First warning to Ahaz
1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Re maliah, king of Israel, laid siege to Jeru salem but they were unable to capture it.
2 When the news reached the house of David, “Aram’s troops are encamped in Ephraim,” the heart of the king and the hearts of the people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble before the wind.
3 Yahweh then said to Isaiah: “Go with your son A-remnant-will-return, and meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washer man’s Field.
4 Say to him, Stay calm and fear not; do not lose courage before these two stumps of smoldering fire brands – the fierce anger of Rezin the Aramean and the blazing fury of the son of Remaliah. You know that
5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted against Judah, saying:
6 Let us in vade and scare it, let us seize it and put the son of Tabeel king over it.
7 But the Lord Yahweh says:
It shall not be so,
it shall not come to pass.
8a For Damascus is only the head of Aram
and Rezin the lord of Damascus.
9a Samaria is only the head of Ephraim
and Remaliah’s son is only the lord of Samaria.
8b Within fifty-six years,
Ephraim will be shattered
and will no longer be a people.
9b But if you do not stand firm in faith,
you, too, will not stand at all.”
The Virgin is with child
10 Once again Yahweh ad dressed Ahaz,
11 “Ask for a sign from Yahweh your God, let it come either from the deepest depths or from the heights of heaven.”
12 But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask, I will not put Yahweh to the test.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Now listen, descendants of David. Have you not been satisfied trying the patience of people, that you also try the pa tience of my God? Gen
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
The Virgin is with child and bears a son and calls his name Immanuel.
15 He will live on curds and honey by the time he learns to refuse evil and choose good.
16 For before the child knows how to reject evil and cherish virtue, the land of the two kings that you abhor will be deserted.
17 Yah weh will bring a time much worse than any since Ephraim broke away from Judah.
18 On that day Yahweh will whistle
for flies from the farthest streams of Egypt
and for bees from the land of Assyria.
19 They will come and settle
in the steep ravines,
in the clefts of the rocks,
on all the bushes,
and on every pasture.
20 On that day,
with a razor hired from beyond the river
(with the king of Assyria),
Yahweh will shave the head
and the hair of the legs
and the beard as well.
21 On that day a man will raise
a heifer and a couple of sheep,
22 and from the abundance of milk
those who survive in the land
will feed on curds and honey.
23 On that day every place
planted with a thousand vines
worth a thousand silver shekels
will be covered with briers and thorns.
24 Men will go there
armed with bows and arrows,
for the whole country
will be covered with briers and thorns.
25 No one will dare come
to all the hills which used to be cultivated with hoe,
for fear of briers and thorns.
There, cattle will be let loose
and sheep left to graze.
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Comments Isaiah, Chapter 7
• 7.1 The passage 7:1-9 summarizes the situation which developed in 736 when the people of Aram and Israel (the northern kingdom with its capital, Samaria) invaded the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem (the southern kingdom). Several names may make this text difficult to understand: Rezin, king of Aram and Pekah, Remaliah’s son, king of Israel (also called Ephraim: 7:9), are the enemies.
King Ahaz thinks of everything except the help of God who committed himself to David’s heirs as long as they would trust him and seek justice.
Isaiah opposes the king: if the
Assyrians intervene, there will be as much destruction in Judah as in Israel and Aram, even if Ahaz is the ally of the Assyrians. The king must rely on the Covenant and Yahweh’s protection.
• 10. The prophecy about the Virgin giving birth is one of the most important in the Bible even though it leaves some questions unanswered.
To support his warnings already expressed in 7:4-9, Isaiah offers a miraculous sign to the king: Ask the Lord… (v. 11). Ahaz piously refuses to hide his determination not to turn back (v. 12). Then, the prophet explodes in anger: these descendants of David whom God has always protected are useless: a descendant of David of another kind will be able to bring salvation to God’s people. Yahweh is preparing to send him. His mother (called here the Virgin: see what follows) gives him the name he will deserve (v. 14). Before this future king may bring peace, he will be raised humbly (v. 15). Before that Ahaz’s and his followers’ absurd politics would certainly bring total ruin to the country.
Now a few points need to be clarified.
1. Immanuel means God-with-us. This child not only gives us God’s blessings, or miraculous and divine liberation, but through him, God becomes present among humankind and the promises heard so many times come true: I will be their God and they will be my people (Hos 2:25; Ezk 37:27; Rev 21:3).
2. Why does the Gospel use the word “Virgin” (Mt 1:23) where Isaiah speaks in 7:14 of the young (mother)?
The term used by Isaiah signifies in the biblical texts, at times a young girl, at times a young woman: it is a question of a young person. It was used like that without anything added to denote the young queen. On the other hand the prophets used to say the Virgin of Israel or the Virgin Daughter of Zion to refer to the people and to the holy city (Is 37:22). And so to them, the verse, the Virgin will give birth, could also mean: the believing community will give birth to the Messiah.
3. Since God is giving a sign to all the people, the question of time must be exact: otherwise how could it be a sign? The young (mother) was perhaps Ahaz’s wife whose motherhood would have anticipated salvation. However Ahaz’s son and successor Ezekiah whom the Bible considers as a good king was already born at that time. Moreover how is it possible that Isaiah spoke about him in such an extraordinary manner (see 9:1-6).
It is also possible that this young mother was the one referred to by the prophet Micah when he spoke with enigmatic words of “the one who is to give birth” (5:2). These words seem to allude to the believers’ community from which the Messiah will be born.
The prophecy of Isaiah was actually understood as an announcement of the Messiah, which is why they kept it for future times. In that case, how can we understand Isaiah’s announcement of such birth as a close event that would be a sign for his listeners?
We cannot answer these questions because we do not know the exact words of Isaiah. Remember that his prophecy came to us as it was written by his disciples. However, by comparing these lines with those in Micah 5:2, we can at least approximate the message. Isaiah speaks as did the prophets: they see and gather together in one vision events which are perhaps far removed in time but follow the same line and set a direction in history.
Isaiah is giving a sign to King Ahaz, to his heirs, David’s descendants (7:13), and to all who live in a world devastated by sin, and this sign points to Christ. Just as in the lost earthly Paradise we have the image of a woman, or of the son of a woman who will crush the serpent’s head, here we have another image, that of the virgin with her son, God-with-us. Im manuel suffers for his brothers’ and sis ters’ sins, and that is why he can reconcile us with God.
Many believing Jews suspected that the Messiah’s origin would be extraordinary; be fore Jesus, the Greek translation of the Bible had already substituted the word “virgin” for the original term young girl.
So the evangelists would easily have recognized the fulfillment of that prophecy in the virginal birth of Jesus.