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.
And they shall pass through it, hard pressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass when they are hungry, they will fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and will gaze upward
Isaiah 8 closes with people who had traded God's word for mediums and spirit-voices. This verse shows where that road ends, and it leaves two questions: why do the hungry curse instead of repent, and who is "their king"?
One commentator ties this misery to what the people had done with God's word.
The closing verses show their shocking wickedness and their godless turning to the powers of darkness. They clearly had no light of their own, because they despised and abandoned the law and the testimony of the Lord. The result is deep misery, bold rage, and blasphemy against their King and their God, in all the agony of despair.
Older Bibles read "hardly bestead" where the ESV has "greatly distressed." A dictionary gives the plain sense:
"Hard pressed." Isaiah 8:21.
This hunger falls on people who have thrown away every real resource. One writer lists what they gave up, then asks what they have left.
The nation as a whole will have joined with the beast and gone along with idolatry. They will have received another who comes in his own name. The unclean spirit of idolatry, with seven others worse, will have entered into them. They have given up their God, rejected their Messiah, received the Antichrist, and what do they have when oppression comes?
Hunger finds them with empty hands. Their faces turn up to the God they have just cursed.
Commentators differ over who this king is. One treats the question as open, then settles on a wicked ruler:
The only question is, Who is the king in Isaiah 8:21? I suppose it is the evil king, who is mentioned in this way only in Isaiah; see Isaiah 30:33.
Another writer sees a wider collapse of respect for authority, and names what brought the darkness on:
What has produced this distressing "trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish"? It comes straight from turning away from the true God, and from sinking into spiritualism (Isaiah 8:19), socialism and infidelity (v. 21). Denying right authority, they fret themselves and curse their king and their God.
This pattern is not only future. One writer finds it acted out on the last night of Saul, Israel's first king. God gave him no answer, so he turned to a medium.
The night of Israel is now setting in with many a dark and heavy cloud (1 Samuel 28). Samuel is dead. The Philistines are as strong and threatening as ever. David, the deliverer of the people, is forced outside the camp. And our poor king, the slave of his lusts, is all fear and confusion. He asks God, but there is no answer… It was indeed a day of darkness and trouble to Israel, as it will be one day again. There was now a forsaking of the living for the dead, and a seeking to wizards that whisper and mutter, as there will be in the distress of the last days.
The verse is not the end of the story. One writer places this gloom in more than one age, and points to the light that broke into it.
Instead of daybreak there will be darkness and gloom. The two verses that close this chapter and the opening verse of Isaiah 9 describe it vividly. This darkness was there in the days of Ahaz. It existed in the day when Christ came, and it will doubtless be very marked at the end of the age. The way this prophecy is applied to the Lord Jesus and His early ministry, when we turn to Matthew 4:13-16, is very striking. What wonderful spiritual light streamed out from Him, both in His words and His miracles! It was for the blessing of those who had been sitting in darkness, whether they had eyes to see it or not.
And for the godly in Israel, this darkness has an end:
At the second coming of the Lord, the trouble and darkness surrounding the godly remnant of Israel will be gone for ever.
- No light — the hunger and rage begin with despising the law and the testimony. With no light of their own, they turned to spirits.
- No resource — they gave up their God, rejected their Messiah and took another. Oppression comes, and their hands are empty.
- No respect — they curse both the throne and God. Commentators differ on whether "their king" means an evil ruler or authority in general.
- No new thing — on Saul's last night God stayed silent and he turned to a medium. The same darkness, in miniature.
- Not the end — the same gloom met Christ's coming and will mark the end of the age. Light shone into it then. At His return it is gone for good.
and they will look to the earth; and behold, trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they shall be driven into thick darkness.
Isaiah 8 closes with a people who had turned from God's written word to mediums and spirit-guides. This last verse shows what they see when they look around at their own land. Two questions press on the reader: why is there no light left for them, and is this darkness the end of the story?
The gloom of this verse is not random misfortune. It follows a choice made a few verses earlier. People asked the dead for guidance while God's own testimony lay open in front of them.
They were turning to the spiritist practices of the nations around them. They asked mediums and fortune-tellers for guidance, seeking help for the living from the dead. Yet the law and the testimony was available to them, and God's light 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 principle of all this is even more true for us today. The coming of Christ has greatly enlarged the word and testimony of God, held for us in the New Testament Scriptures. If men turn from that to the false sparks made by human wisdom and achievement, there will be no light in them. There will be no daybreak for them when Christ returns.
The verse before this one has them looking up; this one has them looking down. They search in both directions, and both fail them.
The written Word was to be everything to them, exposing all that was evil and preserving all that was good. But those who paid no attention to that Word had nothing left but a night of darkness. They would pass through it distressed and starving. The experience would be so terrible — no relief from around, no light from above — that they would curse both their king and their God. They would look first upward, not with the look of faith, but with hopeless despair, and then down again to the earth. Trouble, darkness and gloom close the scene over those who had deliberately refused the light of God when He came in grace and humiliation.
The darkness is not only outward. It works itself out in what these people feel and say.
The closing verses show their extreme wickedness and their godless turning to the powers of darkness. Their lack of light was obvious, since they despised and turned away from the law and the testimony of Jehovah. The result is intense misery, bold rage, and blasphemy against their King and their God, in all the agony of despair.
This is not a nation that had nothing. It is a nation that traded everything away and then met pressure with empty hands.
Though this will affect the nation at large, the effect on the wicked and on the saints will be very different. The nation at large will have joined with the beast and gone along with idolatry. They will have received another who came in his own name. The unclean spirit of idolatry, with seven others worse, will have entered into them. They have given up their God, rejected their Messiah, received the Antichrist — and what do they have when oppression comes?
The timing matters. One prophecy can be fulfilled in two stages.
To understand prophecy rightly, notice this. A prophecy sometimes has a partial fulfilment at the first coming of the Lord. The complete fulfilment waits for His second coming. The trouble and darkness spoken of in Isaiah 8:21-22 marked the days of the Lord's first coming. It will exist again just before He comes back… At the Lord's second coming, God will dispel for ever the trouble and darkness surrounding the godly remnant of Israel.
The darkness is not the last word. The next verses point to a despised region as the place where light appears.
Let the hand of oppression press on them harder than ever before. Still there would be this difference: among the darkest and most despised in the land a great light would spring up. And how our Lord's first appearing among them proved it! It was in Galilee, not Jerusalem, that the grace of Jesus shone… But the darkest and coldest night comes before a dawn of joy and glory.
- No word, no daybreak. The darkness starts when people refuse God's testimony. Those who will not speak according to His word have no light in them and no morning coming.
- No word, no direction. They look up and they look down. Neither heaven nor earth gives them relief, and the upward look here is despair, not faith.
- No word, no defence. They gave up God, rejected their Messiah and received another. So they meet the hour of oppression with nothing, and are driven into thick darkness.
- No word, then and again. The trouble marked Christ's first coming and will return before His second. The verse is both history and forecast.
- No word — until the Word appears. The darkest, most despised corner is where the great light rose. The coldest night comes before the dawn.