and with the views of political parties in the city of Jerusalem. The great danger immediately pressing was the combined attack of Rezin and Pekah, representing the neighbor-kingdoms of Syria and Israel. Isaiah had prophesied the fall of these nations, and, so, encouraged Judah to hold on, and keep trust in Jehovah"s protection. But time passed on, and there were no signs of calamity overtaking Rezin and Pekah. On the other hand, they seemed to be only too successful. They had overrun the country, taking many away captive. Rezin had captured Elath, the Red Sea port. And, taking advantage of Judah"s time of weakness, the Edomites were harassing the north-eastern frontier. To politicians the state of affairs was hopelessly dark; and they could see no way out of the difficulty, save by seeking alliance with the growing power of Assyria, which was pressing its conquests toward the Mediterranean. But to do this was to declare their unbelief in Isaiah"s assurances, and to put public dishonor upon him as the servant of Jehovah. So he repeats his prophecy. In order that the people might know it and understand it, he puts it into one word, one name; he writes it in large letters, sets it up in a public place, and so testifies against the perilous policy which fear of the national enemies was dictating. "The tablet was to be large, and the writing was not to be with the sharp point of the artist, or learned scribe, but with a "man"s pen," i.e. such as the common workmen used for sign-boards, that might fix the gaze of the careless passer-by, and on that tablet, as though it were the heading of a proclamation or dedication, he was to write "to Maher-shalal-hashobaz. This name recalls the prophecy which Isaiah had already. (Isa_7:14-16) The word actually and precisely means "Speed plunder, haste spoil." It refers to the Assyrians whom Isaiah sees hurrying to spoil both Syria and Samaria. First the public sign, and then the child, bearing the prophetic name, were to be a constant testimony to the truth of Isaiah"s words, and a means of keeping the cheering prophecy ever before the people. The passage reminds us of the value attached to, and the use made of, Old Testament names. On this subject F. W. Robertson has a very suggestive passage (vol. 1:41, 42): In the Hebrew history are discernible three periods distinctly marked, in which names and words bore very different characters. These three, it has been observed by acute philologists, correspond to the periods in which the nation bore the three different appellations of Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews. In the first of these periods names meant truths, and words were the symbols of realities. The characteristics of the names given then were simplicity and sincerity. The second period begins about the time of the departure from Egypt, and it is characterized by unabated simplicity, with the addition of sublimer thought, and feeling more intensely religious. Words mean realities, but they are impregnated with deeper religious thought. The third period was at its zenith in the time of Christ; words had lost their meaning, and shared the hollow unreal state of all things." Keeping in mind how conveniently and efficiently Isaiah wraps up his prophecy into a name which will at once arrest attention, this use of names may be illustrated:
1. In relation to families. We recall to mind loved relatives, or acts of kindness done to us, or persons whose heroic lives we admire, by giving to our children some significant name.
2. In relation to the sale of articles. The skill of the advertiser is shown in the discovery of some taking name, which will draw public attention to the article offered.
3. In relation to science and invention. The results of research and discovery do not become public property until they can be fixed in a name; even men"s theorizings getting thus labeled for use.
4. In relation to doctrines. Statements of Divine revelation do not become public property until they get a name, which is a sort of handle, by which the ordinary mind may grasp them. By such illustrations the practical wisdom of Isaiah"s act may be shown, and then the truth which he sought thus to keep before the minds of the people may be impressed, The staring name, calling the attention of all the passers-by, said plainly, "Trust God, not man." "Fear nobody but God; nothing but God." "His word is surely true: though you see it not, it is hurrying even now to its accomplishment." That name said, "Trust in the Lord forever." "He maketh the wrath of man praise him, and restrains the remainder of wrath. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1
Isa_8:1-4
Maher-shalal-hash-baz
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Maher-shalal-hash-baz
Four words, or rather two sentences, form now the burden of this message; and they are embodied in the name of a boy.
Maher-shalal,--this first sentence means that quickly shall trophies be taken--the prophet thus seeing the army of Samaria in full and disgraceful flight. While Hash-baz, the second, tells us about booty being taken, as the Assyrian forces shall enter Damascus in 732 B.C., and help themselves to its wealth. (B. Blake, B. D.)
Unconscious testimony
I. GOD MEANT SOMETHING BY THIS CHILD.
II. GOD HAS A MEANING OF HIS OWN WITH EVERY LIFE. (J. R. Howard.)
Gods writing
God hath a large print in some of His books. Verily, He can write a small hand too, which men can only see through the microscope of tears. (J. Parker, D. D.)
A mans pen
They that write for men should write with a mans pen, and not covet the pen or tongue of angels. (M. Henry.)
A help to memory
It is sometimes a good help to memory to put much matter in few words, which serve as handles by which we take hold of more. (M. Henry.)
Naming children from passing events
In 1900 many a helpless infant was saddled for life with a name drawn from South Africa, and reminiscent of certain towns and certain individuals conquered or conquering by the might of British arms. However patriotic we may be, we feel sympathy for these little innocents with the reverse of euphonious names, for their trials in after days when they become Miss Ladysmith Tomkinson and Mr. Pretorius Simpkinson, will not be light. An additional burden for the feminine portion of this sorry community will be, that their mere names will be as definite as a census paper and as plain as a birth certificate, as a declaration of age. In the year 1926, Mr. William Smith will have no need to inquire diligently the approximate age of Miss Methuen Redvers Robinson; he will at once be able to fix the glorious year when her presence began to usher a happy springtime into this wintry world--at least, for him. Strange and unforeseen results may follow from the naming of the little children from the crimsoned fields of war. But the custom of naming the children from passing events is by no means new. The old Hebrews, with their religious intensity, and fervent patriotism, usually found names for their children that had a very distinct meaning and a very distinct message, quite unlike the stolid English, who may by chance stumble upon the fact that Irene means peace, and Theodore, the gift of God, but who never trouble themselves overmuch about such un-English things. (W. Owen.)
Maher-shalal-hash-baz
One very distinct difference between this old Hebrew name and any recent English battle name is this, that the latter is a cry of triumph, and the former an announcement of trial, and in this difference there may be seen a difference in the temper of these name makers. Let us remember the past, say the English, let us perpetuate our victories and immortalise them, but let defeat be forgotten, and let the future take care of itself. No, let us look onward, said the Hebrew prophet, let us face the facts, and realise that no past victory at the Red Sea can make us conquerors now, if we lose our faith in God. Of course, as the result of such an utterance, Isaiah was deemed a pessimist (as is every man who is far-seeing enough to discern the cloud in the distance, even if it be no bigger than a mans hand, and brave enough to tell what he has seen), and it was easy enough then, as now, and satisfactory enough to the majority, to label him a pessimist and then ignore him! But, on the other hand, it is not the easiest of things to listen to the men who prophesy smoothly of continual summer, while, round them as they speak, the leaves are falling in autumn, and the trees stripping themselves bare to face the unseen icy wind. There is room for the cry, Maher-shalal-hash-baz! (W. Owen.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Isa_8:1-4. Moreover, the Lord said unto me, Take thee…
MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ
Isa_8:1-4. Moreover, the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great roll, &c. [823]
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[823] In the first chapter of Hosea occurs a like instance of symbolic names given by a prophet to his children, and in Hab_2:2, we have mention of the practice of writing a prophecy on a tablet in easily legible characters, and hanging it up in the Temple, market-place, or other public resort. And most modern commentators prefer to think that Isaiah now merely inscribed “HASTE PLUNDER, SPEED SPOIL,” in large letters on a metal or waxed tablet, the לִ which the Authorised Version translates “concerning,” being the Lamed inscription is, as in Jer_49:1; Jer_49:7; Jer_49:23; Jer_49:28; Eze_37:16; though it may be observed that the direction to “tie up and seal the testimony,” in Isa_8:16, is in favour of the older version, which understands him to have made a record of his expectation of the birth of the child, and of the significance of that birth, at some length. He wrote “with a man’s pen,” or “style,”—a phrase not unlike our “common hand” or “popular style;” and he took as credible witnesses that the record had preceded the event, Uriah the high priest at the time (2Ki_16:10), and Zechariah, who was not improbably the father-in-law of Ahaz and a Levite (2Ki_18:2; 2Ch_29:1; 2Ch_29:13). He calls his wife “the prophetess,” as the wife of a king is called a queen (says Vitringa), though she does not reign, and in some old ecclesiastical canons the wife of a bishop “episcopa,” and of a presbyter “presbytera;” and he thus claims for her a place with her husband and children (see Isa_8:18) in the holy and symbolic family, who are for “a sign in Israel.” She gave birth to a child, and his name was called, in accordance with the writing, “Haste-plunder, Speed-spoil,” that the people might understand that before he was old enough to utter the words “father” and “mother,”—that is, within a short but somewhat indefinite period such as we should express by “in a year or two from his birth,”—the spoils of the plundered cities of Samaria and Damascus, the capitals of the nations now invading Judah, shall have been carried before the Assyrian conqueror in triumph.
In order to realise the practical impressiveness of such symbolic acts and names upon Isaiah’s contemporaries, we must remember that Jerusalem was a very small town for size and population compared with the notion we insensibly get of a capital from our own vast London; and also that there was as little in the ways of thinking and living of that age and country as in the extent of the city to effect such a separation between a public man’s political and private life as exists in England. We respect the domestic reserve of our neighbours, and we fortify ourselves in the like reserve, by our habit of learning what they are doing that concerns us through the newspaper which we read by our own fireside. With no newspapers, and a climate which encouraged an out-of-door life, the people of Jerusalem would become as familiar with that personal demeanour of Isaiah in the market-place or elsewhere which he made a part of his public ministry, as we are with the mental habits and political conduct of Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Disraeli, though the greater part of us would recognise neither of them by sight, and still fewer know anything of their personal and private life.—Strachey.
This singular record reminds us,
I. How marvellously varied are the means which God employs to bring men to the knowledge and belief of saving truth. That which God’s ancient people needed to save them from their mistakes and miseries was real faith in the elementary truth that God is the only safe counsellor, for this simple reason, that He alone sees the end from the beginning. All their circumstances, interpreted by merely human wisdom, seemed to point to the desirableness of an alliance with Assyria, the very thing which God by His prophets emphatically forbade. That it might be easier for them to believe what seemed so incredible, namely, that the Assyrian alliance would be a calamity and not a blessing to them, God gave, in addition to the testimonies of His prophets to this effect, a prophecy of an event seemingly as incredible, namely, that the great power of the two nations, Israel and Syria, from which they had suffered so much, and which seemed so likely to be permanent, and on account of which they sought Assyrian help, should be utterly broken, and that speedily. God predicted this in words (chap. Isa_7:4-9), and He condescended to a symbolic act that He might impress this truth more vividly on their minds. It is of that symbolic act that we have the record here. Now that God took so much trouble for such a purpose is a fact worth thinking about. As a matter of fact, it is but one instance of His constant method of dealing with men. He is so bent on bringing them to a knowledge and belief of truth that to them would be saving, that He shrinks from no trouble at all likely to secure this result (Jer_7:13; Jer_7:25; Heb_1:1; Luk_20:10-13). Illustrate, e.g., how various are the methods by which He endeavours to awaken a careless soul to anxiety, and to effect its conversion! What is the explanation of this versatility and ingenuity of methods in dealing with us? It is the tenderness of His love for us; it is His yearning solicitude for our welfare.
II. How mercifully clear are the warnings by which God seeks to turn men from ruinous courses. The tablet [826] on which Isaiah was to write was to be large, and he was to write upon it “with a man’s pen,” an obscure expression, but yet at least meaning this, that the writing upon it was to be easily legible (Hab_2:2). It is true that though the words on the tablet were easily legible, their meaning was obscure. But that very obscurity was of a kind to excite inquiry (Dan_5:5-7), and that inquiry earnestly and honestly conducted would have led God’s ancient people to a saving knowledge of truth. Thus it is with all the warnings contained in God’s Word (H. E. I. 602–606).
[826] A great roll. Rather, a large tablet: of wood or metal, covered with a smooth surface of wax; which, when written upon, was hung up in public for all to read (cf. Jer_32:11; Jer_32:14).—Kay.
III. How important it is that God’s servants should be prudent as well as zealous. After the prophecy was fulfilled, unbelief might have questioned whether it had ever been given, and therefore Isaiah, acting under divine direction, selected two witnesses whose testimony could not be gainsaid [829] Probably that which they were required to testify was, that the prophecy, and its interpretation, was delivered to them on a certain day; the interpretation embracing both the facts, that to the prophet another son would be born, and that while still in his infancy the two nations of which Judah stood in dread should themselves be conquered. Isaiah was thus acting on the general principle given by our Lord for the guidance of His people (Mat_10:16). Now, as then, His prophets, while loyally obedient to His directions, should maintain a constant wariness and prudence, in order that the testimony they bear for Him should be placed beyond cavil and dispute.
[829] Faithful witnesses. Or, sure witnesses; whose testimony none would be able to gainsay: partly, because of their rank, but still more, it would seem, from their being adherents of Ahaz. For “Uriah the priest” can scarcely be any other than the one who made the Syrian altar after the description sent him from Damascus by Ahaz (2Ki_16:10-16); thereby (as Mr. Birks notices) furnishing incontrovertible evidence of the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prediction. Zechariah may have been Ahaz’s own father-in-law (2Ch_29:1).—Kay.
IV. How certain of accomplishment are the prophecies involved in God-given names. The prophecy contained in the name bestowed on this child of Isaiah’s was fulfilled [832] So already had that implied in the name bestowed on the child previously born to him, Shear-jashub, “a remnant shall return” [835] As it was with the sons of Isaiah, so is it with the Son of God. The names bestowed on Him are not merely glorious but empty titles. He is in very truth JESUS and IMMANUEL (Mat_1:21-23). He is JESUS because IMMANUEL. On the promises involved in these great names we may lay hold with joyful confidence, for they also shall be fulfilled.
[832] Isaiah’s interview with Ahaz (chap. 7), the preparation of the tablet, the birth of Isaiah’s child, and the conquest of Syria and Israel by the Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser all took place within the year 743–739 B.C.
[835] See Dr. Kennicott’s remarks on Shear-jashub in preceding paper: THE VIRGIN’S SON.
Alexander remarks on Isa_8:4 :—“Samaria is here put for the kingdom, and not for the capital city. But even if the name be strictly understood, there is no reason to doubt that Samaria was plundered by Tiglath-pileser (2Ki_15:29), although not destroyed.… The carrying away of its wealth does not necessarily imply anything more than such a spoiling of the capital as might be expected in the course of a brief but successful invasion.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Isa 8:13-14
Isa 8:13-14
I. The whole subject of Godhead is one of awe, and if of awe, then "dread." The more you know of God, the more you feel the unfathomableness of the mystery of Godhead. And all mystery is awe. It is a rule of our being, that we must tremble when we stand on the margin of the unknown. Therefore they who know most of God will most "fear," not His anger, but simply His amazing greatness.
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II. The sense of mercy and benefits heaped upon us has an overwhelming influence upon the mind. Do not you know what it is to tremble at a danger when you have escaped it, much more than you did when you encountered it? That is exactly the "fear" and the "dread" of a pardoned sinner. It is the contemplation of a thunder-cloud which has rolled over your head.
III. Reverence is the great lesson which our age has to learn. Be suspicious of the love which is without awe. Remember that our best acquaintance with God only shows us more the immensity of the fields of thought which no mind can traverse.
IV. "He shall be for a sanctuary." Do you recoil at the idea of dreading God? That which makes the dread makes the hiding-place. To those who fear, He shall be for a sanctuary. (1) To a Jewish mind, the first idea of the sanctuary would be refuge. (2) The sanctuary of safety becomes the home of peace. "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations." (3) God is the fountain of your holiness. The Shechinah shines within the veil; but as you become familiar with the precincts of that holy place, you catch some of its rays, and reflect its glory.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 9th series; p. 245.
References: Isa 8:14.—W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 131. 8:16-9:7.—J. J. S. Perowne, Sermons, p. 365.
Isa 8:17
I. "I will wait upon the Lord." At all times we are to be like servants who are standing in the presence of their master, and who are ready, the very moment He shall give His orders, to go to any place, to do any work. If, when you should be waiting for what God may call you to do, you are so taken up with your own worldly concerns that you cannot hear, what then? Will that be waiting upon the Lord? And see what is the promise attached to this. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength "—that is, whatever He calls them to do, they shall have strength, time after time, to carry it on; the more work He gives them, the more power will He give them to do it with.
II. "That hideth His face from the house of Jacob." The house of Jacob means the Church militant; the house of Israel, the Church in heaven. When it seems as if we could not stand against temptation, when there is some besetting sin which overthrows us again and again, then it seems as if God were hiding His face from us. And David might well say, "Thou didst hide Thy face from me, and I was troubled." For then we are troubled indeed: when we have to cry out, "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in, even unto my soul." And what are we to do then? The text tells us—we are to wait.
III. Of all difficult things, waiting is the most difficult. If we may only do something, if we may only exert ourselves, then it is so much easier, then we seem so much more content. Only be willing to wait; only fix your eyes on that cross where Christ hung, as the poor Israelite bitten by the fiery serpent looked with his whole might on the serpent of brass, and then the time shall come when you will see Him indeed.
J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College Chapel, vol. i., p. 4.
Isa 8:18
I. Faithfulness. Always when we try to do good to others we are thrown back upon ourselves; we are reminded that high work must have fit instruments, and that our influence is likely to be as our character is. This is peculiarly the case as between us and our children. They know us much better than others; are much nearer to us, see us more clearly. They will know inevitably whether we mean all we say, desire all we pray for, and are all we profess. We must love Christ dearly ourselves if we are to show His loveliness to them. This sincerity on our part ought to take as one of its forms a firm, steady family rule, an exercise of wise parental authority. Be ruler in your own house, not by checks and shocks, by pull and strain, by collision of wills and trial of strengths; but gently, as the moon draws the tides up the shores, or as the sun lifts the ocean exhalations into the rain-clouds of the sky.
II. Tenderness. Here is ground where one almost fears to tread. Think of the great interests at stake; of the principles now being formed; of the habits that will result from them; of the characters you are moulding; of the gladness or the grief, the light or the dark, that will be in future homes the result of what you are doing now in yours; and of the issues to be revealed in the eternal world: and walk tenderly, as you would among flowers in early spring.
III. Such feelings will lead to prayer. In prayer for our children we are putting ourselves in the line of God’s laws. We work as He works. Our nurture of our children is soon over. His nurture never ends. They are children in His hands all their days, and we do well to cast them on their Father’s care, on the tenderness of His nurture and wisdom of His admonition.
IV. Hopefulness. We ought to cherish a feeling of cheerful confidence in God as to the result of our endeavours for our children’s good. Surety if there is a field in all the world where we may look with confidence to the springing of the seed sown in faith, that field is the Christian family. If promises are fulfilled anywhere, they will be fulfilled there.
A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day, p. 34.
References: Isa 8:18.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1194. Isa 8:19.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 318. Isa 8:19, Isa 8:20.—W. J. Friel. Penny Pulpit, No. 468. Isa 8:20.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 172, Isa 9:1-7.—F. D. Maurice, Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, p. 254. Isa 9:1-8.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 333.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 1. Take, etc.] read 'Take thee a great tablet,…
1. Take, etc.] read 'Take thee a great tablet, and write upon it with the pen of a man, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.' A man's pen] i.e. such as a common man would use for writing in large characters that all might, undertsand the words. Maher-shalal-hash-baz] i.e. 'The spoil speedeth, the prey hasteth.' The inscription intimated the speedy spoliation of Syria and Israel (Isa_8:4).
2. And I took] RV 'And I will take,' the speaker being Jehovah as in Isa_8:1. Witnesses] who would be able when the fulfilment came to testify that the prophecy had been delivered.
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3. The prophetess] i.e. the prophet's wife. Call his name] see on Isa_7:3.
4. This prophecy was fulfilled, Damascus being captured by the Assyrians in 732 b.c., and Samaria ten years later: cp. Isa_10:9.
6. This people] i.e. the Ten Tribes (ref erred to as 'this people' again in Isa_9:16), who refused the mild rule of the House of David, and, having set up their own king, have allied themselves with Rezin. The waters of Shiloah] The gently-flowing stream that issued from Zion near the sanctuary (Psa_46:4) symbolises the divinely-appointed government of the House of David, and is contrasted in the next v. with the wide flood of Euphrates, symbolising the devastating power of Assyria, which within a short period overthrew the kingdoms of Israel and Syria (2Ki_16:9; 2Ki_18:9-10), as Isaiah repeatedly foretold: cp. Isa_7:8, Isa_7:16.
7. The river] i.e. as elsewhere, the Euphrates (Jos_24:2); denoted in RV by a capital R.
8. Pass through] RV 'sweep onward into.' To the neck] The head, therefore, will escape. So Isaiah regularly indicates the preservation of a remnant in the judgments that are coming upon the nation. The stretching out, etc.] The image is suddenly changed from that of a devastating flood to that of a bird of prey swooping with wings outspread.
O Immanuel] The country thus threatened is the land to which the divine pledge has been given and embodied in the child Immanuel (Isa_7:14-16). At the thought the prophet is filled with confidence in the protection of Jehovah; hence the triumphant strain of defiance in which he addresses the invaders in the w. that follow.
9, 10. Alliances formed against God's people must end in disaster and hostile purposes must fail, for 'God is with us.'
9. People] RV 'peoples.' Gird yourselves] i.e. for warfare.
10. God is with us] alluding to the significance of the name Immanuel (Isa_8:8, cp. Isa_7:14).
11, 12. The prophet has been divinely warned not to show the unreasoning fear of the Syro-Ephraimite alliance which the men of Judah exhibit.
11. With a strong hand] In Heb. phraseology the coming of prophetic inspiration is spoken of anthropomorphically as seizure by the hand of Jehovah (2Ki_3:15; Eze_1:3; Eze_3:22; Eze_8:1; Eze_37:1).
12. A confederacy] alluding to the alliance between Israel and Syria, which caused so much fear in Judah (Isa_7:2). The same word is, however, elsewhere rendered 'conspiracy' or 'treason' (2Ki_17:4; 2Ch_23:13): so RV 'conspiracy' here. In that case the allusion would be to the cry of 'Conspiracy!' which, as some suppose, was raised against Isaiah and his followers by those in Judah who opposed the line of policy he advocated, and favoured Ahaz's project of alliance with Assyria. Similarly, the political opponents of Jeremiah attempted to discredit his teaching by accusing him of treachery against his country (Jer_37:13).
13. The meaning is, 'recognise Jehovah in His true character as the all-holy One' (so He had revealed Himself to the prophet, Isa_6:3), 'and stand in awe of Him accordingly.'
14. Sanctuary] The secondary meaning of 'refuge' is here the prominent one (1Ki_1:50; 1Ki_2:28).
Both the houses] i.e. the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Every revelation of God puts men on their trial and sifts them: to those who accept it in faith and turn to Him it means deliverance, but those who reject it bring judgment on themselves. This was seen in God's revelation of Himself in Christ; to those who accepted Him He gave power to become sons of God (Joh_1:12). He came to save the world (Joh_12:47); yet it may also be said that for judgment He came into the world (Joh_9:39), because those who received Him not brought judgment on themselves, and found Him to be a rock of offence. Thus Isaiah's words are quoted in NT. with a Christian application (Mat_21:44; Rom_9:33; 1Pe_2:7-8).
15. Many among them shall stumble] RV 'many shall stumble thereon.'
16. Bind up] i.e. tie up the parchment roll on which the prophet's teaching has been written, and lay it aside to be consulted later.
The testimony] i.e. the inspired admonition which the prophet has just delivered. The law] not referring to the written law of God, but used in the wide sense of 'instruction' or 'teaching' (RM): the inspired teaching given by the prophet himself (cp. Isa_1:10; Isa_5:24; Isa_30:9), which he commits to writing and delivers to his disciples.
18. The ground of the confidence just expressed. The prophet and his children are by their names Isaiah (salvation of Jehovah), Shear-jashub (a remnant shall return, Isa_7:3), and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isa_8:3), pledges of a brighter future in fulfilment of the prophet's words. Wonders] i.e. omens: cp. Eze_12:6, Eze_12:11; Eze_24:24, Eze_24:27; Zec_3:8. This v. is quoted in NT., Heb_2:13, without regard to its original context, but the writer simply uses it there that he may express in scriptural terms the truth of the community of nature between Christ and His people.
19. Seek unto] i.e. with a view of consulting as an oracle, despairing of other help. Familiar spirits] The forms of necromancy referred to are forbidden in Deu_18:11, and the nature of the practices reprobated is well illustrated by the famous example of the witch of Endor (1Sa_28:7.) Peep] i.e. 'chirp' (RV) as a bird (Isa_10:14); referring to the thin and feeble voice of ghosts from Sheol (Isa_29:4). For the living to the dead] RV 'on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead?'
20. The law.. the testimony] i.e. Isaiah's own teaching, which, by his direction, had been written down and carefully preserved (Isa_8:16).
If they speak not, etc.] The meaning seems to be, 'If they speak not according to this word' (viz. 'to the law and to the testimony') 'surely there is no morning for them' (RV): i.e. the only hope of a brighter dawn lies in being guided by Isaiah's teaching. But another rendering is possible, 'Surely according to this word shall they speak for whom there is no morning' (RM), i.e. they will recognise too late the value of the principles inculcated by Isaiah.
21. Curse their king, etc.] RV 'curse by their king and by their God.' The expression is the same as in 1Sa_17:43.
22. Dimness, etc.] RV 'gloom of anguish; and into thick darkness they shall be driven away.' Note the close connexion with Isaiah 9, where a brighter future is predicted.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Jehovah’s Word Through Isaiah and the Assyrian Announced
CHAPTER 8
Jehovah’s Word Through Isaiah and the Assyrian Announced
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1. The divine instruction and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isa 8:1-4) 2. The Assyrian to come (Isa 8:5-8) 3. The answer of faith (Isa 8:9-10) 4. A word to the faithful remnant (Isa 8:11-20) 5. The coming great distress (Isa 8:21-22)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,” which means “a remnant shall return.” The names of the sure witnesses are equally full of meaning. Urijah (Jehovah is light), Zechariah (Jehovah remembers), and Jeberechiah (Blessed of Jehovah).
Isa 8:14 and Isa 8:15 are deeply interesting. It is the rejection of Immanuel, Christ. Compare with Isa 28:16 and read the following passages: Luk 2:34; Luk 20:18; Mat 21:44; Rom 9:32-33;1Pe 2:8.
Also note the quotation of Isa 8:18 in Heb 2:13. The great distress is a description of what awaits apostate Israel.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 A Double Prophetic Sign
A Double Prophetic Sign
v. 1. Moreover the Lord said unto me, apparently not long after the event related in the last chapter, Take thee a great roll, evidently a large writing-tablet of the kind usually employed, and write in it with a man’s pen, the stylus making impressions on the wax covering the tablet in such a way that the ordinary man could read the script, concerning Mahershalal-hash-baz ("Make speed to the spoil—Hasten to the prey"). The inscription, as made by Isaiah, was purposely enigmatic, the purpose being to arouse the interest and curiosity of the people, to make them feel that the announcement contained in these mysterious words was very important.
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v. 2. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, the Lord Himself choosing them through the prophet to be present and to testify to Isaiah’s preparing the tablet, Uriah, the priest, 2Ki 16:10, and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah. These men could later, when the prophecy was fulfilled, vouch for the fact that Isaiah had written concerning the future. But in close connection with this event there was another.
v. 3. And I went unto the prophetess, to his own wife, and she conceived and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, the same mysterious words which had been written on the tablet almost a year before, the word signifying either "Make speed to the spoil—Hasten to the prey," or, "The spoil hastens—Robbery hastens forward. "
v. 4. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, "My father," and, "My mother," that is, before the passing of another year, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria, so that all their wealth would be borne as a trophy before the king of Assyria. This happened about the year 739 B. C. Syria being entirely overthrown, together with that part of the northern kingdom which was east of the Jordan—the sad beginning of Israel’s destruction.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 Yahweh said to me
Yahweh said to me
Here the word "me" refers to Isaiah.
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I will summon faithful witnesses to attest for me
Possible meanings are 1) Yahweh is speaking: "I will call honest men to be witnesses" or 2) Isaiah is speaking: "I called honest men to be witnesses" or 3) Yahweh is commanding Isaiah: "Call honest men to be witnesses."
translationWords
Yahweh
faithful
testimony
priest
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 8:1 The meaning of the name Maher-shalal-hash-baz (“Swift to…
8:1 The meaning of the name Maher-shalal-hash-baz (“Swift to plunder and quick to carry away”) applies both to Judah’s enemies (8:4) and to Judah itself (8:7-8). They had trusted Assyria in place of God, and now Assyria would turn on them and all but destroy them. God was with them (Immanuel; see 7:14), but his presence would be destructive if they refused to trust in him (see 8:14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.