Isaiah 9:21

Manasseh and Ephraim were the names of two sons of Joseph. Their later families formed *tribes and were called by the same names.

Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible. In the original language, God’s names mean ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
seize ~ to take a person’s possessions away from that person, either by law, or in a war. Or, to overcome a city or nation in order to rule it. Or, to take a person as a prisoner or a slave. Or, to hold something or someone firmly.
tribe ~ a group of the later family of one father.
Assyrian ~ a person from the country called Assyria; or anything that has a relationship with the country called Assyria.
Messiah ~ Old Testament title for Christ.

Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible. It contains 39 books, all from the time before Jesus was born.
Syrians ~ people from Syria.
Philistines ~ people from Philistia, which was a nation near Judah and a frequent enemy of God’s people.
liar ~ a person who tells lies.'thorn-bush ~ a bush with sharp points.

Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

King Ahaz

Isaiah Chapter s 7 to 12

Gordon Churchyard

The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

Chapter 9

The *Messiah and punishment

v1 But [in the future] there will be no darkness for the people that were very unhappy [before]. [They include] the people in the regions [called] Zebulun and Naphtali. In the past, [God] allowed trouble to happen to [those people]. But in the future, he will send honour [to them. He will send honour] to the country by the sea. And [God will send honour] to the other side of the Jordan [river]. [He will send honour to that] region [too]. And [he will send honour] to the area that the nations [call] Galilee.

v2 The people that walk in the dark will see a great light. [Some people] live in a country where there is real darkness. The light will shine on those [people].

v3 You, [*LORD], will make the nation bigger and you will make its people more joyful. They will be happy with you, as people are happy [at these times]:

• when [people] harvest [crops]

• when soldiers share what they [have taken in battle].

v4 [The people will be happy] because [you will defeat our enemies]. [It will be] like the day when [our army defeated the army from] Midian. You will break [these things]:

• the *yoke [with which the people carry] their heavy loads.

• the sticks with which [the enemies beat] our backs.

• the rod (stick to strike us with) that makes us suffer.

v5 Also, [the people will be happy] for this reason. They will burn every boot that soldiers wore in battle. [The boots will be] fuel for a fire. And [people will burn] the clothes with blood on them.

v6 And we have a son, because a child is born for us. And authority will rest on his shoulders. (In other words, he will have royal authority.) And [people] will call him [by these] names:

• Wonderful Adviser

• Great God

• Father for Always

• Prince of Peace.

v7 His (that son’s) authority will increase. And the peace that he will bring will never end. He will be king over [the country] that David ruled. He (that son) will give security to it. Now and always, he will make sure that fair and right things happen [to the people there. And he will make sure that everybody there] does good things. The *LORD of Everything will make that happen, because he cares [about his people] very much.

Notes

Verse 1 Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language. In the *Hebrew Bible, verse 1 is the last verse of chapter 8. The ‘unhappy people’ are those at the end of chapter 8. The regions called Zebulun and Naphtali were not in Judah. They were in Israel, the northern country. Perhaps Isaiah did not mean just those two regions. Maybe he meant Israel as a whole. God allowed Assyria’s soldiers (and other soldiers) to do bad things to the people that lived there. But in the future it would be different! Isaiah referred to three places. They were:

• by the sea

• on the other side of the river

• Galilee.

Those may all mean the northern country, Israel. But they may also mean Judah. This prophecy became true when Jesus came to live in Galilee! A ‘prophecy’ means what a *prophet says. Often it will happen in the future, as here. When Jesus lived on the Earth, the people did not seem to remember this *prophecy in verse 1. That was strange. Look at John 1:46. (Nazareth was a town in Galilee.) And look also at John 7:41-52.

Verse 2 In the *Hebrew Bible, this is verse 1 of chapter 9. In this verse, dark and darkness mean trouble, but light means the opposite of trouble. ‘Real darkness’ is the way that a poet would say ‘very, very dark’. It is a description of very great trouble. The words ‘real darkness’ and ‘the shadow of death’ sound similar in *Hebrew. Some English Bible students translate it as ‘the shadow of death’. There was so much trouble that people were afraid. They thought that they would die!

Verse 3 ‘Happy with you’ means ‘happy because of what you have done for them’. Isaiah describes what the people’s joy will be like. It will be like their joy when they have plenty of things. Those may be two kinds of things:

• Food that the people have when they harvest their crops.

• Things that soldiers bring home from war. They have taken those things from the enemy.

Verses 4, 5 and 6-7 give three reasons for that joy:

• God will break the wooden things that the enemy uses. The enemy uses them to be cruel to Israel (verse 4).

• Someone will burn the clothes of the soldiers in the enemy’s army (verse 5).

• A new ruler will come to God’s people (verse 6-7).

Verse 4 The *Hebrew text here has ‘the day of Midian’. It means the time when an army from the country called Midian attacked Israel. God helped his people to destroy Midian’s army. The story about that is in Judges chapter 7. God chose a man called Gideon to lead his people against Midian’s army. The *Hebrew Bible mentions that God will break three sorts of wood:

• The ‘yoke’. That was a piece of wood that people held across their shoulders. It helped them to carry loads, which they hung on each end.

• The ‘stick’. That was something that people used to strike other people.

• The ‘rod’. That, too, was a kind of stick that they used to strike people.

Those wooden things are a special description of how the first person (or nation) makes a second person (or nation) work for them. The first person is cruel. The second person suffers.

Verse 5 The clothes of the enemy soldiers will be fuel for a great fire. That probably means that the enemy soldiers will be dead.

Verse 6 Isaiah says that the child is already alive. We do not know who the child was. Perhaps it was a son of Isaiah. But for Christians it is Jesus, the most important *Messiah! A ‘messiah’ is someone whom God has sent to do a special job. In that way, all the kings of Judah were ‘messiahs’. The *Hebrew word ‘messiah’ means someone ‘over whom people poured oil’. They did that to him when his people made him king. Then the verse has ‘[people] will call him [by these] names’. The *Hebrew words mean ‘he will call his name’. But we do not know who ‘he’ was here. It may be anyone that the Messiah rules over. Or it may be God. The child will have several names:

• Wonderful Adviser. A good adviser gives good advice to people. But this adviser will give such very good advice that he will be wonderful!

• Great God. Actually, the *Hebrew words mean that he is the strong and powerful God. That will make him great.

• Father for Always. God will always be the Father of his people. For the *Jews, God was the Father of their king. And he was the Father of their nation. Jesus taught us this. God is the Father of everyone that loves him.

• Prince of Peace. This probably means ‘the prince that gives peace’.

Verse 7 But we may ask, ‘Who is this man?’ Christians believe that it is Jesus! But we could translate ‘Great God’ (verse 6) as ‘great [man whom] God [sent]’. That means that he could be a king of Judah. Isaiah himself probably meant a great king of Judah, like Josiah. Josiah started to rule about 50 years after Isaiah died. Isaiah may not have realised that his words here had two or more meanings. Remember these words in 1 Peter 1:10-11. ‘The Holy Spirit spoke through the *prophets. They searched for what he meant.’ So, Isaiah’s words meant a great king like Josiah. But they also meant the greatest King among all kings, Jesus!

v8 The *Lord sent a message against Jacob (Jacob’s family) and it fell on Israel (it came to Israel’s people).

v9 And all the people [that live in] Ephraim and Samaria know about it. They praise themselves in their proud hearts,

v10 ‘[Our houses that we made from] bricks fell down. But we will build them [again] with stones [that the workmen] have cut. They [(enemies or *earthquakes)] have cut down (knocked down) [buildings that we made from] trees [called] sycamore. But we will replace them with [buildings from better trees called] cedar.’

v11 But the *LORD will make the enemies of Rezin stronger against him [(Rezin or Jacob)]. Also, [the *LORD] will encourage those enemies.

v12 Those from Syria on the east [side] have opened their mouths. (In other words, they have attacked Israel.) And so have those from Philistia on the west [side]. They have eaten Israel. (In other words, they have destroyed Israel.) But [the *LORD] is still angry and his hand is still ready [to hit them again].

Notes

In Isaiah 9:8-10, there are 4 groups of verses.

• 9:8-12. Armies from Syria and Philistia have attacked Israel. But the people in Israel do not realise that really God is punishing Israel by that means.

• 9:13-17. So God will remove Israel’s leaders and false *prophets.

• 9:18-21. As a result, there will be bad leaders. And the people will do whatever they like.

• 10:1-4. In the end nobody will obey God, and the enemy (Assyria’s army) will destroy Israel.

Each group of verses ends with these words. ‘But [the *LORD] is still angry and his hand is still ready [to hit them again].’

Verse 8 ‘Lord’ is a word that means ‘master, someone with authority’. Here it is a name for God, as it usually is in Isaiah. In the *Hebrew Bible, it is not the same word that we refer to as ‘*LORD’. The message was against Jacob. That means that it was not a friendly message. Maybe it did not consist of words. Maybe the ‘message’ was something that happened. The *Hebrew word for ‘message’ can also mean ‘something’. Verse 10 shows us that something has happened. So, the word ‘message’ here probably means ‘something’. ‘Jacob’ here means ‘Jacob’s family’. It is a name for God’s people. Here it means the northern country, called Israel. We know that, because in verse 9 the writer mentions the name Ephraim. Ephraim was the most important part of the northern country. We could translate ‘fell on Israel’ as ‘came to Israel (Israel’s people)’.

Verse 9 Samaria city was the capital of the northern country, Israel. ‘In their hearts’ means ‘to themselves’. The *Jews believed that people thought in their hearts. ‘Proud’ here is something bad. They considered themselves to be better than they really were.

Verse 10 Probably the armies from Syria and Philistia knocked down the houses that people had made from bricks. But it may have been the result of an earthquake. An ‘earthquake’ is when the ground shakes. We learn from Amos 1:1 that there was an earthquake about this time. Notice that here the writer is ‘playing with words’. That is, the same word has two meanings. In verse 8, God’s message ‘fell’ on the people. And here, their houses fell! They were proud people. So they said that they would build the houses again. But instead of bricks, which people made from mud and straw, they would use stones. People cut the stones to the right shape from rocks. The stones cost more, because they were much better than bricks. Also, the wood from the trees called cedar was very good. It was much better than the wood from the trees called sycamore. Cedar trees have their leaves all the year, but sycamore trees lose their leaves in winter.

Verse 11 In Isaiah 7:1, we read that Rezin was the king of Syria. Rezin, with Syria’s army, did attack Israel (verse 12). But the ‘enemies of Rezin’ here does not mean Israel’s army. It means an army from Assyria. Possibly Syria’s King Rezin was afraid of Assyria’s army. So he wanted Israel’s army to help his own (Syria’s) army to fight against the army from Assyria. And the soldiers from Syria were angry when Israel’s army would not help them. Maybe that was why Syria’s army attacked Israel. ‘Him’ might mean Rezin, which would refer to Rezin’s country, Syria. Or it might mean Jacob, which would refer to his family’s country, Israel.

Verse 12 The enemies have ‘opened their mouths’ and they have ‘eaten Israel’. That is a special description. It means that the enemies ‘attacked Israel’ and they ‘destroyed it’. The armies from Syria and Philistia were like wild animals. A wild animal eats what it catches. Similarly, Syria and Philistia ‘ate’ (destroyed) Israel, the country that they had attacked. This section ends with these words. ‘But [the *LORD] is still angry and his hand is still ready [to hit them again]. The people in Israel did not believe that God had punished them. So, God was going to punish them again. The next verses tell us how that would happen.

v13 But the people did not look for the one that had hit them. Neither did they try to obey the *LORD of Everything.

v14 So in one day the *LORD will cut off the head and tail from Israel. [He will also cut off] the branch of the [tree called a] palm. And [he will cut off the] reed (tall grass that grows near water).

v15 The head means the older men and the important people. The tail means the [false] *prophets, who teach lies.

v16 [This will happen] because the leaders of this nation lead its people away from the truth. They confuse the people whom they lead.

v17 So the *Lord will not feel happy with their young men. And he will not show kindness to [children that are] without fathers. And [he will not show kindness to] widows. That is because nobody obeys God. [Everyone] is wicked. What everyone says is foolish. But [the *LORD] is still angry and his hand is still ready [to hit them again].

Notes

Verse 13 Here we have ‘look for the one’. In the *Hebrew, it means ‘turn to the one’. Of course, ‘the one’ here means the *LORD. And also the *Hebrew for ‘try to obey the *LORD’ can mean ‘look for the *LORD’. But here it means more than that. It means ‘obey the *LORD’. And it means ‘repent’. ‘Repent’ means that people say ‘sorry’ to the *LORD for their wrong actions, words and thoughts. With his help, they try to stop their wrong behaviour. Also they must love him. They must give honour to him and they must serve him. But the people did not do that. So God says that he will punish them again. As the writer says in the *Hebrew words, God will ‘lift his hand’ again to hit them. In verses 8-12, God has used armies from Syria and Philistia to punish Israel’s people once already.

Verse 14-15 As the writer explains in verse 15, the ‘head’ and ‘tail’ are the leaders. The ‘head’ means the political leaders. The ‘tail’ means the leaders of their false religion. The tree called a ‘palm’ has brown fruits called dates. The palm tree has its branches high up at the top of the tree. The plant called a ‘reed’ is like a tall grass and its leaves may be sharp at the end. It grows in a low place, by the edge of water. Probably also the ‘palm’ means the political leaders, and also the ‘reed’ means the leaders of false religions. ‘In one day’ means ‘when God acts’. Some Bible students translate this in the past tense. They write, ‘The *LORD cut off the head and tail from Israel.’ Either the future or the past could be right. It depends on when Isaiah wrote this chapter. He could have written it before Assyria destroyed Israel. Or he could have written it afterwards.

Verse 16 The *Hebrew word for ‘confuse’ also means ‘eat’. That reminds us of verse 12. But verse 16 does not refer to the enemies. Here it is the leaders who ‘eat’ (confuse) the people.

Verse 17 Nobody obeys God. And that includes young people and widows. The *Hebrew word that we have translated as ‘nobody obeys’ actually means ‘without God’. People that do not obey God become wicked. People whom God usually helps, like widows and children, can become wicked. That happens if they are without God. Here, ‘foolish’ does not mean ‘silly’. It means something that is evil and wicked.

v18 The evil [things that people do] burn like a fire. It eats up (destroys) *briers. And it eats up (destroys) weeds that have *thorns. It burns up the bushes in the forest. And they rise upwards in a column of smoke.

v19 The *LORD of Everything is so angry that he will burn the land. Also, the people will be like fuel for the fire. No man will care about his brother.

v20 They will take food on their right side, but they will remain hungry. And they will eat what is on the left side. But it will not satisfy them. Everyone will eat his neighbour’s body.

v21 Ephraim’s [people] will eat Manasseh’s [people], and Manasseh’s [people] will eat Ephraim’s [people]. And both those [groups will fight] against Judah’s [people]. But [the *LORD] is still angry and his hand is still ready [to hit them again].

Notes

Verse 18 When people do evil things, the evil things destroy them. It is like a fire that destroys bushes. ‘It’ here means ‘evil things that are like a fire’. ‘Briers’ are bushes with many small sharp points (called ‘thorns’) that grow out of their branches. Many smaller weeds also have thorns. Bushes and plants like those burn very easily. The ones in the forest here are burning. And that produces a column of smoke, which rises up over the forest.

Verse 19 The *LORD’s great anger is what he feels about *sin. In English, we might say that he ‘burns with anger’. He punishes people because he is so angry. The fire is a special description. It means punishment by any method. The people will be ‘like fuel for the fire’. It means that they will be ‘ready for punishment’. ‘No man will care’ starts an *inclusio. The *inclusio continues with verse 20. The section ‘Something to do’ after Isaiah chapter 1 explains *inclusios.

Verse 20 ‘Eat his neighbour’s body’ means ‘destroy his neighbour’s body’. In that case, ‘eat’ means ‘destroy’, as it does in verse 18. People will take food from anywhere. They will steal it from anywhere. They will do that even if their neighbours die as a result. Everyone will do what they want to do. They will not obey their country’s laws. And they will not obey God’s rules.

Verse 21 Here again, ‘eat’ means ‘destroy’ or ‘attack’. Ephraim and Manasseh were two large areas in Israel. Those two groups of people will attack each other, and they will attack Judah.

heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean the place where God lives and the skies above us.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
messiah ~ a leader such as a king. With a capital M (that is, ‘Messiah’), it means Jesus for Christians.'Lord/lord ~ lord means master; Lord is a name for God. It is not the same as LORD.

Lord/lord ~ lord means master; Lord is a name for God. It is not the same as LORD.
LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YHWH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YHWH.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
yoke ~ this went across the shoulders, with loads which hung on each end.
prophet ~ a man who tells people what God has told him.
prophecy ~ the words of a prophet.
prophet ~ a man who tells people what God has told him.
Jews ~ the people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.'Lord/lord ~ lord means master; Lord is a name for God. It is not the same as LORD.

Lord/lord ~ lord means master; Lord is a name for God. It is not the same as LORD.
LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YHWH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YHWH.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
earthquake ~ when the ground shakes.
briers ~ bushes that have sharp thorns on their branches.
thorn ~ a bush with sharp points on its branches. The sharp points are also called thorns.
thorn ~ a bush with sharp points on its branches. The sharp points are also called thorns.
sin ~ not to obey God. Or, what you do when you do not obey God.
inclusio ~ ‘something to do’ after Isaiah chapter 1 explains this word.