Isaiah 7:1-25
1-16. Isaiah assures Ahaz by a sign that Judah will be delivered from Syria and Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
1-16. Isaiah assures Ahaz by a sign that Judah will be delivered from Syria and Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
See prefatory note to the section.... [ Continue Reading ]
EPHRAIM] the popular name for the northern kingdom (Isaiah 9:8). HIS HEART WAS MOVED] i.e. the heart of king Ahaz, because of the formidable confederacy against him. Serious reverses suffered by Judah at this time are recorded in 2 Chronicles 28:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHEAR-JASHUB] i.e. 'a remnant shall return.' Already in the reign of Ahaz the prophet had summed up the characteristic feature of his teaching (see on Isaiah 6:13) in a symbolic name given to his son. Similarly he called another son Maher-shalal-hash-baz ('spoil speedeth, prey hasteth') that he migh... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER BE FAINTHEARTED, etc.] RV 'let not thine heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking firebrands.' The prophet regards them as no more than expiring torches.... [ Continue Reading ]
TABEAL] the name is Syrian, not Hebrew: see prefatory note.... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHIN THREESCORE, etc.] We should probably regard this prophecy as fulfilled when the power of the northern kingdom was finally broken by the importation of foreigners under Esarhaddon (Ezra 4:2). On account of the manner in which this prediction interrupts the parallelism, some modern scholars reg... [ Continue Reading ]
The need of faith is emphasised; without it there is no security.... [ Continue Reading ]
ASK THEE A SIGN] to prove that he may trust in Jehovah's promise. Ahaz's choice should be unlimited, he might ask a sign in heaven or from the nether world.... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER WILL I TEMPT, etc.] Ahaz gives utterance to a sound principle (Deuteronomy 6:16). But Jehovah had offered a sign, and to refuse it showed distrust of God. Ahaz had already made up his mind to the Assyrian alliance and cloaks his self-will with the language of faith.... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet's indignation.... [ Continue Reading ]
A VIRGIN] The Hebrew word is not the distinctive one for virginity, but denotes rather one of maturing and marriageable age: cp. e.g. Genesis 24:43; Exodus 2:8. In the first place, this prophecy must have been intended by Isaiah as a sign of encouragement to Ahaz—before a child, shortly to be born,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUTTER (RM 'CURDS') AND HONEY] i.e. simple pastoral products, not bread and meat, because the land has gone out of cultivation: the 'honey' was probably wild honey. That privation is implied is clear from the context (Isaiah 7:20). THAT HE MAY KNOW] so some ancient versions, but better, 'when he kno... [ Continue Reading ]
Though the child about to be born must in his early years endure privation, yet before he comes to years of discretion Judah's present enemies shall be brought to nought. THE LAND, etc.] RV 'the land whose two kings thou abhorrest' (i.e. 'fearest horribly) 'shall be forsaken.' 17-25. The disastrous... [ Continue Reading ]
EPHRAIM DEPARTED] alluding to the disruption of the kingdom in Rehoboam's reign. Since Ephraim was the most powerful of the seceding tribes the northern kingdom was called by its name (Isaiah 7:2; Isaiah 9:8).... [ Continue Reading ]
HISS] see Isaiah 5:28.... [ Continue Reading ]
DESOLATE] RV 'rugged.' BUSHES] RV 'pastures.'... [ Continue Reading ]
A RAZOR THAT IS HIRED] The reference is to Ahaz's policy of calling in the aid of Tiglath-pileser. Retribution would come through that very power on which Ahaz relied, and the land would be laid bare. 21-25. A pastoral life will be the only possible one, because the land is laid waste, and where vi... [ Continue Reading ]
The v. means there will be curds and wild honey, and nothing else.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY PLACE, etc.] RV 'every place, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, shall even be for briers and thorns.' SILVERLINGS] i.e. pieces of silver, shekels; 1,000 shekels would be an average price.... [ Continue Reading ]
RV 'And all the hills that were digged with the mattock, thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers and thorns.' Vines were usually grown on terraces on the hills of Palestine. LESSER CATTLE] RV 'sheep.' THE SYRO-EPHRAIMITE INVASION The group of prophecies contained in this section belongs to t... [ Continue Reading ]