Devotions

A Child Has Been Born For Us

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Judgement is coming. The Lord said in Isaiah 1:13 “I cannot endure iniquity with solemn assembly” and in Isaiah 8:6–8 “Because this people has refused”, and now he is calling Egypt and Assyria to war with Judah and Jerusalem right in the middle. There is no escape, but there is a future. The Lord tells Isaiah, though there is fear and dread of destruction in everyone, “regard Yahweh of hosts as holy, he is your fear, he is your dread”. The Lord tells Isaiah in 8:16 “Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.” Then the Lord says “in the future he will honor the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations”, And then comes the promise, “For a child has been born for us; a son has been given to us. And the dominion will be on his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” a savior, Messiah. 

The Lord Will Shave the Head

Isaiah 7:17–25
In the first year of “Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah” as the young and new king, “Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel (Ephraim), went up toward Jerusalem (came against Judah) in Isaiah 7:1. This fight between the kingdoms was long standing but now, in Isaiah 7:2 “Syria is confederate with Ephraim”. But the Lord did not want the tribes of Israel at war with each other and he spoke through Isaiah to Ahaz, “it shall not stand” in Isaiah 7:7. In fact in Isaiah 7:8 the Lord says “in sixty-five years from now Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people” so the Lord is dealing with Rezin and Pekah.

But as their fear of their enemy is asswaged, the relief and message of peace and security does not follow. The Lord had given Isaiah a message that judgement was coming and now we hear the prophet say in

Isaiah 7:17 “Yahweh will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your ancestor days that have not come since the day Ephraim departed from Judah: the king of Assyria.”

This coming war begins as in Isaiah 7:18 “Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the stream of Egypt and the bee that is in the land of Assyria” and in Isaiah 7:19 “And all of them will come and settle” and in Isaiah 7:20 “On that day, the Lord will shave the head and the hair of the feet with a razor of the one hired from beyond the river—with the king of Assyria”. Imagine the flood of soldiers as the begin to move at Gods call. They need food, water provisions for war and “After subduing Syria and Israel, the Assyrians shall encounter Egypt (2 Ki 23:29), and Judah shall be the battlefield of both (Is 7:18), and be made tributary to that very Assyria (2 Ch 28:20; 2 Ki 16:7, 8) now about to be called in as an ally (Is 39:1–6). Egypt, too, should prove a fatal ally (Is 36:6; 31:1, &c.).1

I Will Require Reliable Witnesses

Isaiah 8:1–4
God always shows us things to come (Isaiah 41:20-42:9, Revelation 4:1) and has Isaiah write the prophecy, the sign that God is doing this. But he not only writes it, he calls in Isaiah 8:2 “Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah” to be “reliable witnesses”. God named the child in Isaiah 8:3 “Maher-Halal-Hash-Baz” which means “impetuous, be rash, formally, hurried, i.e., pertaining to actions which are energetic, yet without wisdom or sense (Isa 32:4; Hab 1:6+)”.2

And God set the time in Isaiah 8:4 “before the boy knows to call ‘my father’ and ‘my mother,’” when “one will carry away the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria in the presence of the king of Assyria”. God gives the time, the place, and the birth of this child as the beginning. Followed by the “spoil of Samaria” and the flood that is to come over Judah.

Be Broken, You Peoples, And be Dismayed

Isaiah 8:5–10
We get the reason for this invasion in

Isaiah 8:6–8 “Because this people has refused … he will spread his wings out over your entire land, God with us.”

Judah, Jerusalem, the place of God’s people, those who said “God with us” and again in Isaiah 8:10 “God is with us!” is being broken and washed over by invading armies that will leave nothing behind. And we might say this shouldn’t be possible because out of the mouth of these people is the message to the world, “God is with us”. But they were not living for God because he said in

Isaiah 1:13–15 You must not continue to bring offerings of futility, incense—it is an abomination to me; new moon and Sabbath, the calling of a convocation— I cannot endure iniquity with solemn assembly. 14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like a burden, I am not able to bear them. 15 And when you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not be listening. Your hands are full of blood.

There is one thing worse than not living for God and that is invoking God’s name when you are not living for him. 

Regard Yahweh of Hosts as Holy

Isaiah 8:11–22
Now the Lord speaks directly to Isaiah, not to Ahaz or the nation, but to Isaiah as a son of God, in Isaiah 8:11-13 “Yahweh said this to me”, “he warned me”, “you must not”, “you must not”, “you must not”, and “you shall regard Yahweh of hosts as holy, he is your fear, he is your dread”. Isaiah is to keep the Lord first place. Nothing happening in the world around him was more powerful, nothing more dangerous, even the whole of the Assyrian army, and the “conspiracy” (hidden plots), and the fighting, and the destruction of Judah around him were nothing in comparison to the Lord.

The lord also speaks to Isaiah as one that walks in the office of a prophet, as a teacher, as a leader of “my disciples” in

Isaiah 8:16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.

and Isaiah responds in

Isaiah 8:17 And I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will await him.

 

A Child Has Been Born For Us

Isaiah 9:1–7
Now Isaiah sees the future and begins in Isaiah 9:1 with “no gloom … in former times he treated the land of Zebulun and Naphtali with contempt … but in the future he will honor the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations”.

And it was during this very time, “During the reign of Pekah of Israel, Naphtali came to an end. Tiglath-pileser of Assyria captured “all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria” (2 Kgs 15:29)”3 including Zebulun (the Galilee mentioned here). And in Isaiah 9:4-5 “you have shattered the yoke … For every boot that marches and shakes the earth and garment rolled in blood will be for burning—fire fuel” , no more war, no more oppression.

Now, we have a well quoted section, a prophetic word, the introduction, the birth of the messiah, the one who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords or as he says in

Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; light has shined on those who lived in a land of darkness.

Isaiah 9:6–7 For a child has been born for us; a son has been given to us. And the dominion will be on his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His dominion will grow continually, and to peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and sustain it with justice and righteousness now and forever. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.

People Had no Compassion Toward Each Other

Isaiah 9:8–21

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Isaiah 7:17-25
  • Isaiah 8:1-22
  • Isaiah 9:1-21

References

  • 1. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, pp. 437–438). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
  • 2. Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
  • 3. Jeansonne, S. P. (1992). Naphtali (Person). In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 4, p. 1022). New York: Doubleday.