Comment: ‘The spoil speeds, the prey hastens’ was the name which Isaiah was told by God to call his soon to be born son. I wonder how the family shortened it. The word translated ‘spoil’ could be translated ‘spoiler’, which helps me to understand the meaning. Assyria is soon to come and the tribes of Israel which are to be attacked will soon become the snatched prey of the invading army!
1 Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ 2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.” Comment:: Presumably before the invasion occurred the prophecy was to be witnessed by significant people so that people couldn’t claim it be have been written after the events prophesied had occurred!,
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.” Comment: The prophecy was not to be delayed for more than a few years!
5 The LORD spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” Comment: Why was it going to happen? Shiloah represents the gentle, peaceful flowing river which suppled the needs of Jerusalem. Because the people preferred the council of others rather than God the river which supplied the needs of those who would be their spoilers, a river made torrential by the melting snows of the heights of Assyria would symbolically flow over the Israelis and overcome them.
9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us. Comment: So the command is given and repeated for the spoilers to prepare themselves for the coming battle against the Israelis but they would not have the last say as Emmanuel (God with us) is the God of the Israelis!
Psalm 124: 1-4 – If it had not been the LORD who was on our side —
let Israel now say – if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;
Prayer: O Lord help me to learn from the discipline which You give me!
As I read it! 