2/07/17 Isaiah 8:1-10 “The
count-down to disaster has begun”
Today’s passage focuses upon the
sign that Isaiah was told to give to King Ahaz regarding the coming of the
child Immanuel (see Isaiah 7:10-16). Note especially Isaiah 7:16 – For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and
choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall
be forsaken of both her kings.
An initial fulfilment of this
prophecy was to be within two or three years, with the reign of the kings of
both Syria and Israel being brought to an abrupt end by Tiglath-pileser
III, king of Assyria. It is clear from today’s passage that not only the
country’s leaders were made aware of this prophecy; the commoners in the
streets of Jerusalem would also have been aware of the significance of the
naming of this child.
Isaiah 8:1 – 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.
Added to that which God had stated
(Isaiah 7:10-16) concerning the coming of Immanuel, this is probably in the
year or so following that previous statement.
great – large in magnitude and/or extent, of number, of age, or
of importance.
roll – table; tablet; mirror. (The same word as used for
“glasses” in Isaiah 3:23 – The glasses, and the
fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.)
Thus Isaiah was to take a large
tablet in order to write upon it God’s word concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz (“swift is booty,
speedy is prey”) who would be a son of Isaiah, and the one who would
immediately fulfil the first level of the prophecy about Immanuel in Isaiah
7:14.
The timing of this particular word
of God would cover a period of perhaps almost two years (around 21 months),
until the child yet to be born could speak its first words (at probably around 12
months of age). Jerusalem has been given a timeline and it apparently won’t
escape the consequences of its sin now (see Vs 9 & 10 below). This is a
count-down to disaster!
Judah is about to face swift
retribution and would lose much in the process. While the enemy won’t be able
to overcome them (apparently due to the protection of their massive walls –
Isaiah 7:1), they will none-the-less speedily become the prey of the enemy and
their assets and possessions will swiftly become the enemy’s booty.
The idea behind the use of a man’s
pen indicates that the message was to be made clear to all those who could read
whatever a man could write with his pen. The word may signify that it is to be
written in common characters or in the manner of common man.
Habukkuk 2:2-3 – 2 And the
Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make [it] plain upon
tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3 For
the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall
speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come,
it will not tarry.
The large size of the tablet
indicates the public nature of this statement of God.
Isaiah 8:2 – And I took unto me
faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
And I took unto me – I will have taken for me. The wording here strongly
suggests that it is still God speaking to Isaiah in this verse. If that is so,
then God has chosen these two witness Himself.
This is clearly a legally
enforceable document that requires witnesses before it may be put into effect.
Thus, men of high position (supposedly above reproach and of good standing)
would be witnesses: Uriah (who as a priest represented the authority of God),
and Zechariah (the name may suggest that he also came of a priestly family, but
it is believed that he could have been the grandfather of Hezekiah – 2 Chronicles 29:1 – Hezekiah began to reign [when he was] five and
twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his
mother’s name [was] Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
faithful – to be established; be faithful; be carried, confirmed;
established; reliable; trusty; trustworthy.
If it’s worth doing, it’s worth
doing properly!
It’s worth noting that “record”
means to testify; bear witness; cause to testify; take or call as witness,
invoke; affirm solemnly; warn; exhort; admonish; charge. It appears that they
weren’t just witnesses to a document that Isaiah had prepared, but
fellow-testifiers to the word of God. This would add support to this verse
being a continuation of the statement of God begun in Vs 1.
Isaiah 8:3 – 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.
went unto – approached; drew near.
At least nine months has already
passed by this time, with probably a further twelve months before the child
will say “father” or “mother”. By the time this child is born, Jerusalem is
only about twelve months away from its count-down to devastation, with Israel
and Syria devastated even before that point in time.
Whether the wife of Isaiah is a
prophetess in her own right, or merely the wife of the prophet is not made
clear, although in order to call her a prophetess does seem to indicate some
measure of revelation given her by God.
God tells Isaiah to name the child
Maher-shalal-hash-baz at
this point, clearly to emphasise the reality of the count-down to disaster.
Isaiah
8:4 – For
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.
My father, and my mother – ab and em
For before the time the child is
about twelve months old and able to say its first clear words (“abi” and “immi”), both Damascus
(Syria) and Samaria (Israel) will be ravaged and their riches and valuables
taken from them as the booty of war by the king of Assyria (Tiglath-pileser
III), and both kings put to death, though not necessarily by Assyria!
2 Kings 15:27-30 – 27 In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began
to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] twenty years. 28 And
he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not
from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made
Israel to sin. 29 In the days of Pekah
king of Israel came Tiglath–pileser
king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel–beth–maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor,
and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to
Assyria. 30 And Hoshea the son of Elah
made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his
stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
Ahaz paid much to buy the
protection of the Assyrian king, yet once Syria and Israel are defeated, it
will then be Judah’s (and Jerusalem’s) turn – speedily and swiftly!
Isaiah 8:5-6 – 5 The Lord spake also unto me
again, saying, 6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth
the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;
spake also – that is, more
is now being added to the initial message regarding the sign of the child.
But, who are “this people”? Is it
Israel, or Judah? Or perhaps both, with the prophecy a combined one against
both the northern and the southern tribes of Israel?
It seems most likely to be Israel
meant here, or maybe the whole of the twelve tribes of Israel (including Judah).
They have sought the provisions and authority of others instead of the God of
their fathers. Israel (under Remaliah’s son) had
sought an alliance with Syria (under Rezin) and then
Judah had sought an alliance with Assyria; each had departed from a trust in
the protection of God. However, Israel appears most likely.
Shiloah – The word means “sent”, and perhaps the meaning is really
“the waters that are sent”, as representing their provisions in time of siege.
It could refer to a pool (of Siloam) on the east of Jerusalem, which flowed
into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There was a rock-hewn tunnel that carried the
water to or from this pool; the tunnel was of an easy grade such that the
waters flowed gently.
Pulpit commentary says – The "pool of Siloah"
(Nehemiah 3:15) was the tank or reservoir at the southwestern foot of Ophel, which is supplied with water by a narrow conduit cut
through the limestone rock for a distance of 1750 feet from the "Pool of
the Virgin" on the opposite side of Ophel, in
the Kedron valley. This pool itself is fed from reservoirs under the temple
area, which have not yet been fully explored. It is probable that Isaiah uses
the expression "waters of Shiloah" in a
general sense for the streams, springs, reservoirs, conduits, which supplied
the temple, and were connected with its service.
Thus, it could be seen as the
refusal of the service of God in favour of serving or making an alliance with
another nation (together with their gods).
Isaiah 8:7 – Now therefore,
behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of
the river, strong and many, [even] the king of Assyria, and all his
glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:
This appears to be meant as a
contrast with the gentle waters of God that go softly, and His provision
including His protection. The waters that will now be brought upon them will
not be soft nor gentle, but strong (mighty, large in quantity) and great (in
size), like a raging torrent that overflows and floods all the land around it.
Note Isaiah 5:25-30 – 25 Therefore
is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched
forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble,
and their carcases [were] torn in the midst of the streets. For all this
his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still. 26
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss
unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed
swiftly: 27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none
shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor
the latchet of their shoes be broken: 28 Whose arrows [are]
sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like
flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: 29 Their roaring [shall
be] like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar,
and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry [it] away safe, and none shall
deliver [it]. 30 And in that day they shall roar
against them like the roaring of the sea: and if [one] look unto the
land, behold darkness [and] sorrow, and the light is darkened in the
heavens thereof.
The river here in Isaiah 8:7 is
the Euphrates, the river associated with Assyria and its building empire. It
represents the mighty army of the Assyrian king with all his glory (honour;
abundance) which would sweep through and overflow Israel, apparently destroying
much (including life) in the process, something to be contrasted with Vs 8
where Judah is merely overflowed to their necks; thus Israel is to be more or
less destroyed while Judah will survive (barely!) to face the next battle
further down the track!
Isaiah 8:8 – And he shall pass
through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach [even] to
the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy
land, O Immanuel.
The flood of Assyria has overrun
Syria and Israel (two nations between Assyria and Judah) and then will reach
Judah, further to the south. The flood, while not as deep here (apparently),
will still fill the whole land. The Assyrian army will spread out its wings (extremities;
edges; borders; skirts), covering all the breadth (width; expanse) of the land
of Immanuel (as used in Isaiah 7:14 = God with us).
The Assyrian army, after taking
all Israel, will only reach to the neck of Judah, that is, all the fenced
cities of Judah would be taken, but the “head” (the capital city of Jerusalem)
would remain untaken because of its massive defences. The flood would reach
only to the neck. (Note that the word “capital” comes from a root word meaning
“head”.)
Immanuel – symbolic and prophetic name of the Messiah, the Christ,
prophesying that He would be born of a virgin and would be ‘God with us’.
This land is identified as the
land of Immanuel, who is identified as the Messiah, the Christ. This is
therefore His land, and would include all of Israel, but particularly the land
of Judah from which tribe Christ would come. Note also that only the southern
tribes of Judah and Benjamin (whose property was Jerusalem) would return as a
people after the captivity, and from whom would spring the Branch, the Messiah
(Isaiah 4:2; 11:1). Thus, it appears that the land of Judah would be restored
for the sake of the coming of their prophesied future Messiah who would be born
at Bethlehem, one of the towns of Judah.
Isaiah 8:9 – Associate yourselves,
O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far
countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves,
and ye shall be broken in pieces.
Associate yourselves – to be displeasing; sad; injurious; wicked; evil. That
is, assemble yourselves together for the purpose of being displeasing, to unite
in opposition to God. See Psalm 2:1-3 – 1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain
thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the
rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, [saying],
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords
from us.
O ye people – Syria and Israel, and/or Assyria. It could mean Syria
and Israel’s attempt to place their own king upon the throne of David (Isaiah
7:6) or it could mean the Assyrian flood that would soon come upon them (as per
the previous verses). Or, it could mean all of these, and possibly anyone else who
might think about taking on the task of destroying God’s people. Just because
God permits them to come and discipline His people doesn’t mean He will favour
them with blessing because of what they have done! All who join together to
destroy God’s people will be broken into pieces (shattered; dismayed)! Note
this all you who come from other distant nations; witness what happens when you
overstep your authority before God when dealing with His people. Do not
conspire against God’s people.
Zechariah 2:8 – For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me
unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth
you toucheth the apple of his eye.
gird yourselves – gird yourselves ready for war; prepare for war. Prepare
for war against God’s people and you shall be dismayed, thrown into
consternation. The repetition (gird
yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces)
clearly underlines this fact! It is a statement of fact rather than a mere
narrative. It is a threat to those who dare oppose God’s people, even when they
are permitted to do so by God Himself!
An interesting point is raised by
the use of the term Immanuel in Vs 8: the Messiah must come and take the throne
of His ancestor David, and the land must still be sovereignly (to some extent)
controlled by Judah, in order for Him to come as Redeemer and the Messiah (the
Christ). The royal line of David will continue to reign until the captivity!
Isaiah 8:10 – Take counsel
together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand:
for God [is] with us.
Take counsel together – literally “counsel counsel”
Take counsel together (meet for
the purpose of making plans) and it shall come nought (be frustrated; be
broken). Speak the word (of plans, counsel, etc), that is, make plans, and they
will not stand (will not be fulfilled; will not be confirmed; will not endure).
Isaiah 7:6-7 – 6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a
breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, [even] the son
of Tabeal: 7 Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come
to pass.
for God is with us – immanu-el.
So what is really the problem
here? (For truly they have a serious problem indeed!) The people of Judah are
still worshipping God in the temple, carrying out all their sacrifices as
required, obeying the law (on the surface, at least). This is made clear from
the start of Isaiah where God refuses to accept their ritual service.
Isaiah 1:12-16 – 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this
at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations;
incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of
assemblies, I cannot away with; [it is] iniquity, even the solemn
meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear [them].
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes
from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full
of blood. 16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of
your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
They are going through all the
motions of service to God, actions which are totally unacceptable to God.
Prophets such as Isaiah have been sent to warn them of their apostasy, yet they
do not listen, telling him that if God wishes to tell them, let Him come and
tell them. They have a deep-seated “knowledge” that they are “right”, that God
will not, cannot, refuse their service when it is given according to the law
(that is, the law as they see it). And the more they worship God, the more they
fall into the pit of destruction! They probably can’t understand how God can
reject them when they are giving Him so much service! They are a people who are
so certain of their “knowledge” of how to serve God that they have forgotten to
listen to what He really wants. God is trying his best (what more could He have
done? – Isaiah 5:4) to deliver them but they are just hearing the words, yet
not taking them in. They are seeing what’s happening, yet they cannot
understand that God could ever turn His back on them. The more God tells them,
the more they refuse to listen; the more God reveals to them, the less they
want to see of it. Finally, God tells them that they just won’t listen; they
just won’t see the obvious; they steadfastly refuse to understand.
Isaiah 6:9-10 – 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed,
but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make
the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and convert, and be healed.
In other words, if you don’t want
to hear the truth, if you don’t want to see what’s really happening, then don’t
see! Don’t hear! Don’t understand! Like the pharisees, they were now locked out
of an understanding of God’s word. They had chosen, like Pharaoh, and they
would not be able to change!
Romans 1:28 – And even as they did
not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
We haven’t changed today, either.
We have people reading verses such as 1 John 2:2 and refusing to see the truth
in it, that the propitiation was for all mankind.
1 John 2:1-2 – 1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that
ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our
sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
Don’t worry about whether “the whole world” means
all mankind or parts of all mankind! Look instead at who are represented by “we” and “our”.
The whole world clearly represents
a larger group than that represented by “our” and “ours”. Note that “our” clearly equates to the group represented by “we” in Vs 1, noting that
“he” in Vs
2 equates to “Jesus Christ” in Vs 1. Vs 2 has to grammatically follow on from Vs 1,
because it enlarges on the advocacy of Christ in Vs 1 to the group represented
by “we”.
Therefore, “we”, “our” and “ours” all relate to the same group of people; it is
grammatically absurd to make them separate or different groups of people. Thus,
the question really is: does “we” refer to all Christians or just the Christians that John
is writing to? As a side-line, why does MacArthur teach each verse separate
from the other when both are clearly two parts of the same idea? This is a
quite absurd manner of teaching these verses! MacArthur teaches that “we” in Vs 1 refers to
all Christians of all time (and not just the Christians of John’s day), yet in
Vs 2 he teaches that “our” only refers to those Jewish Christians of John’s day, and
that “the whole world” means the rest of the Christians of all time.
“First John 2:2, that He is the
propitiation for our sins as a nation, Israel. But not for ours only but also
for all the sins of the world, or the sins of the whole world.” (The Sacrifice
that Satisfied, MacArthur)
The problem is that “the whole world” logically
has to include more than just the group represented by “our” and “ours”, so if “our” and “ours” could be shown to
represent all Christians, then “the whole
world” must include more than just all
Christians, that is, some non-Christians as well. A simple study of the context
of 1 John 2:2 clearly shows that if “we” in Vs 1 can be applied to all Christians of all time,
then “the whole world” must include more than all Christians of all time. We do not have to look very far to see
evidence today of people who just won’t listen to the truth because they
already “know” that “truth” for themselves; they don’t need God to tell them!!
Typical calvinists!!
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