19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.
Isaiah’s name means “Jehovah is salvation,” and this would remind the people to trust the Lord to deliver them. His older son’s name means “A remnant shall return,” and this was a word of promise when it looked as though the nation was destroyed. A believing remnant did return to Jerusalem from Babylon, and they were encouraged by what Isaiah wrote in chapters 40—66. The name of the younger son, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, means “quick to plunder, swift to the spoil,” and pointed to the fall of Syria and Ephraim. Verse 18 is quoted in Hebrews 2:13–14 and applied to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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John
Burnett: Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and
portents in Israel from the Lord of
hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they
say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and
mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire
of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the
teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word,
it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will
pass through the land,[h] greatly distressed and hungry.
And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously
against[i] their king and their God, and
turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to
the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they
will be thrust into thick darkness.
The unbelieving Jews were
given signs from God to show them who He was and why they should follow
him. Instead they sought out mediums to try and figure out what they were
seeing instead of believing the Prophet. Verse 19b asks,”Shoud they
inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?”, which basically ask, why are you
asking the spiritually dead mediums about God on behalf of those who believe
already. If they do not follow the Word, it is because they are in darkness
(no dawn or light). They will be hungry but not satisfied and will be
angry against God because He does not give them what they want. They will
be left to wallow in their darkness and evil deeds.
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Tomorrow’s reading for Isaiah
9:1-5
9 [a]Nevertheless, that time of darkness
and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be
humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles,
which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be
filled with glory.
2 [b]The
people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,[c]
a light will shine.
3 You will enlarge the nation of Israel,
and its people will rejoice.
They will rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest
and like warriors dividing the plunder.
4 For you will break the yoke of their slavery
and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will break the oppressor’s rod,
just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.
5 The boots of the warrior
and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,[c]
a light will shine.
3 You will enlarge the nation of Israel,
and its people will rejoice.
They will rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest
and like warriors dividing the plunder.
4 For you will break the yoke of their slavery
and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will break the oppressor’s rod,
just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.
5 The boots of the warrior
and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.
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