And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
And he shall pass through Judah - the flood shall not stop at Syria and Samaria, but shall penetrate into Judea.
He shall reach even to the neck. When the waters reach to the neck a man is near drowning; still the head is not said to be overflowed. Jerusalem, elevated on hills, is the head. The danger shall be so imminent as to reach near it at Sennacherib's invasion in Hezekiah's reign; but it shall be spared (Isaiah 30:28).
And the stretching out of his wings - the extreme bands of the Assyrian armies; fulfilled Isaiah 36:1; Isaiah 37:25: cf. as to the last Antichrist, Daniel 9:27, 'the wing of abominations' (Sir Isaac Newton).
Shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Though temporarily applied to Isaiah's son, in the full sense this is applicable only to Messiah: that Judea is His, was, and still is, a pledge that, however sorely overwhelmed, it shall be saved at last; the 'head' is safe even now, waiting for 'the times of restoration' and "restitution" (Acts 1:6; Acts 3:21). In the word "Immanuel" here used the prospect of deliverance is hinted at even in the midst of the threat. At the same time these words imply that, notwithstanding the temporary deliverance from Syria and Israel, implied in "Immanuel," the greatest calamities are to follow to Judah.