Isaiah 30:8

So runs the divine oracle to which the following command refers. "Now go, write it on a table with them, and note it in a book, and let it stand there fore future days, for ever, to eternity." The suffixes of kothbâh (write it) and chuqqâh (note it) refer in a neuter sense to Isa 30:6, Isa 30:7; and the expression "go" is simply a general summons to proceed to the matter (cf., Isa 22:15). Sēpher could be used interchangeably with lūăch, because a single leaf, the contents of which were concluded, was called sēpher (Exo 17:14). Isaiah was to write the oracle upon a table, a separate leaf of durable material; and that "with them," i.e., so that his countrymen might have it before their eyes (compare Isa 8:1; Hab 2:2). It was to be a memorial for posterity. The reading לעד (Sept., Targ., Syr.) for לעד is appropriate, though quite unnecessary. The three indications of time form a climax: for futurity, for the most remote future, for the future without end.

Here, I. The preface is very awful. The prophet must not only preach this, but he must write it (Isa 30:8), write it in a table, to be hung up and exposed to public view; he must carefully note it, not in loose papers which might be lost or torn, but in a book, to be preserved for posterity, in perpetuam rei memoriam - for a standing testimony against this wicked generation; let it remain not only to the next succeeding ages, but for ever and ever, while the world stands; and so it shall, for the book of the scriptures no doubt, shall continue, and be read, to the end of time. Let it be written, 1. To shame the men of the present age, who would not hear and heed it when it was spoken. Let it be written, that it may not be lost; their children may profit by it, though they will not. 2. To justify God in the judgments he was about to ring upon them; people will be tempted to think he was too hard upon them, and over-severe, unless they know how very bad they were, how very provoking, and what fair means God tried with them before he brought it to this extremity. 3. For warning to others not to do as they did, lest they should fare as they fared. It is designed for admonition to those of the remotest place and age, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come, Co1 10:11. It may be of use for God's ministers not only to preach, but to write; for that which is written remains. II. The character given of the profane and wicked Jews is very sad. He must, if he will draw them in their own colours, write this concerning them (and we are sure he does not bear false witness against them, nor make them worse than they were, for the judgment of God is according to truth), That this is a rebellious people, Isa 30:9. The Jews were, for aught we know, the only professing people…

30:8-11 God instructed the prophet to write down the vision for future generations. The present generation was rebellious; they rejected God’s word in favor of the false prophets’ fantasies (see 8:16-17).