Isaiah 7:6

6 They intend to invade Judah, terrify the people into joining their side, and then put Tabeel's son on the throne.

Isaiah 7:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 7:6

Let us go up against Judah, and vex it
By besieging or distressing it; or "stir it up" to war, as Jarchi interprets it: and let us make a breach therein for us;
in the walls of the city of Jerusalem, and enter in at it; the Targum is,

``let us join, and put it to us;''

and so Jarchi, let us level it with us, as this valley, which is even: the sense may be, let us make a breach and division among them, and then part the kingdom between us ^F3; or if we cannot agree on that, let us set up a king of our own, as follows: and set a king in the midst of it, [even] the son of Tabeal;
which Jarchi, by a situation of the alphabet the Jews call "albam", makes it to be the same with Remala, that is, Remaliah; and so supposes, that the intention was to set Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, over Judah; but it is not reasonable to think that the king of Syria should join in such a design; and besides, the method of interpretation, Aben Ezra says, is mere vanity; and whose sense of the words is much preferable, taking Tabeal to be the name of some great prince, either of Israel or of Syria; and so Kimchi thinks that he was a man of the children of Ephraim, whom they thought to make king in Jerusalem. The Targum understands not any particular person, but anyone that should be thought proper; and paraphrases it thus,

``let us appoint a king in the midst of it, who is right for us,''

or pleases us; the name seems to be Syriac, see ( Ezra 4:7 ) ( 1 Kings 15:18 ) . Dr. Lightfoot thinks it is the same with Tabrimmon, the name of some famous family in Syria. One signifies "good God": and the other "good Rimmon", which was the name of the idol of the Syrians, ( 2 Kings 5:18 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 So Noldius, Elr. Concord. Part. p. 62. renders its "let us divide it among us".

Isaiah 7:6 In-Context

4 Tell him to keep alert, to stay calm, and not to be frightened or disturbed. The anger of King Rezin and his Syrians and of King Pekah is no more dangerous than the smoke from two smoldering sticks of wood.

5 Syria, together with Israel and its king, has made a plot.

6 They intend to invade Judah, terrify the people into joining their side, and then put Tabeel's son on the throne.

7 "But I, the Lord, declare that this will never happen.

8 Why? Because Syria is no stronger than Damascus, its capital city, and Damascus is no stronger than King Rezin. As for Israel, within sixty-five years it will be too shattered to survive as a nation.