Isaiah 8 - Introduction

Isaiah 8:1-18. Further oracles from the time of the Syro-Ephraimitish war

The passage may be analysed as follows:

2 Samuel 8:1; 2 Samuel 8:1. The prophet, having utterly failed to influence the policy of the court (ch. Isaiah 7:1-17) is directed by Jehovah to impress his divinely inspired view of the situation on the public mind by two significant actions. First, he is to place in some conspicuous position a large tablet bearing in legible characters the ominous inscription lmhrshllḥshbz; at the same time giving legal formality to the transaction by taking two prominent citizens as witnesses. Then the explanation of the word is given in connexion with the naming of a son born to him soon afterwards. It is a prophecy of the speedy overthrow of Ephraim and Syria by the king of Assyria. These actions are only intelligible at a time when the prediction was contrary to common expectation; hence they were performed certainlybefore the conquest of Damascus (732), and probablyalso before the embassy of Ahaz to Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 16:7).

ii. Isa 8:5-8. A prediction of the Assyrian invasion of Judah. The people who despise the softly flowing waters of Shiloah (the symbol of Jehovah's invisible presence and government) shall be inundated by the waters of the Euphrates (a figure for the might of Assyria).

iii. Isa 8:9-10. An oracle of very different import from the preceding. In an apostrophe to the nations of the world the prophet announces the frustration of all plans and combinations directed against the sovereign rule of Jehovah on mount Zion.

iv. Isaiah 8:11. Isaiah relates how in an hour of ecstasy he had experienced the strong pressure of the divine hand on his spirit, holding him aloof from the currents of public opinion which flowed around him, and constraining him to regulate his attitude by the constant thought of God's presence; and along with this there were revealed to him the awful consequences of stumbling heedlessly against the purposes of Jehovah.

v. Isaiah 8:16. The prophet recognises that a chapter of his ministry has now closed. He is conscious that Jehovah has withdrawn the gracious guidance of the prophetic word which the nation has so emphatically rejected; and therefore he retires within the circle of his own adherents to wait for the fulfilment of his words. To these "disciples" he commits a record of the prophecies delivered during the crisis, while to the unbelieving people Jehovah has given pledges of His word in the names of the prophet and his two children.

It would be a mistake to look for a close logical connexion between these sections. They form a series of detached oracles, which followed each other at intervals like lightning flashes, illuminating for us the darkness of the political situation. Along with ch. 7 and probably also ch. 6, they constitute no doubt the chief part of the "testimony" which Isaiah "sealed up" among his disciples.