9. Isaiah Chapter Nine

Isaiah Chapter 9 The "Nevertheless" marks an immediate connection with the close of chapter 8, and a contrast to the judicial darkness there foretold. God had provided (and would provide) a light if the rebellious nation would receive it. Here again the prophecy passes from the immediately subsequent calamities of invasion to the shining light of the Incarnate Christ amidst the people, and especially in Galilee. That district, the region of Zebulon and Naphtali, was to suffer from the invasions of the Syrians and then the Assyrians. Yet in contrast to that "former time" of contempt, "in the latter time" God would "make it [the region] glorious" (see the r.v.). "The people that walk [the tense is prophetic present] in darkness see a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light shines" (Isaiah 9:2). The fulfillment of this is described in Matthew 4:12-25, where the Evangelist writer quotes this passage. How the Light shone in Cana of Galilee is recorded in John 2:1-11. From this point to the end of verse 7 the prophecy stretches across another interval and passes to the overthrow of the Antichrist, the oppressor, and the establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom of peace and righteousness.

Isaiah 9:3 is correctly rendered in the r.v. There is no word "not" (see the a.v. margin). "Thou hast multiplied the nation, Thou hast increased their joy: they joy before Thee according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." This has never been fulfilled in the nation yet. Only a remnant returned from the captivity. The very opposite of these conditions has prevailed under successive Gentile domination. At the close of the coming great tribulation, when the Lord comes in Person to deliver His earthly people, they will joy over blessings granted and destruction averted. The Millennium will see a vast increase in the nation’s population.

They will joy before the Lord. That ever should be the character of our joy-not mere exuberance of natural feeling, not merely joy in mercy and prosperity, in deliverance and supply, but joy before the Lord, a joy that exults in Him, His power and presence. In Isaiah 9:4 the past tense looks upon the future event as an assured accomplishment. The pronoun "his," thrice in the verse, refers to Israel. The Lord will break "the yoke of his burden," i.e., the burden inflicted upon it by the oppressor; "the staff of his shoulder," i.e., the stout stick of the yoke burdening and chafing the shoulder; and "the rod of his oppressor," the scepter of the imperial tyrant, the emblem of tyranny. The "day of Midian" was the time of Gideon’s victory (Judges 6:1-40 and 7). God saved the nation, not by its military power or prowess, but by His own choice of a small company and by means far otherwise than that of human might, so that they could not boast in their own strength (Judges 7:2). So in the coming day, it will be all the Lord’s personal act, for the nation will be in its extremity of weakness. The lesson for us is clear. What we seek to accomplish by our own devices and in our own strength, only plays into the hands of our spiritual foe. It is when we are weak that we are strong (2 Corinthians 12:10). Compare what is recorded of Ahaz himself in 2 Chronicles 28:21. His self-efforts "helped him not."

Isaiah 9:5 points directly to the war of Har-magedon (Revelation 16:14, r.v.). That climax will see "all the armor of the armed man in the tumult" (Joel 3:9-14; Zechariah 14:13), "the garments rolled in blood" (Isaiah 63:3; Revelation 14:20), "burning," and "fuel of fire" (Isaiah 66:15, 16; Joel 2:30). But all this victory, deliverance and joy is based upon the Birth of Christ. Isaiah 9:6 is an expansion of the meaning of "Immanuel" in Isaiah 7:14. There He was spoken of as a sign, here He is a gift: "For unto us a child is born"; He is partaker with "the children" of flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:14); "unto us a son is given," One who grows up into Manhood, qualified to exercise the power and reveal His nature and character now to be mentioned: "and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called [cp. Isaiah 7:14] Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." For the first of these titles compare Judges 13:18 (r.v. and a.v. margin); for the second, see Isaiah 11:2; and for the two together, Isaiah 25:1. These two are not to be combined into one phrase as if the first was an adjective describing the Counsellor as wonderful: each is a noun. Contrast Isaiah 28:29, where the phrase is different. In the next title, "The mighty God," "God" is El, the last syllable of Immanuel, and again the deity of Christ is declared. El is contrasted with man in Isaiah 31:3 and Hosea 11:9. "Mighty" is used of God in Deuteronomy 10:17 and elsewhere. "The everlasting Father" is, lit., "The Father of eternity." There is a twofold revelation in this: (1) He inhabits and possesses eternity (Isaiah 57:15); (2) He is loving, tender, compassionate, an all-wise Instructor, Trainer and Provider. The title "The Prince of Peace" comprehends His actings in respect of each of the four preceding titles. His eternity and His provision of peace are combined in Isaiah 57:15-19. He is a Prince who will in Person completely subdue every opposing foe, banish every disturbing element and thus bring peace to His people and to the nations. This the angels heralded at His Birth (Luke 2:14). To the extension of His government and to peace there will be no limit (Isaiah 9:7). He will Himself establish "the throne of David," in fulfillment of 2 Samuel 7:16, ordering and establishing it with judgment and righteousness unending. "The zeal [or rather, the jealousy] of Jehovah of hosts shall perform this." His jealousy has two objects. It is a fire of indignation against all who maltreat His chosen earthly people, and a fire that burns with such a love for them and zeal for their welfare that it must consume all unfaithfulness in their midst (cp. Song of Solomon 8:6-7, and see Deuteronomy 4:24; Deuteronomy 5:9; Deuteronomy 6:15). The jealousy of the apostle Paul concerning the church at Corinth was but the expression of the Lord’s own jealousy on their behalf. "I am jealous," he says, "over you with a jealousy of God: for I espoused you to one Husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:2). The cup of jealousy had been put into the hand of that church in the first Epistle. She had drunk it and had cleared herself (2 Corinthians 7:11; see Numbers 5:11-21). What the Lord does with a local church He does with the individual members of the church, and in the coming day He will similarly deal with Israel. The promises of Isaiah 9:6-7 are now followed in verses 9:8-10:4 by further denunciations of evil and warnings of impending judgments (just as the promise in Isaiah 7:14 had been followed). The nation had to be reminded again and again that such was its condition that evil and consequent trouble and darkness would reach a climax before the promised blessing and light could be given. Though Ephraim is especially mentioned the passage deals with the whole nation, as is clear from Isaiah 9:9. Ephraim was guilty of persistent hardness of heart. In spite of the utter failure of their alliance with Syria, which broke down under the attacks of the Assyrian, Tiglath-Pileser, there was no repentance. In their pride and stout-heartedness they said, "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars" (Isaiah 9:10). For this cause fresh adversaries were raised up (Philistines against Judah and Syrians against the other tribes); the Lord’s indignation was continued, and His hand was still stretched out in judgment (not in pleading with them, as some would interpret it), Isaiah 9:11-12. In Isaiah 9:13-16 the prophet gives a second exposure of the causes of, and necessity for, the Divine judgments. In spite of these they refuse to turn and seek the Lord. Those who were chiefly responsible were the elders and men of prominent position ("the ancient and honorable"); they are described as the "head." Then there were the false prophets, teaching lies. These were the "tail" (i.e., the wagging tail of a dog), delighting in their guileful flatteries. The former were the palm branch, waving aloft; the latter were the "rush," down in the marshy ground. Each must be "cut off … in one day." In verse 16 they are directly called "the leaders," and the people that follow them are destroyed (lit., "swallowed up").

Such was the evil that the Lord could have no joy in their young men (those who should have become powerful to maintain the spiritual vitality of the nation), and the fatherless and the widows (ordinarily the special objects of divine compassion, Deuteronomy 10:18) would obtain no mercy. All were profligate, evildoers and blasphemers. Hence a second time Isaiah has to say that the Lord’s anger was not turned away, but His hand is still stretched out in judgment (Isaiah 9:17). And now a third time warnings of Divine vengeance are given. Wickedness, whether in an individual or a nation, brings its own retribution. It becomes a burning fire consuming the evildoers themselves. As thorns and thickets are ready for the burning, so hardened sinners are ripe for judgment (Isaiah 9:18). The land would be "darkness" (the word here means turned like coal into fuel for the fire). With the civil war (see Isaiah 9:21) there would be cruelty, famine, and self-destruction (Isaiah 9:20). And a third time the solemn declaration is uttered that the Lord’s anger continues and His hand is still stretched out in judgment. The whole circumstances, and all that led up to these calamities, are described in Nehemiah, chapter 9.

We need to beware of despising our higher privileges, of turning away from the right ways of the Lord, and, in a spirit of self-satisfaction, of rejecting God’s commandments, "which if a man do, he shall live in them" (Nehemiah 9:29).