Isaiah 7
McGeeCHAPTER 7THEME: Prediction of the virgin birth of Immanuel and of Assyria’s invasion of JudahVerses Isa_7:1 and Isa_7:2 of this chapter speak of the civil war between Judah and Israel with Syria allied to Israel, resulting in a state of fear in Judah. Verses Isa_7:3-9 tell us about the conduit of the upper pool where Isaiah and his son Shear-jashub meet Ahaz, king of Judah, with an encouraging word from the Lord. Verses Isa_7:10-16 speak of the confirmation by the sign of the virgin birth to the house of David when Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign. Verses Isa_7:17-25 tell of the coming invasion of the land of Judah by Assyria, which is predicted as a judgment.
Isaiah 7:1
In 2Ki_16:2 we read, “Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.” The prophecy of chapter 7 follows the call and commission of Isaiah in chapter 6, which took place at the death of Uzziah. Jotham, his son, succeeded him to the throne; and he reigned sixteen years. In 2Ki_15:32-34 we are told, “In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign. Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.” Jotham was a good king, as was his father Uzziah. Ahaz, Jotham’s son, succeeds him, and he does that which is evil. Ahaz will reign for sixteen years, and he will be a very bad king indeed. There will be a time of civil war during his reign. It will be a time of great distress in Israel. If you want to know just how bad things were, the record is in 2Ki_16:3-4: “But he [Ahaz] walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.” Ahaz is a bad egg, I can assure you of that, and he is frightened because Israel in the north teamed up with Syria, and they are coming against him. Although they do not prevail at first, Ahaz has every reason to believe that they finally will prevail.
Isaiah 7:2
Ahaz cannot expect the blessing of God upon him or the nation. As a result, the alliance of Rezin, king of Syria, with Pekah, king of Israel, terrifies him and his people. Previously both Syria and Israel had attempted to take Judah. Alone they could not prevail, but together Ahaz is confident that they will be able to take Jerusalem. In spite of the fact that Ahaz is a godless king, God is not yet ready to let the people of Judah go into captivity. As we already know from history, Judah is not going to go into captivity in the north, but many years later they will be taken captive to Babylon.
Isaiah 7:3
Because God is not ready to deliver the kingdom of Judah into captivity, He wants to encourage the king so he will not make an unwise and frantic alliance with Egypt. So God tells Isaiah to meet with Ahaz. There are several things we need to look at in this verse. First of all, Isaiah is to meet Ahaz “at the end of the conduit of the upper pool.” The place where he is to meet the king is suggestive. It is from this conduit that the life-giving waters pour for thirsty Jerusalem. It is here that the people can quench their thirst. You can’t get much satisfaction from a pipe filled with wateryou must have a spigot on it somewhere. You must go to the place where the water comes out of the pipe. Now this is symbolic of the fact that you are not going to get any blessing out of that house of David, but way down at the end of his line One is coming as the “water of life.” That One was the Lord Jesus Christ. He came in the line of David to bring the water of life. Isaiah is to meet the king at the upper “pool.” The word for “pool” is berekah from the root word meaning “blessing.” I can assure you that in that land a pool of water is a blessing. This same word used in Psa_84:6, “…the rain also filleth the pools [berakah],” everywhere else is rendered “blessing.” This is a very interesting thing. Notice also that it is “the upper pool.” Upper is the word used over thirty times for the Most High. You may recall that it was said of the one who came out to minister to Abraham that he was the priest of the Most High God (see Gen_14:18). Now the blessing of the Most High God was given “at the end of the conduit” when Jesus came into the world. “In the highway of the fuller’s field.” The highway is a path which is elevated above the surrounding land to keep the traveler’s feet clean. The spiritual application of the word highway is made clear in Pro_16:17: “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil….” This highway is the way of holiness…Isaiah will use this same figure in Isa_35:8: “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness….” This very interesting symbolism refers to the One who is the way, the truth, and the life. The psalmist wrote in Psa_84:5: “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.” That is, blessed is the one who has the One who is the way, the truth, and the life. Notice also that the meeting was to take place in the “fuller’s field.” The fuller’s field was the place where folk went to wash their clothes. It was the laundry of that day. Applying this to our own lives, if we want to get our lives cleansed, we must come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “…ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (Joh_15:3). So you see, it is no accident that Isaiah is sent to this very interesting place for his meeting with Ahaz. It has a wonderful spiritual meaning for us. Isaiah is told to take his son Shear-jashub with him. That is quite a name for a boy, but it is nothing compared to the second son whom we shall meet in chapter 8. Shear-jashub means “a remnant shall return.” The interesting thing is that God has always had a remnant that was true to Him.
Isaiah 7:4
The tenor of the message is to let Ahaz know that he need not fear the alliance of his two enemies in the north. God has determined that their venture will be a failure. The problem is, how will Ahaz know it? To begin with, he is a skeptic, a doubter, and an unbeliever. How will he be convinced that what Isaiah is saying is true? God has never asked anyone to believe anything that does not rest upon a foundation. Faith does not mean to move blindly into some area and say, “Oh, I am trusting God.” That is very foolish. God never asks us to do that. For example, in our salvation we do not bring a little lamb to offer as a sacrifice; our faith rests upon the historical facts of the death, the burial and the resurrection of the Son of God. God never asks us to take a leap in the dark. He asks us to believe and trust something which rests upon a firm foundation, and it is the only foundation, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1Co_3:11).
If any person is an honest unbeliever and sincerely wants to know God, he will come to a saving faith. Folk with whom I have dealt who say that they cannot believe are not being honest. For example, a young fellow in San Francisco told me, “Oh, I want to believe; I am searching for the truth.” There he was, living with a girl in an adulterous relationship and saying that he was searching for the truth! The fact of the matter is that no man’s eyes are blindfolded unless he himself chooses to be blindfolded. If a person really wants to know God and will give up his sin and turn to Christ, God will make Himself real to him. In our day the problem is that a great many folk do not really mean business with God. That is the problem with King Ahazhe doesn’t mean business with God. Listen to him
Isaiah 7:10
God knows that Ahaz does not have faith, and He is willing to give the king faith; but Ahaz is nothing but a pious fraudand there are a lot of those around today. Listen to his false piety:
Isaiah 7:12
Isn’t that sweet of him? He sounds so nice, but he is one of the biggest hypocrites you will find in Scripture. This sort of thing is sickening, and I believe God feels that way about it.
Isaiah 7:13
I hope you won’t mind my telling a little story. One day, in a Sunday school class for junior boys and girls, the teacher was telling the story about the Good Samaritan. As she related the parable, she was painting a vivid picture. She told how the man fell among thieves, how he was beaten up, and blood was gushing out from the wounds in his body. She told about the priest and the Pharisee, and finally she came to the Good Samaritan. She wanted to clinch her presentation by making an application to the lives of the children.
She first asked a little girl, “What would you have done?” She said, “Oh, I would have stayed and nursed him for a few days.” The next little boy didn’t want to be outdone, so he said, “And I would have brought him a box of candy.” The teacher went around the class with her question, and finally came to a little girl who had a very distressed look on her face. The teacher said to her, “What would you have done?” She said, “I think I would have thrown up!” Believe me, the teacher had painted a gory picture, and that little girl was being honest. I think God feels that way about our piosity. My friend, don’t think you are being pious when you say, “Oh, I won’t test God.” God says, “Test Me. Try Me, and see if I am not good.” I actually feel fatigued when I talk to some folk who say that they are just going to step out on “faith.” Oh, my friend, wait until God puts a rock underneath you. Wait until God gives you definite leading before you make a fool of yourself and bring criticism upon the cause of Christ. God says to this unbelieving king, “I’m not asking you to believe My message just because Isaiah said it. I want to put a foundation under it. I want to give you a supernatural sign so you will know that the message is from Me.” But Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign. So God is going to give a signnot to Ahazbut to the whole house of David.
Isaiah 7:14
God puts a foundation under His prophecy; and, if you want to know whether or not the virgin birth is true, you can find out if you read the four Gospels. For example, in Matthew we read, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Mat_1:18-23). Isa_7:14 has become one of the most controversial verses in Scripture because of the prophecy concerning the virgin birth. Unbelievers have quite naturally discounted it and have sought desperately, but in vain, for a loophole to reject the virgin birth. The battle has been waged about the meaning of the Hebrew word almah, which is translated “virgin.” The fact that the angel quotes this prophecy in Isa_7:14 to Joseph as an explanation for Mary’s being with child before her marriage to him is satisfactory evidence that the prophecy referred to an unmarried woman who had a son without physical contact with any man. The word used by Matthew (see Mat_1:23) is the Greek word parthenos, which definitely means “virgin.” The same Greek word was used for the Parthenon, the Greek temple to the goddess Athena, which the Greeks characterized as being a virgin. When the Revised Standard Version of the Bible was first published, the Hebrew word almah was translated “young woman,” with “virgin” in the footnotesof course, it should have been reversed. Their argument was that almah meant only a young woman. While it is true that there are places in the Scriptures where it is translated “young woman,” it is evident that it means “virgin.” For example, when Abraham’s servant went to Haran in search of a bride for Isaac and he prayed that God would direct him to the right girl, this is how Rebekah was described: “And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her …” (Gen_24:16). The word damsel is the Hebrew word naarah, meaning “young woman,” but that she was a virgin was made clear also. Then when the servant was rehearsing this experience of praying for God’s guidance, he said, “Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water …” (Gen_24:43), the Hebrew word almah is translated “virgin.” I don’t think that anyone could misunderstand what is being said here. When the word almah was used, it referred to a virgin young woman, that is, one who had had no sexual relationship with a man. When the liberal theologian says that the Bible does not teach the virgin birth of Jesus, I feel like asking him if his papa had talked to him when he was a boy about the birds and the bees. He can deny that he believes in the virgin birth of Jesus, but he cannot deny that Isaiah and Matthew are talking about the virgin birth of Jesus. Notice again Isaiah’s prophecy: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah said that His name would be Immanuel, but you cannot find any place in the Gospels where He is called by that name. Immanuel means “God with us.” They called Him “Jesus” because He would save His people from their sins. But, friend, He cannot save the people from their sins unless He is Immanuel, “God with us.” Every time you call Him Jesus, you are saying, “God with us.” He is God. He is God with us and God for us. He is our Savior, born of a virgin. Have you put your trust in Him? When Isaiah gave this prophecy in Isa_7:14, someone probably came to him and said, “When will this take place?” I have a notion that Isaiah looked down through the centuries and said, “It will be a long time.” Then how would the people of his generation know the prediction was true? The virgin birth of Christ would come to pass, just as Isaiah said it would, because God had spoken through Isaiah on many other things that were fulfilled during the days in which he spoke them. One of them was his prophecy about Hezekiah and the Assyrians, which we shall see in the historic section of Isaiah. The Assyrians once gathered outside the walls of Jerusalem, and they were 150,000 strong. Things looked bad for Jerusalem. It looked as if the city would fall.
So Hezekiah went into the temple, got down on his knees, and fell on his face before God. He cried out for deliverance, and God sent Isaiah to him with a message. Isaiah told Hezekiah that he didn’t have to worry. The Assyrians would not come into the city, nor would they take it. In fact, Isaiah told the king that not even one arrow would be shot into Jerusalem. There were 150,000 soldiers outside the walls of Jerusalem, and each soldier had a quiver full of arrows on his back and a bow in his hand.
You would think that out of that many soldiers there would be one that was trigger-happy, one who would shoot an arrow over the wall just to see if anyone would yell. If just one soldier had shot one arrow over the all into the city, Isaiah would have rightly been declared a false prophet. But no arrows were shot; the city was spared. What Isaiah had told Hezekiah came true. And the New Testament bears witness to the fact that the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus came to pass exactly as Isaiah had predicted.
Isaiah 7:15
Jesus was reared as a poor peasant in Palestine. This food was the simple diet of the poor.
Isaiah 7:16
This verse would be fulfilled by the time the Messiah came. This seemed unlikely in Ahaz’ day.