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.