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Agape Bible Study
Isaiah 7 - 8
Chapter 7:1-16 ~ Isaiah and King Ahaz
Historical Background: When the Assyrians invaded the Northern Kingdom in 737 BC, King Menahem of Israel (743-738 BC) submitted and become a vassal of the Assyrians. He made two tribute payments to Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III (according to Assyrian annals), purchasing the political support of Assyria to continue to rule with "a thousand talents of silver" (2 Kng 15:19-20). He was succeeded by his son Pekahiah (2 Kng 15:23-26) who was assassinated by his equerry Pekah son of Remaliah (737 BC). Pekah decided to resist the Assyrians and made an alliance with Razon, the king of Damascus. They then joined forces in attacking the Southern Kingdom of Judah in what modern historians call the Syro-Ephraimite War.
| Date | 735-734 BC |
| Key players: | Tiglath-Pileser III, king of Assyria Razon, Aramaean king of Damascus (Syria) Pekah, king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel Ahaz, king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah |
| The issue: | The rise of Assyria forced smaller kingdoms to choose between joining forces to resist Assyria or submitting to Assyria and becoming vassal states. |
| The conflict: | Israel and Damascus formed an alliance against the Assyrians. King Ahaz of Judah did not join the alliance, and therefore the Israelites and Aramaeans went to war against the Southern Kingdom of Judah. |
When Ahaz was 20 years old, he succeeded his father Jotham in c. 735 BC. Isaiah had the difficult mission of serving as a prophet-advisor to the king. King Ahaz and his kingdom were threatened by the Syro-Ephraimite coalition (Arameans of Damascus and the Northern Kingdom of Israel). Rejecting Isaiah's advice to have faith in Yahweh and courage to oppose his enemies by trusting in Yahweh's protection, the weak Ahaz turned to the fierce Assyrians for help.
Isaiah 7:1-9 ~ Isaiah Intervenes with King Ahaz
Razon is the king of the Aramaean kingdom of Damascus. His name is written "Razon" in Greek and Assyrian inscriptions and "Razon" in Hebrew. His ally is Pekah son of Remaliah, a king of Israel who ruled from 737-32 BC (2 Kng 15:27-3; 16:1), and together they launched a campaign against Judah that is known as the Syro-Ephraimite War (the Northern Kingdom is often referred to by the name of its largest tribe). Tebeel (name means "god is good") in verse 5 is an unknown person but was probably an Aramaean prince they intent to install as king of Judah after Ahaz is deposed. They did besiege Jerusalem but could not conquer it in c. 734 BC (2 Kng 16:5-9). It is at this critical time that God commands Isaiah to take his young son with him to meet King Ahaz. Isaiah's son's name is Shear-Jashub, which means "a remnant will return." The boy is a visual reminder of God's mercy in His promise of the preservation of a faithful remnant of Judah (Is 2:4 and 6:13). Keep in mind that the entire time Isaiah is having his discourse with King Ahaz in verses 7-23 that Isaiah's little son is standing with him.
Question: What is Isaiah's warning to Ahaz in verse 9b?
Answer: If he will not listen to Isaiah's advice he will not survive.
In Isaiah 7:1-9, King Ahaz and his people are fearful of the Syro-Ephraimite alliance. The alliance causes the heart of the king and his people to tremble "like forest trees shaking in the wind" (verse 2). But Isaiah tells him Do not be frightened or demoralized by these two smoldering sticks of firewood ... His enemies are as ineffective as smoking pieces of firewood that have lost the power of the fire and are powerless to harm him because God will be on his side.
However, Ahaz and his people lack faith in God's power to protect them despite Isaiah's assurance that in "another sixty-five years, and Ephraim will cease to be a people. 9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not take your stand on me you will not stand firm." A little more than a generation after the exile of the Northern Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom's largest and most powerful tribe, the tribe of Ephraim, will cease to exist. Isaiah urges the king "If you will not take your stand on me you will not stand firm!" But these encouraging words also contain a warning: if Ahaz and Judah refuse to take their stand on God and His prophet, they will not stand firm. This verse is a play on the words, using two forms of the same verb, aman, which means "to be firm."
Isaiah 7:10-16 ~ Isaiah Intervenes with Ahaz a Second Time
Question: Why does Isaiah urge Ahaz to accept God's invitation to ask for a sign? Are there limits to what he might ask?
Answer: Isaiah urges Ahaz to ask God for a sign that the prophecy of Judah's rescue from the Syro-Ephraimite alliance will take place and God's protection over Judah is secure. He tells the king the "sign" he asks for has no limits, either in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above.
You will recall from the previous lesson that Sheol was the abode of all the dead from the Fall of Adam until the coming of Christ. The wicked were punished for their sins and the righteous awaited the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah (CCC 536, 633; Lk 16:19-31).
God sometimes provided His people and His agents with signs and wonders to demonstrate His power and the truth of what He said (Ex 3:1-4; 4:1-9; Lk 1:18-20; 2:12). St. John calls each of Jesus' miracles in his Gospel "signs" that point to Jesus' authority from God and His true identity.
Question: What should Ahaz, a descendant of King David, have remembered concerning God's covenant with the House of David? See 2 Sam 7:14-11b-17; 25-29; 23:5; Sir 45:25; 47:11/13.
Answer: Ahaz should have remembered that God's eternal covenant with David included the protection of his kingdom so long as his heirs remain faithful (2 Sam 7:12-29). Ahaz is a descendant of David and, as his heir, is the heir to this covenant promise.
12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask. I will not put Yahweh to the test."
Ahaz is using an excuse that is an allusion to Deuteronomy 6:16 where Moses warned the people: Do not put Yahweh your God to the test as you tested him at Massah. Massah means "testing" and recalls the incident when the Israelites were on their journey out of Egypt in Exodus 17:1-7. Instead of trust in God's promise to take care of them, the people demanded that Moses give them water to drink, challenging God to prove that He was with them.
Question: Is this situation the same as that at Massah or is it different?
Answer: The situation with Ahaz is entirely different. He would not be putting God to the test in an improper way because God Himself graciously gave Ahaz the authority to name the sign.
Later Isaiah will offer Ahaz's good son, King Hezekiah, the chance to choose between one of two signs, and he does not repeat his father's mistake. But Isaiah 7:10 records the only time in the Bible where a prophet offered someone the opportunity to name the sign. God in His mercy reached out in a special way to David's heir who was struggling to believe that Judah would experience God's deliverance. However, Ahaz refused to name a sign, trying to hide behind false piety. Either he did not want to risk his kingdom on Yahweh's promise of help or he had already made up his mind and preferred to put his trust in an alliance with Assyria and her king.
13 He then said: "Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying human patience that you should try my God's patience too?
Notice the shift between verses 11 and 13 from Isaiah's words "your God" in verse 11 when he urges Ahaz to ask for a sign and "my God" in verse 13 after Ahaz refuses and Isaiah is angry and finds Ahaz unfit to claim Yahweh as his God. Ahaz's refusal is a sign of his unbelief and the House of David has demonstrated that it is unfit for a relationship with the Living God.
Isaiah is persistent and tells Ahaz: The Lord will give you a sign in any case. It is this: the young woman [literal ha almah = the virgin] is with child and will give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel [immau = "with us" + El = God = "God-with-us"]. For a sign to be from God, it has to be an event that defies the natural order. For a woman in Ahaz's court or one of his wives to give birth to a son happened all the time and could not be taken as a divine sign. But for a virgin to give birth without having had relations with a man is indeed a miracle. And notice that Isaiah does not say "a virgin", but he says "the virgin" "a specific virgin chosen by God to be a "sign" of His divine intervention in the history of mankind. That the child is given a title that contains the word "God" in the singular ("El"), a word used again in 9:6, demonstrates that Isaiah is referring to a child with words that signify deity. His birth will be surrounded with the mysterious and the supernatural. When the child is born, God will be seen to be present with His people.
In the promised sign, Isaiah is telling King Ahaz, "Ahaz, you don't want to pick a sign and you don't believe God is with us, but He is and He will prove it through this amazing sign." The prophet will not be fulfilled for over seven hundred years!
Question: How is the title for the child to be born of a virgin, "God-with-us," fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Man and Son of God? See the promise in Matthew 28:20 and Revelation 21:3. How then is Isaiah's Immanuel prophecy fulfilled?
Answer: Prior to His Ascension Jesus promise that He will be with us until the end of time, and in Revelation 21:3, after the creation of the new heaven and earth (Rev 21:1-2), St. John hears a voice from the throne of God telling him: "Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them."
In 1779, Pope Pius VI, in his encyclical "Divina," officially condemned any interpretation denying the messianic sense of Isaiah 7:14.
Isaiah 7:14 is the first of ten Old Testament fulfillment statements found in St. Matthew's Gospel. Fulfillment statements:
- Jesus childhood: 1:23; 2:15, 17-18, 23
- Galilean ministry: 4:14-16; 8:17; 12:17-21; 13:35
- Jesus' last week in Jerusalem: 21:4-5; 27:9-10
Question: Isaiah gives a time frame when the destruction of the two kingdoms that oppose Judah will take place; what is that time frame in 7:15-16?
Answer: The destruction will take place before the child reaches the age of reason.
The child he refers to has been weened but is still not eating table-food, and has not yet reached the age of reason in determining the distinction/nuances between is good and what is bad behavior. Under common law, seven years of age is defined as the "age of reason" for a child. Children under the age of 7 years old are conclusively presumed to be incapable of committing a crime because they do not possess the reasoning ability to understand that their conduct violates the standards of acceptable community behavior. In ancient times, and in underdeveloped countries today, a child is commonly breast-fed until 3 years old. Isaiah's son who is not yet eating table food but is eating soft food is probably 3 years old. If the date is 735 BC, three years later in 732 BC, before the child is 7 years old, the threat will be removed. Ahaz will acknowledge himself a vassal of Assyrian King Tiglath Pileser III in c. 734 (see 2 Kng 15:29; 16:5-9). Tiglath Pileser III's campaign against the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Damascus will begin in 733 BC and both kingdoms will be conquered by the Assyrians in 732 BC. Damascus will be destroyed by the Assyrians, the northern territory of Israel will be conquered and its population exiled into Assyrian lands. King Pekah of Israel will be reduced to a vassal of Assyria in the same year, removing the threat of both Damascus and Israel to Judah.
Isaiah 7:17-9:6/7 ~ Isaiah's Prophecies of an Assyrian Invasion and a Future Deliverance
In this next section, Isaiah's message focuses on four topics:
- The prophecy of a foreign invasion (7:17-25)
- The birth of his son Maher-Shalal-Hash-Bas (8:1-4)
- The judgment of the people (8:5-23)
- The promise of a future deliverance (9:1-6/7)
The prophetic names of Isaiah's sons:
- Shear-Jashub means "a remnant will return" and foretells a return from exile.
- Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz means "speedy-spoil-quick-booty" and foretells the sack of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom, and Damascus by the Assyrians.
Isaiah 7:17-25 ~ Devastation of a Foreign Invasion
Verse 17 begins with the prediction that the very nation Ahaz sought as an ally will become Judah's greatest adversary, and Judah and the House of David will face the same kind of turmoil and threat to its very existence as it did when the United Kingdom of Israel broke into the two nations of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah (verse 17; see 1 Kng chapter 12).
Question: What two nations are named as invading armies?
Answer: Egypt and Assyria.
Question: What metaphors from nature does Isaiah use to highlight the magnitude of the coming destruction from Egypt and Assyria in verses 18-19?
Answer: Swarms of stinging insects and bees symbolize the onslaught of the armies of the foreigners, and sea waves crashing on the shore symbolize their relentless assault.
This passage is a prediction of the devastation of the land by the Assyrians. Shaving the hair off one's body probably describes the humiliation of the Assyrian oppression as they stripped the conquered people bare of both their possessions and their dignity (see 2 Sam 10:4-5; cf. Is 50:6). The size of the herds of cattle and flocks of sheep will drop significantly as food sources for the animals became scarce and there will only be brambles and thorn bushes to feed them.
Isaiah 8:1-4 ~ The birth of another son
Question: Isaiah had already predicted the coming of the Assyrians and the overthrow of Israel, but now God tells him to again foretell the coming destruction in what two ways? See verses 1 and 3. The words Isaiah is told to write on the tablet means "speedy spoil, quick booty."
Answer:
- He is to write the words "speedy spoil quick booty" on a large tablet, presumably to make the prophecy of the coming destruction public for everyone in Jerusalem to read.
- He is to use these same words in the naming of his son who will be a living symbol of the prophecy.
By means of the symbolic name God gave his son, he repeats his message. What was prophesied in 7:15-16 in Isaiah's elder son is now confirmed "the future is determined: there will be devastation but a "faithful remnant" will survive.
Question: Why is Isaiah told to take two reliable witnesses with him when he writes upon the large tablet?
Answer: Isaiah is told to take two witnesses with him when he displays the tablet so that God's prophecy, uttered through His prophet, may be verified and the honor of His truthfulness and the mercy of His warning will be upheld.
Question: Why is the condemnation of Judah just? Give two reasons.
Answer:
- Judah and her king have despised the Lord God and refused His help.
- Judah and her king have contributed to bring about the destruction of their brethren in the Northern Kingdom by making an alliance with Assyria.
Within two years of the prophecy, in 732 BC, the wealth of Damascus will be plundered by the army of Tiglath-Pileser and the Northern Kingdom's tribal lands in the Galilee and on the east side of the Jordan River will be taken. Without their Aramean ally, the Northern Kingdom submitted as a vassal to the Assyrians, but 12 years later the Assyrians destroyed Samaria (capital of the Northern Kingdom) and took all the citizens of the Northern Kingdom into exile in 722 BC.
Isaiah 8:5-10 ~ Shiloah and the Euphrates
Shiloah is the reservoir in Jerusalem that was mentioned as the "upper pool" where Isaiah was told to meet Ahaz in 7:3. It was a ritual purification pool where religious Jews ritually immersed as a sign of repentant and purified souls before attending Temple worship. St. John translates the name of the pool in the Greek as the Siloam Pool, which he says means "one who has been sent" in John 9:7.
Question: What miracle did Jesus perform at the Pool of Shiloah/Siloam in John 9:1-7?
Answer: Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth and used the waters of the pool in His healing process.
Here the waters of Shiloah symbolize God's desire to purify the people's sins, an offer the people of Jerusalem and their king have rejected in favor of the salvation in the form of the Assyrians. The contrast God makes in verse 6 is that the Judahites and their king have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah in favor of the flood of Assyrians who will cross the Euphrates River to engulf everyone in their path.
Question: Isaiah ends this prediction with the two times cry: "Immanuel!" (in verses 8 and 10). This time it is not a symbolic name/title of a future child; what is it?
Answer: In verse 8 it is literally a plea for God's help; in verse 10 it is a pronouncement that what God wills for them will happen and the punishments that are foretold are preparing the way for the fulfillment of the promises.
Isaiah 8:11-23 ~ Isaiah's advice to his Disciples
In this passage, Isaiah explains to his disciples (verse 16) the reason for the stand he has taken in declaring the destruction of Judah. It is God Himself who has instructed Isaiah to oppose the king and the people and to put his trust in no one but God. He instructs his disciples not to listen to the people when they accuse Isaiah of conspiracy (verse 12).
Question: What contrast does Isaiah make in verse 14?
Answer: God will be a sanctuary for Isaiah and his disciples, but He will also be a stumbling stone and a trap for those who reject Isaiah's prophecies that will cause them to "fall, be broken, be ensnared and made captive."
Isaiah and his sons with prophetic names are "signs and portents in Israel" of the messages of the One, True God who dwells with His people on Mt. Zion.
CHALLENGE:“Luke 2:7 says Mary ‘gave birth to her firstborn son.’ This implies that Joseph and Mary had other sons; therefore she didn’t remain a virgin.”
DEFENSE: In ancient Jewish culture, the term “firstborn son” did not imply that other sons came later.
The first male child to be born to a woman was regarded as her firstborn, regardless of whether she had other children. The firstborn son had a special role that applied as soon as he was born. It was not a role he assumed when later children were born.
All life was seen as a gift from God. This applied to human children, the offspring of animals, and crops of fruit and grain. To honor God for these gifts, people would offer him the first of each in recognition of him as their source. Thus, after every harvest, the children of Israel offered to God the “firstfruits” of their crops (Exod. 23:19).
The firstborn of men and animals were consecrated to God (Exod. 13:1–2). In the case of firstborn male animals, they were either sacrificed to God or—in some cases—redeemed by paying a special price (Exod. 13:12–13a). God rejected child sacrifice, however. For firstborn humans, fathers had to redeem them. The rule was: “Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem” (Ex. 13:13b; cf. vv. 14–15).
After Jesus’ birth, Joseph redeemed Jesus as Mary’s firstborn (Luke 2:22–23). This was mandatory for every woman that had just had her first male child, even though she had not yet had a “second born” child and might never have one.
Jesus’ status as a firstborn thus does not say anything about Mary and Joseph having additional children or Mary’s perpetual virginity.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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