Isaiah 7:1
Ahaz — A most wicked king: yet no prophecies are more comfortable than those which were delivered in his time; God so ordering it for the encouragement of the faithful that lived under his impious reign.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ahaz — A most wicked king: yet no prophecies are more comfortable than those which were delivered in his time; God so ordering it for the encouragement of the faithful that lived under his impious reign.... [ Continue Reading ]
David — Ahaz, and his relations. He calls them the house of David, to intimate that the following comfortable message was sent to Ahaz, not for his own sake, but for the sake of his worthy progenitor David. Ephraim — The kingdom of the ten tribes, commonly called Ephraim, because that was the most n... [ Continue Reading ]
Thy son — Whose very name carried in it a sign and pledge of the promised deliverance, signifying, The remnant shall return. Fuller's field — Whither he probably went to take care about the waters which thence were brought into the city, to secure them to himself, or keep them from the enemy, as Hez... [ Continue Reading ]
Be quiet — Settle thy mind by the belief of that joyful message which I am now to deliver thee from the Lord. Fire — brands — They are not whole fire — brands, but small pieces or ends of them, taken out of the fire, in which there is more smoak than fire. They have more of shew and terror, than of... [ Continue Reading ]
Let us — Break their power and kingdom and subdue it to ourselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
It — Their evil counsel.... [ Continue Reading ]
Damascus — Damascus shall still continue the capital of the kingdom of Syria; and therefore Jerusalem shall not become a part of Rezin's dominion: but he shall keep within his own bounds, and be king of Damascus only.... [ Continue Reading ]
Samaria — Samaria shall continue to be the chief city if the kingdom of Israel, and Pekah shall not conquer Jerusalem. If — If you do not believe this, but seek to the Assyrians for succour, ye shall be consumed thereby.... [ Continue Reading ]
I will not — By asking a sign, as if I questioned the truth of his word: but this was deep hypocrisy.... [ Continue Reading ]
David — He reproves them all, because they were the king's counsellors. Is it a small thing — Is it not wickedness enough. My God — To vex God's prophets and people, with your oppressions and horrid impieties. And by your ingratitude and unbelief, and disobedience of his commands.... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore — Because you despise me, and the sign which I now offer to you, God of his own free grace will send you a more honourable messenger, and give you a nobler sign. A sign — Of your deliverance. But how was this birth, which was not to happen 'till many ages after, a sign of their deliverance... [ Continue Reading ]
Butter — The common food of children in that country. He — The virgin's son. Know — To discern between things good and evil.... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea — Not only this land shall be preserved until the virgin's son shall be born, but thine enemies land shall be sorely scourged, and these two kings destroyed within a very little time. This child — Shear — Jashub, whom in all probability the prophet pointed at, and who was brought hither by God's... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall bring — But altho' God will deliver you at this time, yet he will requite all your wickedness. Thee — For part of this Assyrian storm fell in Ahaz's reign. And — Upon thy sons and successors, the kings of Judah. Days — Calamities. Departed — When ten tribes revolted from thy father's house. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
The fly — The flies. So he calls these enemies, to imply their great numbers. In — In their extremity, where they go out into the sea. Rivers — Of the river Nile, which may be called rivers, either for its greatness, or because towards the end of it, it is divided into seven streams. When the Chalde... [ Continue Reading ]
Valleys — Such as they found fruitful, but made desolate. Rocks — To which possibly the Israelites fled for refuge. Bushes — Which he mentions because flies and bees use frequently to rest there; and to intimate, that no place should escape their fury.... [ Continue Reading ]
Shave — Utterly spoil, as shaving takes away the hair. Hired — By Ahaz, who did hire them, 2 Kings 16:7. And so the prophet notes the just judgment of God, in scourging them with a rod of their own making. By — By the successive kings of the Assyrian empire, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and especially b... [ Continue Reading ]
Sheep — They who formerly used to keep great herds of cattle, and many flocks of sheep, shall esteem it a happiness if they can keep but one cow and two sheep.... [ Continue Reading ]
Abundance — Because they shall have large pastures, by reason of the great scarcity of cattle. Butter — Which the poorer sort had formerly used to sell, to procure them cheaper food for themselves: but now the land should be so destitute of people, that there were none to whom they could sell them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of silver — Each of the thousand vineyards might have been sold or let for a thousand shekels, which was the yearly rent of some excellent vineyards.... [ Continue Reading ]
With arrows — Either to hunt, or to defend themselves from wild beasts, which commonly abide in desolate grounds.... [ Continue Reading ]
Digged — That used to be digged and dressed for the planting of vines, or other choice fruit — trees. The fear — That they might be freed from briars and thorns. Cattle — All sorts of cattle may enter, and feed there, the fences being broken down, and the owners slain, or carried into captivity.... [ Continue Reading ]