Isaiah

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7:15,16 "Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 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."

 

These words are usually taken to signify that the Immanuel child would grow up in the country, being reared on the simple fare of country folk. But this is, in itself, too trivial a meaning. Just as "wrapped in swaddling clothes" was a sign that the divine child born in Bethlehem truly shared this frail sin-cursed nature of the human race, so also here there is a lovely figurative intimation that he would "feed on rich stores of covenant blessing" (Kay).

 

To "refuse the evil, and choose the good" means more than knowing what is good to eat. It implies "moral or spiritual reprobation or approval" (Kay). It means a love of God's law which is "sweeter also than honey or the honey comb." And "butter — the clotted cream which ancient Phoenicians may have taught Cornish-men the trick of making — means rich feeding of a special kind: "Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness" (55:2). Even as a new-born babe this child desired the sincere milk of the word, that he might grow thereby (1 Pet. 2:2).

 

However, there is a problem of translation here. For "that he may know..." (AV, RVm) reads in RV as: "when he knoweth." Does the sentence express cause or effect? In this kind of phrase the most usual meaning of the Hebrew prefix is: This divine food will lead him on to know the best course in life to follow.

 

The later life of Hezekiah showed how true this was of him. And since it is im­possible to attribute such outstanding good to the influence of such a worthless father (except by revulsion from an obviously bad example), it is most probable that Hezekiah had to thank the lasting influence of a good mother.

 

Who were the two abhorred kings who were to be swept away? The context offers two possibilities — either Rezin and Pekah, now threatening Ahaz's kingdom (v. 4), or the kings of Assyria and Egypt (v.17,18) who were to make Hezekiah's land their battleground. The phrase: "Before the child shall know..." seems to point to the former of those evil powers.

 

But the real value of this passage is in its reference to Jesus. The Law of Moses commanded that a king over God's people should "write him a copy of this law in a book" (Dt. 17:18). And this, doubtless, Jesus — born king of the Jews — did in his early days. The gold brought by wise men would serve to equip him with all the necessary material, and thus through many a patient and laborious hour he would feed on "butter and honey", with the result that "he refused the evil — even when it was presented to him in the form of universal empire (Mt. 4:8); and he chose the good — even when it was surrounded with the horrors of "the hour of darkness" (Mt. 26:42,53) (Kay).

 

The AV reading suggests identification of the two kings as being Herod the Great and his almost equally evil son Archelaus who were both off the scene before Jesus came to his bar-mitzvah. But RV points to desolation of the Land of Israel, ruled over by Edomite and Roman. This judgment was already inevitable before ever Jesus came to the final choice which crowned his obedience to the will of heaven.

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7:17-20 "The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes. In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard."

 

The policy followed by Ahaz was to prove more disastrous than anything in the history of the kingdom so far, for his hiring of the Assyrians to save him from other lesser foes was to teach those rapacious empire-builders how very desirable God's Land was, from the point of view of climate, prosperity and strategic position. Thus Sennacherib attempted, and others of his dynasty succeeded, in establishing a domination of the Holy Land which was to be continued by Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Ahaz! this was your bequest to your people!

 

The king succeeded in sub-dividing his nation into three irreconcilable parties: Those (like Ahaz himself) who favoured a treaty with Nineveh, those eager to lean on Egypt (in spite of Isaiah's later caustic denunciations) and the faithful remnant led by Isaiah and his fellow-prophets.

 

God's retribution, outlined beforehand in this prophecy, against faithlessness, was to bring both Egypt and Assyria to a mighty quarrel over Immanuel's Land, ravaging it thoroughly in the process.

 

In earlier times Moses had referred to the power of the Pharaohs throughout Canaan as "the hornet" (Ex. 23:28), because that was a well-recognized symbol of Egypt's royal line. But now, more appropriately, Isaiah speaks of the multitudinous Egyptian armies as the mosquitoes from the delta of the Nile (the rivers). The figure appears to be renewed in a reference to "the land buzzing (or, reverberating) with wings, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia" (18:1).

 

And the bee assiduously gathering its honey is a most fitting symbol of the Assyrian marauders dedicated to the gathering of plunder.

 

These opposing campaigns centred on Judah would leave a land of desolate valleys, thorns and bushes, its people hiding in the holes of the rocks. This, Ahaz, is what your faithless politicking will lead to.

 

The one to do the most damage would prove to be the Assyrian. His thorough plundering of the Land would be as clean as the action of a keen razor. A necessary part of the purification of a leper was the shaving of all his hair (Lev. 14:9). And had not Isaiah already described the body of Israel as leprous throughout (1:5)? Indeed, this new figure of speech almost spelled out the name of the enemy, for the Hebrew word 'shave' comes close to 'Tiglath'.

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7:21-25 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle."

 

The primary reference here continues to be to the Assyrian invasion in Hezekiah's time. The triple allusion to "briars and thorns" is ominous — a land made desolate by the arrows and bows of these ruthless conquerors. Rich vineyards, normally hired out at a high rental, would be reduced to barrenness.

 

And yet, quite paradoxically, there is comfort in the prophet's admittedly obscure hints of blessing and prosperity — small flocks and herds producing an astonishing abundance of butter and honey for "everyone that is left", the land digged (LXX: thoroughly ploughed; there shall no fear come thither).

 

These opposites are readily reconciled once it is recognized that God's promise of deliverance from Sennacherib's hordes was accompanied by the rich sign of a fantastically prosperous Year of Jubilee, which would also include a Jubilee release of the many Jews who were dragged away into servitude by the Assyrians (see 2 Kgs. 19:29-31, and Is. 61:1,3). But that sinister expression: "every one that is left" (1:8; 4:3; 6:12) intimates a considerable loss of life throughout the Land in the course of the bloody campaign.

 

However, the Immanuel prophecy being echoed in the words "butter and honey", there is good reason to look for a further fulfilment with reference to the times of Messiah; and since in verse 15 that phrase has an evident spiritual meaning, so here also.

 

In the Last Days, the picture will be essentially the same as it was in Hezekiah's time: the nation tranquil under their divine King; a mighty invasion from the north, only Jerusalem escaping; a tremendous Passover deliverance; the enemy routed; then wonderful peace and unbelievable prosperity.

 

"In that day" (v.21,23) is the characteristic prophetic phrase (as in 4:1) for reference to the days of Messiah (cp. Zech. 12,13,14).

 

There is also a clear link with the earlier parable of the vineyard: "a thousand vines" which will be "laid waste...not pruned nor digged (s.w: here only), but...briers and thorns" (5:6). Yet, instead of these, there will be the fir and the myrtle (55:13) with their figure of the rich blessing of God (Is. 49).

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Chapter 8

 

8:1,2 "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."

 

This placard Isaiah was commanded to write and exhibit was no small insignificant affair, but a "great roll" that would draw plenty of public attention, whether displayed outside the prophet's house or in the temple court. One marvels that commentator after commentator talks about a wooden or metal tablet covered with wax. How could a wax surface stand up to the heat of a Palestine sun? And in any case the Hebrew word definitely implies a roll. All its cognates have precisely this idea.

 

This is by no means the only allusion to writing to be found in Isaiah (v.16; 29:11,18; 30:8; 34:16), and also in the other prophets (Jer. 36:4; 32:14; Hab. 2:2,3).

 

In this instance the display of a placard was necessary to draw public attention to the special significance of the naming of Isaiah's son when he was born, and also to underline that emphatic witness, when the time came (v. 17) that the prophet would find himself banished from public life. There was to be not only open witness by the scroll, but also a sealed document (v. 16) for a confirmation of the message if it should be challenged in later days (so also in the time of Jeremiah, in his redeeming of worthless property at Anathoth).

 

The instruction to write "with man's pen" seems pointless until it is realised that the word for "man" describes man in his weakness and feebleness. In this context it must surely mean the brush a poor man would use. The inscription was to be a warning about the desolation and misery war would certainly bring, so the very character of the writing was to suggest something of the same idea.

 

"Speed-spoil-haste-prey" is truly a strange name for a new baby (cp. 10:6; 42:22; 24:3; Hab. 1:6; where 'that bitter and hasty nation' is another allusion to Assyrian — and not Babylonian — invasion).

 

First the placard, set in Jerusalem, and then in later days Isaiah's child, a mere toddler, seen with his father in street and temple, were intended as both comfort and warning — comfort in the assurance of retribution on Damascus and Samaria (v.4; the present threat to Jerusalem), but also warning that a like fate was also to overtake Judah (v.7,8) because of blatant unfaithfulness.

 

The Hebrew prefix is well translated: "Concerning" (though it could also mean "belonging to"), as in the title of Psalm 72, a psalm written in hope with reference to (not, by) Solomon, yet not truly fulfilled in him. So also with the title of the Song of Songs.

 

Isaiah's poster was made all the more important and significant by being officially or legally attested by prominent witnesses.

 

Urijah the high priest is spoken of as a faithful witness, so at this time he was a true and godly man, yet later on he was to show himself a weak minion of an idolatrous and evil king when at Ahaz's bidding he removed the brazen altar of burnt offering from its proper site in the temple court and installed instead an Assyrian altar which the obsequious king, eager to please Tiglath-pileser, insisted on importing to Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 16:10-16). Some have suggested that, from the first, Urijah was a lackey of the king's and an enemy of Isaiah — remarkable for a man whose name means "Jehovah is my light", with reference to the Shekinah Glory (2:5; 9:2; 10:17).

 

The other witness, Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah, was almost certainly Ahaz's father-in-law and grandfather of Hezekiah (2 Chr. 29:1) and, it may be safely assumed, a wholesome influence on that godly king not only through his mother but also personally. His name means: "Jehovah hath remembered", and to this godly memorial Hezekiah made pointed reference in the time of his dire sickness. The remarkable coincidence of the prophet Zechariah carrying the same patronymic 200 years later may perhaps be explained as emphasizing the descent from Jehoiada, the great high priest ("The Blessed") whose administration had saved Judah, in earlier days, from complete spiritual collapse (but there is no strong evidence for this).

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8:3,4 "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. 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."

 

It will not do to say that the prophetess is given this title simply because she was Mrs. Prophet. Deborah (Jd. 4:4) and Huldah (2 Chr. 34:22) are each called "prophetess", although apparently not married to a prophet. And in the cases of Hosea, Ezekiel, and Moses (Hos. 1:2; Ez. 24:18; Num. 12:1), the ordinary word "wife" is sufficient.

 

But if she prophesied, where are her prophecies? Here are one or two facts for consideration:

 

a. In 5:1, "my beloved" is masculine, and therefore spoken by a woman, surely.

 

b. In 40:9, "O thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem" is

feminine

(contrast: "thou (masculine) that bringest good tidings to Zion").

 

c. Isaiah 40-66 abounds in references to women and marriage and babies. These details "prove" nothing, but are worth bearing in mind.

 

Before the birth of the child, people would have opportunity to get familiar with Isaiah's placard and its early sharp impression doubtless faded somewhat. But now the naming of the baby (by his father, for what mother would give her child such a name?), and this probably in the temple at the time of his circumcision and in the presence of his two well-known "godfathers", would again arrest public attention.

 

Now all the family were prophets. The names of the two boys would steer attention, one to God's care for His faithful remnant, and the other to inevitable afflic­tion of the nation because of its apostasy. Except for Immanuel, no children would be better known in Jerusalem than these two boys, and especially the second, for well before he was two years old and shaping his earliest words, the grim prophecy of his name would begin to be fulfilled in Syria and Israel — and later on in Judah (v.8).

 

The prophecy seems to require fulfilment regarding the two northern kingdoms at about the same time, before the child reached the age of two. The first Assyrian devastation of Syria ended Rezin's reign (2 Kgs. 16:9), and there must have been a serious but unchronicled plundering of Israel about the same time. This was in Tiglath-pileser's reign. The complete overthrow of both kingdoms was finally accomplished by Shalmanezer V (2 Kgs. 17:6; 18:9,10).

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8:5-8 "The LORD spake also unto me again, saying, Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son: 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: 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."

 

It looks as though there were divided policies in Jerusalem. Ahaz inclined towards a servile alliance with Assyria (2 Kgs. 16:7,8). Another party (the princes? — men who were to play an evil role in Hezekiah's reign) evidently favoured joining a coali­tion with Syria and Israel.

 

Here then — "forasmuch...now therefore behold" — was the main reason for a further emphatic Immanuel pronouncement. God was angry at the double refusal of the gracious Immanuel promise and of the sombre Maher-shalal-hash-baz warning. The word of the Holy One of Israel was despised (5:24). "Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon, therefore this iniquity shall be unto you as a breach ready to fall" (30:12).

 

"The waters of Shiloah" which were now "refused" were, in a literal sense, the sweet waters of the Virgin's Fountain for which there was evidently a plan to drive a conduit to a spot inside the city wall. This would mean adequate supplies for the defenders, and at the same time would deny this necessary source to a besieging army (2 Chr. 32:4). Two thousand years later, when the Crusaders besieged Jerusalem, this was their experience precisely.

 

There are signs that in Ahaz's reign such a scheme was begun, and discontinued: the waters which were to emerge within the city at Shiloah (later, Siloam) were "refused".

 

Isaiah saw this as an impressive figure of how the nation was set on rejecting faith in God and His covenant with the house of David. These are "waters...which go softly", and also invisible, underground, for faith is like that. There is nothing visibly impressive or sensational about it.

 

By contrast, men find it so much easier to put dependence on "the waters of the River Euphrates, strong and many." So Ahaz made his Assyrian alliance and paid for it.

 

It is remarkable that hitherto Assyrian expansion seemed deliberately to have kept away from Judah. Even though their tide of aggression had swept as far as the northern tribes, no attempt had been made to swallow up the prosperity centred round Jerusalem. Could this be because Jonah's mission as a prophet of Jehovah was still remembered in Nineveh?

 

But soon developments would be startling — "Behold!" Syria's Abarna and Pharpar and Israel's Jordan would find their waters lost in the overflowing tide of Euphrates (cp. 17:12,13). But later, in good king Hezekiah's time, "though the waters thereof roar, and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof", there would be a hidden "river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God" (Ps. 46:3,4). Siloam, and what it symbolized, would prove to be Jerusalem's salvation.

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That phrase "the Lord bringeth up upon them..." insisted that neither politicians nor power-drunk dictators were in control, but Jehovah. He was not only "with us", with an ever-watchful eye on Immanuel's land, he was also against them, these powers smaller than Assyria and making immediate threat against Judah.

 

Even so, this drastic Assyrian discipline would reach Judah also: "he will pass through Judah" might mean: "he will change (his policy) in Judah" (from alliance to hostility, from aloofness to expansion); "he will overflow, and go over (Hebrew text: 'he will hebrew'), — a flood of mighty waters overflowing (28:2) — reaching even to the neck", that is, with only the head (Jerusalem) not swamped. Isaiah had already insisted on this, speaking of "the daughter of Zion ...as a cottage in a vineyard" (1:8). He was to repeat his witness to this (30:28), against all innate probability, and be proved startlingly correct.

 

The sweeping character of this Assyrian invasion is couched in somewhat unusual terms: "The stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel." The allusion is, remarkably enough (but with complete accuracy) to the "cherubim" which were an essential part of Assyrian religion. Layard unearthed an impressive avenue of these figures leading to the entrance of the temple of Ashur — winged ox-lions, with human faces. The idea was either borrowed from the religion of Israel, or was part of the inheritance of religious ideas which had come down from the Flood, and earlier. The phrase: "all his glory" (v.7) strongly supports this idea.

 

And as the wings of the cherubim filled the full breadth of the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem's temple (2 Chr. 3:11), so now there is the threat of Assyrian "glory" fill­ing Judah from side to side.

 

Yet the mention of "thy land, O Immanuel" makes clear that the Assyrian would have no right to be there. It even hints that for this, and especially for his pride and despite to the God of Israel, there would yet come retribution — a punishment ex­plicitly promised in 10:11.

 

God repeatedly declared concerning the Holy Land: "the Land is mine" (Lev. 25:23). Then if that Land is described as Immanuel's, must not that child of promise belong to God's family, and must he not also be the natural heir to the throne, to rule over the Land on God's behalf?

 

Since the prophecy was obviously to have an immediate fulfilment, must there not be an Immanuel in Isaiah's time as well as in future Messianic days? These expecta­tions could only be fulfilled in Hezekiah, and certainly not in any son of Isaiah's, as not a few commentators maintain.

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8:9,10 "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. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us."

 

There comes in here a tone of defiance against the confederates coming against Judah. "People" is the usual word for the tribes of Israel and is therefore appropriate to the northern kingdom. "Far countries" is a good phrase to describe Syria, stretching away to the north-east.

 

"Associate yourselves" is a double meaning word in Hebrew — either "work evil" or "behave like a flock of sheep", the first describing their malign purposes, and the second the motive behind their confederacy, like the sheep bunching together for protection (against Assyria).

 

"Broken in pieces" foretells (as in 7:8; 9:4) the failure of the plan, contemptuously described as "speaking a speak". It shall not "rise up", i.e. to accomplishment, for "God is with us". The same language is used also against the Assyrians regarding their later purpose to overrun Judah. They too shall be "broken in pieces", because "the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Ps. 46:7,11).

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8:11,12 "For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid."

 

The conjunction: "For", links with the mention of Immanuel: 'Because I — Isaiah — belong to the faithful remnant who put their confidence in God, and not in politics, therefore I am charged to deliver this message.'

 

There is an implication of a certain unwillingness to take on this onerous, and even dangerous, duty. The word 'instructed' is often associated with chastisement. And "with a strong hand" might even present a picture (figurative, of course) of the Almighty lifting His hand to box the prophet's ear (cp. the use, in 5:25, of the word 'smitten' in a similar context). There is also a marked similarity of phrasing in Ezekiel 3:14 (a very reluctant prophet; cp. Ez. 1:3; 8:1; 37:1; Jer. 15:17). It is interesting to note also that "strong hand" anticipates the name of Immanuel-Hezekiah (s.w. 40:10).

 

The explicit commandment to Isaiah and his faithful disciples is: "Walk not in the way of this people." It is the language of divine disgust and reprobation (v.6,11; 6:9). Others clamoured for "a confederacy", but not so the godly remnant. The usual association of this political word is with rebellion against a true ruler — "Treason!"

 

Syria and Israel were set on rejection of the authority of Assyria, whom they had lately accepted as overlord. Some in Judah proposed joining in this confederacy. Others, and king Ahaz especially, leaned towards confederacy with Assyria, against the northern neighbours. Some, so later developments suggest (19:1; 30:2), wanted a secret alliance with Egypt.

 

And Isaiah and his godly few were regarded as harbouring treason because they would have none of this political manoeuvring, and instead made "Immanuel" their watchword (v.8). To those who were traitorous to the nation's best interests, this loyalty to God was treason (cp. Jer. 26:8-19).

 

As in ancient days God's people had been bidden forget their fear of such stout foes as Og, king of Bashan, and the sons of Anak (Dt. 1:29; 31:10), so now once again. But just as the Fear of Isaac was Jehovah (Gen. 31:42), so also "their fear", the fear of Assyria, was the god Ashur. "Fear not their fear, neither be afraid."

 

But Ahaz did. Whether for superstitious or political reasons he had the altar of Ashur, which had been set up by the invaders at Damascus, copied and installed in the courts of the Lord in Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 16:10-16). So God finally cast him off.

 

Long centuries later an inspired apostle used the force and power of this Isaiah prophecy to put backbone into persecuted Christians. They faced oppression and worse from brutal Nero and pagan Rome. To save themselves, all that was needed was a trifling religious compromise: 'acknowledge Caesar as a god. Burn a pinch of incense on this altar to his honour, and all will be well!'

 

But no! counselled Peter. With us is God — we serve Immanuel: "if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts..." (1 Pet. 3:14,15). And those who stood firm came through, for by and by the persecutions died as suddenly as Nero died.

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8:13-15 "Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the in­habitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken and be snared, and be taken."

 

The background to this remarkable passage is the record (2 Kgs. 16:9-16) of how Ahaz's political subservience to Assyria became also a religious subservience. Tiglath-pileser III called a conference at Damascus of various subject kings, and Ahaz, eager to be bolstered up by Assyrian might, and paying heavily for it in tribute, was glad to be there, to show his loyalty and friendship.

 

This toadying to the authority of the overlord went even further. The altar of Ashur, installed there at Damascus, Ahaz now obsequiously instructed his high-priest Urijah to copy and have set up in Jerusalem in the courts of the Lord. There the long-established arrangement had been on these lines:

 

 

 

But Ahaz immediately found that this new altar, a relatively small one (so the archaeologists now know), was over-shadowed by the large brazen altar of burnt-offering which had stood there since the time of Solomon.

 

Accordingly he had this true altar moved away to the north side of the temple court. But the solid rock foundation on which the great altar had stood remained as both an eyesore (from Ahaz's point of view) and an obstruction — "a stone of stumbling and rock of offence." So this undesirable arrangement was remedied to some extent by moving the brazen laver on to this rock base. Thus the traditional pattern — sanctuary, laver, altar, all in line — was preserved. But of course Isaiah's faithful remnant would have nothing to do with worship at this pagan altar. They, "sanctifying the Lord of hosts himself", still brought their offerings to the true altar, now thrust aside.

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The original rock platform on which the altar of burnt offerings stood formerly was now associated with false worship imported by Ahaz. It was not only a stone of stumbling that people might literally trip over, it was also (religiously) "a gin and an snare" to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, many of whom were "snared and taken" by this garish but worthless religious innovation.

 

Later (see commentary on 28:16), when Ahaz was dead and Hezekiah's reform­ation was in full spate, this Assyrian altar was thrown out and the former hallowed arrangement restored in a temple spring-cleaned to the glory of God. The original rock, "a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation", was once again associated with true worship of the true God.

 

The New Testament's use of this Isaiah passage is quite fascinating and splendid­ly in harmony with the ideas already expounded.

 

Paul (in Rom. 9:32) combines the two "stone" passages (8:14 and 28:16) as referring to the same stone: "Behold, I lay in Zion (this is 28:16) a stumbling stone and rock of offence (this is 8:14): and whosoever believeth in him shall not be. ashamed (28:16 LXX).

 

Similarly Peter (in 1 Pet. 2:6,7,8) also identifies the two, and both of them with the stone of Ps. 118:22: "The stone which the builders disallowed is made the head of the corner", a passage which is often misread as meaning the top-most stone of a building or archway. In fact, the word for "corner" is also used for "rulers, governors (19:13; Jud. 20:2; Zech. 10:4), and "head" in the sense of "chief" is also common. And since the word for "stone" suggests "Son" (a common association of ideas in Scripture), there is implicit in this association of prophetic passages reference to a Man who is prominent, yet despised and rejected, and who is also an altar!

 

Peter has a further allusion to Isaiah 8; "But if you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye; and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you..." (1 Pet. 3:14,15).

 

The context here is that of the Nero persecution (c. A.D.65), so — very aptly — Peter quotes from a passage in Isaiah which, as will be shown later, was written in the time of persecution of the prophet and his faithful remnant.

 

It can now be demonstrated that the temple re-organisation demanded by Ahaz provides an admirable type or parable of the rejection of Christ. (And note v. 18: "for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts").

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He, the true altar, was set aside in favour of a false worship. Nevertheless, because of the unbudgeable rock platform on which the altar had been founded, although removed by apostates, he was now still there, literally, a stone of stumbling for men walking across the temple court. So, by a further modification he now became associated with the laver of God's sanctuary — his name was inseparably linked with the cleansing of baptism!

 

Just as Hezekiah's reformation brought a restoration to the status a quo, Christ will yet come to be fully acknowledged as the true altar of God, in a temple cleansed and re-dedicated to Jehovah. There are also other details here worthy of a second look: How is one to "sanctify the Lord of hosts"? By believing Him, that is, by faith. The judgment on Moses and Aaron was: "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore..." (Num. 20:12). Or, in other words, "let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." This last word is specially signifi­cant, for it is almost indistinguishable from "your Moriah", the altar where Abraham was willing to offer his son, his only son, whom he loved. And it was there where he said: "God will provide himself a lamb, my Son"; and in due time the Lamb was provided, a Son of Abraham. And the altar of burnt-offering referred to here in Isaiah's prophecy was on the very rock where Isaac was bound for sacrifice (Gen. 22:2,8,9; 2 Chr.3:1).

 

This "altar" is not said to be in a sanctuary, but "for a sanctuary", that is, a place of safety like a city of refuge. How remarkable, then that in three Scriptures the altar of the Lord is spoken of as though it were a seventh city of refuge (Ex. 21:14; 1 Kgs. 1:50; 2:28).

 

Again, "rock of offence" carries more than one meaning. "Rock" here does not mean a small stone, as in the name Peter; it means the living rock, solid and massive; it is one of Isaiah's special words for the God of Israel (10:26; 26:4; 30:29). Yet LXX turns this phrase into "rock of death" or "rock of a corpse", thus suggesting an altar as a place of sacrifice, or as implying a man who died as a sacrifice!

 

Commentators often take "both the houses of Israel" to mean the northern and southern kingdoms, but this is inadequate. The dramatis personae in this drama are king Ahaz and the high-priest Urijah. So this sign was a rebuke to both. Kings and priests in Israel were alike to be supplanted by one who is both King and Priest — and Altar!

 

"And many (the word might be 'rabbis'!) among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken." Here are five devastating words about the men of the Law. And Jesus used this very Scripture against the men of the Law, and he did so immediately after quoting the prophecy of "the stone which the builders rejected" (Ps. 118:22,23). He then added (from Isaiah); "Whosoever shall fall on that stone shall be broken," following with the sharp contrast provided by the stone of Nebuchadnezzar's image (which is an altar-stone, "cut out without hands", according to Ex. 20:25): "On whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder" (Dan. 2:34,35; Mt. 21:42,44).

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8:16,17 "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the LORD that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him."

 

The opening imperative is singular, addressed to whom? Is it God's instruction to Isaiah, or is it Isaiah's instruction to his scribe, as the phrase "my disciple" seems to suggest? If the former, then: "Bind thou up the testimony" ends what had begun with: "the Lord spake thus unto me with a strong hand" (v.11). Then the prophet adds his own instruction: "Seal the law among my disciples", among those who, in v.18, are called his sons. The word for "testimony" is not identical with that used for the Ten Commandments, and yet mention of "the law" puts this witness of Isaiah's on the same level as Moses.

 

Since it is "sealed up", the message is not to be immediately understood: "Read this, I pray thee...I cannot, for it is sealed" (29:11). Was not Daniel bidden "shut up the words, seal the book, even to the time of the end"? (Dan. 12:4,9). There is marked contrast here with the earlier message about the two kings of Israel and Syria, and the impending inroads of Assyria. Isaiah wrote primarily for the days when Immanuel (Hezekiah) would be on the throne and the law of God taken seriously. But this "testimony" is also "the testimony of Jesus" (Rev. 19:10) — it is about him and his disciples.

 

In what sense was Isaiah to "wait upon (wait patiently for) the Lord"? Either in seeking more revelation from God, or (as has been suggested) made to go into banishment from Jerusalem, because of the unpopularity of his message. This pa­tient waiting is several times associated with divine revelation or with expectation of its fulfilment: "The Lord will wait that he may be gracious unto you...blessed are all they that wait for him" (30:18). God waits patiently until the response of His people is right; and His faithful remnant wait and wait for events which do not happen soon enough. How appropriately does the Hebrew language use the same word to describe a fisherman's hook — he too sits and waits patiently until all at once there is the pleasant sudden surprise of a bite.

 

Habakkuk, Isaiah's contemporary, had to school himself to a like patience: "I will set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me." And he was bidden: "Though it tarry, wait for it" (Hab. 2:1,3). Habakkuk's tower was not literal, but a figure for his spirit of expectation. So also Zephaniah: "Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up..." (3:8). The Lord has prepared great things "for them that wait for him" (Is. 64:4). And to this day "the earnest expecta­tion of the Lord's New Creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God" (Rom. 8:19) — the Greek word implies "wait with outstretched neck", such is their eagerness.

 

"I have waited for thy salvation (from Egypt), O Lord" (Gen. 49:18) declared Jacob, an old man, but he did not live to see it. However, his people "stood still and saw the salvation of God" on the shores of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:13; 15:2). And Jacob's bones, carried into Canaan, will one day be clothed with new life (Gen. 47:30) and with the salvation he longed to see.

 

There is a marked contrast between Isaiah "looking for him", that is, for the ex­pected additional revelation, and the Lord "hiding his face from the house of Jacob" who have been declared unworthy and apostate. It is the difference between manifestation in a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud, as when Israel came out of Egypt (Ex. 14:20). God was hiding his face from the nation, as has been symbolized by the way in which the faces of the cherubim were covered in the earlier theophany to Isaiah (6:2): "Your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (59:2; Dt. 31:1 7,18; 32:20). Again, what a contrast with the gracious high-priestly bless­ing: "The Lord cause his face to shine upon you (Num. 6:25,26).

 

It may be useful here to trace the remarkable parallels between Isaiah himself and the Messiah in whom he took delight. Like the name Jesus, Isaiah means 'the salva­tion of Jehovah'. And the prophet's experience, as described in chapter 6, is also an anticipation of Christ's — he belongs to "a people of unclean lips"; yet, touched by the divine fire he willingly goes about an intensely discouraging task of warning and judgment: "Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy..." — these very words became the prelude to the Lord's campaign of parables. But there was also assurance of a faithful remnant.

 

And now, in ch.8, the prophet has to leave his followers, at the fiat of an apostate ruler, but also according to the will of God, for he is to "wait upon the Lord." All the wisdom they needed was in the Law and in the Testimony which he personally had bequeathed to them. So there must be no attempt to find comfort in false religions sublimely cocksure that men's spirits are immortal (v. 19). The inspired Word, and that only, could impart an utterly dependable instruction.

 

Remarkably, Isaiah knew that he and his disciples — "the children whom the Lord hath given me" (v. 18 and Heb. 2:3) — provided a type of far-reaching importance. "Children" (sons) is usually, but quite mistakenly taken to mean Shear-jashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz. But the context plainly requires the idiomatic usage: "followers", as in the phrase: "sons of the prophets" (and many other places). In Heb. 2:12,13 it is impossible to believe that the Lord's disciples would be referred to as "brethren" and as "children" in adjoining verses. The phrase: "I will look for him" (v.17) is also quoted (from LXX) in Heb. 2:13: "I will put my trust in him." And it is noteworthy that "Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself" (v. 13) is echoed in Heb. 2:11: "he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified."

 

But without such leads from the New Testament how many would read the gospel of Jesus Christ in these words of Isaiah?

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8:18-20 "Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

 

"Behold!" — this opening statement appears to be addressed in imperative fashion to his contemporaries, bidding them remember the divine type which he and his disciples present. The ideas are worked out in Hebrews 2. Plumtre blunders badly here in his comment "How little the writer of that Epistle cared in this and other quotations for the original meaning of the words as determined by the context." Was not Hebrews written against an apostasy of Jews from the divine truth in the Christ, whom Isaiah so aptly pre-figured? The next verse (v. 14) emphasizes that as "the disciples are partakers of flesh and blood, he (their Prophet and Teacher) also himself likewise took part of the same." And the threatened bondage under Assyrian yoke is interpreted (v.15) as a figure of the bondage of the fear of death shrouding all Christ's disciples. In various ways Ezekiel also filled a like role for the benefit of his contemporaries (12:6; 24:24), and so also Joshua the high priest in the time of Zechariah.

 

Nor was this acted parable a thing of Isaiah's devising. It was "from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Zion." Nor need Ahaz, installing a pagan altar in the temple court, and handing over the "separate place" to an Assyrian garrison (2 Chr. 28:21), think that the God of Israel no longer dwelt in Zion, for here was his altar (Is. 28:16); "His fire was (still) in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem" (31:5,9).

 

Isaiah turned now to his faithful remnant, being intent on shoring up their faith against the false religious practices now become so very fashionable. A craze for spiritualistic seances was sweeping through their world. Assyrians (14:10) and Egyptians alike (19:3) were caught up in it, and God's people (who were always in­clined to this religious rubbish; Ps .106:28; Dt. 32:17; 1 Sam. 28:8) were now as bad as any (29:4).

 

So quite deliberately, Isaiah chose his words so as to warn his followers by mean's of the tragic experience of Saul, the king of such potentialities, who never­theless failed so badly because he did not let the Lord be his fear and his dread (v. 13). Phrase after phrase looks back to 1 Samuel 28: "familiar spirit...wizards (the knowing ones)...seek...elohim (28:13)...calling out of the ground (LXX)...no morn­ing for them." The plain implication was:

 

Remember how Saul ended in disaster against the Philistines, and now see Ahaz similarly crash in ruin before his enemies. In seeking instruction and guidance for the living, is there any sense in going to those who are dead, or to those who "remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments" (65:4)?

 

The positive exhortation to the faithful was: Seek to the old Law, which came through Moses, and to the new dependable revelation made known by Isaiah and his fellow prophets. And this was the kind of answer they were to give to their misguided contemporaries.

 

The plainest answer of Moses' Law was: "There shall not be found among you...a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord..." Instead, "the Lord thy God will raise up (out of the dead) unto thee a prophet...like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken" (Dt. 18:10,11,15). and accordingly on the morning of Christ's resurrec­tion, angels quoted Isaiah's words: "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" (Lk. 24:5).

 

Whereas this "sign" (like that of the two sons) had been for the enlightenment (or mystification!) of the wayward nation, for the faithful there was a direct warning: Not familiar spirits and wizards, but "the Law and the testimony" (v.16,20). This was to be the touchstone of truth, the slogan of the Lord's remnant, just as in "the day of Midian" (9:4) the indomitable few had cried. "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon."

 

On the other hand, for those who give themselves to religious perversions and human imaginings "there is no morning light," neither for the Assyrian overlord, "Lucifer, son of the morning" (14:12), nor for Urijah, the weak high priest, falsely called "the Lord is my light." Saul's familiar spirit had meant for him no morning light of hope and success, but only disaster and death. And that is how it is for those who abandon the true hope of resurrection in favour of modern spiritual fatuities.

[Resource Manager]

8:21,22 "And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness."

 

The fate of faithless Saul, the spirit-seeker, was now foretold for a nation far-gone after the same craze. The judgment brought by God's instrument, the conquering Assyrian, would leave the people roughly handled and desperately hungry through the famine of war. And in their anger with themselves for deserving such a fate they would curse their weak useless king Ahaz and the pagan god he had sought to exalt. More than this, they would curse the brutal Assyrian king and the foreign god he sought to vindicate against Jehovah.

 

The wretched people would look up to heaven in mute despair and look also to their ravaged Land (5:30) and find no answer to their clamant needs. Instead, only harrowing perplexity (s.w. Lk. 21:25) and gloom (as in Joel 2:2) as multitudes of captives were driven away into captivity (cp. Dt. 30:1,4). And for those avoiding this fate, only flight and deep distress.

 

It is clear, from the repetition of the phrasing that 9:1 a belongs to chapter 8: "But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish." It is a picture of Jerusalem (feminine in Hebrew), apprehensive of invasion and yet coming through unscathed.

 

But the rest of 9:1 belongs to what follows. There is the authority for Matthew's quotation (4:14-16) for this dogmatic conclusion.

 

This grim picture of impending catastrophe, duly fulfilled in Hezekiah's time, will come to life yet again when God's people go through the mill, in what will be the last of such experiences, just before Messiah's coming.

[Resource Manager]

Chapter 9

 

9:1,2RV "In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time hath he made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."

 

To Isaiah's contemporaries, the "former time" of contempt for the northern tribes would be the easy over-running of that territory in the first of the Assyrian inroads under Tiglath-pileser III. But now here is a promise, made certain by its emphatic past tense, of a wonderful new era — which duly came about in the incredible days of king Hezekiah when the people rejoiced, at least in part, in spiritual renewal (2 Chr. 30:11) and the re-unification of the twelve tribes. It could be that the "great light" which was seen was the lighting of the great candelabrum in the temple at the unique Passover feast brought about by Hezekiah's enthusiasm. Or it could be the Shekinah Glory which destroyed Sennacherib's army.

 

Those that "walk in darkness" and that "dwell in the land of the shadow of death" are the poor wretches who were dragged away into captivity by the Assyrians, so the parallelism in Ps. 107:10 explains: "being bound in affliction and iron:" and the next verse says why: "Because they rebelled against the words of God."

 

These very people were to experience the bright shining of the Glory of the Lord in the amazing and unexpected deliverance which came (in a Year of Jubilee!) when the tables of adversity were turned by the dramatic intervention of an angel of power (37:36).

 

But Matthew quotes these words (4:14-16) as a prophecy of the ministry of Jesus, an approach which is treated with a vast amount of scepticism by modern critics who are doubtful of even the primary reference and who have no use whatever for further Messianic fulfilment.

 

Yet in Isaiah Jehovah repeatedly refers to Himself as "the First and the Last" (41:4; 44:6; 48:12), that is, always active, always in control.

 

So it was to the north, where ignorance was greatest and the darkness most in­tense, that Jesus came. The sequence of phrases is right:

 

1. Zebulun and Naphtali.

 

2. Then, the way of the sea, that is, Capernaum and its environs.

 

3. Then, east of Galilee (the Decapolis) and the region east of Jordan.

 

4. The whole of it summed up in "Galilee of the Gentiles".

 

All this area was "made glorious" by the words and works of the Son of God. Consider: his first thirty years were spent there; his first miracles and most of his preaching were done there; most of his close friends were Galileans; it was in that area where Peter made his great confession; and it was there also where Jesus revealed himself most fully after his resurrection (Mt. 28:7,10,16,19).

 

The Hebrew word for "shined" normally refers to the Shekinah Glory of God. This very prophecy was alluded to also by Zacharias the priest in his psalm of jubilation: "...whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death" (Lk. 1:78,79). This emphasis on Jesus as the light from God is inescapable in the gospels (Jn. 1:4,5,9; 8:12; 9:5), "a light of the Gentiles," explicitly foretold again and again by Isaiah (42:6; 49:6).

 

Perhaps also it is possible to infer that in the time of the Messiah's appearing in glory there will be again a special blessing on that northern area of Israel. But first it will become "a land of the shadow of death", by suffering very specially from the ravages of vindictive enemies.

[Resource Manager]

9:3-5 "Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire."

 

Here the past tenses emphasize the certainty of fulfilment of what is certainly a prophecy, for every detail here looks forward to a not very distant future in the reign of Hezekiah (the death of Ahaz is mentioned in 14:28), and also — of course — to a much more remote future concerning Messiah; verses 6,7, require this.

 

Here, then, is assurance that after the time of gloom and darkness when the fury of Assyrian invasion brought misery to all, the sun of God's favour would shine forth unexpectedly. The people of Israel is referred to here as goi, Gentile, either because the majority were so far gone in apostasy or as implying a large number destined for captivity in a Gentile land.

 

But the "multiplying of the nation and the increase of its joy" (note RV here — certainly correct) anticipates the return of these captives as a result of the great cataclysm overwhelming Sennacherib's army. This marvel of Israel's experience is a prominent feature of "Second" Isaiah. "Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hast removed it far unto all the ends of the Land" (26:15; cp. 49:19; 54:2,3).

 

The national joy is to be like that which a bumper harvest provokes, and it is "before the Lord" at one of His holy Feasts. That deliverance came at Passover (30:29; 31:5; 26:20,21), and the captives came home to a phenomenal harvest inaugurating a year of Jubilee freedom (2 Kgs. 19:29,30; Is. 61:1,2). Psalm 126, one of Hezekiah's Songs of Degrees has these ideas very clearly expressed (cp. also Is. 25:6).

 

There is an impressive sequence of harvest thanksgiving songs scattered through the rest of Isaiah. This is the first of a surprising number.

 

The allusion to "dividing spoils" is also appropriate. Isaiah has a later picture of the plundering of the stricken Assyrian camp by the eager inhabitants of Jerusalem: "Your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar (young locust): as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them" (33:4). "Then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame shall take the prey" (33:23).

 

"The yoke of his burden...the staff of his (Israel's) shoulder...the rod of his oppressor" are all phrases making easily-identified allusion to the weight of an ir­resistible Assyrian invasion. It was comparable to the ancient bondage in Egypt: "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation...Be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt...in that day his burden shall be taken away from off his shoulder, and his yoke from off his neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing (the new king Hezekiah)" (10:5,24-27). "I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders" (14:25; cp. Nah. 1:13, contemporary).

[Resource Manager]

"Every battle of the warrior" (v.5) is a dubious translation. Apparently the Hebrew has borrowed an Assyrian word to describe the jack-boots of Sennacherib's soldiers. These are plainly shown in more than one Assyrian bas-relief. In this respect also these international bullies of ancient days were the prototypes of Hitler's storm troopers.

 

All this horror and confusion of war, prophesies Isaiah, "will be for burning and fuel of fire." The Assyrian camp, the cause of all this curse, will itself be "fuel of fire", the fire of the Lord's seraph (37:36) "...the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and tempest and hailstones. For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod" (30:30,31). "His princes shall be afraid of the (Lord's) ensign, saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem" (31:9).

 

Certain Hezekiah psalms present a similar picture: "He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire" (46:9). "There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle" (76:3).

 

Isaiah's comparison with "the day of Midian'" is brief, but eloquent. Many of the details in the account of Gideon's rout of the Midianites (Jud. 6:12) find their counterpart in the wreck of the Assyrian camp:

 

"They (the invaders) encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth...and left no sustenance for Israel...they came as grasshoppers (locusts) for multitude...they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished."

 

There was assurance given to the leader: "The Lord is with thee"...you are Immanuel — "go in this thy might" — you are the "Mighty God."

 

"If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign..." Both Gideon and Hezekiah asked for, and received, a remarkable sign to confirm their faith.

 

There was a re-instatement of true worship. The tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali were especially appealed to, and they responded. The waters of Harod, and Shiloah (8:6), became the test of faith.

 

The torches and the shout of Gideon's men — "The sword (cherev) of the Lord" — had their counterpart in "the voice of the Lord" and the lighting of His cherubim (kh'ruv), for there is fair evidence that the device of Gideon's three hundred was a deliberate imitation of the vivid glory of the cherubim-chariot of the Lord.

 

However, as already intimated, the real force of Isaiah's words lies in its assurance of the abolition of all the brutalities of modern war with the coming of the Prince of Peace. Yet in the first instance even he will be able to make no progress against the forces of evil in the world until superior divine authority and might have been brought to bear.

 

The nation of Israel will be multiplied, and its joy increased only when the yoke and staff and rod of all oppressors have been broken, only when the clever contrivances and brutalities of modern war have all been consigned by the Prince of Peace to "burning and fuel of fire."

 

Precisely how these things will be achieved is not clearly specified, but if there is any close parallel with the primary fulfilment of this Scripture, it may be surmised that once again the angel of the Lord will go into action (37:36) "with a flame and a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones" (30:30).

 

In that time the prayer of God's stricken people: "Do unto them as unto the Midianites" (Ps. 83:9) will find its answer from heaven: "I will call for a sword against him through all my mountains, saith the Lord: every man's sword shall be against his brother" (Ez. 38:21).

[Resource Manager]

9:6,7 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

 

Here, yet again, the primary reference is to Hezekiah, promised in 7:14, and now born. He is described as wise and exceptionally godly and as one who brings peace to a war-torn country.

 

"Is born" is a past tense in Hebrew, as though with reference to Hezekiah's birth. "Unto us" (cp. Immanuel) also suggests a fulfilment in Isaiah's day and for the special blessing of his faithful disciples. So also, very pointedly, does the phrase: "from henceforth..." "The government on his shoulder" (Shechem) may be intended to imply an extension of influence once again over the northern tribes, as was attempted and partially achieved by Hezekiah (2 Chr. 30:5-11). He also, through his own trust in God made the "Assyrian burden depart from off their shoulders" (14:25), "the yoke of the nation's burden, the staff beating his shoulder" (v.4).

 

There are also pointed verbal links with a Hezekiah scripture in chapter 22: "government, father, shoulder, David, throne" (22:21-23); but there, in place of "Mighty One" (Gibbor) there is "strengthen", making a play on the name Hezekiah.

 

Lastly on this point, "the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this" is repeated (37:32) in connection with the deliverance from Sennacherib.

 

But, without any possibility of doubt, the better reference is to Jesus as Messiah. This meaning of the prophecy is majestic.

 

There is rejoicing in his birth "for us." Compare also: "Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou hast wrought all our works for us." (26:12) — and the next verse concerns "dominion" and "thy name."

 

The word describing this "child" that is born is the same as that used about Isaiah's own sons, thus emphasizing that "he also himself likewise took part of the same" flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14), and yet he is described as El-Gibbor, the God-Man, who is "given" for us (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 8:32).

 

"The government on his shoulder" uses the figure of the royal robe fastened at his shoulder, and this because that same shoulder once bore a cross (Jn. 19:17). Now he "upholds all things by the word of his power" (Heb. 1:3).

 

The word for "government" here (v.6,7) occurs nowhere else. It seems designed to echo the name of Israel, given when Jacob wrestled for his family and, crippled, overcame by prayer.

 

"His name shall be called" is, of course, Bible idiom for: "This is what he will be..."

 

It is difficult to be sure whether "Wonderful, Counsellor," are two titles or one. The two-fold form of the next three titles suggests the same here. Elsewhere in Isaiah the two terms are practically combined: "The Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel" ((28:29). "...thou hast done wonderful things: thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth" (25:1). And both of these passages are about God Himself, as, apparently, "Mighty God" also is.

 

Yet taken as separate names "Wonderful, Counsellor" seem to be more mean­ingful. "Wonderful" is a word very commonly associated with the miraculous. "Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead?...shall thy wonders be known in the dark?" (Ps. 88:10,12). Perhaps it is because Wonderful is the name of an angel appearing to the parents of Samson (Jud. 13:18mg., 19) that here LXX reads: "Angel of great counsel."

[Resource Manager]

"Counsellor" is the title used also by Micah in his Virgin Birth prophecy (4:9). The emphasis in the Scriptures seems to be on Christ's counsel with God (Ps. 16:7; Mk. 1:35; Jn. 6.15). The personal fellowship of the Father and the Son is constant­ly emphasized in John's gospel (5:19,20; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10). Then who better qualified than Jesus to be Counsellor of his people?

 

The title "Mighty God" — El Gibbor — has presented problems to some. First, it needs to be recognized that the term El, mighty one, does not necessarily describe the Almighty. In Ez. 31:11 it is applied to Nebuchadnezzar, "the mighty one of the Gentiles." Accordingly Moffat translates: "the Mighty Hero." There are clear links with the neighbouring Messianic prophecies: Immanu-EI, the one who is to be filled with "the spirit of counsel and might" (11:2).

 

But such details do not necessarily mean that the Messiah is God. Such a conclu­sion ignores the common Bible idiom by which the one who represents God, be he man or angel, is referred to as God. There are many examples of this. (A con­siderable list is given in "He is risen indeed". pp.73,74).

 

So there is no need to seek to evade the plain reference of "the mighty God" in 10:21 to the God of Israel. But the Father has given to His Son "the Name which is above every name" (Phil. 2:9). He is to be honoured as the father is honoured (Jn. 5:23). "Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended?...what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?" (Pr. 30:4). So it may be that "righteousness from the God of his salvation" (Ps. 24:5,8) may refer to Jesus, "the King of Glory" who will come into the holy city. Similarly, Psalm 45:3,6 addresses Messiah as: "O most mighty...Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever..." (cp. Heb. 1:8).

 

"Everlasting Father" is a serious headache for Trinitarians, for, taken literally, it proves too much. Does not the creed insist that the persons of the Trinity are not to be confounded? Then how can this be a fitting title of Christ?

 

Once again there is need to recognize the force of this Biblical idiom. Hezekiah is referred to as "a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (22:21). Joseph declared that "God hath made me a father unto Pharaoh" (Gen. 45:8). Naaman was address­ed by his servant as "My father" (2 Kgs. 5:13). Micah's Levite was lured away by the Danites proposing that he be "unto us a father and a priest" (Jud. 18:19). Jabal was "the father of such as dwell in tents", and Jubal "the father of all such, as handle the harp and the organ" (Gen. 4:20,21). Nabonidus is described in a Babylonian in­scription as "Father of the land, who has no equal."

 

Accordingly, LXX translates the phrase: "Father of the age to come". And in this it is followed by Jerome and other important early fathers, all of them Trinitarians.

 

"Prince of Peace" is the most straightforward in meaning of these titles. The great prototype is Melchizedek, who is king of peace (Salem) because he is king of righteousness — until he is outshone in this character by Hezekiah, about whom Micah wrote: "And this man shall be our peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land" (5:5). Without the king the nation would have been lost, in the time of Sennacherib. So Isaiah sang this song of praise at his birth. But when the true Prince of Peace was born, it needed a choir of angels: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Lk. 2:14).

 

Yet elsewhere Isaiah ascribes this surpassing blessing to his covenant God: "Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us" (26:12). The ambiguity is readily resolved, for He is the Cause and His glorious Son is the means.

 

If the "princedom and peace" of this Prince of Peace are to increase without end, two noteworthy conclusions follow. First, there is ruled out the idea of a rebellion at the end of his reign, for that would be anti-climax. And has not Isaiah already prophesied that "they shall learn war no more" (2:4)? Also, this authority is without limit — it takes in not only this world but others, not only man but also angels of every degree (Mt. 28:18; Eph. 1:22).

 

The echoes of the great promise made to David are very marked: "throne of David, establish, for ever" (cp. Ez. 37:25).

 

Fulfilment is certain and sure, guaranteed by the jealousy of the Lord of hosts which in times past has operated against His people (Dt. 4:24), but which will now vindicate them as well as His own name (37:32).

[Resource Manager]

9:8-10 "The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars."

 

There seem to be two ways in which this part of ch.9 (v.8-21) can be read.

 

The usual approach is to take it as a prophecy spoken by Isaiah personally against the northern kingdom — and in that case it supports the theory that the prophet fled north for refuge from the hostility of Ahaz. The Manasseh-Ephraim references in v.21 fit this idea. So also does the picture (in v.9-12) of Israel fighting against enemies to the north and south.

 

On the other hand, the prophecy may be addressed to refugees from Israel now planning with Ahaz to annex the weakened northern kingdom and so restore the ancient glories of Solomon's time. Later (see 2 Chr. 30:5-11) Hezekiah was to attempt a different and better method, and to come near to succeeding.

 

"All the people" (v.9) usually means the entire nation — Israel and Judah — and might provide support for the second of these suggestions. But not necessarily, for even if spoken only to Israel, it could still provide (as in 19:12 and Num. 14:34) a plain lesson ("they shall know") to all the twelve tribes.

 

The opening phrases almost speak of the Lord as a personal force going into action against His people. So also in not a few other places: "He will bring evil, and will not call back his words..." (31:2). My word...shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (55:11; cp. Ps. 107:20; 147:15). It is a word sometimes spoken of as ir­reversible (Gen. 27:33d; Num. 22:6c); yet this is not always the case.

 

There was evidently a tremendous spirit of self-confidence in Israel — "pride and stoutness of heart" — which in no way sprang from confidence in the God of their fathers. Rezin, Israel's former ally, was soon to be slain by his Assyrian enemy (2 Kgs. 16:9) and a puppet king Hoshea set in his place. But these men of Israel blithely shrugged off the discouragement. Looking back to the great days of Omri and Jeroboam II, they optimistically looked past present calamity ("the bricks are fallen") to a renewed prosperity which they would achieve by their own efforts — "we will build with hewn stones." The sycomores (commonplace fig trees, apt sym­bols of the nation) are cut down, but we will change them into cedars (such as Solomon gloried in)". They never stopped to ask themselves what good cedars might be before the Lord's devouring fire (Dt. 4:24).

 

Here LXX reads: "we will build us a tower." And since the next verse (v.11) foretells invasion from Syria, which had been a friend until recently, it becomes an interesting possibility that Jesus quarried two of his parables from this Old Testa­ment Scripture — the man building a tower, and the king unable to make successful war against his stronger adversary (Lk. 14:28-32).

[Resource Manager]

9:11,12 "Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."

 

Isaiah's "Therefore" tells his reader that such a judgment is inevitable as the due retribution for the cocky self-confidence displayed by the men of Israel. And the Hebrew past tenses (not futures, as in the AV) emphasize just how inevitable the punishment is. Since "the adversaries of Rezin" are called also "the Syrians" one is led to infer a coup d’état in that country, leading to a switch from alliance with Israel to hostility against it.

 

Thus Israel was to find itself beset by Syrians coming in from the east (Am. 1:3; and not the north, as might seem geographically more likely), and by Philistines coming up the coastal plain and attacking from the west.

 

Nor was this to be the end of Israel's judgment. God's anger would not be so light­ly turned away, but with His hand still stretched out against the northern tribes, He would continue to punish.

 

Following a remarkably small change in the Hebrew text, LXX has "the adver­saries of the mountain of Zion" as another way of describing the Syrians who had earlier joined in the aggression against Judah, being used then as part of God's punitive measure against faithless Ahaz.

[Resource Manager]

9:13-16 "For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts. Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head, and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed."

 

These men of northern Israel neither gave due honour to Jehovah nor were they willing to consider that the piling up of "misfortune" against them was His work. So His hand was stretched out still, to cut off "the head and the tail", that is, the leading men of wide experience in politics and the false prophets teaching religious lies (29:10; Jer. 14:14; Hab. 2:18). It is the figure of an animal that has lost all its natural powers to take care of itself. Its normal instincts seem to be useless.

 

Then the figure changes. Palm branch which normally waves itself proudly on high, and bulrush which bows humbly and unnoticed by a stagnant pool — the proud and the humble are alike to be destroyed "in one day" (10:17). The Hebrew word means "swallowed up", just as Korah and his propaganda-blinded colleagues plunged into the bowels of the earth (s.w. Num. 16:30), so also the capacious maw of Assyrian aggrandisement would digest this people, politically and religiously corrupt.

[Resource Manager]

9:17 "Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."

 

This part of God's nation was so estranged that He could neither join in their joy, as at the coming-of-age of their fine young men, nor share their miseries, not even of orphans and widows, those for whom His own Law expressed special concern (Dt. 10:18; Ps. 68:5). No mercy! No comfort! It is the renewed message of Hosea's Lo-Ruhamah (1:6). And this for the evident reason that a tradition of godlessness and vice had taken hold of all segments of society. "Every mouth speaketh folly" — it is a word often used specifically of sexual perversion. What could God hope to achieve with such a nation as this?

 

Isaiah taking this strong message with him into Galilee was bound to make himself as unpopular there as he already was in Jerusalem. But the word went forth never­theless. And it may be surmised that it was not wholly without effect. The way was being prepared for a faithful remnant to respond in a few years' time to Hezekiah's warm appeal to join in a great renewed Passover feast.

[Resource Manager]

9:18,19 "For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother."

 

What a vivid figure Isaiah here weaves into his picture of judgment! It is the wickedness of Israel which is to set their land and their civilization on fire (cp. Judah also: 1:31; 33:12). It is, of course, the fire of war (as in Num. 21:28).

 

There is the alternative possibility that the metonymy "wickedness" here stands for "the punishment for their wickedness", in the same way that "iniquity" also means, in some places, "punishment for iniquity", as in Gen. 4:13 (see RV mg.).

 

In the light of verse 21 — Ephraim, Manasseh — there is something very appropriate about this imagery for in those days the two main forests (which have long since dis­appeared) were in Ephraim (Josh. 17:15) and Manasseh (2 Sam. 18:6,8 — east of Jordan).

 

The flames of war would devour the worthless among the men of Israel, here called "briers and thorns" (such as exist also in the New Israel; Heb. 6:8). And as a forest fire shrouds an entire countryside in a pall of darkness, so would this judgment leave these northern tribes miserable under a cloud of divine anger.