Isaiah 7
PATancc communicated to the prophet, vcr. G. he expresses a willingness to undertake that office, which before he was averse to. (Compare Acts xxvi. 19.) The royal family of Judah were under great apprehensions, that the invasion of Rczin and Pekah might put an end to that kingdom: to comfort them, the prophet assures them that their family should not be extinct, but the Messias in due time should arise out of it: and that those two kings and their kingdoms should in a short time be destroyed. But afterward he foretells other grievous calamities that should befal Judca by the invasion of Sennacherib. viii. 3. are the children ivliom God gave Isaiah for signs, ver. 18. (Sec more of this matter in the notes upon viii. 3.) tThe prophet takes Shear-jashub along with him, because he points to him as a sign of the deliverance of Judea from the invasion of the two kings of Israel and Syria, which now threatened Ahaz and his kingdom. (Seethe note upon ver. 16.) The word Shear-jashub signifies a remnant shall return.] The name probably alludes to the promise made by the prophet,* of the people’s return from the captivity^ (vi. 13.) and imports that God will never, wholly cut oil his people, but will still leave a remnant, to whom he will make good the promises he gave to their fathers. (See i. 9. vi. 13. x. 21. Rom. xi. 29.) Names are often imposed as signs or tokens of things future. (See Hos. i. 4. 6. 9. John i. 42.) At the end of the conduit of the tipper pool. J There were two pools or lakes which supplied Jerusalem with water; the upper pool, mentioned here and xxxvi. 2. and called Gihon, 2 Chron. xxxii: 30. and the lower pool, concerning Which, see xxii. 9. In the highway of the fuller’s field."] Where the fullers laid out their clothes a drying, after they had washed them. the promised sign was an extraordinary miracle, the immediate work of God, such as. a son of a virgin is, which therefore must be the genuine sense of the following words. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son.] Christ is called the seed of the woman, by way of distinction, (Gen. iii. 15.) as not to be born in tho ordinary way of generation. The Hebrew word ahnah, most properly signifies a virgin, and so it is translated here by all tho ancient interpreters; and is. never once used in the Scripture in any other sense, as several learned men have proved against the pretensions of the modern Jews. (See particularly Bishop Kidder’s Demonstration of tho Messias, par. ii. chap. 5.) The primary signification of the word ahnah is hid, or concealed; from w r hencc it is taken to signify a virgin, because of the custom in the eastern countries to keep their virgins concealed from the. view of men, never suffering them to stir out of the woman’s apartment. And shall call his name Immanuel.] This is spoken of the mother, who usually gave the name to the child. (Sec Gen. iv. 1. xvi. 11. xxix. 32. xxx. G. 8.) To be called is the same in Scripture-phrase as to be; name being often put for thing in the Hebrew dialect. To this sense the word dabar is often used in Ihe Old Testament; and Luke i. 38. the original reads with God no word shall be impossible; i. e. no thing: so it is said of Christ, (ix. 6.) his name shall be called Wonderful, i. e. he shall bo a wonderful person; and (i. 26.) Jerusalem shall be called a city of righteousness; i. e. her manners shall answer that title: thus wo arc to understand the Messiah’s being called Immanucl, i.e. being really what that name imports; i.e. God with ns; being both truly and properly God, and called so, ix. 6. and also living or dwelling with us, “men. In tho same senso we are to understand that prophecy of Christ, (Jcr. xxiii. 6.) This is his name whereby lie shall be called, Thk Lord our Righteousness. Several other texts of the Old Testament speak of the Messias as God. (See xxxv. 4. xlviii. 1(5. Isa. xl. 9, 10. Hos. i. 7. Zech. ii. 10,11. Mai. iii. 1.) terrible enemy against them, viz* Sennacherib king of Assyria, who should <f come up against all the fenced cities of Jndah, and take them/’ (2 Kings xviii. 13.) and threaten Jerusalem itself. This would be such a terrible judgment, as had not been felt since the division of the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah; and is the subject of several succeeding prophecies in this book. • ARGUMENT. / God having promised mercy to those that repent, and threatened judgments to the obstinate, in the fifteenth and following verses of the last chapter, the prophet here instructs them how they ought to perform the duties of repentance and humiliation upon the solemn times set apart for that purpose: such was the great day of expiation, (Lev. xvi. 29.) and other fasts appointed upon ex:- traordinary occasions.
Isaiah 7:1
JXEZINking of Syria — went up towards Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. But yet he carried away many captives out of Judea, slew many of the people, and restored Elah to his own dominions. (See 2 Kings xvi. 5, 6. 2 Chron. xxviii. 5.) &IIEWmy people their transgressions.] Especially the iniquities of their holy things, and the hypocrisy of their religious. services. (See the following.verses.); 4D2
Isaiah 7:2
It was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate tvith Ephraim. The whole royal family was much concerned at this news, because it threatened the destruction of their government: and therefore the promise mentioned vcr. 13. is made to them. Ephraim is commonly taken in the prophets for the whole kingdom of Israel, that being the chief of the ten tribes. (See ver. 17. of this chapter, and ix. 9. xi. 13. xvii. 3. xxviii. 1. and many instances in the prophet Hosea, particularly v. 3. 5, &c.) His. heart was moved— as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.] The relative [his] in the original relates to the word house, the whole royal family of Judah being spoken of as’ one person.
Isaiah 7:3
Go forth now tomeetAhaz, thou, andShear-jashub thy son. This son, and Maher-shalal-hash-baz, mentioned
Isaiah 7:4
Take heed, and be quiet. An exhortation like that of Moses to the Israelites, (Exod. xiv. 13, 14.) " Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord,” &c. Fear not; neither be faint-hearted for the two tails of tliese s?rioking firebrands.] Which are so far from being able to consume any thing else, that they are almost consumed themselves.
Isaiah 7:6
Let us make a breach therein for us, &c. Let us divide the kingdom, and tear it in pieces by making a party there for ourselves, and setting up a king or viceroy that shall act by our authority. Ver. -8. The head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin.] i. e. The kingdom of Syria shall not extend itself beyond its ancient bounds. Damascus shall be the metropolis only of Syria, and Ilezin shall have no other royal city under his government besides Damascus. And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.] Archbishop Usher hath given the clearest explication of this difficult verse, in his Annals of the Old Testament, ad A. M. 3327. where he explains it, not of the first captivity of the ten tribes by Shalmanescr, but of their final deportation by Esar-haddbn, who totally dispeopled the land, and brought new inhabitants from Babylon, Cuthah, and other cities of the Assyrians, to inhabit the cities of Israel. (See Ezra iv. 2. compared with 2 Kings xvii. 24.) And then Ephraim or Israel wholly ceased from being a people. This last captivity that learned prelate places in the twenty-second year of Manasscs’s reign, which is just sixty-five years from the beginning of Ahaz’s reign. Capellus and Grotius correct the text here, and put shesh instead of shissim, six for sixty, and so make the two numbers amount but to eleven years, which they suppose to be the space between the date of this prophecy and the captivity of the ten tribes. I had not thought this criticism worth taking notice of, but that Mr. White mentions it with approbation. But 1 believe he can hardly find a like instance of any number bigger than a decimal, broke into such an tmusual partition. Besides, all the present copies vol. III. of the Hebrew text, and the ancient versions, justify the received reading: and to alter the original, without either authority or necessity, is a presumption not to be allowed in criticising upon profane authors, much less upon sacred ones. It may be farther observed, that this criticism/ if it were allowed, doth not solve the difficulty; for it is twoand-twenty years from the date of this prophecy, to the captivity of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser. Inasmuch as Rezin and Pekah invaded Judea at the beginning of Ahaz’s reign, as appears by comparing 2 Kings xv. 37. with xvi: 5.’ Now Ahaz reigned sixteen years, and after him Hezekiah six years, before that captivity. The occasion of Grotius’s mistake appears in his notes upon this place; viz: that he did not allow for.the interregnum, which all judicious chronologers place between the end of Pekah’s reign and the beginning of Hoshea’s, which is plainly inferred by comparing the times of the kings of Israel and Judah together.
Isaiah 7:9
Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not. The imperative is put for the future: (sec note on ii. 9.) and so the Septuagint here understand it. This threatening is denounced for their former contempt of God s messages. (Compare Matt. xiii. 12, &c.) * And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is RemaliaKs son.] The same sort of expression with that of ver. 8. Or else it may be thus translated, Hie head of Ephraim which is Samaria, and the head of’ Samaria is RemaliaKs son [shall be broken]; the verb* being supplied from the foregoing verse. ’ 4
Isaiah 7:10
Make the heart of this people fat, &c. The prophets are said to do things when they declare God’s purpose of doing them. In this sense, Jeremiah was appointed by God to root out and destroy, to build and to plant; (Jer. i. 10.) i. e. to declare God’s purpose in these matters. In like manner, Ezckiel says, He ivas sent to destroy the city; (xliii.3.) i.e. to prophesy the destruction of it: so here Isaiah is said to harden the people’s hearts, and to blind their eyes, i.e. to declare this to be the event of his preaching; which prophecy should be more signally accomplished, when the Jews should reject the preaching both of Christ and his apostles. Make the heart of this people fat.’] This St. John expresses by hardening their heart; (John xii. 40.) so that it becomes insensible. (Compare Psal. cxix. 70.) God is said to harden men’s hearts by those very means of grace, which are in themselves proper to produce a quite contrary effect; but withal he foresees, that meeting with a perverse and refractory temper, they will in the event make them more obdurate; and he is Tesolved, for great and wise reasons, not to hinder it And be healed.] That is, and their sins be forgiven them, as St. Mark explains it, Mark iv. 12. So the word heal is taken, 2Chron. xxx. 20. Isa. lvii. 19.
Isaiah 7:11
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant. The prophet asks, how long shall this blindness, or obstinacy, and the punishments which it will bring upon this people, continue? To which question God returns an answer to this effect, there is no hope of reformation; the people will be irreclaimable, and God will continue his judgments, till at last they end in a final desolation; their country will be laid waste, and the inhabitants carried away captive to Babylon: and the same incredulity under the gospel will have the same or worse effects; for the Romans shall take away both their place and nation. We may reasonably suppose, that this, and many other prophecies, have a double aspect; that they immediately regard the age wherein the prophet lived, but have a farther prospect to the times of the Messias. For the circumstances of one age may be exactly parallel to those of another; and God, that comprehends all things at one single view, can adapt the same prophecy to answer the event in both cases. This subject is more largely handled in the Preface. Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God.] A sign is a miracle wrought for the confirmation of some message or promise delivered from God: (see Exod. i v. 8. Judg. vi. 17. Isa.xxxviii. 22.) this was usually wrought presently; but sometimes a thing future, where the event is remarkable/is proposed for a sign, as here.* (See, likewise, Exod. iii. 12. 1 Sam. ii. 34. Jcr. xliii. 9,10.) Ask it either in the depth, or the height above.] Either in the heaven or in earth. The Jews were very fond of signs from heaven, as’ if they were more convincing than any other sort of miracles (See Matt. xvi. 1.)
Isaiah 7:12
And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. The inhabitants of the land, by God’s just judgment, shall.be carried captive into a far country: (see note on v. 26.) so that the cities and populous places shall become desolate, and the palaces of great men forsaken. (Compare xxxii.14.) But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.] To tempt the Lord is to mistrust his providence, or expect he should give some extraordinary in-, stance of it to confirm our belief: (see Deut. vi. 16. Matt. iv.7.) but these words of Ahaz, although they have a show of piety, do yet really proceed from despair and unbelief/ as appears by the prophet’s answer, ver. 13.
Isaiah 7:13
But yet in it shall be a tenth, audit shall return, and be eaten, &c. The Hebrew may be translated thus, which makes the sense run plair cr; But yet in it shall be left a tenth, after it is [or although it is] again eaten, or devoured: the verb shub, which is translated here return, is often used adverbially, and is translated to that sense by our interpreters, Psal. lxxi. 20. Thou shall quicken me again; where our old translation reads more to the letter of the Hebrew, Thou didst turn and refresh me. Thus tho word is used, Eccles. iv. 1. ix. 11. I returned and co«- sidered; i. e. I considered again: and so, I conceive, it should be translated here; for the sense of the verse is plainly this, that although God suffers the Jews to be devoured by repeated judgments; first carried captive by the Babylonians, and afterward destroyed by the Romans; (see note on ver. 11.) yet still he will preserve a remnant: (see i, 9.) called here a tenth part, which holy seed shall be a seminary to preserve the nation to aftertiraes: just as w r hen a tree is stripped of its leaves, and looks as if it were dead, in winter, yet the root and sap of it remain, from whence arises a new succession of branches and leaves iathe spring. According to this interpretation, the words contain in them a promise that God will never utterly reject the whole nation of the Jews, how severely soever he deals with them: which promise is more explicitly mentioned, Jer. xxxi. 36, 37. compared with Rom. xi. 1,2. 16. 29. The holy seed is called here a tenth, perhaps in allusion to the tithe under the law, which was set apart from the rest, and consecrated to God’s service, Hear ye noiv, O house of David.] The prophet,, does not apply himself any farther to Ahaz, as a person, who’ would not regard what he said, but directs his discourse to the house of David, or the royal family, to comfort them under desponding apprehensions: (see ver. 2.) and assures them that God’s promises to the family of David should never fail; but have their eminent completion in the Messias, whose birth he foretells in the following words. Is it a small’ thing for you to. weary men, but will ye weary my God also?] You may reckon it a slight and inconsiderable fault to despise God’s prophets, but surely you must needs think it a heinous oflenee to treat God Almighty after this fashion. Men are elsewhere said to weary God with their sins, (Isa. xliii. 24. Mai. ii, 17.) when they tire out his patience; just as they are said to vex and grieve his Holy Spirit, (lxiii. 10. Eph. iv. 30.) when they turn a deaf ear to all his admonitions.
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. He shall give it unasked, and such a sign as could not enter into your thoughts to desire. This shews that “• 3Q
Isaiah 7:15
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, tlie land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.] According to the judgment of several interpreters, these two verses are a plain proof, that this prophecy, though in its true and natural sense it can be fulfilled in« none but the Messiah, yet had an immediate aspect upon some particular event that should quickly happen; viz. that’within the time that one who is now a virgin, could marry, and bring forth a son, and that son come to years of discretion, the two kings of Samaria and Damascus should be destroyed. Huetius embraces this sense, Dem. Evang. prob. ix. cap. 9. It may, indeed, justly be wondered, that any part of this illustrious prophecy concerning Christ should be sup-, posed applicable to any other person or event. But to this it may be answered, that as all the mercies promised, to tlie Jews, were figures, or earnests of the tiines of the Messias, in whom all* the promises of God wero verified: (see 2 Cor. i. 20.) so tho prophets, in foretelling temporal mercies, arc sometimes carried beyond themselves and their subject, if I may so express it, to foretell tho blessings of tho gospel; and after this extraordinary rapture, they return to the subject which was tho immediate occasion of their prophecy. (See the note upon x. 20.) But other learned men, particularly Archbishop Usher, in his Annals, ad A. M. 32G2. suppose this prophecy to be applicable to none but Christ; accordingly that learned prelate explains the fifteenth and sixteenth verses to this sense, Butter and honey shall he eat; i. e. Christ shall take upon him the infirmities of childhood, and shall be fed with tho common nourishment given to children in those countries, which was milk, or butter and honey. Then he supposes tho prophet to point to his son Shear-jashub, whom he took along with him: (seo ver. 3.) and to tell Ahaz for his present comfort, that beforo that child should come to discern good from evil, the land of Israel, and its two confederate kings, should be destroyed by the king of Assyria. To confirm this exposition, it may bo observed, that Isaiah mentions but two of his own children, Shearjashub, here, (ver. 3.) and Maher-shalal-hash-baz, viii. 3. and never calls Immanuel his son; from whence we may justly conclndc, that ho was a distinct person from them both: [and, indeed, the eldest son, or heir of tho house of David, and king of Judea: see viii. 8.] Butter and honey shall he eat.] If we suppose these words applicable to any person that was to bo born quickly after the uttering this prophecy, the sense of them will be, that although the invasion of the land, and tho siege of Jerusalem, did threaten them with famine, and although, under such public calamities, there might bo no encouragement to plough and sow; yet there should not want plenty of other provisions, particularly of butter and honey: (see ver. 22J such as were the common nourishment, of children, by the custom of those countries. (See that custom more at large explained in Cotelerius, and Vossius’s note upon the epistle of Barnabas, No. G.) That he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.] The sense is better expressed, if we translate it, Till he know to refuse the evil, and choose the good: so the particle le is used, Lev. xxiv. 12. where our English reads thus: They put him inward, that tlie mind of the Lord might be shewed to them; but the sense is plainly thus: Till tlie mind of the Lord was, or might be shewed to them. To tho same sense it should be translated, Job xxxviii. 13. Till it take hold of the ends of the earth. [Ver. 16. Before the child sliall know to refuse the evil, and’ehoose the good.] Vitringa thus explains it, Within that space of time allotted for this child (whose birth is foretold, ver. 14.) to grow up out of the state of childhood, the land shall be forsaken of both her kings.’] Tlie land which thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.] The two confederate kings of Samaria and Damascus, who now join their forces together in the land of Israel, (ver. 1.) shall be cut off by the king of Assyria. (See viii. 4. 2 Kings xv. 29. xvi. 9.) Some render the words thus: The land sliall be desolate, or forsaken, of whose two kings thou art afraid, or whose two kings thouabhorrest: tlie verb katz signifies first to dread, and then to hate and abhor. (Sec Exod. i. 12. Numb. xxii. 3.)
Isaiah 7:17
The Lord shall bring upon thee, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. Though God promised Ahaz and his. people a deliverance from the practices of Rczin and Pekah; yot their sins.would provoke hini to send a more: ~
Isaiah 7:18
The Lord shall hiss. See note on v. 36. For the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.] Armies are o^en compared to flies, bees, and other insects; (see Deut. i. 44. Judg. vi. 5. Joel ii. 4. 20. 25. Psal. cxviii. 12. Nahum iii. 17. Rev. ix. 7.) both for their numbers, and for the destruction which they make: (see Exod. viii. 24. and Huetius Quaest. Alnetan. lib. ii. cap. 12.) Assyria and Egypt are often joined together as the two great oppressors of God’s people. (Se6 xix. 23. xxvii. 13. Zech. x. 10.) Archbishop Usher, ad A. M. 3294. supposes that the conquest of Egypt by the king of Assyria, foretold in the twentieth chapter of this prophecy, happened before the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, and that a great many Egyptians were his auxiliaries in that expedition..
Isaiah 7:19
And they shall come, and rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks. He pursues the same metaphor, and represents this foreign army as so many flies that lie in shoals in lower grounds; and as bees, whose custom it is to get into rocks: (see Dent, xxxii. 13. Psal. Ixxxi. 17.) implying that no place should be free from them, and even the strongest and best fortified cities (compared sometimes to rocks: sec Numb. xxiv. 21.) should be no security against them.
Isaiah 7:20
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,. Because shaving the head was used in mourning, (sco Lev. xxi. 5.) from thence it is metaphorically used for a great calamity. (See Ezek. v. 1.) And the invasion of an army is particularly resembled by it here, because that leaves a country bare, and strips off all its ornaments, among which the hair hath a principal place. The Assyrian is called a hired razor, because God often rewards those whom he makes instruments of his vengeance upon sinners, which is expressed by giving them their hire. (See Ezek. xxix. 18, 19. 2 Kings x;30.) And as Ahaz hired the king of Assyria to assist him: (see 2 Kings xvi. 7, 8. 2 Chron. xxviii. 21.) so the prophet says, God will hire the king of the same country to destroy Judea, as Tiglath-pilneser did, whom Ahaz had hired. (See ver. 20.) By the river is meant Euphrates. (See note on xi. 16.) TJie head, and the hair of the feet: it shall also consume the beard.] i. e. All ranks and conditions, both high and low. In what sense the feet are here understood, see note on vi. 2.
Isaiah 7:21
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep: audit shall come to pass, that for the abundance of milk that they shall give, he shall eat butter.] The enemies should make such a destruction both of man and beast, that there should want hands and cattle to till the ground, so that the whole land should of itself turn to pasture. And those few inhabitants that should be left, should have neither flocks nor herds to feed in those waste places, the utmost of their stock should be a cow and two sheep, which should give abundance of milk by reason of the plenty of grass, and want of cattle to eat it: whereupon milk and butter should be the chief part of the people’s sustenance: compare xxxvii. 30. where it is said, Ye shall eat this year, meaning the year of Sennacherib’s invasion, such as groweth of itself, withont ploughing or sowing, as appears by the following words there. For butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.] He means wild honey, which is found in the woods. (See Matt. iii. 4.)
Isaiah 7:23
Every place, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, shall be for briers and thorns.* The choicest vineyards, which in times of peace would let for a thousand shekels a year, shall be left uncultivated, to be overrun with briers and thorns, there being no encouragement for any improvements, which men expected every day should be destroyed by the enemy.
Isaiah 7:24
With arrows and with bows shall men come thither. For hunting wild beasts; (see Gen. xxvii. 3.) or else to defend themselves against them.
Isaiah 7:25
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.] The Hebrew may be thus translated, which makes the sense run easy: And all the hills that are (or used to be) digged with a mattock, that the fear of briers and thorns may not come there, [i. e. to clear them from briers and thorns: see the note on xxvii. 9.] shall be for the sending forth of oxen, &c. All those hills that us6d to be carefully manured and turned to vineyards,, which were usually planted upon hills, (see v. 1. Psal. Ixxx. Ill) shall now lie waste, and be only fit for cattle to graze in: ground untilled naturally turns to pasture; therefore these and the like expressions signify great desolations and destructions both of man and beast. (Compare xvii. 2. xxvii. 10. xxxii. 14.)