Isaiah 8:1-4 Again the Lord sent me a message: “Make a large signboard and write on it the birth announcement of the son I am going to give you. Use capital letters! His name will be Maher-shalal-hash-baz, which means ‘Your enemies will soon be destroyed.’” I asked Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, both known as honest men, to watch me as I wrote so they could testify that I had written it before the child was even on the way. Then I had sexual intercourse with my wife and she conceived and bore me a son. And the Lord said, “Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. This name prophesies that within a couple of years, before this child is even old enough to say ‘Daddy’ or ‘Mommy,’ the king of Assyria will invade both Damascus and Samaria and carry away their riches.”
Previously, God has already given Isaiah a son named Shear-jashub, “a remnant will return.” Now God wants Isaiah to father a second son with a prophetic name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, or “they (the Assyrians) hasten to the spoil of Syria and Israel and speed to the prey.” Although prophets don’t generally write out their prophecies, God orders Isaiah to write this second boy’s name in capital letters so everyone can read it.
5 Then the Lord spoke to me again and said: 6 “Since the people of Jerusalem are planning to refuse my gentle care and are enthusiastic about asking King Rezin and King Pekah to come and aid them, 7-8 therefore I will overwhelm my people with Euphrates’ mighty flood; the king of Assyria and all his mighty armies will rage against them. This flood will overflow all its channels and sweep into your land of Judah, O Immanuel, submerging it from end to end.”
Verse 6 literally says “you have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly.” The phrase “the waters of Shiloh” refers to the spring on the southwest slopes of Mount Zion, one of the main sources of water for the city. Here God is comparing the gently flowing waters of Shiloh to the rushing waters of the powerful Tigris and Euphrates Rivers of Assyria. Although all-powerful, the One True Living God does not force Himself on anyone; in addition, God’s nature is holy and pure like the waters of Shiloh rather than like the muddy roiling waters of the Tigris or Euphrates. That is why He compares His nature to gently flowing waters from a living spring.
9-10 Do your worst, O Syria and Israel, our enemies, but you will not succeed—you will be shattered. Listen to me, all you enemies of ours: Prepare for war against us—and perish! Yes! Perish! Call your councils of war, develop your strategies, prepare your plans of attacking us, and perish! For God is with us.
11 The Lord has said in strongest terms: Do not under any circumstances go along with the plans of Judah to surrender to Syria and Israel. 12 Don’t let people call you a traitor for staying true to God. Don’t you panic as so many of your neighbors are doing when they think of Syria and Israel attacking you. 13 Don’t fear anything except the Lord of the armies of heaven! If you fear him, you need fear nothing else. 14-15 He will be your safety; but Israel and Judah have refused his care and thereby stumbled against the Rock of their salvation and lie fallen and crushed beneath it: God’s presence among them has endangered them! 16 Write down all these things I am going to do, says the Lord, and seal them up for the future. Entrust them to some godly man to pass on down to godly men of future generations.
17 I will wait for the Lord to help us, though he is hiding now. My only hope is in him. 18 I and the children God has given me have symbolic names that reveal the plans of the Lord of heaven’s armies for his people: Isaiah means “Jehovah will save (his people),” Shear-jashub means “A remnant shall return,” and Maher-shalal-hash-baz means “Your enemies will soon be destroyed.” 19 So why are you trying to find out the future by consulting witches and mediums? Don’t listen to their whisperings and mutterings. Can the living find out the future from the dead? Why not ask your God?
20 “Check these witches’ words against the Word of God!” he says. “If their messages are different than mine, it is because I have not sent them; for they have no light or truth in them. 21 My people will be led away captive, stumbling, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rave and shake their fists at heaven and curse their King and their God. 22 Wherever they look there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. And they will be thrust out into the darkness.”
Deuteronomy 18:9-14 “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.
All these people consulting witches and wizards are committing abominations that spiritually contaminate their land. By refusing to wait on the Lord, these people are dooming themselves, their families, and their countries. Poor Isaiah! Imagine trying to teach and encourage friends, neighbors, and relatives who have no interest in being patient and who are constantly pursuing specious promises from false prophets who will say anything if the price is right.
17 I will wait for the Lord to help us, though he is hiding now. My only hope is in him. Both the Northern Kingdom and Judah are in turmoil. The Assyrians are moving in from the north, and it’s only a matter of time before they conquer the Northern Kingdom and Syria. Rather than turning to God, people are turning to witches and wizards, even trying to summon spirits from the dead for advice. Even Isaiah feels as if God is hiding; however, Isaiah persists in trusting the Lord.
The question for us is simple: whom are we trusting? God doesn’t hide Himself; however, many times, His schedules and ours are quite different. We want instant deliverance, instant results. But God works on an eternal time clock. Although God can move instantly when the situation demands it, God is the One who determines the requirements of the situation, not us. May God help us so that we will trust Him, waiting for Him, even when He appears to be hiding.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to trust You, even when Your answers seem to delay. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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