Isaiah 7

The Sign of Immanuel

1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.

2 Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with^[a] Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.

3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub,^[b] to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.

4 Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.

5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying,

6 “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”

7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “ ‘It will not take place, it will not happen,

8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’ ”

10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz,

11 “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.”

13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you^[c] a sign: The virgin^[d] will conceive and give birth to a son, and^[e] will call him Immanuel.^[f]

15 He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,

16 for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”

Assyria, the LORD’s Instrument

18 In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.

19 They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes.

20 In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—to shave your heads and private parts, and to cut off your beards also.

21 In that day, a person will keep alive a young cow and two goats.

22 And because of the abundance of the milk they give, there will be curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey.

23 In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels,^[g] there will be only briers and thorns.

24 Hunters will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns.

25 As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.

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Isaiah 7 Commentary

Chapter 7

Ahaz threatened by Israel and Syria; and is assured their attack would be in vain. (1-9) God gives a sure sign by the promise of the long-expected Messiah. (10-16) The folly and sin of seeking relief from Assyria are reproved. (17-25)

Verses 1-9 Ungodly men are often punished by others as bad as themselves. Being in great distress and confusion, the Jews gave up all for lost. They had made God their enemy, and knew not how to make him their friend. The prophet must teach them to despise their enemies, in faith and dependence on God. Ahaz, in fear, called them two powerful princes. No, says the prophet, they are but tails of smoking firebrands, burnt out already. The two kingdoms of Syria and Israel were nearly expiring. While God has work for the firebrands of the earth, they consume all before them; but when their work is fulfilled, they will be extinguished in smoke. That which Ahaz thought most formidable, is made the ground of their defeat; because they have taken evil counsel against thee; which is an offence to God. God scorns the scorners, and gives his word that the attempt should not succeed. Man purposes, but God disposes. It was folly for those to be trying to ruin their neighbours, who were themselves near to ruin. Isaiah must urge the Jews to rely on the assurances given them. Faith is absolutely necessary to quiet and compose the mind in trials.

Verses 10-16 Secret disaffection to God is often disguised with the colour of respect to him; and those who are resolved that they will not trust God, yet pretend they will not tempt him. The prophet reproved Ahaz and his court, for the little value they had for Divine revelation. Nothing is more grievous to God than distrust, but the unbelief of man shall not make the promise of God of no effect; the Lord himself shall give a sign. How great soever your distress and danger, of you the Messiah is to be born, and you cannot be destroyed while that blessing is in you. It shall be brought to pass in a glorious manner; and the strongest consolations in time of trouble are derived from Christ, our relation to him, our interest in him, our expectations of him and from him. He would grow up like other children, by the use of the diet of those countries; but he would, unlike other children, uniformly refuse the evil and choose the good. And although his birth would be by the power of the Holy Ghost, yet he should not be fed with angels' food. Then follows a sign of the speedy destruction of the princes, now a terror to Judah. "Before this child," so it may be read; "this child which I have now in my arms," (Shear-jashub, the prophet's own son, ver. ( Isaiah 7:3 ) ,) shall be three or four years older, these enemies' forces shall be forsaken of both their kings. The prophecy is so solemn, the sign is so marked, as given by God himself after Ahaz rejected the offer, that it must have raised hopes far beyond what the present occasion suggested. And, if the prospect of the coming of the Divine Saviour was a never-failing support to the hopes of ancient believers, what cause have we to be thankful that the Word was made flesh! May we trust in and love Him, and copy his example.

Verses 17-25 Let those who will not believe the promises of God, expect to hear the alarms of his threatenings; for who can resist or escape his judgments? The Lord shall sweep all away; and whomsoever he employs in any service for him, he will pay. All speaks a sad change of the face of that pleasant land. But what melancholy change is there, which sin will not make with a people? Agriculture would cease. Sorrows of every kind will come upon all who neglect the great salvation. If we remain unfruitful under the means of grace, the Lord will say, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 67

1. S 1 Chronicles 3:13
2. S ver 8; S 2 Kings 15:37
3. 2 Chronicles 28:5
4. S 2 Kings 15:25
5. ver 5,9; Isaiah 8:6
6. ver 13; S 2 Samuel 7:11; Isaiah 16:5; Isaiah 22:22; Jeremiah 21:12; Amos 9:11
7. Isaiah 9:9; Hosea 5:3
8. Isaiah 6:4; Daniel 5:6
9. Isaiah 10:21-22
10. 2 Kings 18:17; Isaiah 36:2
11. Isaiah 30:15; Lamentations 3:26
12. S Genesis 15:1; S Deuteronomy 3:2; Isaiah 8:12; Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah 37:6; Matthew 24:6
13. S Deuteronomy 20:3; S Isaiah 21:4
14. Amos 4:11; Zechariah 3:2
15. Isaiah 10:24; Isaiah 51:13; Isaiah 54:14
16. S 2 Kings 15:27
17. S ver 1
18. ver 2
19. Isaiah 24:3; Isaiah 25:8; Isaiah 28:16
20. Psalms 2:1; Isaiah 8:10; Isaiah 14:24; Isaiah 28:18; Isaiah 40:8; Isaiah 46:10; Acts 4:25
21. S Genesis 14:15
22. ver 1; Isaiah 9:11
23. 2 Kings 17:24; Isaiah 8:4; Isaiah 17:1-3
24. S 2 Kings 15:29; Isaiah 9:9; Isaiah 28:1,3
25. S Psalms 20:8; Isaiah 8:10; Isaiah 40:8
26. 2 Chronicles 20:20
27. Isaiah 8:6-8; Isaiah 30:12-14
28. S Exodus 7:9; S Deuteronomy 13:2
29. Psalms 139:8
30. Deuteronomy 4:34
31. S ver 2
32. S Genesis 30:15
33. S Isaiah 1:14
34. Psalms 63:1; Psalms 118:28; Isaiah 25:1; Isaiah 49:4; Isaiah 61:10
35. S Exodus 3:12; S Luke 2:12
36. S Genesis 24:43
37. S Genesis 3:15; Luke 1:31
38. S Genesis 21:22; Isaiah 8:8,10; Matthew 1:23*
39. S Genesis 18:8
40. ver 22
41. Isaiah 8:4
42. Deuteronomy 1:39
43. S Deuteronomy 13:16; Isaiah 17:3; Jeremiah 7:15; Hosea 5:9,13; Amos 1:3-5
44. 1 Kings 12:16
45. S ver 20; S 2 Chronicles 28:20
46. ver 20,21; S Isaiah 2:11
47. S Isaiah 5:26
48. Isaiah 13:5
49. S Isaiah 2:19
50. ver 25; Isaiah 17:9; Isaiah 34:13; Isaiah 55:13
51. S ver 18
52. Isaiah 10:15; Isaiah 29:16
53. Isaiah 11:15; Jeremiah 2:18
54. ver 17; 2 Kings 18:16; Isaiah 8:7; Isaiah 10:5
55. S 2 Samuel 10:4
56. S Deuteronomy 28:49
57. ver 23; Isaiah 2:17
58. Jeremiah 39:10
59. S Genesis 18:8
60. ver 15; Isaiah 14:30
61. ver 21
62. Song of Songs 8:11
63. S Isaiah 5:6; Hosea 2:12
64. S Isaiah 5:6
65. Haggai 1:11
66. S ver 19
67. S Isaiah 5:17

Footnotes 7

[a]. Or "has set up camp in"
[b]. "Shear-Jashub" means "a remnant will return."
[c]. The Hebrew is plural.
[d]. Or "young woman"
[e]. Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls "son, and he" or "son, and they"
[f]. "Immanuel" means "God with us."
[g]. That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 7

This chapter contains a prophecy of the preservation of the kingdom of Judah, from its enemies; a confirmation of it by a sign; and a prediction of various calamities that should come upon it, antecedent to the accomplishment of that sign. The enemies of Judea are named, and the besieging of Jerusalem by them, and the date of it, which was without effect, are mentioned, Isa 7:1 the fear and dread which seized the house of David upon the news of this confederacy, Isa 7:2 the orders given by the Lord to the Prophet Isaiah, to take with him his son, and meet Ahaz, at a certain place pointed at, Isa 7:3 whose errand was to comfort him, and exhort him to be quiet and easy; since the conspiracy formed against him should be fruitless, and the kingdom of Israel should be broken to pieces, Isa 7:4-9 after which the king is put upon asking a sign of the Lord, for the confirmation of it; which he refusing to do, under a pretence of tempting the Lord, is reproved; and a sign nevertheless is given; which is that of the birth of the Messiah of a virgin, who would be truly God, as his name Immanuel shows, and truly man, as his birth, his food, and gradual knowledge of good and evil, prove, Isa 7:10-15 yea, it is suggested that the deliverance of Judea from the two kings of Syria and Israel should be very speedy; even before the young child Isaiah had with him was capable of knowing to refuse evil, and chose good, Isa 7:16 but as a chastisement of the house of David for their incredulity in this matter, and slight of the divine goodness, various things are threatened to befall them, before the birth of the Messiah; even such as had not been since the revolt of the ten tribes; as that their enemies, the Assyrians and others, should come upon them in great numbers, and fill all places, so that they would be in the utmost distress, and not be able to escape, Isa 7:17-19 there would be a great consumption of men of all sorts, high and low, signified by shaving off the hair of the head, beard, and feet; so that the few that remained would enjoy plenty, Isa 7:20-22 and for want of men to till the land, it would be covered with thorns and briers; and because of wild beasts, the few men in it would be obliged to defend themselves with bows and arrows, Isa 7:23,24 and yet, after this, the land should become fruitful again, before the Messiah's coming, Isa 7:25, as some interpret it.