The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 7
Chapter VII · Vol. III, pp. 1153–1154
1 Ahaz, being troubled with fear of Rezin and Pekah, is comforted by Isaiah. 10 Ahaz, having liberty to choose a sign, and refusing it, hath Christ promised for a sign. 17 God's judgments are prophesied to come upon Judah by Assyria.
1 And it came to pass in the days of aAhaz 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, 1went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.2
B.C. cir. 742.
a 2 Ki.16.1-6. 2 Ch.28.1-3. Ps.83.3,4; 125.2; 129.2.
1 This probably happened after Pekah's invasion, 2 Ch.28.6,8.
2 Was not able to capture the city, though he slew many, and carried away many captives from the towns and open country.—C.
2 And it was told bthe house of David, saying, ing, Syria is 3confederate with Ephraim:4 and his heart was cmoved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
A.M. cir. 3262. B.C. cir. 742.
3 Heb. resteth on Ephraim.
4 Ten tribes of Israel, ch.28.1. 1 Ki.11.26,31; 12.16. Eze.37.16. Ho.4.17; 5.5; 12.1.—[Ephraim was now at the head of the ten tribes, and therefore stands for the separated kingdom of Israel, as distinct from that of Judah.—C.]
c 2 Ki.10.4. Mat.2.3. Le.26.36. De.28.28,66. ch.22.5.
3 Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub5 thy son, at the end of the dconduit of the upper pool, in the highway6 of the fuller's field;7
5 That is, the remnant shall return, ch.6.13; 10.21,22; 1.9. Ro.9.27.
d 2 Ki.18.17. ch.36.2; 22.9. 2 Ch.32.3,4.
6 Or, causeway.
7 The 'fuller's field' was on the west of the city, beside the ancient cistern now called the upper pool. The highway which led past it is the main road to Joppa and the sea-coast, and is still one of the most frequented about the Holy City.—P.
4 And say unto him, eTake heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither8 be faint-hearted for the two tails9 of these gsmoking1 firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Becauseh Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have itaken evil counsel against thee, saying,
h Zec.1.14,15. Ps.69.26.
6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it,2 and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal:3
2 Or, subdue and part it.
3 Our friend, and as our tributary.
8 Fork the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescorel and five years4 shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.5
k ch.8.4; 17.1,3. 2 Ki.16.9.
l 2 Ch.33.11. Ezr.4.2.
4 Ahaz reigned after this message fourteen years; Hezekiah twenty-nine years; Manasseh, prior to the fulfilment of the prophecy, twenty-two years—equal to sixty-five years.—C.
5 Heb. from a people.
9 And nthe head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. oIf ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.6
o 2 Ch.20.20; 28.20,21. Mat.13.58. Ro.11.20. He.3.18,19.
6 Or, Do ye not believe? it is because ye are not stable.
10 Moreover,7 the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, added to speak
7 Heb. and the LORD added to speak.
11 Askp thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth,8 or in the height above.
p ch.38.7,22; 37.30. Ju.6.30. Je.19.1,10; 51.63.
8 Or, make thy petition deep.
13 And he said, Hear ye now, sO house of David, Is it a small thing for you to tweary men, but will ye uweary my God also?
14 Therefore9 the LORD himself shall give you a sign; vBehold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call1 his name Immanuel.
15 Butterx and honey2 shall he eat, 3that yhe may know4 to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
A.M. cir. 3262. B.C. cir. 742.
x He.2.14. ver.22, with De.32.13,14. 2 Sa.17.29.
2 Canaan was characterized as 'a land flowing with milk and honey,' the first requiring little care, the second none; consequently, 'butter and honey' (see ver.22) became the emblems of abundance without cultivation.—C.
3 When he shall know.
4 That he may know—when he shall know—to refuse the evil and choose the good.—That is, before he shall have arrived at puberty.—C.
16 For before the child5 shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be zforsaken of both her kings.
5 Or, this child, pointing to his own child whom he had brought with him, ver.3; ch.8.4. Jonah 4.11.
z ch.8.4. 2 Ki.15.29,30; 16.9.
17 Thea LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that bEphraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.
a ch.5.26-30; 8.6-8,21,22. 2 Ch.28.20; 32.1; 36.6-20. Mi.1.9-16.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the cfly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
c ch.30.1,2. 2 Ki.23.33,34. De.1.44. Ps.118.12.
19 Andd 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.6
d Je.16.16.
6 Or, commendable trees.
20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a erazor 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 7beard.8
e 2 Ki.16.7,8. 2 Ch.28.21. ch.10.6. Je.27.6,7. Eze.29.18,19. Da.2.38.
7 The loss of which is accounted very disgraceful in the East.
8 Shaving the beard was forbidden to the Jews; and, when an act of violence, was considered the greatest insult (see 2 Sa.10.4-6). Hired—a mercenary army (2 Ki.16.7,8. 2 Ch.28.21), or an army that received wages in the spoil which God's judgments would permit them to carry away, 2 Ki.10.30. Eze.29.18-20.—C.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep:9
9 ch.37.30; 1.9; 6.13; 10.20,22. Je.39.10. Being very poor, and few cattle left to eat the pastures.
22 And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter1 and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.2
1 ver.15. Mat.3.4, i.e. country-fare, not as ch.22.13; 5.11,12.
2 Heb. in the midst of the land.
23 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings,3 it shall even be gfor briers and thorns.4
3 Shekels, i.e. £114 sterling.
g ch.32.13,14; 5.6. Je.4.26.
4 Because the labourers have been slain or carried away as slaves to Assyria.—C.
24 With5 arrows and with bows shall men come thither;6 because all the land shall become briers and thorns.
25 Andh on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear7 of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.
h ch.5.1; 17.2; 32.14. Ps.80.11.
7 The mattock, and other instruments of husbandry, which briers and thorns fear as enemies, shall not be used in cultivation.—C.
Notes
Ver. 4. Rezin and Pekah, and their armies and kingdoms, are called tails of smoking firebrands, because, notwithstanding their present threatening to destroy all before them, they themselves were quickly to be extinguished in ruin. 7-9. The power of Syria and Israel shall never be advanced further than at present: and by the twenty-second year of Manasseh shall the Israelites be wholly carried captive. 15. And as a child partaking of a real manhood, he shall live on common fare. 16. Within two years shall the present kings of Syria and Israel be both cut off. 18. The Egyptians are represented as blood-sucking flies, and the Assyrians as stinging and all-collecting bees, in allusion to the swarms of those insects in Egypt and Assyria. 19-25. Roused by the providence of God, and rewarded with spoil, they shall overspread the whole country, and cut off persons of all ranks, high and low, and render the once so fertile country a waste and uncultivated soil, for briers and thorns, and the residence of robbers and wild beasts, few persons or tame cattle being left therein.
Ver. 6. Tabeal. Who Tabeal was, and who his son was, is unknown; it is most probable, however, that he was some factious pretender to the throne of Judah, and related to the blood royal, either of Ahab or of Pekah. C.
Ver. 12. Ahaz here affects humility and piety: but in reality possesses neither: for as the Lord had directed him to ask the sign, though humility would have acknowledged unworthiness, piety would gratefully have accepted the offered evidence. C.
Ver. 13. Ye weary the patience of men by your maladministration; will ye weary God also, by neglect of opportunities, distrusting his promises, and abusing his ordinances? C.
Ver. 14. Behold, the virgin shall conceive. This prophecy could not be intended for Hezekiah, who was now a young man; neither can it be applied to any of the sons of Isaiah, for none of them ever ascended the throne, as this child of promise evidently did, ch. 9. 7. C.
Ver. 16. Before the child shall know. That is, before the child, when born, shall know to distinguish between good and evil, 'the land which thou hatest (Syria and Israel) shall be forsaken of both her kings.' And far within the lowest period allowed for intellectual development was all fulfilled; for Isaiah prophesied about 740 B.C.; and Tiglath destroyed Syria, 2 Ki. 16. 9, and slew Rezin, about 738 B.C.—Hoshea slew Pekah, the king of Israel, about 737 B.C., 2 Ki. 15. 30 (Macfarlane's Script. Chron.)—And thus, within a period of about three years, was all this denunciation fulfilled. C.
Ver. 18. See note on ch. 5. 26. Roberts, however, asserts that the ancient Asiatic nations never kept bees in hives, or under any artificial management, as Cyril's statement implies. Still Cyril's description of customs in times so near his own, seems evidence preferable to any deduction from mere modern observation. C.
Reflections.—To what alarming terrors, what murderous and destructive invasions and wars, does sin expose men! And while judgments ordinarily begin at the house of God, one guilty nation is made the scourge of another, and then quickly perishes itself! Severe, seasonable, free, and often unasked, are God's interposals for the relief and comfort of men. And if he be on our side, we need not fear the most furious adversaries. No plot, no attempt to frustrate his promises, can fail to issue in the sudden ruin of its authors. And the most proud and boastful are ordinarily the least successful in their enterprises. But faith in his promise is necessary to the establishment of our heart while they rage or reign. What kindness God shows to some wicked men for the sake of their ancestors, though with specious pretexts of regard they often refuse the favours of God, that they may depend on an arm of flesh! But with earnestness and boldness ought we to avouch the Lord for our God, when others refuse their claim. Amidst the deepest distress, infallible are the securities, and strong the consolations, which are derived from Jesus Christ and his connections with us. God easily finds instruments fitted to execute his judgment upon obstinate sinners. And none are more readily chosen by him than those whom we have idolized, and confided on, in his stead. Yea, alas! terrible is the judgment that falls at last upon corrupt professors. Their barrenness under the means of grace, and fruitfulness in wickedness, curse, blast, and desolate the very earth on which they live!