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Isaiah 7

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God Assures Ahaz Against Invasion 1–9

1
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, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. ​
2
And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. ​
3
Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field; ​
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And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. ​
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Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
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Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: ​
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Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
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For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. ​
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And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. ​

The Sign of Immanuel Promised 10–16

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Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
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Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. ​
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But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. ​
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And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? ​
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Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. ​
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Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
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For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. ​

Assyria: The Instrument of Judgment 17–25

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The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. ​
18
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ​
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And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.
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In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard. ​
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And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;
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And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. ​
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And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns. ​
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With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.
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And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Isaiah 7

Verse 1

Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah — The chapter opens in the reign of Ahaz, third in Isaiah's list of kings (Isa 1:1). The same invasion is told in 2 Kgs 16:5, 'they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him'; in Jotham's days the LORD 'began to send' these two against Judah (2 Kgs 15:37).

Verse 2

Syria is confederate with Ephraim — 'Ephraim', the leading tribe, is Isaiah's name for the northern kingdom (vv.5, 8, 9, 17). 'Confederate' is nuach, the verb of resting or settling down: Syria has settled in with Ephraim. The report is brought to 'the house of David', to whom the throne was promised 'for ever' (2 Sam 7:16).

Verse 3

Shearjashub thy son — The name means 'a remnant shall return' (she'ar yashub) and is carried by the boy into the meeting; Isaiah later says it of Jacob, 'The remnant shall return… unto the mighty God' (Isa 10:21). The place, 'the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field', is where Rabshakeh stands to address Jerusalem (Isa 36:2).

Verse 4

two tails of these smoking firebrands — Ud is a stick snatched from the fire, found only three times: here, of the two kings, and of those rescued from the burning in Amos 4:11 and Zech 3:2. 'Be quiet' is shaqat; the counsel is that of Isa 30:15, 'in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength'.

Verse 6

set a king in the midst of it — The plan is to 'make a breach' (baqa, to split open) in Judah and set up the son of Tabeal in place of the house of David. v.7 answers it, 'It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass'. 'Vex' is quts, the verb that returns in v.16 as 'abhorrest'.

Verse 8

threescore and five years — Each 'head' is only a man: the head of Syria is Damascus, and of Damascus Rezin, whom the king of Assyria slew (2 Kgs 16:9). Ephraim 'broken' (chathath) 'that it be not a people' came with the carrying away of Israel (2 Kgs 17:6) and strangers placed in Samaria 'instead of the children of Israel' (2 Kgs 17:24; Ezra 4:2).

Verse 9

If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established — 'Believe' and 'be established' are the one verb aman, to be firm, in two forms: who will not stand firm in God will not be made firm. Jehoshaphat used the same pairing, 'Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established' (2 Chr 20:20). Pekah is only 'Remaliah's son' here.

Verse 11

Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God — The offer is unlimited, 'in the depth, or in the height above', and it comes from the LORD as 'thy God'. Asked-for signs are granted elsewhere, to Gideon with the fleece (Judg 6:36–40) and to Hezekiah, Ahaz's son, when the sun returned ten degrees on 'the sun dial of Ahaz' (Isa 38:7–8).

Verse 12

neither will I tempt the LORD — Ahaz speaks in the words of the law, 'Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God' (Deut 6:16), though here the LORD himself has told him to ask. Nasah is to test or prove. His own appeal is recorded in 2 Kgs 16:7–8: 'I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me'.

Verse 13

weary my God also — Isaiah turns from 'the LORD thy God' (v.11) to 'my God', and from Ahaz to 'the house of David', the 'ye' and 'you' of the verse. One verb, la'ah, serves twice: 'weary men' and 'weary my God'. The refusal of a sign is treated as more than a private choice.

Verse 14

a virgin shall conceive — Almah occurs seven times, among them Rebekah at the well (Gen 24:43) and Miriam (Ex 2:8). Matthew quotes the verse with parthenos, 'virgin', of Mary (Matt 1:22–23). The sign is given to 'you', the house of David (v.13), and the name Immanuel, 'God with us', returns in Isa 8:8, and its words in 8:10, 'God is with us'.

Verse 16

before the child shall know to refuse the evil — The time is measured in a child's years: before he can tell good from evil, 'the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings'. A like timetable follows in Isa 8:4, and the fulfilment is in 2 Kgs 15:29–30 and 16:9. 'Abhorrest' is quts, the verb of 'vex' in v.6.

Verse 17

even the king of Assyria — The power Ahaz called in (2 Kgs 16:7) is named as the LORD's instrument against him; in fact he 'distressed him, but strengthened him not' (2 Chr 28:20). The measure, 'from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah', is the division of the kingdom (2 Chr 10:19). Isa 8:7–8 pictures Assyria as a river reaching 'even to the neck'.

Verse 18

shall hiss for the fly… the bee — Sharaq is to whistle or pipe, a signal like the one in Isa 5:26, where the LORD 'will hiss unto them from the end of the earth'. The fly belongs to 'the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt', the bee to Assyria. The Amorites once 'chased you, as bees do' (Deut 1:44).

Verse 20

a razor that is hired — Sekirah, 'hired', occurs only here. The razor is 'the king of Assyria', paid with silver and gold from the house of the LORD and the king's treasures (2 Kgs 16:8). Shaving the beard is the shame Hanun put on David's servants, 'the one half of their beards', so that 'the men were greatly ashamed' (2 Sam 10:4–5).

Verse 22

butter and honey shall every one eat — The food of v.15 returns: curds (chem'ah) and honey. With few people left, a man keeps only 'a young cow, and two sheep' (v.21), yet 'for the abundance of milk that they shall give' he has curds enough. 'That is left' (yathar) names the remnant of the land.

Verse 23

a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings — Silver is the price of a vineyard's fruit, as in Song 8:11, 'a thousand pieces of silver'. It reverts to 'briers and thorns' (shamir and shayith), the same pair the LORD names in Isa 5:6; and 'the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel' (Isa 5:7).