And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto the necromancers and unto the soothsayers, who chirp and who mutter, [say,] Shall not a people seek unto their God? [Will they go] for the living unto the dead?
By this point in Isaiah 8, the nation has turned from God's word, and only a faithful few still keep it. Verse 19 shows what such people do when they lose God's light but still want answers: they look for voices in the dark.
The turn to spirits starts with a loss.
The people have lost God, who disowns them for the time being, and, seeking light but finding none, they turn to familiar spirits and wizards. But the true heart, with Christ before it, holds to God and His word: "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
Not everyone in Israel went that way.
A remnant of Israel valued God's word when the mass turned away from the Lord into idolatry and rebellion. Among them the testimony of God was bound up, and kept for His pleasure.
Older translations of this verse use the word "wizard." The name itself is a claim to knowledge.
WIZARD, from yiddeoni, "a knowing, wise one." The only thing said in Scripture about such people is that they "chirp and mutter." Isaiah 8:19. This was no doubt part of their incantations. The noises were meant to bewilder those who came for advice, and perhaps to stir the spirit they wished to consult into action. The advice may at times have been good, so as to draw the deluded ones more effectively under the influence of the evil spirits.
The noises were not language at all.
These diviners chirped and muttered in cries that were no more understandable than those of birds and animals. These are the strange, mysterious voices of the evil spirits who deceive their followers. The prophet mentions them again elsewhere: "your voice shall be as one that has a familiar spirit."
God's own question in the verse is not neutral.
In Isaiah 8:19 God asks with indignation why people should even wish to inquire of the dead, when they could, if they were willing, inquire of their Maker.
The verse's last question turns the picture around: the living going to the dead for light. That search finds nothing.
Instead of turning in faith to the testimony of God, people consult necromancers and fortune-tellers who chirp and mutter. What kind of insanity is it that sends the living to the dead for light? What daybreak could there be for such people? They are like a blind man lost in a thick forest. Their feverish activity only brings them back to where they started, and the darkness stays as thick as ever.
Commentators here make a sharp distinction: contact is real, but the dead are not the ones contacted.
The claim to put the living in touch with the dead is a monstrous fraud. The keys of Hades are in divine hands alone. Mediums cannot disturb either the just or the unjust. Yet such people really are in touch with the invisible world. But it is demons they deal with, and it is with demons the mediums link up their miserable dupes.
That makes the choice in the verse a choice between two masters, not two methods.
Like Saul, unable to get messages from God, they seek information about things unknown and unseen through the work of spirits. It is in fact a turning from God to Satan. The whole system, whether in Israel or in our own day, is Satanic.
The verse points people back to a God they can ask. Scripture is what makes the séance pointless.
Some people will not hear the word of God. They will not believe its clear and solemn statements about themselves, their present condition and their future destiny. A thousand departed souls could come back and tell them what they saw and heard and felt in heaven above or hell beneath, and it would still not persuade them. Nothing will convince a heart that will not bow to Scripture. As for the true believer, he has in Scripture all he can possibly want. He has no need to turn to table-turning, spirit-rapping or magic.
- Loss — these people first abandoned God's testimony. The hunger for hidden knowledge grew in the space His word left.
- Lure — "wizard" means "a knowing one." The chirping and muttering were part of the act, meant to bewilder the visitor and draw him deeper under evil influence.
- Lie — no one reaches the dead. The keys of Hades are in God's hands alone, and what answers the medium is a demon.
- Logic — God's own question exposes the folly. Why ask the dead when you could ask your Maker? Why keep circling a dark forest that has no daybreak?
- Light — the believer needs no séance. Scripture holds everything he could want. A heart that refuses Scripture would not believe a thousand returning souls either.
To the law and the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, for them there is no daybreak.
Isaiah writes to a frightened nation that turned to mediums and the dead for guidance. The verse names the one authority that settles every question: God's written word.
The choice here is between guidance from the dead and guidance from God's written word. Only one of the two carries light.
Verse 19 returns to what was then taking place in Israel. They were turning to the spiritist practices of the nations around them. They went to people who call up the dead and tell fortunes, trying to get guidance for the living from the dead. Yet the law and testimony was available for them, and light from God was shining in it. If they did not speak according to that, there would be "no light in them"; or, "for them there is no daybreak." The same principle is even more true for us today. The coming of Christ has greatly enlarged the word and testimony of God, held in the New Testament Scriptures. If men turn from that to the deceptive sparks made by man's wisdom and achievements, they will have no light in them. There will be no daybreak for them when Christ returns.
If someone will not accept what God has written, a message from the dead will not change them. The lack is in the will, not in the information.
Suppose people will not hear the word of God. Suppose they will not believe its clear and solemn statements about themselves, their present condition, their future destiny. Then they will not be persuaded even if a thousand departed souls came back and told them what they saw and heard and felt in heaven above or in hell beneath... Nothing will convince the heart that will not bow to Scripture. As for the true believer, he has in Scripture all he could want. He has no need to turn to séances, spirit contact or magic.
"To the law and to the testimony" is how older translations read this verse; the ESV has "To the teaching and to the testimony." What does turning there actually give a person?
But to the law and to the testimony! What light can God's Word throw on what He is still doing, and was doing then? In this case it is not like the light of a dim, flickering candle. Such a candle can do little more than make you aware of the darkness around you. The Word is a clear, bright, steady light that cannot be put out. It pierces the gloom and shines on everything around.
The verse also speaks to a faithful few who hold on while the nation drifts. One writer compares their answer to the way Christ met temptation in the wilderness.
In their affliction they are tempted to turn to evil and false helps, such as spiritualism, clairvoyance, and the like. Instead they are to appeal to "the law and to the testimony," as Christ did in the wilderness. The written Word is to be everything to them, exposing all that was evil and preserving all that was good. For those who did not listen to that Word, nothing would be left but a night of darkness. They would pass through it distressed and starving.
One writer applies the same rule to any day of ruin. Conscience judges, but it never guides.
He led His own away from the confused light of conscience, which judged them but never guided them. He brought them back to the pure light of His own infallible word. That word was able to guide them, to build them up, and to give them an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. "To the law and to the testimony" — this is our safeguard in a day of ruin!
The standard is fixed in writing, so a brand new teaching is a warning sign.
Does this not warn Christians against novelties? Look at the Christian world today, and you see, with sorrow, truth given up and error chased after. This happens even in circles that once held that truth. One thing is certain. No truth is new. It may be new to me, but it cannot be new.
- Darkness first. Frightened people were consulting the dead. God's answer: the living seek guidance from God, not from mediums.
- Light offered. The teaching and the testimony is God's written word. It is not a flickering candle that only shows how dark it is. It is a steady light that reaches into the gloom.
- Light tested. Measure every teaching by that word. If it does not speak according to it, the fault is settled. No truth is new.
- Light kept. For a faithful few in a day of ruin, the written word replaces the confused light of conscience. It becomes their safeguard — the weapon Christ Himself used when tempted.
- No daybreak. Refuse this light and you are left with more than ignorance now. There is no dawn for you when Christ returns.