Ibn Ezra on Isaiah

גליון. According to some related to מגלה scroll; the י of גליון compensates for the omission of the Dagesh in ל; comp. דליו They are poor (Prov. 26:7). בחרט In the form of. Comp. Exod. 32:4. בחרט אנוש. In the form of a man. That is, in a form cast in the same way as the figure of a man is cast. Others take גליון as the singular to גליונים (3:23) a cloth to which the writing was affixed by embroidery. Maher-shalal-hash-baz. The prophet is told to indicate by these words the fall of Samaria.

.ואעידה According to some the א is here instead of ה. And take unto me faithful witnesses. According to others the future is used for the past: And I took unto me faithful witnesses. It may, however, be taken literally, that I should take as witnesses for me. The prophet did what God commanded, although it is not related in the text. Uriah THE priest; Uriah was then high priest. Zachariah was likewise a great man; what our Sages say about the prophecies of Zachariah and Uriah is well known.

ואקרב. And I went unto. Euphemism; comp. Exod. 19:15. The prophetess. The wife of the prophet; she is called prophetess on account of her husband being a prophet, or perhaps because she was herself a prophetess.

For before the child, etc. This child was born two years before the conquest of Samaria. ישא. The subject is the indeterminate pronoun one; one will carry away: comp. ויאמד ליוסף And one said to Joseph (Gen. 48:1).

And the Lord spake again. The word again is used because the following prophecy refers likewise to the invasion of the king of Assyria.

The water of the Shiloah. According to some Jerusalem is referred to by these words, but it is more correct to explain them as indicating the house of David, because the majority of the kings of this house were righteous, but the kings of Israel were all bad and wicked. מי השילח, literally: the canal, the water which is conducted by man, or which causes plants (שלחים) to sprout forth; comp. שלחיך Thy plants (Song 4:13).

Upon them. Upon the men of Judah, that conspired against Ahaz. אפיקיו Its rapid parts. — comp. Ps. 42:2, Song 5:12 — or banks, according to the context. גדותיו its banks; some supply ;ר comp. שרשות = שרשרות (Exod. 28:14, 22), but this is a mistaken inference, for in שרשרות it is the ר of reduplication which is dropped in שרשת; the root is שרש, but we have no instance where a radical ר is dropped, since it does not belong to the silent letters.

Immanuel. He is mentioned here because he is to serve as a sign that Jerusalem will be delivered out of the hand of Pekah, Rezin and Sennacherib, even after the conquest of Damascus and Samaria.

רעו Break. Comp. תרועם thou shalt break them (Ps. 2:9.) רׂעוּ as well as חׂתּוּ are imperatives; like סׂבּוּ surround (Ps. 48:13). Gird yourselves. These words are repeated twice, to indicate that they should be perpetually armed.

Take counsel, etc. Whatever you will counsel against Jerusalem will not be realised. עצו. Take counsel. A biliteral verb (ע״ו). According to R. Moses Hakkohen, י is dropped, and it should be יעוצו like זכורו (Neh. 4:8). כי עמנואל. For God is with us. Here we have the reason for עמנואל Immanuel being the name of the prophet’s son.

For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, that is: When the prophecy came with force upon me; comp. The hand of the Lord was upon me (Ez. 37:1). ויסרני And instructed me. The ס has a dagesh to compensate for the absence of the י, which is the first radical; comp. אֶצָּרְךָ I formed thee (Jer. 1:5). He instructed me, etc. A proof of the correctness of my view concerning Unclean lips (6:5).

Say ye not. The prophet warns the right-minded not to conspire against Ahaz in order to join the King of Assyria; and this is to be understood by And their fear, etc., which refers to the King of Assyria mentioned before (ver. 7)

אתו Him is added, although את is before the noun, as in many instances; or it means Him alone. You shall sanctify. That which is holy is usually revered by men; comp. for he is a man of God, he is holy (2 Kings 4:9). מעריצכם is either an adjective, Your dreadful one, or participle, who in truth makes you fear.

והיה And he—namely, the King of Assyria—shall be. למקדש For a sanctuary. For a place whither man is used to go to receive blessing and strength. It is to be connected with לאבן .נֶגֶף For a stone. For a rock, upon which man is used to go to find shelter. For the two houses of Israel. The kingdom of Israel and that of Judah. For a gin, to Ephraim. And for a stumbling, to Judah.

By them. By the gin and snare.

צור According to some נ of the root is dropped; נצור = צור keep; but more correctly it is explained, Bind up; comp. וצרת And bind up (Deuter. 14:25). צור has, then, the same meaning as in the parallel phrase, חתום seal.—Do not reveal these prophecies, the testimony and the law. למורי My disciples. An adjective (comp. 1. 4); it is the same as תלמידי my pupils.

And I will wait. These are the words of the prophet; he will delay revealing the divine message till the Almighty shall give him permission.

Behold, I and the children, etc. They may understand a part of the prophecy entrusted to me from my actions and from the names of my sons. From the Lord of hosts, etc. These names were given by the Lord of hosts, Who dwelleth on the mount of Zion, and loves His people exceedingly.

To you. He addresses his pupils. המצפצפים That peep. צִפְצֵף has a meaning similar to רִּבֵּר; comp. אצפצף I shall peep (38:14). והמהגים. Hiphil. And they that cause others to mutter. Surely a people that seeketh unto their God, etc. This is the reply. Surely such is a people that seeketh unto his God! sarcastically and ironically said. How could one seek unto the lifeless idols for the benefit of the living.

לתורה ולתעודה Concerning the law and concerning the testimony. The preposition ל has the same meaning as in לי of me (Gen. 20:13). לתורה ולתעודה Concerning the law and the testimony contained in the prophecy.—They will surely speak according to this word, etc. They will say : We shall not listen to it, for it is like a night that is not followed by a dawn; its secret will never come forth to light. According to some לתורה is an oath, by the law; but we find no analogy to this in Scripture.

And they shall pass through it, etc. Some explain this verse in the following way: Days will come when he that is travelling in Judah, and being himself of the tribe of Judah, will be hardly bestead and hungry through the host of Sennacherib; and when he sees that neither his king nor his idol will help him, then he will turn upwards to pray to God in heaven. I think it refers to the host of Sennacherib when marching through the land of Judah; for when the army is large, it is frequently exposed to hunger. Their king; that is, the King of Assyria. And look upward. Wherever they will turn, upward or downward, only darkness shall meet them.

מעוף Dimness. Comp. עיפתה darkness (Job 10:22). מנדח Scattered. Comp. והנדחים And they that are scattered (27:13); the construction of the sentence is perhaps אפלה מנדח ומעוף Dimness of darkness is scattered about; by this construction the masculine form of פנודח is explained.

מי לא מועף וגו׳ For such dimness and darkness will not come over Jerusalem, though it is distressed by the enemy. According to others, The enemy will not be able to hurry to Jerusalem, which he had distressed. At the first, etc. The first time that the king of Assyria came, he afflicted the land of Israel only slightly, by taking the districts of Zebulun and Naphtali; but the last time he afflicted it heavily, and took the whole of Galilæa. Of the nations. Perhaps Israel is meant; comp. בעממיך Amongst thy people (Judg. 5:14)