Isaiah 8:19 to Isaiah 9:1. Some Fragmentary Utterances. These fragments are of uncertain date and authorship, corrupt in text and obscure in sense. The first, Isaiah 8:19 f., is a warning against necromancers. Probably the words of those who advocate consulting them continue to the end of Isaiah 8:19. We should render Isaiah 8:19 b, should not a people seek unto their elohim? on behalf of the living should they not seek unto the dead? The elohim are the spirits of the dead, so described in 1 Samuel 28:13. Possibly Isaiah 8:20 gives the reply which is to be made. They must bring the sorcerers to the test of the teaching and testimony (Isaiah 8:16); if they do not conform to this, no morning will dawn after their night of distress. But the translation and sense are quite uncertain. The revival of necromancy was due to the circumstances of the time. When the small states were falling before the irresistible power of a great empire, the national deities seemed powerless in face of the new foe. In such a collapse of faith some would resort for help to other powers, especially occult powers such as the spirits of the dead. In a well-ordered State of antiquity such practices were sternly repressed as inimical to the welfare of the State which had a religion of its own. But when this religion received these severe blows, old superstitions which had maintained an underground life came once more to the surface.
In Isaiah 8:21 f. we have the picture of a man (the pronouns are singular) driven by distress and famine to desperate straits. He goes through it, i.e. the land, which was no doubt mentioned in the context from which this was taken, vainly seeking relief. In his agony he curses God (mg.) because He will not, and the king because he cannot, help (Revelation 16:9; Revelation 16:11; Revelation 16:21) a blasphemy punishable with death (1 Kings 21:9-13). He looks up to heaven, then down to earth, but wherever he looks there is nought but trouble. Isaiah 9:1 is a connecting link with what follows. The first sentence is obscure. The next affirms that the parts which bore the brunt of invasion will in the latter time be made glorious. For the way of the sea cf. p. 29.