Isaiah 8:9-15

2. THREATENING AGAINST THOSE THAT CONSPIRE AGAINST JUDAH, AND AGAINST THOSE THAT FEAR THESE CONSPIRACIES

Isaiah 8:9-15.

9

ASSOCIATE yourselves, O ye people, 1and ye shall be broken in pieces;

And give ear, all ye of far countries:Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces:Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

10

Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought;

Speak the word, and it shall not stand:For God is with us.

11

For the LORD spake thus to me cwith a strong hand,

And instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,

12

Say ye not, A confederacy,

To all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy;

Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

13

Sanctify the LORD of Hosts himself;

And let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

14

And he shall be for a sanctuary;

But for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offenceTo both the houses of Israel,For a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15

And many among them shall stumble,

And fall, and be broken,And be snared, and be taken.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

On Isaiah 8:9. רֹעוּ. The forms and meanings of the roots &רוע רעע and ירע cross each other in a peculiar manner. רֹעוּ can only come from the root רָעַע; but to this root has been transferred the meaning, too, of רוּעַ. Although originally רוּעַ has the meaning malum esse, as appears from the imperf. Niph. יֵרוֹעַ (Proverbs 11:15; Proverbs 13:20) which can only be derived from a root עו׳, yet this root never occurs in Kal., but all Kal forms that mean “to be evil” are to be derived from a root רָעַע (comp. רָע Numbers 11:10, then the adjective רעַ, and perhaps, too, the forms רָעָה Deuteronomy 15:9; 2 Samuel 19:8 and infin. רֹעַ Ecclesiastes 7:3). On the other hand רעע has undoubtedly the meaning “to break” (Psalms 2:9; Jeremiah 11:16; Jeremiah 15:12, etc.). We must therefore choose here between the meanings “be evil” and “break.” With DRECHSLER and others, I prefer the latter, because “be wicked” and “break in pieces” involve no contradiction; for where fore may not what is wicked also break in pieces? [“GESENIUS in his latest lexicons gives this verb its usual sense of being evil, malignant, which is also expressed by LUTHER (seid bِse, ihr Vِlker). It is here equivalent to do your worst.” J. A. ALEXANDER.].—מֶרְחָק frequent in Isaiah (Isaiah 10:3; Isaiah 13:5; Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 30:27; Isaiah 46:11; plural מַרְחַקִּים Isaiah 33:17).—The double imperative התאזרו וחתו sustain an adverbial relation to one another: break up yet break in pieces yourselves; gird ye yourselves, and spite of it break in pieces. Comp. GESEN., § 130, 2. The former word seems to me not to mean bellum parare, for the war is far progressed; but in accord with the proper vis vocabult, the girding the loins, bracing oneself up as men are wont to do in the midst of an attack.

On Isaiah 8:10. עוּץ only here and Judges 19:30. On עֵצָה comp. on Isaiah 5:19.——Pual תפר only here in Isaiah (Jeremiah 33:21; Zechariah 11:11).——Other forms of פרר; Isaiah 14:27; Isaiah 24:5; Isaiah 24:19; Isaiah 33:8; Isaiah 44:25.

On Isaiah 8:11. חֶזְקָה wherever else it occurs (2Ch 12:1; 2 Chronicles 26:16; Daniel 11:2) means “the being strong,” and is used everywhere of the fortified power of a potentate. חזקת היד is therefore “the hand being strong.” It is the hand of God that comes over the prophets (Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 3:22; Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 33:22; Ezekiel 37:1; Ezekiel 40:1) and in fact our expression signifies the condition that Ezekiel describes with the words וְַיד י׳ עַָלי חָזָֽקָה Isaiah 3:14.——וְיִסְּרֵנִי cannot be the perf., or it must read יִסְרַנִי. But the imperf stands as jussive with the Vav. consec. (Comp. EWALD, § 347 a). ויסרני is, then, not co-ordinate with כה אמר as KNOBEL and even EWALD would have it; but it continues and declares the object of בחזקת היד, co-ordinate with the latter, subordinate to the former (DELITZSCH. As regards the form, the imperf. יִסֹּר underlies it, which Hosea 10:10 is used in the first person.—The preposition מן is to be treated as dependent on the notion of “holding back, restraining,” contained in יסרני (constructio praegnans).

On Isaiah 8:12. לְכֹל וגו does not designate the object that is given a name. For then the second member must read: יִאמר העם הזה לו קשׁר. But, as DRECHSLER justly remarks, לְ before כֹּל = darauf hin, bei, “at,” “with,” and כֹּל has the meaning cunque (compare אֶל־בָּל־אֲשֶׁר Proverbs 17:8, “whither-so-ever”). Not so often as those, not incessantly shall they say קשׁר, as if there were nothing in the world to fear but this. מורא only here in Isaiah.—העריץ Hiph. in Isaiah also Isaiah 8:13; Isaiah 29:23. Kal. Isaiah 2:19; Isaiah 2:21; Isaiah 47:12. From Isaiah 29:23 it is seen that Isaiah uses the word in the sense of “timere aliquid;” in our passage it means “to fear” and Isaiah 9:13 “to affright.” Thus it appears that Isaiah uses the Hiph. sometimes as indirect, sometimes as direct causative, and then uses the latter in a transitive sense.

On Isaiah 8:13. In מראבם Isaiah has evidently in mind Genesis 9:2; Deuteronomy 11:25.

On Isaiah 8:14. מקדשׁ (again in Isaiah 16:12; Isaiah 60:13; Isaiah 63:18) means sanctuary generally, here evidently with the additional notion of asylum (comp. 1 Kings 1:50 sq.; 1 Kings 2:28 sqq.). וּ before לְאֶבֶן is adversative.—נֶגֶף only here in Isaiah and moreover אבן נגף ἅπ. λεγ.—מבשׁל “that over which one stumbles,” (again Isaiah 57:14; צור מכשׁל only here).—פח (παγίς, “cord,” vid. Isaiah 24:17 sq.). מוקשׁ “loop-snare” of the bird-catcher, only here in Isaiah.

On Isaiah 8:15. The operation of מבשׁול and פח are in Isaiah 8:15 represented by five verbs, of which the first three relate to נגף and מבשׁל, and the last to פח and מוקשׁ.—Many, e. g., GESENIUS, HITZIG, UMBREIT, refer בָּם to the two notions of stone and snare. But as KNOBEL justly remarks, it is a “chief thought of Isaiah that the judgments overtake the sinners; the pious are left as a remnant: Isaiah 1:25; Isaiah 1:28; Isaiah 6:13; Isaiah 28:18 sq.; Isaiah 29:20 sq.; Isaiah 33:14.”—כָּשַׁל comp. Isaiah 3:8. Niph. נשׁבר Isaiah 14:29; Isaiah 24:10; Isaiah 27:11; Isaiah 28:13; Isaiah 41:1.—יקשׁ Isaiah 29:21; Isaiah 28:13, in which last cited passage the verbs here employed are repeated excepting נפלו.—לבד again in Isaiah only Isaiah 20:1; Isaiah 24:18.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Having reproved the perverse policy of the earthly-minded Israel, the Prophet proclaims to the nations conspiring against Judah that they, the breakers-in-pieces, shall themselves be broken in pieces (Isaiah 9:9-10). Then he says—turning to the spiritually-minded Israel—the LORD has emphatically warned them against the ways of the fleshly-minded (Isaiah 9:11) and forbidden them to regard the conspiracy of the enemies as most to be dreaded (Isaiah 9:12). Jehovah ought to be feared (Isaiah 9:13). He is to the one a sanctuary (asylum), to the others, a stone of stumbling and a snare (Isaiah 9:14-15).

2. Associate—God is with us.

Isaiah 9:9-10. These words are addressed to the עַמִּים “peoples;” Isaiah 9:5-8 were addressed to “this people,” Isaiah 9:6. Evidently then “peoples,” Isaiah 9:9, is contrasted with “this people,” Isaiah 9:6. The Prophet plainly addresses nations, that arm themselves against the land of Immanuel, devise plans, issue commands. Nothing shall come of all this. Comparing Isaiah 7:7, it is seen that Syria and Ephraim must be meant here. A remarkable contrast is put, when he that has broken others to pieces himself breaks to pieces. Syria and Ephraim had already done Judah considerable harm (comp. on Isaiah 7:1-2); Isaiah 9:9, they are challenged to prepare still more, but spite of the breaking already accomplished, and these first attempts, they shall themselves be broken to pieces. The Prophet moreover summons distant nations to take notice of this for their own warning. The clause: “give ear—countries” is a parenthesis. As the Prophet repeats the words of Isaiah 7:7 “and it shall not stand,” with little alteration, he intimates that he has the same matter in his mind. And in fact Isaiah 7:5 sq., speaks of “evil counsel” on the part of Syria and Ephraim against Judah, the land of Immanuel, as here of “taking counsel together,” and “speaking a word.” By this arises the conspiracy (קֶשֶׁר) spoken of Isaiah 9:12, which can mean nothing but the alliance of the two states named. בי עמגו אל. For the third and last time we have the words Immanuel. They must certainly be read separate here as a clause. They express the idea of the name as an independent judgment. The world-power must shiver on the rock Israel, for it is thereby the strong rock in that God is with it. But this strong rock is not the ’Ισραὴλ σαρκικός, but the ’Ισραὴλ πνευματικός [not the fleshly Israel, but the spiritual Israel]. Comp. Psalms 2:0.

3. For the Lord——your dread.

Isaiah 9:11-13. Judah is safe from the breaker-in-pieces, for God is with it (Isaiah 9:10). That is, in a certain sense, not unconditionally. For the LORD will be an asylum only to those who fear and sanctify Him; but to others, who fear men more than Him, He will be their fall. “For the LORD spake thus,” etc.: “for,” relates to the thought contained in the words Immanuel, “God is with us.” This thought is both established and limited by what follows. For God is with that part of the people only that fears Him above all things, loves and trusts Him alone. Therefore the Prophet says that this word of the LORD was directed to him. But he is representative of the believing Israel. Therefore Isaiah 9:12 continues with “say ye not,” and those addressed are expressly distinguished from “this people,” Isaiah 9:11.

“Ye shall not say conspiracy.”

Isaiah 9:12. It is impossible that the Prophet can mean to say: “Ye shall not call everything conspiracy that people call conspiracy!” For what sort of confederations did they incorrectly call conspiracies? May, perhaps, Pekah’s alliance with Rezin be justified here? Or is some conspiracy of the Prophet and his followers against Ahaz (ROORDA) approved of? Or, are the believing Israelites warned against taking part in conspiracies (HOFMANN, DRECHSLER), which does not the least lie in the words? According to Isaiah 7:2, the heart of Ahaz, and his people quaked like trees before the wind, when intelligence came to Jerusalem of the union of Syria with Ephraim. At that time, assuredly, the political wiseacres might be seen in every corner putting their heads together, and anxiously whispering: קֶשֶׁר קֶשֶׁר, “conspiracy, conspiracy.” They called the alliance of Pekah with Rezin a קֶשֶׁר and saw therein, of course with some justice, the chief danger of Judah. Thus, the Prophet adds, “and what they fear shall not ye fear.” It must therefore have been a conspiracy that was the subject of fear to the mass of the nation of Judah. The meaning then is that men ought not to say “conspiracy” so often, not so incessantly to have this word in their months, and make the conspiracy the matter of greatest concern.

4. Sanctify——be taken.

Isaiah 9:13-15. Here begins the antithesis, that says what ought to be. They ought to sanctify Jehovah, (comp. Isaiah 29:23, the only other instance of this Hiph.); He ought to be the object of fear, the terror-maker. In such a case He will be for man a safe, sheltering, holy asylum (comp. Psalms 15:1; Psalms 18:3; Psalms 23:6; Psalms 84:5). But He will be a stone of stumbling to those that fear Him not. Therefore the two houses of Israel, Judah and Ephraim, shall be destroyed just by the LORD. It would have been better for this fleshly Israel, had it never known the LORD. Jerusalem is mentioned expressly, because, as capital city, its example had great influence. To it the LORD will be a snare.

[J. A. ALEXANDER on Isaiah 9:12-14. קֶשֶׁר, according to etymology and usage, is a treasonable combination or conspiracy. It is elsewhere commonly applied to such a combination on the part of subjects against their rulers (2 Kings 11:14; 2Ki 12:21; 2 Kings 14:19; 2 Kings 15:30). It is not strictly applicable, therefore, to the confederacy of Syria and Israel against Judah (GESENIUS, ROSENMULLER, HENDERSON,etc.), nor to that of Ahaz with the king of Assyria (BARNES,etc.). It would be more appropriate to the factious combinations among the Jews themselves (ABEN EZRA, KIMCHI), if there were any trace of these in history. The correct view seems to be: that the opposition of the Prophet and his followers to seeking foreign aid, viz.: Assyrian, as a violation of duty to Jehovah, like the conduct of Jeremiah during the Babylonian siege, was regarded by the king and his adherents as a treasonable combination to betray them to their enemies. But God commands not to regard the cry of treason or conspiracy, nor to share the real or pretended terrors of the unbelievers.”

On Isaiah 9:14. מִקדָּשׁ. “Although the temples of the gods were regarded as asylums by the Greeks and Romans, no such usage seems to have prevailed among the Christians till the time of Constantine (BINGHAM’S,Orig. Ecclesiastes 8:11; Ecclesiastes 8:1). As to the Jews, the only case which has been cited to establish such a practice seems to prove the contrary. So far was the altar from protecting Joab, that he was not even dragged away, but killed on the spot. [The same obtains with 1 Kings 1:50 sq., cited by NAEGELSBACH.—TR.]. The word was meant to bear the same relation to תקדישו (in Isaiah 9:13) that מורא bears to תיראו and מעריץ to מעריצו. God was the only proper object to be dreaded, feared and sanctified, i. e., regarded as a holy being in the widest and the most emphatic sense. Thus explained מהדשׁ corresponds almost exactly to the Greek τὸ ἅγιον, the term applied to Christ by the angel who announced His birth (Luke 1:35). In 1 Peter 2:7, where this very passage is applied to Christ, ἡ τιμή seems to be employed as an equivalent to מקדשׁ as here used. To others he is a stone of stumbling, but to you who believe He is ἡ τιμή, something precious, something honored, something looked upon as holy. The same application of the words is made by Paul, Romans 9:33. These quotations seem to show that the Prophet’s words have an extensive import, and are not to be restricted either to his own times or to the times of Christ. The doctrine of the text is, that even the most glorious exhibitions of God’s holiness, i. e., of His infinite perfection, may occasion the destruction of the unbeliever.”]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Isaiah 7:1. “Hierosolyma oppugnatur, etc. Jerusalem is assaulted but not conquered. The church is pressed but not oppressed.”—Foerster.

2. On Isaiah 7:2. “Quando ecclesia, etc. When the Church is assaulted and Christ crucified over again in His elect, Rezin and Pekah, Herod and Pilate are wont to form alliance and enter into friendly relations. There are, so to speak, the foxes of Samson, joined indeed by the tails, but their heads are disconnected.”—Foerster.—“He that believes flees not (Isaiah 28:16). ‘The righteous is bold as a lion’ (Proverbs 28:1). Hypocrites and those that trust in works (work-saints) have neither reason nor faith. Therefore they cannot by any means quiet their heart. In prosperity they are, indeed, overweening, but in adversity they fall away (Jeremiah 17:9).” Cramer.

3. On Isaiah 7:9. (“If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”) “Insignis sententia, etc. A striking sentiment that may be adapted generally to all temptation, because all earnest endeavor after anything, as you know, beguiles us in temptation. But only faith in the word of promise makes us abide and makes sure whatever we would execute. He warns Ahaz, therefore, as if he said: I now promise you by the word, it shall be that those two kings shall not hurt you. Believe this word! For if you do not, whatever you afterwards devise will deceive you: because all confidence is vain which is not supported by the word of God.”—Luther.

4. On Isaiah 7:10-12. “Wicked Ahaz pretends to great sanctity in abstaining from asking a sign through fear of God. Thus hypocrites are most conscientious where there is no need for it: on the other hand, when they ought to be humble, they are the most insolent. But where God commands to be bold, one must be bold. For to be obedient to the word is not tempting God. That is rather tempting God when one proposes something without having the word for it. It is, indeed, the greatest virtue to rest only in the word, and desire nothing more. But where God would add something more than the word, then it must not be thought a virtue to reject it as superfluous. We must therefore exercise such a faith in the word of God that we will not despise the helps that are given in addition to it as aids to faith. For example the Lord offers us in the gospel all that is necessary to salvation. Why then Baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Are they to be treated as superfluous? By no means. For if one believes the word he will at the same time exhibit an entire obedience toward God. We ought therefore to learn to join the sign with the word, for no man has the power to sever the two.

But do you ask: is it permitted to ask God for a sign? We have an example of this in Gideon. Answer: Although Gideon was not told of God to ask a sign, yet he did it by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, and not according to his own fancy. We must not therefore abuse his example, and must be content with the sign that is offered by the Lord. But there are extraordinary signs or miracles, like that of the text, and ordinary ones like Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Yet both have the same object and use. For as Gideon was strengthened by that miraculous event, so, too, are we strengthened by Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, although no miracle appears before our eyes.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther. Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, also asked the Lord to show him the right wife for Isaac by means of a sign of His own choosing, (Genesis 24:14).

It ought to be said that this asking a sign (opening the Bible at a venture, or any other book) does not suit Christian perfection (Hebrews 6:1). A Christian ought to be inwardly sensible of the divine will. He ought to content himself with the guarantees that God Himself offers. Only one must have open eyes and ears for them. This thing of demanding a sign, if it is not directly an effect of superstition (Matthew 12:39; Matthew 16:4; 1 Corinthians 1:22), is certainly childish, and, because it easily leads to superstitious abuses, it is dangerous.

5. On Isaiah 7:13. “Non caret, etc. That the Prophet calls God his God is not without a peculiar emphasis. In Zechariah 2:12 it is said, that whoever touches the servants of God touches the pupil of God’s eye. Whoever opposes teacher and preacher will have to deal with God in heaven or with the Lord who has put them into office.”—Foerster.

6. On Isaiah 7:14. “The name Immanuel is one of the most beautiful and richest in contents of all the Holy Scripture. ‘God with us’ comprises God’s entire plan of salvation with sinful humanity. In a narrower sense it means ‘God-man’ (Matthew 1:23), and points to the personal union of divinity and humanity, in the double nature of the Son of God become man. Jesus Christ was a God-with-us, however, in this, that for about 33 years He dwelt among us sinners (John 1:11; John 1:14). In a deeper and wider sense still He was such by the Immanuel’s work of the atonement (2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 Timothy 2:3). He will also be such to every one that believes on Him by the work of regeneration and sanctification and the daily renewal of His holy and divine communion of the Spirit (John 17:23; John 17:26; John 14:19-21; John 14:23). He is such now by His high-priestly and royal administration and government for His whole Church (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 7:25). He will be snch in the present time of the Church in a still more glorious fashion (John 10:16). The entire and complete meaning of the name Immanuel, however, will only come to light in the new earth, and in the heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21:3; Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5).”—Wilh. Fried. Roos.

Isaiah 8:7. On Isaiah 8:5 sqq. “Like boastful swimmers despise small and quiet waters, and on the other hand, for the better display of their skill, boast of the great sea and master it, but often are lost in it,—thus, too, did the hypocrites that despised the small kingdom of Judah, and bragged much and great things of the power and splendor of the kingdom of Israel and of the Syrians; such hypocrites are still to be found now-a-days—such that bear in their eye the admiranda Romae, the splendor, riches, power, ceremonies and pomp of the Romish church, and thereupon ‘set their bushel by the bigger-heap.’ It is but the devil’s temptation over again: ‘I will give all this to thee.’ ”—Cramer.—“Fons Siloa,” etc. “The fountain of Siloam, near the temple, daily reminded the Jews that Christ was coming.”—Calvin on John 9:7.

8. On Isaiah 8:10. “When the great Superlatives sit in their council chambers and have determined everything, how it ought to be, and especially how they will extinguish the gospel, then God sends the angel Gabriel to them, who must look through the window and say: nothing will come of it.”—Luther.—“Christ, who is our Immanuel, is with us by His becoming man, for us by His office of Mediator, in us by the work of His sanctification, by us by His personal, gracious presence.”—Cramer.

9. On Isaiah 8:14-15. Christ alone is set by God to be a stone by which we are raised up. That He is, however, an occasion of offence to many is because of their purpose, petulance and contempt (1 Peter 2:8). Therefore we ought to fear lest we take offence at Him. For whoever falls on this stone will shatter to pieces (Matthew 21:44).” Cramer.

10. On Isaiah 8:16 sqq. He warns His disciples against heathenish superstition, and exhorts them to show respect themselves always to law and testimony. “They must not think that God must answer them by visions and signs, therefore He refers them to the written word, that they may not become altogether too spiritual, like those now-a-days who cry: spirit! spirit! … Christ says, Luke 16:0 : They have Moses and the prophets, and again John 5:39 : Search the Scriptures. So Paul says, 2 Timothy 3:16 : The Scripture is profitable for doctrine. So says Peter, 2 Peter 1:9 : We have a sure word of prophecy. It is the word that changes hearts and moves them. But revelations puff people up and make them insolent.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther.

Chap. 9–11. On Isaiah 9:1 sqq. (2). “Postrema pars, etc. The latter part of chap. 8 was νομικὴ καὶ (legal and threatening) so, on the other hand, the first and best part of chap. 9 is εὐαγγελικὴ καὶ παραμυθητική, (evangelical and comforting). Thus must ever law and gospel, preaching wrath and grace, words of reproof and words of comfort, a voice of alarm and a voice of peace follow one another in the church.” Foerster.

12. On Isaiah 9:1 (2). Both in the Old Testament and New Testament Christ is often called light. Thus Isaiah calls Him “a light to the gentiles,” Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6. The same Prophet says: “Arise, shine (make thyself light), for thy light is come,” Isaiah 60:1. And again Isaiah 9:19 : “The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light.” In the New Testament it is principally John that makes use of this expression: “The life was the light of men,” John 1:4, “and the light shined in the darkness,” John 9:5. John was not that light, but bore testimony to the light, John 9:8. “That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” John 9:9. And further: “And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,” John 3:19. “I am the light of the world,” (John 8:12; John 9:5; comp. John 12:35).

13. On Isaiah 9:1 (2). The people that sit in darkness may be understood to comprise three grades. First, the inhabitants of Zebulon and Naphtali are called so (Isaiah 8:23), for the Prophet’s gaze is fixed first on that region lying in the extreme end of Palestine, which was neighbor to the heathen and mixed with them, and on this account was held in low esteem by the dwellers in Judah. The night that spreads over Israel in general is darkest there. But all Israel partakes of this night, therefore all Israel, too, may be understood, as among the people sitting in darkness. Finally, no one can deny that this night extends over the borders of Israel to the whole human race. For far as men dwell extends the night which Christ, as light of the world, came to dispel, Luke 1:76 sqq.

14. On Isaiah 9:5 (6). Many lay stress on the notion “child,” inasmuch as they see in that the reason for the reign of peace spoken of afterwards. It is not said a man, a king, a giant is given to us. But this is erroneous. For the child does not remain a child. He becomes a man: and the six names that are ascribed to Him and also the things predicted of His kingdom apply to Him, not as a child, but as a man. That His birth as a child is made prominent, has its reason in this, that thereby His relation to human kind should be designated as an organic one. He does not enter into humanity as a man, i.e. as one whose origin was outside of it, but He was born from it, and especially from the race of David. He is Son of man and Son of David. He is a natural offshoot, but also the crowning bloom of both. Precisely because He was to be conceived, carried and born of a human mother, and indeed of a virgin, this prophecy belongs here as the completion and definition of the two prophetic pictures Isaiah 7:10 sqq.; Isaiah 8:1 sqq.—“He came down from heaven for the sake of us men, and for our bliss (1 Timothy 1:15; Luke 2:7). For our advantage: for He undertook not for the seed of angels, but for the seed of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16). Not sold to us by God out of great love, but given (Romans 5:15; John 3:16). Therefore every one ought to make an application of the word ‘to us’ to himself, and to learn to say: this child was given to me, conceived for me, born to me.”—Cramer.—“Cur oportuit, etc. Why did it become the Redeemer of human kind to be not merely man nor merely God, but God and man conjoined or θεάνθρωπον? Anselm replies briefly, indeed, but pithily: Deum qui posset, hominem, qui deberet.” Foerster.

15. On Isaiah 9:5 (6). “You must not suppose here that He is to be named and called according to His person, as one usually calls another by his name; but these are names that one must preach, praise and celebrate on account of His act, works and office.” Luther.

16. On Isaiah 9:6. “Verba pauca, etc. A few words, but to be esteemed great, not for their number but for their weight.” Augustine. “Admirabilis in, etc. Wonderful in birth, counsellor in what He preaches, God in working, strong in suffering, father of the world to come in resurrection, Prince of peace in bliss perpetual.” Bernard of Clairvaux. In reference to “a child is born,” and “a son is given,” Joh. Cocceius remarks in his Heb. Lex. s. v. יֶלֶד: “respectu, etc., in respect to His human nature He is said to be born, and in respect to His divine nature and eternal generation not indeed born, but given, as, John 3:16, it reads God gave His only begotten Son.”

“In the application of this language all depends on the words is born to us, is given to us.” The angels are, in this matter, far from being as blessed as we are. They do not say: To us a Saviour is born this day, but; to you. As long as we do not regard Christ as ours, so long we shall have little joy in Him. But when we know Him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, as a gift that our heavenly Father designed for us, we will appropriate Him to ourselves in humble faith, and take possession of all His redeeming effects that He has acquired. For giving and taking go together. The Son is given to us; we must in faith receive Him.” J. J. Rambach, Betracht. über das Ev. Esaj., Halle, 1724.

On Isaiah 9:6 (7). “The government is on His shoulders.” “It is further shown how Christ differs in this respect from worldly kings. They remove from themselves the burden of government and lay it on the shoulders of the privy counsellors. But He does not lay His dominion as a burden on any other; He needs no prime minister and vicegerent to help Him bear the burden of administration, but He bears all by the word of His power as He to whom all things are given of the Father. Therefore He says to the house of Jacob (Isaiah 46:3 sq.): Hearken unto me ye who were laid on my shoulders from your mothers’ womb. I will carry you to old age. I will do it, I will lift, and carry and deliver,—on the contrary the heathen must bear and lift up their idols, (Isaiah 46:1; Isaiah 46:7).”—Rambach. “In the first place we must keep in mind His first name: He is called Wonderful. This name affects all the following.” “All is wonderful that belongs to this king: wonderfully does He counsel and comfort; wonderfully He helps to acquire and conquer, and all this in suffering and want of strength. (Luther, Jen. germ. Tom. III. Fol. 184 b.). ” “He uses weakness as a means of subduing all things to Himself. A wretched reed, a crown of thorns and an infamous cross, are the weapons of this almighty God, by means of which He achieves such great things. In the second place, He was a hero and conqueror in that just by death, He robbed him of his might who had the power of death, i.e., the devil (Hebrews 2:14); in that He, like Samson, buried His enemies with Himself, yea, became poison to death itself, and a plague to hell (Hosea 13:14) and more gloriously resumed His life so freely laid down, which none of the greatest heroes can emulate.”—Rambach.

17. On Isaiah 9:18 (19) sqq. True friendship can never exist among the wicked. For every one loves only himself. Therefore they are enemies one of another; and they are in any case friends to each other, only as long as it concerns making war on a third party.

Isaiah 10-18. On Isaiah 10:4. (Comp. the same expression in chap. 10). God’s quiver is well filled. If one arrow does not attain His object, He takes another, and so on, until the rights of God, and justice have conquered.

19. On Isaiah 10:5-7. “God works through men in a threefold way. First, we all live, move and have our being in Him, in that all activity is an outflow of His power. Then, He uses the services of the wicked so that they mutually destroy each other, or He chastises His people by their hand. Of this sort the Prophet speaks here. In the third place, by governing His people by the Spirit of sanctification: and this takes place only in the elect.”—Heim and Hoffmann.

20. On Isaiah 10:5 sqq. “Ad hunc, etc. Such places are to be turned to uses of comfort. Although the objects of temptation vary and enemies differ, yet the effects are the same, and the same spirit works in the pious. We are therefore to learn not to regard the power of the enemy nor our own weakness, but to look steadily and simply into the word, that will assuredly establish our minds that they despair not, but expect help of God. For God will not subdue our enemies, either spiritual or corporal, by might and power, but by weakness, as says the text: my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).—Luther.

21. On Isaiah 10:15. “Efficacia agendi penes Deum est, homines ministerium tantum praebent. Quare nunc sibilo suo se illos evocaturum minabatur (cap. Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 7:18); nunc instar sagenae sibi fore ad irretiendos, nunc mallei instar ad feriendos Israelitas. Sed praecipue tum declaravit, quod non sit otiosus in illis, dum Sennacherib securim vocat, quae ad secandum manu sua et destinata fuit et impacta. Non male alicubi Augustinus ita definit, quod ipsi peccant, eorum esse; quod peccando hoc vel illud agant, ex virtute Dei esse, tenebras prout visum est dividentis (De praedest Sanctt.).”—Calvin Inst. II. 4, 4.

22. On Isaiah 10:20-27. “In time of need one ought to look back to the earlier great deliverances of the children of God, as to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or later, from the hand of the Midianites. Israel shall again grow out of the yoke.”—Diedrich.

Isaiah 11-23. On Isaiah 11:4. “The staff of His mouth.” “Evidence that the kingdom of Christ will not be like an earthly kingdom, but consist in the power of the word and of the sacraments; not in leathern, golden or silver girdles, but in girdles of righteousness and faith.”—Cramer.

24. On Isaiah 11:10 sqq. If the Prophet honors the heathen in saying that they will come to Christ before Israel, he may be the more readily believed, when Isaiah 11:11 sqq., he gives the assurance that the return out of the first, the Egyptian exile, shall be succeeded by a return out of the second, the Assyrian exile, (taking this word in the wider sense of Isaiah). It is manifest that the return that took place under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only an imperfect beginning of that promised return. For according to our passage this second return can only take place after the Messiah has appeared. Farthermore, all Israelites that belong to “the remnant of Israel,” in whatever land they may dwell, shall take part in it. It will be, therefore, a universal, not a partial return. If now the Prophet paints this return too with the colors of the present (Isaiah 11:13 sqq.), still that is no reason for questioning the reality of the matter. Israel will certainly not disappear, but arise to view in the church of the new covenant. But if the nation is to be known among the nations as a whole, though no more as a hostile contrast, but in fraternal harmony, why then shall not the land, too, assume a like position among the lands? But the nation can neither assume its place among nations, nor the land its place among lands, if they are not both united: the people Israel in the land of their fathers.

25. On Isaiah 11:0 “We may here recall briefly the older, so-called spiritual interpretation. Isaiah 11:1-5 were understood of Christ’s prophetic office that He exercised in the days of His flesh, then of the overthrow of the Roman Empire and of Antichrist, who was taken to be the Pope. But the most thorough-going of those old expositors must acknowledge, at Isaiah 11:4, that the Antichrist is not yet enough overthrown, and must be yet more overthrown. If such is the state of the case, then this interpretation is certainly false, for Isaiah 11:4 describes not a gradual judgment, but one accomplished at once. There have been many Antichrists, and among the Popes too, but the genuine Antichrist described 2 Thessalonians 2:0, is yet to be expected, and also the fulfillment of Isaiah 11:4 of our chapter. Thereby is proved at the same time that the peaceful state of things in the brute world and the return of the Jews to their native land are still things of the future, for they must happen in that period when the Antichristian world, and its head shall be judged by Christ. But then, too, the dwelling together of tame and wild beasts is not the entrance of the heathen into the church, to which they were heretofore hostile, and the return of the Jews is not the conversion of a small part of Israel that took place at Pentecost and after. The miracles and signs too, contained in Isaiah 11:15-16 did not take place then. We see just here how one must do violence to the word if he will not take it as it stands. But if we take it as we have done, then the whole chapter belongs to the doctrine of hope (Hoffnungslehre) of the Scripture, and constitutes an important member of it. The Lord procures right and room for His church. He overthrows the world-kingdom, together with Antichrist. He makes of the remnant of Israel a congregation of believers filled with the Spirit, to whom He is near in an unusual way, and from it causes His knowledge to go out into all the world. He creates peace in the restless creatures, and shows us here in advance what more glorious things we may look for in the new earth. He presents to the world a church which, united in itself, unmolested by neighbors, stands under God’s mighty protection. All these facts are parts of a chain of hope that must be valuable and dear to our hearts. The light of this future illumines the obscurity of the present; the comfort of that day makes the heart fresh.” Weber, der Prophet Jesaja, 1875.

Chap. 12–26. On Isaiah 12:4 sq. “These will not be the works of the New Testament: sacrificing and slaying, and make pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the Holy Sepulchre, but praising God and giving thanks, preaching and hearing, believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. For to praise our God is good; such praise is pleasant and lovely” (Psalms 147:1). Cramer.

27. On Chap. 12 “With these words conclude the prophetic discourses on Immanuel. Through what obscurity of history have we not had to go, until we came to the bright light of the kingdom of Christ! How Israel and the nations had to pass through the fire of judgment before the sun arises in Israel and the entire gentile world is illumined! It is the, same way that every Christian has to travel. In and through the fire we become blessed. Much must be burnt up in us, before we press to the full knowledge of God and of His Son, before we become entirely one with Him, entirely glad and joyful in Him. Israel was brought up and is still brought up for glory, and we too. O that our end too were such a psalm of praise as this psalm!” Weber, Der Pr. Jes. 1875.