Isaiah 8:20

20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word,[a] it is because there is no light in them.

Isaiah 8:20 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 8:20

To the law, and to the testimony
Kimchi takes this to be an oath, "by the law, and by the testimony", it is so and so; but Aben Ezra observes there is no instance of this kind in Scripture; it is a direction of Christ's to his disciples, to attend to the writings of Moses and the prophets, to search the Scriptures, as in ( John 5:39 ) and particularly what is before said in this prophecy concerning himself, the same is meant as on ( Isaiah 8:16 ) . if they speak not according to this word;
this sure word of prophecy, to which men do well to take heed, as to a light shining in a dark place, it being the rule of faith and practice, a lamp to the feet, and a light to the path: [it is] because [there is] no light in them;
that is, in them that speak not according to it, meaning the Scribes and Pharisees; who, rejecting the written word, set up the traditions of the elders above it, and taught the people to walk according to them; and so were, as our Lord says, "blind leaders of the blind", ( Matthew 15:14 ) or the words may be read, "if not"; if they will not regard the Scriptures, and the evangelical doctrine in them, and the testimony they give concerning Christ; "let them speak according to this word"; or instruction, and counsel, they have from the Scribes and Pharisees: "in which there is no light" F2; but the darkness of ignorance, infidelity, superstition, and will worship; or "no morning"; but a night of Jewish darkness, even though the sun of righteousness was risen, and the dayspring from on high had visited the earth; yet they had received no light and knowledge from him, which was their condemnation, ( John 1:4 John 1:5 ) ( John 3:19 John 3:20 ) or thus, "to the law, and to the testimony, though they may say after this manner, there is no light in it" F3; in the law and testimony, preferring the traditions, decisions, and determinations of their doctors above it. Noldhius F4 renders the words thus, "seeing they speak not according to this word, certainly they shall have no morning"; that is, seeing the seducers and false teachers, in the preceding verse ( Isaiah 8:19 ) , speak not according to the word of God, and testimony of Jesus, they shall have no morning of light and joy, of grace and comfort, or any spiritual felicity; Christ will be no morning to them, but they will continue in their dark, benighted, and miserable condition, described in the following verse.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 (wrmay al Ma) "sin minus, dicant secundum verbum istud, cui mon est aurora", Piscator. So Sanctius.
F3 "Licet ipsi dicent, in verbis legis, nihil lucis esse", Oleaster in Bootius.
F4 Ebr. Part. Concord. p. 374. No. 1302.

Isaiah 8:20 In-Context

18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

Footnotes 1

The King James Version is in the public domain.