Podcast Introduction

Our reading today is Isaiah 7-11, after which I’ll have a gripe about something in one of our chapters, and then a close examination of a verse in another chapter. After than, there’s the “On This Day In Church History” segment.

The scripture reading and my remarks are longer than usual today, so I’m going to keep everything else shorter than usual.

Thoughts on Isaiah 8

Is It Understandable?

Ok, I’m all for modern English translations as long as the new translation makes the text easy to understand, and it conveys the original meaning that was intended in the original language. But in the beginning of chapter 8 we have, what is to me, an excellent example of why we need to keep the older translations around. 

At the beginning of chapter 8, God tells Isaiah to “Take a large piece of writing material and write on it in large letters: “Quick Loot, Fast Plunder.” It it me, or did you sort of say, “What?!?” when you heard that? I did not immediately grasp the meaning of that sentence. What exactly is a large piece of writing material, and what is the meaning of  “Quick Loot, Fast Plunder”?

In the King James Version, Isaiah is told, “Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher–shalal–hash–baz.”. Now, other than Maher–shalal–hash–baz, doesn’t that make more sense? I’ll explain Maher–shalal–hash–baz in a moment. But you probably easily understood the instruction to “Take thee a great roll.” What did they write on in those times? Scrolls. The modern translation could have easily said, “Get a large book and write on it.” In my opinion, that would have been much better.

Is It Accurate?

And did you notice something in the King James Version I just read to you that was not in the Good News Translation? Let me read them to you again. First the KJV: Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher–shalal–hash–baz. And now, the GNT: Take a large piece of writing material and write on it in large letters: ‘Quick Loot, Fast Plunder.’ 

Did you hear the missing element? In the KJV Isaiah is told to write with a man’s pen. There is nothing at all about what to write with in the GNT. Why is this point important? I like the way the Jamieson, Fausset, Brown commentary explains it: (Isaiah was to write it) in ordinary characters, which the humblest can read. Not in hieroglyphics. The object was that, after the event, all might see that it had been predicted by Isaiah.”

This was God telling Isaiah that He wanted everyone, from the most noble to the most humble, to know what God told Isaiah would take place. It was not to be only for the aristocracy.

Does It Make Sense?

Now for Maher–shalal–hash–baz. Again, the KJV says: Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher–shalal–hash–baz.

The GNT says: Take a large piece of writing material and write on it in large letters: ‘Quick Loot, Fast Plunder.’ 

Maher–shalal–hash–baz means, “Make speed to the spoil, hasten to the prey.” Don’t you think that is actually more clear than  “Quick Loot, Fast Plunder.” Quick Loot, Fast Plunder sounds like a fast food slogan or something. 

The message here is that the Assyrian army will come upon them with great speed and make great spoil. They’re coming in quickly, and they will bring a great deal of destruction upon them. 

So there’s a short lesson on one way to get more meaning from the reading of scripture. Use more than one version. Compare translations. Don’t just let things go by that you’re not clear on. 

Thoughts on Isaiah 9:6

Ok, I’m going to cheat just a little bit here. We read from the Good News Translation, but for my remarks, I’m going to use the King James because I like how it sounds, and many of us are more familiar with this verse in the KJV because when we hear the Christmas story, it is the KJV that is most often quoted.

The Verse

Here’s Isaiah 9:6 from the KJV: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Peaks and Valleys

This is, of course, a prophecy about the coming Messiah. Now, there’s something about prophecy that many people do not understand. And this point was explained to me many years ago by an old preacher who specialized in Biblical prophecy. Imagine you’re looking at a mountain range from a long distance away. From your perspective, you see mountains. You probably see, as you look at them from left to right, several peaks. But do you know what you don’t see? You don’t see the distance between them. There are peaks and valleys in a mountain range, but from a distance, you don’t see the valleys. 

Some prophecies are like that. The peaks are the prophetic events, the valleys are the time between them. From the time that the prophecy is given until the fulfillment of the prophecy begins, the prophecy looks like it all happens at once. But there could be a valley of time between the actual events, or fulfillment of the prophecy.

That is what happened with the prophecies of the coming Messiah, and that is why the Jewish scholars of Jesus’ time missed Him. They were expecting the Messiah to establish an earthly kingdom when He came. They missed the valley between His first coming and His second coming.

A Close Look

Now, in the interest of time, I’m just going to talk about one aspect of this part of verse six: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Most of those descriptions (or names) are easy to see as they apply to Jesus, right? There is an awful lot that I could say about each one of those names, but I’m just going to mention the one that probably makes you say, “Wait. What?” Do you know which one I’m going to mention? Here it is. What about “The everlasting Father”? Wait a minute. I thought Jesus was the Son. So what gives?

It’s not really difficult, once you hear the explanation. In the original Hebrew, what this means is Jesus is the source, the author, the Creator of all eternity. He is the Father of time everlasting. The everlasting Father. 

Not sure you believe me that Jesus is the Creator? How about this. In Colossians 1:15-17, the apostle Paul says, “15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”

Sounds pretty clear to me.

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 7 NASB, Ch. 8-11 GNT

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The Team

Transcript Correction: Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise
Podcasting 2.0 Chapters: Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Sean of San Pedro and Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Michael Haner
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Transcript

Transcript not corrected.