Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:2
(2) And I took unto me faithful witnesses.—That the prophet’s challenge to his gainsayers might be made more emphatic, the setting-up of the tablet is to be formally attested. And the witnesses whom the prophet calls were probably men of high position, among those who had been foremost in advising the alliance with Assyria. Of Uriah or Urijah, the priest, we know that he complied with the king’s desire to introduce an altar after the pattern which he had seen at Damascus (2 Kings 16:10-11). Of... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:1
VIII.(1) Moreover the Lord said unto me . . .—The prophecy that follows was clearly separated by an interval of some kind, probably about a year, from that in Isaiah 7:0. In the meantime much that had happened seemed to cast discredit on the prophet’s words. The child that was the type of the greater Immanuel had been born, but there were no signs as yet of the downfall of the northern kingdom. The attack of Rezin and Pekah, though Jerusalem had not been taken, had inflicted an almost... read more