Isaiah 8

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:13

(13) Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself . . .—The words contain an implicit appeal to the revelation of the Divine Name in Isaiah 6:3. Had the prophet’s disciples entered into the meaning of that “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts?” Had they learnt to sanctify Jehovah Sabaoth, to recognise the power of that infinite holiness? read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:14

(14) And he shall be for a sanctuary . . .—Literally, he shall become a hallowed thing, with the implied thought as in Ezekiel 11:16, that the sanctuary is also an asylum (1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28). In that sanctuary, in the presence of Jehovah, there was a refuge from all terror, the answer to all misgivings (Psalms 73:17).But for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence . . .—The words have become so familiar to us through their Christian application (Matthew 21:44; Romans 9:33; 1... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:15

(15) And many among them shall stumble, and fall . . .—The accumulation of words more or less synonymous has obviously, as before, the emphasis of iteration. Possibly for the prophet and his disciples, each word had a distinct ethical significance, which we can only partially recover. Looking to the figure implied in Isaiah 8:14, they seem to describe the several stages of the capture of the animal for whom the trap has been laid. It first stumbles, then falls into the pit, and breaks its... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:16

(16) Bind up the testimony . . .—The intensity of feeling in which the prophetic utterance of Isaiah 8:11-15 had its birth, is followed by a corresponding solemnity at its close. The words which had been so full of meaning for the prophet himself are to be impressed on the disciples of Jehovah (for it is He who speaks), i.e., on those who looked to Isaiah as their guide and counsellor. They are to be written on a parchment roll, as men wrote the sacred Book of the Law; the roll is to be sealed... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:17

(17) And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face . . .—The words come in somewhat abruptly, but not to the extent that justifies the assumption of some critics that a verse has been lost. The prophet enforces precept by example. He has learnt to conquer the feverish desire to know the future, which led men to trust in soothsayers and diviners, and from which even his own disciples were not altogether exempt. He is content to “wait,” even though Jehovah “hide His face,” though... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:18

(18) Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me . . .—In the mystic significance of his own name (Isaiah—Salvation of Jehovah) and of the names of his sons: Remnant shall return. and Speed-plunder, Haste-spoil, possibly also in that of Immanuel, the prophet finds a sufficient revelation of the future. Each was a nomen et omen for those who had ears to hear. Could the disciples of Isaiah complain that they had no light thrown upon the future, when, so to say, they had those embodied... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:19

(19) And when they shall say unto you . . .—This then was the temptation to which the disciples of Isaiah were exposed, and to which they were all but yielding. Why should not they do as others did, and consult the soothsayers, who were in such great demand (Isaiah 2:6), as to the anxious secrets of the coming years. The words point to some of the many forms of such soothsaying (Deuteronomy 18:10). The “familiar spirit” (the English term being a happy paraphrase rather than a translation), is... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:20

(20) To the law and to the testimony.—The words are only remotely and by analogy an exhortation to the study of Scripture in general, or even to that of the Law of Moses in particular. “The law and the testimony” are obviously here, as in Isaiah 8:16, the “word of Jehovah,” spoken to the prophet himself, the revelation which had come to him with such an intensity of power.If they speak not according to this word . . .—The personal pronoun refers to the people of Isaiah 8:19 who were hunting... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:21

(21) And they shall pass through it . . .—i.e., through the land over which hangs the sunless gloom. The abruptness with which the verse opens, the absence of any noun to which the pronoun “it” may refer, has led some critics (Cheyne) to transpose the two verses. So arranged, the thought of the people for whom there is no dawning passes naturally into the picture of their groping in that thick darkness. and then the misery of that midnight wandering is aggravated by the horrors of starvation.... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 8:1-22

CHAPTER VIKING AND MESSIAH; PEOPLE AND CHURCH735-732 B.C.Isaiah 7, 8, 9:1-8THIS section of the book of Isaiah (chapters 7-9:7) consists of a number of separate prophecies uttered during a period of at least three years: 735-732 B.C. By 735 Ahaz had ascended the throne; Tiglath-pileser had been occupied in the far east for two years. Taking advantage of the weakness of the former and the distance of the later, Rezin, king of Damascus, and Pekah, king of Samaria, planned an invasion of Judah. It... read more

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:13

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:14

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:15

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:16

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:17

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:18

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:19

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:20

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 8:21

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 8:1-22

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