Isaiah 8:11-16 - Exposition

THE GROUNDS OF ISAIAH 'S CONFIDENCE . Having declared his absolute confidence, not only that the attack of Pekah and Rezin will fail ( Isaiah 8:1-4 ), but that Assyria also ( Isaiah 8:8 ), nay, that all the nations of the earth ( Isaiah 8:9 ) will fail, and bring destruction upon themselves, if they "devise devices" against God's true people, the prophet explains the ground of his confidence by relating a special "instruction" which he had received from God some time previously, he had been bidden to separate himself from the mass of his countrymen in thought and feeling, and to cling only to Jehovah, who would "be for a Sanctuary" ( Isaiah 8:14 ) to his own, but "for a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence" to all others.