For the Lord spake thus to me
God’s overpowering hand
The hand is the absolute Hand which, when it is laid upon a man, overpowers all his perception, feeling, and thinking.
(F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
“With strength of hand”
(Isaiah 8:11):--That is, seizing him and casting him into the prophetic trance (2 Kings 3:15; Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 3:14; Ezekiel 8:1). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
Warning and encouragement
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” (verse 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” (verse 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.)
Principle and expediency
Translated into modem language, the prophet’s lesson is this--that those who in a time of difficulty and temptation sacrifice principle to expediency, sad abandon the clear path of duty for a course which may seem to lead to some greater immediate advantage, must not be surprised if the penalty which they ultimately have to pay be a severe one. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)