Isaiah 7:1-13
Isa 7:1
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.
Uzziah died in 750 B.C. and his son Jotham reigned for 18
years which means the reign of Ahaz began in 732 B.C. Ahaz was a wicked
idolatrous king of Judah. Israel
and Syria had been enemies but they formed an alliance in response to the empire
that Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria was building.
It may have been that Ahaz had refused to join the alliance and that was
the reason that the northern ten tribes along with Syria
wanted to attack and take Jerusalem.
They were unable to conquer Judah.
Isa 7:2
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.
When Ahaz heard that Ephraim, which is another name for
the ten northern tribes, were in league with the enemies of Israel, his heart
was moved which means they were in fear because they knew they had departed from
the Lord and that the saving hand of God might not be there to help them.
The people were also in fear because they knew that if Syria and Ephraim
attacked, they were too weak of a people to repel such an army.
Just as the wind drives the trees, the people were also driven by the
report of a possible attack and maybe annihilation.
Isa 7:3
Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet
Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper
pool in the highway of the fuller's field;
The name “Shear-jashub” means “a remnant will return”
which was a promise of deliverance for Judah. At this time it was only a few
more years when Assyria would come against the ten northern tribes and take them
away. The LORD commanded Isaiah to meet with King Ahaz with his son.
The upper pool was where they were as they looked over it and were
probably discussing how they could keep the water supply from being poisoned or
falling into the hands of the enemy.
Once the water supply is cut off, then all they had to do was wait and
thirst would take over and become their ally.
The fuller’s field was where laundry was done, where they would wash and
beat out rugs and large pieces of household laundry.
Isa 7:4
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.
The LORD then tells Isaiah what to say to allay the fears
of the people. Isaiah was to tell
them that they were not to fear this alliance.
They were to be quiet which carries the meaning of “settle down, rest, or
be still.” Remember what the LORD said to Moses who conveyed it to the people?
And Moses said unto the people,
Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew
to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them
again no more for ever. (Exodus 14:13)
In other words they were not to worry because in God’s eyes they were two
tails of smoking firebrands. In
other words, they were the tails which meant their strength was already burned
up and very soon the fire would go out because it was already at the tail.
Notice God does not address Pekah as a king but the son of Remaliah which
seems like the LORD is basically saying he is acting like a child and making
very immature decisions. Ahaz saw
them as being fierce but the LORD saw them as burned out firebrands.
Isa 7:5
Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have
taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
The alliance of these two nations along with the
consensus of the people of Ephraim had taken counsel against Judah.
They made one big mistake in thinking that they could somehow overthrow
and defeat the Davidic line where the Messiah would come from.
Isa 7:6
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:
They wanted to make a move against Judah and vex it or
trouble it. The breach they wanted
to make was dividing Judah in two districts and one would be for Pekah and the
other would be for Rezin. Then they
wanted to set up a puppet king to do their bidding for them.
The name “Tabeal” means “Good God” but since they were both pagan in
religion what god were they speaking about?
It is not known whether this son of Tabeal was a Syrian or Israelite.
Isa 7:7
Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither
shall it come to pass.
Then the LORD decrees plainly that their alliance will
not stand, in other words whatever they had planned the plans would come to
nothing. They will not even come
against Judah so the inhabitants of Judah have nothing to fear from them.
It was basically a paper war which never came to pass.
Neither Syria or Ephraim would enlarge their land in any manner.
Isa 7:8
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 was the capitol city of Syria and the head of
Damascus is Rezin who was the king of Syria.
Then within 65 years the people of Ephraim will be broken which carries
the meaning of “break down by violence or abolished.”
Once the ten northern tribes were removed into Assyria, they are never to
be heard from again and it will be like they never existed.
When Ahaz began to reign, it was only 11 years to the removal of the
northern kingdom and it was like they never existed after the period of time of
65 years. Everything they had built
in the northern kingdom would have been destroyed or given to others to inhabit
and that is why every vestige of their existence would be wiped out.
Isa 7:9
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.
The capitol city of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of
Samaria is Remaliah’s son which means he will not be the king of anything else
but where he was right now and that means no attack or any type of land grab.
Then Judah is told that if they do not believe what they are being told,
then they will also not be established.
They believed here but eventually they went the way of the northern
tribes in descending into idolatry and false religion and setting aside the true
word of God. In other words, they
too would suffer the same fate as the northern tribes.
Isa 7:10
Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
Then the LORD brings a message to the wicked king Ahaz
who apparently did not respond properly to the message that Isaiah brought them.
Isa 7:11
Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the
depth, or in the height above.
Then the LORD speaks to Ahaz, not as someone who is
speaking to an enemy but he speaks to him and offers to show him a sign that
what Isaiah was speaking was on his behalf was true.
Since God was all powerful, there was no limit of what kind of sign that
Ahaz could ask for. It could be as
deep as the ocean or as high as the stars of Heaven.
He does this to confirm the message that Isaiah brought to them.
Isa 7:12
But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the
LORD.
Ahaz refuses the offer because he does not want to be in
spiritual debt to God of Israel so
he couches his refusal in words of piety that he does not want to tempt the
LORD. He would not have been
tempting the LORD because it was the LORD who made the offer and left it up to
Ahaz what he would ask for.
Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as
ye tempted him in Massah.
(Deuteronomy 6:16) Ahaz was not
concerned about obeying the law because he had closed the temple and
discontinued public observance of the law.
His concealed reason was that he was going to ask the Assyrian king for
help instead of God.
So Ahaz sent messengers to
Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I
am thy servant and thy son:
come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand
of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. (2 Kings 16:7)
Ahaz looked to man as his strength rather than the God of Israel.
Isa 7:13
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?