2 and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
And I took into me witnesses. The noun dym, (gnedim,) and the verb 'yd, (agnid,) which the Prophet employs, are derived from the same root, and the allusion is elegant, as if we were to say, "I have called-to-witness witnesses." [1] As this was a matter of great importance, he therefore took to himself witnesses, as is usually done on important occasions. Faithful witnesses. He calls them faithful, that is, true and worthy of credit; and yet one of them was an ungodly and worthless apostate, who, wishing to flatter his king, erected an altar resembling the altar at Damascus, and openly defended ungodliness and unlawful modes of worship. Some commentators, I am aware, are of opinion that it was a different person; but a careful examination of the circumstances will convince any one, that this was the same Urijah, of whom the sacred history declares that he was slavishly devoted to the ungodliness and lawless desires of the king. (2 Kings 16:11.) As to those who think that it was a different person, because Isaiah here calls this man faithful, such an argument carries little weight; for the Prophet did not look at the man, but at the office which he held, and which rendered him a fit person for bearing testimony. Accordingly, he does not mean that he was a good and excellent man, but that his office gave him such influence that nobody could reject him, and that his testimony was, as they say, free from every objection. Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. I think that this prophecy was affixed to the gates of the temple, Uriah and Zechariah having been taken to be witnesses; for he does not speak of a vision, but of a command of God, which he actually obeyed, in order that these words, like a common proverb, might be repeated by every person.
1 - The Latin language afforded to our Author an exceedingly successful imitation of the Hebrew phrase, "Contestatus sum testes." It is readily acknowledged that the turn of expression adopted by the translator is much less felicitous; but it is hoped that it will aid the judgment, though it may fail to gratify the taste, of the English reader. -- Ed.
And I took unto me faithful witnesses - What was the precise object in calling in these witnesses is not known. Some have supposed that it was to bear testimony to the marriage of the prophet at that time. But it may have been for the purpose of a public record of the prophecy; a record so made, that the precise time when it was delivered could be attested without dispute. The prophecy was an important one; and it was important to know, in the most authentic and undisputed manner, that such a prophecy had been delivered. It is probable that the prophecy, attested by the names of those two men, was suspended in some public place in the temple, so that it might be seen by the people, and allay their fears; and in order to remove from the multitude every suspicion that it was a prophecy after the event. That this was a real, and not a symbolic transaction, is perfectly manifest, not only from the narrative itself, but from Isaiah 8:18. They are called 'faithful,' not off account of their private character, but because their public testimony would be credited by the people.
To record - To bear witness.
Uriah the priest - This is, doubtless, the same man that is mentioned in 2-Kings 16:10. He was a man of infamous character; the accomplice of Ahaz in corrupting the true religion; but still his testimony might be the more valuable to Ahaz, as he was associated with him in his plans.
And Zechariah - It is not certainly known who this was. Perhaps he was one of the Levites whose name is mentioned in 2-Chronicles 29:13.
And I took to me (c) faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
(c) Because the thing was of great importance, he took these two witnesses, who were of credit with the people, when he set this up upon the door of the temple, even though Uriah was a flattering hypocrite, (2-Kings 16:11).
And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record,.... Not his marriage, nor the birth of his son, nor the name he gave him, but the prophecy written in the roll, concerning the spoiling of Syria and Israel, in a very short time; that so, when it came to pass, it might be a clear and certain point that it had been foretold by him:
Uriah the priest; of whom mention is made in 2-Kings 16:10 which some object to, because he proved a wicked man, and obeyed the king's command, contrary to the law of God, in building an altar according to the form of one at Damascus; but to this it is replied, that it was before this happened that Isaiah took him to be a witness; and besides, because of the authority of his office, and his familiarity with Ahaz, he must be allowed to be a proper and pertinent person to bear testimony in this case. Some indeed, and so the Jewish commentators, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, would have Uriah the prophet meant, who prophesied in the times of Jehoiakim, and was slain by him, Jeremiah 26:20 to which it is objected, that he was no priest, as this was and, besides, was not born at this time; it was a hundred and forty years after that he lived:
and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah; this was Zechariah the prophet, as the Targum, and all the Jewish writers, say (o); who lived in the times of Darius, which was two hundred and forty years after this; but most likely this Zechariah is he who was Ahaz's wife's father, 2-Kings 18:2 or rather, as Vitringa thinks, Zechariah a Levite, a son of Asaph, 2-Chronicles 29:13 though there are some learned men (p), who think the two prophets Uriah and Zechariah are meant, though then unborn; who prophesied of the like or same things as Isaiah did; and so were faithful witnesses of his prophecy, as of the calamities that should come on the land, the restitution of it to its former fruitfulness, and the coming of the Messiah; nor is the observation of Abarbinel to be despised, taken from the ancient Jews, that these are the words, not of the prophet, but of God himself; as also that they are to be read in the future tense, "and I will take to me", &c.
(o) T. Bab. Maccot, fol. 24. 2. (p) Cocceius, Witsius, Miscel. Sacr. tom. 1. l. 1. c. 20. sect. 8, 9, 10.
I took--rather, "The Lord said to me, that I should take," &c. [MAURER].
Uriah--an accomplice of Ahaz in idolatry, and therefore a witness not likely to assist the prophet of God in getting up a prophecy after the event (2-Kings 16:10). The witnesses were in order that when the event should come, they might testify that the tablet containing the prophecy had been inscribed with it at the time that it professed.
Zechariah-- (2-Chronicles 29:13).
*More commentary available at chapter level.