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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Isaiah 9 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/isaiah/9.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/isaiah/9.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/isaiah/9-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../isaiah/">Isaiah</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../isaiah/8.htm" title="Isaiah 8">◄</a> Isaiah 9 <a href="../isaiah/10.htm" title="Isaiah 10">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-1.htm">Isaiah 9:1</a></div><div class="verse">Nevertheless the dimness <i>shall</i> not <i>be</i> such as <i>was</i> in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict <i>her by</i> the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.</div><span class= "bld">IX.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">Nevertheless the dimness . . .</span>—It is obvious, even in the English version, that the chapters are wrongly divided, and that what follows forms part of the same prophetic utterance as Isaiah 8. That version is, however, so obscure as to be almost unintelligible, and requires an entire remodelling:—<span class= "ital">Surely there is no gloom to her that was afflicted. In the former time he brought shame on the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter he bringeth honour on the way by the sea, beyond Jordan, the circuit of the Gentiles.</span><p>The prophet had seen in the closing verses of Isaiah 8 the extreme point of misery. That picture, as it were, dissolves, and another takes its place. She that was afflicted, the whole land of Israel, should have no more affliction. The future should be in striking contrast with the past. The lands of Zebulun and Naphtali, the region afterwards known as the Upper and Lower Galilee, had been laid waste and spoiled by Tiglath-pilneser (<a href="/2_kings/15-29.htm" title="In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.">2Kings 15:29</a>). That same region, described by the prophet in different terms (the former representing the tribal divisions, the latter the geographical) is hereafter to be the scene of a glory greater than Israel had ever known before.<p><span class= "bld">The way of the sea . . .</span>—The context shows that the “sea” is that which appears in Bible history under the names of the sea of Chinnereth (<a href="/numbers/34-11.htm" title="And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach to the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward:">Numbers 34:11</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/3-17.htm" title="The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even to the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdothpisgah eastward.">Deuteronomy 3:17</a>), the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias (<a href="/john/6-1.htm" title="After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.">John 6:1</a>), Gennesaret (<a href="/mark/6-53.htm" title="And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore.">Mark 6:53</a>). The high road thence to Damascus was known as <span class= "ital">Via Maris </span>in the time of the Crusaders (Renan, quoted by Cheyne).<p><span class= "bld">Beyond Jordan.</span>—This, the Peræa of later geography, included the regions of Gilead and Bashan, the old kingdoms of Moab and Ammon, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. These also had suffered from the ravages of the Assyrian armies under Pul (<a href="/1_chronicles/5-26.htm" title="And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, to this day.">1Chronicles 5:26</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Galilee of the nations.</span>—The word Galilee, derived from the same root as Gilgal (<a href="/joshua/5-9.htm" title="And the LORD said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Why the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.">Joshua 5:9</a>), means strictly “a circle,” or “circuit.” It was applied to the border-lands of the Phœnician frontier of the northern kingdom, inhabited by a mixed population, and therefore known as “Galilee of the Gentiles” (<a href="/context/matthew/4-15.htm" title="The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;">Matthew 4:15-16</a>) what in mediaeval German would have been called the <span class= "ital">Heidenmark.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-2.htm">Isaiah 9:2</a></div><div class="verse">The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">The people that walked in darkness . . .</span>—The words throw us back upon <a href="/context/isaiah/8-21.htm" title="And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.">Isaiah 8:21-22</a>. The prophet sees in his vision a light shining on the forlorn and weary wanderers. They had been wandering in the “valley of the shadow of death” (the phrase comes from <a href="/psalms/23-4.htm" title="Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.">Psalm 23:4</a>; <a href="/job/3-5.htm" title="Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell on it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.">Job 3:5</a>), almost as in the gloom of Sheol itself. Now there breaks in the dawn of a glorious day. Historically the return of some of the inhabitants of that region to their allegiance to Jehovah and the house of David (<a href="/2_chronicles/30-11.htm" title="Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.">2Chronicles 30:11</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/30-13.htm" title="And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.">2Chronicles 30:13</a>) may have been the starting point of the prophet’s hopes. The words have to the Christian student a special interest, as having been quoted by St. Matthew (<a href="/context/matthew/4-15.htm" title="The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;">Matthew 4:15-16</a>) in connection with our Lord’s ministry in Galilee, perhaps with His being “of Nazareth,” which was in the tribe of Zebulun. We cannot positively say that such a fulfilment as that was in the prophet’s thoughts. The context shows in that he was thinking of Assyrian invasions, and the defeat of Assyrian armies, of a nation growing strong in numbers and prosperity. In this, as in other cases, the Evangelist adapts the words of prophecy to a further meaning than that which apparently was in the mind of the writer, and interprets them by his own experience. When he compared the state of Galilee, yet more, perhaps, that of his own soul, before and after the Son of man had appeared as the light of the world, Isaiah’s words seemed the only adequate expression of the change.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-3.htm">Isaiah 9:3</a></div><div class="verse">Thou hast multiplied the nation, <i>and</i> not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, <i>and</i> as <i>men</i> rejoice when they divide the spoil.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy . . .</span>—Better, following the marginal reading of the Hebrew: <span class= "ital">Thou hast increased its joy. </span>The picture is one of unmingled brightness; the return as of a golden age, the population growing to an extent never attained before (comp. <a href="/isaiah/26-15.htm" title="You have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation: you are glorified: you had removed it far to all the ends of the earth.">Isaiah 26:15</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/31-27.htm" title="Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.">Jeremiah 31:27</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/36-11.htm" title="And I will multiply on you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better to you than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am the LORD.">Ezekiel 36:11</a>), and scarcely admits of the dark shadow introduced by the reading of the text, unless, with some critics (Kay), we see in the words a contrast between the outward prosperity of the days of Solomon and Uzziah, in which there was no permanent joy, and the abundancy of joyfulness under the ideal king.<p><span class= "bld">They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest . . .</span>—The words “before thee” are significant. The gladness of the people is that of worshippers at a sacrificial feast (<a href="/isaiah/25-6.htm" title="And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make to all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.">Isaiah 25:6</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/12-7.htm" title="And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, wherein the LORD your God has blessed you.">Deuteronomy 12:7</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/12-12.htm" title="And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; for as much as he has no part nor inheritance with you.">Deuteronomy 12:12</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/12-18.htm" title="But you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you put your hands to.">Deuteronomy 12:18</a>), who find the secret spring of blessing in their consciousness of the presence of Jehovah. So the New Testament writers speak of “rejoicing in the Lord” (<a href="/philippians/3-1.htm" title="Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.">Philippians 3:1</a>), of “joy in the Holy Ghost” (<a href="/romans/14-17.htm" title="For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.">Romans 14:17</a>). This “joy of harvest” represents the peaceful side of that gladness, thought of as the gift of God (<a href="/acts/14-17.htm" title="Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.">Acts 14:17</a>). But it had another aspect. It was the rejoicing after a conflict, historically with foes like the Assyrians, spiritually with all powers hostile to the true kingdom of God (<a href="/matthew/12-29.htm" title="Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.">Matthew 12:29</a>). The joy of the conquerors on the battle-field, like that of harvest, had become proverbial (<a href="/psalms/119-162.htm" title="I rejoice at your word, as one that finds great spoil.">Psalm 119:162</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-4.htm">Isaiah 9:4</a></div><div class="verse">For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden . . .</span>—The text comes in the Hebrew with all the emphasis of position. <span class= "ital">The yoke of his burden </span><span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "ital">thou hast broken. </span>The phrase suggests a bondage like that of Egypt, where the “task-masters” (the same word as that here rendered “oppressors”) drove the people to their labours with their rods.<p><span class= "bld">As in the day of Midian.</span>—The historical allusion was probably suggested by the division of spoil that had been in the prophet’s thoughts. Of all victories in the history of Israel, that of Gideon over the Midianites had been most conspicuous for this feature (<a href="/context/judges/8-24.htm" title="And Gideon said to them, I would desire a request of you, that you would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)">Judges 8:24-27</a>). In <a href="/context/psalms/83-9.htm" title="Do to them as to the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:">Psalm 83:9-11</a> (which the mention of Assur shows to have been nearly contemporary with Isaiah) we find a reference to the same battle. Men remembered “the day of Midian” centuries after its date, as we remember Poitiers and Agincourt.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-5.htm">Isaiah 9:5</a></div><div class="verse">For every battle of the warrior <i>is</i> with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but <i>this</i> shall be with burning <i>and</i> fuel of fire.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">For every battle of the warrior . . .</span>—Here again the whole verse requires re-translating: <span class= "ital">“Every boot of the warrior that tramps noisily, and the cloak rolled in blood, are </span>(<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>shall be) <span class= "ital">for burning, </span>(<span class= "ital">as</span>)<span class= "ital"> fuel for fire. </span>The picture of the conquerors collecting the spoil is continued from <a href="/isaiah/9-3.htm" title="You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.">Isaiah 9:3</a>. The victory is decisive, and the reign of peace begins, and the weapons of war, the garments red with blood (<a href="/context/isaiah/63-1.htm" title="Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.">Isaiah 63:1-3</a>), the heavy boot that makes the earth ring with the warrior’s tread, these shall all be burnt up. Like pictures of a time of peace are found in <a href="/zechariah/9-10.htm" title="And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace to the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.">Zechariah 9:10</a>; Ezek. xxxix, 9; <a href="/psalms/46-9.htm" title="He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in sunder; he burns the chariot in the fire.">Psalm 46:9</a>; <a href="/psalms/76-3.htm" title="There broke he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.">Psalm 76:3</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-6.htm">Isaiah 9:6</a></div><div class="verse">For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">For unto us a child is born.</span>—The picture of a kingdom of peace could not be complete without the manifestation of a king. In the description of that king Isaiah is led to use words which cannot find a complete fulfilment in any child of man. The loftiness of thought, rising here as to its highest point, is obviously connected with the words which told that Jehovah had spoken to the prophet “with a strong hand.” His condition was one more ecstatic and therefore more apocalyptic than before, and there flashes on him, as it were, the thought that the future deliverer of Israel must bear a name that should be above every name that men had before honoured. And yet here also there was a law of continuity, and the form of the prediction was developed from the materials supplied by earlier prophets. In Psalms 110 he had found the thought of the king-priest after the order of Melchizedek, whom Jehovah addressed as Adonai. In Psalms 2, though it did not foretell an actual incarnation, the anointed King was addressed by Jehovah as His Son. The throne of that righteous king was as a throne of God (<a href="/psalms/45-6.htm" title="Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of your kingdom is a right scepter.">Psalm 45:6</a>). Nor had the prophet’s personal experience been less fruitfully suggestive. He had given his own children mysterious names. That of the earthly Immanuel, as the prophet brooded over it, might well lead on to the thought of One who should, in a yet higher sense than as being the pledge of Divine protection, be as “God with us.” Even the earthly surroundings of the prophet’s life may not have been without their share of suggestiveness. The kings of Egypt and Assyria with whom his nation had been brought into contact delighted in long lists of epithetic names (<span class= "ital">e.g., </span>“the great king, the king unrivalled, the protector of the just, the noble warrior.” Inscription of, Sennacherib in <span class= "ital">Records of the Past, i.</span> p. 25), describing their greatness and their glory. It was natural that the prophet should see in the king of whom he thought as the future conqueror of all the world-powers that were founded on might and not on right, One who should bear a name formed, it might be, after that fashion, but full of a greater majesty and glory.<p><span class= "bld">His name shall be called Wonderful.</span>—It is noticeable that that which follows is given not as many names, but one. Consisting as it does of eight words, of which the last six obviously fall into three couplets, it is probable that the first two should also be taken together, and that we have four elements of the compound name: (1) <span class= "ital">Wonderful-Counsellor, </span>(2) <span class= "ital">God-the-Mighty-One, </span>(3) <span class= "ital">Father of Eternity, </span>(4) <span class= "ital">Prince of Peace. </span>Each element of the Name has its special significance. (1) The first embodies the thought of the wisdom of the future Messiah. Men should not simply praise it as they praise their fellows, but should adore and wonder at it as they wonder at the wisdom of God (<a href="/judges/13-18.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to him, Why ask you thus after my name, seeing it is secret?">Judges 13:18</a>, where the Hebrew for the “secret” of the Authorised version is the same as that for “wonderful;” <a href="/exodus/15-11.htm" title="Who is like to you, O LORD, among the gods? who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?">Exodus 15:11</a>; <a href="/psalms/77-11.htm" title="I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember your wonders of old.">Psalm 77:11</a>; <a href="/psalms/78-11.htm" title="And forgot his works, and his wonders that he had showed them.">Psalm 78:11</a>; <a href="/isaiah/28-29.htm" title="This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.">Isaiah 28:29</a>; <a href="/isaiah/29-14.htm" title="Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.">Isaiah 29:14</a>). The name contains the germ afterwards developed in the picture of the wisdom of the true king in <a href="/context/isaiah/11-2.htm" title="And the spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;">Isaiah 11:2-4</a>. The LXX. renders the Hebrew as “the angel of great counsel,” and in the Vatican text the description ends there. (2) It is significant that the word for “God” is not Elohim, which may be used in a lower sense for those who are representatives of God, as in <a href="/exodus/7-1.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.">Exodus 7:1</a>; <a href="/exodus/22-28.htm" title="You shall not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of your people.">Exodus 22:28</a>, <a href="/1_samuel/28-13.htm" title="And the king said to her, Be not afraid: for what saw you? And the woman said to Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.">1Samuel 28:13</a>, but <span class= "ital">El, </span>which is never used by Isaiah, or any other Old Testament writer, in any lower sense than that of absolute Deity, and which, we may note, had been specially brought before the prophet’s thoughts in the name Immanuel. The name appears again as applied directly to Jehovah in <a href="/isaiah/10-21.htm" title="The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.">Isaiah 10:21</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/10-17.htm" title="For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regards not persons, nor takes reward:">Deuteronomy 10:17</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/32-18.htm" title="You show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,">Jeremiah 32:18</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/9-32.htm" title="Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keep covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before you, that has come on us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day.">Nehemiah 9:32</a>; <a href="/psalms/24-8.htm" title="Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.">Psalm 24:8</a>; and the adjective in <a href="/isaiah/42-13.htm" title="The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yes, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.">Isaiah 42:13</a>. (3) In “Father of Eternity,” (LXX. Alex. and Vulg., “Father of the age to come “) we have a name which seems at first to clash with the formalised developments of Christian theology, which teach us, lest we should “confound the persons,” not to deal with the names of the Father and the Son as interchangeable. Those developments, however, were obviously not within Isaiah’s ken, and he uses the name of “Father” because none other expressed so well the true idea of loving and protecting government (<a href="/job/29-16.htm" title="I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.">Job 29:16</a>, <a href="/isaiah/22-21.htm" title="And I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will commit your government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.">Isaiah 22:21</a>). And if the kingdom was to be “for ever and ever,” then in some very real sense he would be, in that attribute of Fatherly government, a sharer in the eternity of Jehovah. Another rendering of the name, adopted by some critics, “Father (<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>Giver) of booty,” has little to recommend it, and is entirely out of harmony with the majesty of the context. (4) “Prince of Peace.” The prophet clings, as all prophets before him had done, to the thought that peace, and not war, belonged to the ideal Kingdom of the Messiah. That hope had been embodied by David in the name of Absalom (“ father of peace “) and Solomon. It had been uttered in the prayer of <a href="/psalms/72-3.htm" title="The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.">Psalm 72:3</a>, and by Isaiah’s contemporary, Micah (<a href="/micah/5-5.htm" title="And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.">Micah 5:5</a>). Earth-powers, like Assyria and Egypt, might rest in war and conquest as an end, but the true king, though warfare might be needed to subdue his foes (<a href="/psalms/45-5.htm" title="Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under you.">Psalm 45:5</a>), was to be a “Prince of Peace” (<a href="/context/zechariah/9-9.htm" title="Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes to you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on an ass, and on a colt the foal of an ass.">Zechariah 9:9-10</a>). It must be noted as remarkable, looking to the grandeur of the prophecy, and its apparently direct testimony to the true nature of the Christ, that it is nowhere cited in the New Testament as fulfilled in Him; and this, though <a href="/isaiah/9-1.htm" title="Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.">Isaiah 9:1</a> is, as we have seen, quoted by St. Matthew and <a href="/isaiah/9-7.htm" title="Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.">Isaiah 9:7</a>, finds at least an allusive reference in <a href="/context/luke/1-32.htm" title="He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give to him the throne of his father David:">Luke 1:32-33</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-7.htm">Isaiah 9:7</a></div><div class="verse">Of the increase of <i>his</i> government and peace <i>there shall be</i> no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Of the increase . . .</span>—Better, “<span class= "ital">For the increase of the government, and for peace with no end </span><span class= "bld">. . .</span> The “throne of David,” though in harmony with the whole body of prophetic tradition as to the Messiah, may be noted as the first appearance of that tradition in Isaiah.<p><span class= "bld">Henceforth even for ever.</span>—The words admit, as in the parallels of <a href="/psalms/21-4.htm" title="He asked life of you, and you gave it him, even length of days for ever and ever.">Psalm 21:4</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/61-6.htm" title="You will prolong the king's life: and his years as many generations.">Psalm 61:6-7</a>; <a href="/context/2_samuel/7-12.htm" title="And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.">2Samuel 7:12-16</a>, of being interpreted of the perpetuity of the dynasty of which the anointed king is to be the founder; but the “Everlasting Father “of the context, and the parallels of <a href="/psalms/45-6.htm" title="Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of your kingdom is a right scepter.">Psalm 45:6</a>; <a href="/psalms/110-4.htm" title="The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.">Psalm 110:4</a>, are in favour of its referring to a personal immortality of sovereignty.<p><span class= "bld">The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform . . .</span>—As in Greek so in Hebrew, we have the same root-word and root-idea for “zeal” and “jealousy,” and here, perhaps, the latter thought is dominant. It is because Jehovah loves the daughter of Zion with an absorbing love that He purposes such great things for her future, and that what He purposes will be assuredly performed. (Comp. <a href="/ezekiel/5-13.htm" title="Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest on them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.">Ezekiel 5:13</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-8.htm">Isaiah 9:8</a></div><div class="verse">The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.</div>(8).<span class= "bld">The Lord sent a word into Jacob . . .</span>—For “hath lighted” read <span class= "ital">it lighteth. </span>A new section, though still closely connected with the historical occasion of Isaiah 7, begins. The vision of the glory of the far-off king comes to an end, and the prophet returns to the more immediate surroundings of his time. The “word” which Jehovah sends is the prophetic message that follows. It is a question whether the terms “Jacob” and “Israel” stand in the parallelism of identity or contrast, but the use of the former term in <a href="/isaiah/2-3.htm" title="And many people shall go and say, Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.">Isaiah 2:3</a>; <a href="/context/isaiah/2-5.htm" title="O house of Jacob, come you, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.">Isaiah 2:5-6</a>, makes the former use more probable. In this case both names stand practically for the kingdom of Judah as the true representative of Israel, the apostate kingdom of the Ten Tribes being no longer worthy of the name, and therefore described here, as in <a href="/isaiah/7-5.htm" title="Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against you, saying,">Isaiah 7:5</a>; <a href="/isaiah/7-8.htm" title="For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within three score and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.">Isaiah 7:8</a>; <a href="/isaiah/7-17.htm" title="The LORD shall bring on you, and on your people, and on your father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.">Isaiah 7:17</a>, simply as Ephraim. The occasion of the prophecy is given in <a href="/isaiah/9-9.htm" title="And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,">Isaiah 9:9</a>. Pekah, the king of Ephraim, was still confident in his strength, and in spite of his partial failure, and the defeat of his ally (<a href="/2_kings/16-9.htm" title="And the king of Assyria listened to him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.">2Kings 16:9</a>), derided the prophet’s prediction.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-10.htm">Isaiah 9:10</a></div><div class="verse">The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change <i>them into</i> cedars.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">The bricks are fallen down . . .</span>—Sun-dried bricks and the cheap timber of the sycamore (<a href="/1_kings/10-27.htm" title="And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.">1Kings 10:27</a>) were the common materials used for the dwellings of the poor, hewn stones and cedar for the palaces of the rich. Whatever injury Samaria had sustained (the words are too proverbially figurative to make literal interpretation probable), through the intervention of Tiglath-pileser, was, its rulers thought, but as the prelude to a great and more lasting victory even than that of <a href="/2_chronicles/28-6.htm" title="For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.">2Chronicles 28:6</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-11.htm">Isaiah 9:11</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries . . .</span>—The Hebrew tenses are in the past (<span class= "ital">has set up</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>but probably as representing the prophet’s visions of an accomplished future. The “adversaries” of the text can hardly be any other than the Assyrians; yet the context that follows clearly points to an attack on Ephraim in which the armies of Rezin were to be conspicuous. The natural explanation is that Syria, after the conquest by the Assyrian king (<a href="/2_kings/16-9.htm" title="And the king of Assyria listened to him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.">2Kings 16:9</a>), was compelled to take part in a campaign against Samaria. The reading of the text may be retained with this explanation, and the sentence paraphrased thus, “Jehovah will stir up the adversaries of Rezin (the Assyrians who have conquered Syria) against him (Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria), and shall join his enemies against him, and those enemies shall include the very nations on whose support he had counted, the Syrians and the Philistines” (<a href="/context/psalms/83-7.htm" title="Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;">Psalm 83:7-8</a>). The latter people were, it is true, enemies to Judah (<a href="/2_chronicles/28-18.htm" title="The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Bethshemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and they dwelled there.">2Chronicles 28:18</a>), but their hostilities extended to the northern kingdom also.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-12.htm">Isaiah 9:12</a></div><div class="verse">The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand <i>is</i> stretched out still.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">For all this his anger is not turned away . . .</span>—The formula which in <a href="/isaiah/5-25.htm" title="Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the middle of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.">Isaiah 5:25</a> had been applied to Judah is here and in <a href="/isaiah/9-17.htm" title="Therefore the LORD shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.">Isaiah 9:17</a>; <a href="/isaiah/9-21.htm" title="Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.">Isaiah 9:21</a> used of Israel at large, and specially of Ephraim. It embodied the law which governed God’s dealing with both.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-13.htm">Isaiah 9:13</a></div><div class="verse">For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">For the people turneth not . . .</span>—What follows was the word that was meant for all Israel. They had not “turned” to the Lord, there were no proofs of that conversion which true prophets and preachers have at all times sought after.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-14.htm">Isaiah 9:14</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Head and tail, branch and rush . . .</span>—The “branch” is strictly that of the palm-tree, which in its stately height answered to the nobles of the land, while the “rush,” the emblem of a real or affected lowliness (<a href="/isaiah/58-5.htm" title="Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?">Isaiah 58:5</a>) represented the “mean man” of <a href="/isaiah/2-9.htm" title="And the mean man bows down, and the great man humbles himself: therefore forgive them not.">Isaiah 2:9</a>. The same proverbial formula meets us in <a href="/isaiah/19-15.htm" title="Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.">Isaiah 19:15</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-15.htm">Isaiah 9:15</a></div><div class="verse">The ancient and honourable, he <i>is</i> the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he <i>is</i> the tail.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">The ancient and honourable . . .</span>—Comp. <a href="/context/isaiah/3-2.htm" title="The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,">Isaiah 3:2-3</a>, for the meaning of the words. These, the prophet seems to say, were the true leaders of the people. The ideal work of the prophet was, indeed, that of a teacher who was to lead even them, but <span class= "ital">corruptio optimi pessima; </span>and to Isaiah, as to Jeremiah, there was no class so contemptible and base as that of spiritual guides whose policy was that of a time-serving selfishness. The verse is rejected by some critics as a marginal note that has found its way into the text; but the prophet may well have given his own interpretation of this formula. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/28-7.htm" title="But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.">Isaiah 28:7</a>; <a href="/isaiah/29-10.htm" title="For the LORD has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers has he covered.">Isaiah 29:10</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/14-14.htm" title="Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their heart.">Jeremiah 14:14</a>; <a href="/context/jeremiah/23-9.htm" title="My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.">Jeremiah 23:9-40</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-17.htm">Isaiah 9:17</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one <i>is</i> an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand <i>is</i> stretched out still.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">Therefore the Lord shall have no joy . . .</span>—The Hebrew tenses are in the past, <span class= "ital">The Lord had no joy. </span>The severity of the coming judgment is represented as not sparing even the flower of the nation’s youth, the widows and orphans who were the special objects of compassion both to God and man. The corruption of the time was universal, and the prophet’s formula, <span class= "ital">“</span>For all this his anger is not turned away <span class= "bld">. . .</span>” tolls again like the knell of doom.<p><span class= "bld">Folly.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">blasphemy </span>or <span class= "ital">villainy.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-18.htm">Isaiah 9:18</a></div><div class="verse">For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up <i>like</i> the lifting up of smoke.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">It shall devour the briers and thorns . . .</span>—The words are obviously figurative for men who were base and vile, as in <a href="/2_samuel/23-6.htm" title="But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:">2Samuel 23:6</a>; but the figure may have been suggested by <a href="/context/isaiah/7-23.htm" title="And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand sliver coins, it shall even be for briers and thorns.">Isaiah 7:23-24</a>. The outward desolation, with its rank growth of underwood, was to the prophet’s eye a type of the moral condition of his people. And for such a people sin becomes the punishment of sin, and burns like a fire in a forest thicket, leaving the land clear for fresh culture and a better growth. (Comp. <a href="/context/isaiah/33-11.htm" title="You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.">Isaiah 33:11-12</a>; <a href="/james/3-5.htm" title="Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles!">James 3:5</a>; <a href="/hebrews/6-8.htm" title="But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is near to cursing; whose end is to be burned.">Hebrews 6:8</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/9-19.htm">Isaiah 9:19</a></div><div class="verse">Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.</div>(19, 20) <span class= "bld">Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened . . .</span>—The vision of darkness and famine which had come before the prophet’s eyes in <a href="/isaiah/8-21.htm" title="And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.">Isaiah 8:21</a> appears once again, and here, as there, it is a question whether the words are to be understood literally or figuratively. The definiteness of the language of <a href="/isaiah/9-20.htm" title="And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:">Isaiah 9:20</a> suggests the thoughts of the horrors of a famine like that of Samaria (<a href="/context/2_kings/6-28.htm" title="And the king said to her, What ails you? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.">2Kings 6:28-29</a>), or of <a href="/context/deuteronomy/28-53.htm" title="And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the LORD your God has given you, in the siege, and in the narrow place, with which your enemies shall distress you:">Deuteronomy 28:53-57</a>; <a href="/zechariah/11-9.htm" title="Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dies, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.">Zechariah 11:9</a>. But even that scene of horror might be only typical of a state of chaos and confusion pervading the whole order of society, fierce passions, jealousies, rivalries working out the destruction of the nation’s life; such as Thucydides (iii. 82-84) has painted as the result of the Peloponnesian war. The mention of Ephraim and Manasseh as conspicuous in the self-destructive work confirms the figurative interpretation. They were devouring “the flesh of their own arm” when they allowed their old tribal jealousies (<a href="/judges/8-1.htm" title="And the men of Ephraim said to him, Why have you served us thus, that you called us not, when you went to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply.">Judges 8:1</a>; <a href="/context/judges/12-1.htm" title="And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said to Jephthah, Why passed you over to fight against the children of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? we will burn your house on you with fire.">Judges 12:1-4</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/19-43.htm" title="And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than you: why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.">2Samuel 19:43</a>) to break up the unity of the nation.<p><span class= "bld">And they together shall be against Judah.</span>—This formed the climax of the whole. The only power of union that showed itself in the northern kingdom was to perpetuate the great schism in which it had its origin. The idea that Israel as such was a nation was forgotten. Ephraim and Manasseh could join in a common expedition against Judah when they could join in nothing else. Of this the alliance of Pekah with Rezin was the most striking instance (<a href="/context/2_chronicles/28-6.htm" title="For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.">2Chronicles 28:6-15</a>). Traces of internal division are found in the conspiracy of the Gileadites of the trans-Jordanic district of Manasseh, against Pekah’s predecessor in Samaria (<a href="/2_kings/15-25.htm" title="But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his room.">2Kings 15:25</a>).<p> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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