And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, [that] Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but they were not able to fight against it.
Isaiah 7 opens with a date and a threat: two kings marching on Jerusalem in the reign of Ahaz. What looks like an ordinary border war is really an attack on the royal line of David.
Syria and the northern kingdom had joined forces, and their war aim went beyond plunder. Commentators point out that they had already picked a replacement ruler for Judah.
The plot was of a very determined character. Those kings wanted nothing less than to wipe out the house of David and to set up a person called "the son of Tabeal." Little as they intended it, this was in reality a blow at the promised Messiah. If they did not mean this, Satan did; he was the real author of the movement, without question. This became at once a case for the Lord to deal with. It touched the carrying out of His purposes.
The verse says the siege failed. Yet other records of the same reign say God handed Ahaz over and his enemies struck him hard. One writer holds the two together.
These statements do not clash with what 2 Kings 16:5 records — that these allied kings "could not conquer him." They could not get into the city, nor reach the king personally, though they entered the land. "God delivered him," and "they smote him," means his people and kingdom… The aim of "these two smoldering stumps of firebrands" was to remove king Ahaz from the throne and put "the son of Tabeal" in his place — probably a Syrian, since it is not a Hebrew name… This was doubtless Satan's plot, if not man's, to destroy David's dynasty. For this reason God did not deliver Jerusalem into their hands.
The news reached the palace, and the king's heart shook. One writer traces that fear to the way the king had been living.
There they were in great fear, where there was no fear — and this, sadly, in Jerusalem and David's house. No wonder: the heir of David's throne did not walk like David his father, but in the ways of the kings of Israel or worse. He drew Judah with him into serious transgression against the Lord. Panic-stricken, yet in no way driven by his distress to God… the prophet meets Ahaz.
Ahaz had no claim on God's help. God acted anyway, because His own purpose was at stake.
But God takes care of His own purposes; no power on earth or in hell can frustrate them. He intends David's son and heir to rule over all in the coming day. So He would preserve the line to the end. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful — for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). So God sent the prophet to Ahaz to assure him about the evil plan of his enemies: "It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass." Ephraim would be broken within 65 years, in spite of the alliance with Syria.
God's message to Ahaz was not a rebuke.
The Lord sends Isaiah to meet the king. The prophet comes with his son Shear-jashub, whose name means "the remnant shall return." He speaks in grace to this wicked king… But how touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him; He announces deliverance to him; He says to him, "Take heed and be quiet" — let Me act. He says, "Fear not" to the man who for his own part had everything to fear.
God answered the threat to David's line with a promise reaching far beyond Ahaz's day.
Put this birth as far off as you please from the time of Ahaz. Doing so only makes the voice of God in prophecy and the sure mercies of David more obvious… Immanuel was an unfailing assurance that no alliance could put down David's house for good. Messiah, Son of David, is the divine guarantee. The virgin must bear Him of that line. The virgin's Son must also be, in some true though mysterious way, God Himself… Barely three more years passed before the kings of Israel and Syria fell to the treachery or the power of their enemies.
- The target. The two kings wanted David's house wiped out and their own man on the throne. Whether they knew it or not, the attack was aimed at the Messiah.
- The limit. They entered the land and did terrible damage. But they could not take the city or reach the king. God kept Jerusalem out of their hands.
- The reason. Not any goodness in Ahaz, who walked worse than the kings of Israel. God acted for His own purpose for David's line, which no power on earth or in hell can overturn.
- The tone. God sent comfort to a frightened king who would not turn to Him: be quiet, do not fear, let Me act.
- The outcome. A failed siege becomes the setting for a greater promise. A remnant will return, and Immanuel guarantees that David's house can never be destroyed.
And it was told the house of David saying, Syria is allied with Ephraim. Then his heart and the heart of his people shook, as the trees of the forest are shaken with the wind.
Two kings had joined forces against Judah: Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel. The news reached the royal house in Jerusalem, and this verse records what it did there — a king and a whole people shaking before a blow that never fell.
The alliance was more than a border war. One writer sets it in the history of the kings and shows what the plotters would have broken.
Isaiah 7 takes us into some historical details of the reign of Ahaz. 2 Kings 15 and 16 record them. He did much evil, and now an alliance threatened him: Pekah, who had seized the throne of the ten tribes, and Rezin of Syria. If they had killed or removed Ahaz, they would have broken the line of descent through which Christ came as a man. Matthew 1:9 shows that line.
The trembling was real; the danger was not. One writer traces the panic back to the king's own way of life.
There they were in great fear, where there was nothing to fear — and this, sad to say, in Jerusalem and in David's house. No wonder: the heir of David's throne did not walk like David his father. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel or worse, and he drew Judah with him into serious wrongdoing against Jehovah. Ahaz was panic-stricken, yet his distress in no way drove him to God. There the prophet meets him.
Trees in a storm bend because nothing holds them. Ahaz and his people were short of more than soldiers.
Pekah, king of Israel, had turned away from God. He had formed an alliance with the king of Syria against Jerusalem, and this filled the hearts of Ahaz and his people with terror... They had no power to stand against such powerful enemies, and God was not in all their thoughts.
The verse names the target as a house, not one man. One writer shows what those two kings meant to do with it.
Those kings wanted nothing less than the wiping out of the house of David, and the setting up of a man called "the son of Tabeal." However little they intended it, this was in fact a blow at the promised Messiah. If they did not mean this, Satan did. He was without doubt the real author of the movement. This became at once a case for Jehovah to deal with. It touched the fulfilment of His purposes. True, the house of David was in a terrible state. David's heir was an evil man, one of the worst that ever sat on the throne of Judah.
Isaiah will call these two kings smoking stubs of firewood. The gap between the size of the threat and the size of the terror exposes something in the heart.
The people, being unfaithful, have no strength against their enemies. But there, in circumstances where all hope is taken away, God presents the promise that the remnant would be sustained by the testimony of God Himself... where there is a lack of faith, the heart is fearful before the enemy, even before a powerless enemy.
Ahaz did not sit still under his fear. He looked for a stronger ally, and one writer traces where that choice led.
The danger they faced comes to nothing. But if we seek any support at all in something of this world, God abandons us. He leaves us to the consequences of the tie we have chosen. So Pekah and Rezin had no strength against Judah, because God would not hand Jerusalem over to these allied kings. But Ahaz, fearful and unbelieving, rests on Assyria — and in the end it is from the Assyrian that Judah needs deliverance.
The chapter does not end with the shaking. One writer explains the comfort God gave to a frightened king.
The Lord spoke this promise when the house of David was discouraged and disheartened. King Ahaz, instead of trusting the Lord, went on in unbelief... Messiah is to be born, He is to come from Judah, and from the house of David. How could he, the king, fear destruction and extermination? This was the comfort of the sign.
- Shaken. Ahaz and his people trembled where there was nothing to fear. The king walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and his distress never drove him to God.
- Targeted. The plot aimed to wipe out David's house and put the son of Tabeal on the throne. Whatever the two kings intended, it struck at the promised Messiah.
- Unmoved. The plot touched God's own purposes, so He dealt with it Himself. The house of David was in a terrible state and deserved nothing.
- Chosen. Ahaz leaned on Assyria instead of God. Seek support in something of this world, and God leaves you to live with what you chose.
- Answered. God gave the discouraged house its comfort: the Messiah would still be born, from Judah and from David's line.
And Jehovah said to Isaiah, Go out now to meet Ahaz, thou and thy son Shear-jashub, at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field;
Judah's king was shaking with fear. Two enemy kings had joined forces against him, and God's answer was not a battle plan. He sent a prophet and a small boy to meet him on a road outside the city, and the boy's name carried the message.
The threat came from Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel, joined against the house of David. Ahaz's fear was real. So was his refusal to turn to God. God met him anyway, on a spot that would hear far worse words in years to come.
Ahaz was panic-stricken, yet his distress did not drive him to God at all. The prophet met him on the very same spot where Rabshakeh later spoke his blasphemies against Jehovah — "the aqueduct of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field."
God does not just send Isaiah; He tells him to bring his son Shear-jashub. The name means "the remnant shall return." God sends that name with the prophet because the royal family itself had failed. What follows from that failure shapes the whole book.
Now the house of David, the last support of the people in responsibility, has also failed in faithfulness. Ahaz has forsaken Jehovah, and set up the altar of a strange god in the temple of Jehovah. In Isaiah 7 the Spirit of God directs the prophet to the king, and addresses him. Isaiah was to go and meet him, with Shear-jashub his son — a symbolic child whose name means "the remnant shall return." … The two points of this prophetic announcement are the gift of Immanuel, the virgin's Son, and the complete desolation of the land by Assyria. These are the keys to the whole prophecy of Isaiah.
The boy did more than carry a message. He was a promise God's people could hold on to when their enemies pressed hard.
It is very interesting and instructive to see that the name given to one of Isaiah's sons, Shear-jashub, means "the remnant shall return." He was a pledge that the enemies of Judah would oppress them, but would not finally prevail against them (chapter 7).
Ahaz had turned his back on God. Notice the tone God takes with him anyway.
The Lord sends Isaiah to meet the king, and He speaks in grace to this wicked king… But how touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him; He announces deliverance to him; He says to him, "Take heed and be quiet" — let Me act. He says "Fear not" to the man who had everything to fear.
The boy walking beside Isaiah was himself a sign. Commentators differ over the "child" of verse 16. Some read it as Isaiah's second son. Others read it as Shear-jashub, the boy standing there that day — which is why he came along.
It is certain that the prophet's child Shear-jashub had the character of a "sign" (see Isaiah 8:18), though of course very distinct from God's great sign, the virgin's Son. From verse 16 the king was to learn this: before the boy was old enough to tell right from wrong, the allied kings must disappear from the scene. And so they did. Less than three years later the kings of Israel and Syria fell to the treachery or the might of their enemies.
Isaiah names the place with care: the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the Washer's Field. Older translations call that spot the fuller's field. The same place returns later in the book.
Notice a remarkable fact. We begin where we began in the first section, "by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field" (Isaiah 36:2 and 7:3). It was there that the Lord first promised the "sign in the depth" and "in the height." He first spoke of that sign to Ahaz the king in Isaiah 7. Now the sign of this section comes on Ahaz's own dial — "a sign from the Lord," on "the sundial of Ahaz."
- Crisis — Two kings marched on Jerusalem and Ahaz's heart shook. He was frightened enough to panic, but not frightened enough to turn to God.
- Grace — Into that unbelief God sends comfort, not a crushing word. He tells this king, who deserved nothing, to stay calm and stop being afraid.
- Pledge — God makes that grace visible in a child. Shear-jashub, "the remnant shall return," walks beside the prophet as God's living guarantee that Judah's enemies will not have the last word.
- Sign — The boy carried a deadline. Before he grew up, both enemy kings were gone, just as God had said.
- Greater sign — At this same spot God first promised a sign "in the depth" and "in the height." The boy was only a small sign beside God's great one: Immanuel, the virgin's Son.
and thou shalt say unto him, Take heed and be quiet; fear not, and let not thy heart faint before these two ends of smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
Syria and Israel have joined forces against Jerusalem. King Ahaz of Judah is shaking, and so are his people. God sends Isaiah to meet him with four short commands and one strange picture: two firebrands burned down to stumps, giving off nothing but smoke.
Ahaz was one of the worst rulers Judah ever had. Yet God's first word to him is not a rebuke. It is reassurance.
How touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him; He announces deliverance to him; He says to him, "Take heed and be quiet" — let Me act. He says, "Fear not" to him who on his part had everything to fear.
The picture sizes up the enemy by God's measure, not the king's. What looked like an unstoppable fire was already burning out.
The king might have considered his enemies fierce burning firebrands but, as the LORD told him through Isaiah, they were only smoking firebrands. There was no reason to fear or to be fainthearted. The LORD said about all the 'evil counsels' of Ahaz' enemies: 'It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass' (v. 7).
The wording itself carries a tone, as one commentator notes:
Ahaz cowered before the two smoking stumps of firebrands — the scornful name Jehovah gave to the fierce anger of the combined kings of Israel and Syria.
The reassurance is not optimism. The two kings had a clear aim: remove David's line from the throne and put their own man on it. That aim ran straight into God's promise.
Those kings had nothing less in mind than wiping out the house of David and setting up a man called "the son of Tabeal." Little as they meant it, this was a blow at the promised Messiah... It is true that the house of David was in a terrible state. David's heir was an evil man, one of the worst who ever sat on the throne of Judah (2 Chron. 28:1-5, 22-25). As far as he himself went, there was no reason for Jehovah to step in. Ahaz and Judah deserved the worst their enemies could do to them.
Another writer draws out what was at stake in the same event: it was not only Judah's comfort that was threatened but God's own word.
It was not merely that their enterprise, if successful, must vex Judah, but set aside David's line. It was a blow at the Messiah, little as they might have thought of this; and the oath and honour of God were thus at stake.
God shows Ahaz the plans behind the invasion. That is the ground of the calm He asks for.
God knew every detail, as He lets Ahaz see. Whatever Syria, Damascus, or Rezin might plan, it was not what God willed. Everything turns on this. What the Christian needs is a conscious sense of relationship with God: then there is nothing to fear. What the people have to dread is not the strength of the enemy, but their own sin, which makes them weak.
Ahaz did not stay quiet. He leaned on the king of Assyria instead, and the outcome shows a pattern.
Our fear that evil will come on us makes us look for support in what seems to us a safe path. God then uses those very things to discipline us. The kings of Israel and of Syria came against Judah of their own will. God stops them. Ahaz and his people would lean on the king of Assyria; and God makes the Assyrian come against them in the end.
The same call runs through Scripture. One writer turns it into a question for today.
What inner peace it would give us if we learned more how to 'be quiet' in our different circumstances and put our confidence in the LORD who is able to help. The same thought appears at the very start of Israel's history: 'Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord' (Ex. 14:13)... 'It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD' (Lam. 3:26). Should it be less true in our day? Surely not.
- Fear — Ahaz trembled at a threat God had already cancelled. It looked real to him, but God said it would not stand.
- Grace — God says "Fear not" to a man who, judged by his own life, had everything to fear. Ahaz earned none of it.
- Sight — The enemy looked like fire; God calls them smoke. Quietness comes from seeing the threat at God's measurement, not our own.
- Reason — The plot aimed at the house of David, so it struck at the promised Messiah. God defended His own promise, not Ahaz's merit.
- Choice — Ahaz refused to be quiet and leaned on Assyria; the very prop he chose became the rod that beat him.
Inasmuch as Syria hath taken evil counsel against thee, Ephraim [also] and the son of Remaliah, saying,
Two powers stand behind Judah's fear: Syria, and Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) under its king, the son of Remaliah. God tells Ahaz what they have plotted in private — and the question is whether a frightened king will believe Him.
Syria and Israel had not always stood together. Commentators trace the alliance to shared political interest.
The king of Israel had once been at war with Syria. Now he is its ally. No doubt he wanted, on the one side, to free himself from the yoke of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who, as we have seen, had stripped him of a large part of his land. He also wanted to win back what Judah had taken from him, while he served the plans of his ally.
The "evil" devised was not merely an invasion. The aim reached the throne itself, and that touched far more than Ahaz.
Their venture, if it succeeded, would not merely trouble Judah. It would set aside David's line… so the oath and honour of God were at stake.
Behind the two kings, writers see a hand they themselves never recognised.
These kings aimed at nothing less than wiping out the house of David and setting up a man called "the son of Tabeal." Little as they intended it, this was truly a blow at the promised Messiah. If they did not mean this, Satan did; he was without doubt the true author of the movement.
Isaiah does not simply tell Ahaz to calm down. He tells him what his enemies said among themselves — words Ahaz may never have heard.
God points out the intentions of the two kings (v. 4-6), intentions Ahaz may not have known. But God also has His king at Jerusalem, and they will not succeed in setting up another… God knew every detail, and He lets Ahaz see it. Whatever Syria, Damascus, or Rezin might plan, it was not what God willed. Everything turns on this.
The same passage puts Judah's real weakness somewhere other than the battlefield:
The people do not have to dread the strength of the enemy. What weakens them is their own sin. The danger before them comes to nothing. But if we look for support in anything of this world, God abandons us. He leaves us to face the results of the tie we have chosen.
The plot failed for no merit in the king it threatened. Ahaz was an evil man. God moved to guard His own purpose.
But God takes care of His own purposes; no power on earth or in hell can frustrate them. He intends David's son and heir to rule the whole world in the coming day. So He would preserve the line to the end. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful — He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:13).
Kelly draws out how the attack backfired on those who launched it:
The attempt to destroy seemed terrible to those it aimed at, all the more because their conscience was bad. Yet it led at once to God revealing the doom of the destroyers. The confederacy came to nothing. The Syrian chief could not shield Ephraim, who was more guilty still. God had sentenced Ephraim — yes, to be broken within sixty-five years, so that it would no longer be a people. That is just what happened (2 Kings 17).
Notice the tone God takes with a king who deserved judgment.
But how touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him. He promises him deliverance. He tells him, "Take heed and be quiet" — let Me act. He says, "Fear not" to a man who had every reason to fear.
Isaiah added a warning. Rescue from this plot would not cover Ahaz's refusal to trust God.
God might rescue Ahaz from the present danger. But unless he turned to the word of the Lord and rested on it, he would not escape the punishment he deserved.
- Counsel. Syria and Ephraim were once enemies. They joined for political gain: to shake off Assyria and win back land Judah had taken.
- Target. Their plan was to set aside David's line and put their own man on the throne. Commentators see a blow aimed at the Messiah, with Satan behind it.
- Exposed. God told Ahaz the enemies' intentions, which Ahaz himself may not have known. Nothing they whispered escaped Him.
- Overruled. The plot could not stand. God was guarding His own purpose, not rewarding Ahaz. The confederacy collapsed, and within sixty-five years Ephraim was no longer a people.
- Believed — or not. God met a wicked king with "fear not" instead of judgment. But He warned him too: rescue from this threat was no substitute for resting on His word.
Let us go up against Judah, and harass it, and make a breach therein for us, and set up a king therein -- the son of Tabeal;
Two kings, Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel, planned more than a raid. They meant to break Judah open and set their own man on David's throne.
This is not a rumour Isaiah passed on. It is the private plan of two kings, repeated by God to the king they were plotting against.
God points out the intentions of the two kings (vv. 4-6), intentions which Ahaz perhaps did not know. But God also has His king at Jerusalem, and they will not succeed in setting up another... God knew all the details, as He gives Ahaz to see. Whatever Syria, Damascus, or Rezin might plan, it was not what God willed. On this everything turns... It is not the strength of the enemy that the people must dread, but their own sin, which weakens them.
The verse names their candidate only as the son of Tabeal. The name itself is strange for such a plan, because it speaks of the goodness of God.
Tabeal means "the goodness of El," which was the name of the opposing king in Isaiah 7:6.
This was not an ordinary grab for power. It reached further than the two kings could see.
The plot was a very determined one. These kings wanted nothing less than to wipe out the house of David and to set up a man called "the son of Tabeal." However little they intended it, this was a real blow at the promised Messiah. If they did not mean it, Satan did; he was beyond doubt the one behind the movement. This became at once a case for Jehovah to deal with. It touched the accomplishment of His purposes.
Jerusalem's safety did not rest on the man wearing its crown.
David's heir was an evil man, one of the worst that ever sat on the throne of Judah. As far as he was concerned, there was no reason for Jehovah to step in. Ahaz and Judah deserved the worst their enemies could do to them.
The reason lay elsewhere — in a birth still to come.
The prophet urged Ahaz to ask a sign, and Ahaz refused. Then the Lord gave him a sign: the virgin who would conceive and give birth to a son and call His name Emmanuel. It is a prediction concerning the virgin birth of Israel's Redeemer King, the Son of God. The thought is this: how can Jerusalem and Judah perish as long as He, the Messiah, David's Son and David's Lord, has not come?
The plan did its damage before any army arrived. Fear took the king and his people first.
The occasion was the offensive and godless alliance of Rezin, king of Syria, with Pekah, son of Remaliah and king of Israel, against Judah and Ahaz... There they were in great fear, where there was no cause for fear — and this, of all places, in Jerusalem and David's house. No wonder: the heir of David's throne did not walk like David his father. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, or worse, and drew Judah with him into serious sin against Jehovah.
The scheme may have found sympathy inside Judah itself. A royal house that looks weak is easy to write off.
The power of the allied kings of Israel and Syria seems to have attracted the people of Judah. They despised the weakness of the house of David, for God was little in their thoughts. The people of Judah and Jerusalem seem to have favoured this alliance. In it the kings proposed to set aside the house of David in favour of the son of Tabeal... But these were not God's thoughts. In His mercy He would not yet put out the lamp of David's house.
Ahaz was told the plot would fail. He still sent for outside help — from the very power God had named as coming against him.
God assured Ahaz that this unholy alliance would not stand, but He also said to Ahaz, "The Lord will bring upon you... the king of Assyria" (verse 17). Instead of relying on Jehovah to deal with these two kings who made war with him, Ahaz sent for help to the king of Assyria.
- Plot. Two kings meant to invade Judah, break it open, and put the son of Tabeal on David's throne.
- Exposed. God repeated their private counsel back to Ahaz; He knew the details before the king did.
- Aimed higher. Whether they knew it or not, removing David's house struck at the promised Messiah. So God took the matter up Himself.
- Preserved. Judah could not perish before the Son of David came. God would not yet put out the lamp of David's house.
- Wasted fear. Ahaz trembled where there was no cause. He leaned on Assyria — the power God named as his coming judgment.
thus saith the Lord Jehovah It shall not stand, nor come to pass;
Syria and Israel had joined forces against Jerusalem. King Ahaz and his people were shaking with fear. Into that panic Isaiah carries a single sentence from God about the enemy plan: it will not stand.
The "it" God rejects is not just an invasion. It is a plan: remove Ahaz and put the invaders' own man on the throne. One writer traces the plan back further than the two kings themselves:
The aim of "the two smoldering stumps of firebrands" was to dethrone king Ahaz and put "the son of Tabeal" in his place. He was probably a Syrian; it is not a Hebrew name. This was surely Satan's plot, if not man's, to destroy the line of David. For this reason God did not hand Jerusalem over to them.
God had sworn an oath about David's line. So an attack on that throne touched His own honour:
How could He look on in peace at a compact between apostate Israel and heathen Syria? Their plan, if it succeeded, would not only trouble Judah. It would set aside David's line. It was a blow at the Messiah, little as they may have thought of this; and the oath and honour of God were therefore at stake.
Ahaz had no claim on this help. He was faithless. The reason for the rescue lay outside the king altogether:
But God takes care of His own purposes; no power on earth or in hell can frustrate them. He intends David's son and heir to rule the whole world in the coming day. So He would preserve the line to the end. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful — for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:13). So the prophet was sent to Ahaz to assure him about the evil plan of his enemies: "It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass."
God told Ahaz what his enemies were plotting in private. He knows their plan better than the plotters do:
God knew all the details, as He shows Ahaz. Whatever Syria, Damascus, or Rezin might plan, it was not what God willed. On this everything turns. What the Christian needs is to know the relationship he has with God: then there is nothing to fear. The people should not dread the strength of the enemy, but their own sin, which weakens them.
What looked overwhelming from inside Jerusalem looked very different from God's side. God measured the two kings differently:
The king may have seen his enemies as fierce, burning firebrands. But the LORD told him through Isaiah that they were only smoldering firebrands. There was no reason to fear or to be fainthearted. The LORD said about all the "evil counsels" of Ahaz' enemies: "It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass" (v. 7).
A word this sure asks to be believed. God was listening for an answer that never came:
Terrible as the failure had been, the LORD was ready to meet the heart that would respond to His faithfulness and trust in Him… He looked for some response from the heart before Him — some feeble "Amen" to His faithful word, a little link of faith. That would allow Him, so to speak, to bring about all He had promised. But no response came.
- Plot — The invasion aimed to unseat David's line and install "the son of Tabeal". Behind the two kings, writers see Satan's hand.
- Purpose — Messiah would come from that line. So God's own oath and honour stood in the way, and the plan had no future.
- Promise — The guarantee rested on God's faithfulness, not on Ahaz. God cannot deny Himself.
- Proportion — God called the enemies who terrified Judah smoldering firebrands. The real danger was Judah's own sin, not their strength.
- Response — A word this sure asks for faith; God waited for even a feeble "Amen" from Ahaz, and heard none.
for the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years shall Ephraim be broken, so as to be no [more a] people;
Isaiah speaks these words to a terrified king. Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel have joined forces against Jerusalem. God's answer is not an army. It is a list of names and a deadline.
Two kings were closing in on the throne of David. Commentators point out that far more than one king's safety was at stake.
But God takes care of His own purposes; no power on earth or in hell can frustrate them. He intends David's son and heir to have universal dominion in the coming day; He would therefore preserve the line until the end. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:13). So God sent the prophet to Ahaz to assure him about the evil plan of his enemies: "It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass." Ephraim would be broken within 65 years, despite its alliance with pagan Syria.
Ahaz himself gave God no reason to step in. The same writer calls him "an evil man, one of the worst that ever sat upon the throne of Judah." He adds that "Ahaz and Judah deserved the worst that their enemies could inflict upon them." So the rescue rests on God's promise, not on the king's worth.
The verse reads like a chain of titles: Syria has a capital, the capital has a king, and that is the end of the list. God is not on it.
God shows comfort to His people. He knows perfectly all that is happening, and He despises the strength of the enemy. He knows who Pekah and Rezin are, and that Damascus is head of Syria. When God sends our enemies to discipline us, we have no strength against them. God knows every difficulty. What is missing is the faith that gives perfect security.
The next verse repeats the same formula for the northern kingdom. One writer notes that the chief of Ephraim's capital "is paraded before us like his ally in due form and title. Such would each remain, and no more."
Sixty-five years is an odd, precise figure. Working it out shows why it was given.
Isaiah prophesied that in sixty-five years Ephraim would be broken and would no longer be a people (Isa. 7:8). He said this in 742 B.C. Samaria fell and Israel went into captivity in 721 B.C. So the prophecy no doubt pointed to Esarhaddon planting a colony of foreigners in Samaria in 678 B.C. That fulfils the sixty-five years. This also agrees with the prophecy saying "the head of Ephraim is Samaria."
The date can be checked. Other prophecies also name a set number of years.
Compare, for instance, three predictions. Jeremiah foretold the seventy years' captivity (Jer. 29:10). Isaiah foretold that within sixty-five years Ephraim would be broken and would not be a people (Isa. 7:8). Ezekiel foretold the desolation of the land of Egypt for forty years (Ezek. 29:11-12). These are plain instances of chronological prophecy.
Ephraim came to break Judah. Instead, Ephraim is the one who will be shattered.
How blessed are the ways of God! The attack seemed terrible to those it targeted, all the more because their conscience was bad. Yet at once it brought out the doom of the attackers themselves. The confederacy came to nothing. The Syrian leader could not shield Ephraim, who was more guilty still. Ephraim's sentence was fixed: within sixty-five years it would be so broken that it would not be a people. And that is exactly how it turned out (2 Kings 17).
Note the wording. Ephraim is not merely defeated. It is "shattered from being a people." A nation with a capital and a king is told it will stop being a nation at all.
The verse takes the threat apart. Ahaz still leaned on Assyria for help, and Assyria became the next danger.
Whatever Syria, Damascus, or Rezin might plan, it was not what God willed. On this all turns. What the Christian needs is a conscious relationship with God: then there is nothing to fear. The people should not dread the strength of the enemy, but their own sin, which weakens them. The danger they face ends in nothing. But if we look for any support at all in something of this world, God abandons us. He leaves us to the consequences of the support we have chosen. But Ahaz, afraid and unbelieving, leaned on Assyria — and it was from the Assyrian that Judah would need deliverance.
- Purpose. The attack struck at David's line, so God made it His own matter. No power on earth or in hell can frustrate His purposes.
- Measure. Syria's chain of command stops at Rezin; God names the enemy in full and shows him to be nothing more.
- Deadline. Isaiah set a date of sixty-five years. Esarhaddon settled foreigners in Samaria in 678 B.C., and Ephraim stopped being a people.
- Reversal. Those who came to destroy heard their own sentence instead, and it happened exactly as spoken.
- Danger. Their own sin, not the enemy's strength, weakened them. Leaning on worldly help left Ahaz to face what he chose.
and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye believe not, surely ye shall not be established.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Jehovah spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
Isaiah had already told King Ahaz that the attack of Syria and Ephraim on Jerusalem would fail, and the king said nothing. Now God speaks again — and the question is what a person does when God comes back after they have ignored Him.
What makes the second word remarkable is who heard it. Notice how God treats a king like this:
How touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him; He announces deliverance to him; He says to him, "Take heed and be quiet" — let Me act. He says, "Fear not" to him who on his part had everything to fear.
God was not asking for much. One small sign of faith would have been enough:
He looked for some response from the heart in front of Him — some faint "Amen" to His faithful word, one small link of faith, to allow Him, so to speak, to carry out all He had promised. But there was no response. So He would test this faithless man again.
The second word invites Ahaz to ask for a sign, with no limit set — the depth below or the height above. The size of the offer carried its own message:
God offers a sign to the feeble-hearted Ahaz and to the people seeking a prop apart from God. To the worldly man He would show all the grace and power He possibly could. And He would make His children feel that their unbelief and unfaithfulness have no excuse.
Yet faith itself would not have needed the offer:
Faith would not ask for a sign, because it does not need one; faith walks alone with God.
Ahaz answered that he would not ask, and would not put the Lord to the test. The words sound reverent. One writer names what they really are:
How often the hypocrisy of unbelief tries in this way to hide its contempt for the Lord. Its presumption really despises the word of His grace, and yet it puts on the dress of greater reverence and humility.
Behind the polite refusal was a fear of what nearness to God would cost:
Ahaz shrinks from coming too near God, and from having real proof that God was there. He is afraid he would then have to follow Him, drop the outward supports of his unbelief, and give up everything but God. Nothing frightens the people who belong to God only outwardly more than nearness to God. His nearness is a blessing without limit, yet the heart dreads it, because it will not give up what God condemns.
The offer also shows how small our own asking would be:
The Lord, wearied by his ways, told him to ask a sign, either in the depth or in the height above. What sign could he ask of the Lord? And what sign could any of us ask of the Lord? Surely our depth would be very shallow and our height very low.
The refusal did not stop God. The message moves past Ahaz to the house of David, and God gives a sign that no one asked for:
Ahaz, of "the house of David," would not ask for the sign "either in the depth, or in the height." God therefore says, in effect: I will give the sign Myself without your asking! I will give it both in the depth and in the height; and, as we see from other Scriptures, in that very "house of David."
The size of that grace shows in the man who received it:
Was it not the most wonderful grace to make such a promise to such a man? Yet in truth grace condemns unbelief and all other sin as the law never did or could. If Ahaz had asked for any sign within his own reach on earth or in heaven, it would have fallen unimaginably short of God's! If man refuses to ask through unbelief, God still gives a sign for His own glory: the virgin's Son, the woman's Seed, Immanuel!
- Again. God spoke a second time to a king who had ignored Him once. That is patience refusing to give up.
- Anywhere. The offer had no limit — depth or height — leaving unbelief no excuse at all.
- Afraid. Ahaz refused because nearness to God would have cost him the props he leaned on. Dread of that nearness drove him, not doubt.
- Acting. Pious-sounding words can hide contempt. Unbelief dresses itself up as reverence and humility.
- Anyway. God gave the sign unasked — the virgin's Son, Immanuel. Man's refusal to ask never stops God from giving.
Ask for thee a sign from Jehovah thy God; ask for it in the deep, or in the height above.
Isaiah had just told a frightened king that the threat against Jerusalem would collapse, and Ahaz would not believe it. So God offers proof: name any sign you like, high or low — older translations read "in the depth, or in the height above."
The offer comes to a king whose record was bad. One writer finds God's tone toward him remarkable:
But how touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him; He announces deliverance to him; He says to him, "Be careful, be quiet" — let Me act. He says "Do not fear" to a man who, for his part, had everything to fear.
The words "deep as Sheol or high as heaven" set no ceiling on what Ahaz could ask. One writer sees God offering everything He is able to show:
He would show the worldly man all the grace and power that He can possibly show. And He would make His children feel that their unbelief and unfaithfulness have no excuse.
Because the invitation was that wide, refusing it says everything. One writer sets Ahaz beside Abraham, who kept doing what Ahaz would not:
We can truly say that faith never aims more rightly than when it aims high and draws with a bold hand. "Ask a sign of the LORD your God," says the prophet to the king, "ask it either in the depth, or in the height above" — range through the divine resources, and use them. What king Ahaz would not do, wearying the Lord by his reserve, unbelief, and slowness of heart, Abraham does and continues to do.
Ahaz answers that he will not put the Lord to the test. It sounds humble. Commentators do not read it that way:
Ahaz was a hypocrite. In mock modesty he refused to ask for a sign. He used a pious phrase in his refusal, saying, "I will not tempt the Lord." But he was not asked to "tempt God." God Himself had told him to ask for a sign. Unbelief and self-will were at the bottom of his blank refusal, though covered under this pious phrase.
Another writer names what lies under the excuse, and it is not unique to Ahaz:
Ahaz shrinks from being too near God. He does not want real proof that God was there. He is afraid he would then have to follow Him, give up the outward supports of his unbelief, and let go of everything but God. Those who belong to God only outwardly dread nothing so much as nearness to God. His nearness is a blessing without limit, yet the heart dreads it, because it will not give up what God condemns.
The refusal does not end the matter. God answers it Himself, in both directions at once:
Ahaz, of "the house of David," would not ask for the sign "either in the depth, or in the height." So God says, in effect: I will give the sign Myself, without your asking! I will give it both in the depth and in the height; and, as we see from other Scriptures, in that very "house of David."
Read this way, the two extremes of verse 11 become a description of the Person God sent:
We can imagine no greater height than God. Jesus was "God manifest in the flesh." And we can imagine no greater depth, in a way, than Immanuel — God with us. He came into this world for purposes that included His shameful death on the tree. God's throne is in the height; Christ's cross is in the depth.
The sequence matters too. One writer points out that God names the depth first, then the height. He links this to Ephesians 4:9, "where it is emphasized that the descent comes before the ascent on high" (F. B. Hole).
The same writer then measures our own asking against it: "What sign could he ask of the Lord? And what sign could any of us ask of the Lord? Surely our depth would be very shallow and our height of very small elevation" (A. J. Pollock).
- Invited — God tells a failing king to ask, and sets no ceiling: depth or height, anything he likes.
- Refused — Ahaz hides behind a pious phrase. Underneath lie unbelief and self-will. He dreads nearness to God because he will not give up what God condemns.
- Given — what man will not ask for, God supplies unasked: "the Lord Himself will give you a sign."
- Measured — the sign fills both extremes Ahaz declined: the height is God Himself, the depth is the cross.
- Ordered — God names the depth first, then the height — the descent comes before the ascent on high.
And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and will not tempt Jehovah.
Isaiah had just invited Ahaz to ask for any sign he wanted, as deep or as high as he pleased — and the king turned it down in the language of reverence. So what is really happening when a man refuses what God offers him?
Ahaz borrows a rule of piety — do not put God to the test — and uses it against the very God who invited him. One writer points out that the rule did not apply to him at all.
Ahaz was a hypocrite. In mock modesty he refused to ask for a sign. He used a pious phrase in his refusal, saying, "I will not put the LORD to the test." But he was not asked to put God to the test. God Himself had told him to ask for a sign. Unbelief and self-will were at the bottom of his blank refusal, though covered under this pious phrase. And he was not the last of religious unbelievers to use the same expression, and for a like purpose.
What looks like reverence can be its opposite.
How often the hypocrisy of unbelief tries in this way to hide its contempt for the LORD. Through presumption, which despises the word of His grace, it dresses itself up in superior reverence and humility.
Behind the polite words was a man who did not want God that close.
God tells the king to ask a sign below or above (vv. 10, 11); but Ahaz (v. 12) shrinks from being too near God, and from having real proof that God was there. He is afraid that he would then have to follow Him, to give up the outward supports of his unbelief, and to give up everything but God. There is nothing that the outward people of God dread so much as nearness to God. His nearness is a blessing without limit, yet the heart dreads it, because it will not give up what God condemns.
Ahaz had already picked his rescuer, and it was not God.
Hezekiah acted in the opposite way to his father Ahaz. Isaiah had warned Ahaz not to fear the attack of Rezin, king of Syria, and of Pekah, son of Remaliah. The prophet urged him to ask the LORD for a sign that His promise would be kept. But Ahaz preferred to turn to the Assyrian.
Putting God to the test would mean distrusting Him — and Ahaz went further than distrust.
Ahaz coloured his unbelief and his disobedience with an appearance of piety. To put the LORD to the test would be to distrust Him. In fact Ahaz did much more than distrust Him: he did not believe the word of the LORD.
The offer had no limits — depth or height, anything he cared to name. That scale shows how small anything we could ask would be.
We learn from Kings and Chronicles that King Ahaz did not walk in the steps of his father David, but acted according to the abominations of the nations around. The Lord, wearied by his ways, told him to ask a sign, either in the depth or in the height above. What sign could he ask of the Lord? And what sign could any of us ask of the Lord? Surely our depth would be very shallow and our height of very small elevation.
Because Ahaz would not choose, the Lord chose.
The heart of Ahaz had turned to false gods. Hardened in this way, he refused the offered help, though under the pretence of piety. He could not deceive the Searcher of hearts. After a solemn warning the prophet announced that the Lord Himself would give a sign. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." … David's house might fail in their responsibility, as they seriously did, and forfeit everything. But on that very ground God could step in, acting from His own heart and according to His purposes.
The lesson runs wider than one king.
How we read in this, on the one hand, man's utter inability to please God or reach up to His thoughts. On the other hand, despite all that man is, God is set on blessing him, and Christ is His Resource in doing so.
- Invited. God told Ahaz to ask. So the rule against testing the Lord did not cover him: his refusal was self-will wearing a pious phrase.
- Afraid. He shrank from nearness to God, because proof would have cost him the props his unbelief leaned on.
- Committed. He had already turned to Assyria; his answer was not distrust only, but disbelief of God's word.
- Outmatched. Offered depth or height, he could name nothing worth naming. The size of the offer showed how little man reaches toward God.
- Given. So the Lord gave the sign Himself: Immanuel. David's house failed, and God's purpose still stood.
And he said, Hear then, house of David Is it a small matter for you to weary men, that ye weary also my God?
Ahaz has just refused God's offer of a sign, hiding his unbelief behind a show of reverence. So the prophet turns from the king to the whole royal line: this house has worn out people, and now it is wearing out God.
In the older English translation, the pronouns shift from singular to plural at this exact point. One writer takes that shift as the key to the passage.
The wicked king Ahaz has rejected God's gracious offer of a sign. His pious excuse was that asking would be tempting God. Jehovah then turns from him and speaks to the house of David. He looks beyond the present trouble, which was really a small matter. In that chapter and the two that follow, He gives a magnificent promise of the coming of Immanuel... In verse 11 God speaks to Ahaz: "Ask for yourself." He refuses. Then He addresses the house of David in verses 13 and 14, in the plural. In verses 16 and 17 He addresses Ahaz again, in the singular.
Commentators differ here. Kelly still reads the promise as made to Ahaz himself.
Ahaz had said he would not put God to the test — language that sounds humble. The prophet treats it as a cover.
How often the hypocrisy of unbelief tries in this way to hide its contempt for Jehovah! Its presumption really despises the word of His grace, yet it puts on the clothing of superior reverence and humility. The prophet, however, sees through the trick put forward by an evil heart of unbelief. He now calls the house of David to hear. They must hear not only his reproof, but what the Lord Himself was going to give. Ahaz shrank from God even in His goodness. Flesh never trusts God. It is bent on its own will and instinctively avoids grace, which must assert and give effect to the will of God.
The refusal had a motive. A sign would have cost Ahaz the alliance with Assyria that he had already chosen.
But the unbelieving king refused the offer. His wicked heart dreaded the consequences of such a sign. He did not want to be near to God and get a sign that God was near to him. He felt that in such a case he would have to abandon what God condemns and give up the alliance with the Assyrian.
The verse names two acts of wearying, and the second is the graver one.
The house of David had not only wearied men, but had wearied God also. Ahaz feels God coming near, and shrinks back from the offered sign under a form of piety. God then takes up the matter in grace, as to Messiah, but in the revelation of judgment.
Ahaz was not just one bad king among many. With him, the family of David itself broke down.
In the person of Ahaz the family of David completely abandons its faithfulness... The family of David itself fails in this way, and every hope is ruined. At that point prophecy brings in the promise of Christ to be the support of the faithful. This sign was to be in the family of David itself.
God answers this house with a gift, not a blow. The gift is far larger than anything the king would have dared to ask.
Was it not the most wonderful grace so to promise to such a man? Yet in truth grace condemns unbelief and all other sin as the law never did and never could. Had Ahaz asked any sign within his range of earth and heaven, how immeasurably short of God's it would have been! If man refuses to ask through unbelief, God does not fail to give a sign for His own glory: the virgin's Son, Immanuel!
There is an irony here. The king's unbelief did not damage the promise; it drew it out.
Ahaz, the king of Judah, feared for Jerusalem and the royal line. He had no cause to fear, for God had promised David a son to come from his own body — the one King David called his Lord, the root and offspring of David. The house of David was perfectly secure. So the unbelief of Ahaz became the occasion for this great prediction.
- Wearied. Ahaz's house had already worn out human patience. By refusing God's sign, it wore out God's patience too — and that is the offence Isaiah names.
- Disguised. The refusal wore the clothing of reverence. Unbelief that refuses to come near God often speaks the language of humility.
- Widened. The prophet turns from the one king to "the house of David." The issue is bigger than a local war scare — it is the whole royal line.
- Given. Right where the royal family failed, God gives the sign unasked — Immanuel, born inside that same failing house.
- Secured. Man's refusal did not cancel God's purpose. Grace answered contempt with a gift no one on earth would have thought to ask for.
Therefore will the Lord himself give you a sign Behold, the virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son, and call his name Immanuel.
Two allied kings were about to invade Judah. God offered its king, Ahaz, a sign to steady his faith, and Ahaz turned it down. The answer God gave anyway reaches far past that crisis: a virgin's son named Immanuel, "God with us."
Writers point to the plot that hung over Jerusalem at that moment.
Rezin, King of Syria, and Pekah, King of Israel, had joined forces against Judah and Jerusalem. They meant to set aside the royal line of David, and with it the Messiah, and to put the son of Tabeal on the throne (v. 6). Even so, "thus says the Lord God: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass" (v. 7).
Ahaz refused the sign God offered. One writer looks at how God answered a man who did not want Him close.
Ahaz did not like God to draw too near. God answered it with Immanuel — God with us… Was it not the most wonderful grace to promise this to such a man? Yet grace condemns unbelief and every other sin as the law never did and never could. If Ahaz had asked for any sign he could imagine on earth or in heaven, it would have fallen far short of God's sign. If man refuses to ask through unbelief, God does not fail to give a sign for His own glory: the virgin's Son, the woman's Seed, Immanuel!
God had told Ahaz to ask for a sign either in the depth or in the height above. One writer sees both in the sign God chose.
The Virgin's Son becomes THE SIGN, given by God in "the depth" and in "the height" too. Who but the blessed God, infinite in wisdom, could have thought of such a sign or given it? Look at "the depth" of human weakness: that wonderful baby held on the virgin's lap. Yet even there His name tells us of "the height" of His glory — "Immanuel," "God with us."
The Hebrew word behind "virgin" has long been argued over. Writers answer first from the passage itself: a sign has to be something out of the ordinary.
Here the context needs the word to mean virgin, and nothing less. There is no sign or wonder in a young married woman bearing a son. People knew from the very start that the One who would rescue mankind from the serpent, our enemy, must be born of a woman in some unusual way… The virgin's Son is Immanuel, the Lord Jehovah.
There is also the old Greek translation of the Old Testament. Jews made it long before anyone was arguing over this verse.
Christ came, and the prophecy was fulfilled. After that, the Jews worked hard to deny that the Hebrew word means virgin. They said it meant only a young woman, and unbelievers still follow them today. But the Greek version of the Old Testament was made by Jews long before that prejudice arose. They translated the word by the Greek word that can only mean virgin. That one fact undoes the whole attack on the prophecy.
Some have read the child as Ahaz's own son Hezekiah. The arithmetic rules it out.
The idea that Hezekiah was the virgin's son cannot stand. Ahaz reigned sixteen years, and Hezekiah was twenty-five when he began to reign. So Hezekiah was already a boy of at least eight before his father's reign began. Isaiah could not have foretold his birth to Ahaz, who was on the throne by then.
Matthew's Gospel opens with this verse as its first quotation from the Old Testament.
The royal line of David's house was to continue until the Messiah came, but how much further the sign goes! He would be not only the virgin's son, the woman's seed of Genesis 3:15, but "Immanuel." Matthew's Gospel opens by showing Him to be the son of David (v. 1). Then this first quotation from the Old Testament shows Him to be more than a man born by a miracle. He is God Himself come down in grace.
The comfort here reaches past one threatened royal line.
This was enough. God had promised that the Messiah would come from David's line. So God kept the house of David safe until the appointed hour, unworthy as it was… My whole aim is to point to one fact, so full of comfort to the believing heart: God's purposes never fail, however great man's sin may be.
- Threat. Two kings planned to remove David's line from the throne; God said their plan would not stand.
- Refusal. Ahaz would not ask for a sign, so God gave one Himself. Grace answered unbelief with far more than the king would have asked for.
- Sign. A married woman bearing a son is no wonder. The sign needs a virgin — which is how the old Greek translation read it, before any argument began.
- Name. Immanuel means "God with us." The child is man, and He is God — the deepest humility and the highest glory in one person.
- Guarantee. Because the Messiah had to come from David, God kept David's house safe. His purposes hold, however far people fail.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good.
Isaiah 7:15 comes straight after the sign of the virgin's Son. It shows how that Son would grow up, and it raises a hard question: how can the One called "God with us" learn anything at all? (Older translations read "butter and honey" for "curds and honey," and "that he may know" for "when he knows.")
Two allied kings were moving to remove David's line from the throne. God's answer to King Ahaz reached much further ahead:
Man would have counted it enough to promise that his son Hezekiah, and then his son, and so on, would succeed him... So for the Jew everything centres on the Messiah. Not only will a remnant return; the promised Seed, the virgin's Son, will be born. Put this birth as far off from Ahaz's day as you please — that only makes the voice of God in prophecy, and the sure mercies promised to David, stand out more clearly... But Immanuel was an assurance that could not fail: no alliance of enemies could ever put down David's house.
The verse describes ordinary human growth: eating, and learning to tell right from wrong. One writer admits the difficulty, then gives the plain sense:
Verse 15 is hard to make out, but we believe it means this. The coming One, though "GOD with us," was born of the virgin. So He would grow up in body and in mind by the laws that govern human life. This we see to be the case in Luke 2:40-52.
That growth was genuine, and it was also unlike anyone else's:
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was once a little baby. And as He grew up, He learned the taste of things in the same way you have. He ate "butter and honey." He learned to "refuse the evil," and to "choose the good" (Isa. 7:14-16). He had the feelings of a child. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet He was without sin... He was holy; the only holy child, the only holy man, that ever walked this earth.
Commentators differ on what the curds and honey stand for. One reads them as a mark of poverty:
His lowliness. He who was rich became poor for our sake. This poverty seems to be shown in Isaiah 7:15, "butter and honey shall He eat."
Another reads the two foods as pictures of spiritual food, taken in as the Lord listened to the teachers of the law:
Butter is the cream of the milk in solid form. It pictures the Word of God made good to the soul through exercise (churning). It is the Word itself. Honey pictures the ministry of the Word... What the teachers of the law gave that was truly from God was honey, and the Lord received it. But the butter came first — God's own Word made good to the soul in personal exercise. If the blessed Son of Man needed this, how much more do we need both the Word itself and the ministry of the Word, so that we can tell good from evil and choose the good.
The verse says nothing about thrones or kingdoms. It tells you what this Son is like:
Here Emmanuel is present, refusing the evil and choosing the good, just as this prophecy said He would. In this we do not have the glories He will inherit as the son of David and Abraham. We have what He is in Himself and in character — He is God with us. God revealed in human flesh, a man among men. Unlike every name in the family line, His name stays untarnished by any evil thing. He chose the good and refused the evil. He loved righteousness and hated wickedness, as Hebrews 1 puts it, and so He drew out the full and delighted approval of God.
The next verse repeats almost the same words about refusing evil and choosing good. That repeat has puzzled readers, and the Hebrew wording shifts:
It has been noticed that the "son" Immanuel of verse 14 does not appear to be "the youth" of verse 16. That second one refers rather to Shear-jashub, the prophet's own child, who seems to have come with him for this reason... It is worth noting that the Hebrew word here is not strictly "son" or "child," but "the youth" or "lad"... From verse 16 the king was to learn that before the youth (almost certainly Shear-jashub) was old enough to tell right from wrong, the allied kings must disappear from the scene. And so they did.
- Sign. God answered a threatened king with a Person, not a list of heirs. Immanuel is the guarantee that no alliance of enemies can ever end David's house.
- Growth. Verse 15 shows the virgin's Son growing up in body and mind by the ordinary laws of human life — a real child, seen in Luke 2:40-52.
- Food. Commentators differ. Some read the curds and honey as a mark of His poverty. Others see pictures of the Word of God and the ministry of the Word He received.
- Character. Before any throne is named, the prophecy shows what He is. He chose the good, refused the evil, and stayed untouched by any evil thing.
- Us. The Son of Man Himself was fed this way. We need the same food, so that we can tell good from evil and choose the good.
For before the child knoweth to refuse the evil and to choose the good, the land whose two kings thou fearest shall be forsaken.
Isaiah has just given King Ahaz a sign: a Son named Immanuel. Now the prophet starts a clock. Before one boy is old enough to tell right from wrong, the two kings that terrify Judah will be gone. But which boy does Isaiah mean, and how does a distant promise help a frightened king now?
Two neighbouring kings had cornered Ahaz. One writer explains what their plan would have destroyed:
Isaiah 7 takes us into some historical details of the reign of Ahaz, which 2 Kings 15 and 16 record. Ahaz did much evil. Now an alliance threatened him: Pekah, who had seized the throne of the ten tribes of Israel, and Rezin of Syria. If they had killed or removed Ahaz, they would have broken the line of descent through which Christ came as a man, as Matthew 1:9 shows. God was not going to allow this. So He told Isaiah to take his young son, Shear-Jashub, which means "The remnant shall return," and intercept Ahaz.
Which child does verse 16 mean? One writer answers from the Hebrew word itself:
The "son" Immanuel in verse 14 appears not to be "the youth" of verse 16. Those words refer rather to Shear-jashub, who for this reason seems to have come with the prophet. It is worth noting that the Hebrew here is not strictly "son" or "child," but "the youth" or "lad"… From verse 16 the king was to learn this: before the youth (almost certainly Shear-jashub) was old enough to tell right from wrong, the allied kings must disappear from the scene.
Another writer takes the boy to be the prophet's second son:
But before the second son to be born to the prophet would know how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings Ahaz dreaded would be deserted… This prophecy came true literally, and the plan of these kings to make "the son of Tabeal" king over Judah came to nothing.
This chapter holds two prophetic children, and one reference work shows how they worked for Ahaz:
People have asked: how could this be a sign to Ahaz, since this event did not take place until centuries later? The announcement of such a child's birth was present evidence to faith. Whatever schemes men might make, the remnant could count on God… There are two prophetic children: one (Shear-jashub) a figure of the remnant, and Immanuel… Isaiah 7:16 doubtless refers to Shear-jashub. Before this child could have grown up, Hoshea had killed Pekah, and the king of Assyria had taken Damascus and killed Rezin. 2 Kings 15:30; 2 Kings 16:9.
Older English Bibles kept two forms of "you" that modern ones drop: "ye" and "you" are plural, while "thou," "thee" and "thy" are singular. One writer reads the chapter by that clue:
Verse 11 is spoken to Ahaz — "Ask." He refuses. Then God speaks to the house of David in verses 13 and 14: "Ye, you, ye, you," in the plural. In verses 16 and 17 He speaks to Ahaz again: "Thou, thee, thy," singular. So verses 16 and 17 contain a different prophecy from verses 13, 14, 15; and "the child" of verse 16 is not the same as "the son" of verse 14.
Commentators differ here, and one of them says so plainly:
It is only fair to add that some Christians, who clearly see God becoming man here, take all the verses (14-16) to refer to Immanuel… Others take the youth or lad of verse 16 to mean any young child, not one in particular. But whatever the small differences of detail, the one great fact stands out, clear and majestic.
Others read the verse itself as pointing to Christ:
As to Isaiah 7:16… I fully believe it to be a prophecy of Christ, as Matthew has declared it. What set this prophecy going was the attack of Rezin and Pekah.
One writer reads the refusing and the choosing of this verse as true of Christ Himself:
Emmanuel is present here, refusing the evil and choosing the good, just as this prophecy said He would. In this we do not see the glories He will inherit as the son of David and Abraham. We see what He is in Himself and in character — He is God with us. God shown in human flesh, a man among men. Unlike every name in the family line, His name stays untouched by any evil thing.
Ahaz turned down the sign God offered him. Even so, God kept speaking to him in kindness:
How touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him; He announces deliverance to him; He says to him, "Take heed and be quiet" — let Me act. He says "Fear not" to the man who had everything to fear.
- Threat. Two kings moved to unseat Ahaz and break the royal line through which Christ would come.
- Sign. God answered a king who would not ask, promising Immanuel and setting a boy's childhood as the deadline for the crisis.
- Boy. The word is "youth" or "lad," and several writers take it to mean Shear-jashub, whose name means "the remnant shall return."
- Fulfilment. Within a few years Hoshea killed Pekah, and Assyria took Damascus and killed Rezin — the dreaded land emptied on schedule.
- Person. The One who truly refused evil and chose good was Immanuel — God with us, untarnished by any evil thing.