이사야 Chapter 7

Translation: ESV

1

In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it.

Key Message

God's prophecy is given within a historical crisis, and no human military conspiracy can prevent God's plan from being accomplished.

▸Chapter 7 sets a clear historical background.

Chapter 7 sets a clear historical background. Around 734 BC, Rezin of Aram (Syria) and Pekah of northern Israel formed an alliance and attacked Judah (the Syro-Ephraimitic War). Their purpose was to depose Ahaz and install a pro-alliance king of their own. This crisis forms the backdrop of the Immanuel prophecy.

Related Verses

Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.
2

When the house of David was told, "Syria is in league with Ephraim," the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

Key Message

Fear may seem stronger than trust in God, but decisions based on fear always lead down the wrong path.

▸When Ahaz and the people of Judah hear of the Aram-Ephraim alliance, they tremble with fear.

3

And the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field.

Key Message

Isaiah's son's name, 'a remnant shall return,' is itself a prophecy that even in judgment there will be gracious restoration by God.

▸God gives Isaiah specific instructions about the place and manner of the encounter.

4

And say to him, 'Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.

Key Message

One who trusts God can remain quietly composed before the world's threats, and even enemies who appear powerful are merely smoldering embers in God's sight.

▸The core of God's message to Ahaz is 'do not fear.

5

Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying,

Key Message

Human 'evil schemes' that run contrary to God's will will certainly fail, and no human plotting can prevent God's plan.

▸The enemies' plans are called 'evil.

6

'Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,'

Key Message

Human plans to depose the Davidic dynasty challenge God's covenantal promise, and such plans will inevitably fail.

▸The enemies' specific plan is disclosed: conquer Judah and install the son of Tabeel as king.

7

thus says the Lord GOD: "'It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.

Key Message

Before God's faithfulness in keeping his covenant, no human plan can stand, and only God's word is fulfilled forever.

▸God's declaration is concise and definitive: 'It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.

8

For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.

Key Message

God's prophecy includes specific time predictions, and their precise historical fulfillment proves the reliability of prophecy.

▸The power of Aram is confined to the regional limit of Damascus, and Ephraim (northern Israel) is prophesied to fall within 65 years.

9

And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all."'

Key Message

Faith and stability come from the same root: those who do not believe in God cannot find stability in life.

▸The Hebrew wordplay in this verse is brilliant: 'amin (believe)' and 'aman (be firm)' share the same root.

10

Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz:

Key Message

God is patient, giving another opportunity even in the face of unbelief.

▸God speaks directly to Ahaz again.

11

"Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven."

Key Message

God is gracious enough to permit even signs to help faith, and refusing this grace is a greater act of unbelief.

▸God himself invites Ahaz to ask for a sign.

12

But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test."

Key Message

Unbelief dressed in the language of piety is sometimes more dangerous than open unbelief, and refusing what God has invited under the guise of reverence is a greater sin.

▸Ahaz's refusal appears to be piety but is actually unbelief.

13

And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?

Key Message

Refusing God's grace is wearying God himself, and unbelief is always rebellion against God.

▸Isaiah rebukes Ahaz directly.

14

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

Key Message

The Immanuel sign given by God himself is the promise that God is with his people, and this is fully fulfilled in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

▸When Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign, God himself gives one.

15

He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

Key Message

God's prophecy provides a concrete time frame, and trusting God until its fulfillment is faith.

▸Before the Immanuel child grows to the age of moral discernment, the historical situation will change.

16

For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

Key Message

God's advance word about the end of a crisis gives the basis for trusting God alone without faithless dependence on human help.

▸This is a clear explanation of the immediate fulfillment of verses 14-15.

17

The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria."

Key Message

Faithless dependence on human help invites greater threats, and trusting God is true safety.

▸Together with the promise of salvation, a new warning of judgment comes.

18

In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

Key Message

God uses the nations as instruments for his purposes, and even superpowers are merely means of God's plan.

▸The image of summoning the flies of Egypt and the bees of Assyria depicts two superpowers clashing in Israel's land.

19

And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.

Key Message

God's judgment covers the entire land without exception, and there is no place for humans to escape.

▸The image of flies and bees continues.

20

In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

Key Message

God uses Assyria as his instrument, and even the superpower that becomes God's instrument of judgment is ultimately under God's control.

▸The metaphor of God using Assyria as a 'hired razor.

21

In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,

Key Message

Even when civilization collapses in judgment, God permits survival through small things, and the remnant is preserved.

▸This depicts the survivors in the devastated land after judgment.

22

and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.

Key Message

Even amid God's judgment, there is God's grace permitting basic survival for the survivors.

▸In the desolate land, curds and honey from cattle and sheep become food.

23

In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns.

Key Message

The devastation of a once-flourishing economy through judgment is the historical consequence of disobedience, as the prophecy of chapter 5 about the vineyard (Israel) becoming a wild field is realized.

▸Flourishing vineyards becoming desolate with briers and thorns repeats the image of 5:6.

24

With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns.

Key Message

The collapse of civilization results in regression to hunting life, and this is the historical consequence of disobedience.

▸The desolated land becomes so wild that one must hunt animals with bows and arrows.

25

And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

Key Message

Cultivated land becoming pastureland is the collapse of civilization and the completion of God's judgment, yet survivors continue to live in that land.

▸This is the final verse of chapter 7.