Chapter 8

2021 - Just reading through - or doing so as much as I can, because I spent so much time on 7.  Slow down on 8 next year.

Vss 1-3 are about the newly born son of Isaiah and the prophetess, whose life events are the calendar of the Assyrian invasion.

2023 - Chapter 7:10-25 are about Judah.  They are a longer term prophecy of the future of Ahaz's kingdom.  In contrast, in 8:1-10, as shown through the prophesied experience of the Prophetess' son, we see what the shorter term future of Israel and Syria will be.  That is the context to keep in mind.  And then in 8:11, we move far ahead, to the ministry of Christ.

The time of the Assyrian invasion is set.  It will happen before Isaiah's newborn son is old enough to speak.  That will be pretty soon. 

2021-Vss 5-8 speak of how Assyria will overflow like the Euphrates.  They are about to invade everything around them, including Judah.  It reads as if Judah, too, will fall.  Perhaps everything falls but Jerusalem, and it survives and rebuilds until 586 BC.  Maybe it means that.

2021 - Then there is this poem in vss 8, 9, which seem to point us far into the future.  All these things are going to happen to Israel and Judah near term, but when Immanuel comes, when God is with us - the second advent is in view here - then Israel will stand untouched and untouchable, no matter who would come against it.  This poem is like the other bookend of the "Immanuel bookends" that open in 7:14 and end here in 8:10.  How spectacular is that!

This verse comes right after the prophecy about Assyria:

12 "Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. [Isa 8:12, 13 ESV]

A good warning to the conspiracy buffs in the US right now.  They are looking to the wrong place, the wrong source!

Or even more, the conspiracy that is world ending global warming.  Don't fear what they fear.

Possible FB post.

2021 - The above is a good FB post but there is so much more to it.  The fears are about Judah's fears, Jerusalem's fears, but I think there is a clear analogy to be made to our fears today.  To the ideas and philosophy's whipped up by the people that require such urgent attention. Racism, environmentalism, feminism, and so on.  These are elevated to the most pressing, most required, most resource deserving problems (fears) that have to be addressed.  But Isaiah says nope,  those do not matter.  What you better worry about is that Jesus Christ is coming, and he will upset you by his presence - he will be a stone of offense - because you won't like what he says and you won't care to bow to his power.  You will want to continue in your own brilliance and not recognize that you are outclassed.  In Jesus' own day, it was the religious elite, the Pharisees, who denigrated and demeaned Jesus' person and his message of salvation.  Today, it is the intellectual elite, the master of scientific study, and the politicians in the halls of power that say we don't have time for the message of Christ, there are far more important considerations to be dealt with.  History is repeating, as it has repeated before.  For those who listen to the world "They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.", Isa 8:15b.

I don't really get the rest of the chapter, except that it seems to be talking about what is coming - conquest, devastation, and so on.  It also seems to say that the magicians and necromancers and such that are now routinely consulted about the future - instead of God - will be out of work and starving like everyone else.  And people will be angry, not at the sorcerers, but at God.  They will still not see that they brought this on themselves.  Reminds me of the last chapters of Revelation. 

2021 - Yes I do get it.  It is what is coming to Jerusalem.  They are all caught up in their own ways of forecasting, understanding, predicting, and assimilating what is going on.  In that time they were listening to necromancers, diviners, all sorts of occult practicing "smart people".  The predictions and explanations of these people were about to start failing spectacularly.  When they did, people were going to panic.  They were going to start blaming those they depended on for explanation and calm and peace.  They were also going to turn on the government that could not protect or feed them.  They were also going to rage against their God for their predicament.  All to no avail.  Israel and Judah are going to fall in on them, while they scream and rage against those who lied to them.  Times will get very dark indeed.  Their way of life is going to change to survival mode, where before they were fat cats. 

This is exactly what is happening now to this country.  People rage against the other side because the "masters of what should be" in our society are so in disagreement.  We've let God go, and we are trying desperately to replace Him, but nothing is working.  Everything is 50/50, and each half sees the other as moral enemies.  It is all falling down.  That FB post above is so very on target for our times.  I hope I can get it into shape.

2022 - This verse, which may unlock a lot of the problems above:

18 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. [Isa 8:18 ESV].  Isaiah is calling his own children, their lives, signs and portents.  Previously, he said this about one of them in vss 3, 4:

3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria." [Isa 8:3-4 ESV].  We see here that this son is a sign that Israel and Syria will fall to Assyria before this child can talk...might even say it will be before his first words. My guess is that this son was born quite a while after the meeting with Ahaz.  Isaiah had a different son with him at that time.  Imagine the possibility that as Isaiah begins to deliver the words of God as to the signs, that Isaiah speaks vs 14 as he looks Ahaz in the eye, and then Isaiah turns to look at his own son, perhaps pointing at this son, and continues with vs 15...He shall eat curds and honey when....  By the time this young son is 14, Israel and Syria will have fallen, and the Assyrian army will be running amok throughout all the land of Judah also.  So much so that agriculture cannot be continued, but a cow and two sheep can be kept out of sight enough for survival food.  Vs 17 confirms that the curd and honey thing is NOT about Israel and Syria but about Judah.  You you you!  This is the best interpretation so far.  Vs 14 is far only.  That has only happened once.  It could not be mistaken for anything but this sign from God.  And all the rest is about the young son of Isaiah accompanying his father to meet with King Ahaz.  Perfect sense.  I think we see this kind of thing in one other place also, but I cannot place it right now.

2023 - This verse:  18 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. [Isa 8:18 ESV].  Remember the names of these children!  Back in 7:3, Isaiah's son went with him to see Ahaz, and his name was "A remnant shall return", and it was in telling Ahaz what this son would go through in his life that God drove home the prophecy of the future fall of ALL the promised land, including Judah falling to Babylon...but A REMNANT SHALL RETURN FROM THERE!!!.  Then in 8, the son's name is "The spoil speeds, the prey hastens", to indicate the very soon demise of Israel and Syria.  And as if those two are not fantastic enough, in 8:14-15, Isaiah returns to the very far future fulfillment of God's own sign - of God's own Son - as given by God himself in 7:14.   Isaiah realizes that HIS sons are given as signs in the same way the one born of a virgin is a sign.  How impossible it would be for man to come up with such a sequence!  This is God, all God, only God, speaking to us from the book of Isaiah!

2023 - Are vss 21-22 a prophecy of the wrath of God in the Great Tribulation?  It is surely not all that difficult to overlay these verses with the last of the 7's in Revelation.  "thrust into thick darkness" sounds a lot like

First notes, 9/5/18

God's  forbearance with Ephraim and with Samaria is at an end.  Once His wrath  is pouring out, it is almost impossible to satisfy it.  Few will  survive it.  God has done all that can be expected of Him to make Israel  great.  But they praise themselves rather than God.

Surely  God also tires of such people even today.  This is a national  punishment, not individual.  But many innocent also suffer.  What  greater motivation for us to honor God and teach others to do the same!?

These are the continuing notes from my first attempt at studying Isaiah in early 2017:

5

This chapter contains the song of the vineyard. 

vs 1, My Well-beloved refers to God I believe.

vs 2, Describes the location of the vineyard and its preparation.   It was dug up and cleared of stones to make it arable.  It was planted  with the best available variety of vines.  That's a little scary that  the Israelites were the best of what was available.  Might be reading  too much into that.  There's a tower in the middle (to guard it from?   to live in while the fruit grows?  for the workmen that constantly  attend the vine to live in?  I don't know what the tower is really for.   God is my high tower according to David, though.  Probably a  connection.  The winepress is right there in the vineyard so the fruit  wouldn't have to be transported very far.  But for all his preparation,  his hope, his patience, his anticipation, wild grapes grew from the  cultured vines. 

vs. 3, 4, God asks what  else they could have expected Him to do that He didn't do.  Why then are  there wild grapes instead of what He planted. 

vs.  5, God is angry, and will no longer take care of the vineyard.  First  He's taking away the hedge, there to protect the vineyard from outsiders.   God doesn't just live and let live, He hedges in His own, prevents  invasion, wild animals, all sorts of problems from coming anywhere near  the vineyard.  But further, He's going to set the vineyard on fire  Himself.  He will burn it.  And the wall around it will be broken down,  so that anyone can get in. 

vs. 6, He will  not cultivated it or prune it or keep out briers and weeks.  In fact, He  will withhold the rain itself, so that the vineyard cannot produce,  cannot multiply, and will in fact die back to nothing.

vs. 7, The Lord's vineyard is the House of Israel, and the men are the plants.  They are unjust and unrighteous.

vs. 8, The first Woe of this chapter.  This is about those who make themselves rich by buying up property far beyond what they need, and acreage far beyond what they can use or tend.  No land is left for the people to multiply, nowhere left for the poor to make a living.  Unequal distribution of wealth?  Really, or am I just making stuff up based on my own time? 

vs.  9, 10, Isaiah says the Lord said to him that the land will be desolate,  houses will be empty, and the crops will not yield enough to maintain  themselves.

vs. 11, 12, The second Woe of the chapter.  Indicts those who get up early and start drinking.  Not just drinkers, drunks, alcoholics, dissipaters.  They feast but give the Lord no credit, no thanks for what they have, nor do they stop and think of the hedge and the wall and so the true source of their wealth.  They just drink.

vs. 13,  Don't know if this  reference is to Samaria, or just prophetic language for what is about  to happen in the very near future.  The people will be captive, slaves  to others, because they lack knowledge.  (What knowledge?  Hard to tell  here if they don't even know God, or they are just not acknowledging his  hand in their safety and wealth.  Maybe that's the same thing?)

vs  14, There are so many that are this way that hell itself has to be  enlarged to hold all that are headed that way.  The that glory and are  proud, and make much of themselves are headed there.

vs. 15,  The high and might, the lofty, the haughty will all be brought low.

vs.  16, The Lord will be exalted, he will be seen as fair and just and  righteous to punish these for their attitudes and there self-praise, for  stealing God's honor and claiming it is their own.  They think their  own smarts made them what they are and that the nation (or its elite)  are prosperous because of their own brilliance. 

vs.  17, The lambs shall feed in their (the lamb's?  Or the lofty's?)  pastures.  Don't get this agricultural analogy.    The point I think is  that those who call these pastures their own will no longer control  them.  The lowliest, the least valuable, will use them at will and  without disturbance.

vs. 18, 19, The third Woe is to those who "draw iniquity with cords of vanity" and draw sin as with a cart rope.  These also stand and say "Let God show us what He does", they think they have earned the right to have expectations of God.  They think they're pretty good all by themselves, so let's see what this God we're supposed to be beholden too can do that 's better.  They are very over the top proud of themselves.  Found a reference that says they don't just sin, their vain habits and thoughts pull it right to them.  Could also be a reference to some pagan procession where people pull carts with idols or offerings.  Could be a double meaning.  And also, they didn't think God would, or maybe that he could, do what Isaiah was prophesying about.  Let's just see him send us into captivity.  We're not little children, scared of you threats of darkness.  Go ahead, show us, we aren't afraid!

vs. 20, The fourth Woe, to those who call evil good and good evil.  I'm sure I'll get into my own times here!  They call darkness light (abortion!!!, women equal to men in every way, no roles for each) and light darkness (separate church and state, prayer out of schools!).  Bitter is sweet and sweet bitter.  (If Hillary had won, they'd be jubilant with her triumph (vs 14))

vs. 21, The fifth Woe of the chapter.  Just one verse to describe this one.  Woe to those wise in their own eyes.  These are the people telling us what's best for us and if we don't agree it's because WE are stupid, not because THEY are wrong.

vs. 22, The sixth and seventh Woes  are both in this same verse, both about the same general thing.  Woe to  men mighty at drinking wine?  Men valiant for mixing drinks?  Is this  about the absolute abuse of alcohol to the point where those who consume  the most are the mightiest, and those who'll drink anything at all are  considered brave?   See next...

vs 23 finishes the thought.   These are in positions of power and take bribes to hold the guilty  innocent and so deny justice to the righteous.  These men aren't just  drinking for pleasure.  They are beyond censure of any kind, and have no  need of sobriety. 

vs.  24, Starts with therefore.  They are about to be burned up so  completely that there isn't really even any ash left to mark that they  were ever there.  And the cause, the reason, is their rejection of the  law, and despising of God's Word.  These are not minor matters. 

(Why  did God wait so long?  Why does he wait still when nations and  governments get so out of hand that all these things are true on a daily  basis.  Kim Jong Il, why is he still in charge?  Putin?  China is  killing babies the day before they're to be born!  And they are  prospering.  They get away with this because they are not God's people  any way?  He only chastises sons?  Or are places like that kept around  so they can be used to execute God's judgement in his own time, because  only the meanest, most brutal, just barely human beasts of men can even  come close to imposing the anger of God on disobedient men.  Maybe the  worse country in the world is there to let us know what God can do if we  continue as we are.  Maybe that's why as America falters and turns it's  back on God, Isis rises, and N. Korea, and Iran.  Maybe they are being  prepared to execute God's judgement.  As the Chaldeans in Habakkuk.   They got theirs too, afterwards, but first God used them.  What a  terrible thought!)

vs.  25, God is angry, and bodies will fill the streets, and be so common  that they'll be seen as just some trash laying out there that someone  should clean up.  And even after all this, He is STILL not satisfied!

vs.  26, The results of the dropped hedge and wall.  Though God has  devastated the country and it's people, now other peoples will overrun  them.  God will stop preventing them, stop sending them elsewhere and  will in fact whistle for them to come and finish the job. 

vs. 27, They will love coming, they will be supernaturally strong and tireless in their invasion and their destruction. 

vs.  28-30, More of the same.  Their weapons will be in good shape and not  wear out, they will be good at inflicting death, and they will overrun  without losses to themselves, and carry away the men of Israel as a lion  carries away it's prey.  There will be no one at all to stand up to the  lions.  They will casually walk away in safety, without fear, no  looking over their shoulders.  They will utterly conquer and leave no  one at all to rise against them. 

What an awful prophecy.  They didn't listen.  No reason to believe that we will either.  And we are not even Israel.

You  know some good people remained, though we haven't seen a reference to  that yet.  Not all the good people would have made it through such a  catastrophe.  At least some that were still true to God would have been  slaughtered too.  Reminds me of some verses J Mac read today - I've  forgotten where.  The glories of the world to come are such that no  punishment on this earth can make them not worth the suffering done  here.  No matter how awful, how unfair, how embarrassing, how ...No  matter what is done to us on this world, the glories of the next will  make these sufferings trivial.

6

vs 1, This begins Isaiah's vision of the glory of God in His temple.  It occurs in the year Uzziah died, after ruling for 52 years  I think this would make Isaiah in his seventies, since in 1:1, Uzziah is the first king mentioned.  Isaiah sees God on a high throne in the temple.  This is interesting in that Jesus came to do away with the law, or at least to do away with our slavery to the law, yet the temple remains.  Jesus called himself the temple, yet here, in Isaiah's vision, it is still there and God is there.  So is this a vision of where God was at the "time" of Isaiah, or is it a vision of a future event, say at the coming of the new heaven and new earth?

vs. 2, 3, The Seraphim, with six wings each, flying around, and praising God.  They are saying that the earth is full of his glory, so some version of earth still exists.

vs. 4, The posts of the door moved, and the temple filled with smoke.  This is what happened when the first tabernacle was dedicated and when Solomon's temple opened.  And maybe a last time when the Temple reopened after the Babylonian captivity?  At any rate, this scene is repeated, and the previous times it happened would have been known to Isaiah.  He knew what he was seeing.  God was there, and God was pleased.  (At church today it occurred to me that maybe the reason the temple shows up like this is that the vision is of the millennial after the saved have been raptured out.  Jesus is our temple, he said so himself when he said he would raise it again in three days.  Once we have been called home, God might establish a new temple, though I don't see that sacrifices would be needed.  In 2 Thess 2:4, the saved will see antichrist seated n the temple.  It must come back.

vs 5, Isaiah realizes he is in the presence of God, realizes his shortcomings, failures, weaknesses, and above all his uncleanness int he presence of God, and he falls to his face.  He says he has unclean lips, and lives among people with unclean lips.  Is this a reference to the fact that what comes out of man corrupts him, not what goes in.  Or is it a cultural reference to ceremonial impurity?

vs. 6,7, - A Seraphim touches Isaiah's lips with a live coal from the altar, and declares Isaiah's iniquity taken away and his sins purged.  The angel held the coal in tongs, even an angel cannot touch fire.  This is unfamiliar imagery to me.  I have never heard Jesus' work described as cleansing fire...but there are a lot of references to fire in the NT.  Here is yet another vision for study.  Comparing this cleansing fire to the references to fire in the NT. 

vs. 8, An oft-quoted verse.  Isaiah hears the voice of God, the very voice, and it asks "Whom shall I send" and "Who will go".  Isaiah says "Send me". This must be a big turning point in Isaiah's prophecy, and it would be a good study to contrast the visions of Isaiah, the prophecies of Isaiah before Chapter 6 with those after.

vs. 9, God gives Isaiah a mission.  Go and tell them to hear and to see, though they won't do either.  Isaiah has been commissioned to speak to a people and knows in advance that his message will not be received. 

vs. 10 continues the same way, and extends the inability to perceive even their hearts.  God seems to have decided already what is going to happen to Judah and Jerusalem, and there will be no turning it away.  Isaiah will speak to them to no avail.  They are even prevented from turning back to God at this point.  A line has been crossed.  There IS a line. 

vs. 11, Isaiah asks how long this is to go on.  Seems like a good question to ask.  God says Isaiah will get no results, and Isaiah wants to know how long this fruitless mission is to last.  The answer must have been pretty awful.  Until the whole place is an uninhabited wasteland.  Basically until Babylon comes and burns it to the ground and takes them all away as slaves.  How difficult would that be, to preach to these people knowing they would not, indeed could not, get the message, and knowing the ultimate fate was desolation and despair.  I guess all preachers get that to some extent.  Most people don't turn to God when they hear the gospel, and so they are destined to hell.  Preachers know this to be the case, and preach anyway, for the sake of a few that might be able to turn.  Maybe even in Isaiah's time, some did turn to the Lord.  There had to be some good people or there would have been no survivors of Israel, and God's promise could not be fulfilled.  Keep an eye out for mention of this remnant.

vs 12, Talks about them being removed.  Taken from their homeland.  There is to be a great forsaking.  Is that a reference to God no longer looking after them?  He will forsake them, leave them to their own devices, which will quickly lead to their downfall?

vs. 13, This verse seems to promise that this is not forever.  Some will return, the traditional 10th will come back.  And they will be the faithful, those who have substance in themselves - presumably God still in their hearts.  I don't really understand the "it shall be eaten" phrase here.  I didn't see a commentary explanation for this.  They do say the 10th is about the holy that will remain, the loyal that will remain.

The commentary also mentions (Matthew Henry) that those who are blinded would not have given up their sins anyway.  They would remain in them, so God's blinding them is more to get on with it, or is an indication of His foreknowledge of what they are going to choose anyway - which is to remain in their sin.  Isaiah's ministry is for him, for his edification, his own good, much more than for the people.  God is sending them a last warning, a dire warning, a warning of imminent cleansing in the most personal sense of the word. 

7

vs. 1,  Sets the chapter up as a recounting of events current to Isaiah.  Events in this chapter take place during the reign of Ahaz, who was before Hezekiah, approximately 746-721 BC.  In Chapter 7, Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, who was over the northern kingdom, conspire to attack Jerusalem, but cannot take the city.  

vs. 2, When Ahaz was told that they were coming, he was very fearful, so much so that in

vs. 3, Isaiah is sent to speak with him, along with Isaiah's son, Shear-Jashub.  The place of the meeting is even specified as at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field.

vs. 4, Isaiah is to tell him not be afraid of these two, and makes light of them as smoking firebrands.

vs. 5, 6, the whole conspiracy is revealed.  Syria, Ephraim (the tribe of Ephraim was just north of Judah and Benjamin, so it is the most likely place from which an invasion would come), and the son of Remaliah have plotted to create a "gap in the wall", and set up the son of Tabel as king over Judah - Tabel, or Tabeal, is presumed to be an Ephraimite.  So they want to displace the line of David.  Barnes Commentary says that the prophecy that begins here and continues into Chapter 9:7 is very important, and also very difficult to resolve in all its aspects. 

vs. 7, God makes it very clear that this is not going to happen.  The phrase in the NKJV is "It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass".

vs. 8, Rezin is head of Damascus, and Damascus is head of Syria.  Within 65 years, this says, Ephraim will be broken to the extent that it will no longer be a people.  It will be wiped off the map.  No one will claim to be an Ephraimite any longer.  So this would have been by about 650 BC.  In fact, the northern kingdom went in to captivity in 721 BC, right at the very end of Ahaz's reign. 

vs 9, Same language says that Samaria is capital of Ephraim, and Remaliah's son is head of Samaria.  Then it says if they will not believe, they will not be established.  This ties back to the initial prophecy of Ahijah to Jeroboam, that included an "if".  In I Kings 11:38, it says "Then it shall be, if you need all that I command you...and build you an enduring house, as I built for David".  The northern kingdom never even comes close to compliance with this conditional.  So God is telling them that their time is within 65 years of utterly and finally expiring.

vs. 10-12, God speaks, possibly directly to Ahaz, and allows him to request a sign as proof that He is taking care of this, and Ahaz has nothing to fear.  Ahaz refuses (wisely?) to test God.  Barnes Commentary says that the real reason Ahaz refused was that he had no belief in and certainly no confidence that God could help him.  He had already tried to bring the King of Assyria in on his side, and believed his only "salvation", and that of Jerusalem, lay with Assyria.

vs 13, 14, after refusing to ask for a sign, Ahaz (no, it has to be Isaiah implying it) implies that the faith of Judah and Ahaz is so weak, that the Lord will send an unmistakable sign of his coming deliverance, and then you get prophecy of the virgin birth of a Son, named Immanuel. 

vs. 15, He will eat curds and honey so he can refuse evil and choose the good.

vs 16, but before he learns this, the "land that you dread" will be forsaken by both her kings.  And this is where the commentators say that things get very difficult.  The prophecy, the deliverance, and then the forsaking of the land by both her kings, will take place before this son born of a virgin is old enough to know the difference between good and evil.  Seems to mean that a virgin will bear a son in the immediate future.  So this appears to be a foretelling that both Israel and Judah will be captured before Immanuel is of the age of accountability!  (Maybe the key to the passage is in the phrase "the land that you dread".  Why would Ahaz dread Judah or Benjamin?  And one of those kings that would be no more would have to be him.  This isn't going to do much to allay his fears of being conquered.  What if the two kings were those of Babylon and Assyria?  How long after this did they last?  But even if it does mean that, then the prophecy is NOT about Mary and NOT about Jesus, and that is hard to fathom.  To believe that, the virgin birth of Jesus is the second such birth foretold, and this one in Isaiah would be a type perhaps, for the later one.  How would they be similar?  The two kings later would be...who?  Jerusalem had no king at the time of Jesus.  He came to be king. 

     Here is the explanation from Barnes:  "Some young female, who was then a virgin, and who was unmarried at the  time when the prophet spoke, would conceive, and bear a son. "To" that  son a name would be given, or his birth, in the circumstances in which  it occurred, would make such a name proper, as would indicate that God  was with them, and would be their Protector. Maternal affection would  give the child the name Immanuel. The child would be nurtured up in the  usual way among the Jews Isaiah 7:15 until he would be able to discern between good and evil - that is, until he should arrive at years of discretion. Between the time which should elapse from the conception of the child, and the time when he should arrive at an age to distinguish good from evil, that is in about three years, the land should be forsaken of the hostile kings, Isaiah 7:16.  This seems to be the obvious meaning of this passage; and in this way  only could this be a clear and satisfactory evidence to Ahaz of the  certainty that the land would be entirely and permanently free from the  invasion." 

Barnes says that a woman who was a virgin AT THE TIME of the prophecy by Isaiah, was going to get married and have a child, and for some reason, some set of circumstances, would call that son Immanuel - something that well might have happened, and before that child was over about three years old, the two bad kings would be gone from the land.  The child, and presumably the virgin mother, would have to be somehow notable to Ahaz, in my view, for this interpretation to have any credibility at all.  Got was giving it as a sign to an unbelieving scoffer who saw the King of Assyria as his savior.  This woman in that day, if that's what this prophecy refers to, had to be someone noteworthy.  I do like the notion that the two kings who would be gone were NOT the kings of Judah and Israel, but of Samaria and Syria.  The two invading kings.  In a longer sense, Isaiah was also referring to a later deliverance of Israel by Jesus, after his own virgin birth.

But you can't do this!  If the birth in Isaiah's time was to someone once a virgin, then why would anyone not point out that maybe that same qualification applied to Mary?  The NT says hers was a virgin birth, but this prophecy of that is now interpreted as "sort of" a virgin at the time of writing, but she got pregnant the regular way.  This seems to be a huge problem.  I will look for a better interpretation.

     So here is the commentary of Mathew Henry, and one that is much more palatable, believable, and free of the confusion that arises for everyone from the Barnes version.  It is very long, but it makes very much sense:

"IV. The prophet, in God’s name, gives them a sign: "You will not ask a  sign, but the unbelief of man shall not make the promise of God of no  effect: The Lord himself shall give you a sign (v. 14), a double sign."

1.  "A sign in general of his good-will to Israel and to the house of  David. You may conclude it that he has mercy in store for you, and that  you are not forsaken of your God, how great soever your present distress  and danger are; for of your nation, of your family, the Messiah is to  be born, and you cannot be destroyed while that blessing is in you,  which shall be introduced," (1.) "In a glorious manner; for, whereas you  have been often told that he should be born among you, I am now further  to tell you that he shall be born of a virgin, which will signify both  the divine power and the divine purity with which he shall be brought  into the world,—that he shall be a extraordinary person, for he shall  not be born by ordinary generation,—and that he shall be a holy thing, not stained with the common pollutions of the human nature, therefore  incontestably fit to have the throne of his father David given him." Now  this, though it was to be accomplished above 500 years after, was a  most encouraging sign to the house of David (and to them, under that  title, this prophecy is directed, v. 13) and an assurance that God would  not cast them off. Ephraim did indeed envy Judah (ch. 11:13) and sought  the ruin of that kingdom, but could not prevail; for the sceptre should  never depart from Judah till the coming of Shiloh, Gen. 49:10. Those  whom God designs for the great salvation may take that for a sign to  them that they shall not be swallowed up by any trouble they meet with  in the way. (2.) The Messiah shall be introduced on a glorious errand,  wrapped up in his glorious name: They shall call his name Immanuel—God  with us, God in our nature, God at peace with us, in covenant with us.  This was fulfilled in their calling him Jesus—a Saviour (Mt. 1:21–25),  for, if he had not been Immanuel—God with us, he could not have been  Jesus—a Saviour. Now this was a further sign of God’s favor to the  house of David and the tribe of Judah; for he that intended to work this  great salvation among them no doubt would work out for them all those  other salvations which were to be the types and figures of this, and as  it were preludes to this. "Here is a sign for you, not in the depth nor  in the height, but in the prophecy, in the promise, in the covenant made  with David, which you are no strangers to. The promised seed shall be  Immanuel, God with us; let that word comfort you (ch. 8:10), that God is  with us, and (v. 8) that your land is Immanuel’s land. Let not the  heart of the house of David be moved thus (v. 2), nor let Judah fear the  setting up of the son of Tabeal (v. 6), for nothing can cut off the  entail on the Son of David that shall be Immanuel." Note, The strongest  consolations, in time of trouble, are those which are borrowed from  Christ, our relation to him, our interest in him, and our expectations  of him and from him. Of this child it is further foretold (v. 15) that  though he shall not be born like other children, but of a virgin, yet he  shall be really and truly man, and shall be nursed and brought up like  other children: Butter and honey shall he eat, as other children do,  particularly the children of that land which flowed with milk and honey.  Though he be conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, yet he shall not  therefore be fed with angels’ food, but, as it becomes him, shall be in  all things made like unto his brethren, Heb. 2:17. Nor shall he, though  born thus by extraordinary generation, be a man immediately, but, as  other children, shall advance gradually through the several states of  infancy, childhood, and youth, to that of manhood, and growing in wisdom  and stature, shall at length wax strong in spirit, and come to  maturity, so as to know how to refuse the evil and choose the good. See  Lu. 2:40, 52. Note, Children are fed when they are little that they may  be taught and instructed when they have grown up; they have their  maintenance in order to their education.

2. Here is another sign  in particular of the speedy destruction of these potent princes that  were now a terror to Judah, v. 16. "Before this child (so it should be  read), this child which I have now in my arms" (he means not Immanuel,  but Shear-jashub his own son, whom he was ordered to take with him for a  sign, v. 3), "before this child shall know how to refuse the evil and  choose the good" (and those who saw what his present stature and  forwardness were would easily conjecture how long that would be),  "before this child be three or four years older, the land that thou  abhorrest, these confederate forces of Israelites and Syrians, which  thou hast such an enmity to and standest in such dread of, shall be  forsaken of both their kings, both Pekah and Rezin," who were in so  close an alliance that they seemed as if they were the kings of but one  kingdom. This was fully accomplished; for within two or three years  after this, Hoshea conspired against Pekah, and slew him (2 Ki. 15:30),  and, before that, the king of Assyria took Damascus, and slew Rezin, 2  Ki. 16:9. Nay, there was a present event, which happened immediately,  and when this child carried the prediction of in his name, which was a  pledge and earnest of this future event. Shear-jashub signifies The  remnant shall return, which doubtless points at the wonderful return of  those 200,000 captives whom Pekah and Rezin had carried away, who were  brought back, not by might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of  hosts. Read the story, 2 Chr. 28:8–15. The prophetical naming of this  child having thus had its accomplishment, no doubt this, which was  further added concerning him, should have its accomplishment likewise,  that Syria and Israel should be deprived of both their kings. One mercy  from God encourages us to hope for another, if it engages us to prepare  for another.

The prophecy has two parts.  The first, when the virgin shall conceive, is about Mary, and the promised deliverer of Israel, which could not be fulfilled if Jerusalem was forever wiped out. Davids line must survive.  vs. 13 makes it clear that this is not about Ahaz, it is in a much larger sense!  And why did I not wonder why Isaiah's son was to be taken with him?  He's the one who won't yet know good and evil before this northern trouble is all blown over!

Yes, this makes perfect sense to me.  Need to stay away from Barnes I think.

vs. 17, The King of Assyria will be the conqueror, and days are coming that are the worst in a very long time.  Since Ephraim departed from Judah.  (Might want to see what happened at this time?  Is this when Rehoboam and Jeroboam split the kingdoms?  I don't recall that being overly harsh really). 

vs. 18 shifts into what I would label prophetic language, and seems to point to a time still further in the future.  These things will come to pass "in that day", a phrase often seen.  I just don't know if it is supposed to always refer to the same day.  The lord will whistle for a fly in the farthest rivers of Egypt (Ethiopia?), and the bee that is in Assyria.  Babylonians?  Elamites?

vs. 19, they'll rest in the desolate valleys and the clefts of the rocks and on the thorns and in the pastures.  So this seems to mean that they will be pretty much everywhere when they come.  

vs. 20, When all this happens, at the same time, the Lord is going to used a hired razor (a vassal that he controls?) removing the stubble, the hair, and the beard.  Reducing all the conquered to impotent boys?   Not even any hair on their legs when it is over? 

vs. 21, 22, "In that day", a man will be lucky to have a cow and two sheep, because those who survive this time will live by eating curds and honey.  So we still seem to me to be looking beyond the time of Jesus, maybe to the conquest of Jerusalem by Rome later?

vs. 23, 24, Again "In that day", Where things used to be fertile and growing and supportive, men with arrows and bows - war it would seem - is what they'll have. 

vs 25, Any arable land at that time will be full of danger, briers, thorns, and used for nothing but range land for sheep and cattle.  The country will be such that it cannot support agriculture.  It will reach that low level of inhabitability.  This did happen after Jerusalem was sacked by Titus.  They tore the place to the ground and there was a law that no Jew could even come within site of the city of Jerusalem. 

8

vs 1,  Isaiah is given very specific instructions to write down the prophecy he is about to receive.  The title of the prophecy is "Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty".  This seems to imply that a conquest of some kind is just at the door.

vs. 2, Two are appointed as witnesses, according to one commentator so that there would be no doubt at all, owing to two witnesses, that Isaiah wrote the prophecy before the events foretold occurred.

vs. 3, 4,  Isaiah and his wife conceive a child, and enough time passes for him to be born, and he too is give the same name as the scroll, and before the child is very old at all, both Damascus and Samaria will fall before the King of Assyria.  Interesting that here again there is a child as a symbol of what is about to happen, and the events in both cases are to occur before the child is very old.

vs. 5, the prophecy begins with "The Lord also spoke..."

vs 6, First the indictment, the reason for the coming wrath, is that these people would rather put their hope in Syria and Samaria than in the Lord.  The quiet waters of Shiloh refer to the tiny nation of Israel, protected by God, to Israel's mild government, and to the peace that they have had for so long.

vs. 7, Shiloh is contrasted with the Tigris-Euphrates in flood, which represents the tyrannical, dominating aggression of the coming Assyrians.

vs. 8, Assyria also the object of a bird of prey metaphor.  Swift judgement, sudden death, complete surprise.

vs. 9, 10, Isaiah further says that the conquerors will ultimately fall themselves.  He knows that God will keep his promises to Israel, no matter what.  It isn't up to them, it is up to Him.

vs. 11, The Lord speaks...

vs. 12, Do not say "A Conspiracy", or maybe confederacy or alliance.  Vs. 11 says not to agree with those who fear this alliance of kings that is prophesied to be coming against them.  This is addressed to Judah, and surely they would be afraid for themselves when Assyria conquers and carries off those of the two kingdoms then threatening them.  It's like being saved from the foxes by a wolf!

vs. 13, It is God you should fear, and not Assyria. 

vs. 14, 15, God is sanctuary - how many Psalms say that expressly - for those who fear him, but then to those who don't seek him for safety, He will be a stone of stumbling and an offense. and a trap and snare, to both Israel and Judah.  This looks ahead to the appearance of Messiah, who, when rejected, becomes the stumbling block for so many who profess to believe, but don't recognize him for who he is.  Matt 21:44, if they stumble at this stone, the kingdom will be taken from them and given to those who bear fruit, as opposed to the fruitless, but professing Jews.

vs. 16-18, The prophecy is ended.  Seal it up, and give it for safekeeping to disciples who can be trusted, who will read and understand it, and who won't reject it.  Seems to me it could also be a far off reference to Jesus and those who will follow him in the future, because of his signs and wonders.  Like this document, in that future time, Jesus' testimony will be witnessed by God in signs and wonders, as will be the case when Syria and Samaria fall, but Judah is left intact.

vs. 19, 20, The people of Judah will resort to fortune tellers in hope of receiving good news, instead of going to the very source, to God.  Isaiah says that if they predict other than what he has written, they are liars.

vs. 21, 22, Those who take this route, who look to soothsayers instead of God, will fall on hard times, and when they understand that they are in error, they will blame God for their predicament, and not the false prophets who just told them what they wanted to hear.  They will be driven out, they will run when there's no reason to run, because they will have followed bad advice.