Isaiah 8:5-6

The ‘water that flows gently from Shiloah’ is a beautiful description. It describes the quiet peace that trust in God would have provided.

• Shiloah was the original name of Siloam (see John 9:7). This was the *aqueduct by which water from the Gihon spring flowed gently into east *Jerusalem. Unlike other capital cities, *Jerusalem does not stand by a river. That fact alone emphasises the need for God’s people to trust God to provide for them.

• Rezin was king of Syria. Pekah was king of Israel.

Verse 7-8

The Euphrates is a very large river (see Genesis 2:14).

For the name ‘Immanuel’, see my note on Isaiah 7:14.