Isaiah 8:11 Kommentar

This chapter, and the four next that follow it (to chap. 13) are all one continued discourse or sermon, the scope of which is to show the great destruction that should now shortly be brought upon the kingdom of Israel, and the great disturbance that should be given to the kingdom of Judah by the king of Assyria, and that both were for their sins; but rich provision is made of comfort for those that feared God in those dark times, referring especially to the days of the Messiah. In this chapter we have, I. A prophecy of the destruction of the confederate kingdoms of Syria and Israel by the king of Assyria (Isa 8:1-4). II. Of the desolations that should be made by that proud victorious prince in the land of Israel and Judah (Isa 8:5-8). III. Great encouragement given to the people of God in the midst of those distractions; they are assured, 1. That the enemies shall not gain their point against them (Isa 8:9, Isa 8:10). 2. That if they kept up the fear of God, and kept down the fear of man, they should find God their refuge (Isa 8:11-14), and while others stumbled, and fell into despair, they should be enabled to wait on God, and should see themselves reserved for better times (Isa 8:15-18). Lastly, He gives a necessary caution to all, at their peril, not to consult with familiar spirits, for they would thereby throw themselves into despair, but to keep close to the word of God (Isa 8:19-22). And these counsels and these comforts will still be of use to us in time of trouble.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 8 This chapter contains a confirmation of the sudden destruction of the kingdoms of Syria and Israel, by another sign; a threatening to those that gloried in the kings of those nations, with an invasion of their land by the Assyrian monarch; a sarcastic address to those that joined in confederacy against Judah; some directions and instructions to the people of God; and some prophecies concerning the Messiah, and the miserable estate of the Jews, that should reject him and his Gospel. The sign given is a son of the Prophet Isaiah, whom his wife conceived and bore, and whose name was written with a man's pen, Mahershalalhashbaz, of which there were witnesses, whose names are mentioned; and it is predicted, that before this child should have knowledge to call his father and mother, Damascus and Samaria, the chief cities of Syria and Israel, would be taken and spoiled by the king of Assyria, Isa 8:1 who would invade, the land of Israel, and even pass through the land of Judah, as a chastisement not only of the Israelites that rejoiced in Rezin and Remaliah's son, the kings of Syria and Israel; but also of those Jews who chose to be under them, or neglected the promise of God, and applied to Assyria for help, Isa 8:5 and then both the people of Israel and of Syria are addressed, in a sarcastic way, to associate and take counsel together, when they should be broke to pieces, and their counsel come to nought, Isa 8:9 and the prophet being instructed by the Lord how to behave among the people of the Jews, advises them not to join with them whose cry was a confederacy with Assyria, nor to be afraid of the two kings that were come up against them, but to sanctify the Lord of hosts, and trust in him, and make him the object of their fear and dread, Isa 8:11 which is enforced from the consideration of what the Lord, who is no other than the Messiah, would be, both to his own people, and to his enemies; to the one a sanctuary, and to the other a stone of stumbling, a rock of offence, a trap, and a snare, Isa 8:14 then follows an instruction to the prophet to take care of the Gospel of Christ, and communicate it to his disciples, Isa 8:16 upon which the prophet determines to keep waiting and looking for his coming, who at present was hidden from the people of God, Isa 8:17 wherefore the Messiah is introduced, as presenting himself and his children to the prophet's view, which would be for signs and wonders in Israel, gazed at and reproached, Isa 8:18 and then the folly and vanity of seeking counsel of the Scribes and Pharisees, when Christ should be come in the flesh, is exposed; whose Gospel should be attended to, and not those dark and blind guides, Isa 8:19 and the chapter is concluded with the wretched condition of the Jews that called Jesus accursed; they should pass through the land, and find no food; and look into it, and see nothing but darkness and misery, Isa 8:21.

For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand,.... In the strength of prophecy, as the Targum explains it; and so all the Jews' interpreters understand it of prophecy, as in Eze 1:3, or, "the Lord spake thus to me, when he took (me) by the hand" (t); as parents or masters take hold of the hands of children, while they are advising and instructing them, as expressive of their great affection for them; and when they would retain them with them, or restrain them from doing amiss: and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people: or join with them in desiring and seeking for the help of the king of Assyria, against Rezin and Remaliah's son; or in being willing to surrender up into their hands: saying; as follows: (t) "apprehensione manus", Piscator; "cum manu me apprehenderit", Tigurine version.

(Verse 11 onwards) For thus says the Lord to me: As He has taught me with His mighty hand, so that I do not walk in the way of this people, saying: Do not say, 'conspiracy'; everything this people says is a conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear or be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread. And He will be a sanctuary for you, but for the two houses of Israel, He will be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And many among them will stumble, fall, be broken, snared, and taken captive. The Septuagint translates this passage as follows: Thus says the Lord: they have departed from the path of this people speaking with strong hand lest they say, It is difficult. For everything that this people speaks is harsh; but do not fear their fear, nor be troubled. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and he will be your fear; and if you trust in him, he will be your sanctification, and you will not encounter him as a stumbling block, nor as a falling rock. But the house of Jacob will be in a snare and in a valley to those sitting in Jerusalem: therefore many will be weak in them, and they will fall and be broken, and they will come near, and they will be captured. And what follows, men in defense, it must be noted that it differs greatly between the Hebrew and the Vulgate Edition: therefore we have included both. And first, we must discuss the Hebrew. The Lord spoke this to me. Because of good works and the grace which I have obtained through good works, whether he instructed me and taught me with his mighty hand, so that I would not walk in the way of this people, and be held captive by the same error: or certainly he made me depart from the most wicked way of this people, and said to me: do not fear the conspiracy of the two kings; but consider this more, that every word which this people speaks against me is a conspiracy; and according to Symmachus, who interpreted it, it will become a rebellion against me. But you, the Prophet, and those who are with you, do not fear the plots of the people, but fear the Lord, and let Him be your fear. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Prov. 1:7; Ps. 110:9). He will be a sanctuary to those who believe, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the unbelieving, namely the houses of Judah and Israel. Especially to those who dwell in Jerusalem, it will be a snare and a trap, where many will stumble, fall and be broken, and those ensnared by their own sins will be led into captivity. There are two houses, which the Nazarenes (who receive Christ in such a way that they do not omit the observances of the Old Law) interpret as two families, Sammai and Hillel, from whom the Scribes and Pharisees are descended, whose school Akibas embraced, whom the proselytes consider a master, and after him Meir, who was succeeded by the son of Zachai, and after him Eliezer, and in order Telphon, and again Joseph of Galilee, and up to the captivity of Jerusalem Josue. Therefore, Sammai and Hillel were born in Judaea, not long before the Lord's birth. Sammai is interpreted as a dissipater, while Hillel is considered profane because he dissipated and defiled the precepts of the Law through his traditions and additions. And it is said that these two houses did not receive the Savior, and he became a cause of their ruin and downfall. According to the Septuagint, the people of God resisted with a strong hand (or will resist) and said that all the commandments of the Lord are harsh, as we read in the Gospel: 'This is a hard saying; who can hear it?' (John 6:61). Where it is commanded to them to listen to the Lord and fear Him alone. For if they have trusted in Him, they will have Him for sanctification, and they will not stumble like a stone of scandal, and like a rock of ruin. Of this passage, the Apostle takes testimony, that Christ has become a stumbling block to the Jews: but to the Gentiles foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:23). And again: Israel, by following the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness (Romans 9:31). Why? Because they stumbled not in faith, but as if stumbling in the works of the law. As it is written: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense: and he that believes on Him shall not be confounded' (Ibid., 33). Therefore, those who did not receive Emmanuel, but became to them a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, shall be crushed and led captive. And what he says: 'But the house of Jacob shall be a snare and a trap' to those who sit in Jerusalem signifies that they shall not dwell in high places nor engage in lofty discussions of the Scriptures; but that they should always understand the humble, joining sins to sins, and being bound by the cords of transgressions.

283. For the Lord says these things to me. Here the instruction of the people is set out: and first, he teaches them what is not to be feared, second, what is to be feared: sanctify the Lord of hosts (Isa 8:13). The first is divided into two parts: namely, into the proof of the teaching and its handing on, where it says, say not: a conspiracy (Isa 8:12). And he proves in two ways that enemies are not to be feared. First, through the precept of the Lord; hence he says: you will be overcome thus, O enemies, for, that is, because, the Lord says these things, which have been spoken, to me, and therefore, do not fear: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed (Num 23:19). Second, by his own example: he says: the Lord says, I say, to me; saying to you what follows to teach you, as he has taught me, that is, that I not imitate them in their malice; and this with a strong hand, that is, with tribulation. Or not only teaching what is to be done, but also giving the grace of virtue to carry it out: from above he has sent fire into my bones, and has taught me (Lam 1:13). 286. Note on the words, as he has taught me, with a strong hand (Isa 8:11), that there is a threefold divine hand. First is the hand of divine power, and this is threefold: first, the hand of God creating: your hands have made me, and fashioned me (Job 10:8); second, containing: in your hand, Lord, are all the ends of the earth (Ps 94[95]:4); third, protecting, below: in the shadow of his hand he has protected me (Isa 49:2). The second hand is the hand of justice, and this is threefold: first, touching to test: the hand of the Lord has touched me (Job 19:21); second, scourging to cleanse: for though, for the present time, I should be delivered from the punishments of men, yet should I not escape the hands of the Almighty neither alive nor dead (2 Macc 6:26); third, crushing to condemn: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31). The third hand is the hand of mercy, and this is threefold: first, healing: he wounds, and cures: he strikes, and his hands shall heal (Job 5:18); second, pasturing: the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand (Ps 94[95]:7); third, crowning: they shall receive a kingdom of glory, and a crown of beauty at the hand of the Lord (Wis 5:17).

The judgments threatened in the last chapter are here declared to extend to the very dead, whose tombs should be opened, and the carcasses treated with every mark of indignity, Jer 8:1-3. From this the prophet returns to reprove them for their perseverance in transgression, Jer 8:4-6; and for their thoughtless stupidity, which even the instinct of the brute creation, by a beautiful contrast, is made to upbraid, Jer 8:7-9. This leads to farther threatening expressed in a variety of striking terms, Jer 8:10-13. Upon which a chorus of Jews is introduced, expressing their terror on the news of the invasion, Jer 8:14, Jer 8:15; which is greatly heightened in the neat verse by the prophet's hearing the snorting of Nebuchadnezzar's horses even from Dan, and then seeing the devastation made by his army, Jer 8:16, whose cruelties God himself declares no entreaties will soften, Jer 8:17. On this declaration the prophet laments most bitterly the fate of the daughter of his people, changing the scene unawares to the place of her captivity, where she is introduced answering in mournful responses to the prophet's dirge, Jer 8:18-22. The variety of images and figures used to diversify the same subject is equally pleasing and astonishing. The dress is generally new, always elegant.

With a strong hand "As taking me by the hand" - Eleven MSS., (two ancient), of Kennicott's, thirty-four of De Rossi's, and seven editions, read כחזקת kechezkath; and so Symmachus, the Syriac, and Vulgate. Or rather with a strong hand, that is, with a strong and powerful influence of the prophetic Spirit.

(Isa. 8:1-9:7) great--suitable, for letters large enough to be read by all. roll--rather, tablet of wood, metal, or stone (Isa 30:8; Hab 2:2); sometimes coated with wax, upon which characters were traced with a pointed instrument, or iron stylus; skins and papyrus were also used (Isa 19:7). man's pen--that is, in ordinary characters which the humblest can read (so Hab 2:2). Hebrew, enosh means a "common man," is contrasted with the upper ranks (Rev 21:17; Rom 3:5). Not in hieroglyphics. The object was that, after the event, all might see that it had been predicted by Isaiah. concerning--the title and subject of the prophecy. Maher-shalal-hash-baz--"They (that is, the Assyrians) hasten to the spoil (namely, to spoil Syria and Samaria), they speed to the prey" [GESENIUS]. Otherwise, "The spoil (that is, spoiler) hastens, the rapine speeds forward" [MAURER].

with a strong hand--or else, "when He grasped me with His hand" [HORSLEY]. MAURER, as English Version, "with the impetus of His hand," that is, the felt impulse of His inspiration in my mind (Jer 15:17; Eze 1:3; Eze 3:14, Eze 3:22; Eze 37:1). way of . . . people--their distrust of Jehovah, and the panic which led them and Ahab to seek Assyrian aid.

In the midst of the Syro-Ephraimitish war, which was not yet at an end, Isaiah received instructions from God to perform a singular prophetic action. "Then Jehovah said to me, Take a large slab, and write upon it with common strokes, 'In Speed Spoil, Booty hastens;' and I will take to me trustworthy witnesses, Uriyah the priest, and Zecharyahu the son of Yeberechyahu." The slab or table (cf., Isa 3:23, where the same word is used to signify a metal mirror) was to be large, to produce the impression of a monument; and the writing upon it was to be "a man's pen" (Cheret 'enōsh), i.e., written in the vulgar, and, so to speak, popular character, consisting of inartistic strokes that could be easily read (vid., Rev 13:18; Rev 21:17). Philip d'Aquin, in his Lexicon, adopts the explanation, "Enosh-writing, i.e., hieroglyphic writing, so called because it was first introduced in the time of Enosh." Luzzatto renders it, a lettere cubitali; but the reading for this would be b'cheret ammath 'ish. The only true rendering is stylo vulgari (see Ges. Thes. s.v. 'enosh). The words to be written are introduced with Lamed, to indicate dedication (as in Eze 37:16), or the object to which the inscription was dedicated or applied, as if it read, "A table devoted to 'Spoil very quickly, booty hastens;' " unless, indeed, l'mahēr is to be taken as a fut. instans, as it is by Luzzatto - after Gen 15:12; Jos 2:5; Hab 1:17 - in the sense of acceleratura sunt spolia, or (what the position of the words might more naturally suggest) with mahēr in a transitive sense, as in the construction לבערּ היה, and others, accelerationi spolia, i.e., they are ready for hastening. Most of the commentators have confused the matter here by taking the words as a proper name (Ewald, 288, c), which they were not at first, though they became so afterwards. At first they were an oracular announcement of the immediate future, accelerant spolia, festinat praeda (spoil is quick, booty hastens). Spoil; booty; but who would the vanquished be? Jehovah knew, and His prophet knew, although not initiated into the policy of Ahaz. But their knowledge was studiously veiled in enigmas. For the writing was not to disclose anything to the people. It was simply to serve as a public record of the fact, that the course of events was one that Jehovah had foreseen and indicated beforehand. And when what was written upon the table should afterwards take place, they would know that it was the fulfilment of what had already been written, and therefore was an event pre-determined by God. For this reason Jehovah took to Himself witnesses. There is no necessity to read ואעידה (and I had it witnessed), as Knobel and others do; nor והעידה (and have it witnessed), as the Sept., Targum, Syriac, and Hitzig do. Jehovah said what He would do; and the prophet knew, without requiring to be told, that it was to be accomplished instrumentally through him. Uriah was no doubt the priest (Urijah), who afterwards placed himself at the service of Ahaz to gratify his heathenish desires (Kg2 16:10.). Zechariah ben Yeberechyahu (Berechiah) was of course not the prophet of the times after the captivity, but possibly the Asaphite mentioned in Ch2 29:13. He is not further known to us. In good editions, ben is not followed by makkeph, but marked with mercha, according to the Masora at Gen 30:19. These two men were reliable witnesses, being persons of great distinction, and their testimony would weigh with the people. When the time should arrive that the history of their own times solved the riddle of this inscription, these two men were to tell the people how long ago the prophet had written that down in his prophetic capacity.

There then follows in Isa 8:11 an explanatory clause, which seems at first sight to pass on to a totally different theme, but it really stands in the closest connection with the triumphant words of Isa 8:9, Isa 8:10. It is Immanuel whom believers receive, constitute, and hold fast as their refuge in the approaching times of the Assyrian judgment. He is their refuge and God in Him, and not any human support whatever. This is the link of connection with Isa 8:11, Isa 8:12 : "For Jehovah hath spoken thus to me, overpowering me with God's hand, and instructing me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy; and what is feared by it, fear ye not, neither think ye dreadful." היד, "the hand," is the absolute hand, which is no sooner laid upon a man than it overpowers all perception, sensation, and though: Chezkath hayyâd (viz., âlai, upon me, Eze 3:14) therefore describes a condition in which the hand of God was put forth upon the prophet with peculiar force, as distinguished from the more usual prophetic state, the effect of a peculiarly impressive and energetic act of God. Luther is wrong in following the Syriac, and adopting the rendering, "taking me by the hand;" as Chezkath points back to the kal (invalescere), and not to the hiphil (apprehendere). It is this circumstantial statement, which is continued in v'yissereni ("and instructing me"), and not the leading verb âmar ("he said"); for the former is not the third pers. pret. piel, which would be v'yisserani, but the third pers. fut. kal, from the future form yissōr (Hos 10:10, whereas the fut. piel is v'yassēr); and it is closely connected with Chezkath hayyâd, according to the analogy of the change from the participial and infinitive construction to the finite verb (Ges. 132, Anm. 2). With this overpowering influence, and an instructive warning against going in the way of "this people," Jehovah spake to the prophet as follows. With regard to the substance of the following warning, the explanation that has been commonly adopted since the time of Jerome, viz., noli duorum regum timere conjurationem (fear not the conspiracy of the two kings), is contrary to the reading of the words. The warning runs thus: The prophet, and such as were on his side, were not to call that kesher which the great mass of the people called kesher (cf., Ch2 23:13, "She said, Treason, Treason!" kesher, kesher); yet the alliance of Rezin and Pekah was really a conspiracy - a league against the house and people of David. Nor can the warning mean that believers, when they saw how the unbelieving Ahaz brought the nation into distress, were not to join in a conspiracy against the person of the king (Hofmann, Drechsler); they are not warned at all against making a conspiracy, but against joining in the popular cry when the people called out kesher. The true explanation has been given by Roorda, viz., that the reference is to the conspiracy, as it was called, of the prophet and his disciples ("sermo hic est de conjuratione, quae dicebatur prophetae et discipulorum ejus"). The same thing happened to Isaiah as to Amos (Amo 7:10) and to Jeremiah. Whenever the prophets were at all zealous in their opposition to the appeal for foreign aid, they were accused and branded as standing in the service of the enemy, and conspiring for the overthrow of the kingdom. In such perversion of language as this, the honourable among them were not to join. The way of God was now a very different one from the way of that people. If the prophet and his followers opposed the alliance with Asshur, this was not a common human conspiracy against the will of the king and nation, but the inspiration of God, the true policy of Jehovah. Whoever trusted in Him had no need to be afraid of such attempts as those of Rezin and Pekah, or to look upon them as dreadful.