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Isaiah Chapter Seven                            

 

Isaiah 7

Chapter Contents

Ahaz threatened by Israel and Syria; and is assured their attack would be in vain. (1-9) God gives a sure sign by the promise of the long-expected Messiah. (10-16) The folly and sin of seeking relief from Assyria are reproved. (17-25)

Commentary on Isaiah 7:1-9

(Read Isaiah 7:1-9)

Ungodly men are often punished by others as bad as themselves. Being in great distress and confusion the Jews gave up all for lost. They had made God their enemy and knew not how to make him their friend. The prophet must teach them to despise their enemies in faith and dependence on God. Ahaz in fear called them two powerful princes. No says the prophet they are but tails of smoking firebrands burnt out already. The two kingdoms of Syria and Israel were nearly expiring. While God has work for the firebrands of the earth they consume all before them; but when their work is fulfilled they will be extinguished in smoke. That which Ahaz thought most formidable is made the ground of their defeat; because they have taken evil counsel against thee; which is an offence to God. God scorns the scorners and gives his word that the attempt should not succeed. Man purposes but God disposes. It was folly for those to be trying to ruin their neighbours who were themselves near to ruin. Isaiah must urge the Jews to rely on the assurances given them. Faith is absolutely necessary to quiet and compose the mind in trials.

Commentary on Isaiah 7:10-16

(Read Isaiah 7:10-16)

Secret disaffection to God is often disguised with the colour of respect to him; and those who are resolved that they will not trust God yet pretend they will not tempt him. The prophet reproved Ahaz and his court for the little value they had for Divine revelation. Nothing is more grievous to God than distrust but the unbelief of man shall not make the promise of God of no effect; the Lord himself shall give a sign. How great soever your distress and danger of you the Messiah is to be born and you cannot be destroyed while that blessing is in you. It shall be brought to pass in a glorious manner; and the strongest consolations in time of trouble are derived from Christ our relation to him our interest in him our expectations of him and from him. He would grow up like other children by the use of the diet of those countries; but he would unlike other children uniformly refuse the evil and choose the good. And although his birth would be by the power of the Holy Ghost yet he should not be fed with angels' food. Then follows a sign of the speedy destruction of the princes now a terror to Judah. "Before this child " so it may be read; "this child which I have now in my arms " (Shear-jashub the prophet's own son verse 3 ) shall be three or four years older these enemies' forces shall be forsaken of both their kings. The prophecy is so solemn the sign is so marked as given by God himself after Ahaz rejected the offer that it must have raised hopes far beyond what the present occasion suggested. And if the prospect of the coming of the Divine Saviour was a never-failing support to the hopes of ancient believers what cause have we to be thankful that the Word was made flesh! May we trust in and love Him and copy his example.

Commentary on Isaiah 7:17-25

(Read Isaiah 7:17-25)

Let those who will not believe the promises of God expect to hear the alarms of his threatenings; for who can resist or escape his judgments? The Lord shall sweep all away; and whomsoever he employs in any service for him he will pay. All speaks a sad change of the face of that pleasant land. But what melancholy change is there which sin will not make with a people? Agriculture would cease. Sorrows of every kind will come upon all who neglect the great salvation. If we remain unfruitful under the means of grace the Lord will say Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever.

── Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on Isaiah

 

Isaiah 7

Verse 1

[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 — A most wicked king: yet no prophecies are more comfortable than those which were delivered in his time; God so ordering it for the encouragement of the faithful that lived under his impious reign.

Verse 2

[2] And 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.

David — Ahaz and his relations. He calls them the house of David to intimate that the following comfortable message was sent to Ahaz not for his own sake but for the sake of his worthy progenitor David.

Ephraim — The kingdom of the ten tribes commonly called Ephraim because that was the most numerous of all.

Moved — With fear arising from a consciousness of their own guilt and their enemies strength.

Verse 3

[3] Then 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;

Thy son — Whose very name carried in it a sign and pledge of the promised deliverance signifying The remnant shall return.

Fuller's field — Whither he probably went to take care about the waters which thence were brought into the city to secure them to himself or keep them from the enemy as Hezekiah afterward did 2 Chronicles 32:3 4.

Verse 4

[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 of Rezin with Syria and of the son of Remaliah.

Be quiet — Settle thy mind by the belief of that joyful message which I am now to deliver thee from the Lord.

Fire-brands — They are not whole fire-brands but small pieces or ends of them taken out of the fire in which there is more smoak than fire. They have more of shew and terror than of strength. Pekah king of Israel he calls only the son of Remaliah to intimate that he was unworthy the name of king as having got that title by usurpation and the murder of his master 2 Kings 15:25.

Verse 6

[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:

Let us — Break their power and kingdom and subdue it to ourselves.

Verse 7

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

It — Their evil counsel.

Verse 8

[8] For 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.

Damascus — Damascus shall still continue the capital of the kingdom of Syria; and therefore Jerusalem shall not become a part of Rezin's dominion: but he shall keep within his own bounds and be king of Damascus only.

Verse 9

[9] And 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.

Samaria — Samaria shall continue to be the chief city if the kingdom of Israel and Pekah shall not conquer Jerusalem.

If — If you do not believe this but seek to the Assyrians for succour ye shall be consumed thereby.

Verse 12

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

I will not — By asking a sign as if I questioned the truth of his word: but this was deep hypocrisy.

Verse 13

[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?

David — He reproves them all because they were the king's counsellors.

Is it a small thing — Is it not wickedness enough.

My God — To vex God's prophets and people with your oppressions and horrid impieties. And by your ingratitude and unbelief and disobedience of his commands.

Verse 14

[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.

Therefore — Because you despise me and the sign which I now offer to you God of his own free grace will send you a more honourable messenger and give you a nobler sign.

A sign — Of your deliverance. But how was this birth which was not to happen 'till many ages after a sign of their deliverance from present danger? This promised birth supposed the preservation of that city and nation and tribe in and of which the Messiah was to be born; and therefore there was no cause to fear that ruin which their enemies now threatened.

Immanuel — God with us; God dwelling among us in our nature John 1:14. God and man meeting in one person and being a mediator between God and men. For the design of these words is not so much to relate the name by which Christ should commonly he called as to describe his nature and office.

Verse 15

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

Butter — The common food of children in that country.

He — The virgin's son.

Know — To discern between things good and evil.

Verse 16

[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.

Yea — Not only this land shall be preserved until the virgin's son shall be born but thine enemies land shall be sorely scourged and these two kings destroyed within a very little time.

This child — Shear-Jashub whom in all probability the prophet pointed at and who was brought hither by God's special command verse 3. for this very use.

The land — The lands of Syria and Israel.

Forsaken — So far shall Pekah and Rezin be from conquering thy land that they shall lose their own lands and their lives too; which they did within two years after this time being both slain by the king of Assyria.

Verse 17

[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.

Shall bring — But altho' God will deliver you at this time yet he will requite all your wickedness.

Thee — For part of this Assyrian storm fell in Ahaz's reign.

And — Upon thy sons and successors the kings of Judah.

Days — Calamities.

Departed — When ten tribes revolted from thy father's house.

The king — Who may well be called their plague or calamity as he is called the rod of God's anger chap. 10:5.

Verse 18

[18] And 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.

The fly — The flies. So he calls these enemies to imply their great numbers.

In — In their extremity where they go out into the sea.

Rivers — Of the river Nile which may be called rivers either for its greatness or because towards the end of it it is divided into seven streams. When the Chaldeans had in good measure subdued the Egyptians it is probable great numbers of the Egyptian soldiers listed themselves in the Chaldean army and with them invaded the land of Judah.

The bee — The Assyrian army compared to bees as for their numerous forces and orderly march so for their fierce attempts and mischievous effects.

Assyria — In the empire of Assyria or Babylon; for these two were united into one empire and therefore in scripture are promiscuously called sometimes by one title and sometimes by the other.

Verse 19

[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.

Valleys — Such as they found fruitful but made desolate.

Rocks — To which possibly the Israelites fled for refuge.

Bushes — Which he mentions because flies and bees use frequently to rest there; and to intimate that no place should escape their fury.

Verse 20

[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.

Shave — Utterly spoil as shaving takes away the hair.

Hired — By Ahaz who did hire them 2 Kings 16:7 8. And so the prophet notes the just judgment of God in scourging them with a rod of their own making.

By — By the successive kings of the Assyrian empire Sennacherib Esarhaddon and especially by Nebuchadnezzar.

The head — By these metaphorical expressions he signifies the total destruction of their state from head to foot from the highest to the lowest.

Verse 21

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

Sheep — They who formerly used to keep great herds of cattle and many flocks of sheep shall esteem it a happiness if they can keep but one cow and two sheep.

Verse 22

[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.

Abundance — Because they shall have large pastures by reason of the great scarcity of cattle.

Butter — Which the poorer sort had formerly used to sell to procure them cheaper food for themselves: but now the land should be so destitute of people that there were none to whom they could sell them.

Verse 23

[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 even be for briers and thorns.

Of silver — Each of the thousand vineyards might have been sold or let for a thousand shekels which was the yearly rent of some excellent vineyards.

Verse 24

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

With arrows — Either to hunt or to defend themselves from wild beasts which commonly abide in desolate grounds.

Verse 25

[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.

Digged — That used to be digged and dressed for the planting of vines or other choice fruit-trees.

The fear — That they might be freed from briars and thorns.

Cattle — All sorts of cattle may enter and feed there the fences being broken down and the owners slain or carried into captivity.

── John WesleyExplanatory Notes on Isaiah

 

07 Chapter 7

 

Verses 1-25


Verses 1-9

Isaiah 7:1-9

Rezin . . . and Pekah . . . went up toward Jerusalem to war against it

The confederacy against Jerusalem

The reason of this war is not stated: but from the desire of those kings to dethrone Ahaz and place on the throne in Jerusalem another even Ben Tabeal it may be inferred that

Ahaz refused to join these two powers in a general rising against Assyria.

Obviously Ahaz was well advised in not taking a step of such decided opposition to Nineveh: for had he done so the legions of that empire would only have spread desolation in Judah twenty or thirty years earlier than they did. To a certain extent the policy commended by Isaiah was adopted: Ahaz did not take up his stand against Assyria. The prophet of course wanted more. For he urged an absolute and complete neutrality in which Ahaz would have nothing at all to do with this power. So far as

Ahaz acted on the prophet’s advice he was successful: for this confederacy against Jerusalem proved a failure. (B. Blake B. D.)

Ahaz and Isaiah a contrast

Ahaz is timid and helpless takes no position and displays no promptitude or courage. Isaiah on the contrary steps forward with assurance: he is collected and calm: and his complete control of the political situation impresses us forcibly. (Prof. S. R. Driver D. D.)

Isaiah’s interview with Ahaz

At the date of Isaiah’s interview with

Ahaz the application to Assyria was meditated but not actually carried into effect. To understand this interview two things must be borne in mind.

Firstly Isaiah is aware of the king’s intention to solicit aid from Assyria but it is not openly admitted between them. Secondly the power and resources of the allied kings especially of Rezin so impressed the popular imagination that they were held to be practically invincible; Isaiah views both differently; describes them as “smoked out firebrands ” and intimates that he considers the terror of the people to be unreasonable. (Prof. S. R. Driver D. D.)

The prophet and the king

God speaks comfort to many who not only are not worthy of it but do not so much as inquire after it. (M. Henry.)

Unsuccessful attacks upon the Christian stronghold

“We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth”: clever arguments witty retorts brilliant repartees criticisms that dazzle by their brightness and exasperate by their acerbity come and go and Jerusalem stands sunlit fair invincible. (J. Parker D. D.)


Verse 4

Isaiah 7:4

Take heed and be quiet

Take heed and be quiet

That is be on your guard and do not act precipitately rather keep at rest.

I. A WARNING AGAINST SELF-WILLED ACTING.

II. AN EXHORTATION TO UNDISMAYED EQUANIMITY. (P. Delitzsch. D. D.)

The true attitude of life

This is the attitude we should observe in all this human life--on the one hand vigilance determination earnestness; and on the other silence resignation hope. Just as we observe in due proportion the active and passive aspects of life will our character become complete and our heart find rest.

I. ALL TRUE LIFE IS A LISTENING.

1. “Take heed ” i.e. be attentive alert susceptible. Light will not come to careless inattentive souls. We must hearken which really means the concentration of all the powers of the soul that we may detect the significance of things.

2. And when you have given full place to observation and reflection “be quiet ” for you will find plenty of room and reason for suspense resignation silence. When you have carried criticism to its final limit see that no place is left in your heart for anxiety unbelief and despair.

II. ALL TRUE LIFE IS A WATCHING. “Take heed.” Be cautious vigilant circumspect. There is no room in life for presumption. But when we have felt the need of earnest prayer when we have cultivated the habit of prayerful watchfulness let us “be quiet.” Many Christians feel the need of walking softly of being on the alert their soul is full of solemn caution; but they never know how to combine with this that strong confidence in God which brings the sensitive heart assurance and peace. Let us remember that when we have done our best God will do the rest.

III. ALL TRUE LIFE IS A STRIVING. “Take heed.” Life must be full of effort aspiration strenuousness perseverance. The policy of many is the policy of drift. But this is not the true idea of life. We are perpetually called upon to consider to discriminate to decide to act. And yet with all this we are to be “quiet.” Calm amid tumult tranquil in severest effort full of peace and confidence when life is most difficult and denying. Let us remember this--

“The crooked serpent”

True rationalism not only investigates but is cautious reticent patient hopeful. Much about us is very mysterious and bewildering.

1. It is so with nature. Ages ago the patriarch Job found this out. “By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” “Garnished the heavens!”--that we can understand that we can admire. The vast the balanced the magnificent the beautiful the benign--this is what we expected from the wise and generous Source of allthings. “His hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” Nature contains the mean the unharmonious the dark the grotesque the bloody; and this we did not expect. The thoughtful man is sorely puzzled in the presence of these confusions and contradictions.

2. It is so with revelation. We are often greatly delighted with the contents of the Bible. It is a firmament full of stars of light speaking to us eloquently of the glory of God. We cry with rapture as we scan successive constellations which gleam with truth and love and righteousness. “By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens.” But it is not long before the problems of nature reappear in revelation; there are teachings obscure and painful in fact the crooked serpent wriggles across the page. People who read cursorily-and think loosely may glide over such pages but thoughtful souls are often sorely troubled.

3. It is the same in our personal history. There are times in our life when all things go smoothly with us--our health is good in business we are in the swim we are socially popular and full of gratitude and thanksgiving we wonder how anybody can ever be fretful or call into question the government of God; we feel that the Spirit that garnished the heavens has brought order and beauty into our persona! lot. But soon circumstances change: our health fails we are called to attend two or three creditors’ meetings our popularity wanes; and then we are staggered and begin to ask sceptical questions touching the ways of heaven. What is the matter? The crooked serpent crawls across our path of roses. Now what are we to do when these dark enigmas reward our study when we witness the contradictions of nature the tragedy of history when we endure the pathos of our own life? Are we to take refuge in scepticism cynicism despair? Surely not. “Be quiet.” (W. L. Watkinson.)

A New Year’s motto

I. A WORD OF CAUTION. “Take heed.” It is as though Isaiah called a halt; as though to use another metaphor he swung the red light in front of the rushing train as though he put a detonator on the rails in the time of mist and fog. Saith he “Take heed; you are very busily preparing your mind is filled with a multitude of thoughts.” He does not speak ill of these preparations and these plans but he does say “Proceed with caution; look before you leap think before you act. Do nothing till you have thought it over and prayed about it. You will discover Ahaz that whereas some of your precautions are legitimate others of them are dishonouring to God and to the throne of David.” Well now is there not a word for you and for me just here? Take heed!--do not rush blindly on wait to be guided slip your hand into God’s. Ye people of God take heed! Worldliness is gradually creeping into the Church and fastening its fangs upon her. Doctrine of all sorts is at a discount except false doctrine. Take heed lest you sip of the poisoned cup or ever you are aware. And ye shepherds of the flock take heed! Ministers are too busy nowadays “getting up” this that and the other Be it ours to bring the blessing down. Sunday school teachers take heed that you do not merely amuse or only instruct the children. Win them for Christ. Take heed ye who profess to follow Jesus! Look where you are going; ponder the paths of your steps.

II. THEN THE PROPHET RECOMMENDED QUIET. “Be quiet.” It is not the easiest thing in the world to be quiet especially when there are two confederate armies coming up against you. It is ever easier to assault than to “sit tight.” I do not believe there is anything that more honours our holy religion than self-possession in the time of stress and storm. It is then that the worldling says “Why I could not do that!” What is the secret of that wonderful composure! The secret is God. That heart is kept quiet that is stayed on Him.

III. Then Isaiah says “FEAR NOT.” He has spoken of the outward attitude and action; now he refers to the reward emotion. Know you not that fear is fatal? I suppose that humanly speaking almost as many people die of fear as of anything else. Many of our best hopes are thwarted not because there was any real necessity they should suffer so but because we were afraid from the first that they would. Many of our high ambitions come to nought because we were never very confident that they would have any other ending if the work be of God trust God to see it through. We may have our fears but we must not cherish them. There were words of cheer accompanying this message. The prophet said “These great flaming firebrands that you fear are going out. Already they are smoking. They are only the tails of firebrands. A little patience and you will see an end of this trouble.” We do not ask a sign of God that Ha will give us the victory in our warfare and success in our work for Him. He gives it without asking. We would believe without a sign. “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.” But if God offers us a sign we do not refuse it. Ahaz did. He said--suddenly posing as a saint--“No I will not tempt God.” When God offers us a sign it is not reverence to refuse it; it is gross irreverence. But He has granted us the best sign of all the sign to which I do not doubt that Isaiah made reference. Christ has come; nay God has come for Christ is God. “If ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established.” John Bunyan used to call unbelief a white devil. (T. Spurgeon.)

Tails of smoking firebrands

The two allies are at once designated as what they are before God who sees through things in the future. They are two tails i.e. nothing but the fag ends of wood pokers half-burned off and wholly burned out so that they do not burn any longer but only still keep smoking. (F. Delitzsch.)

Caution with confidence

Life is danger. The more precious anything is the more enemies it has. You rarely see any lice on the wild rose in the hedgerow but the prize rose in the garden will soon be covered with them if the gardener remits his severe attention; crab apple trees on a common may be left with confidence to take care of themselves but the husbandman must watch by night and day an orchard full of sweetness. Man has the most enemies of all they swarm on every hand he walks in jeopardy every hour. But we often forget all this and act with strange heedlessness. Awhile ago from the flowery cliffs I was watching the beautiful gulls as they flashed between the sun and the sea uttering cues of joy when some wretched sportsmen appeared on the scene and began to fire at the lovely creatures. I thought that at the first shot the birds would have vanished into space but strangely enough as if they were enchanted they continued to whirl around the very focus of destruction. Fortunately they were not hit the marksmen’s aim was as bad as their temper; but at any moment the glorious birds might have dropped shattered bloody things into the sea. It is very much the same with men. They go negligently presumptuously although moral dangers are thicker than all other dangers and any moment might see the glory and hope of life quenched in midnight darkness. (W. L. Watkinson.)

Morbid nervousness

We all know suspicious souls whose nervousness gives them not a moment of peace. If they are going on a railway journey they anxiously look out for the middle compartment of the middle carriage fancying that the safest place and there is no telling how many trains they miss looking for that carriage; if they are in the country they will not drink a drop of milk until they have ascertained whether the foot and mouth disease has been in that district; and at the railway station they cross-examine the driver to know whether he has conveyed in that cab any passenger having an infectious malady. Now if you once give way to a morbid nervousness of this sort there is positively no end to the thing and every bit of comfort is taken out of life. (W. L. Watkinson.)

God the sure Protector of His people

The sensible voyager lays his head on the pillow and goes to sleep although the gleaming teeth of sharks are only a few inches away; the thickness of the plank or plate is practically the thickness of a planet: and although hell is always nigh. let us remember that God is still nigher and that a bit of tissue paper in His hands is the munition of rocks to those who trust in Him. (W. L. Watkinson.)

Vigilance and gladness

The bird on the branch is intensely sensitive and tremulous; it looks around above beneath; all the world might be a fowler a mare a eat and yet at the same time it goes on pouring out its happy soul in music. Let us be like it in watchfulness and gladness. (W. L.Watkinson.)

Morbid introspection

When I was a growing lad I was always measuring myself to see how much I had gained every week or two. Sometimes there was a distinct gain and then another testing seemed to indicate that I was standing sty; so I fed my hopes and fears. But I did very well on the whole and it would have been a great deal better if I had let the measuring tape alone and attended to my learning and my business. Do not afflict your souls with morbid solicitudes. (W. L. Watkinson.)

God’s contempt for Rezin and Pekah

God will have those in derision who set their shoulders against His throne for the purpose of overturning it. (J. Parker D. D.)

Harmfulness of fear

There is a legend which is in itself instructive concerning the time of plague in a certain Eastern city to the effect that 20 000 people having died therein a traveller entering the gates spoke to the plague as it was leaving and said “I understand that you have slain 20 000 people within these walls.” “No ” said the plague “I have slain but 10 000; the rest have died of fear.” It is an instructive story. (T. Spurgeon.)

Injurious struggling

Once I remember I picked up a small bird which had fallen on the pavement by my feet. I sought to reinstate it among the branches overhead; but the creature could not appreciate my generosity and with passionate eagerness struggled to escape. I began unconsciously to talk aloud to it “Poor silly thing; why do you not trust your best friend? All I want is to get you up again in the fork of the tree. You are making it harder for me by dashing so against my fingers; for I am obliged to hold you firmly and you do all the hurting yourself.” Why is it we all struggle so when the Lord is giving us help (C. S. Robinson D. D.)

Be quiet

Phoebe Simpson said to Ellice Hopkins “I think miss religion is doing things still.” Stillness of spirit is like the canvas for the Holy Spirit to draw His various graces upon. (Dr. Love.)

The happy people are calm

The really and substantially happy people in the world are always calm and quiet. (Recreations of a Country Parson.)

Christian serenity

The child of God should live above the world moving through it as some quiet star moves through the blue sky --clear and serene and still (Hetty Bowman.)


Verse 9

Isaiah 7:9

If ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established

Faith in the Divine Word and promises the alone ground of the believer’s establishment and happiness

There are only two sources from which human hope or happiness can be derived and these are sense and faith.

I. SENSE AS THE SOURCE OF HUMAN HAPPINESS. It is self-evident from the history of what is past and from observation and experience of what is present that amidst all the enjoyments whether more gross or more refined the objects of sense can possibly furnish to flatter or gratify the passions nothing is to be found that can give establishment to the human heart or settle and compose the restless spirit. There are three things which render it impossible that any mere worldly object or pursuit should render us happy.

1. The difficulty of acquiring what in imagination or forethought we have placed our happiness upon and in the possession of which we have fondly dreamed of enjoying all that our hearts could desire.

2. When with infinite labour we seem to have surmounted every difficulty and to have gained the point we had in view our promised happiness is snatched from us in a moment and we feel our disappointment and distress rendered more poignant from the flattering prospects that lay before us and the ideal estimate we had formed of what we have lost.

3. But let us suppose that we could acquire with ease and enjoy with security for a limited time--to our dying day--the objects we so eagerly pursue; how do we know that we shall preserve our relish for them? “Our very wishes give us not our wish.”

II. FAITH ALONE HOLDS FORTH THOSE OBJECTS THAT CAN ESTABLISH THE HUMAN HEART OR QUIET THE RESTLESS SPIRIT. Nothing can give establishment to the mind of man but what can effectually remove the cause of our present disordered state and prove a never-failing source of inward peace and self-enjoyment.

1. What is the cause of this disorder; of this disquietude and restlessness amidst all the objects of sense; of this vacancy of the human mind amidst all the profusion of nature? The cause is evidently a departure from the original constitution of our nature. For no creature can be unhappy continuing in that state in which he was placed by perfect wisdom and goodness.

2. The remedy which faith provides for the cure of this evil. It directs us to the righteousness of God manifested without the law being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe; for there is no difference. The doctrine that holds forth a finished salvation by the blood of Christ as the alone ground of a believer’s hope is of all others the best fitted to beget not only a humble submission but a cheerful resignation to our gracious Lord in the various allotments of His providence concerning us. Who that believeth all this with all his heart could for a moment entertain a doubt that his bodily and temporal concerns would be safe in His hands? (T. Gordon.)

Stability through faith

1. The promises of God are not at all times easily steadily and firmly believed.

2. God in the communication of His Word does not regard us as mere machines. The Word cannot profit unless it be mixed with faith in those who hear it. In the Christian’s life there are three kinds of stability.

I. THERE IS A STABILITY OF JUDGMENT. This regards the truths of religion. It is of great importance to have a judgment clear and fixed as it respects the great concerns of the soul and eternity and the doctrines of the Gospel of Christ; for as we think we feel as we feel we desire as we desire we act and as we act our characters are formed and our conditions determined. There are some things in revelation concerning which a man’s mind so to speak need not be made up. Little or no injury will arise from his hesitation or suspense. But this is not the case with all. There are some things which must be fundamental and therefore sustain others; and according to the firmness of the foundation will be the firmness of the whole superstructure. Now what is to lead us into this stability but faith? It cannot be human authority among men. What one patronises another denies and here you would soon find yourself like a man in a labyrinth who on this side and on that is calling out “Is this the way?” and knows not what direction to take with safety and comfort. Or if you depend upon reason this may do something from observation and analogy; but if you receive the revelation of God only as far as you can understand it you will make your faith commensurate with your knowledge. Thus obstructions and difficulties will arise continually and you will be strangers to all satisfaction and repose. No we must believe all that the Lord has spoken to us in His Word and because He has spoken it. “I had a little talent and a little learning ” said Dr. Watts before his death; “but now I lay them all aside and endeavour to receive the Gospel as the poor and unlearned receive it.”

II. THERE IS A STABILITY OF PRACTICE. This regards the duties of religion. By faith we stand. In order to see the strength and beauty of the sentiment contained in our text let us place the believer in three positions.

1. In a place of secrecy. When alone how do we act? Faith is a principle that always operates alike upon the mind i.e. its motives are the same in private as in public. Faith shows us the future and eternal consequences of our actions. Faith brings God and places Him before us Hence the closet is visited as the temple. The good fight of faith is carried on amidst many struggles unobserved by any human being but all well known to Him who is the Captain of our salvation.

2. In cases of prosperity and indulgence. How easily is a person drawn aside from the path of duty by the honour which cometh from men by a regard to the friendship of this world or by earthly riches! We are therefore told that the prosperity of fools destroys them. But the believer in Christ is not a fool: faith makes him wise unto salvation wise both for time and eternity. “This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith.”

3. In a condition of suffering and danger. What an agonizing trial was Abraham called to endure when God bade him take his only son Isaac whom he loved and offer him up for a burnt offering! yet faith enabled him to do it. Moses had a hard task to accomplish when he went and stood before Pharaoh but we are told “he had respect unto the recompense of the reward”; “by faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” And how was it with Daniel? There was something dreadful in being cast into the den of lions; but what was this to a man who saw that God would shut the lions’ mouths so that they should not hurt him? What was this to a man who by faith heard the voice of Him who said “Be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do; but fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell; yea I say unto you fear Him.” Faith also views the Saviour as acting and as suffering for us.

III. THERE IS A STABILITY OF HOPE. This regards the comforts of religion. How is it that Christians can rejoice amidst their sorrows? The Scripture assigns the reason when it tells us of the joy of faith. Faith appropriates. (W. Jay.)

Isaiah’s commission and King Ahaz

Isaiah had a very heavy commission from God. He was to go and speak to people who would not hear him and to be to them a messenger rather of death than of life. Though the message itself would be full of life yet they would refuse it and so bring upon themselves a ten-fold death. As a sort of experiment in his work he was called upon first to go and speak to King Ahaz that wicked king. He knew in his own soul that what he had to say would be rejected; but nevertheless at the command of God he went to speak to the king. He was told where he would meet him. God knows where to send His faithful servants. He knows how to adapt the message with great speciality to the individual case of each person who is within sound of the preacher’s voice; and He knows how to adapt even the voice itself to the ear of every hearer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

No fixity without faith

These words furnish us with a warning and an encouragement.

I. GOD DESERVES TO BE BELIEVED.

1. He is God; and being God He cannot lie.

2. His Word always has been true.

3. He has no motive for being untrue.

4. The honour of God is involved in His veracity.

5. Suppose even for a moment that we could not trust in the truthfulness of God what would be left for us to trust to? When rocks move what stands firm?

II. SOME ARE NOT WILLING TO BELIEVE GOD. That is clear by the fear expressed in the text: “If ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established.” Believing is a matter of the will. God’s grace works faith not upon us but in us. God works in us to will and to do; and in the willing He leads us up to believing. We voluntarily believe; and certainly men voluntarily disbelieve. Why is this this strange unwillingness of some men nay in a sense of all men to believe in God?

1. They are willing to believe other things.

2. Another thing is significant that men cling tenaciously to faith in themselves.

3. Instead of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life some prefer an emotional religion.

4. Some stubbornly suffer under unbelief.

5. I notice too that such people demand this and that of God beyond what He has revealed.

III. FAITH IS NOT A THING TO BE DESPISED. Have you never heard people say “Oh they preach up faith you know”? “Well what is faith?” “Well it is just believing so-and-so.” Faith is a most wonderful thing for--

1. It is a fair index of the heart.

2. A sure proof of a change of mind.

3. It inaugurates purity of life.

4. It is faith that leads to prayer and prayer is the very breath of God in man.

5. It is faith that glorifies God.

IV. THOSE WHO REFUSE TO EXERCISE FAITH WILL MISS MANY GREAT PRIVILEGES. I might mention many but the text gives us the one which I will dwell upon: “If ye will not believe surely he shall not be established.”

1. It means first that those who believe not will miss establishment in comfort.

2. Ye shall never enjoy establishment in judgment. There are many persons who do not know what to believe; they heard one man the other day and they thought that he spoke very cleverly and they agreed with him. They heard another the next day who was rather more clever and he went the other way so they went with him. Poor souls driven to and fro never knowing what is what! “If ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established”; you shall be like the moon that is never two days alike; you shall seem to believe this and to believe that and yet really believe nothing.

3. Next we want an establishment in conduct.

4. So it is also with establishment in hope.

5. We want to be established in spiritual vigour and strength. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

The principle of true permanence

The principle of true permanence is here shown to be a holding of Divine truth. “He who confides in God will abide.” (B. Blake B. D.)

Holding and being held

If Judah does not hold fast to his God he will lose his fast hold by losing the country in which he dwells the ground beneath his feet. (F. Delitzsch.)

Ahaz a representative of double-mindedness

Ahaz was a mixed character. He has been convicted in history of being an idolater as well as a professor of the true religion. He was therefore the representative of double-mindedness a halting between two opinions that double-mindedness which is unstable and which cannot excel. Probably Isaiah marking the workings of his countenance under the delivery of this communication saw signs of fear doubt hesitancy: the king did not spring at the word with access of energy and with the confidence of inspiration; so the prophet quick to detect all facial signs blessed with the insight that follows the spirit in all its withdrawment said instantly “If ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established.” (J. Parker D. D.)

Unbelief undermines character

To take an illustration from architecture materialism cuts out the foundation of the soul structure just where the strain comes. We are told that the lamentable disaster to the Campanile of St. Mark’s at Venice was due to the action of the Loggia architects in cutting out the stone coping in its whole length thus making a wound on the side where the pressure was severest half a yard deep and half a yard high. If this be true it is not remarkable that the massive tower came down bodily. Neither is the downfall of many a man remarkable to us when we come to know how his faith in God had been utterly destroyed. (Sunday School Chronicle.)

The power of faith

Lord Wolseley said “Give me 20 000 fanatics and I would march across Europe.” Grotius in describing the success of the Dutch in snapping the Spanish yoke gives this as the secret of their prowess “Believing that they could do it they did it.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)


Verse 11

Isaiah 7:11

Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God

God’s grace towards the wayward

Jehovah does not scorn to call Himself the God of this son of David who so hardens himself.
(F. Delitzsch D. D.)

A critical moment

In this hour when Isaiah stands before Ahaz the fate of the Jewish people is decided for more than two thousand years. (F. Delitzsch D. D.)


Verse 12

Isaiah 7:12

But Ahaz said I will not ask

Why did Ahaz refuse to ask a sign?

Ahaz who looked on Jehovah not as his God but only (like any of his heathen neighbours) as the god of Judaea and as such inferior in the god of Assyria and who had determined to apply to the King of Assyria or perhaps had already applied to him as a more trustworthy helper than Jehovah in the present strait declines to ask a sign excusing himself by a canting use of the words of Moses “Thou shalt not tempt Jehovah.” He refused the sign because he knew it would confirm the still struggling voice of his conscience; and that voice he had resolved not to obey since it bade him give up the Assyrian and trust in Jehovah henceforth. (Sir E. Strachey Bart.)

A secret disaffection to God

A secret disaffection to God is often disguised with the specious colours of respect to Him. (M. Henry.)

Making a decision

How often men like Ahaz arrive at decisions which are irrevocable and unspeakably momentous!

1. To have to make decisions that may be solemn in both these senses is one of the things that make the position of a ruler or statesmen so serious.

2. Every man is at some juncture celled to make a decision the results of which to him individually will be of unspeakable importance; e.g. the young ruler. Every one of you will at some moment be called to decide for or against Christ and the decision will be final and irreversible. The test may come to you in the shape of a temptation appealing to some passion of the mind or lust of the flesh and your eternal destiny may be determined by the manner in which you deal with that one temptation.

3. Like a railway train we are continually arriving at “points ” and the manner in which we “take” them affects our whole after career. (R. A. Bertram.)


Verse 13

Isaiah 7:13

Is it a small thing for you to weary men but will ye weary thy God also?
--

Wearying God

The work and experience of the prophet and the Gospel minister in dealing with men are similar.

I. IT IS NO SMALL SIN TO WEARY GOD’S PROPHETS AND PREACHERS. They are His ambassadors.

II. IT IS INFINITELY WORSE TO WEARY GOD whose hand holds their life and destiny. God is patient. This is evident from Scripture and observation. Exodus 34:6-7; 2 Peter 3:9.) Consider also the history of nations and individuals and of our own life.

III. GOD’S PATIENCE MAY BE WEARIED OUT by indifference obstinacy procrastination backsliding. The sinner is in present danger of doing this. Others have done it in Scripture and history. Application--The axe is laid at the root of the tree; make haste to repent. (Homiletic Review.)

Wearying God

Ahaz refused to ask a sign probably wishing to avoid as much as possible further intercourse with Isaiah who he feared would reprove him for his vices and idolatry.

1. That which seems specially to have wearied God in the instance of Ahaz was the sinning yet more in a season of distress.

2. There is a likelihood that his offence may be copied and that too not merely in the general but even in minute particulars. God became wearied by a repetition of the sin when He had tried by calamities to produce its abandonment. It does not seem that there was ever the least pause in his wickedness. God smote him but he went on frowardly. (H. Melvill B. D.)

Wearying God

The house of David weary the long suffering of God by letting Him exhaust all the means of their correction without effect. (F. Delitzsch.)

Wearying God

1. The great God is pleased to consider the indignities and injuries done to His servants as done to Himself.

2. Beware then of wearying God by refusing to comply with the administrations and offers He gives you by His servants; but now while it is called today hearken to His voice and obey His call. (R. Macculloch.)


Verse 14

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign

God’s sign to King Ahaz

Perhaps more perplexity has been produced among commentators by this passage than by any other in Old Testament prophecy.
The chief difficulties of the passage may be stated as follows: Does the prophecy refer to some event which was soon to occur or does it refer exclusively to some event in the distant future? If it refers to some event which was soon to occur what event was it? Who was the child intended and who the virgin who should bring forth the child?

1. The first step toward the unravelling of the prophet’s meaning is to determine the exact significance of the words. What then is the meaning of the word אוֹף which is translated “sign”? Delitzsch defines the word as

“a thing event or act which may serve to guarantee the Divine certainty of some other thing event or act.” It does not of necessity denote a miracle. For example in Genesis 17:11 circumcision is said to be a “sign ” or token. The context together with the nature of the thing event or act must decide whether the אוֹח is a miracle or not. All that is necessary to constitute a “sign” to Ahaz is that some assurance shall be given which Jehovah alone can give. And the certain prediction of future events is the prerogative of Jehovah alone.

2. We turn now to the word עַלְסָח translated “virgin” and shall try to find its exact meaning. The derivation of it from עָלִם to hide to conceal is now generally abandoned. Its most probable derivation is from עָלִם to grow to be strong and hence the word means one who has come to a mature or marriageable age. Hengstenberg contends that it means one in an unmarried state; Gesenius holds that it means simply being of marriageable age the age of puberty. However this may be it seems most natural to take the word in this place as meaning one who was then unmarried and who could be called a virgin. But we must guard against the exegetical error of supposing that the word here used implies that the person spoken of must be a virgin at the time when the child is born. All that is said is that she who is now a virgin shall bear a son.

3. Let us now proceed to consider the interpretation of the prophecy itself. The opinions which have generally prevailed with regard to it are three--

1. The context demands it. If there was no allusion in the New Testament to the prophecy and we should contemplate the narrative here in its surrounding circumstances we should naturally feel that the prophet must mean this. If the seventh and eighth chapters connected as they are were all that we had we should be compelled to admit a reference to something in the prophet’s time. The record in Isaiah 8:1-4 following in such close connection seems to be intended as a public assurance of the fulfilment of what is here predicted respecting the deliverance of the land from the threatened invasion. The prediction was that she who is a virgin shall bear a son. Now Jehovah alone can foreknow this and He pronounces the birth of this child as the sign which shall be given.

2. The thing to be given to Ahaz was a sign or token that a present danger would be averted. How could the fact that the Messiah would come seven hundred years later prove this?

Let us now look at the reasons for believing that it contains also a reference to the Messiah.

1. The first argument we present is derived from the passage in Is

9:7. There is an undoubted connection between that passage and the oneunder consideration as almost all critical scholars admit. And it seems that nothing short of a Messianic reference will explain the words. Some have asserted that the undoubted and exclusive reference to Messiah in this verse (9:7) excludes any local reference in the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14.But so far from this being the ease we believe it is an instance of what Bacon calls the “springing germinant fulfilment of prophecy.” And we believe that it can be proved that all prophecies take their start from historical facts. Isaiah here (Isaiah 9:7) drops the historical drapery and rises to a mightier and more majestic strain.

2. The second and crowning argument is taken from the language of the inspired writer Matthew (Matthew 1:22-23). (D. M. Sweets.)

Who was the “virgin” and who the son?

1. Some have supposed that the wife of Ahaz was meant by the “virgin ” and that his son Hezekiah was the child meant. There is an insuperable difficulty against this view. Ahaz’s reign extended over sixteen years (2 Kings 16:2) and Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he succeeded 2 Kings 18:2). Consequently at this time Hezekiah could not have been less than nine years old. It has been supposed that Ahaz had a second wife and that the son was hers. This is a mere supposition supported by nothing in the narrative while it makes Isaiah 8:1-4 haveno connection with what precedes or follows.

2. Others have supposed that some virgin who was then present before Ahaz was designated and they make the meaning this: “As surely as this virgin shall conceive and bear a son so surely shall the land be forsaken of its kings.” This is too vague for the definite language used and gives no explanation of the incident in chap. 8. about Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

3. Another opinion is that the virgin was not an actual but an ideal virgin.” “Michaelis thus presents this view: “By the time when one who is yet a virgin can bring forth (i.e. in nine months)
all will be happily changed and the present impending danger so completely passed away that if you were to name the child you would call him Immanuel.” Surely this would not be a sign or pledge of anything to Ahaz. Besides it was not a birth possible but an actual birth which was spoken of.

4. But the view which is most in keeping with the entire context and which presents the fewest difficulties is that the prophet’s own son is intended. This view does require the supposition that Isaiah married a second wife who at the time of this prophecy was still a virgin and whom he subsequently married. “But there is no improbability in the supposition that the mother of his son Shear-jashub was deceased and that Isaiah was about again to be married. This is the only supposition which this view demands. Such an occurrence was surely not uncommon. All other explanations require more suppositions and suppositions more unnatural than this. Our supposition does no violence to the narrative and certainly falls in best with all the facts. We would then identify Immanuel (as Ahaz and his contemporaries would understand the name to be applied) with Maher-shalal-hash-baz. With this view harmonises what the prophet says in Isaiah 8:18 : “Behold I and the children whom Jehovah hath given meare for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion.” It is no objection to this view that another name than “Immanuel” was given to the child. It was a common thing to give two names to children especially when one name was symbolic as Immanuel was. Jesus Christ was never called Immanuel as a proper name though almost all scholars agree that the prophecy referred to Him in some sense. (D. M. Sweets.)

A double tolerance in Isaiah’s prophecies

The careful critical student of Isaiah will find this thing common in his writings namely that he commences with a prophecy having reference to some remarkable delivery which was soon to occur and terminates it by a statement of events connected with a higher deliverance under the Messiah. His mind becomes absorbed; the primary object is forgotten in the contemplation of the more remote and glorious event. (D. M. Sweets.)

The virgin

The Hebrew word rendered “virgin” in the A.V. would be more accurately rendered “damsel.” It means a young woman of marriageable age and is not the word which would be naturally used for virgin if that was the point which it was desired to emphasise. (Prof. A. F. Kirkpatrick.)

Our English word “maiden” comes as near probably as any to the Hebrew word. (Speakers Commentary.)

The Hebrew lexicons tell us that the word almah here translated virgin may denote any mature young woman whether a virgin or not. So far as its derivation is concerned this is undoubtedly the case; but in Biblical usage the word denotes a virgin in every case where its meaning can be determined. The instances are besides the text that in the account of Rebekah (Genesis 24:43) that of the sister of Moses (Exodus 2:8) the word used in the plural (Psalms 68:25-26; Song of Solomon 1:3; Song of Solomon 6:8) its use in the titles of Psalms (Psalms 46:1-11; 1 Chronicles 15:20) and its use in Proverbs 30:19. The last passage is the one chiefly relied on to prove that the word may denote a woman not a virgin; but “the way of a man with a maid” there spoken of is something wonderful incapable of being traced or understood like the way of an eagle in the air a serpent on a rock a ship in the sea and it is only in its application to that wonderful human experience first love between a man and a virgin that this description can find a full and complete significance. The use of the word in the Bible may not be full enough in itself to prove that almah necessarily means virgin but it is sufficient to show that Septuagint translators probably chose deliberately and correctly when they chose to translate the word in this passage by the Greek word that distinctively denotes a virgin and that Matthew made no mistake in so understanding their translation. (Prof. W. J. Beecher D. D.)

Deliverance by a lowly agent

Not Ahaz not some high-born son of Ahaz’s house is to have the honour of rescuing his country from its peril: a “nameless maiden of lowly rank” (Delitzsch) is to be the mother of the future deliverer. Ahaz and the royal house are thus put aside; it is not till Isaiah 9:7 --spoken at least a year subsequently--that we are able to gather that the Deliverer is to be a descendant of David’s line. (Prof. S. R. Driver D. D.)

God’s sign to Ahaz

The king having refused to ask a sign the prophet gives him one by renewing the promise of deliverance (Isaiah 7:8-9) and connecting it with the birth of a child whose significant name is made a symbol of the Divine interposition and his progress a measure of the subsequent events. Instead of saying that God would be present with them to deliver them he says the child shall be called Immanuel (God with us); instead of mentioning a term of years he says before the child is able to distinguish good from evil; instead of saying that until that time the land shall lie waste he represents the child as eating curds and honey spontaneous products here put in opposition to the fruits of cultivation. At the same time the form of expression is descriptive. Instead of saying that the child shall experience all this he represents its birth and infancy as actually passing in his sight; he sees the child brought forth and named Immanuel; he sees the child eating curds and honey till a certain age. But very different opinions are held as to the child here alluded to. Some think it must be a child about to be born in the course of nature to the prophet himself. Others think that two distinct births are referred to one that of Shear-jashub the prophet’s son and the other Christ the Virgin’s Son. Yet others see only a prophetic reference to the birth of Messiah. (J. A. Alexander.)

A prediction of the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ

While some diversity of judgment ought to be expected and allowed in relation to the secondary question (of the child of the period that is referred to) there is no ground grammatical historical or logical for doubt as to the main point that the Church in all ages has been right in regarding this passage as a signal and explicit prediction of the miraculous conception and nativity of Jesus Christ. (J. A. Alexander.)

The figure of Immanuel an ideal one

The language of Isaiah forces upon us the conviction that the figure of Immanuel is an ideal one projected by him upon the shifting future--upon the nearer future in chap. 7 upon the remoter future in chap. 9 but grasped by the prophet as a living and real personality the guardian of his country now its deliverer and governor hereafter. The circumstances under which the announcement is made to Ahaz are such as apparently exclude deliberation in the formation of the idea; it is the unpremeditated creation of his inspired imagination. This view satisfies all the requirements of the narrative. The birth of the child being conceived as immediate affords a substantial ground for the assurance conveyed to Ahaz; and the royal attributes with which the child speedily appears to be endued and which forbid hit identification with any actual contemporary of the prophet’s become at once intelligible. It is the Messianic King whose portrait is here for the first time in the Old Testament sketched directly. (Prof. S. R. Driver D. D.)

Immanuel the Messiah

It is the Messiah whom the prophet here beholds as about to be born then in chap. 9 as born and in chap. 11 as reigning. (F. Delitzsch.)

What sign could the distant birth of Christ be to Ahaz?

The answer is plain as evidenced by the prophet turning away from the king who repudiated his privileges to the “house of David ” to which in all its generations the promise was given. The king was endeavouring to bring about the destruction of “the land ” but his efforts in that direction would be useless until the destiny of the house of David was fulfilled. The virgin must bear the promised Son; Judah is immortal till that event is accomplished. It matters not whether it is near or far the family and lineage of David must survive till then. Hence the sign was plain enough or ought to have been to Ahaz and the people in general. The closing portion of this section of Scripture fully discloses the destruction that should befall Judah as well as Israel but the final fall of Judah is after the birth of Immanuel. (F. T. Bassett M. A.)

The virgin mother

To maintain that Isaiah did not mean to say that a certain Person in the future was to be born of a virgin is not the same thing as to hold that Christ was not so born as a fact. (F. H. Woods B. D.)

The mystery of the sign

The “sign” is on the one side a mystery staring threateningly at the house of David and on the other side it is a mystery rich in comfort to the prophet and all believers; and it is couched in such enigmatic terms in order that they who harden themselves may not understand it and in order that believers may so much the more long to understand it. (F. Delitzsch.)

A new thing in the earth

(Isaiah 7:10-16):--

I. THE PLEDGE PROPOSED.

1. The condescension which God displayed on this occasion was very remarkable.

2. There may be a semblance of regard for the honour of God while the heart is in a state of hostility against Him.

3. God may sustain a certain relationship to those who are not His in reality.

II. THE INDIGNANT REBUKE ADMINISTERED. (Isaiah 7:13.)

1. The persons to whom it was addressed. Not the king only but the whole nation; which shows that they or a large portion of them were like-minded with their ungodly ruler. They are called “the house of David ” a designation which was doubtless intended to remind them of his character and the great things which God had done for him. Well would it have been if he by whom David’s throne was now occupied had been imbued with David’s spirit and walked in David’s ways; and that his influence had been exerted in inducing his subjects to do so likewise.

2. The feeling by which it was prompted. It was evidently that of holy indignation.

3. The grounds on which it rested. There were two things especially by which God was dishonoured on this occasion.

III. THE GLORIOUS EVENT PREDICTED. As to this striking prediction in itself considered there are several particulars which it sets before us--

1. The miraculous conception of Christ.

2. The essential Deity of Christ.

3. The design of the coming of Christ. For Him to be called “Immanuel God with us ” shows that He appeared to espouse our cause.

4. The lowly condition of Christ. “Butter and honey shall He eat ” etc.

5. The moral purity of Christ. Although the expression “before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good ” has literal reference to His attaining the age of discernment yet it may be applied with special propriety to the spotless sanctity of His character. He knew in a sense in which no one else ever knew how to refuse the evil and choose the good. (Anon.)

The birth of Christ

I. THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.

1. We see here a miraculous conception.

2. Notice next the humble parentage. Though she was not a princess yet her name Mary by interpretation signifies a princess; and though she is not the queen of heaven yet she has a right to be reckoned amongst the queens of earth; and though she is not the lady of our Lord she does walk amongst the renowned and mighty women of Scripture. Yet Jesus Christ’s birth was a humble one. Strange that the Lord of glory was not born in a palace! Let us take courage here. If Jesus Christ was born in a manger in a rock why should He not come and live in our rocky hearts? If He was born in a stable why should not the stable of our souls be made into a habitation for Him? If He was born in poverty may not the poor in spirit expect that He will be their Friend?

3. We must make one more remark upon this birth of Christ and that remark shall be concerning a glorious birthday. With all the humility that surrounded the birth of Christ there was yet very much that was glorious very much that was honourable. No other man ever had such a birthday as Jesus Christ had. Of whom had prophets and seers ever written as they wrote of Him? Whose name is graven on so many tablets as His? Who had such a scroll of prophecy all pointing to Him as Jesus Christ the God- man? Then recollect concerning His birth when did God ever hang a fresh lamp in the sky to announce the birth of a Caesar? Caesars may come and they may die but stars shall never prophesy their birth. When did angels ever stoop from heaven and sing choral symphonies on the birth of a mighty man? Christ’s birth is not despicable even if we consider the visitors who came around His cradle.

II. THE FOOD OF CHRIST. “Butter and honey shall He eat that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.” Our translators were certainly very good Scholars and God gave them much wisdom so that they craned up our language to the majesty of the original but here they were guilty of very great inconsistency. I do not see how butter and honey can make a child choose good and refuse evil. If it is so I am sure butter and honey ought to go up greatly in price for good men are ver much required. But it does not say in the original “Butter and honey shall He eat that He may know to refuse the owl and choose the good ” but “Butter and honey shall He eat till He shall know how to refuse the evil and choose the good ” or better still “Butter and honey shall He eat when He shall know how to refuse the evil and choose the good.” We shall take that translation and just try to elucidate the meaning couched in the words. They should teach us--

1. Christ’s proper humanity. When He would convince His disciples that He was flesh and not spirit He took a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb and ate as others did.

2. The butter and honey teach us again that Christ was to be born in times of peace. Such products are not found in Judea in times of strife; the ravages of war sweep away all the fair fruits of industry.

3. There is another thought here. “Butter and honey shall He eat when He shall know how to refuse the evil and choose the good.” This is to teach us the precocity of Christ by which I mean that even when He was a child even when He lived upon butter and honey which is the food of children He Knew me evil from the good.

4. Perhaps it may seem somewhat playful but I must say how sweet it is to my soul to believe that as Christ lived upon butter and honey surety butter and honey drop from His lips. Sweet are His words unto our souls more to be desired than honey or the honeycomb.

5. And perhaps I ought not to have forgotten to say that the effect of Christ’s eating butter and honey was to show us that He would not in His lifetime differ from other men in His outward guise. Butter and honey Christ ate and butter and honey may His people eat; nay whatsoever God in His providence gives unto them that is to be the food of the child Christ.

III. THE NAME OF CHRIST. “And shall call His name Immanuel.”

1. The Virgin Mary called her son Immanuel that there might be a meaning in His name

2. Would you know this name most sweetly you must know it by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The responsibility of revelation

1. This Annunciation to Ahaz was a great opportunity for him--a crisis in his spiritual life. He was getting entangled in idolatrous ways involved in disloyal relations with the Assyrian monarchy and had already seriously compromised himself in sacrilegious appropriation of temple treasure. And here was a golden opportunity to break through his bends and cast himself loose once for all from his unworthy associations. He was only asked to trust on for a little while longer to watch events and as they fell out in a certain direction to recognise that they were of God’s special ordering and that they constituted a claim on his obedience and trust in God. But he was incapable of profiting by God’s goodwill towards him. He rejected the Divine overtures of prosperity and peace; and while God still carried out the dictates of His purpose they came to Ahaz without blessing and without relief. His enemies were removed but a direr foe stood in their place; he could not but learn that God was faithful but the word that he compelled God to keep was a word of retribution.

2. And if we were capable of the combined mental and spiritual effort that such a course would require and were to sit down calmly and without prejudice to dissect our past lives and with unerring judgment were to separate cause from effect in every case and to trace each important issue of life to its true turning point how often probably should we find that the unsatisfactory features of the past were largely due to our neglect of some revelation--some annunciation--of God! By experience by example by warning by discipline; by difficulties significantly placed in our path or by clearances unexpectedly but unmistakably made; by words in season out of season; by a thousand things and in countless ways we have had annunciations from God--plain indications of His will and pleasure concerning us and no indistinct prophecies of things that shall be hereafter. And our judgment upon a review of the whole is this--that our true happiness and our genuine success have been in very exact proportion to our faithfulness or our unfaithfulness in reading the signs of God. (E. T. Marshall M. A.)

The mercy of God

The first word of this text joins the anger of God and His mercy together. God chides and rebukes the king Ahaz by the prophet; He is angry with him and therefore” He will give him a sign--a seal of mercy.

I. GOD TAKES ANY OCCASION TO SHOW MERCY.

II. THE PARTICULAR WAY OF HIS MERCY DECLARED HERE. “The Lord shall give you a sign.”

III. WHAT THIS SIGN WAS. “Behold a virgin ” etc. (J. Donne.)

Miracle of miracles

King Ahaz saith I will not tempt God and making religion his pretence against religion being a most wilful and wicked man would not. We may learn by this wretched king that those that are least fearful before danger are most basely fearful in danger (Isaiah 7:2). We may see the conflict between the infinite goodness of God and the inflexible stubbornness of man; God’s goodness striving with man’s badness. When they would have no sign yet God will give them a sign. Behold.

It is atheistical profaneness to despise any help that God in His wisdom thinketh necessary to support our weak faith withal. The house of David was afraid they should be extinct by these two great enemies of the Church; but saith Isaiah “A virgin of the house of David shall conceive a son ” and how then can the house of David be extinct? Heaven hath said it; earth cannot disannul it. God hath said it and all the creatures in the world cannot annihilate it. How doth friendship between God and us arise from hence that Christ is God in our nature?

1. Sin the cause of division is taken away.

2. Our nature is pure in Christ and therefore in Christ God loveth us.

3. Christ being our head of influence conveyeth the same Spirit that is in Him to all His members and little by little by that Spirit purgeth His Church and maketh her fit for communion with Himself.

4. The second person is God in our nature for this end to make God and us friends. (R. Sibbes.)

Christ in prophecy

You will find that the presence of one Person pervades the whole book If you go into a British navy yard or on board a British vessel and pick up a piece of rope you will find that there is one little red thread which runs through the whole of it--through every foot of cordage which belongs to the British government; so if a piece of rope is stolen it may be cut rote inch pieces but every piece has the mark which tells where it belongs. It is so with the Bible. You may separate it into a thousand parts and yet you will find one thought--one great fact running through the whole of it. You will find it constantly pointing and referring to one great Personage. Around this one mighty Personage this whole book revolves. “To Him give all the prophets witness.” (H. L. Hastings.)

Immanuel

Shear-jashub; Maher-shalal-hash-baz; Immanuel

The three names taken together would mean this--the Assyrians would spoil the countries of Syria and Ephraim and though they would threaten Judah God would be with His people and save them and so a remnant would For left which would return at once to religious faith and to national prosperity. For these two last are almost always associated in the prophet’s view. (F. H. Woods B. D.)

A prophecy of the Messiah

When Jesus claimed to be the Son of God the Jews saw quite clearly that this was indeed nothing less than the claim to be Divine and they cried out that this was blasphemy. And what was His reply? Jesus reminded His hearers that the earliest judges and leaders of the people of Israel as testified by the language of their Scriptures had been called gods. “Jesus answered them Is it not written in your law I said ye are gods? If He called them gods unto whom the Word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world Thou blasphemest; because I said I am the Son of God?” The judges and rulers of the early days of Israel had been called gods because their office and function was just this--to represent God on earth to men to reflect His character and do His will and lead His people. They often failed to do this because they were merely human. In some cases they were false to their trust and then God’s vengeance overtook them. Yet they pointed to that one far-off Divine event when One who should perfectly fulfil that name was to interpose for the world’s deliverance. And thus just as the implied prophecy in calling men gods was to be one day fulfilled so the prophecy of Isaiah before us was also a prophecy of that same later far-off event when one who was in every sense “God with us” should come to satisfy the needs and the longings of the human heart. (Canon Ainger.)

Immanuel the Sympathiser

“God with us.” This means omnipotence with us omniscience with us perfection with us and the love that never fails. Some of us perhaps have tried in conformity with the passion for getting rid of the supernatural that marks the latest struggle of the scientific world to construct a new religion out of the old in which the same pathetic and lovely figure as before shall be placed beside us for our example but from whom the aureole of Deity has been taken away; they have been trying to find all that life needs in the presence only of a fellow man however superior to ourselves in holiness and purity. There are moments in our lives when we feel ourselves face to face with sin in the presence of sorrow or of death from which no man can deliver us. In the sad hours of your life it has been said the recollection of that Man you read of in your childhood the Man of sorrows the great Sympathiser with human woes and sufferings rises up before you. I know it is a reality for you then for you feel it to be not only beautiful but true. In such moments does it seem to you as if Christ were merely a person who eighteen hundred years ago made certain journeying between Judea and Galilee? Can such a recollection fill up the blank which some present grief the loss of some friend has made in your heart? It does not. It never did this for you or for anyone. But the comfort that came to you from the thought of Him may be safely trusted not to betray you for that voice that came to you in your anguish says “You may trust Me you may lean upon Me for I know all things in heaven and earth. I and My Father are one.” (Canon Ainger.)

Immanuel

Nature God and Jesus are words often used to designate the same power or being but are suggestive of very different associations. The word “nature” veils from our view the glory of the Godhead and removes His personality from our consciousness. It removes the Deity to a distance from us but Jesus the newer and better name the latest revelation brings Him nearer to us. The associations of the name Jesus as a name of God are most tender and endearing. Jesus does not remind us of blind power or unfeeling skill as the word nature does; nor yet of overwhelming greatness distant force and vast intelligence the conception of which strains our faculties and the realisation of which crushes our power as the word God does. The name of Jesus reminds us chiefly of sympathy kindheartedness brotherly tenderness and one-ness with ourselves. The word God presents a picture of the Deity to the mind in which those attributes of the Divine character which are in themselves most removed from us occupy the most prominent position and are bathed with a flood of light while those features of character by which the Divine Spirit touches the delicate chords of human affections are dimly seen amid the darkening shadows of the background. The picture is reversed in Jesus. The great attributes are buried in the light of love as the stars are covered by the light of day. (Evan Lewis B. A.)

“Immanuel ” a stimulus to the prophet himself

Isaiah may have meant the Name to speak to him as well as to the nation. He may have desired to bring the message of the Name into his personal and family life. For after all a prophet is but a man of like passions with” ourselves subject to the same infirmities and fluctuations of spirit “warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer.” There were times no doubt when even Isaiah lost faith in his own function in his own message when the very man who had assured a sinful nation that God was with them could hardly believe that God was with him or could even cry out “Depart from me O Lord for I am a sinful man!” And in such moments as these when weary of the world and weary of himself he lost courage and hope he may have felt that it would be well for him to have that in his very household which would help to recall the truths he had recognised and taught in hours of clearer insight help to restore the faith with which he had first sprung up to greet the Divine message. We may believe that there were many darkened hours in his experience hours of broken faith and defeated hope when he would fall back on his earlier faith and brighter hopes; when he would call his little son to him and as he fondled him would repeat his name Immanuel Immanuel--God-with-us God-with-us --and find in that Name a charm potent to restore his waning trust in the gracious presence and gracious will of Jehovah. (“Niger in Expositor.)

The child Immanuel

Isaiah may have felt as we feel that God is with a little child in quite another sense in a more pathetic sense than He is with grown men. To him as to us their innocence their loveliness and above all their love may have been the most exquisite revelation of the purity and love of God. “Heaven lies about their infancy”; and in this heaven the prophet may often have taken refuge from his cares despondencies and fears. Every child born into the world brings this message to us reminds us that God is with us indeed and of a truth; for whence did this new pure tender life come if not from the central Fountain of life and purity and love? And from this point of view Isaiah’s “Immanuel” is but the ancient analogue of our Lord’s tender words: Of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (“Niger in Expositor.)

Immanuel

The text is prophecy of the Messiah (Matthew 1:23).

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH IT WAS SPOKEN.

II. ITS FULFILMENT. For more than seven hundred years devout Jews waited for the Divinely predicted sign. Then came the day which Christmas commemorates

III. ITS PRACTICAL IMPORT. To Christians this prophecy is significant of those blessings which are pledged to us in Christ. In Him we have the assurance of God being--

1. With us in the sense of on our side. Nature shows us God as above us; law shows us God as against us because we have made ourselves His enemies; but the Gospel shows us God with us to defend us from the power of sin and to deliver us from the penalty of sin.

2. With us in the sense of in our nature. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”; became one of ourselves shared with us--

(a) The Divine sympathy because He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.”

(b) The Divine salvation because He has “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

(c) The Divine succour because He “ever liveth to make intercession” for us; and His parting word to His Church is “Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world.” (T. H. Barnett.)

God with us though His presence is not always realised

Professor Tyndall has told us how as he wandered through the higher Alpine pastures in the earlier months of the present summer (1879) he was often surprised to find at evening lovely flowers in full bloom where in the morning he had seen only a wide thin sheet of snow. Struck with the strange phenomenon unable to believe that a few hours of even the most fervent sunshine had drawn these exquisite flowers to their full maturity he carefully scraped away the snow from a few inches of pasture and examined the plants that were growing beneath it. And to his surprise and delight he found that the powers of life had been with them even while they seemed wrapped in death; that the sun had reached them through the snow; that the snow itself had both held down the rising warmth of the earth upon them and sheltered them from the cold biting winds which might else have destroyed them. There they stood each full grown every flower maturely developed though the green calyx was carefully folded over the delicately coloured petals; and no sooner was the snow removed no sooner did the rays of the sun touch the green enfolding calyx than it opened and revealed the perfect beauty it had shrouded and preserved. And so doubtless we shall one day find that God our Sun has been with us even during the winter of our self-discontent all through the hours of apparent failure and inertness quickening in us a life of which we gave but little sign maturing and making us perfect by the things we suffered; so that when the hindering veils are withdrawn and the full light of His love shines upon us at that gracious touch we too may disclose a beauty of which we had not dreamed and of Which for long we gave no promise. (“Niger in Expositor.)

Life’s best amulet

A Mohammedan negro in Africa was once taken prisoner in war. He wore suspended around his neck an amulet or charm. When this was taken from him he became almost frenzied with grief and begged that it be returned to him He was willing to sacrifice his right hand for it. It was his peculiar treasure which he valued as life itself. It was a very simple affair--A little leather case enclosing a slip of paper on which was inscribed in Arabic characters one word--“God.” He believed that the wearing of this charm secured for him a blessed immunity from ill. When it was returned to him he was so overjoyed that the tears streamed from his eyes and falling to the ground he kissed the feet of the man who restored to him his treasure. That poor negro had but the bare name--we have God! Not a distant monarch seated lonesomely away from any human voice or footstep. There is one name that ought to be dearest of all to every Christian--“Immanuel.” It means not a Deity remote or hidden but “God with us.” (Christian Endeavor.)

God with us

An old poet has represented the Son of God as having the stars for His crown the sky for His azure mantle the clouds for His bow and the fire for His spear. He rode forth in His majestic robes of glory but one day resolved to alight on the earth and descended undressing Himself on the way. When asked what He would wear He replied with a smile “that He had new clothes making down below.” (Gates of Imagery.)


Verses 17-25

Isaiah 7:17-25

The Lord shall bring upon thee . . . even the king of Assyria

The prophecy fulfilled

The calling in of Assur laid the foundation for the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah not less than for that of the kingdom of Israel Ahaz thereby became a tributary vassal of the Assyrian king and although Hezekiah again became free from Assyria through the miraculous help of Jehovah nevertheless what Nebuchadnezzar did was only the accomplishment of the frustrated undertaking of Sennacherib.
(F. Delitzsch.)

Assyria and the Jews

If Isaiah here in chaps 7-12 looks upon Assyria absolutely as the universal empire (2 Kings 23:29; Ezra 6:22) this is so far true seeing that the four empires from the Babylonian to the Roman are really only the unfolding of the beginning which had its beginning in Assyria. And if here in chap. 7 he thinks of the son of the virgin as growing up under the Assyrian oppressions this is also so far true since Jesus was actually born in a time in which the Holy Land deprived of its earliest fulness of blessing found itself under the supremacy of the universal empire and in a condition which went back to the unbelief of Ahaz as its ultimate cause. Besides He who in the fulness of time became flesh does truly lead an ideal life in the Old Testament history. The fact that the house and people of David did not perish in the Assyrian calamities is really as chap. 8 presupposes to be ascribed to His presence which although not yet in bodily form was nevertheless active. Thus is solved the contradiction between the prophecy and the history of its fulfilment. (F. Delitzsch.)

Judah’s loss of national independence

From this application of Ahaz to Tiglath-Pileser was to date the transition of Judah “to a servile state from which it was never permanently freed the domination of Assyria being soon succeeded by that of Egypt and this by that of Babylon Persia Syria and Rome the last ending only in the downfall of the State and that general dispersion which continues to this day. The revolt of Hezekiah and even longer intervals of liberty in later times are mere interruptions of the customary and prevailing bondage.” (J. A. Alexander.)

The perspective of prophecy

God makes what was announced by prophecy separate itself in reality into different stages. (E. Konig.)

History and prophecy

Prophecy never seems to forsake the ground of history. However extended the vista which stretches before him that vista begins at the prophet’s feet. (Bishop Perowne.)

Bees and flies

Bees and swarms of flies are used as a Homeric image for swarms of peoples (Il. 2.87)
. Here the images are likewise emblematic. The Egyptian people being unusually numerous is compared to the swarming fly; and the Assyrian people being warlike and eager for conquest is compared to the stinging bee which is so difficult to turn sway
Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalms 118:12). The emblems also correspond to the nature of the two countries; the fly to slimy Egypt which from being such abounds in insects (chap. 18:1) and the bee to the more mountainous and woody Assyria where bee-culture still constitutes one of the principal branches of trade in the present day. (F. Delitzsch.)

Hissing for the fly and the bee

To hiss for them is to call or summon them derived from the practice of the bee keepers who with a whistle summoned them from the hives to the open fields and by the same means conducted them home again We are assured by St. Cyril that [the practice] subsisted in Asia down to the fourth and fifth centuries. (J. Kitto D. D.)

A sentence of doom

I. GOD IS SOVEREIGN IN THE WHOLE EARTH. All governments are but instruments which He uses when and as He pleases (Isaiah 7:17-21). A thought full of comfort for the righteous of horror for the unrighteous.

II. THE CONSEQUENT INSECURITY OF ALL PROSPERITY THAT IS NOT BASED UPON AND PROMOTIVE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (Isaiah 7:23). Britain will be “Great Britain” only so long as God pleases.

III. WHATEVER CHASTISEMENTS GOD MAY HAVE INFLICTED HE HAS ALWAYS A MORE TERRIBLE ONE BEHIND (Isaiah 7:17).

IV. Seeing that all these things were threatened against and inflicted upon God’s chosen people learn that NO MERCY THAT GOD HAS SHOWN US WILL FURNISH ANY IMMUNITY FOR US IF NOTWITHSTANDING THAT MERCY WE SIN AGAINST HIM. There is a tendency in our evil hearts to think that because God has been specially good to us we may sin with less risk than others; but the teaching of the Bible is that those who “turn the grace of God into lasciviousness” shall be visited with a sorer doom than others. (R. A. Bertram.)


Verse 20

Isaiah 7:20

In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired

The hired razor

There is involved the bitterest sarcasm for Ahaz; the cheap knife which he had hired for the deliverance of Judah is hired by the Lord in order to shave Judah wholly and most shamefully.
(F. Delitzsch.)

Shaving the beard

The most shameful of all. The beard is the sign of manly vigour manliness and manly dignity. (F. Delitzsch.)

The Lord’s razor

The Bible is the boldest book ever written. There are no similitudes in Ossian or the Iliad or the Odyssey so daring. Its imagery sometimes seems on the verge of the reckless but only seems so. The fact is that God would startle and arouse men and nations. A tame and limping similitude would fail to accomplish the object. While there are times when He employs in the Bible the gentle dew and the morning cloud and the dove and the daybreak in the presentation of truth we often find the iron chariot the lightning the earth quake the sword and in my text the razor. This keen-bladed instrument has advanced in usefulness with the ages. In Bible times and lands the beard remained uncut save in the seasons of mourning and humiliation but the razor was always a suggestive symbol. David says of Doeg his antagonist: “Thy tongue is a sharp razor working deceitfully that is it pretends to clear the face but is really used for deadly precision.

I. If God’s judgments are razors WE HAD BETTER BE CAREFUL HOW WE USE THEM ON OTHER PEOPLE. In careful sheath the domestic weapons are put away where no one by accident may touch them and where the hands of children may not touch them. Such instruments must be carefully handled or not handled at all. But how recklessly some people wield the judgments of God. If a man meet with business misfortune how many there are ready to cry out “This is a judgment of God upon him because he was unscrupulous or arrogant or over reaching or miserly.” How I do dislike the behaviour of those persons who when people are unfortunate say: “I told you so--getting punished--served him right!” With air sometimes supercilious and sometimes Pharisaical and always blasphemous they take the razor of Divine judgment and sharpen it on their own hard hearts and then go to work on men sprawled out at full length under disaster cutting mercilessly. They begin by soft expressions of sympathy and pity and half praise and lather the victim all over before they put on the sharp edge.

II. Again when I read in my text that the Lord shaves with the hired razor of Assyria the land of Judea I bethink myself of THE PRECISION OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE. A razor swung the tenth part of an inch out of the right line means either failure or laceration but God’s dealings never slip and they do not miss by the thousandth part of an inch the right direction.

III. Further my text tells us that GOD SOMETIMES SHAVES NATIONS. “In the same day shall the Lord shave with the razor that is hired.” With one sharp sweep He went across Judah and down went its pride and its power. Assyria was the hired razor against Judah and Cyrus the hired razor against Babylon and the Huns the hired razor against the Goths and there are now many razors that the Lord could hire if because of our national sins He should undertake to shave us.

IV. But notice that God is so kind and loving that WHEN IT IS NECESSARY FOR HIM TO CUT HE HAS TO GO TO OTHERS FOR THE SHARP-EDGED WEAPON. “In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired.” God is love. God is pity. God is help. God is shelter. God is rescue. There are no sharp edges about Him no thrusting points no instruments of laceration. If you want balm for wounds He has that. If you want salve for Divine eyesight He has that. But if there is sharp and cutting work to do which requires a razor that He hires. God has nothing about Him that hurts save when dire necessity demands and then He has to go to someone else to get the instrument. (T. De W. Talmage D. D.)

Allies and razors

You thought you were buying an ally when you were only hiring a razor by which you were to be rendered naked and made contemptible. (J. Parker D. D.)

──The Biblical Illustrator