Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 8:19
COM commentary-section · status:draft · license:PD
19. Seek unto —Consult in your national difficulties. them . . . familiar spirits —necromancers, spirit charmers. So Saul, when he had forsaken God ( 1 Samuel 28:7 , c.), consulted the witch of En-dor in his difficulties. These follow in the wake of idolatry, which prevailed under Ahaz ( 2 Kings 16:3 2 Kings 16:4 ; 2 Kings 16:10 ). He copied the soothsaying as he did the idolatrous "altar" of Damascus (compare Leviticus 20:6 , which forbids it, Isaiah 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 Isaiah 19:3- : ). 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?" return to ' Top of Page ' <a name="verse-20" class="com-number"
Pericope (part_of)
- part_of
pericope/per-isa-8-005
절 (explains)
Source
source-manifest/jfb— Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (PD)- evidence_grade: T_theological