Isa 8:19-20 | JFB | STEP | 19. Seek unto —Consult in your national difficulties. them . . . familiar spirits —necromancers, spirit charmers. So Saul, when he had forsaken God ( , &c.), consulted the witch of En-dor in his difficulties. These follow in the wake of idolatry, which prevailed under Ahaz ( ). He copied the soothsaying as he did the idolatrous "altar" of Damascus (compare , which forbids it, ). wizards —men claiming supernatural knowledge; from the old English, " to wit, " that is, know. peep —rather "chirp faintly," as young birds do; this sound was generally ascribed to departed spirits; by ventriloquism the soothsayers caused a low sound to proceed as from a grave, or dead person. Hence the Septuagint renders the Hebrew for "necromancers" here "ventriloquists" (compare ). mutter —moan. should not, &c.—The answer which Isaiah recommends to be given to those advising to have recourse to necromancers. for the living, &c.—"should one, for the safety of the living, seek unto (consult) the dead?" [GESENIUS ]. LOWTH renders it, " In place of (consulting) the living, should one consult the dead?"

Isaiah 8:19-20

19. Seek unto—Consult in your national difficulties.

them . . . familiar spirits—necromancers, spirit charmers. So Saul, when he had forsaken God (1Sa 28:7, &c.), consulted the witch of En-dor in his difficulties. These follow in the wake of idolatry, which prevailed under Ahaz (2Ki 16:3, 4, 10). He copied the soothsaying as he did the idolatrous "altar" of Damascus (compare Le 20:6, which forbids it, Isa 19:3).

wizards—men claiming supernatural knowledge; from the old English, "to wit," that is, know.

peep—rather "chirp faintly," as young birds do; this sound was generally ascribed to departed spirits; by ventriloquism the soothsayers caused a low sound to proceed as from a grave, or dead person. Hence the Septuagint renders the Hebrew for "necromancers" here "ventriloquists" (compare Isa 29:4).

mutter—moan.

should not, &c.—The answer which Isaiah recommends to be given to those advising to have recourse to necromancers.

for the living, &c.—"should one, for the safety of the living, seek unto (consult) the dead?" [GESENIUS]. LOWTH renders it, "In place of (consulting) the living, should one consult the dead?"

20. To the law, &c.—the revelation of God by His prophet (Isa 8:16), to which he directs them to refer those who would advise necromancy.

if they speak not . . . it is because—English Version understands "they" as the necromancers. But the Hebrew rendered "because" is not this but "who"; and "if not," ought rather to be "shall they not"; or, truly they shall speak according to this word, who have no morning light (so the Hebrew, that is, prosperity after the night of sorrows) dawning on them [MAURER and G. V. SMITH]. They who are in the dark night of trial, without a dawn of hope, shall surely say so, Do not seek, as we did, to necromancy, but to the law," &c. The law perhaps includes here the law of Moses, which was the "Magna Charta" on which prophetism commented [KITTO].