Isaiah Chapters 8-9 This section is closely related to the events mentioned in the previous chapter. It concerns the same event, that is, deliverance from the Syrian-Israelite invasion. God now gives Isaiah another prophecy concerning the same situation. Some have claimed that this chapter is talking about the same child mentioned in Isaiah 7:14, however there are differences: The child in 8:1-4 is not named “Immanuel”. The child in this chapter is also born to Isaiah’s wife, and she is obviously not a virgin for Isaiah already has a child (7:3), and the child born in this chapter is the result of a purely natural process (8:3). In addition, the birth of this child happens after the prophecy of 7:14, for before this child can even say “my father” or “my mother”, the Syrian-Israelite alliance would collapse (8:4). This is not the same time period as mentioned in 7:14-16, which speaks of an age of accountability. In contrast to the time period in the previous chapter, we are now speaking of a time period of about a year. 8:1 Isaiah is here told to use a visual aid in his preaching. On a large tablet or scroll Isaiah writes “Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey”. Actually this is the exact meaning of the name that Isaiah is to give to the son born in 8:3. “Soldiers would shout these words to their comrades as they defeated and plundered their foes” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 1050). 8:2 God calls in two witnesses at this point. Uriah the priest, who is later mentioned in an unfavorable light (2 Kings 16:10-16), when he complied with Ahaz’s order to change the temple worship after the Syrian-Israelite alliance had been broken. These witnesses are employed the verify the recording of this message. 8:3 Most feel that the prophetess under consideration is Isaiah’s wife (seeing that Isaiah was a moral man, and approaching is the prophetess is linked with conceiving and giving birth). She is called a “prophetess” either because she was married to a prophet, or she also spoke by inspiration. “Maher-shalalhash-baz”: (MAY her SHAL al HASH baz). This is the symbolic name of Isaiah’s son, which means exactly what was written on the tablet in 8:1. In about a year and nine months (nine months for the pregnancy and one year for the child’s growth), Assyria would plunder Damascus (the Syrian capital city) and Samaria. This happened in 732 B.C. 8:4 Usually a child can say “mother” or “father” by about one year. This denotes the imminence of the impending destruction. During the reign of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser carried away the people of northern Israel into captivity (2
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