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Isaiah Chapter
Seven
Isaiah 7
Chapter Contents
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)
Commentary on Isaiah 7:1-9
(Read Isaiah 7:1-9)
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.
Commentary on Isaiah 7:10-16
(Read Isaiah 7:10-16)
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, verse 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.
Commentary on Isaiah 7:17-25
(Read Isaiah 7:17-25)
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.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Isaiah》
Isaiah 7
Verse 1
[1] And
it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king
of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of
Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail
against it.
Ahaz — A
most wicked king: yet no prophecies are more comfortable than those which were
delivered in his time; God so ordering it for the encouragement of the faithful
that lived under his impious reign.
Verse 2
[2] And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with
Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of
the wood are moved with the wind.
David —
Ahaz, and his relations. He calls them the house of David, to intimate that the
following comfortable message was sent to Ahaz, not for his own sake, but for
the sake of his worthy progenitor David.
Ephraim —
The kingdom of the ten tribes, commonly called Ephraim, because that was the
most numerous of all.
Moved —
With fear, arising from a consciousness of their own guilt, and their enemies
strength.
Verse 3
[3] Then
said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy
son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's
field;
Thy son —
Whose very name carried in it a sign and pledge of the promised deliverance,
signifying, The remnant shall return.
Fuller's field —
Whither he probably went to take care about the waters which thence were
brought into the city, to secure them to himself, or keep them from the enemy,
as Hezekiah afterward did, 2 Chronicles 32:3,4.
Verse 4
[4] And
say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for
the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with
Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
Be quiet —
Settle thy mind by the belief of that joyful message which I am now to deliver
thee from the Lord.
Fire-brands —
They are not whole fire-brands, but small pieces or ends of them, taken out of
the fire, in which there is more smoak than fire. They have more of shew and
terror, than of strength. Pekah, king of Israel, he calls only the son of
Remaliah, to intimate, that he was unworthy the name of king, as having got
that title by usurpation, and the murder of his master, 2 Kings 15:25.
Verse 6
[6] Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein
for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal:
Let us —
Break their power and kingdom and subdue it to ourselves.
Verse 7
[7] Thus
saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
It — Their evil counsel.
Verse 8
[8] For
the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within
threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.
Damascus —
Damascus shall still continue the capital of the kingdom of Syria; and
therefore Jerusalem shall not become a part of Rezin's dominion: but he shall
keep within his own bounds, and be king of Damascus only.
Verse 9
[9] And
the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye
will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.
Samaria —
Samaria shall continue to be the chief city if the kingdom of Israel, and Pekah
shall not conquer Jerusalem.
If — If you do not believe
this, but seek to the Assyrians for succour, ye shall be consumed thereby.
Verse 12
[12] But
Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.
I will not — By
asking a sign, as if I questioned the truth of his word: but this was deep
hypocrisy.
Verse 13
[13] And
he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary
men, but will ye weary my God also?
David — He
reproves them all, because they were the king's counsellors.
Is it a small thing — Is
it not wickedness enough.
My God — To
vex God's prophets and people, with your oppressions and horrid impieties. And
by your ingratitude and unbelief, and disobedience of his commands.
Verse 14
[14]
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Therefore —
Because you despise me, and the sign which I now offer to you, God of his own
free grace will send you a more honourable messenger, and give you a nobler
sign.
A sign — Of
your deliverance. But how was this birth, which was not to happen 'till many
ages after, a sign of their deliverance from present danger? This promised
birth supposed the preservation of that city, and nation and tribe, in and of
which the Messiah was to be born; and therefore there was no cause to fear that
ruin which their enemies now threatened.
Immanuel —
God with us; God dwelling among us, in our nature, John 1:14. God and man meeting in one person,
and being a mediator between God and men. For the design of these words is not
so much to relate the name by which Christ should commonly he called, as to
describe his nature and office.
Verse 15
[15]
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose
the good.
Butter —
The common food of children in that country.
He — The virgin's son.
Know — To
discern between things good and evil.
Verse 16
[16] For
before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land
that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
Yea —
Not only this land shall be preserved until the virgin's son shall be born, but
thine enemies land shall be sorely scourged, and these two kings destroyed
within a very little time.
This child —
Shear-Jashub, whom in all probability the prophet pointed at, and who was
brought hither by God's special command, verse 3. for this very use.
The land —
The lands of Syria and Israel.
Forsaken — So
far shall Pekah and Rezin be from conquering thy land, that they shall lose
their own lands, and their lives too; which they did within two years after
this time, being both slain by the king of Assyria.
Verse 17
[17] The
LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house,
days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even
the king of Assyria.
Shall bring —
But altho' God will deliver you at this time, yet he will requite all your
wickedness.
Thee —
For part of this Assyrian storm fell in Ahaz's reign.
And — Upon
thy sons and successors, the kings of Judah.
Days —
Calamities.
Departed —
When ten tribes revolted from thy father's house.
The king —
Who may well be called their plague or calamity, as he is called the rod of
God's anger, chap. 10:5.
Verse 18
[18] And
it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is
in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the
land of Assyria.
The fly — The
flies. So he calls these enemies, to imply their great numbers.
In — In their extremity,
where they go out into the sea.
Rivers — Of
the river Nile, which may be called rivers, either for its greatness, or
because towards the end of it, it is divided into seven streams. When the
Chaldeans had in good measure subdued the Egyptians, it is probable great
numbers of the Egyptian soldiers listed themselves in the Chaldean army, and
with them invaded the land of Judah.
The bee —
The Assyrian army, compared to bees, as for their numerous forces and orderly
march, so for their fierce attempts and mischievous effects.
Assyria — In
the empire of Assyria, or Babylon; for these two were united into one empire,
and therefore in scripture are promiscuously called sometimes by one title, and
sometimes by the other.
Verse 19
[19] And
they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the
holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.
Valleys —
Such as they found fruitful, but made desolate.
Rocks — To
which possibly the Israelites fled for refuge.
Bushes —
Which he mentions because flies and bees use frequently to rest there; and to
intimate, that no place should escape their fury.
Verse 20
[20] In
the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them
beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet:
and it shall also consume the beard.
Shave —
Utterly spoil, as shaving takes away the hair.
Hired — By
Ahaz, who did hire them, 2 Kings 16:7,8. And so the prophet notes the
just judgment of God, in scourging them with a rod of their own making.
By — By the successive
kings of the Assyrian empire, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and especially by
Nebuchadnezzar.
The head — By
these metaphorical expressions he signifies the total destruction of their
state, from head to foot, from the highest to the lowest.
Verse 21
[21] And
it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and
two sheep;
Sheep —
They who formerly used to keep great herds of cattle, and many flocks of sheep,
shall esteem it a happiness if they can keep but one cow and two sheep.
Verse 22
[22] And
it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall
eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.
Abundance —
Because they shall have large pastures, by reason of the great scarcity of
cattle.
Butter —
Which the poorer sort had formerly used to sell, to procure them cheaper food
for themselves: but now the land should be so destitute of people, that there
were none to whom they could sell them.
Verse 23
[23] And
it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were
a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and
thorns.
Of silver —
Each of the thousand vineyards might have been sold or let for a thousand
shekels, which was the yearly rent of some excellent vineyards.
Verse 24
[24] With
arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become
briers and thorns.
With arrows —
Either to hunt, or to defend themselves from wild beasts, which commonly abide
in desolate grounds.
Verse 25
[25] And
on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come
thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of
oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.
Digged —
That used to be digged and dressed for the planting of vines, or other choice
fruit-trees.
The fear —
That they might be freed from briars and thorns.
Cattle —
All sorts of cattle may enter, and feed there, the fences being broken down,
and the owners slain, or carried into captivity.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Isaiah》
07 Chapter 7
Verses 1-25
Verses 1-9
Rezin . . . and Pekah . . . went up toward Jerusalem to war
against it
The confederacy against Jerusalem
The reason of this war is not stated: but from the desire of those
kings to dethrone Ahaz, and place on the throne in Jerusalem another, even Ben
Tabeal, it may be inferred that
Ahaz refused to join these two powers in a general rising against
Assyria.
Obviously, Ahaz was well advised in not taking a step of such
decided opposition to Nineveh: for had he done so, the legions of that empire
would only have spread desolation in Judah twenty or thirty years earlier than
they did. To a certain extent, the policy commended by Isaiah was adopted: Ahaz
did not take up his stand against Assyria. The prophet, of course, wanted more.
For he urged an absolute and complete neutrality, in which Ahaz would have
nothing at all to do with this power. So far as
Ahaz acted on the prophet’s advice, he was successful: for this
confederacy against Jerusalem proved a failure. (B. Blake, B. D.)
Ahaz and Isaiah, a contrast
Ahaz is timid and helpless, takes no position, and displays no
promptitude or courage. Isaiah, on the contrary, steps forward with assurance:
he is collected and calm: and his complete control of the political situation
impresses us forcibly. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
Isaiah’s interview with Ahaz
At the date of Isaiah’s interview with
Ahaz the application to Assyria was meditated, but not actually
carried into effect. To understand this interview two things must be borne in
mind.
Firstly, Isaiah is aware of the king’s intention to solicit aid
from Assyria, but it is not openly admitted between them. Secondly, the power
and resources of the allied kings, especially of Rezin, so impressed the
popular imagination that they were held to be practically invincible; Isaiah
views both differently; describes them as “smoked out firebrands,” and intimates
that he considers the terror of the people to be unreasonable. (Prof. S. R.
Driver, D. D.)
The prophet and the king
God speaks comfort to many who not only are not worthy of it, but
do not so much as inquire after it. (M. Henry.)
Unsuccessful attacks upon the Christian stronghold
“We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth”: clever
arguments, witty retorts, brilliant repartees, criticisms that dazzle by their
brightness and exasperate by their acerbity, come and go, and Jerusalem stands,
sunlit, fair, invincible. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 4
Take heed and be quiet
Take heed, and be quiet
That is, be on your guard and do not act precipitately, rather
keep at rest.
I. A WARNING
AGAINST SELF-WILLED ACTING.
II. AN EXHORTATION
TO UNDISMAYED EQUANIMITY. (P. Delitzsch. D. D.)
The true attitude of life
This is the attitude we should observe in all this human life--on
the one hand, vigilance, determination, earnestness; and on the other silence,
resignation, hope. Just as we observe in due proportion the active and passive
aspects of life will our character become complete and our heart find rest.
I. ALL TRUE LIFE
IS A LISTENING.
1. “Take heed,” i.e., be attentive, alert, susceptible. Light
will not come to careless, inattentive souls. We must hearken, which really
means the concentration of all the powers of the soul that we may detect the
significance of things.
2. And when you have given full place to observation and reflection,
“be quiet,” for you will find plenty of room and reason for suspense,
resignation, silence. When you have carried criticism to its final limit, see
that no place is left in your heart for anxiety, unbelief, and despair.
II. ALL TRUE LIFE
IS A WATCHING. “Take heed.” Be cautious, vigilant, circumspect. There is no
room in life for presumption. But when we have felt the need of earnest prayer,
when we have cultivated the habit of prayerful watchfulness, let us “be quiet.”
Many Christians feel the need of walking softly, of being on the alert, their
soul is full of solemn caution; but they never know how to combine with this
that strong confidence in God which brings the sensitive heart assurance and
peace. Let us remember that when we have done our best God will do the rest.
III. ALL TRUE LIFE
IS A STRIVING. “Take heed.” Life must be full of effort, aspiration,
strenuousness, perseverance. The policy of many is the policy of drift. But
this is not the true idea of life. We are perpetually called upon to consider,
to discriminate, to decide, to act. And yet with all this we are to be “quiet.”
Calm amid tumult, tranquil in severest effort, full of peace and confidence
when life is most difficult and denying. Let us remember this--
“The crooked serpent”
True rationalism not only investigates, but is cautious, reticent,
patient, hopeful. Much about us is very mysterious and bewildering.
1. It is so with nature. Ages ago the patriarch Job found this out.
“By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked
serpent.” “Garnished the heavens!”--that we can understand, that we can admire.
The vast, the balanced, the magnificent, the beautiful, the benign--this is
what we expected from the wise and generous Source of allthings. “His hand hath
formed the crooked serpent.” Nature contains the mean, the unharmonious, the
dark, the grotesque, the bloody; and this we did not expect. The thoughtful man
is sorely puzzled in the presence of these confusions and contradictions.
2. It is so with revelation. We are often greatly delighted with the
contents of the Bible. It is a firmament full of stars of light, speaking to us
eloquently of the glory of God. We cry with rapture as we scan successive
constellations which gleam with truth and love and righteousness. “By His
Spirit He hath garnished the heavens.” But it is not long before the problems
of nature reappear in revelation; there are teachings obscure and painful, in
fact, the crooked serpent wriggles across the page. People who read cursorily-and
think loosely may glide over such pages, but thoughtful souls are often sorely
troubled.
3. It is the same in our personal history. There are times in our
life when all things go smoothly with us--our health is good, in business we
are in the swim, we are socially popular, and, full of gratitude and
thanksgiving, we wonder how anybody can ever be fretful, or call into question
the government of God; we feel that the Spirit that garnished the heavens has
brought order and beauty into our persona! lot. But soon circumstances change:
our health fails, we are called to attend two or three creditors’ meetings, our
popularity wanes; and then we are staggered, and begin to ask sceptical
questions touching the ways of heaven. What is the matter? The crooked serpent
crawls across our path of roses. Now what are we to do when these dark enigmas
reward our study, when we witness the contradictions of nature, the tragedy of
history, when we endure the pathos of our own life? Are we to take refuge in
scepticism, cynicism, despair? Surely not. “Be quiet.” (W. L. Watkinson.)
A New Year’s motto
I. A WORD OF
CAUTION. “Take heed.” It is as though Isaiah called a halt; as though, to use
another metaphor, he swung the red light in front of the rushing train as
though he put a detonator on the rails in the time of mist and fog. Saith he,
“Take heed; you are very busily preparing, your mind is filled with a multitude
of thoughts.” He does not speak ill of these preparations and these plans, but
he does say, “Proceed with caution; look before you leap, think before you act.
Do nothing till you have thought it over and prayed about it. You will
discover, Ahaz, that whereas some of your precautions are legitimate, others of
them are dishonouring to God and to the throne of David.” Well now, is there
not a word for you and for me just here? Take heed!--do not rush blindly on,
wait to be guided, slip your hand into God’s. Ye people of God, take heed!
Worldliness is gradually creeping into the Church and fastening its fangs upon her.
Doctrine of all sorts is at a discount, except false doctrine. Take heed lest
you sip of the poisoned cup or ever you are aware. And ye shepherds of the
flock, take heed! Ministers are too busy nowadays “getting up” this, that, and
the other Be it ours to bring the blessing down. Sunday school teachers, take
heed that you do not merely amuse or only instruct the children. Win them for
Christ. Take heed, ye who profess to follow Jesus! Look where you are going;
ponder the paths of your steps.
II. THEN THE
PROPHET RECOMMENDED QUIET. “Be quiet.” It is not the easiest thing in the world
to be quiet, especially when there are two confederate armies coming up against
you. It is ever easier to assault than to “sit tight.” I do not believe there
is anything that more honours our holy religion than self-possession in the
time of stress and storm. It is then that the worldling says, “Why, I could not
do that!” What is the secret of that wonderful composure! The secret is God.
That heart is kept quiet that is stayed on Him.
III. Then Isaiah
says, “FEAR NOT.” He has spoken of the outward attitude and action; now he
refers to the reward emotion. Know you not that fear is fatal? I suppose that,
humanly speaking, almost as many people die of fear as of anything else. Many
of our best hopes are thwarted, not because there was any real necessity they
should suffer so, but because we were afraid from the first that they would.
Many of our high ambitions come to nought because we were never very confident
that they would have any other ending if the work be of God, trust God to see
it through. We may have our fears, but we must not cherish them. There were
words of cheer accompanying this message. The prophet said, “These great
flaming firebrands that you fear are going out. Already they are smoking. They
are only the tails of firebrands. A little patience and you will see an end of
this trouble.” We do not ask a sign of God that Ha will give us the victory in
our warfare, and success in our work for Him. He gives it without asking. We
would believe without a sign. “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed.” But if God offers us a sign we do not refuse it. Ahaz did. He
said--suddenly posing as a saint--“No, I will not tempt God.” When God offers
us a sign it is not reverence to refuse it; it is gross irreverence. But He has
granted us the best sign of all, the sign to which I do not doubt that Isaiah
made reference. Christ has come; nay, God has come, for Christ is God. “If ye
will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” John Bunyan used to call
unbelief a white devil. (T. Spurgeon.)
Tails of smoking firebrands
The two allies are at once designated as what they are before God,
who sees through things in the future. They are two tails, i.e., nothing
but the fag ends of wood pokers, half-burned off and wholly burned out, so that
they do not burn any longer, but only still keep smoking. (F. Delitzsch.)
Caution with confidence
Life is danger. The more precious anything is the more enemies it
has. You rarely see any lice on the wild rose in the hedgerow, but the prize
rose in the garden will soon be covered with them if the gardener remits his
severe attention; crab apple trees on a common may be left with confidence to
take care of themselves, but the husbandman must watch by night and day an
orchard full of sweetness. Man has the most enemies of all, they swarm on every
hand, he walks in jeopardy every hour. But we often forget all this and act
with strange heedlessness. Awhile ago, from the flowery cliffs, I was watching
the beautiful gulls as they flashed between the sun and the sea uttering cues
of joy, when some wretched sportsmen appeared on the scene and began to fire at
the lovely creatures. I thought that at the first shot the birds would have
vanished into space, but, strangely enough, as if they were enchanted, they
continued to whirl around the very focus of destruction. Fortunately they were
not hit, the marksmen’s aim was as bad as their temper; but at any moment the
glorious birds might have dropped shattered, bloody things, into the sea. It is
very much the same with men. They go negligently, presumptuously, although
moral dangers are thicker than all other dangers, and any moment might see the
glory and hope of life quenched in midnight darkness. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Morbid nervousness
We all know suspicious souls whose nervousness gives them not a
moment of peace. If they are going on a railway journey, they anxiously look
out for the middle compartment of the middle carriage, fancying that the safest
place, and there is no telling how many trains they miss looking for that
carriage; if they are in the country, they will not drink a drop of milk until
they have ascertained whether the foot and mouth disease has been in that
district; and at the railway station they cross-examine the driver to know
whether he has conveyed in that cab any passenger having an infectious malady.
Now, if you once give way to a morbid nervousness of this sort, there is
positively no end to the thing, and every bit of comfort is taken out of life.
(W. L. Watkinson.)
God the sure Protector of His people
The sensible voyager lays his head on the pillow and goes to
sleep, although the gleaming teeth of sharks are only a few inches away; the
thickness of the plank or plate is practically the thickness of a planet: and
although hell is always nigh., let us remember that God is still nigher, and
that a bit of tissue paper in His hands is the munition of rocks to those who
trust in Him. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Vigilance and gladness
The bird on the branch is intensely sensitive and tremulous; it
looks around, above, beneath; all the world might be a fowler, a mare, a eat,
and yet at the same time it goes on pouring out its happy soul in music. Let us
be like it in watchfulness and gladness. (W. L.Watkinson.)
Morbid introspection
When I was a growing lad I was always measuring myself to see how
much I had gained every week or two. Sometimes there was a distinct gain, and
then another testing seemed to indicate that I was standing sty; so I fed my
hopes and fears. But I did very well on the whole, and it would have been a
great deal better if I had let the measuring tape alone and attended to my
learning and my business. Do not afflict your souls with morbid solicitudes. (W.
L. Watkinson.)
God’s contempt for Rezin and Pekah
God will have those in derision who set their shoulders against
His throne for the purpose of overturning it. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Harmfulness of fear
There is a legend which is in itself instructive concerning the
time of plague in a certain Eastern city, to the effect that 20,000 people
having died therein, a traveller entering the gates spoke to the plague as it
was leaving, and said, “I understand that you have slain 20,000 people within
these walls.” “No,” said the plague, “I have slain but 10,000; the rest have
died of fear.” It is an instructive story. (T. Spurgeon.)
Injurious struggling
Once I remember I picked up a small bird which had fallen on the
pavement by my feet. I sought to reinstate it among the branches overhead; but
the creature could not appreciate my generosity, and with passionate eagerness
struggled to escape. I began unconsciously to talk aloud to it, “Poor, silly
thing; why do you not trust your best friend? All I want is to get you up again
in the fork of the tree. You are making it harder for me, by dashing so against
my fingers; for I am obliged to hold you firmly, and you do all the hurting
yourself.” Why is it we all struggle so, when the Lord is giving us help (C.
S. Robinson, D. D.)
Be quiet
Phoebe Simpson said to Ellice Hopkins, “I think, miss, religion is
doing things still.” Stillness of spirit is like the canvas, for the
Holy Spirit to draw His various graces upon. (Dr. Love.)
The happy people are calm
The really and substantially happy people in the world are always
calm and quiet. (Recreations of a Country Parson.)
Christian serenity
The child of God should live above the world, moving through it,
as some quiet star moves through the blue sky,--clear, and serene, and still (Hetty
Bowman.)
Verse 9
If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established
Faith in the Divine Word and promises the alone ground of the
believer’s establishment and happiness
There are only two sources from which human hope or happiness can
be derived, and these are sense and faith.
I. SENSE AS THE
SOURCE OF HUMAN HAPPINESS. It is self-evident from the history of what is past
and from observation and experience of what is present that, amidst all the
enjoyments, whether more gross or more refined, the objects of sense can
possibly furnish to flatter or gratify the passions, nothing is to be found
that can give establishment to the human heart, or settle and compose the
restless spirit. There are three things which render it impossible that any
mere worldly object or pursuit should render us happy.
1. The difficulty of acquiring what, in imagination or forethought,
we have placed our happiness upon, and in the possession of which we have
fondly dreamed of enjoying all that our hearts could desire.
2. When with infinite labour we seem to have surmounted every
difficulty and to have gained the point we had in view, our promised happiness
is snatched from us in a moment, and we feel our disappointment and distress
rendered more poignant from the flattering prospects that lay before us, and
the ideal estimate we had formed of what we have lost.
3. But let us suppose that we could acquire with ease, and enjoy with
security, for a limited time--to our dying day--the objects we so eagerly
pursue; how do we know that we shall preserve our relish for them? “Our very
wishes give us not our wish.”
II. FAITH ALONE
HOLDS FORTH THOSE OBJECTS THAT CAN ESTABLISH THE HUMAN HEART OR QUIET THE
RESTLESS SPIRIT. Nothing can give establishment to the mind of man but what can
effectually remove the cause of our present disordered state and prove a
never-failing source of inward peace and self-enjoyment.
1. What is the cause of this disorder; of this disquietude and
restlessness, amidst all the objects of sense; of this vacancy of the human
mind, amidst all the profusion of nature? The cause is evidently a departure
from the original constitution of our nature. For no creature can be unhappy,
continuing in that state, in which, he was placed by perfect wisdom and
goodness.
2. The remedy which faith provides for the cure of this evil. It
directs us to the righteousness of God, manifested without the law, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is
by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe; for there is no
difference. The doctrine that holds forth a finished salvation by the blood of
Christ, as the alone ground of a believer’s hope, is, of all others, the best
fitted to beget not only a humble submission, but a cheerful resignation to our
gracious Lord in the various allotments of His providence concerning us. Who
that believeth all this with all his heart could for a moment entertain a doubt
that his bodily and temporal concerns would be safe in His hands? (T.
Gordon.)
Stability through faith
1. The promises of God are not at all times easily, steadily, and
firmly believed.
2. God, in the communication of His Word, does not regard us as mere
machines. The Word cannot profit unless it be mixed with faith in those who
hear it. In the Christian’s life there are three kinds of stability.
I. THERE IS A
STABILITY OF JUDGMENT. This regards the truths of religion. It is of great
importance to have a judgment clear and fixed as it respects the great concerns
of the soul and eternity, and the doctrines of the Gospel of Christ; for as we
think we feel, as we feel we desire, as we desire we act, and as we act our
characters are formed, and our conditions determined. There are some things in
revelation concerning which a man’s mind, so to speak, need not be made up.
Little or no injury will arise from his hesitation or suspense. But this is not
the case with all. There are some things which must be fundamental, and therefore
sustain others; and according to the firmness of the foundation will be the
firmness of the whole superstructure. Now what is to lead us into this
stability but faith? It cannot be human authority among men. What one
patronises another denies, and here you would soon find yourself like a man in
a labyrinth, who on this side and on that is calling out, “Is this the way?”
and knows not what direction to take with safety and comfort. Or, if you depend
upon reason, this may do something from observation and analogy; but if you
receive the revelation of God only as far as you can understand it, you will
make your faith commensurate with your knowledge. Thus obstructions and
difficulties will arise continually, and you will be strangers to all
satisfaction and repose. No, we must believe all that the Lord has spoken to us
in His Word, and because He has spoken it. “I had a little talent and a little
learning,” said Dr. Watts before his death; “but now I lay them all aside, and
endeavour to receive the Gospel as the poor and unlearned receive it.”
II. THERE IS A
STABILITY OF PRACTICE. This regards the duties of religion. By faith we stand.
In order to see the strength and beauty of the sentiment contained in our text,
let us place the believer in three positions.
1. In a place of secrecy. When alone, how do we act? Faith is a
principle that always operates alike upon the mind, i.e., its motives
are the same in private as in public. Faith shows us the future and eternal
consequences of our actions. Faith brings God and places Him before us Hence
the closet is visited as the temple. The good fight of faith is carried on
amidst many struggles, unobserved by any human being, but all well known to Him
who is the Captain of our salvation.
2. In cases of prosperity and indulgence. How easily is a person
drawn aside from the path of duty by the honour which cometh from men, by a
regard to the friendship of this world, or by earthly riches! We are therefore
told that the prosperity of fools destroys them. But the believer in Christ is
not a fool: faith makes him wise unto salvation, wise both for time and
eternity. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
3. In a condition of suffering and danger. What an agonizing trial
was Abraham called to endure, when God bade him take his only son Isaac, whom
he loved, and offer him up for a burnt offering! yet faith enabled him to do
it. Moses had a hard task to accomplish, when he went and stood before Pharaoh,
but we are told, “he had respect unto the recompense of the reward”; “by faith
he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing
Him who is invisible.” And how was it with Daniel? There was something dreadful
in being cast into the den of lions; but what was this to a man who saw that
God would shut the lions’ mouths, so that they should not hurt him? What was
this to a man who by faith heard the voice of Him who said, “Be not afraid of
them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do; but fear
Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell; yea, I say unto you,
fear Him.” Faith also views the Saviour as acting and as suffering for us.
III. THERE IS A
STABILITY OF HOPE. This regards the comforts of religion. How is it that
Christians can rejoice amidst their sorrows? The Scripture assigns the reason
when it tells us of the joy of faith. Faith appropriates. (W. Jay.)
Isaiah’s commission and King Ahaz
Isaiah had a very heavy commission from God. He was to go and
speak to people who would not hear him, and to be to them a messenger rather of
death than of life. Though the message itself would be full of life, yet they
would refuse it, and so bring upon themselves a ten-fold death. As a sort of
experiment in his work, he was called upon first to go and speak to King Ahaz,
that wicked king. He knew in his own soul that what he had to say would be
rejected; but, nevertheless, at the command of God, he went to speak to the
king. He was told where he would meet him. God knows where to send His faithful
servants. He knows how to adapt the message with great speciality to the
individual case of each person who is within sound of the preacher’s voice; and
He knows how to adapt even the voice itself to the ear of every hearer. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
No fixity without faith
These words furnish us with a warning and an encouragement.
I. GOD DESERVES TO
BE BELIEVED.
1. He is God; and being God, He cannot lie.
2. His Word always has been true.
3. He has no motive for being untrue.
4. The honour of God is involved in His veracity.
5. Suppose even for a moment that we could not trust in the
truthfulness of God, what would be left for us to trust to? When rocks move,
what stands firm?
II. SOME ARE NOT
WILLING TO BELIEVE GOD. That is clear by the fear expressed in the text: “If ye
will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” Believing is a matter of
the will. God’s grace works faith, not upon us, but in us. God works in us to
will and to do; and in the willing He leads us up to believing. We voluntarily
believe; and certainly men voluntarily disbelieve. Why is this, this strange
unwillingness of some men, nay, in a sense of all men, to believe in God?
1. They are willing to believe other things.
2. Another thing is significant, that men cling tenaciously to faith
in themselves.
3. Instead of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life,
some prefer an emotional religion.
4. Some stubbornly suffer under unbelief.
5. I notice, too, that such people demand this and that of God,
beyond what He has revealed.
III. FAITH IS NOT A
THING TO BE DESPISED. Have you never heard people say, “Oh, they preach up
faith, you know”? “Well, what is faith?” “Well, it is just believing
so-and-so.” Faith is a most wonderful thing, for--
1. It is a fair index of the heart.
2. A sure proof of a change of mind.
3. It inaugurates purity of life.
4. It is faith that leads to prayer, and prayer is the very breath of
God in man.
5. It is faith that glorifies God.
IV. THOSE WHO
REFUSE TO EXERCISE FAITH WILL MISS MANY GREAT PRIVILEGES. I might mention many,
but the text gives us the one which I will dwell upon: “If ye will not believe,
surely he shall not be established.”
1. It means, first, that those who believe not will miss
establishment in comfort.
2. Ye shall never enjoy establishment in judgment. There are many
persons who do not know what to believe; they heard one man the other day, and
they thought that he spoke very cleverly, and they agreed with him. They heard
another the next day, who was rather more clever, and he went the other way, so
they went with him. Poor souls, driven to and fro, never knowing what is what!
“If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established”; you shall be like
the moon, that is never two days alike; you shall seem to believe this, and to
believe that, and yet really believe nothing.
3. Next, we want an establishment in conduct.
4. So it is also with establishment in hope.
5. We want to be established in spiritual vigour and strength. (C.
H.Spurgeon.)
The principle of true permanence
The principle of true permanence is here shown to be a holding of
Divine truth. “He who confides in God will abide.” (B. Blake, B. D.)
Holding and being held
If Judah does not hold fast to his God, he will lose his fast hold
by losing the country in which he dwells, the ground beneath his feet. (F.
Delitzsch.)
Ahaz a representative of double-mindedness
Ahaz was a mixed character. He has been convicted in history of
being an idolater as well as a professor of the true religion. He was therefore
the representative of double-mindedness, a halting between two opinions, that
double-mindedness which is unstable, and which cannot excel. Probably Isaiah,
marking the workings of his countenance under the delivery of this
communication, saw signs of fear, doubt, hesitancy: the king did not spring at
the word with access of energy and with the confidence of inspiration; so the
prophet, quick to detect all facial signs, blessed with the insight that
follows the spirit in all its withdrawment, said instantly, “If ye will not
believe, surely ye shall not be established.” (J. Parker, D. D.)
Unbelief undermines character
To take an illustration from architecture, materialism cuts out
the foundation of the soul structure just where the strain comes. We are told
that the lamentable disaster to the Campanile of St. Mark’s at Venice was due
to the action of the Loggia architects in cutting out the stone coping in its
whole length, thus making a wound on the side, where the pressure was severest,
half a yard deep and half a yard high. If this be true, it is not remarkable
that the massive tower came down bodily. Neither is the downfall of many a man
remarkable to us when we come to know how his faith in God had been utterly
destroyed. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
The power of faith
Lord Wolseley said, “Give me 20,000 fanatics and I would march
across Europe.” Grotius, in describing the success of the Dutch in snapping the
Spanish yoke, gives this as the secret of their prowess, “Believing that they
could do it they did it.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Verse 11
Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God
God’s grace towards the wayward
Jehovah does not scorn to call Himself the God of this son of
David who so hardens himself.
(F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
A critical moment
In this hour when Isaiah stands before Ahaz, the fate of the
Jewish people is decided for more than two thousand years. (F. Delitzsch, D.
D.)
Verse 12
But Ahaz said, I will not ask
Why
did Ahaz refuse to ask a sign?
Ahaz who looked on Jehovah not as his God, but only (like any of
his heathen neighbours) as the god of Judaea, and as such inferior in the god
of Assyria, and who had determined to apply to the King of Assyria, or perhaps
had already applied to him as a more trustworthy helper than Jehovah in the
present strait, declines to ask a sign, excusing himself by a canting use of
the words of Moses, “Thou shalt not tempt Jehovah.” He refused the sign,
because he knew it would confirm the still struggling voice of his conscience;
and that voice he had resolved not to obey, since it bade him give up the
Assyrian, and trust in Jehovah henceforth. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
A secret disaffection to God
A secret disaffection to God is often disguised with the specious
colours of respect to Him. (M. Henry.)
Making a decision
How often men, like Ahaz, arrive at decisions which are
irrevocable and unspeakably momentous!
1. To have to make decisions that may be solemn in both these senses
is one of the things that make the position of a ruler or statesmen so serious.
2. Every man is at some juncture celled to make a decision, the
results of which to him individually will be of unspeakable importance; e.g.,
the young ruler. Every one of you will at some moment be called to decide for
or against Christ, and the decision will be final and irreversible. The test
may come to you in the shape of a temptation, appealing to some passion of the
mind or lust of the flesh, and your eternal destiny may be determined by the
manner in which you deal with that one temptation.
3. Like a railway train we are continually arriving at “points,” and
the manner in which we “take” them affects our whole after career. (R. A.
Bertram.)
Verse 13
Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary thy
God also?
--
Wearying God
The work and experience of the prophet and the Gospel minister in
dealing with men are similar.
I. IT IS NO SMALL
SIN TO WEARY GOD’S PROPHETS AND PREACHERS. They are His ambassadors.
II. IT IS
INFINITELY WORSE TO WEARY GOD, whose hand holds their life and destiny. God is
patient. This is evident from Scripture and observation. Exodus 34:6-7; 2 Peter 3:9.) Consider also
the history of nations and individuals and of our own life.
III. GOD’S PATIENCE
MAY BE WEARIED OUT by indifference, obstinacy, procrastination, backsliding.
The sinner is in present danger of doing this. Others have done it in Scripture
and history. Application--The axe is laid at the root of the tree; make haste
to repent. (Homiletic Review.)
Wearying God
Ahaz refused to ask a sign, probably wishing to avoid as much as
possible further intercourse with Isaiah, who, he feared, would reprove him for
his vices and idolatry.
1. That which seems specially to have wearied God in the instance of
Ahaz was, the sinning yet more in a season of distress.
2. There is a likelihood that his offence may be copied, and that,
too, not merely in the general, but even in minute particulars. God became
wearied by a repetition of the sin when He had tried by calamities to produce
its abandonment. It does not seem that there was ever the least pause in his
wickedness. God smote him, but he went on frowardly. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Wearying God
The house of David weary the long suffering of God by letting Him
exhaust all the means of their correction without effect. (F. Delitzsch.)
Wearying God
1. The great God is pleased to consider the indignities and injuries
done to His servants as done to Himself.
2. Beware then of wearying God by refusing to comply with the
administrations and offers He gives you by His servants; but now, while it is
called today, hearken to His voice and obey His call. (R. Macculloch.)
Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign
God’s sign to King Ahaz
Perhaps more perplexity has been produced among commentators by
this passage than by any other in Old Testament prophecy.
The chief difficulties of the passage may be stated as follows: Does the
prophecy refer to some event which was soon to occur, or does it refer
exclusively to some event in the distant future? If it refers to some event
which was soon to occur, what event was it? Who was the child intended, and who
the virgin who should bring forth the child?
1. The first step toward the unravelling of the prophet’s meaning is
to determine the exact significance of the words. What, then, is the meaning of
the word אוֹף, which is
translated “sign”? Delitzsch defines the word as
“a thing, event, or act which may serve to guarantee the Divine
certainty of some other thing, event, or act.” It does not of necessity denote
a miracle. For example, in Genesis 17:11, circumcision is said to be
a “sign,” or token. The context, together with the nature of the thing, event,
or act, must decide whether the אוֹח is a miracle or not. All that is necessary
to constitute a “sign” to Ahaz is that some assurance shall be given which
Jehovah alone can give. And the certain prediction of future events is the
prerogative of Jehovah alone.
2. We turn now to the word עַלְסָח, translated “virgin” and shall try to find its
exact meaning. The derivation of it from עָלִם, to hide, to conceal, is now generally
abandoned. Its most probable derivation is from עָלִם, to grow, to be strong, and hence the word
means one who has come to a mature or marriageable age. Hengstenberg contends
that it means one in an unmarried state; Gesenius holds that it means simply
being of marriageable age, the age of puberty. However this may be, it seems
most natural to take the word in this place as meaning one who was then
unmarried and who could be called a virgin. But we must guard against the
exegetical error of supposing that the word here used implies that the person
spoken of must be a virgin at the time when the child is born. All that is said
is that she who is now a virgin shall bear a son.
3. Let us now proceed to consider the interpretation of the prophecy
itself. The opinions which have generally prevailed with regard to it are
three--
1. The context demands it. If there was no allusion in the New
Testament to the prophecy, and we should contemplate the narrative here in its
surrounding circumstances, we should naturally feel that the prophet must mean
this. If the seventh and eighth chapters, connected as they are, were all that
we had, we should be compelled to admit a reference to something in the
prophet’s time. The record in Isaiah 8:1-4, following in such close
connection, seems to be intended as a public assurance of the fulfilment of
what is here predicted respecting the deliverance of the land from the
threatened invasion. The prediction was that she who is a virgin shall bear a
son. Now Jehovah alone can foreknow this, and He pronounces the birth of this
child as the sign which shall be given.
2. The thing to be given to Ahaz was a sign or token that a present
danger would be averted. How could the fact that the Messiah would come seven
hundred years later prove this?
Let us now look at the reasons for believing that it contains also
a reference to the Messiah.
1. The first argument we present is derived from the passage in Is
9:7. There is an undoubted connection between that passage and the
oneunder consideration, as almost all critical scholars admit. And it seems
that nothing short of a Messianic reference will explain the words. Some have
asserted that the undoubted and exclusive reference to Messiah in this verse
(9:7) excludes any local reference in the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14.But so far from this being
the ease, we believe it is an instance of what Bacon calls the “springing,
germinant fulfilment of prophecy.” And we believe that it can be proved that
all prophecies take their start from historical facts. Isaiah here (Isaiah 9:7) drops the historical drapery
and rises to a mightier and more majestic strain.
2. The second and crowning argument is taken from the language of the
inspired writer Matthew (Matthew 1:22-23). (D. M. Sweets.)
Who was the “virgin” and who the son?
1. Some have supposed that the wife of Ahaz was meant by the
“virgin,” and that his son Hezekiah was the child meant. There is an
insuperable difficulty against this view. Ahaz’s reign extended over sixteen
years (2 Kings 16:2), and Hezekiah was
twenty-five years old when he succeeded 2 Kings 18:2). Consequently, at this
time Hezekiah could not have been less than nine years old. It has been
supposed that Ahaz had a second wife, and that the son was hers. This is a mere
supposition, supported by nothing in the narrative, while it makes Isaiah 8:1-4 haveno connection with what
precedes or follows.
2. Others have supposed that some virgin who was then present before
Ahaz was designated, and they make the meaning this: “As surely as this virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, so surely shall the land be forsaken of its
kings.” This is too vague for the definite language used, and gives no
explanation of the incident in chap. 8. about Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
3. Another opinion is that the virgin was not an actual but an ideal
virgin.” “Michaelis thus presents this view: “By the time when one who is yet a
virgin can bring forth (i.e., in nine months)
, all will be happily changed and the present impending danger so completely
passed away that if you were to name the child you would call him Immanuel.”
Surely this would not be a sign or pledge of anything to Ahaz. Besides, it was
not a birth possible, but an actual birth, which was spoken of.
4. But the view which is most in keeping with the entire context, and
which presents the fewest difficulties, is that the prophet’s own son is
intended. This view does require the supposition that Isaiah married a second
wife, who at the time of this prophecy was still a virgin and whom he
subsequently married. “But there is no improbability in the supposition that
the mother of his son, Shear-jashub, was deceased, and that Isaiah was about
again to be married. This is the only supposition which this view demands. Such
an occurrence was surely not uncommon. All other explanations require more
suppositions, and suppositions more unnatural than this. Our supposition does
no violence to the narrative, and certainly falls in best with all the facts.
We would then identify Immanuel (as Ahaz and his contemporaries would
understand the name to be applied) with Maher-shalal-hash-baz. With this view
harmonises what the prophet says in Isaiah 8:18 : “Behold, I and the children
whom Jehovah hath given meare for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah
of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion.” It is no objection to this view that
another name than “Immanuel” was given to the child. It was a common thing to
give two names to children, especially when one name was symbolic, as Immanuel
was. Jesus Christ was never called Immanuel as a proper name, though almost all
scholars agree that the prophecy referred to Him in some sense. (D. M.
Sweets.)
A double tolerance in Isaiah’s prophecies
The careful, critical student of Isaiah will find this thing
common in his writings, namely, that he commences with a prophecy having
reference to some remarkable delivery which was soon to occur, and terminates
it by a statement of events connected with a higher deliverance under the
Messiah. His mind becomes absorbed; the primary object is forgotten in the
contemplation of the more remote and glorious event. (D. M. Sweets.)
The virgin
The Hebrew word rendered “virgin” in the A.V. would be more
accurately rendered “damsel.” It means a young woman of marriageable age, and
is not the word which would be naturally used for virgin, if that was the point
which it was desired to emphasise. (Prof. A. F. Kirkpatrick.)
Our English word “maiden” comes as near, probably, as any to the
Hebrew word. (Speaker’s Commentary.)
The Hebrew lexicons tell us that the word almah, here
translated virgin, may denote any mature young woman, whether a virgin or not. So
far as its derivation is concerned, this is undoubtedly the case; but in
Biblical usage, the word denotes a virgin in every case where its meaning can
be determined. The instances are, besides the text, that in the account of
Rebekah (Genesis 24:43), that of the sister of
Moses (Exodus 2:8), the word used in the plural
(Psalms 68:25-26; Song of Solomon 1:3; Song of Solomon 6:8), its use in the
titles of Psalms (Psalms 46:1-11; 1 Chronicles 15:20), and its use in Proverbs 30:19. The last passage is the
one chiefly relied on to prove that the word may denote a woman not a virgin;
but, “the way of a man with a maid” there spoken of is something wonderful,
incapable of being traced or understood, like the way of an eagle in the air, a
serpent on a rock, a ship in the sea, and it is only in its application to that
wonderful human experience, first love between a man and a virgin, that this
description can find a full and complete significance. The use of the word in
the Bible may not be full enough in itself to prove that almah
necessarily means virgin, but it is sufficient to show that Septuagint
translators probably chose deliberately and correctly, when they chose to
translate the word, in this passage, by the Greek word that distinctively
denotes a virgin, and that Matthew made no mistake in so understanding their
translation. (Prof. W. J. Beecher, D. D.)
Deliverance by a lowly agent
Not Ahaz, not some high-born son of Ahaz’s house, is to have the
honour of rescuing his country from its peril: a “nameless maiden of lowly
rank” (Delitzsch) is to be the mother of the future deliverer. Ahaz and the
royal house are thus put aside; it is not till Isaiah 9:7 --spoken at least a year
subsequently--that we are able to gather that the Deliverer is to be a
descendant of David’s line. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
God’s sign to Ahaz
The king having refused to ask a sign, the prophet gives him one,
by renewing the promise of deliverance (Isaiah 7:8-9), and connecting it with the
birth of a child, whose significant name is made a symbol of the Divine
interposition, and his progress a measure of the subsequent events. Instead of
saying that God would be present with them to deliver them, he says the child
shall be called Immanuel (God with us); instead of mentioning a term of years,
he says, before the child is able to distinguish good from evil; instead of
saying that until that time the land shall lie waste, he represents the child
as eating curds and honey, spontaneous products, here put in opposition to the
fruits of cultivation. At the same time, the form of expression is descriptive.
Instead of saying that the child shall experience all this, he represents its
birth and infancy as actually passing in his sight; he sees the child brought
forth and named Immanuel; he sees the child eating curds and honey till a certain
age. But very different opinions are held as to the child here alluded to. Some
think it must be a child about to be born, in the course of nature, to the
prophet himself. Others think that two distinct births are referred to, one
that of Shear-jashub, the prophet’s son, and the other Christ, the Virgin’s
Son. Yet others see only a prophetic reference to the birth of Messiah. (J.
A. Alexander.)
A prediction of the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ
While some diversity of judgment ought to be expected and allowed,
in relation to the secondary question (of the child of the period that is
referred to), there is no ground, grammatical, historical, or logical, for
doubt as to the main point, that the Church in all ages has been right in
regarding this passage as a signal and explicit prediction of the miraculous
conception and nativity of Jesus Christ. (J. A. Alexander.)
The figure of Immanuel an ideal one
The language of Isaiah forces upon us the conviction that the
figure of Immanuel is an ideal one, projected by him upon the shifting
future--upon the nearer future in chap. 7, upon the remoter future in chap. 9,
but grasped by the prophet as a living and real personality, the guardian of
his country now, its deliverer and governor hereafter. The circumstances under
which the announcement is made to Ahaz are such as apparently exclude
deliberation in the formation of the idea; it is the unpremeditated creation of
his inspired imagination. This view satisfies all the requirements of the
narrative. The birth of the child being conceived as immediate affords a
substantial ground for the assurance conveyed to Ahaz; and the royal attributes
with which the child speedily appears to be endued, and which forbid hit
identification with any actual contemporary of the prophet’s, become at once
intelligible. It is the Messianic King, whose portrait is here for the first
time in the Old Testament sketched directly. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
Immanuel, the Messiah
It is the Messiah whom the prophet here beholds as about to be
born, then in chap. 9 as born, and in chap. 11 as reigning. (F. Delitzsch.)
What sign could the distant birth of Christ be to Ahaz?
The answer is plain, as evidenced by the prophet turning away from
the king who repudiated, his privileges to the “house of David,” to which in
all its generations the promise was given. The king was endeavouring to bring
about the destruction of “the land,” but his efforts in that direction
would be useless until the destiny of the house of David was fulfilled. The virgin
must bear the promised Son; Judah is immortal till that event is accomplished.
It matters not whether it is near or far, the family and lineage of David must
survive till then. Hence the sign was plain enough, or ought to have been, to
Ahaz and the people in general. The closing portion of this section of
Scripture fully discloses the destruction that should befall Judah as well as
Israel, but the final fall of Judah is after the birth of Immanuel. (F. T.
Bassett, M. A.)
The virgin mother
To maintain that Isaiah did not mean to say that a certain Person
in the future was to be born of a virgin, is not the same thing as to hold that
Christ was not so born as a fact. (F. H. Woods, B. D.)
The mystery of the sign
The “sign” is on the one side a mystery staring threateningly at
the house of David, and on the other side it is a mystery rich in comfort to
the prophet and all believers; and it is couched in such enigmatic terms in
order that they who harden themselves may not understand it, and in order that
believers may so much the more long to understand it. (F. Delitzsch.)
A new thing in the earth
(Isaiah 7:10-16):--
I. THE PLEDGE
PROPOSED.
1. The condescension which God displayed on this occasion was very
remarkable.
2. There may be a semblance of regard for the honour of God, while
the heart is in a state of hostility against Him.
3. God may sustain a certain relationship to those who are not His in
reality.
II. THE INDIGNANT
REBUKE ADMINISTERED. (Isaiah 7:13.)
1. The persons to whom it was addressed. Not the king only, but the
whole nation; which shows that they, or a large portion of them, were
like-minded with their ungodly ruler. They are called “the house of David,” a
designation which was doubtless intended to remind them of his character, and
the great things which God had done for him. Well would it have been if he by
whom David’s throne was now occupied had been imbued with David’s spirit, and
walked in David’s ways; and that his influence had been exerted in inducing his
subjects to do so likewise.
2. The feeling by which it was prompted. It was evidently that of
holy indignation.
3. The grounds on which it rested. There were two things especially
by which God was dishonoured on this occasion.
III. THE GLORIOUS
EVENT PREDICTED. As to this striking prediction, in itself considered, there
are several particulars which it sets before us--
1. The miraculous conception of Christ.
2. The essential Deity of Christ.
3. The design of the coming of Christ. For Him to be called
“Immanuel, God with us,” shows that He appeared to espouse our cause.
4. The lowly condition of Christ. “Butter and honey shall He eat,”
etc.
5. The moral purity of Christ. Although the expression, “before the
child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good,” has literal
reference to His attaining the age of discernment, yet it may be applied with
special propriety to the spotless sanctity of His character. He knew, in a
sense in which no one else ever knew, how to refuse the evil and choose the
good. (Anon.)
The birth of Christ
I. THE BIRTH OF
CHRIST.
1. We see here a miraculous conception.
2. Notice next, the humble parentage. Though she was not a princess,
yet her name, Mary, by interpretation, signifies a princess; and though she is
not the queen of heaven, yet she has a right to be reckoned amongst the queens
of earth; and though she is not the lady of our Lord, she does walk amongst the
renowned and mighty women of Scripture. Yet Jesus Christ’s birth was a humble
one. Strange that the Lord of glory was not born in a palace! Let us take
courage here. If Jesus Christ was born in a manger in a rock, why should He not
come and live in our rocky hearts? If He was born in a stable, why should not
the stable of our souls be made into a habitation for Him? If He was born in
poverty, may not the poor in spirit expect that He will be their Friend?
3. We must make one more remark upon this birth of Christ, and that
remark shall be concerning a glorious birthday. With all the humility that
surrounded the birth of Christ, there was yet very much that was glorious, very
much that was honourable. No other man ever had such a birthday as Jesus Christ
had. Of whom had prophets and seers ever written as they wrote of Him? Whose
name is graven on so many tablets as His? Who had such a scroll of prophecy,
all pointing to Him as Jesus Christ, the God- man? Then recollect, concerning
His birth, when did God ever hang a fresh lamp in the sky to announce the birth
of a Caesar? Caesars may come, and they may die, but stars shall never prophesy
their birth. When did angels ever stoop from heaven, and sing choral symphonies
on the birth of a mighty man? Christ’s birth is not despicable, even if we
consider the visitors who came around His cradle.
II. THE FOOD OF
CHRIST. “Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil,
and choose the good.” Our translators were certainly very good Scholars, and
God gave them much wisdom, so that they craned up our language to the majesty
of the original, but here they were guilty of very great inconsistency. I do
not see how butter and honey can make a child choose good, and refuse evil. If
it is so, I am sure butter and honey ought to go up greatly in price, for good
men are ver much required. But it does not say, in the original, “Butter and
honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the owl, and choose the good,”
but, “Butter and honey shall He eat, till He shall know how to refuse the evil,
and choose the good,” or, better still, “Butter and honey shall He eat, when He
shall know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” We shall take that
translation, and just try to elucidate the meaning couched in the words. They
should teach us--
1. Christ’s proper humanity. When He would convince His disciples
that He was flesh, and not spirit, He took a piece of a broiled fish and of a
honeycomb, and ate as others did.
2. The butter and honey teach us, again, that Christ was to be born
in times of peace. Such products are not found in Judea in times of strife; the
ravages of war sweep away all the fair fruits of industry.
3. There is another thought here. “Butter and honey shall He eat when
He shall know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” This is to teach us
the precocity of Christ, by which I mean that, even when He was a child, even
when He lived upon butter and honey, which is the food of children, He Knew me
evil from the good.
4. Perhaps it may seem somewhat playful, but I must say how sweet it
is to my soul to believe that, as Christ lived upon butter and honey, surety
butter and honey drop from His lips. Sweet are His words unto our souls, more
to be desired than honey or the honeycomb.
5. And perhaps I ought not to have forgotten to say, that the effect
of Christ’s eating butter and honey was to show us that He would not in His
lifetime differ from other men in His outward guise. Butter and honey Christ
ate, and butter and honey may His people eat; nay, whatsoever God in His
providence gives unto them, that is to be the food of the child Christ.
III. THE NAME OF
CHRIST. “And shall call His name Immanuel.”
1. The Virgin Mary called her son Immanuel that there might be a
meaning in His name
2. Would you know this name most sweetly you must know it by the
teaching of the Holy Spirit. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The responsibility of revelation
1. This Annunciation to Ahaz was a great opportunity for him--a
crisis in his spiritual life. He was getting entangled in idolatrous ways,
involved in disloyal relations with the Assyrian monarchy, and had already
seriously compromised himself in sacrilegious appropriation of temple treasure.
And here was a golden opportunity to break through his bends, and cast himself
loose, once for all from his unworthy associations. He was only asked to trust
on for a little while longer, to watch events, and, as they fell out in a
certain direction, to recognise that they were of God’s special ordering, and
that they constituted a claim on his obedience and trust in God. But he was
incapable of profiting by God’s goodwill towards him. He rejected the Divine
overtures of prosperity and peace; and, while God still carried out the
dictates of His purpose, they came to Ahaz without blessing and without relief.
His enemies were removed, but a direr foe stood in their place; he could not
but learn that God was faithful, but the word that he compelled God to keep was
a word of retribution.
2. And if we were capable of the combined mental and spiritual effort
that such a course would require, and were to sit down calmly and without
prejudice to dissect our past lives, and with unerring judgment were to
separate cause from effect in every case, and to trace each important issue of
life to its true turning point, how often, probably, should we find that the
unsatisfactory features of the past were largely due to our neglect of some
revelation--some annunciation--of God! By experience, by example, by warning,
by discipline; by difficulties significantly placed in our path, or by
clearances unexpectedly but unmistakably made; by words in season, out of
season; by a thousand things, and in countless ways, we have had annunciations
from God--plain indications of His will and pleasure concerning us, and no
indistinct prophecies of things that shall be hereafter. And our judgment upon
a review of the whole is this--that our true happiness and our genuine success
have been in very exact proportion to our faithfulness or our unfaithfulness in
reading the signs of God. (E. T. Marshall, M. A.)
The mercy of God
The first word of this text joins the anger of God and His mercy
together. God chides and rebukes the king Ahaz by the prophet; He is angry with
him, and therefore” He will give him a sign--a seal of mercy.
I. GOD TAKES ANY
OCCASION TO SHOW MERCY.
II. THE PARTICULAR
WAY OF HIS MERCY DECLARED HERE. “The Lord shall give you a sign.”
III. WHAT THIS SIGN
WAS. “Behold a virgin,” etc. (J. Donne.)
Miracle of miracles
King Ahaz saith, I will not tempt God, and, making religion his
pretence against religion, being a most wilful and wicked man, would not. We
may learn by this wretched king that those that are least fearful before danger
are most basely fearful in danger (Isaiah 7:2). We may see the conflict
between the infinite goodness of God and the inflexible stubbornness of man;
God’s goodness striving with man’s badness. When they would have no sign, yet
God will give them a sign. Behold.
It is atheistical profaneness to despise any help that God in His
wisdom thinketh necessary to support our weak faith withal. The house of David
was afraid they should be extinct by these two great enemies of the Church;
but, saith Isaiah, “A virgin of the house of David shall conceive a son,” and
how then can the house of David be extinct? Heaven hath said it; earth cannot
disannul it. God hath said it, and all the creatures in the world cannot
annihilate it. How doth friendship between God and us arise from hence, that
Christ is God in our nature?
1. Sin, the cause of division, is taken away.
2. Our nature is pure in Christ, and therefore in Christ God loveth
us.
3. Christ being our head of influence conveyeth the same Spirit that
is in Him to all His members, and, little by little, by that Spirit, purgeth
His Church and maketh her fit for communion with Himself.
4. The second person is God in our nature for this end, to make God
and us friends. (R. Sibbes.)
Christ in prophecy
You will find that the presence of one Person pervades the whole
book If you go into a British navy yard, or on board a British vessel, and pick
up a piece of rope, you will find that there is one little red thread which
runs through the whole of it--through every foot of cordage which belongs to
the British government; so, if a piece of rope is stolen, it may be cut rote
inch pieces, but every piece has the mark which tells where it belongs. It is
so with the Bible. You may separate it into a thousand parts, and yet you will
find one thought--one great fact running through the whole of it. You will find
it constantly pointing and referring to one great Personage. Around this one
mighty Personage this whole book revolves. “To Him give all the prophets
witness.” (H. L. Hastings.)
Immanuel
Shear-jashub; Maher-shalal-hash-baz; Immanuel
The three names taken together would mean this--the Assyrians
would spoil the countries of Syria and Ephraim, and though they would threaten
Judah, God would be with His people, and save them, and so a remnant would For
left which would return at once to religious faith and to national prosperity.
For these two last are almost always associated in the prophet’s view. (F.
H. Woods, B. D.)
A prophecy of the Messiah
When Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, the Jews saw quite
clearly that this was indeed nothing less than the claim to be Divine, and they
cried out that this was blasphemy. And what was His reply? Jesus reminded His
hearers that the earliest judges and leaders of the people of Israel, as
testified by the language of their Scriptures, had been called gods. “Jesus
answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? If He called
them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken;
say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou
blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” The judges and rulers of the
early days of Israel had been called gods because their office and function was
just this--to represent God on earth to men, to reflect His character, and do
His will, and lead His people. They often failed to do this because they were
merely human. In some cases they were false to their trust, and then God’s
vengeance overtook them. Yet they pointed to that one far-off Divine event when
One who should perfectly fulfil that name was to interpose for the world’s
deliverance. And thus, just as the implied prophecy in calling men gods was to
be one day fulfilled, so the prophecy of Isaiah before us was also a prophecy
of that same later far-off event, when one who was in every sense “God with us”
should come to satisfy the needs and the longings of the human heart. (Canon
Ainger.)
Immanuel, the Sympathiser
“God with us.” This means omnipotence with us, omniscience with
us, perfection with us, and the love that never fails. Some of us, perhaps,
have tried, in conformity with the passion for getting rid of the supernatural
that marks the latest struggle of the scientific world, to construct a new
religion out of the old, in which the same pathetic and lovely figure as before
shall be placed beside us for our example, but from whom the aureole of Deity
has been taken away; they have been trying to find all that life needs in the
presence only of a fellow man, however superior to ourselves in holiness and
purity. There are moments in our lives when we feel ourselves face to face with
sin, in the presence of sorrow or of death from which no man can deliver us. In
the sad hours of your life, it has been said, the recollection of that Man you
read of in your childhood, the Man of sorrows, the great Sympathiser with human
woes and sufferings, rises up before you. I know it is a reality for you then,
for you feel it to be not only beautiful but true. In such moments does it seem
to you as if Christ were merely a person who eighteen hundred years ago made
certain journeying between Judea and Galilee? Can such a recollection fill up
the blank which some present grief, the loss of some friend, has made in your
heart? It does not. It never did this for you or for anyone. But the comfort
that came to you from the thought of Him may be safely trusted not to betray
you, for that voice that came to you in your anguish says, “You may trust Me,
you may lean upon Me, for I know all things in heaven and earth. I and My
Father are one.” (Canon Ainger.)
Immanuel
Nature, God, and Jesus are words often used to designate the same
power or being, but are suggestive of very different associations. The word
“nature” veils from our view the glory of the Godhead, and removes His
personality from our consciousness. It removes the Deity to a distance from us,
but Jesus, the newer and better name, the latest revelation, brings Him nearer
to us. The associations of the name Jesus, as a name of God, are most tender
and endearing. Jesus does not remind us of blind power or unfeeling skill, as
the word nature does; nor yet of overwhelming greatness, distant force and vast
intelligence, the conception of which strains our faculties, and the
realisation of which crushes our power, as the word God does. The name of Jesus
reminds us chiefly of sympathy, kindheartedness, brotherly tenderness, and
one-ness with ourselves. The word God presents a picture of the Deity to the
mind, in which those attributes of the Divine character which are in themselves
most removed from us, occupy the most prominent position, and are bathed with a
flood of light, while those features of character, by which the Divine Spirit
touches the delicate chords of human affections, are dimly seen amid the
darkening shadows of the background. The picture is reversed in Jesus. The
great attributes are buried in the light of love, as the stars are covered by
the light of day. (Evan Lewis, B. A.)
“Immanuel,” a stimulus to the prophet himself
Isaiah may have meant the Name to speak to him as well as to the
nation. He may have desired to bring the message of the Name into his personal
and family life. For, after all, a prophet is but a man of like passions with”
ourselves, subject to the same infirmities and fluctuations of spirit, “warmed
and cooled, by the same winter and summer.” There were times, no doubt, when
even Isaiah lost faith in his own function, in his own message, when the very
man who had assured a sinful nation that God was with them could hardly believe
that God was with him or could even cry out, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am
a sinful man!” And in such moments as these, when, weary of the world and weary
of himself, he lost courage and hope, he may have felt that it would be well
for him to have that in his very household which would help to recall the
truths he had recognised and taught in hours of clearer insight, help to
restore the faith with which he had first sprung up to greet the Divine
message. We may believe that there were many darkened hours in his experience,
hours of broken faith and defeated hope, when he would fall back on his earlier
faith and brighter hopes; when he would call his little son to him, and, as he
fondled him, would repeat his name, Immanuel, Immanuel--God-with-us,
God-with-us,--and find in that Name a charm potent to restore his waning trust
in the gracious presence and gracious will of Jehovah. (“Niger” in
Expositor.)
The child Immanuel
Isaiah may have felt, as we feel, that God is with a little child
in quite another sense, in a more pathetic sense, than He is with grown men. To
him, as to us, their innocence, their loveliness, and, above all, their love,
may have been the most exquisite revelation of the purity and love of God.
“Heaven lies about their infancy”; and in this heaven the prophet may often
have taken refuge from his cares, despondencies, and fears. Every child born
into the world brings this message to us, reminds us that God is with us indeed
and of a truth; for whence did this new, pure, tender life come if not from the
central Fountain of life and purity and love? And from this point of view
Isaiah’s “Immanuel” is but the ancient analogue of our Lord’s tender words: Of
such is the kingdom of heaven.” (“Niger” in Expositor.)
Immanuel
The text is prophecy of the Messiah (Matthew 1:23).
I. THE
CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH IT WAS SPOKEN.
II. ITS FULFILMENT.
For more than seven hundred years devout Jews waited for the Divinely predicted
sign. Then came the day which Christmas commemorates,
III. ITS PRACTICAL
IMPORT. To Christians this prophecy is significant of those blessings which are
pledged to us in Christ. In Him we have the assurance of God being--
1. With us in the sense of on our side. Nature shows us God as above
us; law shows us God as against us, because we have made ourselves His enemies;
but the Gospel shows us God with us to defend us from the power of sin and to
deliver us from the penalty of sin.
2. With us in the sense of in our nature. “The Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us”; became one of ourselves, shared with us--
(a) The Divine sympathy, because He is “touched with the feeling of
our infirmities.”
(b) The Divine salvation, because He has “put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself.”
(c) The Divine succour, because He “ever liveth to make intercession”
for us; and His parting word to His Church is, “Lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world.” (T. H. Barnett.)
God with us, though His presence is not always realised
Professor Tyndall has told us how, as he wandered through the
higher Alpine pastures in the earlier months of the present summer (1879), he
was often surprised to find at evening lovely flowers in full bloom where in
the morning he had seen only a wide thin sheet of snow. Struck with the strange
phenomenon, unable to believe that a few hours of even the most fervent
sunshine had drawn these exquisite flowers to their full maturity, he carefully
scraped away the snow from a few inches of pasture and examined the plants that
were growing beneath it. And, to his surprise and delight, he found that the
powers of life had been with them even while they seemed wrapped in death; that
the sun had reached them through the snow; that the snow itself had both held
down the rising warmth of the earth upon them, and sheltered them from the cold
biting winds which might else have destroyed them. There they stood, each full
grown, every flower maturely developed, though the green calyx was carefully
folded over the delicately coloured petals; and no sooner was the snow removed,
no sooner did the rays of the sun touch the green enfolding calyx, than it
opened and revealed the perfect beauty it had shrouded and preserved. And so,
doubtless, we shall one day find that God, our Sun, has been with us even
during the winter of our self-discontent, all through the hours of apparent
failure and inertness, quickening in us a life of which we gave but little
sign, maturing and making us perfect by the things we suffered; so that when
the hindering veils are withdrawn, and the full light of His love shines upon
us, at that gracious touch we too may disclose a beauty of which we had not
dreamed, and of Which for long we gave no promise. (“Niger” in
Expositor.)
Life’s best amulet
A Mohammedan negro in Africa was once taken prisoner in war. He
wore suspended around his neck an amulet or charm. When this was taken from him
he became almost frenzied with grief, and begged that it be returned to him He
was willing to sacrifice his right hand for it. It was his peculiar treasure,
which he valued as life itself. It was a very simple affair--A little leather
case enclosing a slip of paper on which was inscribed in Arabic characters one
word--“God.” He believed that the wearing of this charm secured for him a
blessed immunity from ill. When it was returned to him he was so overjoyed that
the tears streamed from his eyes, and falling to the ground he kissed the feet
of the man who restored to him his treasure. That poor negro had but the bare
name--we have God! Not a distant monarch seated lonesomely away from any human
voice or footstep. There is one name that ought to be dearest of all to every
Christian--“Immanuel.” It means not a Deity remote or hidden, but “God with us.”
(Christian Endeavor.)
God with us
An old poet has represented the Son of God as having the stars for
His crown, the sky for His azure mantle, the clouds for His bow, and the fire
for His spear. He rode forth in His majestic robes of glory, but one day resolved
to alight on the earth, and descended, undressing Himself on the way. When
asked what He would wear, He replied, with a smile, “that He had new clothes
making down below.” (Gates of Imagery.)
The Lord shall bring upon
thee . . . even the king of Assyria
The prophecy fulfilled
The calling in of Assur
laid the foundation for the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah not less than for
that of the kingdom of Israel Ahaz thereby became a tributary vassal of the
Assyrian king, and although Hezekiah again became free from Assyria through the
miraculous help of Jehovah, nevertheless what Nebuchadnezzar did was only the
accomplishment of the frustrated undertaking of Sennacherib.
(F. Delitzsch.)
Assyria and the Jews
If Isaiah here, in chaps,
7-12, looks upon Assyria absolutely as the universal empire (2 Kings 23:29; Ezra 6:22), this is so far true, seeing that the four empires from the
Babylonian to the Roman are really only the unfolding of the beginning which
had its beginning in Assyria. And if, here in chap. 7, he thinks of the son of
the virgin as growing up under the Assyrian oppressions, this is also so far
true, since Jesus was actually born in a time in which the Holy Land, deprived
of its earliest fulness of blessing, found itself under the supremacy of the universal
empire, and in a condition which went back to the unbelief of Ahaz as its
ultimate cause. Besides He, who in the fulness of time became flesh, does truly
lead an ideal life in the Old Testament history. The fact that the house and
people of David did not perish in the Assyrian calamities is really, as chap. 8
presupposes, to be ascribed to His presence, which, although not yet in bodily
form, was nevertheless active. Thus is solved the contradiction between the
prophecy and the history of its fulfilment. (F. Delitzsch.)
Judah’s loss of national
independence
From this application of
Ahaz to Tiglath-Pileser was to date the transition of Judah “to a servile state
from which it was never permanently freed, the domination of Assyria being soon
succeeded by that of Egypt, and this by that of Babylon, Persia, Syria, and
Rome, the last ending only in the downfall of the State, and that general
dispersion which continues to this day. The revolt of Hezekiah, and even longer
intervals of liberty in later times, are mere interruptions of the customary
and prevailing bondage.” (J. A. Alexander.)
The perspective of
prophecy
God makes what was
announced by prophecy separate itself in reality into different stages. (E.
Konig.)
History and prophecy
Prophecy never seems to
forsake the ground of history. However extended the vista which stretches
before him, that vista begins at the prophet’s feet. (Bishop Perowne.)
Bees and flies
Bees and swarms of flies
are used as a Homeric image for swarms of peoples (Il. 2.87)
. Here the images are likewise emblematic. The Egyptian people, being unusually
numerous, is compared to the swarming fly; and the Assyrian people, being
warlike and eager for conquest, is compared to the stinging bee, which is so
difficult to turn sway Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalms 118:12). The emblems also correspond to the nature of the two countries;
the fly to slimy Egypt, which, from being such, abounds in insects (chap.
18:1), and the bee to the more mountainous and woody Assyria, where bee-culture
still constitutes one of the principal branches of trade in the present day. (F.
Delitzsch.)
Hissing for the fly and
the bee
To hiss for them, is to
call or summon them, derived from the practice of the bee keepers, who, with a
whistle, summoned them from the hives to the open fields, and, by the same
means, conducted them home again We are assured by St. Cyril that [the practice]
subsisted in Asia down to the fourth and fifth centuries. (J. Kitto, D. D.)
A sentence of doom
I. GOD IS
SOVEREIGN IN THE WHOLE EARTH. All governments are but instruments which He uses
when and as He pleases (Isaiah 7:17-21). A thought full of comfort for the righteous, of horror for the
unrighteous.
II. THE CONSEQUENT
INSECURITY OF ALL PROSPERITY THAT IS NOT BASED UPON, AND PROMOTIVE OF,
RIGHTEOUSNESS (Isaiah 7:23). Britain will be “Great Britain” only so long as God pleases.
III. WHATEVER
CHASTISEMENTS GOD MAY HAVE INFLICTED, HE HAS ALWAYS A MORE TERRIBLE ONE BEHIND
(Isaiah 7:17).
IV. Seeing that all
these things were threatened against and inflicted upon God’s chosen people,
learn that NO MERCY THAT GOD HAS SHOWN US WILL FURNISH ANY IMMUNITY FOR US, IF
NOTWITHSTANDING THAT MERCY, WE SIN AGAINST HIM. There is a tendency in our evil
hearts to think that because God has been specially good to us, we may sin with
less risk than others; but the teaching of the Bible is, that those who “turn
the grace of God into lasciviousness” shall be visited with a sorer doom than
others. (R. A. Bertram.)
Verse 20
In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired
The hired razor
There is involved the bitterest sarcasm for Ahaz; the cheap
knife which he had hired for the deliverance of Judah is hired by the Lord in
order to shave Judah wholly and most shamefully.
(F. Delitzsch.)
Shaving the beard
The most shameful of all. The beard is the sign of manly vigour,
manliness, and manly dignity. (F. Delitzsch.)
The Lord’s razor
The Bible is the boldest book ever written. There are no
similitudes in Ossian or the Iliad or the Odyssey so daring. Its
imagery sometimes seems on the verge of the reckless, but only seems so. The
fact is that God would startle and arouse men and nations. A tame and limping
similitude would fail to accomplish the object. While there are times when He
employs in the Bible the gentle dew and the morning cloud and the dove and the
daybreak in the presentation of truth, we often find the iron chariot, the
lightning, the earth quake, the sword and, in my text, the razor. This
keen-bladed instrument has advanced in usefulness with the ages. In Bible times
and lands the beard remained uncut save in the seasons of mourning and
humiliation, but the razor was always a suggestive symbol. David says of Doeg,
his antagonist: “Thy tongue is a sharp razor working deceitfully that is, it
pretends to clear the face, but is really used for deadly precision.
I. If God’s
judgments are razors, WE HAD BETTER BE CAREFUL HOW WE USE THEM ON OTHER PEOPLE.
In careful sheath the domestic weapons are put away, where no one by accident
may touch them, and where the hands of children may not touch them. Such
instruments must be carefully handled or not handled at all. But how recklessly
some people wield the judgments of God. If a man meet with business misfortune,
how many there are ready to cry out, “This is a judgment of God upon him
because he was unscrupulous, or arrogant, or over reaching, or miserly.” How I
do dislike the behaviour of those persons who, when people are unfortunate,
say: “I told you so--getting punished--served him right!” With air sometimes
supercilious and sometimes Pharisaical, and always blasphemous, they take the
razor of Divine judgment and sharpen it on their own hard hearts, and then go
to work on men sprawled out at full length under disaster, cutting mercilessly.
They begin by soft expressions of sympathy and pity and half praise, and lather
the victim all over before they put on the sharp edge.
II. Again, when I
read in my text that the Lord shaves, with the hired razor of Assyria, the land
of Judea, I bethink myself of THE PRECISION OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE. A razor swung
the tenth part of an inch out of the right line means either failure or
laceration, but God’s dealings never slip, and they do not miss, by the
thousandth part of an inch, the right direction.
III. Further, my
text tells us that GOD SOMETIMES SHAVES NATIONS. “In the same day shall the
Lord shave with the razor that is hired.” With one sharp sweep He went across
Judah, and down went its pride and its power. Assyria was the hired razor
against Judah, and Cyrus the hired razor against Babylon, and the Huns the
hired razor against the Goths, and there are now many razors that the Lord
could hire if, because of our national sins, He should undertake to shave us.
IV. But notice that
God is so kind and loving, that WHEN IT IS NECESSARY FOR HIM TO CUT, HE HAS TO
GO TO OTHERS FOR THE SHARP-EDGED WEAPON. “In the same day shall the Lord shave
with a razor that is hired.” God is love. God is pity. God is help. God is
shelter. God is rescue. There are no sharp edges about Him, no thrusting
points, no instruments of laceration. If you want balm for wounds, He has that.
If you want salve for Divine eyesight, He has that. But if there is sharp and
cutting work to do, which requires a razor, that He hires. God has nothing
about Him that hurts, save when dire necessity demands, and then He has to go
to someone else to get the instrument. (T. De W. Talmage, D. D.)
Allies and razors
You thought you were buying an ally when you were only hiring a
razor by which you were to be rendered naked and made contemptible. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》