Isaiah 8:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This victorious force shall invade your wilderness, scouting every boundary of your territory, and shall uproot from the Jews everyone able to make a stand or take action; his army will fill the breadth of your nation. To emphasize that these events unfold not through human strength but through divine anger, the prophet portrays the king of Assyria not as a foe engaged in battle but rather as a predatory force advancing with ease. He will neither halt nor fight; instead, he will cover the land with his vast multitude, conquering effortlessly.

This came to pass as foretold in the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 27, etc.), when Nebuchadnezzar waged war against Judah, laying waste to the magnificent Jerusalem, setting fire to the temple, slaying the esteemed citizens of Judah, and taking the surviving multitude along with the sacred vessels to his own territory. Thus, it is evident that those who resist the quiet flow of the waters of Siloam, signifying Christ or the kingdom of God, will inevitably be besieged by the king of the spiritual Assyrians, namely Satan, who will capture them, subject them to his tyranny, and bind them with the chains of various sins.

48:16) and He will not cease nor cry out, nor let His voice be heard in the streets (cf. Mt. 12:19)? Consequently, those who reject the One sent from heaven disregard His humility and instead are drawn to the son of Romelius, symbolizing a doctrine that promotes erroneous beliefs while claiming a foundation in the Divine Scriptures, and to Rasson, which denotes empty grandeur and leads hearers away from the faith in accordance with the Divine Scriptures, ridiculing them and diverting them from true belief. For Aram is interpreted by language. Thus, whoever scorns the solid teachings and neglects what is firm, humble, and devout, but instead weaves obscure interpretations of Scripture with ideas borrowed from outside the Faith, will face the prophetic warning, that strong and numerous waters, representing the king of Assyria, the ruler of this world, will be unleashed upon them. It is clear from the same Prophet that the Scriptures often depict the Assyrian as an adversary. He states: "And when the Lord has completed all His work in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, He will bring judgment upon the pride of the Assyrian prince and upon the loftiness of his arrogance." He declares: "By the strength of my hand I have succeeded, and by my wisdom I have achieved this; I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a bull I have overthrown their inhabitants, and I am making the earth like a nest, taking what remains, and no one can escape or oppose me" (Isaiah 10:12-14). The Prophet likely refers to this same Assyrian prince—a representation of numerous waters, like a torrent, swiftly drawing in all who encounter it. Those fortunate enough to navigate this turbulent flow without harm express: Our souls have been rescued from the floodwaters, the waters of instability (cf. Ps. 123:4, 5). The Gospel similarly references this water in a parable, comparing the individual who hears the teaching but fails to act to a man who constructs a house without a foundation; when the flood came, the house collapsed, resulting in great destruction (cf. Lk. 6:48, 49). Yet, the prophet states, this water is vast and will rise to engulf all your desolate places. The desolations symbolize the depths of the earth. Why is it said that the water will rise rather than descend? Because every degradation among people, borne of sin, is incomparably higher than mere initial deceptions. Once those individuals are delivered to opposing forces, they will dismantle every barrier upheld by the apostates, dismantling every doctrine they hold as a bastion of strength. Due to their rejection of Siloam and their attraction to corrupt kings, the prophetic message warns that the Lord will remove from Judah every person capable of leadership or accomplishment—every individual who excels in wisdom and virtuous action and who can effectively pursue what is regarded as the highest good. It also threatens to position the army across the breadth of the land for those who have not embraced Siloam. By renouncing this path of righteousness, they have chosen to be a battlefield for the opposing forces—not out of judgment but as a result of their own poor choices. For when they chose not to keep God in their minds, God surrendered them to a depraved mind (Rom. 1:28). God is with us.

The Assyrians would be taken captive; now God addresses the prophet in the familiar language of the Scriptures, likening the quiet waters of Siloam in Jerusalem to the mighty river of Assyria. He states that this river will inundate the entire land of Israel with its powerful waves, breaching its banks and surging forth so violently that it will flood the territory of the ten tribes and extend into Judah, reaching up to the neck. This indicates imminent captivity; although Judah had not yet been captured, all the cities of the two tribes had fallen, with only Jerusalem spared by the immense mercy of God.

Moreover, the strength of the king of Assyria and his countless army, symbolized by the flood, is described through another analogy—its wings, representing leaders and a vast multitude, will cover the land of Immanuel, meaning God with us, yet it will not conquer it. Though the term Immanuel in the Septuagint pertains to the following verse and is not named as in the Hebrew, it signifies God's presence. Siloam, located at the base of Mount Zion, is not constantly filled but flows forth at specific times and days, rushing noisily through the terrain's irregularities. This is well known, especially among us who live in this region. The implication is that the ten tribes preferred subservience to Racine and the son of Romelia—the kings of Damascus and Samaria—over the lineage of David, which was established by divine will. Therefore, I will allow them to be enslaved, not by these kings they chose, but by the king of Assyria, whose dominance over Samaria is likened to the overwhelming flood of a river. An appeal is made to Immanuel, indicating that the king of Assyria has grown so bold as to try to possess the land of Judah as well.

In a sacramental sense, any heretic who relies on secular wisdom to seize Jerusalem—the Church—while neglecting the waters of Siloam, which symbolizes being sent and the path to eternal life, will find himself betrayed to Assyria’s leader and plunged into the depth of his sins. Such arrogance leads him to tempt the Savior by presenting all the earthly kingdoms, proclaiming, “all these have been given to me” (Luke 4). He will strive to infiltrate Judas, symbolizing the house of confession, frequently reaching the neck of the negligent within the Church, seeking to ensnare believers in Christ, spreading his wings to cover all of Immanuel's territory. However, he will ultimately be unable to possess it, as God is present within Judas.

In the Gospel of John, it is stated that the Lord sent a man who was blind from birth, whose eyes He anointed with mud made from His saliva, to the waters of Siloam. After washing off the mud, the blind man received his sight. This remarkable act illustrates that the blindness of the Jews, and of all unbelievers, can only be healed when the darkness of past errors is dispelled by the teachings of the waters of Christ, flowing gently without the disturbance of elaborate words. The phrase in the Septuagint about overtaking every wall of Judah and stripping it of those capable of lifting their heads is not present in the Hebrew text and is marked in the Greek codices with a crushing horn.