Literary analysis: The “great roll” may or may not have been literal. If one reads this metaphorically, this is simply a means of emphasizing the importance of the text. Literally, of course, it would refer to writing on a specific format.
Without question, this text became written text at some point. It shares that written heritage with all other received Isaianic texts, even those that do not begin with the declaration that they be written on scroll.
The comparison of this written text versus all other written texts suggests that this really is a metaphor. The metaphor stands first for the publication of the message, and secondly, through the connection to the relative value of a scroll, to the value of the text.
With the cost of scrolls, the very use of one emphasized the text thereon. New scrolls were used for important things, with the things of lesser import being written on scraps or re-used portions of a scroll. Thus the writing of this prophecy on a presumably new scroll places it on an expensive stationary, one which by its own intrinsic value underlines the value of the text written thereon.
Where the KJV translates “with a man’s pen,” the NIV has “ordinary pen,” and Gileadi has “common script.” A possibility for the “man’s hand” translation comes from George Lamsa: “Take a large scroll and write on it plainly” is symbolic of the importance of the message. “With a man’s pen” is an Eastern idiom which means with large letters. At times, the term “man” signifies strength. There were no women scribes in those days. The writing was to be plain and large, so that it could be easily read and understood. King’s decrees and edicts were written plainly and with large letters so that they might be easily read and understood." (Lamsa, p. 633.)
The correlation with the “strong hand” in verse 11 seems to suggest a poetic parallel, and I would therefore suggest the “man’s hand” as the translation best highlighting the parallel, as well as underscoring the importance of the message.
Historical information: To use such a scroll with a large and extravagant (and therefore relatively expensive) hand highlights the idea is that the message is of great import, both by the boldness of the declaration, and the implied value of the physical space it occupied.
To a modern society where paper is sufficiently inexpensive as to be thrown way after a single use, it is perhaps difficult to understand the relative value of the medium in the presentation of the message. Perhaps a small idea of relative value of a medium is to suppose that a message will be placed on television. One the message is to be made widely known, now there comes an association of value. If the message appears only after midnight on independent stations, it is still a televised message. If, however, the message is presented during half time of the Super Bowl, the message is deemed of much greater import for our understanding of the value of the time in which it was presented. We know that there is a significant difference in the value a company places on its message when it comes from those two alternate possibilities.
Scriptural analysis: At the beginning of this prophecy, we have a name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Hebrew names are not only identifiers of a person, but also of some message about that person. Names have meanings. In this case, Maher-shalal-hash-baz means “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil.” This clearly becomes an identifying name in verse 3, but in the introduction to the prophecy, there is no specific connection to person. The message of the scroll will be about the thing which wil be “quick to the plunder swift to the spoil,” or the coming invasion by Assyria.
“Since Pul’s invasion of Syria and Israel took place in 732 B.C., this prophecy was probably given two years earlier. ” (Ludlow, pl. 147).