Warning and Encouragement
Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D. Isaiah 8:11-15 For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,… The cry in Judah had been, "There is a conspiracy against us, a formidable combination, which can only be met by a counter-alliance with Assyria" (such appears to be the best interpretation of this difficult verse): Isaiah and his little circle of adherents had been warned not to join in it, not to judge of the enterprise, or probable success, of Rezin and Pekah, by the worldly and superficial estimate of the masses. A truer guide for action had been revealed to them. "Do not," such is the lesson which he has been taught, "do not follow the common people in their unreasonable alarm" (ver. 12): "Jehovah of hosts, Him shall ye count holy; and let Him be your fear, and Him your dread," i.e., in modern phraseology, "Do not be guilty of a practical abandonment of Jehovah; do not sacrifice principle to expediency. If you do not lose faith, "He will be for you a sanctuary" (ver. 14), i.e., (apparently) He will be as a sanctuary protecting the territory in which it is situated, and securing for those who honour it safety and peace; "but" (it is ominously added) "a cause of stumbling and ruin to both the houses of Israel," to you of Judah not less than to those of Ephraim, to whom alone you think that the warning can apply. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, WEB: For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,