Isaiah 8

We left off with the calling of Isaiah into prophetic ministry as he experienced the whoa, lo, and go.

To understand the events of chapter 7 it is important to look back over the life of King Ahaz in 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chronicles 28 since that is who is in power and thus what is being referenced in this chapter.

Ahaz may be the worst king in Judah’s history. in 2 Kings 16 we saw right off the bat that he not only acted like the wicked kings of Israel, but even worse he even sacrificed his own son to Molech...

But as we look at his reign the issues of importance for Isaiah 7 is what is found in 2 Kings 16 verses 5-18.

Pekah the king of Israel was trying to team up with Syria to keep Assyria from invading and destroying Israel. Judah was in the way of Pekah’s plans so they came together to destroy Judah. Pekah may have been worried that Judah and Assyria would join together to destroy Israel so he attacked them.

In fact the book of 2 Chronicles tells us about the great destruction that Rezin and Pekah caused.

2 Chronicles 28:5–8 NKJV

5 Therefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria. They defeated him, and carried away a great multitude of them as captives, and brought them to Damascus. Then he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him with a great slaughter. 6 For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed one hundred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. 7 Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the officer over the house, and Elkanah who was second to the king. 8 And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters; and they also took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.

Even though Rezin and Pekah did such great damage to many parts of Judah they could not conquer Jerusalem and thus overthrow king Ahaz.

That was not because God was pleased with Ahaz, it was because Ahaz was part of the dynasty of King David and as we have seen already God was being gracious for the sake of king David and the covenant that God had made with David to have a one of his descendents on his throne.

Of course the bigger picture here is that God wouldn’t allow the line of David to be destroyed because that line would lead to Jesus our Savior.

It was during all of this warfare that God sent Isaiah to speak to King Ahaz to encourage him to turn to the Lord by faith and see what God would do for Judah. that is the context of the promise of the Immanuel prophecy that we celebrate at Christmas in verses 10-17 of this chapter.

Unfortunately King Ahaz refused to humble himself before the Lord and trust Him by faith to fight for him and Judah. In fact as 2 Kings 16 continues Ahaz becomes more wicked and instead of trusting God he runs to King Tiglath-Pileser in Assyria for help.

However, in coming to Tiglath-Pileser the way he did king Ahaz surrendered Judah to Assyria in an effort to defeat Israel and Judah. The only true freedom and security he could have received would have been a surrender to the God who loved him and Judah despite the wickedness of them all.

2 Chronicles 28 tells us why King Ahaz went to Assyria...

2 Chronicles 28:23 NKJV

23 For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him, saying, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.

Whether it be then or now, anytime the people of God and especially the spiritual leaders of God’s people go to the world to “make better” the church there will be a total breakdown of what should be. The system of the world has no place within the church. It may increase the numbers in the church but it doesn’t add to the kingdom of God.

Listen to me - The word of God and obedience to the word of God is the only thing that will produce any real and lasting effect for eternity.

In his attempt to erase God from his life and the culture of Judah, Ahaz even went so far as to close the temple completely and use the materials that were meant for and dedicated to God to make altars to foreign gods all around Judah as we are told in...

2 Chronicles 28:24–26 NKJV

24 So Ahaz gathered the articles of the house of God, cut in pieces the articles of the house of God, shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 And in every single city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers. 26 Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

So with all of that background established let’s look at Isaiah 7...

Verses 1-2

So the reality of the moment here is that Judah had already suffered great loss from Isreal and Syria. Ahaz had an opportunity to forsake the gods of the peoples around him and trust in God, but instead he laughed off what Isaiah said as just some sort of religious nonsense because all he could see was his destruction coming full force so that is when he ran to Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria for help.

Despite Ahaz refusing God’s help and going for help from a pagan nation, God was gracious for the sake of His promise to David and as it says at the end of verse 1 Syria and Israel could not prevail against Judah.

Notice that it was said to the house of David not just to wicked king Ahaz.

Ephraim = the 10 northern tribes of Israel. Ephraim is a name that God uses when speaking about the disobedient hearts of Israel.

Much of what Isaiah prophecies about in this chapter are important for the house of David as a whole as well as the whole world.

Now as we know from 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles as well as what we read that they could not prevail against Judah, the account here is given from the time period just before Ahaz made the agreement with Tiglath-Pileser so that we can see what God did despite what Ahaz did.

Notice how terrified Ahaz and the people of Judah are at the news that the Syrians are in Israel/Ephraim ready to attack Judah...

So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind = they are shaken badly!

Whoever was trusting God in this time would not be shaken, but those who were not walking with God were definitely shaken, full of fear and without hope or peace.

Verses 3-9

Shear-Jashub = A remnant will return

God sent Isaiah and his son to be a witness to what God was about to do. Judah would soon fall to Babylon because of their rebellion against God and His word, but God would bring a remnant back to the land as God already told Isaiah when He called him into this ministry at the end of last chapter, and that is all seen in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Take head and be quiet - stop talking and worrying and pay attention as you hear what God says and then believe His word to you.

That was the only way that he would be able to not fear or be fainthearted.

It has been suggested that Ahaz had seen so much destruction already that he just found it really difficult to trust God in this circumstance. While that may be partially true, he had already been running after idols long before this event even sacrificing his own son to Molech.

So even as God is trying to call Ahaz back to Himself, Ahaz cannot or rather will not respond to that call and instead further distances his heart from God.

Because Ahaz doesn’t trust God he sees an impossible situation, but God was not at all worried about Israel and Syria ganging up against Judah. God called them two stubs of smoking firebrands. All smoke no fire or as we might say today all talk no action.

But it seams that the biggest worry Ahaz had was being overthrown as king since according to verses 5-6 the plan was for Ahaz to be removed and for the Syrians and Israel to put one of their people in his place as king over Judah.

God wasn’t going to allow that because He had already promised David that one of his descendants would sit on the throne in Judah forever, but Ahaz had forgotten God and His promises so all he could do was worry hopelessly.

That is why God said “It shall not stand, nor come to pass”.

A really interesting thing took place at that 65 year mark declared in verse 8 and again 2 Chronicles gives us the details...

2 Chronicles 28:8–15 NKJV

8 And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters; and they also took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out before the army that came to Samaria, and said to them: “Look, because the Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand; but you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. 10 And now you propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves; but are you not also guilty before the Lord your God? 11 Now hear me, therefore, and return the captives, whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.” 12 Then some of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who came from the war, 13 and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives here, for we already have offended the Lord. You intend to add to our sins and to our guilt; for our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” 14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the leaders and all the assembly. 15 Then the men who were designated by name rose up and took the captives, and from the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them, dressed them and gave them sandals, gave them food and drink, and anointed them; and they let all the feeble ones ride on donkeys. So they brought them to their brethren at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

Now look at how God finishes off this part of the message to King Ahaz in verse 9 because it is important.

The head of Ephraim is Samaria (Samaria being the capital city of Israel) and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son (Pekah is the son of Remaliah according to 2 Kings 15).

The bigger message though is that Ephraim/Israel, Samaria, and Pekah the so of Remaliah were all powerless before God who has all power. Their plans were meaningless because God would bring those plans to ruin before king Ahaz.

Now Ahaz had a choice to make.

Would he fear Israel (Ephraim) and Syria and their plans to overthrow him as king, or would he trust God who is the King over all?

If Ahaz trusts mere men like Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria, God will still spare Judah in this particular instance but God will not establish (strengthen and bless) Ahaz as king over Judah.

However, if Ahaz will in fact put his trust in God, God will not only spare Judah from this attack by Israel and Syria, but more so God will establish Ahaz as king over Judah.

Close

As we close our time tonight I think it’s important for us to examine our own hearts and respond to God in a similar way.

Will we be a people who trust in mere men, or a people who trust God and His word no matter the current circumstances in our lives?

For many people today they have trusted in mere men or in things made up by men like 420 day as many many people have smoked their brains out today like some of us once did.

They like we once were are just as lost as Ahaz was as they sell themselves out to gods and idols of the world around us. Like Isaiah we are called to bring the truth and the hope that comes with the truth to the lost world around us.

But that only applies if we have already placed our trust and hope in Jesus Christ or else we have nothing to offer anyone else except the same old idolatry the world already offers.