This Article: (4 Pages)
- 1. Unto us a child is Born
- 2. 3. Context – Section from... Isaiah 7
- 3. 2. The Jewish context in Isaiah's day
- 4. 1. The title of the king who shall... come to the throne of David
3) 2. The Jewish context in Isaiah's day
We can see that if we were Jews in Isaiah's day, the child sign is Isaiah's son. The sign is about a prophecy, about the continuation of the kingdom of Ahaz, as Ahaz was to sit on the throne of David. Ahaz was not strong in faith though, and it was his son Hezekiah who brought some peace.
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel.
And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, 'The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars'. Therefore Yahweh shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people turn not unto him that smites them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts. Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. (Isaiah 9:6-16)
Isaiah from chapter 7 even to chapter 9 is still talking about Rezin and the apostate king Pekah the son of Remaliah in Israel of the 740's BC. The sign was for that day - and it was a promise of the continuation of the kingdom in Judah. Most people don't understand this. This is prophecy about the throne of David continuing (the throne Ahaz sat on) - the same throne where Hezekiah ruled as such a great king.
Did Ahaz understand Isaiah? Firstly the sign of the son might be a rebuke as Ahaz, who
walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. (2Kings 16:3)
The evidence in Kings and Chronicles is that Ahaz ignores Isaiah and weakly buys the help of the King of Assyria (2 Kings 15:7-9, 2 Chron. 28:16) against Northern Israel and Syria, then sinks even lower and worships the Syrian gods, in utter rebellion. Why did Yahweh address this rebellious king? It seems that the message was actually for Hezekiah.
When Isaiah goes out to meet Ahaz, Isaiah has with him Shearjashub his son. Isaiah is at least in his late 50's possibly late 60's. Ahaz's son Hezekiah is about 21 and within 4 years he becomes co-regent with his father Ahaz. Did Ahaz have his son with him also? We are not told but the address Isaiah makes is not to Ahaz, but to the 'house of David. It appears that at this time Jotham, Ahaz's father reigned and Ahaz was not yet king. There were possibly three adult men of the house of David. Isaiah 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? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that you abhor shall be forsaken of both her kings. (Isaiah 7:13-16)
In context, the two kings were the king of Northern Israel and the king of Syria. But there were possibly three men of the House of David. Did they all hear?
It is very possible that not only all the House of David heard, but that all the leaders of the people heard. Isaiah delivered his message in a very public spot. Ahaz is met at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field; (Isa. 7:3). To fuller is to whiten garments which requires water. The water supply is the vulnerable part of the city, and Ahaz had gone out as they were afraid of the coming siege. Hezekiah well knew this as we have evidence, even today, that after this he builds the water conduit into the city and the pool of Siloam (2Kings 20:20).
We are told twice that,
the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field. And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder. (2Kings 18:17-18 see also Isaiah 36)
From Isaiah 36 we can know that when Isaiah proclaimed the prophecy all the fearful people on the walls of Jerusalem could hear it, just as later they may have heard Rabshakeh. It is quite possible that standing on the wall were people of the household of the king watching over Ahaz, who was no doubt trying to sort out how to make the city siege proof. Whereas Ahaz buys Assyria to help against the siege threat to the city in his day and relies on the arm of humans, Hezekiah builds the conduit into the city and relies on Yahweh.
Hezekiah's name means 'strengthened of Yah'. It is possible he is different to his father because of his mother's upbringing, as his mother is listed as the (grand)daughter of Zechariah. We don't know which Zechariah, but we do know that most people who bore that name were of the Priestly or Levitical tribe. But at this time Isaiah acts out the prophecy and it seems that some at least take note as Ahaz is not lamented and is not accorded the burial of a king, indicating that Hezekiah his son rejected his ways. It seems Hezekiah, of the house of David, whether he was with his father or not in the Fuller's field or on the wall listening, did take note.
We have 2 pieces of evidence he took not. In the Assyrian siege Hezekiah mentions the 'children' in his message to Isaiah,
This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God has heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left. (2Kings 19:2-4)
In this Hezekiah shows he relies on the sign of Isaiah's son, and the promise that his throne will continue. In answer to Hezekiah, Yahweh mentions the virgin daughter of Zion.
That which you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him; 'The virgin the daughter of Zion has despised you, and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you'. (2Kings 19:20-21)
Hezekiah when sick unto death asked for a sign (2 Kings 20:8), and he was given a sign on Ahaz's sun dial. At this time it seems Hezekiah was over 50 years old, near to death, while the very city of his nation's spiritual heart was in peril, the capture of which would have extinguished the nation and throne, and he may have had no son to succeed him. Hezekiah, who is called by Yahweh 'the captain of my people', is given the assurance of the same sign Ahaz refused to ask for and15 years more to live. He is succeeded by his 12 year old son. This son he called Manasseh, which Joseph called the name of his firstborn: 'For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house'. (Genesis 41:51), which indicates possibly a child born in the good years after a return to health and the defeat of the Assryian hosts. But though Manasseh eventually gets his act together, he is not the Prince of Peace that the sign of Isaiah's son, Immanuel, called 'hasting to the booty, swift (to the) prey', pointed towards. Joseph the husband of Mary, Hezekiah's direct descendant, was to be given that son, the son of the house of David that had been promised.
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