Isaiah 8

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:1-4

The sign of Maher-shalal-hash-baz 8:1-4Whereas the sign of Immanuel was for Ahaz primarily, the sign of Maher-shalal-hash-baz was for all the people of Judah. The preceding prophecies to Ahaz (Isaiah 7:10-25) are generally negative, but the following prophecies to the Judahites (Isaiah 8:1-10) are more positive. These instructions from the Lord evidently came to Isaiah in the midst of the Syro-Ephraimitic war. [Note: Ibid., 1:228.] Robert Chisholm Jr. believed Maher-shalal-hash-baz was the... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:2

God selected two men whom he wanted to witness the writing or posting of this document to confirm the date of this prophecy. When the predicted events happened, they could faithfully testify that Isaiah had predicted them. One of the witnesses was Uriah ("Yahweh is light"). He was probably the high priest who built an altar, like the one in Damascus that Ahaz had seen, and set it up in place of the brazen altar (cf. 2 Kings 16:10-16). The position that this Zechariah ("Yahweh remembers")... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:3

Then Isaiah had sexual relations with his wife. Since the expression "approached" is a euphemism used several times in the Old Testament for the first intercourse between a man and his wife, it is possible that Isaiah’s first wife, the mother of Shearjashub (Isaiah 7:3), died and the prophet remarried. [Note: See Herbert M. Wolf, "A Solution to the Immanuel Prophecy in Isaiah 7:14-8:22," Journal of Biblical Literature 91 (1972):454; and Wiersbe, p. 19.] In this case, the ’alma of Isaiah 7:14... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:4

Before the boy grew old enough to speak distinctly, Assyria (Tiglath-pileser III) would carry off the wealth of Damascus and Samaria (in 732 B.C.; cf. Isaiah 7:15-16; 2 Kings 15:29). This brought to a close a 200-year period in which the Aramean Kingdom played a leading role. [Note: Watts, p. 114.] Thus Syria and Israel would not only fail in their attempt to bring Judah under their power (cf. Isaiah 7:6), but the king of Assyria would bring them under his power. This second promise is almost... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:5-6

Yahweh spoke to Isaiah again (cf. Isaiah 8:1). King Ahaz was not the only person in Judah who had failed to trust in the Lord but had put his confidence in man. The people of Judah had been guilty of the same folly. They had rejected God’s faithful provisions for them, symbolized by the gently flowing Shiloah stream that carried water from the Gihon spring just outside Jerusalem into the city. This water source was unimpressive, but it provided for the people of Jerusalem faithfully. Instead... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:5-10

The danger of Assyria 8:5-10This section corresponds to Isaiah 7:18-25. Both of them explain that the name to be given a child would have both a positive and a negative significance. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:7

Judah’s sovereign God would indeed sweep these enemies away by using Assyria as His instrument of judgment. Isaiah compared Assyria to the waters of the Euphrates, which seasonally overflowed and swept away all in its path. But it would be God, not Ahaz, who would be responsible for their defeat. Assyria would not inundate God’s people Israel because her gods were stronger than Yahweh, but because the sovereign Lord would bring this judgment on them."Like Germany in 1939 and 1940, the Assyrians... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:8

The Assyrian tide would not stop at Syria and Israel, however, but would sweep into Judah as well. This invasion happened in 701 B.C. But its waters would stop short of completely engulfing Judah; they would reach only to her neck. Israel would drown, but Judah would keep her head above water. Seen from above, the deepening waters of Assyria’s army filling every valley and rising higher and higher resembled the wings of a huge, ominous bird of prey that covered the whole land. Isaiah described... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:9-10

The prophet called on the heathen nations to listen. They would be shattered-even though they girded themselves for battle against God’s will. They could gird themselves for battle if they chose to, plan their plans, and propose their proposals, but they would fall because God was with His people. [Note: Oswalt, p. 229, wrote a good paragraph on the philosophical difference between God being with us and humankind’s attempts to unite with God (pantheism and panantheism).] Ultimately God’s people... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:10

Ahaz and Judah’s test 7:10-8:10Now Ahaz had to make a decision. Would he trust that God was with him and would protect Jerusalem, or would he reject God’s promise and try to establish security another way? read more

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:1-4

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:2

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:3

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:4

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:5-6

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:5-10

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:7

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:8

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:9-10

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 8:10

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