What does Isaiah 8:4 mean?
The Lord told Isaiah to write a name on a signboard or scroll at least nine months earlier, maybe longer. That name was Maher-shalal-hash-baz, which means "speeding to the plunder, hurrying to the spoil (Isaiah 8:1)." Now, after the birth of his son, the Lord tells Isaiah to call the boy by that name (Isaiah 8:3).It is explained by the Lord to Isaiah that the boy's name refers to the coming defeat of two of Judah's enemies, Israel and Syria. Before Isaiah's son knows how to call out to his parents, the king of Assyria would oversee the plunder of Damascus, which is the capital of Syria. As well as Samaria, the capital of Israel.
That means that Israel and Syria would be laid to waste within two or three years. Two years after writing these words, Isaiah observed Syria being utterly destroyed, and Israel's provinces conquered, in 732 BC.