John Gill Commentary Isaiah 8

Moreover the Lord said to me
This is another prophecy, confirming the same thing that was promised in the preceding chapter (Isaiah 7:1–25); namely, safety to the Jews from the two kings of Syria and Israel, which combined against them: take you a great roll ;
or volume, a writing book, a roll of parchment, in which form the ancients used to write, (Psalms 40:7). The Targum renders it, a "table"; a writing table, such an one as Zacharias called for, (Luke 1:63) and this was to be a "great" or large one, because much was to be written in it; or what was to be written was to be written in large letters: and write in it with a man's pen ;
such as men usually write with; and in such a style and language as may be easily understood by men, even though unlearned; and so clearly and plainly, that he that runs may read; and so the Targum, ``write in it a clear writing;'' very plain, and explicit, and legible:

concerning Mahershalalhashbaz ;
a son of the prophet Isaiah, so called, (Isaiah 8:3) whose name was very significant, and was given him on purpose to express the sudden destruction of the enemies of Judah. The Targum renders it, ``hasten to seize the prey, and to take away the spoil.'' Some translate it, "in hastening the prey, the spoiler hastens"; perhaps it may be better rendered, "hasten to the spoil, hasten to the prey"; as if the words were spoken to the Assyrian monarch, to hasten to the spoil of Damascus and Samaria; and the repetition of the same thing in different words may have respect to the spoils of both, see (Isaiah 8:4) and for the greater confirmation of the thing.

Gussetius has a very peculiar fancy about the sense of this text; he observes that (jrx) , rendered a "pen", signifies some hollow vessel, in which things were put; and supposes that it here designs a man's chest, or some such thing, in which garments might be laid up and reserved: and (Nwylg) , is the singular of a word used in (Isaiah 3:23) , for some sort of luxurious garments worn by women; so that, upon the whole, the reading and sense of the words are, that the prophet is bid to take a large garment of the above sort, and write upon it, putting it into the chest.

This for Mahershalalhashbaz; signifying it was to lie there till this child was born; and intimating hereby, that the women, far from battle, would be spoiled of their soft and precious garments, as well as the men be slain in war ^F13.

though this is more tolerable than the fancy of Huetius ^F14 , that the whole is an euphemism, in modest terms, expressing the prophet's coition with his wife.

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: Vid. Comment. Ebr. p. 286.
• F14: Demonstr. Evangel. prop. 7. parag. 15. p. 352.

And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record
Not his marriage, nor the birth of his son, nor the name he gave him, but the prophecy written in the roll, concerning the spoiling of Syria and Israel, in a very short time; that so, when it came to pass, it might be a clear and certain point that it had been foretold by him.

Uriah the priest ;
of whom mention is made in (2 Kings 16:10) which some object to, because he proved a wicked man, and obeyed the king's command, contrary to the law of God, in building an altar according to the form of one at Damascus; but to this it is replied, that it was before this happened that Isaiah took him to be a witness; and besides, because of the authority of his office, and his familiarity with Ahaz, he must be allowed to be a proper and pertinent person to bear testimony in this case.

Some indeed, and so the Jewish commentators, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, would have Uriah the prophet meant, who prophesied in the times of Jehoiakim, and was slain by him, (Jeremiah 26:20–23) to which it is objected, that he was no priest, as this was and, besides, was not born at this time; it was a hundred and forty years after that he lived.

and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah ;
this was Zechariah the prophet, as the Targum, and all the Jewish writers, say ^F15 ; who lived in the times of Darius, which was two hundred and forty years after this; but most likely this Zechariah is he who was Ahaz's wife's father, (2 Kings 18:2) or rather, as Vitringa thinks, Zechariah a Levite, a son of Asaph, (2 Chronicles 29:13).

Though there are some learned men ^F16 , who think the two prophets Uriah and Zechariah are meant, though then unborn; who prophesied of the like or same things as Isaiah did; and so were faithful witnesses of his prophecy, as of the calamities that should come on the land, the restitution of it to its former fruitfulness, and the coming of the Messiah; nor is the observation of Abarbinel to be despised, taken from the ancient Jews, that these are the words, not of the prophet, but of God himself; as also that they are to be read in the future tense, "and I will take to me".

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: T. Bab. Maccot, fol. 24. 2.
• F16: Cocceius, Witsius, Miscel. Sacr. tom. 1. l. 1. c. 20. sect. 8, 9, 10.

And I went unto the prophetess His wife, so called; not because she prophesied, but because she was the wife of a prophet; and besides, the birth of her son later mentioned, and his name, had in them the nature of a prophecy. The phrase of going unto her is an euphemism, a modest way of expressing the conjugal debt:

and she conceived and bore a son; which Jarchi would have the same with Immanuel in (Isaiah 7:14) but this is a later prophecy, and a distinct one from that; and not only the names of the children are different, but the mothers also; the one a virgin, the other the prophet's wife.

Then said the Lord to me, call his name Mahershalalhashbaz: of the signification of this name, (See Gill on Isaiah 8:1). Kimchi thinks that his name did not consist of these four words, only of two of them; and that he was sometimes called "Mahershalal", and sometimes "Hashbaz": both signifying the same thing.

Some think that all this was done only in a vision, and not in reality, to declare and confirm what follows; though by that it seems rather to be a real fact.

For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, my
father, and my mother
Which are commonly the first words children learn to say; and so it signifies that what follows should happenin a year or two; as it did.

the riches of Damascus, and the spoil of Samaria, shall betaken
away before the king of Assyria ;
or, "he shall take away the riches" ^F17 ; not the child, unless he is considered as the sign oftaking them away; but the soldier, put for the whole Assyrian army, which carried off the riches and spoil ofthese places, in the presence, and by the order, of the king of Assyria; the first of these, namely,Damascus, the metropolis of Syria, with its riches, wealth, and army, were taken and carried away byTilgathpilneser, king of Assyria, within the time here mentioned, (2 Kings 16:9) .

But the latter, Samaria, the metropolis of the kingdom of Israel, was not taken and spoiled until the sixth year of Hezekiah, andninth of Hoshea, (2 Kings 17:6) (2 Kings 18:10) but because the prophecy began to be fulfilled, and wasfulfilled in part, within the time mentioned, the whole is attributed to it; though it should be observed,that before this, after Pekah the son of Remaliah was slain, and Hoshea reigned in his stead, the king ofAssyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents; which may be called thespoil of Samaria, (2 Kings 17:3) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F17:
  F17 (lyx ta avy) "asportabit, opulentiam----servus regis Assyriae", Junius & Tremellius "auferet opes----is [qui stet] coram facie regis Assyriae", Piscator.

The Lord spoke also to me again
In the same prophecy, or in another; the Targum is, ``the Word of the Lord added to speak with me again;'' but rather Jehovah the Father, or the Spirit of the Lord, is meant, since the Person speaking is distinguished from Immanuel, (Isaiah 8:8) : saying ;
as follows: