Stumbling, Falling and Becoming Ensnared

 ¹³Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

 ¹⁴And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

 ¹⁵And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. (Isaiah 8:13-15, King James Version)

Notice the imagery if trapping animals (“gin” and “snare”).  God sets a trap.  “Many” shall stumble and fall.  Many of whom?  “Many among them.”  Who are “them”?  The houses of Israel.

However, if He is to be a “sanctuary”, then is He addressing anyone else?

Why will they stumble and fall and become ensnared?

 ¹⁶Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. (Isaiah 8:16, King James Version)

That verse seems a tad out of place at first.  Yet, in the context of telling them to not go to mediums but to God for their answers, to not seek their own counsel but fear God, it is the solution to stumbling and entrapment.

Lesson?  If you do not fear God and treasure His words and His laws, you will experience calamity.

 ²⁰To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:20, King James Version)

Notice what Matthew Henry says about this passage:

This testimony and this law are bound up and sealed, for we are not to add to them nor diminish from them; they are a letter from God to man, folded up and sealed, a proclamation under the broad seal.

~ Henry, Matthew. "Commentary on Isaiah 8." . Blue Letter Bible. 1 Mar 1996. Retrieved 22 Jul 2010.http:// www.blueletterbible.org/commentaries/comm_view.cfm?AuthorID=4&contentID=1336&commInfo=5&topic=Isaiah&ar=Isa_8_15 .