Isaiah 7:1

And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah king of Judah,.... Here begins a new prophecy under the reign of another king; who, though a wicked king, had religious

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

ISAIAH CHAPTER 7 Ahaz, afraid of Rezin and Pekah, is comforted by Isaiah ; refusing to choose a sign, Christ is promised for one, : his judgment should come by Assyria, . In the days of Ahaz, a most wicked king; yet no prophecies are more comfortable than those which were delivered in his time; God so ordering it, partly for the encouragement of the faithful that lived under his tyrannical and impious reign; and partly to manifest the riches and freeness of his grace, in conferring such favours upon a most worthless generation. To war against it; which they attempted before in Jotham’ s reign, , but now more seriously undertook, though without success, as is noted here, and .

Isaiah 7:1 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.Ver. 1. And it came to pass.] This is not a superfluous transition, as Augustine maketh it, but importeth that the following discourse is no less to be regarded than the foregoing. In the days of Ahaz.] That sturdy stigmatic, under whom Isaiah was as Elijah under Ahab; and for the comfort of the godly, prophesied them most sweetly concerning Christ and his kingdom. The son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.] For whose sake, say the Rabbis, this wretch was thus relieved. King of Judah.] Titularis, sed non tutelaris, titled but not titled, as it was once said of Culperic, King of France, utpote qui Reip. defuit, non praefuit. That Rezin the King of Syria.] He is first named as being generalissimo; see of him 2 Kings 15:37. He was King of Damascene and Coelesyria. And Pekah King of Israel.] These two kings had each invaded Judah before with great success. And heartened thereby, now they join their forces, thinking to make a full conquest, but were as much deceived and disappointed as were the Pope and Spaniard here in 1588; and more than once in Ireland, where Don Aquila with his Spaniards being beaten out, said in open treaty, that when the devil upon the mount showed Christ all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them, he did not doubt but he left out Ireland and kept it for himself. Went up.] But not in God’ s name, Non Dei missu et nutu ut ante, sed proprio motu et ambitione. But could not prevail against it.] Heb., Could not war - sc., with any good success. They came into the country like thunder and lightning, as duo fulmina belli, two thunderbolts of war, but went out like a snuff. In Pentat.

(1) We may deal with it as though the Gospel of St. Matthew had never been written, as though the facts which it records had no place in the history of mankind. From this point of view we get what seems at first a comparatively simple exposition. The prophet offers a sign to the faithless king, and the sign is this: he points to some young bride in either sense of that word, and says that she shall conceive and bear a son. The fulfilment of that prediction in a matter which lay outside the range of human knowledge was to be the sign for Ahaz and his court, and she should give that son a name which would rebuke the faithlessness of the king. Immanuel, “God with us,” would be a nomen et omen, witnessing, not of an incarnate Deity, but of His living and abiding presence. Who was the mother of the child on this theory we have no data for deciding. As the two other children of the prophet bore, like Hosea’s (Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 8:3), mysterious and prophetic names, the most probable conjecture seems to be that it was Isaiah’s own wife, still young, and, as it were, still a bride, or possibly a second wife whom he had married, or was about to marry, after the death of his first. Other guesses have pointed to one of the women of the harem of Ahaz who may have been with him when Isaiah spoke. The hypothesis of some critics that such a one became the mother of Hezekiah, and that he was the Immanuel of the prophet’s thoughts, breaks down under the test of dates. Hezekiah, at the time the prophecy was uttered, was a boy of at least nine years of age (2 Kings 16:2; 2 Kings 18:2). Of this child so born Isaiah predicts that he shall grow up in a time of suffering and privation (Isaiah 7:15), and that before he has attained to manhood the confederacy of Rezin and Remaliah shall come to a disastrous end. So far all is at least coherent. Immanuel, as a person, stands on the same level as Shear-jashub, representing a great idea to which Isaiah again appeals in Isaiah 8:8; Isaiah 8:10, but not identified with the Christ, or even with any expectations of the Christ. On the other hand, there are phenomena in Isaiah’s prophetic work at large which this explanation does not adequately include. The land of Israel at least appears to be described as in some peculiar sense the land of Immanuel (Isaiah 8:10).

CHAPTER VII The king of Judah and the royal family being in the utmost consternation on receiving accounts of the invasion of the kings of Syria and Israel, the prophet is sent to assure them that God would make good his promises to David and his house; so that, although they might be corrected, they could not be destroyed, while these prophecies remained to be accomplished, 1-9. The Lord gives Ahaz a sign that the confederacy against Judah shall be broken, which sign strikingly points out the miraculous conception of the Messiah, who was to spring from the tribe of Judah, 10-16. Prediction of very heavy calamities which the Assyrians would inflict upon the land of Judea, 17-25. The confederacy of Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, against the kingdom of Judah, was formed in the time of Jotham; and perhaps the effects of it were felt in the latter part of his reign; see 2Kg 15:37, and note on Isaiah 1:7-9. However, in the very beginning of the reign of Ahaz, they jointly invaded Judah with a powerful army, and threatened to destroy or to dethrone the house of David. The king and royal family being in the utmost consternation on receiving advises of their designs, Isaiah is sent to them to support and comfort them in their present distress, by assuring them that God would make good his promises to David and his house. This makes the subject of this, and the following, and the beginning of the ninth chapters, in which there are many and great difficulties. Chap. vii. begins with an historical account of the occasion of this prophecy; and then follows, Isaiah 7:4-16, a prediction of the ill success of the designs of the Israelites and Syrians against Judah; and from thence to the end of the chapter, a denunciation of the calamities to be brought upon the king and people of Judah by the Assyrians, whom they had now hired to assist them. Chap. viii. has a pretty close connection with the foregoing; it contains a confirmation of the prophecy before given of the approaching destruction of the kingdoms of Israel and Syria by the Assyrians, of the denunciation of the invasion of Judah by the same Assyrians. Verses 9, 10, Isaiah 8:9; Isaiah 8:10, give a repeated general assurance, that all the designs of the enemies of God's people shall be in the end disappointed and brought to naught; Isaiah 8:11, &c., admonitions and threatenings, (I do not attempt a more particular explanation of this very difficult part,) concluding with an illustrious prophecy Isaiah 9:1-6, of the manifestation of Messiah, the transcendent dignity of his character, and the universality and eternal duration of his kingdom. NOTES ON CHAP. VII

1. The genealogy of Ahaz seems unnecessary for the contemporaries of Isaiah, although it might be given to connect the passage with ch. Isaiah 6:1. The latter part of the verse closely resembles 2 Kings 16:5; and it is not improbable that the data were supplied by an editor from the historical book, in order to make the circumstances intelligible to later generations of readers. Originally the introduction may have run: “And in the days of Ahaz it was reported to the house of David,” &c. to war against it, but could not prevail against it] lit. to fight against it but were unable to fight against it. From 2 Kings 16:5 we learn that the city was blockaded. It was the object of the allies to take it by assault, but in this they were baffled, either by reason of the strength of the place, or because they were compelled to raise the siege. “Fight” means “fight at close quarters” as 2 Samuel 11:20 compared with Isaiah 7:1.

In the days of Ahaz - Ahaz began to reign about 738 years before Christ.

PART 2.Afflictions from Assyrian oppressions are assuaged by consolations from Immanuel, chapters 7-12.THE DIVINE SIGN.Apart from historical circumstances, the following prophecies cannot be understood.1.