Assyrian Invasion Prophesied
The LORD tells Isaiah to write a large public inscription and secure it with trustworthy witnesses, then the prophet and prophetess have a son whose symbolic name means swift plunder and speedy spoil. Before that child can even say "Father" or "Mother," Damascus and Samaria will be stripped by the king of Assyria, so the child's earliest years become a countdown to the collapse of Judah's present enemies.
T1hen the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2And I will appoint for Myself trustworthy witnesses— Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.” 3And I had relations with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
The LORD explains that because this people rejected the softly flowing waters of Shiloah and reveled instead in Rezin and Remaliah's son, He will bring against them the overwhelming floodwaters of Assyria. What looked like a solution from afar will rise out of its channels, sweep through the land, and reach even to Judah's neck, spreading over Immanuel's land with terrifying force.
5And the LORD spoke to me further: 6“Because this people has rejected 7the Lord will surely bring against them 8It will pour into Judah,
The prophet then addresses the raging nations with irony: they may arm themselves, listen, and make their plans, but all of it ends in shattering. Their counsels fail not because Judah is strong but because God is with His people, and Immanuel remains the final answer to the nations' noise.
9Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; 10Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted;