Maher-shalal-hash-baz

In the margin of some of our Bibles, the translators have given the English of this name, as it is of several words, and they render it, making speed to the spoil; or he hasteneth to the prey. And when we consider that the prophet was commanded to mark the roll of the prophecy then delivered by this name, and also called the child he had by the prophetess by the same name, no doubt the matter became very significant. I would only detain the reader for one short observation upon it, just to remark, how very earnest theLord’speople were to carry, in the names of their children, continual records of the Lord’s providences and dispensation. The prophet’s son never heard himself called by this name, but it served to remind every faithful Israelite that heard it, of the Lord’s hastening his purposes of redemption. And though the captivity of Babylon lay between, yet the glorious redemption from sin, death, hell, and the grave, by the Lord Jesus Christ, was seen beyond it. Hence faithful men were taken by the prophet to witness the record. (SeeIsa. 8. 1.4. Ps. l26. 4.)

Maher-shalal-hash-baz, words prognostic of the sudden attack of the Assyrian army (’he hasteth to the spoil’), which the prophet Isaiah was first commanded to write in large characters upon a tablet, and afterwards to give as a symbolical name to a son that was to be born to him (Isa 8:1; Isa 8:3). It is, as Dr. Henderson remarks, the longest of any of the Scripture names, but has its parallels in this respect in other languages, especially in our own during the time of the Commonwealth.

Haste, spoil, speed to the prey, the name given by Isaiah to one of his sons, for a prophetic intimation of the speedy victory of the Assyrians over Syria and Israel, Isa 8:1-3 .\par

Ma’her-shal’al-hash’-baz. (that is, hasten-booty speedspoil). Whose name was given, by divine direction, to indicate that Damascus and Samaria were soon to be plundered by the king of Assyria. Jer 8:14.

("hasteth to the spoil, speedeth to the prey".) As Immanuel, Isaiah’s (Isa 7:14; Isa 8:1-4) first son by the virgin, was the sign of Judah’s deliverance, so Maher-shalal-hash-baz the second son is the sign of destruction to Judah’s enemies, Syria and Samaria. (See IMMANUEL.) Assyria will speedily spoil these. The prophet was to write Maher-shalal-hash-baz in a great roll with a man’s pen, i.e. in ordinary characters, large enough for all to read, that after the event its correspondence to the prediction might be seen. Shearjashub (Isa 7:3, "a remnant shalt return") was another sign that Judah should not be utterly destroyed, notwithstanding its terrible defeat by Pekah of Israel, and notwithstanding Syria’s confederacy with Israel against it (Isa 7:17-25; Isa 8:6-9).

( = "speeding for booty," "hastening to the spoil"):

By: Emil G. Hirsch, M. Seligsohn

Symbolic name of the son of Isaiah indicating the sudden attack on Damascus and Syria by the King of Assyria (Isa. viii. 3-4). Isaiah had first been commanded by God to write it on a large roll (ib. viii. 1).

MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ (‘spoil speedeth, prey hasteth’), Isa 8:1; Isa 8:3.—A symbolical name given to one of Isaiah’s sons to signify the speedy destruction of the power of the allied kings Rezin and Pekah by the king of Assyria.

mā´hẽr-shal´al-hash´baz (בּז חשׁ שׁלל מהר, mahēr shālāl ḥāsh baz, “the spoil speedeth; the prey hasteth”): Asymbolic name given to Isaiah’s son to signify the sharp destruction of Rezin and Pekah by the Assyrian power (Isa 8:1, Isa 8:3). Compare the Greek idea of Nemesis.