The Sign of Swift Plunder
Isaiah names his son for plunder coming fast, and the Assyrian flood rises to Judah's neck. He is told not to share the people's panic or call everything conspiracy. Rather than consult the dead, he waits for a Father who is presently hiding his face.
8 1Our Father said to me, "Take a large tablet and write on it plainly: 'Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.'" a a v1 Maher-shalal-hash-baz means "swift to the plunder, quick to the spoil" — a living sign that Assyria would soon carry off Damascus and Samaria. 2So I called reliable witnesses to attest for me—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.
3Then I went to the prophetess; she conceived and bore a son, and our Father said to me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4Before the boy knows how to cry 'My father' or 'My mother,' Damascus's wealth and Samaria's plunder will be carried off before Assyria's king."
5Our Father spoke to me yet again:
6"Because this people has refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, b b v6 Shiloah was a small, gentle stream flowing near Jerusalem — deliberately contrasted with the overwhelming Euphrates flood in verse 7. 7therefore the Sovereign Father is about to bring up against them the mighty floodwaters of the River—the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will rise over all its channels and overflow all its banks, 8and it will sweep on into Judah, flooding and passing through, reaching up to the neck; and its outstretched wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel."
9Be shattered, you peoples, and be broken! Listen, all you distant lands! Strap on your armor and be broken; strap on your armor and be broken! 10Devise your plan, but it will come to nothing; speak your word, but it will not stand—for our Father is with us.
11For this is what our Father told me, his strong hand on me, warning me not to walk this people's way:
12"Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not be terrified. 13The Father of heaven's armies—he is the one you should regard as holy. Let him be your fear; let him be your dread. 14He will become a sanctuary; but to both houses of Israel he will be a stone that makes them stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem a trap and a snare. c c v14 Peter and Paul both name Jesus as this stone — 1 Pet 2:8; Rom 9:33. 15Many among them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured."
16Preserve the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17I will wait for our Father, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob; I will hope in him. 18Here am I, and the children our Father gave me—signs and wonders in Israel from the Father of heaven's armies, who lives on Mount Zion. d d v18 Hebrews 2:13 puts these words in Jesus's mouth — the children he claims are those our Father gives him.
19When they tell you, "Ask the mediums and those who consult spirits, who whisper and mutter," should a people not ask their Father? Should they consult the dead for the living? 20To the teaching and the testimony! If they don't speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. 21Distressed and hungry, they will roam the land; when famished, they will rage and curse their king and their Father, and look up. 22They will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into thick darkness.
