Commentary for Isaiah 8:2

And I will call to testify for Myself also in those days, in the days of Jehoiakim, concerning that calamity, destined to befall them, two trustworthy witnesses, one to foretell for them the evil that was destined to come upon them, viz. Uriah the priest, whom Jehoiakim dispatched, as it is said (Jer. 26: 20): “And also a man was prophesying in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim, and he prophesied concerning this city and concerning this land, according to all the words of Jeremiah.”

.⁴ואעידה is future Hiphil of והעידה ;עוד is imperative Hiphil, both with ה parag. and conjunctive ו.ואעידה According to some the א is here instead of ה. And take unto me faithful witnesses. According to others the future is used for the past: And I took unto me faithful witnesses. It may, however, be taken literally,⁵As future. that I should take as witnesses for me. The prophet did what God commanded, although it is not related in the text.

and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah who prophesied in the second year of Darius (Zech. 8:4): “Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem.” Uriah is a sign for Zechariah. If you see that Uriah’s prophecy is fulfilled, you can expect that Zechariah’s will likewise be fulfilled, just as I have called to testify concerning Sennacherib, Amos and Isaiah; Amos for the calamity of the ten tribes (Amos 7:11): “And Israel shall surely be exiled,” and Isaiah for his promise to Hezekiah (Isaiah 32,33) [when he would reign].

Uriah THE priest; Uriah was then high priest. Zachariah was likewise a great man; what our Sages say about the prophecies of Zachariah and Uriah is well known.⁶R. Gamaliel, R. Eleazar, the son of Asaria, R. Josua, and R. Akiba, were once going up to Jerusalem; when they came to Zophim (a place near Jerusalem), they rent their garments; they approached the Temple-Mount and saw a fox coming forth from the place where the Holy of Holies had stood before. The sages burst into tears, but R. Akiba exhibited joy. When they enquired how he could express feelings of gladness at such a sight, he asked them why they wept. What! said they; have we not cause to weep, when we find that the very spot of which the law has said, ‘The stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death’ (Num. 18:7), has now become the abode of foxes? (Lam. 5:18.) And for the same reason, returned R. Akiba, do I rejoice. It is written: ‘And I should take for myself faithful witnesses, the priest Uriah, and Zachariah, the son of Berchjah.’ Now, what connection is there between Uriah and Zachariah? The one lived in the time of the first Temple (under Ahaz), the other in the time of the second. No other connection but to show that the prophecy of the one is conditioned by the words of the other. Uriah declared: ‘ For your sake shall Zion be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,’ etc. (Mic. 3:12). Zachariah foretold: ‘There shall yet old men and women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem,’ etc. (Zac. 8:4). As long as Uriah’s words were not fulfilled, one might have doubted the truth of the prophecy of Zachariah; but when I perceive how literally the predictions of the one have been verified, I can entertain no reasonable doubt that the promises of Zachariah will be fulfilled likewise. Thereupon his companions exclaimed, Akiba, thou hast given us true comfort. (Talm. Babli Makkoth, 24).