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.