And Jehovah said to me, Take thee a great tablet, and write thereon with a man's style, concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
Ahaz has just refused to ask God for a sign, and God has promised Immanuel anyway. Now God tells the prophet to write a strange four-word name on a large tablet, before the child who will carry it is born.
God does not only speak this message. He tells Isaiah to write it down. Commentators list this command with other places where God told a prophet to record what he was given.
Isaiah, Jeremiah and Habakkuk all say the Lord charged them to put their predictions in writing: "The LORD said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters…" (Isa. 8:1)… These passages show the authority on which the writers recorded their sayings. They also show that they wrote what the Lord commanded them to write.
The name is not just a label. Its meaning is spelled out in the verses that follow.
Symbolic name given to one of Isaiah's sons. Isa. 8:1-4. It means "swift for spoil, hasty for prey." The child was to be called this because the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria would be carried away before the king of Assyria — and all this before the child knew how to cry "My father" or "My mother." See 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 16:9.
The name also pictures the invader himself:
The Lord directs the prophet to name the child who would be born Maher-shalal-hash-baz, as a sign of what would soon take place. The name pictures the ravenous character of the Assyrian.
Isaiah does not write in secret. He takes two named witnesses, and then the child arrives.
"And I took faithful witnesses to record for me: Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz" (vv. 1-3)… And all this, as the inspired history proves, was fulfilled to the letter.
Even the witnesses' names carry a message. One writer reads them alongside the names of Isaiah's two sons:
The names are significant… Isaiah's other son was named "Shear-Jashub," which means "a remnant shall return." The names of the sure witnesses are just as full of meaning. Urijah (Jehovah is light), Zechariah (Jehovah remembers), and Jeberechiah (Blessed of Jehovah).
The tablet announces loss. Yet the same God who brings the invader had promised Immanuel.
Still, the grace of God remains toward His people. His punishment comes; but if He brings the Assyrian, He promises Immanuel at the same time. If Maher-shalal-hashbaz points to the Assyrian speeding to the spoil and hurrying the prey, God still cannot abandon the house of David and Immanuel's land… Human nature looks for support in man, in what looks strong. It has no confidence when there is only God for tomorrow.
Isaiah's two sons are signs. But neither of them is the Son promised between them.
These chapters make it plain that Shear-jashub (the remnant shall return) was already born… It is just as plain that Maher-shalal-hash-baz was still to be born of the prophetess. Both names set out great events of lasting interest to Israel. One pledges the return of the remnant; the other points to the Assyrian attack and what would follow… But between the two comes a completely different promise: the virgin's Son. Any fair reading of it rules out both the king and the prophet with their children.
- Written — God told Isaiah to write the message down, not just say it. The prophets wrote at God's command.
- Named — the four words mean "swift for spoil, hasty for prey." They picture the Assyrian who would strip Damascus and Samaria.
- Witnessed — Isaiah took Uriah the priest and Zechariah as faithful witnesses to the record.
- Fulfilled — before the child could say "father" or "mother," the king of Assyria carried off the spoil. It happened to the letter.
- Immanuel — the same God who sent the threat had promised the virgin's Son. He will not abandon the house of David or Immanuel's land.
And I took unto me to witness, sure witnesses, Urijah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
God tells Isaiah to write a coming judgment on a large public tablet, and to have two named men certify it. So why does God's own word need human signatures?
The two witnesses are attached to a document written in advance of the events it describes. One writer sets the whole scene out and then points to what history did with it:
"And the Lord said to me, Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man's pen, for Maher-shalal-hash-baz. And I took (or will take) faithful witnesses to record this, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah." … "For before the child knows how to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off before the king of Assyria" (v. 4). And all this, as the inspired history proves, came true to the letter.
Writing down a message, rather than merely announcing it, was a repeated instruction from God to His prophets:
Isaiah, Jeremiah and Habakkuk all say the Lord charged them to write down what they predicted. "The Lord said to me, Take a large scroll, and write in it with a man's pen…" (Isa. 8:1)… "The Lord answered me and said: Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, so that he may run who reads it" (Hab. 2:2). These passages show the authority on which the writers recorded their sayings. They also show that they wrote what the Lord commanded them to write.
God binds Himself here to the very rule of evidence He gave His people. A single reliable man would satisfy most of us; Scripture says otherwise:
We may judge of its importance from this. Moses presses it on Israel's attention again and again. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and the Holy Spirit in the apostle Paul, in two of his epistles, insist on the principle of "two or three witnesses," in every case. One witness, however trustworthy, is not enough to decide a case… Let us remember that God is wiser than we are. It is always our truest wisdom, and our greatest moral security, to hold fast to His unerring word.
Commentators identify the first signer with a man who appears again in the history of the kings:
The priest Isaiah used as a faithful witness to record his prophecies. Isa. 8:2. At the king's order he built an altar in Jerusalem, copying one that Ahaz had seen in Damascus, 2 Kings 16:10-16, where he is called Urijah.
If so, the man who certified Isaiah's tablet later gave his king exactly what he wanted:
King Ahaz finds in Urijah the high priest a willing tool for his idol-worshipping plans. Untrue to his name (light of Jehovah), he obeys his king's orders without conscience.
The second witness comes from a priestly family, and his name helps solve a puzzle in Matthew's Gospel:
The names Zechariah and Berechiah were well-known names in the priestly family. In Isaiah 8:2 Isaiah's faithful witnesses are Uriah and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah — that is, Berechiah. Berechiah seems to have been the name of the head of the family. Matthew could therefore call Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the son of Berechiah too, tracing him back to his ancestor.
- Written. God told Isaiah to put the message on a large tablet in ordinary handwriting. He told Jeremiah and Habakkuk to write too. The authority is God's; the pen is a man's.
- Attested. Two named men signed the record before the event. That is God's own rule of evidence: one witness, however trustworthy, is not enough to settle a case.
- Named. Both witnesses are public figures — Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. Anyone could check the record, not just believe it.
- Flawed. Commentators identify Uriah with the priest who later built Ahaz's copied altar. A true record does not depend on the later faithfulness of the man who signed it.
- Fulfilled. Assyria stripped Damascus and Samaria before the child could speak. It all came true to the letter, and the tablet's signatures still stand against every doubt of God's word.
And I came near to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son; and Jehovah said unto me, Call his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
Isaiah's son is born, and God gives him a name that already stood written on a public tablet. Two questions follow: who is this "prophetess," and why does God hang a prophecy on a child's name?
This is no ordinary name. It announces plunder, and it sets a deadline.
A symbolic name given to one of Isaiah's sons, Isaiah 8:1-4. It means "swift for spoil, hasty for prey." The child was given this name for a reason. Before he could cry "My father" or "My mother," the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria would be carried away before the king of Assyria. See 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 16:9.
Look at the order. The words went onto a tablet first, and named witnesses attested them. The son was born after that.
"Then the LORD said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz. And I got reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me" (vv. 1-2)… And all this, as the inspired history proves, was fulfilled to the letter.
The other names here speak too — Isaiah's other son, and the two witnesses.
The names are significant… Isaiah's other son was named "Shear-Jashub," which means "a remnant shall return." The names of the sure witnesses are equally full of meaning. Urijah (the LORD is light), Zechariah (the LORD remembers), and Jeberechiah (Blessed of the LORD).
Chapter 7 promised a son born of a virgin. Chapter 8 gives a son born to the prophetess, Isaiah's own wife. Readers have long tried to merge the two, but Kelly keeps them apart.
These chapters make it as plain as can be. Shear-jashub (= the remnant shall return) was already born, and he went with the prophet, as we see at the beginning of Isaiah 7. It is equally plain that Maher-shalal-hash-baz (= hasten prey, speed spoil, Isaiah 8) was to be born of the prophetess. Both set out the great events of undying interest to Israel. One pledges the return of the remnant. The other signals the Assyrian attack and what follows… But between the two comes a wholly different promise, the virgin's Son, which in any fair reading excludes both the king and the prophet with their children. His name Immanuel (God with us) speaks of far better things.
Interpreters have differed here over the young woman of chapter 7. The title "the prophetess" in this verse has been one of the deciding arguments.
Kimchi held that the young woman could not be Isaiah's wife. If she were, she must have been called the prophetess, as in chapter 8:3. So he took her to be the wife of Ahaz… Even Kimchi rules out Isaiah and the prophetess, since he asks how the land could then be called Immanuel's land.
This child was born into a nation that had turned from God's gentle way to human strength. Yet the chapter that names the invader also names Immanuel.
Still, the grace of God stays with His people. The scourge of God comes; but if He brings the Assyrian, He promises Immanuel at the same time. If Maher-shalal-hashbaz testifies to the Assyrian hurrying to the spoil and hastening to the prey, God cannot abandon the house of David and Immanuel's land (vv. 1-10)… This people had refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah. They had despised the house of David, rejoicing in Rezin and Pekah, not in God's gentle way, which keeps the heart always dependent.
Later in the chapter Isaiah's two sons stand as signs. The New Testament quotes that verse, and it reaches believers too.
The last quotation is from Isaiah 8:18. The children the Lord had given to Isaiah were for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord. The two sons of Isaiah had received their names of significant meaning from heaven. Believers are children, belong to Him, and are signs and witnesses both to unbelieving Israel and to the world.
- Written — the words went onto a tablet before the child existed. The word came first, the event second.
- Witnessed — Uriah and Zechariah attested it. Even their names carry the message: "the LORD is light," "the LORD remembers."
- Named — "swift for spoil, hasty for prey" made the boy a walking announcement: Assyria would strip Damascus and Samaria.
- Timed — a toddler's speech set the deadline. Before he could say "father" or "mother," it was done — fulfilled to the letter.
- Signs — Isaiah's sons were signs and wonders in Israel, and believers stand as signs and witnesses too.
For before the lad knoweth to cry, My father! and, My mother! the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
Isaiah had already given King Ahaz one sign in a child's name. Now a second child arrives, and his name announces judgment on Syria and Israel before it falls. The verse even sets the deadline: the time it takes a baby to learn to say "father" and "mother."
God gave the name before the child arrived. The name itself carried the prediction, and it described the invader who would carry it out.
As a sign of what would soon happen, the Lord tells the prophet to name the child who was to be born Maher-shalal-hash-baz. The name means "Swift for spoil, hasty for prey." It describes the greedy, devouring character of the Assyrian.
Isaiah's other son and the witnesses carried meaningful names too.
The names are significant... Isaiah's other son was named "Shear-Jashub," which means "a remnant shall return." The names of the sure witnesses are just as full of meaning: Urijah (the Lord is light), Zechariah (the Lord remembers), and Jeberechiah (Blessed of the Lord).
Damascus was the capital of Syria and Samaria the capital of Israel, so this verse names the two powers Ahaz was afraid of. It also answers a question raised in chapter 7: whose land would be left empty?
The word for land or ground, "adamah," does not mean only one single country. It carries a wide range of meaning, depending on the context... Here the two kings define it as the land of both of them, not of one only. Compare Isaiah 8:4... See also 2 Kings 15:29-30; 2 Kings 16:9. So the "two kings" appear to be those of Syria and of Samaria, or Israel, and "the land" is the land belonging to each.
A prophecy with a deadline can be checked against what happened next. Kelly reads later history as the verdict.
The Lord explains this to Isaiah, and Isaiah passes it on (v. 4). And all of it, as the history recorded in Scripture proves, came true to the letter.
Ahaz had already turned to Assyria for protection against Syria and Israel. The word about Damascus and Samaria answered his ask and warned him: the same power would one day turn on Judah.
Ahaz prefers to trust the king of Assyria against Pekah and Rezin rather than to trust the Lord and obey Him... So what the Lord had spoken against Israel, which had sought the support of Assyria (Hosea 5:13-14), He now speaks against Judah, who sought this same alliance. At first this trust in Assyria seemed to work well for Judah. Tiglath-pileser seized Damascus, carried away its people, and killed Rezin. The prophecy Amos gave long before (Amos 1:3-5) is now fulfilled.
The child's name is not the only name in play. The prophecy sets two figures side by side, and both belong to one story.
We already have the two great parties the prophecy deals with: Immanuel and the Assyrian. The virgin would conceive a Son — Messiah, Immanuel. The Lord would bring upon the unworthy son of David the king of Assyria — the only one he had looked to for help. The humblest Jew ought to have cried to the Lord.
Behind Ahaz's choice lies a question of trust: what do we lean on when only God is left?
Even though Maher-shalal-hashbaz points to the Assyrian rushing to the spoil and hurrying to the prey, God cannot abandon the house of David and Immanuel's land (vv. 1-10)... The people had despised the house of David. They took joy in Rezin and Pekah, not in God's gentle way, which keeps the heart always dependent. If the flesh can find a support, it finds it in man, in what looks strong. It has no confidence if only God is there for tomorrow... God would have us appear the most feeble, so that He should be our only strength.
Commentators differ on how far the chapter reaches. Writers agree that the Assyrian campaigns fulfilled verse 4. Some also look for a fuller completion of the verses that follow, "at the end of the days" (An Outline of Sound Words).
- Name — "Maher-shalal-hash-baz" means "swift for spoil, hasty for prey." The child's name was the prophecy. It pictured the greed of the invader.
- Clock — the deadline was a baby's first words. History matched it: Damascus fell and Rezin died.
- Cause — Ahaz trusted the king of Assyria instead of the Lord, so the Lord turned that same power against Judah.
- Contrast — two figures stand together: the Assyrian who plunders, and Immanuel, whose land it stays.
- Lesson — God removes the props men lean on so that He alone is their strength.