Isaiah 8:7

Isa 8:7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, [even] the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:

Ver. 7. Wow therefore behold the Lord bringeth.] They that slighted still running Shiloah, shall have the waters of Euphrates, strong and many, to overwhelm and swallow them up. God loveth to retaliate.

Even the king of Assyria and all his glory,] i.e., His armies and forces, wherein he glorieth. See Isa 10:8; Isa 36:9.

And he shall.] Or, It shall, viz., the river Euphrates, whose exundation is here graphically described, and thereby depainted to the life; {a} the practice of tyrants in overrunning whole countries as by a deluge, as did the Assyrian of old, and as doth the great Turk at this day.

{a} Kαθ υποτυπωσιν.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 8:7-8. Now, therefore — Because the Israelites and their army, combined with the Syrians, despise the weak state of the Jews, and the kingdom of David, now brought very low, and having no such defence as can be compared to a great river, but only one that resembles a small brook that glides gently along; behold, the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river — Of Euphrates, often called the river, for its eminent greatness; whereby he understands the Assyrian forces, as the next words explain the metaphor, which should overwhelm the whole kingdom of Israel under Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser; the king of Assyria and all his glory — His numerous and puissant army, in which he gloried, Isa 10:8. He shall come up over all his channels — This great river shall overflow its own proper channels: that is, this great monarch shall not keep within his own proper bounds, but invade and overrun the whole land of Syria and Israel, as an overflowing river does the neighbouring meadows. As multitudes of people are often spoken of in Scripture under the emblem of great waters, so an invading army is very fitly represented by the inundation of a rapid river, which carries all before it, and leaves the ground waste and desolate. And he shall pass through Judah — Having overrun the land of Israel he shall invade the land of Judah, as Sennacherib did a few years after the conquest of Samaria by Shalmaneser; see 2Ki 18:9; 2Ki 18:13. And he shall reach even to the neck — So that they shall be in great danger of being destroyed. He persists in the metaphor of a river swelling so high as to reach to a man’s neck, and be ready to overwhelm him. Such was the danger of Judah’s land when Sennacherib took all the fenced cities of Judah, (2Ki 18:13,) and sent his army against the capital city of Jerusalem. The stretching out of his wings — Of his forces, or of the wings of his army, as they anciently were, and still are, called. Shall fill the breadth of thy land — Of the land of Judah, so called, because the Messiah, who is called Immanuel, (Isa 7:14,) should certainly be born, and live, and die there. And this is added emphatically for the consolation of God’s people, to assure them, that notwithstanding this dreadful scourge, yet God would make a difference between Israel and Judah; and whereas Israel should be so broken by the Assyrian, that they should not be a people, Judah should be restored, for the sake of the Messiah, to be the place of his birth and ministry, according to Gen 49:10.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8:7 The mighty flood from the Euphrates River represents the invading Assyrian army (see Jer 47:2). The river would overflow all its channels when the Assyrians marched deep into Judah. This stood as a frightening contrast with the gently flowing waters of Shiloah (Isa 8:6).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the Assyrians which dwell beyond Euphrates.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

therefore--for the reason given in Isa 8:6, the Assyrian flood, which is first to overflood Syria and Samaria, shall rise high enough to reach rebel Judah also (Isa 8:8).

the river--Euphrates swollen in spring by the melting of the snow of the Armenian mountains (compare Isa 8:6; Isa 7:20).

all his glory--Eastern kings travel with a gorgeous retinue.

channels--natural and artificial in the level region, Mesopotamia.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(7) The waters of the river . . .—“The river” is, as elsewhere (Jos_24:2; Jos_24:14), the Euphrates; here used (1) as the symbol of the Assyrian monarchy, as Shiloah had been of that of Judah, and (2) of the Assyrian armies that were to pour down like that river in the time of its inundations. The “channels” and “banks” describe the intended course of that army as invading Syria and Israel; but it was to overflow those banks and sweep over Judah. In the former case, the kingdoms were to be utterly submerged as by the violence of the current. In Judah, it was to reach only “to the neck,” i.e., was not to work out so utter a destruction. Jeremiah (Jer_47:2) reproduces the image.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. Now therefore] lit. “and therefore,” introducing the apodosis; a combination not found elsewhere.

bringeth up upon them] Not North Israel, but Judah, “this people.”

the waters of the river] The Euphrates, explained in the next clause as a symbol of the Assyrian power. The figure of the verse is based on the fact that in summer the Euphrates overflows its banks,—an obvious emblem of the aggressive policy of the great world-power.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now therefore the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many,.... Alluding to the river Euphrates, which ran by Babylon, which was a large river, full of water, and had a rapid torrent, and so is opposed to Shiloah and its waters; and these waters are explained as follows:

even the king of Assyria, and all his glory; his army, which was his glory, in which he gloried, and by which he got himself honour and glory. It is usual for mighty kings, kingdoms, and armies, to be signified by such waters, for their multitude and strength; see Rev 17:1,

and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks; that is, either of the land of Ephraim or Israel, and overflow the borders thereof, run over all the whole land, and possess its fortified towns and cities. The Targum is,

"therefore behold the Lord shall bring, and cause to ascend upon them, the army of the people, who are many, as the waters of a river, strong and mighty, the king of Assyria, and his army; and he shall come up upon all his rivers, and shall go upon all his banks;''

or rather "its own" (r) channels and banks, as it may be rendered; and so denotes, that the king of Assyria, and his army, should pass the Euphrates, and come out of their own land, and subdue the adjacent kingdoms and territories, and particularly the land of Judah, as follows.

(r) "omnes alvcos suos----ripas suas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The waters of the river - By the river, in the Scripture, is commonly meant the river Euphrates, as being, by way of eminence, the largest river with which they were acquainted; and also as being that distinguished by the fact that Abraham had lived beyond it, and crossed it; see the note at Isa 7:20. In this verse the image is kept up which was commenced in Isa 8:6. The Jews rejected the gentle waters of Siloah, and sought the alliance of a foreign king, whose kingdom stretched along, and extended beyond the Euphrates. It was natural, therefore, to compare the invasion of the land to the overflowing of mighty waters that would sweep everything away. A similar comparison is found in Juvenal, who, in describing the introduction of Eastern customs into Rome, represents the Orontes as flowing into the Tiber: Jampridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes. The comparison of an invading army with an overflowing stream, or an inundation, is not uncommon; see Lucan’s Phars. vi. 272. Hor. Car. iv. 14, 15ff.

Strong and many - Violent waves, and numerous. It means that a mighty host would come up upon the land.

Even the king of Assyria - It has been supposed by many that this is a gloss, or explanation, which has crept into the text. There is no doubt that it expresses the true sense of the passage, but it is remarkable that Isaiah himself should furnish a literal explanation in the midst of a figurative description.

And all his glory - Eastern kings marched in the midst of vast splendor. They moved with all the magnificence of the court, and were attended usually with their princes and nobles; with a splendid retinue; and with all the insignia of royalty. Such was the case with Xerxes when he invaded Greece; and such, too, with Darius, and with most of the Oriental conquerors.

And he shall come up ... - The figure of overflowing waters is here retained. To understand this, it is necessary to remark, that the Euphrates annually overflows its banks to a very considerable extent. It rises in the mountains of Armenia, and, flowing for a considerable distance in a region where the mountains are covered with snow, it falls into the level region of Mesopotamia or Syria, and flows through that region, almost parallel with the Tigris, toward the Persian Gulf. From its banks, vast numbers of canals were made, as in Egypt, to receive the water, and to render the country fertile. By the melting of the snows in Armenia, in the summer, the stream becomes greatly enlarged, and overflows vast portions of the adjacent country in a manner similar to the Nile. Usually the river is not very large. Otho says, that on the 12th of March, when he crossed the Euphrates, it was not more than 200 paces in width, but in its height, it extends 500 or 600 paces into the plains on the right. Thevenot observes, that near to Bir, the Euphrates seemed no larger than the Seine at Paris, but was very large when it was swollen. At Babylon, it is said to be about four hundred feet in breadth. That it overflows its banks, is abundantly attested by ancient as well as modern travelers; see Rosenmuller and Gesenius on this verse.

Its channels - This word means either brooks, or valleys, or canals, or channels of a river. The Euphrates flowed through a level region, and it is not improbable that it had at various times made for itself many channels. Besides this, there were many canals cut in various directions to convey its waters to the gardens, farms, etc. All these the prophet says would be full - and the water would extend even far beyond them.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

River. Euphrates, (Calmet) with the overflowing of which the Assyrian is compared. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Therefore; because they despise the opposition which they have from Shiloah and Jerusalem, they shall have a more potent enemy.

Upon them; upon Israel. See on the foregoing verse. Of the river of Euphrates, oft called

the river, for its eminent greatness; whereby he understands the Assyrian forces, as the next words explain the metaphor.

All his glory; his numerous and puissant army, in which he gloried. See Isa 10:8.

He shall come up over all his channels; this great river shall overflow its own proper channels. The meaning is, This great monarch shall enlarge his dominions, and add the lands of Syria and Israel to them. Some render the words, he shall come up with all his channels or streams; for the Hebrew particle all sometimes signifies with, as Job 38:30. But it seems hard to understand the same particle one way in this clause, and another in the last clause. Besides, the last clause favours the former interpretation, the same thing being repeated in it, as is usual in the sacred writings. Or this may be understood of the channels and banks of the people or land of Israel. The enemy being represented under the metaphor of a river breaking in upon their land, may fitly be said to overflow all their channels and banks, to wit, all places, both low and high, so that nothing shall be able to withstand his fury.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Therefore — As a direct consequence.

The Lord bringeth up upon them — By his willing permission they come, because all else has failed to correct and reform.

Waters of… river — Literally, the Euphrates; figuratively, the multitude of the invading army.

Strong and many — Expressive both of power and number. The Lord is about to permit the great nation to overrun Syria and Israel, and Judah too, in good time.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The waters of the river, strong and many. "The river" is, of course, the Euphrates, as in Isa_7:20. In its lower course the Euphrates often overflows its banks, and inundates the adjacent districts, causing vast damage to crops, and some-limes threatening to break down the walls of cities (Loftus, "Chaldea and Susiana," p. 7). It is scarcely likely, however, that Isaiah had any acquaintance with this fact. His experience would probably have been limited to the "swellings of Jordan". (Jer_12:5; comp. Jos_3:15) All his glory. (comp. Isa_10:12, Isa_10:16, Isa_10:18, etc.) He shall come up over all his channels. A graphic description of the swelling of rivers in the East. These, when they are low, contract their waters from the many channels, in which they ordinarily flow, into some one or two, leaving the others dry. The first effect of a flood is to fill all the channels, after which it may proceed further and overflow the banks.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The river - Of Euphrates, called the river, for its eminent greatness; whereby he understands the Assyrian forces. Glory - His numerous and puissant army. He - This great river shall overflow its own proper channels. That is, this great monarch shall enlarge his dominions, and add the lands of Syria and Israel to them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“Therefore (because the people had thus ceased to trust in the divine protection, and rejoiced in the success of their application to Assyria), behold (as if the event were actually present), Jehovah (is) bringing up upon them the waters of the river (i.e., the Euphrates, as an emblem of the Assyrian power), its strong and many waters (here contrasted with the gently flowing waters of Siloam), to wit, the king of Assyria and all his glory (with particular reference to military strength and display), and it (the river) shall come up over all its channels and go over all its banks,” which may either mean that it shall transcend its usual limits, or that after submerging Israel, it shall overflow into Judah also. In favor of this last interpretation is the language of the next verse, and the fact that otherwise the punishment of Ephraim or the ten tribes is not expressly mentioned. The figure of an overflowing river is peculiarly appropriate, not only as affording a striking antithesis to the fountain mentioned in the sixth verse, but because it is often used absolutely to denote the Euphrates, the great river of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. The beauty of the metaphor is rendered still more striking by the frequent allusions, both in ancient and modern writers, to the actual inundation of this river. Here, as in Isa 7:17-18, the figures are explained in literal expressions by the Prophet himself.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

and it will overflow [i.e.,] the river [will overflow].

and all its distributaries Its waters will surge to rise over all the distributaries of the outflow of its waters.

and go over the swelling river [will go] over all its banks its high banks. Those are its upright banks in the place where the river flows between its upright banks, and it is like within a gutter.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

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.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.