이사야 Chapter 8

Translation: ESV

1

Then the LORD said to me, "Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, 'Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.'"

Key Message

God's prophecy is publicly recorded so that its fulfillment proves God's faithfulness.

▸God gives Isaiah a special command.

God gives Isaiah a special command. 'Maher-shalal-hash-baz' means in Hebrew 'the spoil speeds, the prey hastens.' By publicly recording this, witnesses are established, so that when the prophecy is fulfilled its reliability can be confirmed.

Related Verses

And the LORD answered me: "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it."
2

And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.

Key Message

God confirms his prophecy through official witnesses, so that when it is fulfilled God's faithfulness is revealed.

▸God appoints two reliable witnesses.

3

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

Key Message

The prophet's entire life, including his family and children, becomes part of God's prophetic message.

▸Isaiah's child is born and named Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

4

for before the boy knows how to cry 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."

Key Message

God's prophecy has a concrete and measurable time frame, and its historical fulfillment confirms the reliability of prophecy.

▸Similar to Immanuel (7:14), this child also becomes a time reference point.

5

The LORD spoke to me again:

Key Message

God speaks continually, giving a new word suited to each situation.

▸A heading-form that signals the start of a new prophetic unit.

6

"Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

Key Message

Rejecting God's quiet and peaceful provision and choosing a dazzling, seemingly powerful human alliance is rejecting God himself.

▸The waters of Shiloah are an important water source for Jerusalem (water flowing from the Gihon spring into the city).

7

therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks,

Key Message

Rejecting little water (God's peace) leads to a great flood (judgment)—the paradoxical consequence teaches that trusting God is true safety.

▸As a consequence of rejecting the gentle waters of Shiloah, the overflowing waters of the Euphrates will come.

8

and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel."

Key Message

Even when judgment rises to the neck, the promise of Immanuel—God is with us—is not rescinded.

▸The Assyrian flood will come into Judah and reach the neck—dangerously close to drowning but not completely swallowing.

9

Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered.

Key Message

Those who stand against the people with whom God is present will certainly fail, and the people of Immanuel are ultimately protected.

▸This is a declaration directed at Israel's enemies.

10

Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

Key Message

Immanuel—God is with us—is the only foundation that brings down all human schemes.

▸'For God is with us'—this is Immanuel.

11

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:

Key Message

The prophet is called through God's strong calling to live by God's perspective rather than the world's dominant atmosphere.

▸'With his strong hand upon me' indicates God's powerful and direct intervention.

12

"Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.

Key Message

The prophet does not follow the world's fears and standards, but lives a distinctive life viewing reality from God's perspective.

▸What Israel fears and what the prophet should fear are different.

13

But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

Key Message

One who fears God does not fear anything else, and the only proper object of reverence is God alone.

▸The proper object of fear is presented: the LORD of hosts.

14

And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Key Message

God is a sanctuary for those who trust and a stumbling stone for those who reject, and our response to God determines the outcome.

▸God plays two roles: a sanctuary for those who trust, a stumbling stone and trap for those who reject.

15

And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.

Key Message

Rejecting God is choosing one's own destruction, and this outcome is simultaneously God's judgment and the result of one's own choice.

▸The consequences of the stumbling stone in verse 14 are explained.

16

Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.

Key Message

God's word is preserved in writing even when not accepted and transmitted to subsequent generations—this is the formation principle of Scripture.

▸This is a scene of Isaiah recording his prophecy for preservation and entrusting it to disciples.

17

I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

Key Message

Waiting and longing even in the dark period when God hides his face is genuine faith, and this is the prophet's posture in life.

▸Waiting and hoping even when God hides his face is the prophet's posture.

18

Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Key Message

The prophet's entire life and family become God's living word, and the prophet's very existence testifies to God's plan.

▸Isaiah himself and his children are living prophetic signs.

19

And when they say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter," should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

Key Message

Seeking knowledge from dead things while abandoning the living God is spiritual folly, and God alone is the true source of knowledge.

▸Inquiring of mediums and necromancers is depending on something other than God.

20

To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

Key Message

All spiritual claims and guidance must be verified by the standard of God's word (law and testimony), and the Word is the final authority of all spiritual judgment.

▸The standard of all spiritual guidance is the law and the testimony (Scripture).

21

They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward.

Key Message

The result of rejecting God is wandering and hunger, and cursing God even in judgment is the extreme of stubbornness.

▸This is the judgment those who rejected God's word and relied on mediums will experience.

22

And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

Key Message

The end of rejecting God is complete darkness, but this despair becomes the background that makes the light vision of chapter 9 all the more dramatic.

▸The final verse of chapter 8 ends with an image of darkness similar to 5:30 and 7:25.