Isaiah 8

Chap. VIII. Ver. 1-22. The subjection both of Israel, and subsequently of Judah, to the Assyrian power.—The foregoing chapter, and the first four verses of this, refer only to the kingdom of Judah; the 6th and 7th verses appear to include Israel, which, for rejecting the gentle stream of Shiloah, (nigh Jerusalem,) should be overthrown by the great river of Assyria; alluding to the conquests of Tiglath-pileser and Shalmanezer over that kingdom. The 8th verse again refers to the kingdom of Judah, which would be in such imminent danger from the same quarter (under Sennacherib) as a man that is drowning when he can but just keep his head above the waters. The two next verses (9, 10) are addressed by the prophet to the Israelites and Syrians, confederated against Judah, and perhaps to all the enemies of God’s people: assuring them that all their efforts would be fruitless, for that the promised Immanuel (or “God with us”) would be the defence of his people.

He then proceeds to warn his countrymen against false alarms on the one hand, and against idolatry, divination, and the like sinful practices, on the other; exhorting them to trust in God, and seek direction from his word; professing, in a beautiful apostrophe to God, (ver. 17.) that this was his own determined resolution. And to enforce this counsel, and strengthen their faith, he points to his children, whose given names were signs or pledges of the divine promises: the one (Chap., vii. 13.) implying that a remnant should return from the captivity; the other ((Isaiah 8:1, 3).) that their enemies were devoted to destruction: intimating withal, that the faithful, who should attend to his counsels, should find security; while the generality of the nation would be involved in the utmost distress, in consequence of their rejecting it.

This part of the prophecy respects principally the time of the Messiah’s manifestation, when the generality of the Jews, rejecting God’s foundation, stumbled at that stone which he had laid in Zion, and all their hopes were “broken” on the stone on which they ought to have been built. (See (Psalms 118:22). (Romans 9:33). (1 Peter 2:8).) And this led to the awful destruction of their city and their temple, when they themselves were “driven into darkness and despair.”