Isaiah 7

Isa 7:1-9:7.

PREDICTION OF THE

ILL

SUCCESS OF THE

SYRO-ISRAELITISH

INVASION OF

JUDAH--AHAZ'S

ALLIANCE WITH

ASSYRIA, AND

ITS

FATAL

RESULTS TO

JUDEA--YET THE

CERTAINTY OF

FINAL

PRESERVATION AND OF THE

COMING OF

MESSIAH.

In the Assyrian inscriptions the name of Rezin, king of Damascus, is

found among the tributaries of Tiglath-pileser, of whose reign the annals

of seventeen years have been deciphered. For the historical facts in

this chapter, compare

2Ki 15:37-16:9.

Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel, as confederates, advanced against

Jerusalem. In the first campaign they "smote Ahaz with a great

slaughter"

(2Ch 28:5).

Their object was probably to unite the three kingdoms against Assyria.

Egypt seems to have favored the plan, so as to interpose these

confederate kingdoms between her own frontier and Assyria (compare

Isa 7:18,

"Egypt"; and

2Ki 17:4,

Hoshea's league with Egypt). Rezin and Pekah may have perceived Ahaz'

inclination towards Assyria rather than towards their own confederacy;

this and the old feud between Israel and Judah

(1Ki 12:16)

occasioned their invasion of Judah. Ahaz, at the second inroad

of his enemies (compare

2Ch 28:1-26

and 2Ki 15:37,

with Isa 16:5),

smarting under his former defeat, applied to Tiglath-pileser, in spite

of Isaiah's warning in this chapter, that he should rather rely on God;

that king accordingly attacked Damascus, and slew Rezin

(2Ki 16:9);

and probably it was at the same time that he carried away part of

Israel captive

(2Ki 15:29),

unless there were two assaults on Pekah--that in

2Ki 15:29,

the earlier, and that in which Tiglath helped Ahaz subsequently [G. V.

SMITH]. Ahaz was saved at the sacrifice of Judah's

independence and the payment of a large tribute, which continued till

the overthrow of Sennacherib under Hezekiah

(Isa 37:37;

2Ki 16:8, 17, 18;

2Ch 28:20).

Ahaz' reign began about 741 B.C., and Pekah was

slain in 738 [WINER].

1. Ahaz--In the first years of his reign the design of the two kings

against Judah was carried out, which was formed in Jotham's reign

(2Ki 15:37).

Syria--Hebrew, Aram

(Ge 10:22, 23),

originally the whole region between the Euphrates and Mediterranean,

including Assyria, of which Syria is an abbreviation;

here the region round Damascus, and along Mount Libanus.

Jerusalem--An actual siege of it took place, but was foiled

(2Ki 16:5).

2. is confederate with--rather, is encamped upon the territory of

Ephraim [MAURER], or better,

as Rezin was encamped against Jerusalem, "is supported by"

[LOWTH] Ephraim, whose land lay between Syria and

Judah. The mention of "David" alludes, in sad contrast with the present,

to the time when David made Syria subject to him

(2Sa 8:6).

Ephraim--the ten tribes.

as . . . trees of . . . wood--a simultaneous

agitation.

3. Go forth--out of the city, to the place where Ahaz was

superintending the works for defense and the cutting off of the water

supply from the enemy, and securing it to the city. So

Isa 22:9;

2Ch 32:4.

Shearjashub--that is, A remnant shall return

(Isa 6:13).

His very name (compare

Isa 7:14;

Isa 8:3)

was a standing memorial to Ahaz and the Jews that the nation should

not, notwithstanding the general calamity

(Isa 7:17-25;

Isa 8:6-8),

be utterly destroyed

(Isa 10:21, 22).

conduit--an aqueduct from the pool or reservoir for the supply of

the city. At the foot of Zion was Fount Siloah

(Isa 8:6;

Ne 3:15;

Joh 9:7),

called also Gihon, on the west of Jerusalem

(2Ch 32:30).

Two pools were supplied from it, the Upper, or Old

(Isa 22:11),

or King's

(Ne 2:14),

and the Lower

(Isa 22:9),

which received the superfluous waters of the upper. The upper pool is

still to be seen, about seven hundred yards from the Jaffa gate. The

highway leading to the fullers' field, which was in a position near

water for the purposes of washing, previous to drying and bleaching,

the cloth, was probably alongside the aqueduct.

4. Take heed, &c.--that is, See that thou be quiet (not seeking

Assyrian aid in a fit of panic).

tails--mere ends of firebrands, almost consumed

themselves (about soon to fall before the Assyrians,

Isa 7:8),

therefore harmless.

smoking--as about to go out; not blazing.

son of Remaliah--Pekah, a usurper

(2Ki 15:25).

The Easterners express contempt by designating one, not by his own

name, but by his father's, especially when the father is but little

known

(1Sa 20:27, 31).

6. vex--rather, "throw into consternation"

[GESENIUS].

make a breach--rather, "cleave it asunder." Their scheme was to

divide a large portion of the territory between themselves, and set up a

vassal king of their own over the rest.

son of Tabeal--unknown; a Syrian-sounding name, perhaps favored by a

party in Jerusalem

(Isa 3:6, 9, 12).

7.

(Isa 8:10;

Pr 21:30).

8. head--that is, in both Syria and Israel the capital shall remain

as it is; they shall not conquer Judah, but each shall possess only his

own dominions.

threescore and five . . . not a people--As these words break the

symmetry of the parallelism in this verse, either they ought to be

placed after "Remaliah's son," in

Isa 7:9,

or else they refer to some older prophecy of Isaiah, or of Amos (as the

Jewish writers represent), parenthetically; to which, in

Isa 7:8,

the words, "If ye will not believe . . . not be established,"

correspond in parallelism. One deportation of Israel happened

within one or two years from this time, under Tiglath-pileser

(2Ki 15:29).

Another in the reign of Hoshea, under Shalmaneser

(2Ki 17:1-6),

was about twenty years after. But the final one which utterly "broke"

up Israel so as to be "not a people," accompanied by a colonization of

Samaria with foreigners, was under Esar-haddon, who carried away

Manasseh, king of Judah, also, in the twenty-second year of his reign,

sixty-five years from the utterance of this prophecy (compare

Ezr 4:2, 3, 10,

with 2Ki 17:24;

2Ch 33:11)

[USHER]. The event, though so far off, was enough

to assure the people of Judah that as God, the Head of the theocracy,

would ultimately interpose to destroy the enemies of His people,

so they might rely on Him now.

9. believe, . . . be established--There is a paronomasia, or play on

the words, in the Hebrew: "if ye will not confide, ye shall not

abide." Ahaz brought distress on himself by distrust in the Lord, and

trust in Assyria.

11. Ask thee--since thou dost not credit the prophet's words.

sign--a miraculous token to assure thee that God will fulfil His

promise of saving Jerusalem

(Isa 37:30; 38:7, 8).

"Signs," facts then present or near at hand as pledges for the more

distant future, are frequent in Isaiah.

ask . . . in . . . depth--literally, "Make deep . . . ask it," that

is, Go to the depth of the earth or of Hades [Vulgate and

LOWTH],

or, Mount high for it (literally, "Make high"). So in

Mt 16:1.

Signs in heaven are contrasted with the signs on earth and below

it (raising the dead) which Jesus Christ had wrought (compare

Ro 10:6, 7).

He offers Ahaz the widest limits within which to make his choice.

12. neither . . . tempt--hypocritical pretext of

keeping the law

(De 6:16);

"tempt," that is, put God to the proof, as in

Mt 4:7,

was the warrant of the prophet of God; to have asked a sign,

when thus offered, would not have been a tempting of God. Ahaz'

true reason for declining was his resolve not to do God's will, but to

negotiate with Assyria, and persevere in his idolatry

(2Ki 16:7, 8, 3, 4, 10).

Men often excuse their distrust in God, and trust in their own devices,

though Jehovah was the God of Judea and could work a sign there, that

was no proof that the local god of Syria might not be more powerful.

Such was the common heathen notion

(Isa 10:10, 11; 36:18-20).

13. Is it a small thing?--Is it not enough for you

(Nu 16:9)?

The allusion to "David" is in order to contrast his trust in God

with his degenerate descendant Ahaz' distrust.

weary--try the patience of.

men--prophets. Isaiah as yet had given no outward proof that he was

from God; but now God has offered a sign, which Ahaz publicly rejects.

The sin is therefore now not merely against "men," but openly against

"God." Isaiah's manner therefore changes from mildness to bold reproof.

14. himself--since thou wilt not ask a sign, nay, rejectest the offer

of one.

you--for the sake of the house of believing "David" (God remembering

His everlasting covenant with David), not for unbelieving Ahaz' sake.

Behold--arresting attention to the extraordinary prophecy.

virgin--from a root, "to lie hid," virgins being closely kept from

men's gaze in their parents' custody in the East. The Hebrew, and

the Septuagint here, and Greek

(Mt 1:23),

have the article, the virgin, some definite one known to the

speaker and his hearers; primarily, the woman, then a virgin, about

immediately to become the second wife, and bear a child, whose

attainment of the age of discrimination (about three years) should be

preceded by the deliverance of Judah from its two invaders; its fullest

significancy is realized in "the woman"

(Ge 3:15),

whose seed should bruise the serpent's head and deliver captive man

(Jer 31:22;

Mic 5:3).

Language is selected such as, while partially applicable to the

immediate event, receives its fullest, most appropriate, and

exhaustive accomplishment in Messianic events. The New Testament

application of such prophecies is not a strained "accommodation";

rather the temporary fulfilment of an adaptation of the far-reaching

prophecy to the present passing event, which foreshadows typically the

great central end of prophecy, Jesus Christ

(Re 19:10).

Evidently the wording is such as to apply more fully to Jesus Christ

than to the prophet's son; "virgin" applies, in its simplest sense, to

the Virgin Mary, rather than to the prophetess who ceased to be a

virgin when she "conceived"; "Immanuel," God with us

(Joh 1:14;

Re 21:3),

cannot in a strict sense apply to Isaiah's son, but only to Him who is

presently called expressly

(Isa 9:6),

"the Child, the Son, Wonderful (compare

Isa 8:18),

the mighty God." Local and temporary features (as in

Isa 7:15, 16)

are added in every type; otherwise it would be no type, but the thing

itself. There are resemblances to the great Antitype sufficient to be

recognized by those who seek them; dissimilarities enough to confound

those who do not desire to discover them.

call--that is, "she shall," or as Margin,

"thou, O Virgin, shalt call;" mothers often named their children

(Ge 4:1, 25; 19:37; 29:32).

In

Mt 1:23

the expression is strikingly changed into, "They shall call";

when the prophecy received its full accomplishment, no longer is

the name Immanuel restricted to the prophetess' view of His

character, as in its partial fulfilment in her son; all shall

then call (that is, not literally), or regard Him as

peculiarly and most fitly characterized by the descriptive name,

"Immanuel"

(1Ti 3:16;

Col 2:9).

name--not mere appellation, which neither Isaiah's son nor Jesus

Christ bore literally; but what describes His manifested attributes; His

character (so

Isa 9:6).

The name in its proper destination was not arbitrary, but

characteristic of the individual; sin destroyed the faculty of

perceiving the internal being; hence the severance now between the name

and the character; in the case of Jesus Christ and many in Scripture,

the Holy Ghost has supplied this want [OLSHAUSEN].

15. Butter--rather, curdled milk, the acid of which is grateful in

the heat of the East

(Job 20:17).

honey--abundant in Palestine

(Jud 14:8;

1Sa 14:25;

Mt 3:4).

Physicians directed that the first food given to a child should be

honey, the next milk [BARNABAS, Epistle].

HORSLEY takes this as implying the real humanity

of the Immanuel Jesus Christ, about to be fed as other infants

(Lu 2:52).

Isa 7:22

shows that besides the fitness of milk and honey for children, a state

of distress of the inhabitants is also implied, when, by

reason of the invaders, milk and honey, things produced

spontaneously, shall be the only abundant articles of food

[MAURER].

that he may know--rather, until He shall know.

evil . . . choose . . . good--At about three years of age moral

consciousness begins (compare

Isa 8:4;

De 1:39;

Jon 4:11).

16. For--The deliverance implied in the name "Immanuel," and the

cessation of distress as to food

(Isa 7:14, 15),

shall last only till the child grows to know good and evil;

for . . . the land that . . . abhorrest . . . forsaken of . . . kings--rather, desolate shall be the land, before whose two kings thou art

alarmed [HENGSTENBERG and

GESENIUS].

the land--namely, Syria and Samaria regarded as one

(2Ki 16:9; 15:30),

just two years after this prophecy, as it foretells. HORSLEY takes it, "The land (Judah and Samaria) of (the

former of) which thou art the plague (literally, 'thorn') shall be

forsaken," &c.; a prediction thus, that Judah and Israel (appropriately

regarded as one "land") should cease to be kingdoms

(Lu 2:1;

Ge 49:10)

before Immanuel came.

Isa 7:17-25.

FATAL

CONSEQUENCES OF

AHAZ'

ASSYRIAN

POLICY.

Though temporary deliverance

(Isa 7:16; 8:4)

was to be given then, and final deliverance through Messiah, sore

punishment shall follow the former. After subduing Syria and Israel,

the Assyrians shall encounter Egypt

(2Ki 23:29),

and Judah shall be the battlefield of both

(Isa 7:18),

and be made tributary to that very Assyria

(2Ch 28:20;

2Ki 16:7, 8)

now about to be called in as an ally

(Isa 39:1-6).

Egypt, too, should prove a fatal ally

(Isa 36:6; 31:1,

&c.).

18. hiss--whistle, to bring bees to settle

(see on

Isa 5:26).

fly--found in numbers about the arms of the Nile and the canals from

it

(Isa 19:5-7; 23:3),

here called "rivers." Hence arose the plague of flies

(Ex 8:21).

Figurative, for numerous and troublesome foes from the

remotest parts of Egypt, for example, Pharaoh-nechoh.

bee--

(De 1:44;

Ps 118:12).

As numerous in Assyria as the fly in marshy Egypt. Sennacherib,

Esar-haddon, and Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled this prediction.

19. rest--image of flies and bees kept up. The enemy shall overspread

the land everywhere, even in "desolate valleys."

thorns--wild, contrasted with "bushes," which were valued and

objects of care (see Margin).

20. razor--The Assyrians are to be God's instrument of devastating

Judea, just as a razor sweeps away all hair before it

(Isa 10:5;

Eze 29:19, 20).

hired--alluding to Ahaz' hiring

(2Ki 16:7, 8)

Tiglath-pileser against Syria and Israel; namely,

of Jewish geographical knowledge

(Ps 72:8);

the river which Abram crossed; the Nile also may be included

(Isa 7:18)

[G. V. SMITH].

GESENIUS translates, "With a razor

hired in the parts beyond the river."

head . . . feet--the whole body, including the most honored

parts. To cut the "beard" is the greatest

indignity to an Easterner

(Isa 50:6;

2Sa 10:4, 5;

Eze 5:1).

Isa 7:21-25.

THE

COMING

DESOLATE

STATE OF THE

LAND

OWING TO THE

ASSYRIANS AND

EGYPTIANS.

21. nourish--that is, own.

young cow--a heifer giving milk. Agriculture shall cease, and the

land become one great pasturage.

22. abundance--by reason of the wide range of land lying desolate

over which the cows and sheep (including goats) may range.

butter--thick milk, or cream.

honey--(See on

Isa 7:15).

Food of spontaneous growth will be the resource of the

few inhabitants left. Honey shall be abundant as the bees will

find the wild flowers abounding everywhere.

23. where there were, &c.--where up to that time there was so

valuable a vineyard as to have in it a 1000 vines, worth a silverling

(shekel, about 2s. 3d.; a large price)

each, there shall be only briers

(So 8:11).

Vineyards are estimated by the number of the vines, and the goodness of

the kind of vine. Judea admits of a high state of cultivation, and

requires it, in order to be productive; its present barrenness is due

to neglect.

24. It shall become a vast hunting ground, abounding in wild beasts

(compare

Jer 49:19).

25. shall be--rather, "were once."

digged--in order to plant and rear vines

(Isa 5:6).

there shall not come--that is, none shall come who fear thorns, seeing

that thorns shall abound on all sides [MAURER].

Otherwise, "Thou shalt

not come for fear of thorns" [GESENIUS].

Only cattle shall be able to

penetrate the briery ground.

lesser cattle--sheep and goats.