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.”
Ahaz means possessor;
Jotham Jehovah is perfect; Uzziah my strength is Jehovah;
Judah he shall be praised; Rezin delightsomeness; Syria
exalted; Pekah opening; Remaliah lifted up to
Jehovah: bedecked of Jehovah; Israel he shall be prince of God: God
commands; Jerusalem
dual peace shall be
taught: lay (set) ye double peace.
The spiritual significance
of this verse will be grasped more easily if we remember that Jerusalem
symbolizes peace, while the three who were links in the royal line represent
believers. They of the enemy line symbolize those who are the enemies of
Christ and His people.
Ahaz, meaning possessor,
represents the truth that believers are also possessors: we have eternal
life; Jotham Jehovah is perfect declares the fact that believers,
through their cleansing in the blood of Christ, are also perfect in God’s
sight; while Uzziah my strength is Jehovah, points to the truth that
God is also the believer’s strength, so that we can say, “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me,” Philippians 4:13.
Since Judah speaks of
praise, another truth being presented is that we too ought to be a praising,
worshipful people, as declared in 1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye
should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into
his marvelous light.”
The attackers represent
anything that would attempt to rob us of the peace God wants us to enjoy.
The meaning of Rezin
embraces the thought of pleasure, satisfaction, acceptance,
accomplishment, but these meanings have to be understood in the context
of evil, for he was an enemy of Judah, and is a type of Satan the arch enemy
of God and His people, it being written of him that, “Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his
ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end
shall be according to their works,” 2 Corinthians 11:14-15.
Rezin’s domain, Syria,
meaning exalted, is a fit type of Satan’s kingdom, for concerning the
Beast, the evil Tribulation age king, it is written, “Let no man deceive you
by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes
and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself
that he is God,” Revelation 2:3-4
Pekah means opening,
which, in the present context, also has to be understood in an evil
connection suggesting a breach in the boundary which God has set between
good and evil.
Remaliah means lifted
up to Jehovah: bedecked of Jehovah, meanings which point to the exalted
position in which God had originally set Satan, see Ezekiel 28:14-19, where
the king of Tyre is very clearly addressed as a type of Satan, “Thou art the
anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the
holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the
stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast
created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy
merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast
sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God:
and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of
fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted
thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I
will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled
thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy
traffick; therefore I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall
devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of
all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall
be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any
more.”
In the context of this
section Israel’s making war against Jerusalem presents her in an evil light,
indicating that she is to be viewed here as a type of the great false church
- Roman Catholicism and apostate Protestantism - united in their inveterate
hatred of those who comprise the true Church, i.e., born-again believers.
“... but could not prevail
against it.” Israel’s failure to destroy Judah is the symbolic assurance
that nothing can destroy Christ’s Church.
7:2.
“And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with
Ephraim (a synonym for the ten tribes, Israel, as distinct from Judah and
Benjamin). And his heart was moved (trembled), and the heart of his people,
as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.”
David means beloved.
He is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the beloved of the Father; but it is
to be noted that here it was “the house” of David rather than David the
individual, to which the news came, and Christ’s “house” is the Church, so
that the typological picture is of the true Church as a corporate body
hearing of the attack by Satan - of whom Syria, meaning exalted, is
here a type - for Satan sought to exalt himself above God. Ephraim, in the
present context, is a type of the professing but apostate false church; but
it is emphasized that that is so only in the present context, for normally
Ephraim, meaning double ash-heap: I shall be doubly fruitful, has a
good connotation; the size of its ash-heap portraying the literal prosperity
of any city: the larger the ash-heap, the greater the affluence of the
place.
Trees are biblical symbols
of people, as the wind is of the Holy Spirit, so that the symbolic picture
here is of the people being moved or influenced by the Holy Spirit, see John
3:8, “The wind blows where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one
that is born of the Spirit.”
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;”
Shear-jashub means a
remnant shall return; a conduit is a channel or aqueduct; and the
“fuller’s field” is also translated laundry-men’s field: the bleaching
field. It was the field where linen cloth was spread out to bleach in
the sun after being laundered.
The conduit was on the
west side of Jerusalem, and here has a good connotation, for the west is the
direction that always speaks of approach to God, whereas the east, as might
be expected, is always associated with departure from Him.
The verse is highly
symbolic, for the meaning of Shear-jashub’s name is the clear assurance that
from the foretold captivity a remnant would eventually return. The meaning
of “... the conduit of the upper pool” is also easily read, for the upper
pool represents the Word of God; and the conduit typifies that
part of it which, like a stream of pure water, continually cleanses the
obedient believer’s life by conveying to spiritual believers the meaning of
the symbolic language of Scripture.
The mention of the end
of the conduit has also its lesson. The water of the Word is the end of
God’s revelation of Himself to men. There is nothing more that He will
reveal of Himself to us here on earth, the full revelation awaiting that day
when we will stand in His presence in heaven, as it is written, “For now we
see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but
then shall I know even as also I am known,” 1 Corinthians 13:12.
The highway
represents the “strait and narrow way” along which believers walk on their
way home to heaven; and the fuller’s field, associated as it is with
the bleaching of pure white linen, scarcely needs comment. It speaks of the
righteousness associated with that heavenly highway, see Proverbs 16:17,
“The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keeps his way
preserves his soul,” and Revelation 19:8, “... the fine linen is the
righteousness of saints,”
The spiritual significance
of the fuller’s field is also crystal clear. It represents the
sphere into which conversion brings the believer, where the rays of “the Sun
of righteousness” bring the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, which results
in the “whitening” i.e., purifying of the believer’s daily life.
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 with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.”
God’s word of
encouragement to Ahaz was to take care to be calm, tranquil, and unafraid at
the threatening of the enemy, whom He described as two ends (smoldering
stumps) of smoking firewood; two fag-ends of flickering torches, i.e., they
were near the end of their lives though they didn’t know it. The Bible
Knowledge Commentary informs us that, “Both men died two years later in
732 B.C.”
God’s encouragement to us
in the midst of every trial is, “Be still, and know that I am God,” Psalm
46:10, and again, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31.
It is instructive also to note that the list of those who will be consigned
to the eternal torment of the lake of fire is headed up by “the fearful,”
See Revelation 21:8. How many will weep and wail for ever in that dreadful
lake because they feared the laughter of men more than they did the wrath of
God!
7:5.
“Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel
against thee, saying,”
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:”
Tabeal means good for
nothing. Nothing further is known relative to this man. He may be a
type of the coming Tribulation age Beast emperor.
7:7.
“Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to
pass.”
Man may plan and plot, but
he can do only what God permits. It behooves us therefore to seek His
guidance relative to every plan we make, and to append the condition, If
this be Your will. God would not permit fulfillment of the enemy’s evil
schemes.
His assurance to His own
in that distant past day remains the same to us today. He will frustrate
the plans of those who seek our harm, and will bring us safe to the end of
life’s journey; for even if an enemy slay us, death simply transports us
into heaven, relative to which Paul has written, “For I am in a strait
betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far
better,” Philippians 1:23.
7:8.
“For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and
within threescore and five years shall Ephraim (Israel) be broken, that it
be not a people.”
The first part of this
verse is also rendered, “Damascus is but the capital of Aram, and only in
Damascus does Rezin rule.” In other words, Rezin and Damascus were of
little importance, and it was folly on the part of Israel to form an
alliance with Rezin in the expectation of destroying Judah. The further
assurance was that within sixty-five years Israel would cease to be a
nation, a prophecy which was fulfilled when Assyria conquered Israel in 722
B.C., and multitudes of Israelites were carried away captive, and replaced
in the land by foreigners. Then in 669 B.C. even more foreigners were
settled in the land, so that Ephraim (Israel) became a pathetic small
minority in her own country, her national existence virtually ended.
7:9.
“And the head of Ephraim (Israel) is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is
Remaliah’s son (Pekah). If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be
established.”
This continues to
emphasize the insignificance of the enemy Ephraim (Israel). His capital was
Samaria, a city very inferior to Jerusalem the capital of Judah.
This was God’s declaration
of the littleness of Ephraim (Israel), and its capital Samaria, and its king, Remaliah’s son Pekah, which means opening, but I regret being unable
to see the spiritual significance of that meaning. His inferiority is
declared in the fact that his name isn’t even mentioned: he is simply said
to be the son of Remaliah.
The final sentence
declares the imperative of Judah’s believing God’s word, other translations
being, “If you will not believe and trust in and rely on God [and on the
words of God’s prophet, instead of Assyria], surely you will not be
established nor will you remain,” The Amplified Bible; and again, “If
you want me to protect you, you must learn to believe what I say,” Taylor.
This admonition applies
also to us. If we would walk in the peaceful enjoyment of our salvation we
must trust God’s word implicitly, otherwise we will be overwhelmed by every
adverse circumstance, and be “tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive,” Ephesians 4:14.
7:10.
“Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying,”
7:11.
“Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the
height above.”
God graciously invited
Ahaz to choose a sign from heaven, earth, or hell, as guarantee of the
fulfillment of what He was promising.
7:12.
“But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.”
Ahaz had placed all his
faith in Assyria for aid, but under the hypocritical pretext of trusting in
Jehovah he refused to ask for any sign; but God, aware of the deceit in the
heart of Ahaz, proceeded to give the sign.
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”
The speaker is Isaiah, and
his addressing the people as the “house of David” is the reminder that they
were figuratively of royal descent; and we are missing the point if we
forget that all believers are literally of even higher parentage: we are the
spiritual sons and daughters of the God of heaven, and are enjoined to “walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,” Ephesians 4:1.
“... to weary” is to
disgust. Judah’s sinfulness not only disgusted (sickened) God: it revolted
men also because of the hypocrisy involved. The Jews were worse than the
Gentiles whom they despised, because their sins were committed against the
backdrop of professed righteousness. Lamentably, the apostate church,
Catholic and Protestant, offers the same disgusting insult to God and men
today.
7:14.
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
The reference is to the
birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here God graciously gives the sign which
Ahaz refused to ask; and the strange irony is that while apostate
Christendom, in the celebration of Christmas, goes through the charade of
celebrating the Lord’s miraculous birth, they too refuse to believe God:
they will not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Immanuel means God with
us.
7:15.
“Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and
choose the good.”
As used here butter and
honey are symbols of the Scriptures, relative to which the Lord said, “I
have meat to eat that ye know not of,” John 4:32; and again “Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God,” Matthew 4:4.
“... that he may know to
refuse the evil, and choose the good” doesn’t mean that the Lord acquired
this knowledge by reading the Scriptures. His knowledge of the Word was
inherent, for He is the Word, see John 1:1,14, “In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God .... And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
7:16.
“For 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.”
This is just another way
of saying that the few years which elapse between a child’s birth and its
becoming old enough to discern between right and wrong, are the equivalent
of the brief time that would elapse before God destroyed Judah’s enemies
Ephraim (Israel) and Syria.
7:17.
“The 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.”
Taylor translates this
verse, “But later on, the Lord will bring a terrible curse on you and on
your nation and your family. There will be terror, such as has not been
known since the division of Solomon’s empire into Israel and Judah - the
mighty king of Assyria will come with his great army.”
7:18.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss (call) 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.”
The swarms of flies and
bees are here figures of the great armies of Egypt and Assyria, which God
would bring against rebellious Judah.
7:19.
“And 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 is a metaphorical
description of the vast numbers of the invading enemy. They would cover the
whole land, even that which was mountainous and desert, barren and fertile
alike.
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, the head, and the hair of the
feet: and it shall also consume the beard.”
The closeness with which a
razor shaves off hair is a figure of the utter destruction which the
Assyrian would bring upon the land.
The removal of the beard
is an allegorical reference to the shame the people would experience under
the dominion of their Assyrian conquerors, see, for example 2 Samuel 10:4-5.
7:21. “And
it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and
two sheep;”
So great would be the
devastation that a man who had a cow and two sheep left would be considered
fortunate.
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.”
The Amplified Bible
renders this verse, “... for only butter and curds and wild honey [no
vegetables] shall everyone eat who is left in the land [these products
provided from the extensive pastures, and the plentiful wild flowers upon
which the bees depend].”
The fields would become
uncultivated pasture land as a result of the enemy’s having destroyed or
carried away all the grain.
7:23.
“And 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 be for
briers and thorns.”
This verse is also
rendered, “every place which once bore a thousand vines worth a thousand
pieces of silver shall be given over to thorns and briars,” The New
English Bible. Thorns are the symbol of the earth’s cursed state, see
Genesis 3:18
7:24.
“With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land
shall become briers and thorns
The land would revert to
its former wild state so that men would only go there with bows and arrows
to hunt the wild animals whose habitat it would become.
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.”
“... not come thither the
fear of briers” means that because of the risk of being scratched by the
thorns, no one would go there, except to pasture his domestic animals.
The barrenness of the land
prefigures the terrible devastation of the whole world in the now impending
Great Tribulation.
