Tuesday, January 19
Can you imagine playing a ball game with Isaiah’s second boy? By the time you could say “Maher-shalal-hash-baz, throw me the ball!” it would be too late. But even longer than his name is its meaning: “swift is booty, speedy is prey” or “speed the spoil, hasten the plunder.”
The message of the name clearly has to do with rapid conquest, but who conquers whom? Isaiah 8:4.
Isaiah 8:1-10 reinforces the message of chapter 7. Before a child could reach a certain stage, spoils of war from the capitals of Syria and northern Israel would be taken by Assyria. Furthermore, because Judah had refused God’s message of assurance, represented by the gently flowing waters of the Shiloah stream in Jerusalem, it would be overwhelmed by the mighty power of Assyria, represented by flooding from the great Euphrates River.
Because Ahaz turned to Assyria, the names of Isaiah’s sons referred to Judah, as well as to northern Israel: “swift is booty, speedy is prey,” but “a remnant shall return.” Why was there still hope? Because although Assyria would fill Immanuel’s land (Isaiah 8:8), they still had the promise that “God is with us” (Isaiah 8:10). Indeed, what we see here is a theme that permeates the entire book of Isaiah, which is though there would be judgments on God’s enemies in Judah and other nations, delivered in the form of military disasters, suffering, and exile, the Lord would be with the faithful survivors of His people and restore them to their land.
Why does Isaiah tell us he legally recorded the child’s name and had marital relations with his wife (“the prophetess”)? Isaiah 8:1-3.
The timing of this son was central to his significance as a sign. As with the sign of Immanuel, from the time he was conceived and born until the time Assyria defeated Syria and Israel would be less time than it would take for the boy to reach an early developmental stage, in this case calling for his father or mother (Isaiah 8:4). When Isaiah legally recorded the boy’s name even before his conception, he made the child and his name a public prophecy that could be tested by subsequent events.
Despite repeated mistakes on the part of His professed people, the Lord was still willing to save them. How can we take this principle and apply it to ourselves personally, especially when we fail and fall in our own spiritual life?
