Isaiah 7
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A Visit to King Ahaz
A Visit to King Ahaz
Last week we looked at the calling of Isaiah, He saw the Lord, high and lifted up there in the temple and it was here that Isaiah recognized his sin and two things happened.
Upon confessing his sin the Seraph brought a hot coal and touched his lips, cleansing him, purifying His life.
And when the Lord said Who will go for us, we see Isaiah words, Here am I, send me.
So there is his calling to serve the Lord, He will embody and work as a prophets over Judah and Benjamin, Jerusalem itself.
Now we come to chapter 7 and we see where the Lord first begins to use Isaiah. He is sending him to Uzziah’s son, Ahaz who is now king and a wicked one as well. So lets see what the Lord will say to us here.
So lets move forward and look at verses 1-2
1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
We open this and see war is at hand, there are powers including Israel who are coming up against their brothers in Jerusalem (this includes Judah and Benjamin.)
So we see the Kings of Syria and the king of Israel (those of the nothern 10 tribes). Remember that the nation of Israel has split in the past. There are 10 northern tribes and the southern kingdom was Judah and Benjamin.
So what has happened? There were several people trying to form a great alliance, Israel with Syria, and they wanted to join with the Southern kingdom and for a great joined nation. a powerful force. But they also wanted to over take Ahaz’s throne, and place a puppet King they could control. But their plan isn’t going to well.
This crisis was a direct threat to the house of David, to Ahaz and the people. The phrase the house of David is the threat is really against the Davidic line...
The phrase that Ahaz and the people shook at this threat reveals the weakness of their character. Do you trust yourself of man?
But they were never able to take the city...
3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field.
So the Lord instructed Isaiah to take his son, and go out to meet the King, Ahaz. he was to meet the King by a certain pool of water.
Now Isaiah’s son Shear-Jashub, whose means a remnant returns. His name suggests the nation will be reduced to a remnant and it will one day return to the land.
4 And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.
Here we see Isaiah’s meeting with the King and as the conversation begins, he admonishes Ahaz to Be Careful, Be Quiet, Do not Fear, and Do not let your heart grow faint.
Listen, this large Army is threatening and it is a worrisome time. But God has sent Isaiah there to encourage him at this point, not condemn him or his actions just yet.
Ahaz is worried, he is afraid, but God is encouraging him here to stop worrying, dont be afraid, this army would not be victorious.
Remember my friend, life and death, victory and defeat are all in the hands of the Lord, not us.
So Ahaz, do not be afraid....
Now look at verses 5-6
5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,”
God here reveals the plans of the enemy. I think one important thing we can take away from this is the truth that nothing is hidden from the Lord.
Their plan was to take the city, and the anion and set up a puppet kind, the son of Tabeel.
And so listen to what the Lord says of the outcome in verse 7-9
7 thus says the Lord God:
“ ‘It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you are not firm in faith,
you will not be firm at all.’ ”
It will fail, their efforts will not come to pass..... The Lord’s word is simple here...
But there is a challenge here, .... do you know what it is? Will he believe God.
This evil, will not come to pass. In fact the Lord says in 65 years, Ephraim, which also is a name of Israel, the Northern 10 tribes will be broken and disappear. They will be captured and taken into exile and they will never return as a people.
Now since God has said Syria and Israel will not last, the leaders of Jerusalem must stand firm.
But at the end of verse 9, God tells him that if your foundation will be broken unless you stand firm in your faith. The meaning here is to stand with God and not self or any of the false Gods in the world.
Ahaz we know will participate and lead the nation to participate in wicked things, but if he would heed the word of the Lord, there would be promises instead of curses available for him.
God wants everyone to trust and obey...
Now with verses 10-17 we come to a new section… God is going to reveal the sign of Immanuel.
Lets look at verses 10-13 Isa 7:10-13
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?
With the opening of verse 10 the Scriptures tell us that the word of the Lord came again to Ahaz from the Lord himself, via the prophet Isaiah.
God offered to provide a sign in nature to prove He was able to handle those armies who are coming to oppose him. But Ahaz rejects that saying he would not put the Lord to the test. This is inline with the Scriptures,
16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
But what we see here really isn’t the case, God is offering a sign, Ahaz didn’t ask for one, so it is not wrong in the sense of testing God.
Many think this might be a sign of false piety here on behalf of Ahaz, but truly he wasn’t interested in God or trusting God.
Because of his unwillingness to see God or hear from God in the form of this sign, God speaks to him..
Isaiah shares the word of the Lord and his condemnation for the “House of David.” Literally the royal court that is being led by Ahaz
Now look at verses 14-15 Isa 7:14-15
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
Here Isaiah describes the future plans of God, the plans that he has for you, and the nation. The woman is not identified in God’s prediction here, but her state is told, she is a virgin and the virgin would conceive and bear a son, and they would call his name Immanuel.
The name of this child, Immanuel, God with us magnifies the promise of God `That he will help, and be with his people, even in the midst of their punishment, their captivity God was with them and would help them in the days to come
And with verse 15 we can see some unique points here.. The child would grow up in poverty, eating of curds and honey are the diet of the poor. Jesus would grow up in a simple family, the child being raised by a carpentry.
The eating of curds and honey also reminds us that He knows purely what is good and right. In stark contrast to Ahaz and his kingdom, they do not know how to make good and right choices. The Son of God does...
16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”
We know that Ahaz will not face punishment yet, the nation of Israel will go into captivity first, Ahaz will receive a repressive if you will, but ultimately it is a chance or opportunity to turn, but he will not.
While Ahaz and his successors will soon fall, the Lord will restore the messianic kingdom of David.
18 In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.
The fly here is a play on words, it is a day coming when the Lord will call the enemies of his people to come and infest the land to over take his people. The phrase the Lord will whistle, means the superpowers of the world are at His beck and call.
20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.
The idea of shave is the indignities heaped on the people who will soon be taken into captivity. The idea of hiar form the head to the feet symbolized the totality of the land being taken
21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.
23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. 24 With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.
When you look at these last few verses the understanding is simple, the people will be left in poverty and the land in decay. Not enough labor will be left for sustainable farming and the people willl have to live just on the raising of animals, which is not enough income to sustain the people.
The people suffer becasue of sin,