Isaiah 30:8 - Exposition

Write it before them in a tablet ; i.e. " write the prophecy before them" (equivalent to " to be set up before them") " on a tablet," in the briefest possible form (comp. Isaiah 8:1 ). And note it in a book ; i.e. "and also make a full notation of it in a book," or parchment roll. The "tablet" was to be for the admonition of the living generation of men; the "book" was for future generations, to be a record of God's omniscience and faithfulness "forever and ever." That it may be for the time to come ; rather, for an after-day—not for the immediate present only. For ever and ever . Modern critics observe that the phrase, la'ad 'ad 'olam , never occurs elsewhere, and suggest a change of the pointing, which would give the sense of "for a testimony forever." Whether we accept the change or not, the meaning undoubtedly is that consigning the prophecy to a "book" would make an appeal to it possible in perpetuum . The perpetuity of the written Word is assumed as certain.