Isaiah 7:4

A THREEFOLD COUNSEL

Isaiah 7:4. Take heed, and be quiet; fear not.

I. “Take heed.” This is just what Ahaz fancied he was doing. He was taking heed to the alliance which had been formed for his overthrow, and he was at that very moment doing his best to frustrate it—by strengthening the fortifications of Jerusalem, and by summoning the king of Assyria to his help. This seemed to him and his court supremely wise: it was eminently foolish. He was taking heed exclusively to the danger, and had no attention left for the divinely-provided defence against it. That defence lay in God’s promise made to David (2 Samuel 7:12). From one point of view, it may be said that in allying themselves for the destruction of the royal house of David, Rezin, Pekah, and the son of Tabeal embarked on an enterprise foredoomed to failure; they might as well have conspired to prevent the sun from rising any more in the east. That the descendants of David should reign in Jerusalem and that the sun should rise in the east, were both guaranteed by the same thing—the will and appointment of God. Resistance was as vain in the one case as in the other—that is, while the conditions attached to the promise made to David were observed. For there were conditions attached to it (1 Chronicles 28:9; 2 Chronicles 15:2). It was to this great promise and to its essential conditions that God would have Ahaz “take heed.”

“Take heed” is good counsel to give to every man standing in covenant relations with God. Many of us stand in such relations to Him, both as the result of the relations in which our parents stood to Him (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 7:9, &c.), and as the result of our personal acts; “the seed of the righteous,” we have ourselves voluntarily taken the Lord to be our God, and have solemnly sworn to walk before Him in righteousness all the days of our life. Let us then evermore “take heed” to this covenant which God has condescended to make with us. It lays upon us great responsibilities, but it secures to us glorious privileges. Conspicuous among them is this, that we need not fear the might of any of our adversaries, whether they be those of the body or of the soul (Isaiah 54:17).

II. “Be quiet.” Or better, “And be quiet.” Quietness would follow naturally from right heed-taking. What was Ahaz doing? He was straining every nerve to do for himself what God had promised to do for him. God had promised to defend Zion and her king, and if Ahaz had had faith in God’s promise, the appeal to Assyria for succour would never have been made. Alas! how often have better men than Ahaz failed in this very respect. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the founders of the Hebrew nation, all fell into grievous sin through that want of faith in God’s promises which led them to try to do for themselves what God had promised to do for them (cf. Genesis 15:1; Genesis 20:11; Genesis 26:3; Genesis 26:7; Genesis 25:23; Genesis 27:24). To what a shameful state of degradation was David brought by the same cause (cf. 1 Samuel 16:13; 1 Samuel 21:12). How many imitators they have had! God has promised that His people shall be safe and prosperous; but not taking heed to His promises, to how many tricks and devices have they had recourse to secure for themselves the blessing God would surely have sent to them if they had been obedient and believing, and into what shame, misery, and ruin have they plunged themselves [796] Let their sins be to us as beacons; let us “take heed” to God’s covenant on both its sides, and be quiet (Psalms 37:3).

[796] See Homiletic Encyclopœdia of Illustrations, Nos. 173–175, 2017.

III. “Fear not.” Yet there seemed good reason for fear. It was really a powerful confederacy that threatened Ahaz with destruction. Looked at on its human side, it was no groundless panic that had smitten him and his people. Yet the pain of mind and heart which they endured (Isaiah 7:2), they endured needlessly. They were really in no danger from their enemies. Their danger lay only in the unbelief and stubbornness of their own hearts. They had but to return to the Lord and they would find Him a refuge and strong tower, as their fathers had done aforetime. “Fear not” is the counsel which I give to God’s people to-day. Some of you are fearing greatly; some concerning temporal things, some lest the spiritual conflict you are waging should issue in defeat and eternal ruin. “Take heed” to the promises God has made to you in both these respects; “be quiet,” and fret not yourselves in any wise to do evil; with calm and courageous hope wait for the fulfilment of those promises; instead of yielding to distressing, utterly unnecessary, and God-dishonouring fears, say with David (Psalms 27:1; Psalms 34:22).

HEEDFULNESS

Isaiah 7:4. Take heed.

The Hebrew word signifies, to prevent or keep off any evil with which we are threatened. The direction ought to extend to all that we do; for not one duty can be rightly performed without diligent attention, and it is no less incumbent upon us than upon the king and people of Judah (H. E. I. 4880–4890). It is a necessary and useful caution, which ought to be reduced to practice at all times, especially in seasons of perplexity and distress, such as that wherein Ahaz and his subjects received this admonition.

1. Take heed to your senses, particularly what you see and hear; for these are the avenues by which sin and vanity, or wisdom and instruction, enter into the heart (H. E. I. 4895).

2. Take heed to your actions, what you do, and how you act, and for what purpose you are employed, that you may happily avoid the many sins and dangers to which you are exposed, and attain the great ends which you ought uniformly to pursue.

3. Take heed to your tongue, that you sin not with your mouth; consider wisely what you say, to whom you speak, and to what purpose, especially when your minds are fretted, and when you feel yourselves under the influence of timidity and disappointment (P. D. 3558, 3559).

4. Take heed to your hearts, and keep them with all diligence, for out of them are the issues of life; attend to the secret operations of your minds, and the objects on which your affections terminate, that you may perceive whether they are properly moderated and directed (H. E. I. 2695–2705, 4887; P. D. 1735).—Robert Macculloch: Lectures on Isaiah vol. i. p. 395.