Isaiah 8:18

18. The prophet points to himself and family as signs of the rightfulness of relying on Jehovah rather than looking to Assyria. The import of the name Isaiah is, Salvation of the Lord; and thus in his name the prophet becomes a type of Christ, and this accounts for Hebrews 2:13, where there is a blending of type and antitype, as the abstract meaning of both is the same.

Behold A call to a momentous wonder.

I and the children As expressed in their several names, (Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 8:3-4;) signs predicting certain deliverance, already coming, and sure to continue to the last. These facts were wonders, and challenged the gravest attention and examination of Judah.

Whom the Lord hath given me The Psalmist, the Evangelist John, and the Apostle Paul interpret this passage of the Christ and his spiritual progeny.

Dwelleth in… Zion instead of Assyria’s gods, that dwelt in Nineveh. Isaiah’s exalted virtue, profound sincerity, and remarkable genius must have commanded respect and secretly exercised great restraining power. Ewald (in History of Israel,) vol. iv, p. 174,) says, “He was an absolutely immovable refuge in the tempest.” And again, (p. 202,) “At this crisis the eternal and glorified expectation of the kingdom of God was… placed in antagonism to all heathen dominion by violence, and nothing is more marvellous than the undaunted attitude of Isaiah in encountering the fury of the dreaded king [of Assyria] with the calmness of this blessed hope.”

“No adequate explanation of this wonder,” says Kay, “can be given except that which Isaiah himself assigns. It was the result of an express communication to him of a divine word, accompanied by a divine action upon his spirit.