Isaiah 8:16-22

3. THE TESTAMENT OF THE PROPHET TO HIS DISCIPLES

CHAPTER Isaiah 8:16 to Isaiah 9:6

a) Prayer and Exhortation merging into prophetic vision

CHAPTER Isaiah 8:16-22. (Isaiah 9:1)

16

BIND up the testimony,

Seal the law among my disciples.

17

And I will wait upon the LORD,

That hideth his face from the house of Jacob,And I will look for him.

18

Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me

Are for signs and for wonders in Israel

From the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion.

19

And when they shall say unto you,

Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizardsThat peep, and that mutter:Should not a people seek unto their God?For the living to the dead?

20

To the law and to the testimony:

If they speak not according to this word,

It is because there is no light in them,

21

And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry:

And it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves,And curse their king and their God,And look upward.

22

And they shall look unto the earth;

And behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish;And they shall be driven to darkness.

Isaiah 9:1 (23). Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation,

When at the first he lightly afflictedThe land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali,And afterward did more grievously afflict

Her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in kGalilee of the nations.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

On Isaiah 8:16. תעודה beside here and Isaiah 8:20 occurs only Ruth 4:7. The meaning is “testifying;” in the passive sense, “that which is testified,” which then may be taken in various senses. The divine will which the prophets testify to men (Exodus 19:21; Exodus 19:23; Deu 8:19; 1 Samuel 8:9; Jeremiah 11:7; Jeremiah 42:19; Amos 3:13, etc.) has for contents both what men ought to do and what God has resolved to do. צוֹר imper. from צָרַר constringere, colligare (Isaiah 11:13); חָתַם (in Isaiah again only Isaiah 29:11) is “to seal.”—למֻּד occurs only Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 54:13 and Jeremiah 2:24; Jeremiah 13:23. It means doctus, eruditus; and is used both of spiritual and of physical relations.

On Isaiah 8:17-18. According to our construction it might be expected that there would be וַאֲנִי before חִכִּיתִי. But this ואני follows in Isaiah 8:18; for הנה אנכי does not mean “behold, I am here,” but, “behold I.” I do not deny that in itself it may mean the former. But I believe that were this the Prophet’s meaning he would have expressed it in a less mistakable form by writing הִנְנִי before אנכי or (Genesis 49:16) הִנֶנִוּ. I think הנה אנכי, then, is epexegetical of the subject of חכיתי. Then is explained why this subject is not more distinctly marked by וַאֲנִי. The Prophet obtains a more emphatic prominence for it in the הנה אנכי.—אוֹה and מוֹפֶח are combined as in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 6:22; Deuteronomy 7:19; Deuteronomy 13:3; Deuteronomy 26:8; Deuteronomy 28:46; Deuteronomy 29:2; Deuteronomy 34:11. Comp. Isaiah 20:3.—מֵעִם ונו depends on אתות ומופתים. This addition is, in relation to אשׁר נתן־לי י׳, not superfluous.

On Isaiah 8:19. אוב means an inflated leather bottle (occurs only Job 32:19, and as a proper name Numbers 21:10; Numbers 33:43), then the distended body of the ventriloquist, and then, not only the ventriloquist himself, (1Sa 28:3; 1 Samuel 28:9; 2 Kings 23:24; Isaiah 19:3; and the passage previously cited) but the pretended spirit of the dead that spoke by him (1 Samuel 28:7-8; Isaiah 29:4; 1 Chronicles 10:13). In many of these passages it is indeed doubtful which of these two meanings the word may have; or if it does not have both. Elsewhere the word seems to mean the secret art, necromancy, divination itself (2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6). The plural is always אֹבוֹת. Because this plural occurs also Job 32:19, it cannot for that reason be concluded that only women were possessed of this necromancy (בעלת אוב, 1 Samuel 28:7, the witch of Endor). Still it is surprising that בעל אוב (mase.) is found only in the Talmud (vid. GESEN. Thes. p. 35). יִדְּעֹנִי never occurs alone, but always joined with אוֹב. It means “the knowing one, wise one, or wizard.” DELITZSCH, very much to the point, compares δαίμων according to Plato = δαίμων, “the much knowing being.”—צִפְצֵף Pilpel, found only in Isaiah. The word primarily is used of the chirping of birds (Isaiah 10:14; Isaiah 38:14), then of the voice proceeding out of the ground (Isaiah 29:4).—הָגָה is likewise a word that imitates a sound (comp. ach. نchsen). As צפצף represents a high, shrill sound, so חגה does a low one; for it is used for the growling of a lion (Isaiah 31:4), of the rolling of the thunder (Job 37:2), of the low murmuring of the dove (Isaiah 38:14; Isaiah 59:11). It occurs again in Isaiah 16:7; Isaiah 33:18; Isaiah 59:3; Isaiah 59:13. In classic antiquity, too, we find a gentle, chirping, whispering voice ascribed to the dead. Comp. Iliad XXIII. 101, where it is said of the soul of Patroclos “ᾤχετοτετριγυῖα;” Odyss. Isaiah 24:5-9, where τρίζειν stridere is equally ascribed to the souls of the dead suitors and to the whirring of the bats in the dark caves. Other examples see in GESENIUS, in loc. In our passage the necromancers are said to hiss and mutter, because they imitated the voice of the dead in this fashion.—דָּרַשׁ with אֶל (elsewhere it is construed with לְ Ezekiel 14:7, or with בְּ 1 Samuel 28:7, 2 Kings 1:2) by reason of Deuteronomy 12:30; Deuteronomy 18:11, occurs in Isaiah three times; here, Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 19:3; comp. Job 5:8. The preposition is perhaps to be treated as depending on the notion of “penetrating” that is contained in that of investigation.

On Isaiah 8:20. לתורה ו׳ is an exclamation, a sort of shout of command. But if one must have a grammatical construction, the לְ may be taken as dependent on דִּרְשׁוּ or תִּפְנוּ (comp. Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6), whereby the remark of GESENIUS (Thes. p. 728) obtains, that “אֶל praemittitur homini, לְ rei locoque.” DELITSZCH compares Judges 7:18. לַיְחוָה וּלְגִדְעוֹן, but it is doubtful whether חֶרֶכ is not to be supplied there according to Isaiah 8:20.

Expositors differ extraordinarily about אס־לֹא. The explanation is grammatically quite incorrect that makes אֲשֶׁר begin the apodosis, and construes it as a particle of asseveration or of the apodosis ( = כִּי) VITRINGA, ROSENMUELLER, GESENIUS, etc.). Others (DE WETTE, MAURER, EW., HITZIG, DRECHSLER) take אס־לא as a form of adjuration: “they will say truly.” But this involves an evident contradiction. For how can he who turns to the law and testimony curse his king and God in time of need? Others (KNOBEL, DELITZSCH) take it as an interrogative particle, referring it back to הֲלֹא Isaiah 8:19 : “Or will not they accord in this word that are without dawn?” But from the context it appears that this is just what they will not do. I construe אס־לא simply = nisi, and begin the apodosis with ועבר Isaiah 9:21 (so, too, DIESTEL).—שַׁחַר (comp. Isaiah 19:12) occurs Isaiah 47:11; Isaiah 58:8, as figure of the dawning revelation of salvation.

On Isaiah 8:21. בָּהּ is referred by VITRINGA, MAURER, DELITZSCH, etc., to ארץ understood as a matter of course, Isaiah 8:22. But this ארץ is not so a matter of course, because it first appears after; and עָבַר cannot be said only in relation to the notion “land.” ROORDA, DRECHSLER refer it more correctly to the condition intimated by נִקְשֶׁה—.אין לא שׁחר is the ἅπ. λεγ. If קָשָׁה means durum esse, “to be hard, heavy,” then נִקְשֶׁה is “treated hard, grieved, oppressed.”—רָעֵב (Isaiah 9:19; Isaiah 29:8; Isaiah 32:6; Isaiah 44:12; Isaiah 58:7; Isaiah 58:10) adds to the notion of outward pressure that of incapacity to bear, that is occasioned by hunger. The full (Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalms 78:29; Proverbs 30:9) has easily too much, the hungry too little strength.—Hithp. התקצף only here Kal. Isaiah 47:6; Isaiah 54:9; Isaiah 57:16-17; Isaiah 64:4; Isaiah 64:8.—קלל I construe with בְּ in the sense of “curse against one.” Elsewhere it is construed with the accusative, and the following בְּ signifies the higher power by which one swears, i.e., by whose mediation one imprecates evil on the object of his wrath (1 Samuel 17:43; 2 Kings 2:24). But with that construction there would be wanting here an object of the cursing (DIESTEL). And it is much more natural that one enraged should curse the cause of his sufferings than the sufferings themselves. קלל may be construed with בְּ after the analogy of verbs that mean striving (Isaiah 19:2; Isaiah 30:32, etc.) and being angry (Deuteronomy 3:26; Psalms 78:62; Genesis 30:2; Genesis 44:18, etc.).—On Isaiah 8:22. הִבִּיט Hiph. Isaiah 18:4; Isaiah 22:11; Isaiah 42:18; Isaiah 51:1-2; Isaiah 51:6, etc. צרה וחשׁכה, “distress and darkness,” vid. comment. on Isa 8:30.—מָעוּף caligo “obscurity,” ἄπ. λεγ.—צוקה found again Isaiah 30:6; Proverbs 1:27.—אֲפֵלָה (again Isaiah 58:10; Isaiah 59:9) is used for thick darkness, e. g., Exodus 10:22.—מְנֻדַּח some take in the sense of “scared away,” so that the transition would begin here. “As to this time the nation will have been rejected, so from now on shall misfortune, as it were, be exiled” (DRECHSLER). But the words אפ׳ מ׳ are so completely co-ordinate with both the foregoing members of the sentence, and on the other hand the transition is so utterly without anything to indicate it, that this meaning cannot be satisfactory. Others (KNOBEL, DELITZSCH) explain after the analogy of Jeremiah 23:12, as if it read וּבָֽאֲפֵלָה הוּא מְנֻדַּח, or וְהִנּוֹ בָּֽאֲפ׳ מ׳. But this also seems too artificial. The omission of the subject, when it is especially looked for on account of its generic difference from the subjects of both the foregoing members, must raise a doubt. But נָדַח has by no means only the signification “to scatter, disperse.” In Deuteronomy 20:19 it means impellers (securim), 2 Samuel 15:14, propellere, immittere (miseriam) Proverbs 7:21 depellere, “drive away; seduce.” Why then may not אפּלה מנדח mean tenebrae immissae, whereby, because the notion dispellere undoubtedly lies in the word, it may be taken in the sense of ab omni parte immissae, longe lateque diffusae? So substantially SAADIA, KOCHER. As regards the incongruity of gender, it need give no surprise. The predicate is to be construed as neuter: tenebrae immissum, expansum aliquid. It is apparent that in the three members of Isaiah 8:22 b reigns the law of unity in manifoldness. For evidently these three members are so far alike that in all of them the words are in pairs, and the notion of darkness recurs as the chief one. But in the first member occurs hendiadys (distress and darkness = obscuring distress, or distressing obscurity), in the second both are merged into one notion, dimness of anguish; in the third the predicate is added in an adjective, i. e., participial form.

On Isa 8:23 (Isaiah 9:1). I construe the words אם לא Isaiah 8:20 on to מנדח Isaiah 8:22 as a parenthesis, and refer כי לא מועף וגו׳ to לתורה ולתעודה Isaiah 9:20. Where law and testimony live in men’s souls, there, spite of distress (מוּצָק only here in Isaiah; comp. Job 36:16; Job 37:10), is no darkness. לֹא מוּעָף ἄπ. λεγ. notice in Mu-aph a reverse vowel pointing from Ma-uph, Isaiah 8:22, a play of words that reflects the contrast of thought.—לָהּ anticipates the idea of “land” contained in next clause.— כְּ—.כָּעֵת וגו is not a conjunction “as,” but a preposition, and signifies the coincidence (Isaiah 9:2; Genesis 18:1; Genesis 18:10; Genesis 18:14; Genesis 39:18; Judges 2:4, etc.) = “about the first time.” This “first time” evidently extends to the dawn of the new time that begins with the Messiah; and עת האחרון “last time” coincides therefore with אחרית הימים (Isaiah 2:2).—קַל means levem, tenuem, exilem esse (Genesis 8:11; Job 7:6; Nahum 1:14; Jeremiah 4:13, etc.,) therefore the Hiph. (again in Isaiah only, Isaiah 23:9) levem, exilem reddere.—אַרְצָה a poetic form of אֶרֶץ (comp. Job 34:13; Job 37:12).—והאחרון is best construed as accusative of time. It might, indeed, be taken as nominative, but elegance is against it. The same regions, that in the first clause of the verse are described as the object of the הֵקַל “degrading,” are now, in the second clause, by other divisions and names, said to be the object of הכביד, “glorifying.” [“The English version supposes a contrast that requires הֵקַל to be taken in the sense of lightly afflicting, as distinguished from הִכְבִּיד to afflict more grievously. But this distinction is unauthorized by usage.”—J. A. ALEXANDER].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. I cannot help thinking that in this section we have a farewell address of the Prophet; as it were, his spiritual will. That it speaks of “disciples,” whereas there is no mention of them elsewhere, is a hint that here lies before us a written archive specially meant for them. What, then, could the Prophet have given his disciples in this written form, but something that must be valuable to them for the time, when he could no longer communicate with them by word of mouth as he could at that moment? Then, too, the prayer to the LORD, to seal in the disciples’ law and testimony, the emphatic reference to the pledges of faith given in the persons of himself and his sons, the warning against future seductions, and the reference to that which could give light and comfort in the troublous days to be expected,—all this brings me to the conviction that here we have actually the spiritual testament of Isaiah to his disciples.2. Bind up—my disciples.

Isaiah 8:16. The opening words of this will connect appropriately with the LORD’S words of exhortation Isaiah 8:13. I have no doubt that the words Isaiah 8:16, are addressed to Jehovah. For only the LORD can do this binding up and sealing. The prophets might seal a book roll, or declare that the meaning of a prophecy is to be shut up till a certain time (vid.Daniel 8:26; Daniel 12:4; Daniel 12:9; Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 22:10; Isaiah 29:11; Jeremiah 51:60 sqq. and my comment); but they cannot seal the divine revelation in the hearts of men. Moreover, in all the following verses the Prophet is the speaker, and the change from the words of God to the words of the Prophet must certainly have been more distinctly marked than by the simple וְ before חכיתי. The mention of binding up and sealing in a spiritual sense was perhaps occasioned by the actions appropriate to the real documents (vid.Jeremiah 32:9 sqq.). Having so disposed of the writing that contained his own will, the Prophet prayed the LORD to do still better, and enclose and seal up his testament in the hearts of his disciples. For the propriety of the metaphor, vid.Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 7:3; Jeremiah 31:33. They are the same as “are written to life,” Isaiah 4:3. As primarily “the law” means the Mosaic law, which was the basis and norm of all prophetic announcements (Deuteronomy 13:1 sqq.; Deuteronomy 18:18 sqq.), and which the Prophets ever and again had to reimpress (Jeremiah 29:19), so Isaiah must mean by “the testimony” all additional prophetic testimony, especially all threatenings and promises that referred to the future. In the prayer he makes for his disciples, he does not intend the preservation of the divine testimony unto the proper time for its revelation, but he would thereby give to themselves the only true support and comfort for the evil days to come. As, according to Isaiah 8:17, his faith in the word of God was his own sole comfort, so (Isaiah 8:20) he directs his disciples to the law and testimony, warning them against every false comfort (Isaiah 8:19). Though Isaiah had primarily disciples and scholars in mind, we need not suppose he was at the head of a school of prophets. What he would teach them was religious truth, not to prophesy. And thus about this group of scholars, as about a nucleus, would gather all in Jerusalem and Judah that had any heart for the spiritual jewels of Israel.

3. I will wait—in mount Zion.

Isaiah 8:17-18. This affords a touching insight into the personal life of the Prophet. He enforces the prayer just made by confessing that he holds fast to the LORD, and waits (vid.Isaiah 5:4; Isaiah 25:9; Isaiah 26:8; Isaiah 33:2; Isaiah 51:5; Isaiah 59:9; Isaiah 59:11; Isaiah 60:9; Isaiah 64:2), notwithstanding the LORD seems to have forsaken the house of Jacob (he evidently means “this people,” the fleshly Israel) and hidden His face (comp. Isaiah 50:6; Isaiah 53:3; Isaiah 54:8; Isaiah 59:2; Isaiah 64:6). But he does not hope alone. His children hope with him. This is significant. We know, indeed, nothing about the age of the children. That our passage follows close on Isaiah 8:1-4, is no proof that it originated in that period. Isaiah would hardly at that time have designated his children (plural) as companions of his faith. For Maher-shalal was hardly yet born, and this circumstance speaks rather for later composition. Isaiah knows that his children are not only children of his body, but of his spirit too. They are miraculous children, products, not only of nature, but of the divine effective power. (Romans 9:7 sqq.: Galatians 4:28 sq.). Therefore, not only are his and their names prophetic, but their birth, too, is such; at least that of Maher-shalal. Thus they are by their existence as by their names אתות, signa, τύποι τοῦ μέλλοντος (Romans 5:14) “finger boards,” and מופתים, miraculous pledges of miracles. “Which Jehovah has given me;” by these words Isaiah points to the support of his hope. For why should not we hope in God who has done such wonders? Our passage, moreover, recalls the words of Joshua 24:15 : “I and my house will serve the LORD”

4. And when they shall say—to the dead.

Isaiah 8:19. The Prophet now adds a warning against seduction to idolatrous necromancy. And does not this warning give the impression of proceeding from a man who is on the point of leaving his own, and who, before his departure, seeks to protect them against impending danger? “And when they shall say,” presents the superstition as at hand and to be dreaded. From Isaiah 2:6; Isaiah 3:2 sq., we see that various sorts of superstitious divination were practised among the Jews at that time. Such were expressly forbidden in the law. Comp. Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6; Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-11. In all these passages אבות “familiar spirits” and ידענים “wizards” are named together, and Deuteronomy 18:11 the words דּרֵשׁ אֶל־הַמֵּתִים “necromancer” are expressly added: so that Isaiah seems to have had this passage in mind.

The second clause of the verse, “should not,” etc., is usually regarded as the reply of the believing disciples to those who tempted them [J. A. ALEXANDER]. But this seems to me unnecessary. It is primarily the answer that Isaiah himself gives, and it is to be understood that the disciples are to reply to the same effect. According to the Prophet, those seductive temptations are to be met by two arguments. First, he urges that every nation must inquire of its god as the chief disposer of its destiny. Therefore Israel onght to turn to Jehovah. It appears from this that the Prophet assumes the position that Jehovah is the national god of Israel, without challenging the existence of other gods, and that he assumes that those tempters recognize Jehovah as the proper national god. (God of the fathers). The second argument Isaiah takes from the representation of the ancients of the relation of the dead to the living. Only he that lives in the body lives really. By death he sinks deep down. Comp. FRIEDR., NAGELSBACH,Homer. Theol. VII. § 14 sqq. Nachhomer. Theol. VII. § 14 sqq. But how nearly Hebrew representations approach those of classic antiquity, may be seen from passages like Isaiah 14:9 sqq.; Ezekiel 26:20 sq,; Ezekiel 31:14 sqq.; Ezekiel 32:17 sqq.; Ezekiel 38:18 eq.; Psalms 6:6; Psalms 88:4 sqq.; Job 14:10 sqq. It is therefore folly, nonsense, to seek any help for the living among those gone down deep. Thus the words בעד וגו are to be construed interrogatively: “For the living (shall one inquire of) the dead?”

4. To the law—Galilee of the nations.

Isaiah 8:20-21 (Isaiah 9:1). Now Isaiah refers his disciples to the divine source of light and comfort, which alone can keep them upright in the impending evil days. Whoever does not find these his support, will undoubtedly be destroyed. Who shall say: “To the law and the testimony?” All that have no dawn. They are such as nowhere see in any outward relations a ray of light, that announces the day of salvation. When such see no inward comfort and support by means of God’s word, they wander oppressed and hungry, etc. As hunger smarts, it readily happens that such fall into a bitter rage and curse their king and God, thus both the heavenly and earthly government, as being to blame for their sufferings. Most expositors understand by מלכו “his king” that a divinity is meant; and only differ as to whether, according to Psalms 5:3; Psalms 68:25, Jehovah is meant, [so J. A. ALEXANDER and BARNES] or, according to Amos 5:26; Zephaniah 1:5, the idols; agreeing that “king” and “God” mean the same person. But against this speaks: 1. בְּ occurring twice; 2. the following “he looks upward and to the earth he looks.” Similar blasphemy is described as a symptom of the anti-Christian time Revelation 16:9; Revelation 16:11; Revelation 16:21.

Wherever the wretched look, above or to earth, everywhere presents itself only the mournful sight of dark distress.

About the first time,etc.

Isa 8:23 (Isaiah 9:1). The Prophet now intimates what sort of light shall arise to the believing from the law and testimony. He shall know from the prophecy, which the Prophet with these very words gives to his own (to which however, others still are added later), that the North of Palestine, which heretofore was little regarded compared with the South, shall attain to great honor, and become a place of great blessing to the whole land. He evidently refers to the Messianic time, and intimates that the glory of it will illuminate in an eminent way that northern region of Palestine. More particularly as to the how? and when? the Prophet does not know. If it is asked why he predicts this just here, we may see the ground for it in the fact that at that time, it was just from that northern quarter of the Ten Tribes, that great danger threatened Judah. The war with Syria and Ephraim was the occasion of this whole series of prophecies. The gaze of the Prophet is emphatically fastened on the North. What wonder if on this occasion he not only predicts the impending judgment of this northern land, but also the glory in store for it!

Zebulon was bounded on the North by Naphtali, eastward by the sea of Galilee, westward by Asher and Phœnicia (comp. Joshua 19:10 sqq.). Naphtali possessed the north-east of Canaan west of Jordan, for it touched the base of Antilebanon, was bounded on the east by the sea of Galilee, on the south by Zebulon, and on the west by Asher. (Joshua 19:32 sqq.). As “the way of the sea,” according to the context, must be a land inhabited by Israelites, it cannot be the coast of the Mediterranean, as some have supposed; for Phœnicians dwelt there. It can only be the coast of the יַם כִּנֶּרֶת “the sea of Chinnereth” (Numbers 34:11; Joshua 12:3; Joshua 13:27)—עבר הירדּז “bank of Jordan,” is East Jordan land. The expression, with and without “the sun-rising,” is extremely common (Genesis 1:10 sq.; Numbers 35:14; Deuteronomy 1:1; Deuteronomy 1:5; Joshua 1:14 sq.; Isaiah 2:10, etc.). The region named here גליל הגוים “Galilee of the nations,” (ἄπ. λεγ.), was originally called הַגָּלִיל, “the Galilee,” (the bent, the circuit, circulus, annulus, comp. כִּכָּר) and was a part of Naphtali. Comp. Joshua 20:7; Joshua 21:32; 1 Chronicles 6:61; 1Ma 2:63. The region is called also אֶרֶץ הַגָּלִיל (1 Kings 9:11), and הַגָּלֶילָה (2 Kings 15:29).

In Judges 1:30-33 we are told that, as elsewhere, the Canaanites were not exterminated from this region. From the nature of things, in a region so distant from the national sanctuary, the heathen element would increase more than elsewhere. The continual intercourse with neighboring heathen in war and peace, moreover, the depriving the land of its Israelite inhabitants by Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 15:29) may have gradually given the heathen element a preponderance. From the New Testament, we know that the Jews looked down on the Galileans with a certain contempt (John 1:46; John 7:41; John 7:52; Acts 2:7). When, John 7:41 the Jews questioned whether the Messiah would come out of Galilee, when they, John 9:52, asserted, too, that not even a Prophet was to come out of Galilee, it is the more remarkable that, as DELITZSCH quotes, Talmud and Midrasch say: that “the Messiah shall be revealed in Galilee, and from out Tiberias shall the redemption dawn.” But Matthew sees in the fact that Jesus “came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim” a fulfilment of our prophecy, and justly (vid.Matthew 4:13 sqq.). For that the Prophet notices such special traits of the Messianic picture of the future as the ante-nuptial conception, and the going forth from Galilee will not surprise those who reflect that these special matters are no trifles, but of greatest importance, and thus in a high degree worthy of prophetic notice. For they belong essentially to that fundamental character of the plan of redemption, whereby the Redeemer and His kingdom shall rise out of the depth of humility and ignominy to honor and glory.

[J. A. ALEXANDER with HENDERSON, COCCEIUS and others regard the words Isaiah 9:16 as spoken to the Prophet “by God, or, as some suppose, by the Messiah, the מִּקְדָּשׁ mentioned in the foregoing verse; and likewise Isaiah 9:17-18, because there is no intimation of a change in the speaker, and because Hebrews 2:13, 5:17 is quoted as the words of the Messiah, not as an illustration, but as a proof that Christ partook of the same nature with the persons called His children. DELITZSCH and v. HOFMANN (vid. their comment on Hebrews 2:13), who agree in treating these words of Isaiah 8:16-18 as the Prophet’s, and yet recognize a typical and prophetic reference to Christ, explain the use made of this in Heb. l. c. by the canon: “it admits of no doubt that the writers of the New Testament, allow themselves to quote utterances of typical Old Testament personages concerning themselves as utterances, and words of Christ.” DELITZSCH.—TR.].

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.