Isaiah 8:21 Commentary

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.

And they shall pass through it,.... The land, as the Targum and Kimchi supply it; that is, the land of Judea, as Aben Ezra interprets it. Here begins an account of the punishment that should be inflicted on the Jews, for their neglect of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and their rejection of the Messiah: hardly bestead and hungry; put to the greatest difficulty to get food to eat, and famishing for want of it; which some understand of the time when Sennacherib's army was before Jerusalem, as Aben Ezra; but it seems better, with others, to refer it to the times of Zedekiah, when there was a sore famine, Jer 52:6 though best of all to the besieging of Jerusalem, by the Romans, and the times preceding it, Mat 24:7 and it may also be applied to the famine of hearing the word before that, when the Gospel, the kingdom of heaven, was taken from them, for their contempt of it: and it shall come to pass, when they shall be hungry: either in a temporal sense, having no food for their bodies; or in a mystical sense, being hungry often and earnestly desirous of the coming of their vainly expected Messiah, as a temporal Saviour of them: they shall fret themselves; for want of food for their bodies, to satisfy their hunger; or because their Messiah does not come to help them: and curse their King, and their God; the true Messiah, who is the King of Israel, and God manifest in the flesh; whom the unbelieving Jews called accursed, and blasphemed: and look upwards; to heaven, for the coming of another Messiah, but in vain; or for food to eat.

(Verse 19 and following) And when they say to you, seek from the Pythons and the diviners, who make their enchantments, whether not the people seeks from their God for the living from the dead? To the law more and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it will not be morning light for them. And they will pass through it: they will fall down and be hungry: and when they are hungry, they will become angry and curse their king and their God. And they will look upwards and gaze downwards, and behold, trouble and darkness, dissolution, distress, and pursuing darkness: and they will not be able to escape from their distress. If the voice of the prophet Isaiah is, as the Jews believe: Behold, me and my children, whom the Lord has given to me as a sign and a portent to Israel; and the things that follow, he himself is to be believed to say to his disciples. When the nations and peoples spoken of above say to you: Weak are the people, and defeated; what do you prophets want to hear, why are you deceived by the words of Isaiah, and do you think that he knows what will come? Seek more from the Pythonians, and from the gods, who hiss in their incantations. Concerning them, it is interpreted in the LXX: Those who speak from the earth, who cry out from the belly. For everyone who is from the earth speaks from the earth (John 3:31). And the one whose god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame (Philippians 3:19), is to be believed as crying out from the belly. You answer them, and say: Does not the people seek from their God for the living from the dead? If you consult those gods whom you believe in for the sake of the variety of your idols (for you have not just one, but many gods), and if you seek advice from the images of the dead or of deceased human beings, how much more should we listen to our God through the prophets? He teaches his disciples and brings them to the law and to the testimony. If you have any doubts about someone, know this: It is written, 'The nations that the Lord your God will drive out before you listen to fortune-tellers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me; you must listen to him' (Deut. XVIII, 15). If you wish to know doubtful things, you should rather read and deliver them with testimonies of the Scriptures. But if your congregation refuses to seek the word of the Lord, it will not have the light of truth, but will wander in error and darkness. The light will pass over it, that is, your congregation or land, and you will fall, and hunger, and when you hunger, you will be angry, as it is written: 'And when they were not satisfied, they murmured' (Ps. 58:16). And you will blaspheme your God and king, and in times of need you will look up to heaven and down to earth, and behold there will be tribulation and darkness, collapse of knees, anguish of mind, darkness of eyes, and you will not be able to escape the distress. This is according to the Hebrews. Moreover, as we have said above, if the person of Christ is speaking, saying: Behold, I and the children whom God has given me, he himself also speaks to the Apostles and to the believers from the Gentiles, who have received his Gospel. If they say, he says, to your fathers whom you have left behind: seek ventriloquists, whom we understand as pythonesses (such as we read about in the Acts of the Apostles with the slave girl, who was a source of income to her masters) and who speak from the earth, promising to perform magic tricks in the evocation of souls, and other kinds of wicked arts; you must know this, that each nation consults its own gods, and inquires about the living from the dead. But God has given you help in the law, so that you can say: divination is not like that of the Gentiles, who often deceive their worshippers, but ours, which is freely given without any reward, from the law. Hence it is interpreted in the Septuagint: not like this word, for which there is no need to give gifts. For you have received freely, he says, freely give (Matthew X, 8). But a most severe famine will come upon the unbelievers, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of God (Amos VIII). And when you are hungry, you will be sad, and you will curse your ruler and your ancestral traditions, which is the devil, and the old errors. But this is said to those who have suffered from hunger for the truth, and who look up to heaven and down to earth, and they will be in distress, in darkness, and in tribulation, so that they may not see until the time when they themselves turn to the Lord. These passages require a broad explanation, but we spare the size of the books in order to avoid boredom in reading. We have briefly addressed this passage according to the LXX translation, which in many places differs from the Hebrew. However, the Nazarenes (also called Nazareni) explain this place as follows: When the scribes and Pharisees tell you to listen to those who do everything for the sake of the belly, and in the manner of the magi, charm their way into your hearts in order to deceive you, you should respond to them: It is not surprising that you follow your own traditions, since every nation consults their own idols. Therefore, we should not seek advice from you who are dead to the living: God has given us His law and the testimonies of the Scriptures. If you do not choose to follow them, you will not have light. Instead, darkness will always oppress you, which will pass through your land and doctrine. Then, when they realize they have been deceived by you and cannot satisfy their hunger for truth, they will be saddened, angered, and curse you, whom they considered to be their gods and kings. And they are in vain to look towards heaven and earth, since they are always in darkness and cannot escape your snares.

294. Third, he sets out the threatening of the disobedient: and if they speak not. And he does three things: first, he threatens punishment; second, impatience in punishment: and when they shall be hungry (Isa 8:21); third, the sadness of despair: and they shall look upwards (Isa 8:21). Therefore, he first says: and if they speak not according to this word, namely, responding to it, we shall make it so that they shall not have the morning light, that is, Christ expelling the darkness: that was the true light, which enlightens every man that comes into this world (John 1:9). And it shall pass by them, the congregation, to others, not remaining among them, below: here I am (Isa 58:9), for I the Lord your God am merciful; they shall fall into condemnation, and they shall be hungry for the word of God: behold I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of God (Amos 8:11). Or the light of consolation; and they shall fall into condemnation, above: Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen (Isa 3:8); and be hungry, for bread. 295. And when they shall be hungry. Here he threatens impatience in punishment, as to wrath of the heart: they will be angry: they shall murmur if they be not filled (Ps 58:16[59:15]); as to blasphemy of the mouth, and curse: and they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and wounds: and did not penance for their works (Rev 16:11).

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.

Hardly bestead "Distressed" - Instead of נקשה niksheh, distressed, the Vulgate, Chaldee, and Symmachus manifestly read נכשל nichshal, stumbling, tottering through weakness, ready to fall; a sense which suits very well with the place. And look upward "And he shall cast his eyes upward" - The learned professor Michaelis, treating of this place (Not. in de Sacr. Poes. Hebr. Prael. ix.) refers to a passage in the Koran which is similar to it. As it is a very celebrated passage, and on many accounts remarkable, I shall give it here at large, with the same author's farther remarks upon it in another place of his writings. It must be noted here that the learned professor renders נבט nibbat, הביט hibbit, in this and the parallel place, Isa 5:30, which I translate he looketh by it thundereth, from Schultens, Orig. Ling. Hebr. Lib. 1 cap. 2, of the justness of which rendering I much doubt. This brings the image of Isaiah more near in one circumstance to that of Mohammed than it appears to be in my translation: - "Labid, contemporary with Mohammed, the last of the seven Arabian poets who had the honor of having their poems, one of each, hung up in the entrance of the temple of Mecca, struck with the sublimity of a passage in the Koran, became a convert to Mohammedism; for he concluded that no man could write in such a manner unless he were Divinely inspired. "One must have a curiosity to examine a passage which had so great an effect upon Labid. It is, I must own, the finest that I know in the whole Koran: but I do not think it will have a second time the like effect, so as to tempt any one of my readers to submit to circumcision. It is in the second chapter, where he is speaking of certain apostates from the faith. 'They are like,' saith he, 'to a man who kindles a light. As soon as it begins to shine, God takes from them the light, and leaves them in darkness that they see nothing. They are deaf, dumb, and blind; and return not into the right way. Or they fare as when a cloud, full of darkness, thunder, and lightning, covers the heaven. When it bursteth, they stop their ears with their fingers, with deadly fear; and God hath the unbelievers in his power. The lightning almost robbeth them of their eyes: as often as it flasheth they go on by its light; and when it vanisheth in darkness, they stand still. If God pleased, they would retain neither hearing nor sight.' That the thought is beautiful, no one will deny; and Labid, who had probably a mind to flatter Mohammed, was lucky in finding a passage in the Koran so little abounding in poetical beauties, to which his conversion might with any propriety be ascribed. It was well that he went no farther; otherwise his taste for poetry might have made him again an infidel." Michaelis, Erpenii Arabische Grammatik abgekurzt, Vorrede, s. 32.

(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].

More detailed description of the despair, which they shall fall into, who sought necromancy instead of God; Isa 8:20 implies that too late they shall see how much better it would have been for them to have sought "to the law," &c. (Deu 32:31). But now they are given over to despair. Therefore, while seeing the truth of God, they only "curse their King and God"; foreshadowing the future, like conduct of those belonging to the "kingdom of the beast," when they shall be visited with divine plagues (Rev 16:11; compare Jer 18:12). through it--namely, the land. hardly bestead--oppressed with anxiety. hungry--a more grievous famine than the temporary one in Ahaz' time, owing to Assyria; then there was some food, but none now (Isa 7:15, Isa 7:22; Lev 26:3-5, Lev 26:14-16, Lev 26:20). their king . . . God--Jehovah, King of the Jews (Psa 5:2; Psa 68:24). look upward . . . unto the earth--Whether they look up to heaven, or down towards the land of Judea, nothing but despair shall present itself. dimness of anguish--darkness of distress (Pro 1:27). driven to darkness--rather, "thick darkness" (Jer 23:12). Driven onward, as by a sweeping storm. The Jewish rejection of "their King and God," Messiah, was followed by all these awful calamities. Next: Isaiah Chapter 9

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.

The night of despair to which the unbelieving nation would be brought, is described in Isa 8:21, Isa 8:22 : "And it goes about therein hard pressed and hungry: and it comes to pass, when hunger befals it, it frets itself, and curses by its king and by its God, and turns its face upward, and looks to the earth, and beyond distress and darkness, benighting with anguish, and thrust out into darkness." The singulars attach themselves to the לו in Isa 8:19, which embraces all the unbelievers in one mass; "therein" (bâh) refers to the self-evident land ('eretz). The people would be brought to such a plight in the approaching Assyrian oppressions, that they would wander about in the land pressed down by their hard fate (niksheh) and hungry (râ'eb), because all provisions would be gone and the fields and vineyards would be laid waste. As often as it experienced hunger afresh, it would work itself into a rage (v'hithkazzaqph with Vav apod. and pathach, according to Ges. 54, Anm.), and curse by its king and God, i.e., by its idol. This is the way in which we must explain the passage, in accordance with Sa1 14:43, where killel bēholim is equivalent to killel b'shēm elohim, and with Zep 1:5, where a distinction is made between an oath layehovâh, and an oath b'malcâm; if we would adhere to the usage of the language, in which we never find a בּ קלל corresponding to the Latin execrari in aliquem (Ges.), but on the contrary the object cursed is always expressed in the accusative. We must therefore give up Psa 5:3 and Psa 68:25 as parallels to b'malco and b'lohâi: they curse by the idol, which passes with them for both king and God, curse their wretched fate with this as they suppose the most effectual curse of all, without discerning in it the just punishment of their own apostasy, and humbling themselves penitentially under the almighty hand of Jehovah. Consequently all this reaction of their wrath would avail them nothing: whether they turned upwards, to see if the black sky were not clearing, or looked down to the earth, everywhere there would meet them nothing but distress and darkness, nothing but a night of anguish all around (me‛ūph zūkâh is a kind of summary; mâ‛ūph a complete veiling, or eclipse, written with ū instead of the more usual ō of this substantive form: Ewald, 160, a). The judgment of God does not convert them, but only heightens their wickedness; just as in Rev 16:11, Rev 16:21, after the pouring out of the fifth and seventh vials of wrath, men only utter blasphemies, and do not desist from their works. After stating what the people see, whether they turn their eyes upwards or downwards, the closing participial clause of Isa 8:22 describes how they see themselves "thrust out into darkness' (in caliginem propulsum). There is no necessity to supply הוּא; but out of the previous hinnēh it is easy to repeat hinno or hinnennu (en ipsum). "Into darkness:" ăphēlâh (acc. loci) is placed emphatically at the head, as in Jer 23:12.