Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 8:12
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all [them to] whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
12. A confederacy ] Strictly: A conspiracy (R.V.). But the word “conspiracy” does not necessarily imply (as some have thought) treason within the state. It may be used (as the verb is in Neh 4:2) of an external coalition threatening the integrity of the commonwealth. On the whole this seems to give the best sense here. The “conspiracy” is the Syro-Ephraimitish alliance, which Isaiah and his adherents are warned not to treat as a serious danger. Another explanation is that Isaiah and his party were suspected of treasonable complicity in the designs of the allies (cf. Jer 37:13); but did they need a supernatural revelation to tell them that that charge was false? The word has also been supposed to allude to the spirit of preternatural suspicion that was abroad, causing every man to suspect his neighbour of being a traitor. But Isaiah is little likely to have been disturbed by this.
neither fear ye their fear ] i.e. “fear not what they fear,” but fear Jehovah alone ( Isa 8:13).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Say ye not – Do not join in their purposes of forming a confederacy. Do not unite with the king and the people of Judah in their alarms about the threatened invasion by the kings of Syria and Samaria, and in their purpose to form an alliance with the king of Assyria. The reason why they should not do this, he states in Isa 8:13, where he exhorts the nation to put confidence in the Lord rather than in man. There has been, however, great diversity in the interpretation of this passage. The Septuagint renders the word qesher, confederacy, by the word skleron – Everything which this people say, is hard. The Syriac, Do not say, rebellion, etc. The Chaldee understands the word in the same sense. Lowth proposes to change the word qesher, into qadosh, because Dr. Seeker possessed one manuscript in which this reading was found; and he translates the passage:
Say ye not it is holy,
Of everything of which this people shall say it is holy.
That is, call not their idols holy; nor fear ye the object of their fear; that is, the gods of the idolaters. But it is plain that this does not suit the connection of the passage, since the prophet is not reproving them for their idolatry, but is discoursing of the alliance between the kings of Syria and Samaria. Besides, the authority of one manuscript, without the concurrence of any ancient version, is not a sufficient authority for changing the Hebrew text. Most commentators have understood this word confederacy as referring to the alliance between the kings of Syria and Samaria; as if the prophet had said, Do not join in the cry so common and almost universal in the nation, There is a confederacy between those two kingdoms; there is an alliance formed which endangers our liberty – a cry that produces alarm and trepidation in the nation. Thus Rosenmuller and Gesenius explain it.
Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, however. understand it of a conspiracy, which they suppose was formed in the kingdom of Ahaz, against him and the house of David; and that the prophet warns the people against joining in such a conspiracy. But of the existence of such a conspiracy there is no evidence. Had there been such a conspiracy, it is not probable that it would have been so well known as to make it a proper subject of public denunciation. Conspiracies are usually secret and concealed. I regard this, however, as a caution to the prophet not to join in the prevailing demand for an alliance with the king of Assyria. Ahaz trembled before the united armies of Syria and Samaria. He sought, therefore, foreign assistance – the assistance of the king of Assyria. It is probable that in this he was encouraged by the leaders of the people, and that this would be a popular measure with the mass of the nation. Yet it implied distrust of God (note, Isa 8:6); and, therefore, the prophet was directed not to unite with them in seeking this confederacy, or alliance, but to oppose it. The word translated confederacy, qesher is derived from the verb qashar, to bind, to fetter; to enter into a conspiracy. It usually refers to a conspiracy, but it may mean a combination or alliance of any kind. Or, if it here means a conspiracy, a union between Ahaz and the Assyrians may be regarded as a species of conspiracy, as it was an unnatural alliance; a species of combination against the natural and proper government of Judah – the theocracy.
Neither fear ye their fear – Do not partake of their alarm at the invasion of the land by the united armies of Syria and Samaria. Rather put confidence in God, and believe that he is able to save you; compare 1Pe 3:13-15.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 8:12-14
Neither fear ye their fear.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself
Sanctifying the Lord
To sanctify Jehovah is in mind and in practice to recognise Him as the holy God, the Lord who is absolute, free from the limitations which hinder all other beings from carrying their wills into full operation; and to believe with the whole heart that God can and does govern all things according to the counsel of His own will, and that what He determines does certainly come to pass, however probabilities and appearances may be against the belief. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
God should be a sailors supreme regard
Isaiahs–or rather the Divine–policy was one of non-alliance and non-intervention. It did not forbid kindly commercial and literary intercourse with foreign nations. On the contrary, it ever looked hopefully forward to a time when all kings and their subjects should acknowledge Jehovah, and flow into His house. It was a policy of justifiable and absolute trust in the protecting care of the living God, who holds the nations in the hollow of His hand. It was a policy of the highest and truest patriotism, because it first insisted on the internal purification of the nation from sin and disobedience, from idolatry, drunkenness, oppression of the poor, unrighteous trading, luxury and lust, from hypocrisies and shams of ceremonial religion; and then, upon the uselessness and irrationality of standing armies and warlike weapons. (F. Sessions.)
The true remedy against fear
I. SPEAK AGAINST GIVING WAY TO FEAR. In periods of alarm the reports that are spread always much outstrip the truth. Fear is a very inventive passion; it creates to itself many causes of alarm which have no existence, and greatly magnifies those which really exist.
II. POINT OUT THE PROPER AND ONLY SUFFICIENT REMEDY AGAINST DISQUIETUDE. There is no rationality in being free from fear, or relieved from fear, otherwise than by true piety towards God. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, etc.
III. SHOW HOW COMPLETE THIS RELIEF OUGHT TO BE. And in doing this, I shall place before you a few passages of Holy Scripture showing what is proposed to you, what may be hoped for and ought to be aspired after. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, etc. The perfections of God are our never-failing resource and security. Come, My people, enter into thy chambers, etc. (Isa 26:20). Be careful for nothing, etc. Cast thyburden on the Lord, etc. Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace, etc. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, etc. (J. Scott, M. A.)
The fear of God
I. THE WHOLE SUBJECT OF GODHEAD IS ONE OF AWE, and if of awe, then dread. The more you know of God, the more you feel the unfathomableness of the mystery of Godhead. And all mystery is awe. It is a rule of our being, that we must tremble when we stand on the margin of the unknown. Therefore they who know most of God will most fear, not His anger, but simply His amazing greatness.
II. THE SENSE OF MERCY AND BENEFITS HEAPED UPON US HAS AN OVERWHELMING INFLUENCE UPON THE MIND. Do not you know what it is to tremble at a danger when you have escaped it, much more than you did when you encountered it? That is exactly the fear and the dread of a pardoned sinner. It is the contemplation of a thundercloud which has rolled over your head.
III. REVERENCE IS THE GREAT LESSON WHICH OUR AGE HAS TO LEARN. Be suspicious of the love which is without awe. Remember that our best acquaintance with God only shows us more the immensity of the fields of thought which no mind can traverse.
IV. HE SHALL BE FOR A SANCTUARY. Do you recoil at the idea of dreading God? That which makes the dread makes the hiding place. To those who fear, He shall be for a sanctuary.
1. To a Jewish mind, the first idea of the sanctuary would be refuge.
2. The sanctuary of safety becomes the home of peace. Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
3. God is the fountain of your holiness. The Shechinah shines you become familiar with the precincts of that holy you catch some of its rays, and reflect its glory. (J. Vaughan.)
Fear
I. AN EVIL PRACTICE PROHIBITED. Fear not their fear, neither be afraid. Sinful fears are apt to drive the best men into sinful compliances and indirect shifts to help themselves. Their fear may be understood two ways–
1. Subjectively. A fear that enslaved them in bondage of spirit, a fear that is the fruit of sin, a sin in its own nature, the cause of much sin to them, and a just punishment of God upon them for their other sins.
2. Effectively. Let not your fear produce in you such mischievous effects as their fear doth; to make you forget God, magnify the creature, prefer your own wits and policies to the almighty power and never-failing faithfulness of God.
II. AN EFFECTUAL REMEDY PRESCRIBED. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, etc. The fear of God will swallow up the fear of man, a reverential awe and dread of God will extinguish the slavish fear of the creature, as the sunshine puts out fire, or as one fire fetches out another. When the Dictator ruled at Rome, then all other officers ceased; and so, in a great measure, will all other fears, where the fear of God is dictator in the heart.
III. A SINGULAR ENCOURAGEMENT PROPOSED. He shall be for a sanctuary. (J. Flavel.)
Fear and it, remedy
I. THE BEST MEN ARE TOO APT TO BE OVERCOME WITH SLAVISH FEARS IN TIMES OF IMMINENT DISTRESS AND DANGER.
II. THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE MOST EFFECTUAL MEANS TO EXTINGUISH THE SINFUL FEAR OF MAN AND TO SECURE US FROM DANGER. (J. Flavel.)
Different kinds of fear
There is a threefold fear in man, namely–
I. NATURAL, of which all are partakers that partake of the common nature. It is the trouble or perturbation of mind, from the apprehension of approaching evil or impending danger.
1. To this natural fear it pleased our Lord Jesus Christ to subject Himself in the days of His flesh (Mar 14:33).
2. This fear creates great trouble and perturbation in the mind; in proportion to the danger is the fear, and in proportion to the fear, the trouble and distraction of the mind; if the fear be exceedingly great, reason is displaced.
3. Evil is the object of fear, and the greater the evil is the stronger the fear must needs be; therefore the terrors of an awakened and terrified conscience must be allowed to be the greatest of terrors, because in that case a man hath to do with a great and terrible God, and is scared with apprehensions of His infinite and eternal wrath, than which no evil is or can be greater.
4. Yet evil, as evil, is rather the object of hatred than of fear. It must be an imminent or near approaching evil that provokes fear.
5. All constitutions and tempers admit not the same degrees of fear.
II. SINFUL. Not only our infelicity but our fault. The sinfulness of it lies in five things.
1. In the spring and cause of it, which is unbelief (chap. 30:15-17).
2. In the excess and immoderacy of it; for it may be truly said of our fears, as the philosopher speaks of waters, it is hard to keep them within bounds.
3. In the inordinacy of it. To exalt the power of any creature by our fears, and give it such an ascendancy over us as if it had an arbitrary and absolute dominion over us, or over our comforts, to do with them what it pleased–this is to put the creature out of its own class and rank into the place ofGod. To trust in any creature as if it had the power of a God to keep us, or to fear any creature, as if it had the power of a God to hurt us, is exceedingly sinful (Mat 10:28).
4. In the distracting influence it hath upon the hearts of men, whereby it discomposes and unfits them for the discharge of their duties. Under an extraordinary fear both grace and reason, like the wheels of a watch, wound above its due height, stand still, and have no motion at all.
5. In the power it hath to dispose and incline men to the use of sinful means to put by their danger, and to cast them into the hands and power of temptation (Pro 29:25; Isa 57:11). There is a double lie occasioned by fear, one in words and another in deeds; hypocrisy is a lie done, a practical He, and our Church history abounds with sad examples dissimulation through fear.
III. RELIGIOUS. This is our treasure, not our torment; the chief ornament of the soul; its beauty and perfection. It is the natural passion sanctified, and thereby changed and baptized into the name and nature of a spiritual grace. This fear is prescribed as an antidote against sinful fears; it devours carnal fears, as Moses serpent did those of the enchanters.
1. It is planted in the soul as a permanent and fixed habit; it is not of the natural growth and production of mans heart, but of supernatural infusion and implantation (Jer 32:40).
2. It puts the soul under the awe of Gods eye. It is the reproach of the servants of men to be eye servants, but it is the praise and honour of Gods servants to be so.
3. This respect to the eye of God inclines them to perform and do whatsoever pleaseth Him and is commanded by Him; hence, fearing God and working righteousness, are linked together (Act 10:35; Gen 22:12).
4. This fear engageth, and in some degree enableth, the soul in which it is, to avoid whatsoever is displeasing to God (Job 2:3). (J. Flavel.)
The use of natural fear
If fear did not clap its fetters upon the wild and boisterous lusts of men, they would certainly bear down all milder motives, and break loose from all bonds of restraint. Men would become like the fishes of the sea (Hab 1:14), where the greater swallow up a multitude of the smaller fry alive at one gulp; power and opportunity to do mischief would measure out to men their lot and inheritance, and consequently all societies must disband and break up. It is the law and fear of punishment that keeps the world in order; men are afraid to do evil because they are afraid to suffer it. If the severest penalties in the world were annexed to, or appointed by, the law, they could signify nothing to the ends of government without fear. This is that tender, sensible power or passion on which threatenings work, and so brings men under moral government and restraint (Rom 13:3-4). (J. Flavel.)
The use of sinful fear
The Lord knows how to overrule this in His providential government of the world to His own wise and holy purposes. And He does so–
1. By making it HIS scourge to punish His enemies. If men will not fear God they shall fear men. There is scarce a greater torment to be found in the world than for a man to be his own tormentor, and his mind made a rack and engine of torture to his body. It is a dreadful threatening which is recorded in Deu 28:65-67. When fear hath once seized the heart, you may see deaths colours displayed in the face.
2. By fear God punishes His enemies in hell.
3. Providence makes use of the slavish fears and terrors of wicked men to scatter them, when they are combined and confederated against the people of God (Psa 78:55, and Jos 24:11-12. See also Psa 9:20). (J. Flavel.)
The use of religious fear
1. By this fear the people of God are excited to and confirmed in the way of duty (Ecc 12:13; Jer 32:40).
2. Another excellent use of this fear is, to preserve the purity and peace of our consciences by preventing grief and guilt therein (Pro 16:6; Gen 39:9; Neh 5:15).
3. A principal use of this fear is, to awaken us to make timely provisions for future distresses, that whensoever they come, they may not come by way of surprise upon us (Heb 11:7; Pro 14:16). (J. Flavel.)
The causes of sinful fear
I. The sinful fears of most good men spring out of their IGNORANCE; all darkness disposes to fear, but none like intellectual darkness. You read Son 3:8) how Solomons lifeguard had every man his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night. The night is the frightful season, in the dark every bush is a bear; we sometimes smile by day to see what silly things those were that scared us in the night. So it is here; were our judgments but duly informed, how soon would our hearts be quieted! There is a fivefold ignorance out of which fears are generated.
1. Ignorance of God. Ignorance and inconsiderateness lay at the root of the fears expressed in Isa 40:27.
2. Ignorance of men. Did we consider men as they are in the hand of our God we should not tremble at them as we do.
3. Ignorance of ourselves and the relation we have to God (IsaGe 15:1; Neh 6:11). O that we could, without vanity, but value ourselves duly according to our Christian dignities and privileges, which, if ever it be necessary to count over and value, it is in such times of danger, when the heart is so prone to sinking fears.
4. Ignorance of our dangers and troubles. We are ignorant of–
(1) The comforts that are in them. Paul and Silas met that in a prison which made them to sing at midnight, and so have many more since their day.
(2) The outlets and escapes from them (Psa 68:20; 2Pe 2:9; 1Co 10:13).
5. Especially ignorance and inconsiderateness of the covenant of grace.
II. Another cause of sinful fear is GUILT UPON THE CONSCIENCE. No sooner had Adam defiled and wounded his conscience with guilt, but he trembles and hides himself (Pro 28:1; Isa 33:14). To this wounded and trembling conscience is opposed the spirit of a sound mind 2Ti 1:7). An evil conscience foments fears and terrors three ways.
1. By aggravating small matters. So it was with Cain (Gen 4:14), Every one that meets me will slay me. Now every child was a giant in his eye, and anybody he met his over-match.
2. By interpreting all doubtful cases in the worst sense that can be fastened upon them. If the swallows do but chatter in the chimney, Bessus interprets it to be a discovery of his crime; that they are telling tales of him and saying, Bessus killed a man.
3. A guilty conscience can and often does create fears and terrors out of nothing at all (Psa 53:5).
III. No less is the sin of UNBELIEF the real and proper cause of most distracting fears (Mat 8:26). Fear is generated by unbelief, and unbelief strengthened by fear, as in nature there is an observable circular generation, vapours begetting showers and showers new vapours.
1. Unbelief weakens the assenting act of faith, and thereby cuts off from the soul, in a great measure, its principal relief against danger and troubles Heb 11:27).
2. Unbelief shuts up the refuges of the soul in the Divine promises, and by leaving it without those refuges, must needs leave it in the hand of fears and terrors.
3. Unbelief makes men negligent in providing for troubles before they come, and so brings them by way of surprises upon them.
4. Unbelief leaves our dearest interests and concerns in our own hands; it commits nothing to God, and consequently must needs fill the heart with distracting fears when imminent dangers threaten us (1Pe 4:19; 2Ti 1:12; Pro 16:3).
IV. Many of our fears are raised by THE PROMISCUOUS ADMINISTRATION OF PROVIDENCE in this world (Ecc 9:2; Eze 21:3; Hab 1:13). The butcheries of the Albigenses, Waldenses, etc.
1. We are apt to consider that the same race and kind of men that committed these outrages upon our brethren are still in being, and that their malice is not abated in the least degree. Cains club is to this day carried up and down the world, stained with the blood of Abel, as Bucholtzer speaks.
2. We know also that nothing hinders the execution of their wicked purposes against us but the restraints of providence.
3. We find that God hath many times let loose these lions upon His people. The best men have suffered the worst things.
4. We are conscious how far short we come in holiness of those excellent persons who have suffered these things, and therefore have no ground to expect more favour from providence than they found. The revolving of such considerations in our thoughts and mixing our own unbelief with them, creates a world of fears, even in good men, till, by resignation of all to God, and acting faith upon His promises (Rom 8:28; Ps Isa 27:8; Rev 7:17), we do, at last, recover our hearts out of the hands of our fears again, and compose them to a quiet and sweet satisfaction in the wise and holy pleasure of our God.
V. OUR IMMODERATE LOVE OF LIFE AND THE COMFORTS AND CONVENIENCES THEREOF may be assigned as a proper and real ground and cause of our sinful fears, when the dangers of the times threaten the one or the other (Rev 12:11; Act 20:24-25).
1. Life is the greatest and nearest interest men naturally have in this world, and that which wraps up all other inferior interests in itself (Job 2:4; Gen 25:32).
2. That which endangers life must, in the eyes of the natural man, be the greatest evil that can befall him.
3. Though death be terrible in any shape, yet a violent death by the hands of cruel and merciless men is the most terrible form that death can appear in.
VI. Many of our sinful fears flow from THE INFLUENCES OF SATAN upon our phantasies. By putting men into such frights he weakens their hands in duty, as is plain from his attempt this way upon Nehemiah (Neh 6:13), and if he prevail there, he drives them into the snares and traps of his temptations, as the fisherman and fowler do the birds and fishes in their nets, when once they have frighted them out of their coverts. (J. Flavel.)
Effects of slavish and inordinate fear
I. DISTRACTION OF MIND IN DUTY (Luk 1:74).
1. Hereby Satan will cut off the freedom and sweetness of our communion with God in duties.
2. So distracting fears cut off the soul from the reliefs it might otherwise draw from the promises.
3. We lose the benefit and comfort of all our past experiences (Isa 51:12-13).
II. DISSIMULATION AND HYPOCRISY. Abraham (Gen 20:2; Gen 20:11); Gen 26:7); Peter (Mat 26:69, etc.)
1. By these falls and scandals religion is made contemptible in the eyes of the world.
2. It greatly weakens the hands of others, and proves a sore discouragement to them in their trials, to see their brethren faint for fear, and ashamed to own their principles.
3. It will be a terrible blow and wound to our own consciences.
III. THE STRENGTHENING OF TEMPTATION IN TIMES OF DANGER Pro 29:25). Aaron (Exo 32:1-35) ; David (1Sa 21:12). It was fear that prevailed with Origen to yield so far as he did in offering incense to the idol, the consideration of which fact brake his heart to pieces.
1. Sinful fear drives men out of their place and duty.
2. Fear is usually the first passion in the soul that parleys with the enemy, and treats with the tempter about terms of surrender. The castle that parleys is half won (French proverb), e.g., Spira.
3. Fear makes men impatient of waiting Gods time and method of deliverance, and so drives the soul into the snare of the next temptation.
IV. PUSILLANIMITY AND COWARDICE. You find it joined frequently in the Scriptures with discouragement (Deu 1:21; Deu 20:3, etc.).
V. APOSTASY. It is not so much from the fury of our enemies without, as from our fears within, that temptations become victorious over us Mat 24:9-10).
VI. GREAT BONDAGE OF SPIRIT. Sinful fear makes death a thousand times more terrible than it would otherwise be (Heb 2:16).
1. Such a bondage as this destroys all the comfort and pleasure of life.
2. It destroys our spiritual comforts.
3. It deprives us of the manifold advantages we might gain by the calm and composed meditations of our own death. (J. Flavel.)
The security of the righteous under national calamity
I. A CAUTION (Isa 8:12).
1. It will be necessary to explain the emotion against which the caution is directed. Taking the caution in its comprehensive import, it is addressed to men, not to submit the government of the soul to the influence of excessive terror, arising from the approach of temporal calamity and distress. It is an universal disposition, among the children of men, in the prospect of evil, to admit such fears and such emotions as these. The thought, for example, of national distresses, such as those which were now about to be poured out on the people of Israel; the thought of personal trials in the common relations of life, from domestic distress, from disease, from bereavement and death, are causes that often inspire the emotion we contend against, as existing in former ages, and which we are aware is often witnessed now.
2. We must consider also, the reasons on which the propriety of this caution is founded.
(1) The origin of this emotion of fear is always degrading and improper, proceeding, as it invariably does, from ignorance or forgetfulness, or a disbelief of God as a God of providence and grace.
(2) Its workings always fill the mind with unnecessary agitation, alarm, and anguish, and disturb it from, and entirely unfit it for, the right and adequate performance of the existing and the varied duties of life.
(3) It opens the way for the entrance of many dark and dreadful temptations, and thus drives men to seek a shelter in those means which are forbidden by God; to propose an alliance, on any terms whatever, with adversaries whom, as idolaters, and the avowed and open enemies of God, they ought entirely to have foiled.
(4) It is often directed to means of increased danger and trial, or to resort to those refuges which are but the means of increasing calamity. Thus, when we find that a confederacy of this unholy description, under the influence of slavish fear, had been formed by Israel with the people of Egypt, that very plan was the means of their downfall. God, at the commencement of the thirty-first chapter of Isaiah, exclaims, Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, etc.
II. A RECOMMENDATION. Sanctify, or select and set apart, the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him, so selected and set apart, be your fear, and let Him be your dread.
1. In this recommendation there is a call upon man to honour Jehovah, by recognising the presence and the action of His perfections in the various calamitous visitations which He permits or sends. His knowledge, His power, His holiness, His justice, His wisdom–
2. Here is a call upon men to honour Jehovah by repenting of their past transgressions, and by devoting themselves to a practical obedience to His commandments. It is remarkable to observe, especially in the Old Testament, how often the fear of God is connected with repentance, and with obedience to God.
3. Here is a call upon men to honour Jehovah by resorting and trusting to His mercy, as that which will grant spiritual blessings, and give final salvation to their souls.
III. A PROMISE. He shall be for a sanctuary. The ordinary meaning which is ascribed to the word sanctuary is simply a place of religious worship; in this case, however, as in many others of the sacred writings, it signifies a place of religious worship, devoted also as a place where endangered persons may receive security. Amongst the heathen, religious temples were places of refuge; and when men endangered by misfortune or even crime ran within the threshold of the place called holy there was no possibility of grasping the offender; so long as he remained in the sanctuary he was safe. So it was amongst the Jews. When it is said that God shall be for a sanctuary, it is intended that God shall be as a holy building where men endangered by temporal calamity may find shelter and repose. The instances are singularly numerous in which God is presented in the character of a refuge (Psa 18:1-2; Psa 46:1; Psa 46:11; Pro 18:10; Isa 4:6; Isa 26:1; Isa 26:3; Isa 26:20).
1. God shelters those who resort to Him as their sanctuary from the perturbation of slavish fear. The fear of God is strictly what is called an expulsive emotion; it banishes from the mind of man a vast quantity of other modifications of feeling, from which he could derive only sorrow and anguish and pain (Pro 14:26).
2. The Lord of hosts shelters those who resort to Him as their sanctuary from temporal judgments. There is provided, on behalf of the righteous, a remarkable exemption from those temporal calamities and judgments which God inflicts upon men directly as the consequence of sin. And if it sometimes does happen that the righteous suffer in those judgments as well as the wicked, it is not because of failure in the promises of God, but because the righteous will not come out and be separate. If a man will stay in Sodom when God has threatened to devour it with fire, the man who so stays must be destroyed. But when there is a separation from all the ungodly confederacies of the world, and a solemn and determinative sanctification to the Lord, by causing Him to be our fear and dread, the Scriptures plainly state that there shall, as the result, be an exemption from all those calamities which fall upon the world for sin (Eze 9:4-6).
3. With regard to those calamities which are the common allotments of life, we are not to say that from these there is an exemption; they must suffer death in its most sudden, and its most awful power. But there is a Spirit that guides the whirlwind and that rides upon the storm; there is a hand of mercy in these calamities of providence, transforming them into a new class of blessings.
4. The Lord of hosts shelters those who resort to Him as their sanctuary from the perils and perdition of final ruin. (James Parsons.)
The Lord a sanctuary
I. THE DUTY. Sanctify the Lord of hosts, etc.
II. THE PROMISE. He shall be for a sanctuary. Consider the preciousness of this promise in the time when all human help will be vain. We refer to the last day, when Christ shall come to judge both the quick and the dead. (W. Horwood.)
The true sanctuary, and how to get there
I. THIS PASSAGE TELLS US WHAT TO DO WITH OUR NATURAL FEARS. God is in the believers life as He is not in the life of another. He has come to him in the wilderness to be his guide, into the storm to be his pilot, into the battle to be his captain. All difficulties are nothing before Divine wisdom, all opposition nothing against Divine strength. The Christians great danger is unbelief or unfaithfulness to God, which would make him lose for a time the means of safety and victory. He is like one closely following a guide in the darkness over pathless mountains, whose one concern is to keep him in sight who will thus secure to him a safe and successful journey; and again he k like a child who does not burden himself with any cares, but that of pleasing the father whose love and power have supplied all his need in the past and will supply all in the future. It is thus that the Christian fears his foes, only as the possible causes of the one misfortune of estrangement from his God. The treacherousness of his own heart and the subtlety of those enemies who are ever seeking to break the union which makes him too strong for them, exercise his thoughts and his feelings, but all in relation to God, so that He alone may be truly said to be the fear of HIS people. All this is true for a Church as it is true for the individual Christian.
II. THIS PASSAGE TEACHES US WHAT IS, OR SHOULD BE, TO US TRULY HOLY.
III. THIS PASSAGE OFFERS THE MOST EXALTED NOTION OF A SANCTUARY. Man dwelling in God is the realisation of our happiness and of the Divine glory. It speaks to all of purity, safety, peace, but it speaks of much more, according to the spiritual capacity of those to whom it is made known. But few among the thousands of Israel knew anything of abiding in that house of God, which, whether they knew it or not, represented Jehovah Himself.
Most of them visited it at intervals more or less rare, and left to the priestly family the duty and privilege of regarding it as their home. And in this the great mass of professors are aptly represented by the nation of Israel. They seek the Divine sanctuary as a house of defence or a place for pardon, when specially pressed by trouble or a sense of sin; but, if they would be Christians indeed, they should remember that the Church of Christ is the spiritual priesthood; that the members of it are expected to offer the sacrifice of praise continually; that to do this they must dwell in God, they must abide in Christ; and that no less close and no less constant union than this can be natural to faith which has learnt that we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.
IV. THIS PASSAGE PREPARES US FOR WHAT OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE SEEMED INCONSISTENT WITH THE BLESSEDNESS IT SPEAKS OF–the sight of others stumbling at that which has become our glory, finding Jehovah Himself to be a rock of offence. How is this? A very simple law will answer. We stumble through ignorance. It is not what we know, but what we do not know that offends us. The rock of offence is a thing misunderstood, for which our philosophy had not prepared us. Now nothing is more misunderstood than goodness among the bad, than God among those who have fallen from the knowledge of Him. He Himself has said, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. This stumbling of the natural mind at God may be seen in all His manifestations. Men deny His government because they do not see in it what they think worthy of His hand; they grumble or rage at His distribution of goods; they reject or explain away His revelations of the future; and, above all, they refuse to believe in salvation through His crucified Christ. But in all this they are fulfilling His sure Word of prophecy, and while they continue to exhibit the depravity of fallen man, and so the riches of Divine grace, they do not prevent humble, believing souls from sanctifying God in their hearts and proving Him to be their sanctuary. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)
The fear of God steadying the soul in worldly loss
Augustine relates a very pertinent and memorable story of Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, who was a very rich man both in goods and grace: he had much of the world in his hands, but little of it in his heart; and it was well there was not, for the Goths, a barbarous people, breaking into that city, like so many devils, fell upon the prey; those that trusted to the treasures which they had were deceived and ruined by them, for the rich were put to tortures to confess where they had hid their monies. This good bishop fell into their hands, and lost all he had, but was scarce moved at the loss, as appears by his prayer, which my anther relates thus: Lord, let me not be troubled for my gold and silver: Thou knowest it is not my treasure; that I have laid up in heaven, according to Thy command. I was warned of this judgment before it came, and provided for it; and where all my interest lies, Lord, Thou knowest. (J. Flavel.)
The fear of God delivers from the fear of death
Mr. Bradford, when the keepers wife same running into his chamber suddenly, with words able to have put most men in the world into a trembling posture: Oh, Mr. Bradford! I bring you heavy tidings; tomorrow you must be burned, and your chain is now buying! he put off his hat, and said, Lord, I thank Thee; I have looked for this a great while, it is not terrible to me; God make me worthy of such a mercy. (J. Flavel.)
True courage
The following prayer was found in the desk of a schoolboy after his death: O God, give me courage to fear none but Thee. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
The exaggerations of guilty fear
The rules of fear are not like the rules in arithmetic, where many nothings make nothing, but fear can make something out of nothing. (J. Flavel.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. Say ye not, A confederacy – “Say ye not, It is holy”] kesher. Both the reading and the sense of this word are doubtful. The Septuagint manifestly read kashah; for they render it by , hard. The Syriac and Chaldee render it merda, and merod, rebellion. How they came by this sense of the word, or what they read in their copies, is not so clear. But the worst of it is, that neither of these readings or renderings gives any clear sense in this place. For why should God forbid his faithful servants to say with the unbelieving Jews, It is hard; or, There is a rebellion; or, as our translators render it, a confederacy? And how can this be called “walking in the way of this people?” Isa 8:11, which usually means, following their example, joining with them in religious worship. Or what confederacy do they mean? The union of the kingdoms of Syria and Israel against Judah? That was properly a league between two independent states, not an unlawful conspiracy of one part against another in the same state; this is the meaning of the word kesher. For want of any satisfactory interpretation of this place that I can meet with, I adopt a conjecture of Archbishop Secker, which he proposes with great diffidence, and even seems immediately to give up, as being destitute of any authority to support it. I will give it in his own words: –
“Videri potest ex cap. v. 16, et hujus cap. 13, 14, 19, legendum vel kadosh, eadem sententia, qua Eloheynu, Ho 14:3. Sed nihil necesse est. Vide enim Jer 11:9; Eze 22:25. Optime tamen sic responderent huic versiculo versiculi 13, 14.”
The passages of Jeremiah and Ezekiel above referred to seem to me not at all to clear up the sense of the word kesher in this place. But the context greatly favours the conjecture here given, and makes it highly probable: “Walk not in the way of this people; call not their idols holy, nor fear ye the object of their fear:” (that is, the , or gods of the idolaters; for so fear here signifies, to wit, the thing feared. So God is called “The fear of Isaac,” Ge 31:42; Ge 31:53🙂 “but look up to JEHOVAH as your Holy One; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread; and he shall be a holy Refuge unto you.” Here there is a harmony and consistency running through the whole sentence; and the latter part naturally arises out of the former, and answers to it. Idolatry, however, is full of fears. The superstitious fears of the Hindoos are very numerous. They fear death, bad spirits generally, and hobgoblins of all descriptions. They fear also the cries of jackalls, owls, crows, cats, asses, vultures, dogs, lizards, c. They also dread different sights in the air, and are alarmed at various dreams. See WARD’S Customs. Observe that the difference between kesher and kadosh is chiefly in the transposition of the two last letters, for the letters resh and daleth are hardly distinguishable in some copies, printed as well as MS. so that the mistake, in respect of the letters themselves, is a very easy and a very common one. – L.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Say ye not, thou, Isaiah, and thine and my children, A confederacy; do not approve of or consent to this wicked design of making a confederacy with the king of Assyria.
Their fear; that thing which they fear, that if they do not call in the Assyrian succours, they shall certainly be destroyed by those two potent kings united against them, and that God either cannot or will not deliver them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12-16. The words of Jehovah.
confederacyrather, aconspiracy; an appropriate term for the unnatural combinationof Israel with Syrian foreigners against Judea and thetheocracy, to which the former was bound by ties of blood andhereditary religion [MAURER].
to all . . . sayrather,of all which this people calleth a conspiracy [G. V. SMITH].
their fearnamely,object of fear: the hostile conspiracy.
be afraidrather[MAURER], “nor makeothers to be afraid.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Say ye not, a confederacy,…. With the king of Assyria, or any other; do not cry it up as a right thing, and express pleasure and satisfaction in it, and encourage others to come into it, and vote for it, and declare an approbation of it; or a “rebellion”, as the Targum, that is, against Ahaz; and so deliver up the kingdom of the house of David into the hands of its enemies:
to all [them] to whom this people shall say, a confederacy: who either were for entering into an alliance with the Assyrian monarch, and sending for him to help; or were for joining with their enemies, to the subversion of the present government. Jarchi interprets this of Shebna the Scribe, and his company; who, as he suggests, conspired against Hezekiah, and secretly made an agreement with Sennacherib king of Assyria; but the former sense is best:
neither fear their fear, nor be afraid: let not the same fear possess you as does them, on account of Syria and Israel combining together against Judah; nor be afraid of their two kings, as they were; since there was nothing to fear from them; it being impossible that the kingdom of Judah should fail until Shiloh came, or Immanuel was born of a virgin in it; nor does it become the people of God, and especially his prophets and ministers, to be afraid of men; since the fear of men brings a snare. See 1Pe 3:14.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
12. Say not, a conspiracy. First, we must consider what was the condition of that people, for they saw that they were not provided with numerous forces, and were not able to contend in battle against such powerful enemies. They longed for outward assistance, and eagerly desired to obtain it, for they thought that they were utterly ruined if they did not obtain the assistance of others. In this sense I understand the word conspiracy, that they thought it necessary to have the assistance of allies. The word conspiracy being employed by the Hebrews in different acceptations, and sometimes denoting a bond, I take it in a good sense. But some take it in a bad sense: “Behold thy enemies, the king of Israel and the king of Syria, have conspired together.” But I rather agree with those who apply it to the league and friendship which many unbelievers were desirous to contract with the Assyrian. The Lord therefore admonishes Isaiah not to regard the counsels of wicked men, though the whole of the people should vie with each other in attending to them.
Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. There may also be a twofold meaning; for some read it separately, as if in this second clause the Prophet condemned in general terms the wicked customs of the people. But these two clauses ought rather to be joined together. “Let it not distress you, if your countrymen in the present day plot about unlawful confederacies, and do not consent to them.” Now, though the Prophet belonged to the number of those who needed to be admonished not foolishly to dissuade others from following by faith, yet the plural number, say ye not, shows that all the godly were taught in his person.
Their fear. Hence we perceive what is the source of those wavering counsels by which men are agitated; it is, because their minds are overwhelmed by terror, so that they are violently hurried along without any moderation. He describes the cause of all this, why the Jews so eagerly desired to have the Assyrians for allies. It was because they were terrified beyond measure, and did not expect to be preserved in any other way, and because their blind fear did not permit them to look to the assistance of the Lord. This was the reason why they so eagerly desired a league. The same cause of fear was alleged both against the godly and against the ungodly; but all did not fear in the same manner, for the godly composed their minds, because they knew that God took care of their preservation, and, armed by the promise of God, cheered their hearts whenever they mentioned the name of Immanuel. But the ungodly, overcome by terror, thought of nothing but the assistance of the Assyrians, did not consider that there is help in God, and did not betake themselves to him. The Lord certainly does not forbid the godly to fear, for they cannot avoid that; but he bids them overcome that excessive terror by which the ungodly are swallowed up. Let us not, therefore, by their example, gaze around in every direction, and rush headlong to seek unlawful aid; and especially we must beware lest fear take away our judgment. There is but one remedy for this evil, to restrain ourselves by the word of God, from which proceeds real tranquillity of mind. Comparing the condition of that people with our own, let us learn to betake ourselves to the name of God, which will be to us an impregnable fortress. (Pro 18:10.)
That the Lord did not speak to the Prophet alone, is also evident from the words being in the plural number, לא תיראו, ( lo thireu,) fear ye not. Peter also has drawn from it a general doctrine, (1Pe 3:14,) warning us not to fear with the fear of the ungodly, but to place all our confidence in God, and to keep our eyes continually fixed on him, that we may remain steadfast, though heaven and earth should be mingled. If that warning of Peter was ever necessary, it is especially so in the present day, for we see all things tossed up and down and mingled in frightful confusion. That we may not be disturbed, the Lord withdraws us from beholding men, that we may, by attending to his word, keep our position firmly. Peter, indeed, understands this fear passively, while Isaiah understands it actively; for Peter exhorts believers to perseverance, so as not to waver on account of the threats and terrors of the ungodly; but Isaiah condemns the trembling, which induced the Jews to seek heathen alliances. But as it was not the intention of Peter to explain this passage, or even to quote the exact words, and as he meant only to allude to that statement, we need not wonder at this diversity.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) Say ye not, A confederacy . . .The words have been very differently interpreted. (1) The confederacy has been thought to be that between Syria or Ephraim, which had at first filled the people with terror, and then had seemed so powerful that men had been willing to join it (Isa. 7:2; Isa. 8:6). (2) Translating the word as conspiracy as in 2Ki. 17:4it was the word used by Athaliah when she cried, Treason, treason! (2Ch. 23:13)interpreters have seen in it the cry of the Assyrian alliance party against the prophet and his followers, whom they accused of conspiracy against their country, such as was afterwards imputed to Jeremiah (Jer. 37:14). (3) Others, following a conjectural amendment of the text, have read, Ye shall not call everything a holy thing which this people calleth a holy thing, and find in the words a protest against the idolatrous reverence for that which has no real holiness, analogous to the warning against soothsayers or diviners in Isa. 8:19; or possibly an allusion to such an object of worship as the brazen serpent, which Hezekiah had destroyed by Isaiahs advice (2Ki. 18:4). Of these, (2) seems the most in harmony with the sequence of facts and thoughts.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Say ye not Rather, Ye shall not say, a prohibition.
A confederacy , ( kesher,) “conspiracy.” In other places, (2Sa 15:12; 1Ki 16:10 ; 2Ki 11:14, etc.,) this word means treason. Most commentators, since Jerome, do not apply this to the arts of Pekah and Rezin, for theirs was a real conspiracy against Judah. Jehovah could not refer to this, but to the charge of disloyalty to the king, Ahaz, upon Isaiah and his friends. This charge they were to disregard utterly, and go on in the performance of duty boldly.
To all them to whom Rather, concerning every thing of which this people shout, “Treason!”
Neither fear ye their fear Or, that which they fear. The fear that ruin will follow if Judah rejects foreign alliance and trusts in Jehovah alone.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 868
GOD THE ONLY PROPER OBJECT OF FEAR
Isa 8:12-14. Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread: and he shall be for a sanctuary.
RELIGION, under any circumstances, is of incalculable advantage: but its benefits are most seen and felt when we come into trials of a complicated and overwhelming nature. Such were the troubles of the Jewish nation at the time referred to in my text. The Syrians had entered into a league with the ten tribes of Israel to dethrone Ahaz, King of Judah, and to establish a king of their own appointment upon his throne: and the prospect of this event spread such dismay amongst the Jewish people, that they were all moved by it as trees of the wood before the wind [Note: Isa 7:1-2; Isa 7:6.]. But the prophet was sent to shew them where their strength lay, and to assure them, that, if they would but trust in God, they had nothing to fear, since Omnipotence itself would interpose for their deliverance. In the message which the prophet was instructed to deliver to them, we see,
I.
A word of reproof
To the people of that day was a reproof most justly due
[They all were alarmed at the confederacy that had been formed; and each, by expressing his own fears, helped to spread a panic through the land. But the prophet was ordered to discountenance this, both by precept and example, not by any means joining in the general cry, or suffering himself to participate in the peoples fears.
Somewhat of a similar consternation prevailed occasionally among the Apostolic Churches: on which account St. Peter, plainly referring to the very words of my text, bade the Christians of his day not to be troubled about the menaces of their adversaries, but to follow the advice here given [Note: 1Pe 3:14-15.].
And are there not many amongst ourselves who give way to needless fears, on account of the number and inveteracy of their enemies? We wrestle, not with flesh and blood only, but with all the principalities and powers of hell: and at times our hands are ready to hang down, and our hearts to faint in utter despondency. It was thus with David when he said, I shall one day perish by the hands of Saul. And more especially was it thus with Asaph, when he questioned with himself, Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more [Note: Psa 77:7-9.]? In fact, by the recital of our own doubts and fears, we often contribute to create the same painful feelings in others, and to diffuse amongst our brethren apprehensions, which ought rather to be discountenanced and withstood. We know what discouragement the spies occasioned through the whole camp of Israel by their representations of the promised land, and of the difficulties which must be overcome, before it should be possessed [Note: Num 13:28-33; Num 14:1.]. We know also the commendations given to Caleb and to Joshua for their manly opposition to such degrading fears [Note: Num 32:10-12.]. This shews us of what spirit we should be, whatever confederacies may be formed against us, or whatever difficulties we may have to encounter: we should dismiss all fear from our own hearts, and strengthen to the uttermost the hands of our timid and desponding brethren.]
To his reproof the prophet adds,
II.
A word of counsel
[Surely it became the Jews, whose whole history was one continued record of miraculous interpositions, to encourage themselves in the Lord their God, and to expect at his hands all needful support. But more particularly were they taught in this place to look unto their Messiah, whose advent had just been predicted in express connexion with these very events [Note: Isa 7:7-14.]. That he is the person here designated by the Lord of Hosts himself, is evident; because, whilst he is spoken of as a Sanctuary to some, it is declared that he shall be A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to others [Note: Compare ver. 14, with Rom 9:33.]. Now, says the prophet, Sanctify him in your hearts, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And precisely the same advice does the Apostle Peter give to timid and desponding Christians in his day, Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts [Note: 1Pe 3:14-15.]. To sanctify the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts, is, to regard him as possessing all power in heaven and in earth, and us exercising it for his peoples good. This is the true antidote to all distressing fears, from whatever quarter they may arise. For, supposing a confederacy of all the men on earth and all the devils in hell, what device can prevail against infinite wisdom, or what efforts against Almighty power? If the Lords eye be over us for good, it matters not what eye is upon us for evil. No weapon formed against us can prosper, when both the smith who formed it, and the man who holds it, were created by him and are under his controul [Note: Isa 54:15-17.]. Protected by this Saviour, we can have no cause for fear. Our minds may be peaceful in the midst of the most troublous scenes; [Note: Psa 46:1-3.] confident, though menaced by the most inveterate foes [Note: Psa 27:3-5.]; and assured, though in circumstances, in which no power less than that which is infinite could uphold us [Note: Rom 8:35-39.]. This then is the counsel which I would give to every drooping and desponding soul: Fear none except the Lord of Hosts himself. Him you can never fear too much: Let him therefore be your fear and your dread. But, having him for your Protector, you need fear none else: for if He be for you, who can be against you?]
Hear ye then as from God himself,
III.
A word of encouragement
[To his people of old this adorable Saviour was a Sanctuary: and such he will be to us. You remember that when the Man-slayer had once got within the city of refuge, he was safe: the pursuer of blood could not touch him. So, when once you have fled to Christ for refuge, you are out of the reach of every enemy; Your life is hid with Christ in God: nor can all the powers of darkness ever destroy it. It is not by power only that you are protected, but by love, and truth, and faithfulness. The Lord Jesus Christ has pledged his word, that none shall ever pluck you out of his hands [Note: Joh 10:28-29.]: yea, and Jehovah has confirmed his word with an oath, on purpose that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, you may have the stronger consolation [Note: Heb 6:17-18.]. What then have you to do but to repose your confidence in him, assured, that heaven and earth shall sooner pass away, than one jot or tittle of his word shall fail? Know ye then for your comfort, that the name of the Lord is a strong tower; and that if you run to, and take refuge in it, you are safe [Note: Pro 18:10.], safe from every enemy that would assault you; safe in time, and safe in eternity.]
And now I appeal to you whether the true believer be not the happiest person upon earth?
[I grant, he may be an object of the most inveterate hostility both to men and devils. But he has horses of fire and chariots of fire all around him [Note: 2Ki 6:14-17.]; yea, the Lord Jehovah is himself a wall of fire round about him [Note: Zec 2:5.], for his protection. Compare the state of Ahaz and all his people at this time with that of those who believed the prophets word. Who were the happier, those who feared the confederacy, or those who feared the Lord? See also the state of Hezekiahs mind at the time of Sennacheribs invasion: The virgin, the daughter of Israel, hath laughed thee to scorn [Note: Isa 37:22.] The Lord will put a hook in thy nose, and a bridle in thy jaws, and turn thee back by the way by which thou camest [Note: Isa 37:29.]. This is the effect of a realizing sense of Gods providence. The man who fears the Lord has nothing else to fear: and the man who sanctifies the Lord, may be assured, that under all circumstances God will preserve him even as the apple of his eye. But take eternity into the account, and how happy is the Believer then! O what a sanctuary is the Lord to him from the terrors of a guilty conscience, and from the fears of Gods wrath! The Believer, and he alone, understands the true import of these words, I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is staid on me, because he trusteth in me [Note: Isa 26:3.]. Yes, even at the day of judgment may the Believer stand before the Lord with great boldness [Note: 1Jn 3:21; 1Jn 4:17.], whilst the unbelieving world are crying to the rocks and to the hills to fall upon them, and to hide them from his wrath. Make then the Lord Jesus your sanctuary here, and he will be your portion for evermore.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 8:12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all [them to] whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
Ver. 12. Say ye not a confederacy. ] A confederacy, a confederacy – scil., between Syria and Samaria – is made against us; this was vox populi, voice of the people, all the talk in those days, and everybody’s mouth was full of it, and heart afraid of it. But say ye not so, comply not, consent not; chime not in with the spirits and speeches of other men. Away with all such despairing language. For help against which,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
confederacy. Hebrew. kesher. Never used in a good sense.
to all them to whom = whensoever, or whereof.
neither, &c. Quoted in 1Pe 3:14, 1Pe 3:15.
their fear = what they fear, or with their fear.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
confederacy
The reference is to the attempt to terrify Judah by the confederacy between Syria and Samaria. Isa 7:1; Isa 7:2.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
A confederacy: Isa 7:2-6, Isa 51:12, Isa 51:13, 2Ki 16:5-7
fear ye: Isa 7:4, Isa 57:9-11, Psa 53:5, Mat 28:2-5, Luk 12:4, Luk 12:5, Luk 21:9, 1Pe 3:14, 1Pe 3:15
Reciprocal: Exo 14:10 – sore afraid Num 35:34 – dwell among Deu 20:3 – be ye terrified Jos 9:2 – gathered Jos 10:7 – General 1Sa 22:4 – in the hold 1Ki 20:34 – So he made a covenant 2Ki 6:16 – Fear not 2Ki 17:39 – the Lord Pro 3:25 – Be Isa 10:24 – be not afraid Mat 10:28 – And Mat 24:6 – see Mar 13:7 – when Luk 23:51 – had not 2Th 2:2 – shaken Heb 11:23 – and they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8:12 Say ye not, A {n} confederacy, to all [them to] whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye {o} their fear, nor be afraid.
(n) Consent not you who are godly to the league and friendship that this people seek with strangers and idolaters.
(o) Meaning, that they should not fear the thing that they who have no hope in God feared.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord told him not to fear the armies of Judah’s enemies, but God Himself, Yahweh of armies. He should not become paranoid and think that the enemy’s conspiracy against the people of Judah would succeed, as the people of Judah did. Instead, he should make God the most significant fact in his thinking and thus sanctify Him as holy (cf. Mat 10:28).