Isaiah 7:1-2
Ahaz had tried to form an alliance with the Syrians. Now he was shaken because they had teamed up with Israel to march against him. King of Israel, Pekah, and the king of Syria, Rezin marched against Jerusalem and king Ahaz. This is the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom and Syria forming a coalition, primarily to stand against the Assyrians. They rose up against Judah to force them to join the coalition against Assyria. Bu Judah couldn't be overpowered.
Isaiah 7:3-9
The Lord told Isaiah to meet with Ahaz and encourage him. It's interesting that Isaiah took his son along with him; Shear-Jashub means 'a remnant shall return'. Isaiah called these kings coming against them 'smoking firebrands' they would make a little smoke but never amount to much. Judah was not to fear of grow fainthearted. The 2 kings plotted against Judah, so as to replace the King with the son of Tabeel. It's not clear who Tabeel is and doesn't matter because God brought their plans to nothing.
God declared that this would not happen. Israel will be destroyed because of the alliance. The entire thing boiled down to the plans of two men the Lord called smoking firebrands. The northern kingdom would fall in 65 years. The Lord declared it and Ahaz needed to believe it. The last part of verse nine is conveyed nicely in the NIV; "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." Ahaz wouldn't find strength in armies or coalitions, but only in the Lord.
Isaiah 7:10-17
King Ahaz was given a most generous offer. But why? We need to go to 2Kings 16 (2 Chronicles 28) and see the context. King Jotham (of Judah) had passed away; his son Ahaz became king. In these days, the Lord began to send Rezin, king of Aram (Syriah) and Pekah (of northern kingdom) son of Remaliah against Judah.
The reign of this 20-year-old king Ahaz is characterized by these:
- He didn't reign as David had
- He did not reign as his father & grandfather did – King Uzziah & Jotham were good kings.
- He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
- He followed the ways of the kings of Israel (think Ahab & Jezebel; Jereboam)
- He worshiped other gods
- He sacrificed his son in the fire
Therefore, his throne was in jeopardy; under attack by the enemies.
As the king Reson of Syria and King Pekah of Israel came to Judah and fought against Jerusalem, King Ahaz was in a difficult place. He was young, prideful, foolish and arrogant. He wasn't equipped to make wise decisions.
Ahaz was in a bad place; the proverbial rock and hard place. Not only his nation was being threatened, but also the people and his throne were under pressure; his very reign as king. We find out in the scriptures, God put him in this place; and we find out why go to 2 Chronicles 28:5-6.
Ahaz didn't know what to do. He desperately needed help. He faced overwhelming odds. The situation was bleak as there were threats from all sides. It is in these kinds of situations, the Lord shows himself mighty.
Ahaz knew of the Lord. He grew up in a family where his father & grandfather walked steadfastly with God. Yet, in the overwhelming circumstances, he chose his own course of action. He didn't seek the Lord.
Ahaz did, in fact, go to the temple of the Lord. Yet, not to seek God, but only to pillage the royal palace and treasuries so as to buy the favor of the king of Assyria. Ahaz had decided the enemy of Israel must be the best place to find a friend. He decided the best course of action was to seek help from the Assyrians.
This country was ruthless in its conquest and brutal on the battlefield. They had already shown signs of being aggressive toward everyone in the area. It was the Assyrian threat on the northern kingdom and Syria that caused them to become a coalition force. Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Peleser; asking for them to come save him. Instead of taking his burden to the Lord, Ahaz resolved it by seeking help from a worldly king. He sought the comfort and salvation from this worldly power instead of the God who cared so much for His people.
Tiglath gladly inserted himself into this drama and Ahaz was, at least, temporarily saved; only because it benefitted the Assyrian king; seeing it as an opportunity to crush Syria.
In 2 Chronicles 28:19-25 we see the actions of Ahaz did nothing to stop the downward spiral of his life and reign as a king. He went to Damascus in Syria where he met with the Assyrian general. It was there he saw a Syrian altar, conquered and now acknowledged by the Assyrians. So this was an altar to a god of a defeated Damascus; a pagan god; now being worshiped on by the Assyrian King. It seemed good to Ahaz to copy this altar and set it up in Jerusalem to show subjection to the Assyrian king.
Ahaz ordered his priest to make a drawing of this altar and to go back to Jerusalem and build one for him. Some time later, Ahaz went back to the temple, pushed aside the original altar and offered his sacrifices on this new altar (implying the old one wasn't working too good). In the end, Ahaz cut the furnishings of the temple to pieces. He shut the doors to the house of the Lord. Then in every town, he built convenient places of false worship. This further aroused the anger of the Lord.
So, this is the setting of our Christmas verse. The picture of Ahaz, one who had abandoned the ideal standards of Israel, God's people. He had corrupted the temple worship. He had invited, as his helper, the very king who has ravaged the northern nation. Ahaz lived now by the standards of others.
Remember in verse four Ahaz was told to 'Take heed, be quiet and don't fear or become faith of heart. There stood Ahaz at the most critical point in his life and Isaiah was speaking God's words of encouragement to him. But Ahaz failed to take heed and withered. He failed to listen to the warning. He ran out and partnered up with the very nation that would become a world's super power and come to siege Jerusalem during his son, Hezekieah's reign.
The Lord offered Ahaz, through Isaiah, a chance to ask for a sign. It was quite an offer, "Pick a sign, any sign!" God was submitting to offer a miraculous sign as determined by this man. This is amazing. One commentator put it this way:
It may be fearlessly said that for Isaiah to propose to Ahaz the choice of a miraculous sign is itself a sign. It is a pledge that he serves the true, living, and almighty God; that therefore there is such a God, who not only can do miracles, but who, under circumstances, will do them.
This was an invitation to think big! This sign could look to the deepest depths; which they would know as Sheol, the abode of the dead; to the highest heights, known to them as the heavens. Both of these considerations were dimensional, though mankind could hardly comprehend. From highest of highs to the depths of the sea.
But Ahaz wouldn't ask for a sign. Another commentator said this:
Pious though his words sound, Ahaz is doing the devil's work of quoting Scripture for his own purposes and thereby displaying himself as the dogmatic unbeliever. This was his moment of decision, his point of no return.
Ahaz refused the offer of Isaiah; thereby refusing to interact with God. He chose not to stand in faith, but instead to not stand at all. Yet another king failed to rule in godly fashion. Yet again, men on the throne prove to be a failure. "The whole history of inadequacy has come to a head." The offer to Ahaz was to ask "the Lord your God". But Ahaz could only ask the Lord God – for he had rejected God. Yahweh was not his God. Therefore, in light of the failings of the kings of Judah; in light of their constant rejection of God and his ways; in light of not standing firm, a sign would be given.
God had a sign in mind all along: Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. This was the sign that came, not by grace, but from divine frustration.
Ahaz was encouraged to ask for a sign 'whether in the deepest depths or in the hightest heights'. In his rejection, the sign he received was equally dimensional; from the highest of heights, God would come down to earth as a man. Then, on the other end of his life, he would go to the deepest of deep; the grave to rise again.
There may have been a local sign of a son being born. This son would eat curds & honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. The diet shows the scarce provisions available when the country was overthrown by an enemy. The curds and honey is an idiom of poverty. This is the food of desert wanderers. Before the child reaches the age of understanding good and evil the threat of the enemy would be gone.
This same prophecy could also be applied to the greater fulfillment of the sign given; the virgin birth of Jesus. He came to age in a life of poverty and humility and by then these kings would be gone and forgotten. The point to Ahaz; his lack of faith in God and his spiritual poverty meant he had bigger problems than these two kings. The Lord was coming back; just and righteous. This is the King Ahaz should be concerned with; He's the one that should be honored and lifted up and trusted in. He alone should be feared.
Isaiah 7:18-25
The enemies will swarm over Judah and Jerusalem like a swarm of insects called by God to infest His land. The beard was held in high regard. To have it removed or plucked and shaved was humiliating. Shaving the head was an act of humiliation; to have it shaved by an enemy was shameful. The 'hair of the legs' is an euphemism for genitalia. This is the deepest humiliation, to be violated in this way by an enemy.
A man will keep a cow and two goats. The population will be so reduced after this day of judgment that it won't take much to feed the people. At the same time, it will be a time of want. Everywhere there used to be abundance there will be briars and thorns. It's quite a contrast; the abundant blessings of the Promised Land as given by the Lord verses the rejection of the Lord and the fruit of the sin, briers and thorns.
©2018 Doug Ford
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