What does Isaiah 8:2 mean?

Isaiah has been told to make what appears to be a sign, perhaps on a large flat piece of wood or metal (Isaiah 8:1). The Lord then told Isaiah to write on that sign what will turn out to be the name of a baby: Maher-shalal-hash-baz. This name seems to mean "speeding to the plunder, hurrying to the spoil." The name itself serves as a prophecy about both the coming birth of the baby and the coming destruction of Israel and Syria by the king of Assyria.

Scholars and translators differ on the beginning of this verse. It is unclear whether the Lord says that He, Himself, will procure witnesses, or if God is telling Isaiah to find these men, or if Isaiah simply says he will get witnesses. In any of those cases, the result is the same. Isaiah gets two reliable men to witness the creation of this sign.

Uriah the priest is very likely the same Uriah who was the high priest during the reign of King Ahaz (2 Kings 16:10–16). Zechariah may be Ahaz's father-in-law (2 Kings 18:2). Having these two men present as official witnesses of Isaiah's sign-making served at least two purposes. First, the sign was a prophecy about future events. Witnesses would provide evidence that Isaiah made the sign before those events happened instead of after the fact.

Secondly, these two men were close to Ahaz. They would be forced to recognize that Isaiah's prophecy about the birth of this baby and the coming of the king of Assyria was true. They could both testify to the king about this verification of the Lord's word through Isaiah.