Isa 8:17, 21-22 | JFB | STEP | 17. I-- Whatever the rest of the nation may do, I will look to Jehovah alone. that hideth ... face-- though He seems now to withdraw His countenance from Judah (the then representative of "the house of Jacob"). Let us wait and trust in, though we cannot see, Him ( ; ; ; , 38).

‏ Isaiah 8:17

17. I--Whatever the rest of the nation may do, I will look to Jehovah alone.

that hideth ... face--though He seems now to withdraw His countenance from Judah (the then representative of "the house of Jacob"). Let us wait and trust in, though we cannot see, Him (Is 50:10; 54:8; Ha 2:3; Lu 2:25, 38).

‏ Isaiah 8:21-22

21-22. More detailed description of the despair, which they shall fall into, who sought necromancy instead of God; Is 8:20 implies that too late they shall see how much better it would have been for them to have sought "to the law," &c. (De 32:31). But now they are given over to despair. Therefore, while seeing the truth of God, they only "curse their King and God"; foreshadowing the future, like conduct of those belonging to the "kingdom of the beast," when they shall be visited with divine plagues (Re 16:11; compare Jr 18:12).

through it--namely, the land.

hardly bestead--oppressed with anxiety.

hungry--a more grievous famine than the temporary one in Ahaz' time, owing to Assyria; then there was some food, but none now (Is 7:15, 22; Le 26:3-5, 14-16, 20).

their king ... God--Jehovah, King of the Jews (Psa 5:2; 68:24).

look upward ... unto the earth--Whether they look up to heaven, or down towards the land of Judea, nothing but despair shall present itself.

dimness of anguish--darkness of distress (Pr 1:27).

driven to darkness--rather, "thick darkness" (Jr 23:12). Driven onward, as by a sweeping storm. The Jewish rejection of "their King and God," Messiah, was followed by all these awful calamities.