INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 7

The king of Israel and Syria are going to war with Judah.  The heart of Ahaz was moved like a palm tree in a hurricane.  Isaiah was instructed to take his son Shearjashub and meet with the King of Judah at the public laundry mat.  Isaiah told him to not be afraid, calm down, don’t panic.  This conspiracy is a lot of hot air.  These two kings with burning rage are nothing but a couple of smoldering torches.  Sometime later Isaiah tells Ahaz that these two kings will soon get killed and that Judah will be punished for its sins that he is going to send for the army of Assyria and they will swarm on Judah like flies on a dead carcass and all their lush vineyards will be cut down and her gardens destroyed.  Following my comments are scriptures that amplify the text.

EXPOSITION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 7

 1And 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 was the son of Jotham and the grandson of Uzziah who reigned from (735-715B.C.)  King Rezin of Syria and the combined forces of King Pekah of Israel  (the ten northern tribes) are at war with Judah but the city of Jerusalem stood firm and they were not able to capture it.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT SHED LIGHT ON THE TEXT:

2Ch 28:1-6  Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:  For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.  Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.  He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.  Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.  For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. Read:  2Ki 16:1; 2Ki 15:37

2And 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 the news reached the royal palace of David that the allied forces of Syria and Ephraim (Ephraim was a patronymic name for the 10 northern tribes) that the army was proceeding south to capture the city of Jerusalem Ahaz trembled like a teenager shaving the first time with a dull razor.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Hos 12:1  Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. Read:  2Sa 7:16; 1Ki 11:32; 1Ki 12:16; 2Ch 25:10; Deu 28:65-66

 3Then 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;

Isaiah was instructed to take his son Shearjashub and meet with the King of Judah at the public laundry mat.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ILLUMINATE THE TEXT:

Isa 36:2  And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field.

2Ki 20:20  And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

4And 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.

Isaiah told him to not be afraid, calm down, don’t panic.  This conspiracy is a lot of hot air.  These two kings with burning rage are nothing but a couple of smoldering torches.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT INDORSE THE TEXT:

2Ch 20:17  Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.  Read:  Lam 3:26; 1Sa 17:32; 2Ki 15:29-30

  5Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,

These  two countries have laid a plot to do Judah harm.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

Psa 83:3-4  They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

4  They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

 6Let 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:

Their plan was to dethrone Ahaz and set up a vassal king .

7Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.

Isaiah tells Ahaz that God told him that the plans of these two kings will fail it won’t happen now and never will.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:

Isa 46:10-11  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:  Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

Dan 4:35  And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

 8For 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.

This prophecy received its full accomplishment when Esarhaddon carried away the remains of the ten tribes.  

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ILLUSTRATE THE TEXT:

Isa 8:4  For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.   Read:  Isa 17:1-15; 2Ki 17:16-23

9And 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.

Pekah was Remaliah’s son and was king of the 10 northern tribes and ruled from Samaria.  Ahaz is told to believe the prophet instead of the reports from other sources.  If he fails to believe what God says he will not be established.  He is told to take his stand on faith.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

2Ch 20:20  And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.  Read:  1Ki 16:24-29

10Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,

Sometime later God spoke to Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah.

 11Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.

Ahaz is told to ask for some sign or proof that what has been spoken will come to pass, ask what you will whether it be in the sky or here on earth.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

ESTABLISH THE CERTAINTY OF THE TEXT:

Jdg 6:36-40  And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,  Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.  And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.  And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.  And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.

Ahaz says that he is not going to put God to the test by asking for some sign.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT PRESENT OVERWHELMING PROOF

OF THE TEXT:

Deu 6:16  Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.

13And 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?

Isaiah tells the king that he is about to exhaust his patience.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ATTEST TO THE TEXT:

Eze 16:47  Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.

 14Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Since you will not pick a sign therefore the Lord will give you a sign, a virgin will become pregnant and bear a son and they will name him Immanuel (God-With-Us).  The scriptures below show how the people of the bible often named their children after an important event in their life.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

PRESENT OVERWHELMING PROOF OF THE TEXT:

Gen 4:1  And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

Gen 16:11  And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. (whom God hears)  Read:  Gen 29:32; Gen 30:6; Gen 30:6; Gen 30:8; 1Sa 1:20; 1Sa 4:21; Isa 8:8; Isa 9:6; Mat 1:23

15Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

He will be eating butter and honey till he knows how to refuse evil and choose good.  Other provisions were not available because all their vineyards and crops had been destroyed.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ATTEST TO THE TEXT:

Isa 7:22  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.

 16For 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.

The two kings, Remaliah and Pekah will soon be out of the picture.  These two kings will be dead before the child reached manhood.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ATTEST TO THE TEXT:

2Ki 15:29  In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

2Ki 16:9  In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.  ;  Read:  Isa 17:1-3;

 17The 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.

God is going to bring a curse upon you and your people worse than anything since Solomon’s kingdom split.  God is going to send the king of Assyria with his army against them.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ARE CONCLUSIVE AND FINAL:

Isa 8:7-8  Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:  And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.  Read:  Isa 10:5-6; 2Ch 28:19-21; 2Ch 32:1-33; 2Ch 33:11

18And 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.

God is going to hiss for the army of Egypt and for the army of Assyria and they will swarm on Judah like flies on a dead carcass or bees stinging you and there is no getting away from them.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT RATIFY THE TEXT:

Isa 5:26  And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:  Read:  Jos 24:12; Psa 118:12; 2Ki 23:33-34     

 19And 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.

This invading army will fill the valleys, search every cavern, they will be found everywhere like flies and bees on thorns and bushes.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT BEAR OUT THE TEXT:

2Ch 33:11  Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.  Read:  Isa 2:21; Jer 16:16; Mic 7:17

 20In 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.

When the Assyrian army arrives with its hired mercenaries, they will shave your head and remove all your hair down to your feet.  Your land will be taken, your crops eaten up and your people destroyed.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CORROBORATE THE TEXT

Isa 10:6-8  I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.   So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser 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.  And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.  Read:  Isa 10:13-14

21And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

When this army finishes swarming over the land and plunders everything a farmer will be lucky to have a heifer and two sheep left.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT BEAR OUT THE TEXT:

Isa 17:2  The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

 22And 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.

The few people left will have to make do on the milk from the young cow and live on curds and honey.  They will be searching among the rocks and crevices and hollow trees for some honey.  Their crops and vegetable have all been destroyed.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ARE CONCLUSIVE AND FINAL:

Isa 37:30  And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.

23And 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.

The lush vineyards that contained a thousand vines valued at millions will be nothing but briers and thorns.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT THE TEXT:

Isa 32:12-14  They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.  Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:  Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

24With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

This place will be good for nothing except a place to hunt wild animals.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT RATIFY THE TEXT:

Gen 27:3  Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;

 25And 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. 

All the fertile fields and well tended gardens have disappeared.  Farmers will have to clear the land again before they can replant and set out new grape vines and olive and fruit trees which will take years before a harvest can be expected. This required many years of reconstruction because of the invasions by the Egyptians and Assyrians.