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Texts -- Isaiah 7:1-18 (NET)

Context
Ahaz Receives a Sign
7:1 During the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham , son of Uzziah , king of Judah , King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel marched up to Jerusalem to do battle , but they were unable to prevail against it. 7:2 It was reported to the family of David , “Syria has allied with Ephraim .” They and their people were emotionally shaken , just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind . 7:3 So the Lord told Isaiah , “Go out with your son Shear-jashub and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. 7:4 Tell him, ‘Make sure you stay calm ! Don’t be afraid ! Don’t be intimidated by these two stubs of smoking logs , or by the raging anger of Rezin , Syria , and the son of Remaliah . 7:5 Syria has plotted with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah to bring about your demise . 7:6 They say, “Let’s attack Judah , terrorize it, and conquer it. Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king .” 7:7 For this reason the sovereign master , the Lord , says : “It will not take place ; it will not happen . 7:8 For Syria’s leader is Damascus , and the leader of Damascus is Rezin . Within sixty-five years Ephraim will no longer exist as a nation . 7:9 Ephraim’s leader is Samaria , and Samaria’s leader is the son of Remaliah . If your faith does not remain firm , then you will not remain secure .” 7:10 The Lord again spoke to Ahaz : 7:11 “Ask for a confirming sign from the Lord your God . You can even ask for something miraculous .” 7:12 But Ahaz responded , “I don’t want to ask ; I don’t want to put the Lord to a test .” 7:13 So Isaiah replied , “Pay attention , family of David . Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men ? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God ? 7:14 For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign . Look , this young woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son . You, young woman, will name him Immanuel . 7:15 He will eat sour milk and honey , which will help him know how to reject evil and choose what is right . 7:16 Here is why this will be so: Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right , the land whose two kings you fear will be desolate . 7:17 The Lord will bring on you, your people , and your father’s family a time unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria !” 7:18 At that time the Lord will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria .

Pericope

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Arts

Hymns

(Note: In "active" or "on" condition, the hymns music will be played automatically when mouse hover on a hymns title)
  • Anak Yang Dijanji [KJ.122]
  • Gita Sorga Bergema [KJ.99] ( Hark! The Herald Angels Sing )
  • Hai Dengar Tembang Malaikat [KJ.104]
  • Hai Kota Mungil Betlehem [KJ.94] ( O Little Town of Bethlehem )
  • Kau, Yesus, Raja Mahakaya [KJ.297]
  • O, Datanglah, Imanuel [KJ.81]
  • [Isa 7:14] All Hail To Thee, Immanuel
  • [Isa 7:14] And Art Thou Come With Us To Dwell
  • [Isa 7:14] Behold, The Grace Appears!
  • [Isa 7:14] From Lands That See The Sun Arise
  • [Isa 7:14] Gracious Savior, Who Didst Honor
  • [Isa 7:14] Great God Of Heaven, The
  • [Isa 7:14] Immanuel, We Sing Thy Praise
  • [Isa 7:14] O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
  • [Isa 7:14] Praise We The Lord This Day
  • [Isa 7:14] Precious Child, So Sweetly Sleeping
  • [Isa 7:14] Thee, O Immanuel, We Praise
  • [Isa 7:14] Thou Virgin-born Incarnate Word
  • [Isa 7:14] Virgin Did Come, A
  • [Isa 7:14] Virgin Most Pure, A
  • [Isa 7:14] Virgin Unspotted, A
  • [Isa 7:14] We Sing, Immanuel, Thy Praise
  • [Isa 7:14] Welcome God’s And Mary’s Son

Questions

Sermon Illustrations

Jesus Is King; Names of Jesus; Who Is Jesus Christ?; Mary Had The Little Lamb; Mary Had The Little Lamb

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Yahweh appeared at the top of an angel-filled stairway restating the promise to Abraham and adding more promises of blessing and protection for Jacob. The patriarch acknowledged God's presence, memorialized the place with a m...
  • In this final part of the Book of the Covenant, which concludes with 23:33, God gave the Israelites promises and precepts relating to their conquest of the Promised Land. Suzerainty treaties normally concluded with an explana...
  • Hazael was the governor of Damascus.50The Gentile King of Aram had more interest in inquiring of Yahweh than Jehoram's predecessor did (v. 8; cf. 1:2). It was customary in the Near East to make a great show of giving gifts. I...
  • Jotham's 16 year reign over Judah (750-735 B.C.) began while Pekah was in power in Gilead. He shared the last four of these years with his coregent son Ahaz.Jotham added the upper gate of the temple (v. 35), an opening betwee...
  • Samaria's conqueror, Shalmaneser V, died in 722 B.C. shortly after his conquest. His successor, Sargon II (722-705 B.C.), carried out the deportation of the Israelites. The king who followed him was Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.,...
  • God sent Hezekiah the news of what He would do and why through Isaiah. The "virgin"daughter of Zion (v. 21) refers to Jerusalem as a city that a foreign foe had never violated. The "Holy One of Israel"(v. 22), a favorite name...
  • "In those days"(v. 1) refers to the year Sennacherib threatened Jerusalem (701 B.C.) since Hezekiah died 15 years later in 686 B.C. His response to his illness was proper. He sought help from Yahweh primarily (v. 2). God had ...
  • With the reign of Ahaz the Chronicler introduced a new interest, the prospect of captivity for Judah, which he again called Israel, the true Israel, twice in this chapter (vv. 19, 23).Why did Israel go into captivity? Why did...
  • The title of this book of the Bible, as is true of the other prophetical books, comes from its writer. The book claims to have come from Isaiah (1:1; 2:1; 7:3; 13:1; 20:2; 37:2, 6, 21; 38:1, 4, 21; 39:3, 5, 8), and Jesus Chri...
  • Occasional time references scattered throughout the book indicate that Isaiah arranged his prophecies in a basically chronological order (cf. 6:1; 7:1; 14:28; 20:1; 36:1; 37:38). However, they are not completely chronological...
  • I. Introduction chs. 1-5A. Israel's condition and God's solution ch. 11. The title of the book 1:12. Israel's condition 1:2-93. God's solution 1:10-204. Israel's response 1:21-31B. The problem with Israel chs. 2-41. God's des...
  • This is the third and last of Isaiah's introductory oracles. The first one (ch. 1) introduced the book as a whole by presenting major themes with which the prophet proceeded to deal in chapters 2-66. The second chiastic one (...
  • Most serious students of Isaiah have believed that the record of Isaiah's call in this chapter occurred before he wrote any of the prophecies in this book. The title "holy one of Israel,"Isaiah's trademark name for God, conne...
  • The Lord proceeded to give Isaiah specific instructions about what He wanted him to do and what the prophet could expect regarding his ministry (vv. 9-10), his historic-political situation (vv. 11-12), and his nation's surviv...
  • This introductory segment provides the basic information about the historical situation that Judah faced plus God's command concerning that situation. Would King Ahaz face his threat from God's perspective or from man's? Woul...
  • Isaiah next tried to move Ahaz to faith (vv. 10-12), then denounced the king for his failure to trust Yahweh (vv. 13-15), and finally forecast a calamity worse than the division of Israel's united kingdom (vv. 16-17).7:10 Evi...
  • This section explains how the coming days would be the worse since the division of the kingdom (v. 17). Assyria was not just a powerful and brutal enemy, but it would be a tool in Yahweh's hand that He would use to discipline...
  • Whereas the sign of Immanuel was for Ahaz primarily, the sign of Maher-shalal-hash-baz was for all the people of Judah. The preceding prophecies to Ahaz (7:10-25) are generally negative, but the following prophecies to the Ju...
  • This section corresponds to 7:18-25. Both of them explain that the name to be given a child would have a positive and a negative significance.8:5-6 Yahweh spoke to Isaiah again (cf. 8:1). King Ahaz was not the only person in ...
  • In contrast to Ahaz, who refused to listen to and obey God, the Lord would raise up a faithful king who would be born and reign in the future (the Millennium). This pericope climaxes the present section (7:1-9:7) dealing with...
  • Earlier (7:1-8:22) God revealed that He would use Assyria to destroy Judah for her lack of trust in Yahweh. Now He revealed that He would also destroy this destroyer. It is God who is sovereign, not Assyria, and He was with H...
  • The focus of the prophecy shifts from Assyria to Israel.10:20 In some future day, the remnant (cf. 6:13; 7:3) who escaped annihilation by the Assyrians would no longer trust in man for deliverance, as Ahaz and Judah did befor...
  • This section gives the positive side of the deliverance of God's people that is to come in contrast to the negative side (10:5-34). God would put Assyria down, but the Messiah would lift Israel up by serving her ideally. The ...
  • This paean of praise concludes the section dealing with Israel's choice between trusting God or Assyria (7:1-12:6). It expresses the trust in God that Isaiah's revelations in this section encouraged. This is a song of redempt...
  • This major section of the book emphasizes the folly of trusting in the nations rather than in Yahweh. The section preceding it shows how King Ahaz trusted in Assyria and experienced destruction (chs. 7-12). The section follow...
  • 26:1 The prophet revealed another song that will be sung "in that day"(the Millennium, cf. ch. 25) by those in Zion.The New Jerusalem that God will set up will be a place of strength and security for the redeemed (cf. Rev. 21...
  • 27:12 The Lord would assemble the remnant of His people from the Promised Land as a farmer gathers up (gleans, cf. 24:13) his crops. Not only will He destroy His enemies then, but He will gather redeemed Israelites into His k...
  • "The section begins (1-6) and ends (23-29) with double illustrations drawn from nature and agriculture. Between lies a meditation in eight broadly equal parts on how Jerusalem's leaders refused the word of invitation and inhe...
  • There are several thematic connections between this chapter and chapter 28.298The general structure of the chapter is chiastic."AContemporary events: Egypt no help (1-7)BComing human events: the refusal of the word, the way o...
  • In contrast to the preceding chapter, this one is full of joy and rejoicing. There God turned the world into a desert; here He transforms that desert into a garden.339References to "be glad"and "gladness"begin and end the poe...
  • Chapters 36-39 conclude the section of the book dealing with the issue of trust by giving historical proof that Yahweh will protect those who trust in Him. In these chapters, King Hezekiah represents the people of Judah.344Th...
  • In chapters 7-8 Isaiah tried to persuade King Ahaz to trust God in the face of the Syro-Ephraimitic threat against Judah. Ahaz refused to do so and instead turned to Assyria for help, with disastrous results. Ahaz's son, Heze...
  • 36:1 The fourteenth year of Hezekiah was 701 B.C.350On an Assyrian record, Sennacherib claimed to have taken 46 cities of Judah during this campaign (cf. 2 Chron. 32:1).351"He went from the north along the coast defeating (am...
  • 37:14-15 When Hezekiah received Sennacherib's letter, he took it with him into the temple and laid all the enemy's words before the Lord in prayer.37:16-20 Hezekiah began his prayer--did Isaiah witness it?--by acknowledging Y...
  • 38:1 The phrase "In those days"identifies the reign of Hezekiah, the Judean king mentioned in the preceding chapters. Since the Lord added 15 years to Hezekiah's life (v. 5), and since Hezekiah died about 686 B.C.,373the time...
  • 39:1 The phrase "At that time"(cf. 38:1) anticipates a specially significant event and ties it to what preceded in chapter 38. As this verse explains, the events that follow happened after Hezekiah had recovered from his illn...
  • This part of Isaiah picks up a theme from chapters 1-39 and develops it further. That theme is God's faithfulness to His promises to give His people a glorious future after He disciplined them for their unfaithfulness. The Lo...
  • Would the coming Babylonian exile prove that God could not deliver His people or that He would not because they had been so sinful? Isaiah's answer was a resounding no! The new historical situation did not signal a change in ...
  • The first strophe of this poem (vv. 1-2) sets the tone for the rest of the chapter and for the rest of the book. It is an introduction to an introduction. In spite of affliction that lay ahead for the Judahites, God's ultimat...
  • God had not forgotten nor was He unable to deliver His people. Their redemption was certain."This vision of what God will accomplish through his Servant is so exciting that Isaiah breaks into the ecstatic hymn of praise (vv. ...
  • The section begins with an announcement of the salvation that God would provide for His chosen people.44:23 This verse concludes the thought expressed in the preceding one, so many translations and commentators regard it as t...
  • This chapter climaxes Isaiah's arguments for Yahweh's superiority over pagan idols. The prophet was led to use the Israelites' exile in Babylon to prove his point. Isaiah had demonstrated God's trustworthiness (chs. 7-39) and...
  • "The first [biographical Servant] Song was a word from the Lord to the world about his Servant: Your plight is known, my Servant will deal with it' [42:1-4]; but the second [autobiographical] Song is the Servant's testimony h...
  • This is the third Servant Song (cf. 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 52:13-53:12). Like the second song, this one is autobiographical, but unlike the first and second songs it contains no reference to the Servant. That it is the Servant who i...
  • The people would need to listen to and rely on God's unconditional promise, but their salvation would cost them nothing.55:1 "The introductory particle (hoi) is mainly an attention-getting device, but it expresses a slight to...
  • This pericope repeats and refocuses the invitation just extended (vv. 1-3). The offer continues to be to come to God, but the focus shifts from receiving satisfaction to resting in faith and from salvation's freeness to its t...
  • These chapters introduce the main subject of this section of the book, which grows out of what Isaiah revealed previously. If salvation depends on God's grace, do God's servants have any responsibility other than receiving th...
  • This pericope concludes the section begun at 56:1 dealing with the need for humility and holiness in the redeemed people of God. Isaiah explained that the basis of God's acceptance and blessing of His redeemed people was righ...
  • "This passage describes the appalling moral breakdown of Jewish society--which perfectly accords with what we know of the degeneracy of Manasseh's reign."670The prophet resumed his accusations against God's people (cf. 58:1-5...
  • Now the relationship of the nations to Israel becomes even clearer. The Gentiles will come to Israel because of her God, will submit themselves to Israel because of what the Lord will do for her, and will serve the Lord with ...
  • Having learned of the mission of the Anointed One to bring salvation to Israel, and having received promises of benefits that would accompany His salvation, the Israelites needed to believe these promises in spite of impendin...
  • If the Lord was capable of defeating Israel's enemies, as the previous revelation of the Warrior claimed, why had He not acted for Israel already? This intercessory communal lament explains that delayed salvation was not beca...
  • Alexander, Joseph Addison. Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah. 1846, 1847. Revised ed. 2 vols. in 1. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971.Allen, Kenneth W. "The Rebuilding and Destruction of Babylon."Bibliotheca...
  • Sometimes God used the events in the lives of His prophets to speak to the people as well as their messages."Hosea's unhappy marriage (Hos. 1-3), Isaiah's family (Isa. 7-8), the death of Ezekiel's wife (Ezek. 24:15-27), and J...
  • Perhaps this oracle is shorter because Damascus had not had the history of contact with Judah in recent years that the other nations mentioned in these oracles did. However the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles document ...
  • 23:11-13 Oholibah observed her sister's behavior and fate, but she did not learn from them. As many historians have observed, the one thing we learn from history is that most people do not learn from history. Oholibah became ...
  • 48:30-34 The Lord next specified the gates of the holy city. Though Ezekiel did not name the city, Zechariah did. It is Jerusalem (Zech. 14:8). On each of its 4,500 cubit-long sides there would be three gates. The ones facing...
  • 3:24-25 As Nebuchadnezzar watched what was happening inside the furnace, he marveled to see that the three Jews did not perish in an instant. Rising from his seat he saw them loosed from their bonds and walking around inside ...
  • The first sentence in this pericope (section) serves as a title for the section, as the sentence in verse 1 did for 1:1-17. Matthew recorded the supernatural birth of Jesus to demonstrate further His qualification as Israel's...
  • 1:28 The fact that Gabriel greeted Mary as he did and did not greet Zechariah the same way shows Mary's favored position. Gabriel's greeting was customary: Hail! or Greetings! (Gr. chaire). Mary was highly "favored"(Gr. kecha...
  • This miracle raised the popular appreciation of Jesus' authority to new heights. Luke also continued to stress Jesus' compassion for people, in this case a widow whose son had died, by including this incident in his Gospel. T...
  • It was only natural that these people had questions about who Jesus really was. Was He a prophet? Was He Elijah? Was He another former prophet? Was He "the Prophet"that Moses had predicted (Deut. 18:18)? Was He the Messiah? W...
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