Isaiah 8, Quick to the Plunder

Isaiah continues to prophecy about upcoming calamity for the two kingdoms of Israel (Samaria, Ephraim) and Judah.

Isaiah 8:1-4, Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz

The Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.” So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me.

Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

Isaiah is told to write down a name, a Hebrew name which means "Quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil." This is then followed-up by giving that name to a son, with the assurance that before the boy begins to speak, Damascus and Samaria (Israel) will be conquered by Assyria. Grogan suggests that since the conquest of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria occurred about 732 BC, the date of this prophecy is probably around 734 BC.

Uriah the priest is probably the high priest in 2 Kings 16:11-16. There is a Zechariah, maternal grandfather of King Ahaz, mentioned in 2 Kings 18:1-2, but Grogan says this was a common name.

Isaiah 8:5-8, The River overflows

The Lord spoke to me again:

“Because this people has rejected

    the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoices over Rezin

    and the son of Remaliah,

therefore the Lord is about to bring against them

    the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—

    the king of Assyria with all his pomp.

It will overflow all its channels,

    run over all its banks

and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,

    passing through it and reaching up to the neck.

Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,

    Immanuel!”

The waters of Shiloah probably refer to a water supply for Jerusalem (Grogan) from the Gihon Spring (Motyer.) Because the people of Judah had trusted in Assyria, not in God, in the struggle against Damascus, the Assyrian army will be like the floodwaters of the Euphrates, overflowing into Judah and drowning the land. The waters will, for the moment, leave a remnant (the head, Jerusalem) and not carry away the land of Israel. (That will come 150 years later, with the invasion of the Babylonians.)

Isaiah 8:9-10, Immanu-el!

Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered!

    Listen, all you distant lands.

Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

    Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;

    propose your plan, but it will not stand,

    for God is with us.

Despite the advancing nations, God still has a plan for Judah. A remnant will rely on "God with us" (Hebrew: Immanu-el.)

Isaiah 8:11-16, A stone of stumbling

This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

“Do not call conspiracy

    everything this people calls a conspiracy;

do not fear what they fear,

    and do not dread it.

The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,

    he is the one you are to fear,

    he is the one you are to dread.

He will be a holy place;

    for both Israel and Judah he will be

a stone that causes people to stumble

    and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

    a trap and a snare.

Many of them will stumble;

    they will fall and be broken,

    they will be snared and captured.”

The people listen to all sorts of rumors and conspiracies that build up their fears. But they are to fear God only. Yet, God Himself is the stone that His people stumble over. 

Grogan points out the sequence of depressing words, "stumble", "fall", "trap", "snare", "broken", "captured", that all represent the sin concept in some form. The Hebrew of verse 15 ripples across the page, the last four words beginning with the Hebrew vav ("and"), following with nun.

wə·nā·p̄ə·lū  wə·niš·bā·ru  wə·nō·wq·šū  wə·nil·kā·ḏū

In the New Testament, both Paul (Romans 9:33) and Peter (1 Peter 2:8) quote this passage on a stone of stumbling as describing the rejection of Messiah Yeshua by many of the first century Jews.

Isaiah 8:16-18, Hiding His face

Bind up this testimony of warning

    and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.

I will wait for the Lord,

    who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.

I will put my trust in him.

Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Isaiah intends to seal up God's instructions, to be kept by his disciples, during the time in which God "hides His face", that is, during this time of destruction. He will wait, with his children (and their prophetic names), being "signs and symbols" of God's plans.

Isaiah 8:19-22, Why consult the dead?

When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? 

Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. 

If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

Verse 19 ends with an indignant, sarcastic phrase, questioning why anyone would

seek on behalf of the living unto the dead.

(Hebrew: bə·‘aḏ ha·ḥay·yîm ’el-ham·mê·ṯîm)

In the absence of clear divine leadership, the people go to mediums, spiritists, to the forbidden occult. In Deuteronomy 18:9-15, the people are told to not go to the occult for answers. Indeed, God will raise up a leader like Moses for them to listen to. But those who consult the dead instead of the living, consulting instead of God's instructions and warnings (including these of Isaiah), are condemned to desolution and despair. When they look up, they curse God. When they look down, they only see darkness.

But the final verse from the Deuteronomy passage cited above promises a coming prophet. Isaiah will describe this coming prophet in the next chapter.

Some Random Thoughts

The "stone of stumbling" in verse 14 will eventually be a good thing. Indeed, even the depressing ending of this chapter morphs into an eventual bright promise in the next chapter. This will be a theme throughout the greater prophets -- hard times are coming (indeed, possibly centuries of it!) but there is a later exciting turn to worship, fellowship and joy. 

But speaking as a mere mortal human, promises that are years away, maybe even centuries, can be discouraging. (Just sayin'...)