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1–9. Isaiah's meeting with the Jewish king Ahaz and his prophecy about the fate of the Syrian and Israeli kingdoms. 10–25. The sign given by the prophet to the house of David and the prediction of the disastrous fate of the Jewish state Isa.7:1–9. During the reign of Ahaz, the king of Judah, Jerusalem began to be threatened by the kings of Syria and Israel who had entered into an alliance with each other. Active preparations for the upcoming siege began in Jerusalem, since the attack by the united troops seemed very dangerous to the king and the citizens of Jerusalem. At this time, the prophet Isaiah speaks to the king with a word of encouragement and points out the powerlessness of his accomplices to cause serious harm to Judah and the destruction that awaits them soon. Isa.7:1. And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, went against Jerusalem to conquer it, but they could not conquer it. Isa.7:2. And it was told to the house of David, saying, The Syrians are settled in the land of Ephraim; and his heart and the heart of his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind. Even in recent years, Jotham, Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Syria, began joint hostile actions against the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 15:37). At the beginning of the reign of Ahaz (about 735), the danger to the kingdom of Judah from these kings became even greater, because the Syrians and Israelites were already heading straight for Jerusalem. Their goal, in all likelihood, was to oblige the Jewish king to join the coalition that the small states of Syria, supported by Egypt, formed against the Assyrian king, who at that time was already threatening to subjugate all of Syria. The allies probably wanted to overthrow Ahaz, who did not sympathize with their plans, from the Jewish throne and put some son of Tabeel in his place. The entire house of David was especially frightened when news was received that the Syrians (who had already passed through eastern Palestine and had entered into an agreement with the Edomites and other southern nations, having also taken possession of the Elanite harbor of the Red Sea 2 Kings 16:6) had ascended along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the north, into the region of the kingdom of Israel, and had camped here, threatening Jerusalem. Isa.7:3. And the Lord said to Isaiah: Go out, you and your son Shear-jasub, to meet Ahaz, to the end of the water supply of the upper pond, to the road to the whitewash field, Ahaz, in anticipation of the siege of Jerusalem, inspected the aqueduct that supplied the entire city with water. This water supply began at the upper pond (the Pond of Siloam, which was located in the upper pond), a very large one, from where the water was carried underground through the city and flowed into another pond, later called Hezekiah's Pond. Isaiah must go to Ahaz with his son, whose name - Shear-Yasub (the remnant will be saved) - is symbolic: it meant the judgment of God awaiting the kingdom of Judah, of which only a small remnant can survive. Meanwhile, the name of Isaiah himself (the Lord will save) indicated the possibility of pardon, and the king was thus given the choice of what he wanted - judgment or mercy from God. The court threatened Ahaz because, contrary to the will of God (Ps. 146:3), he placed his hope not in the Lord, the true King of Israel, but in the Assyrian ruler Tiglath-Pilezer, to whom he had already sent an embassy asking for help against the kings of Syria and Israel (2 Kings 16:7–8). Isa.7:4. and tell him: watch and be calm; Do not be afraid and do not let your heart be discouraged by the two ends of these smoking brands, by the inflamed wrath of Rezin and the Syrians and the son of Remali. Isa.7:5. Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah plot evil against you, saying: Isa.7:6. Let us go against Judah and stir it up, and take possession of it, and make the son of Tabeel king in it. Both allied kings appear to the prophet as charred firebrands, which can no longer burn properly, but only smoke and smoke. “Son of Tabeel” is a disparaging title without a proper name (cf. 1 Samuel 20:27, where Saul, speaking of David, his rival, simply calls him the son of Jesse). In all likelihood, it was some Syrian prince (prince - in Syriac tab - Heb. tob, good). Isa.7:7. But the Lord God says this: this will not take place and will not come true; Isa.7:8. for the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and after sixty-five years Ephraim shall cease to be a nation; Isa.7:9. and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you don't believe, it's because you're not certified. The Lord declares through the prophet Ahaz that neither the king of Syria nor the king of Israel will take possession of Judah, but will remain - and not for long - the rulers of their former possessions only. The Kingdom of Israel is in danger of a final fall in 65 years. The last prediction, most likely, does not mean the destruction of Samaria, which followed soon, 13 years after the utterance of this prophecy (723), but the withdrawal of the remnants of the population of the kingdom of Israel to Assyria and the settlement of the devastated territory of the former kingdom of Israel by settlers from Mesopotamia under the Assyrian king Atar-Gaddon (2 Kings 17 et seq. 1Ezra 4:2). Thus the prophet apparently counts in these 65 years 14 years of the reign of Ahaz † 29 years of the reign of Hezekiah and † 22 years of the reign of Manasseh. "If you don't believe". The Prophet notices Ahaz's distrust of his words and hints to him about the possibility of obtaining confirmation of the truth of what was just said. The translation: “if you do not believe, you will not stand,” as proposed here by the new interpreters, is rather unclear. Isa.7:10–16. Noticing Ahaz's disbelief in the words of Isaiah, God, through the prophet, offers Ahaz, for his conviction, whatever sign he desires. However, Ahaz, having already decided on a well-known course of action, does not want to enter into any obligations towards the Almighty through this and, under a hypocritical pretext, refuses the sign. Then the prophet, irritated by this obstinacy, announces a sign from the Lord that should assure the dynasty of David of safety from the advancing enemies: the Virgin will give birth to a Son, who will be named Immanuel, and before this baby Immanuel becomes able to distinguish between good and evil, Judea will be completely free from enemies. Isa.7:10. And the Lord continued to speak to Ahaz, and said: Isa.7:11. ask yourself a sign from the Lord your God: ask either in the depths or on the heights. "And the Lord continued." The name Lord - Jehovah is probably put instead of the name of the prophet, which originally could have been written in an abbreviated form. “Ask for a sign,” that is, some kind of confirmation that the words of the prophet will certainly be fulfilled. "The Lord thy God". Ahaz was not yet a complete idolater: he, as can be seen from verse 12, then outwardly recognized the true religion, although this did not prevent him from introducing the cults of alien gods into the cult of the Jerusalem temple (2 Chronicles 28:2-4). In depth or height, that is, either from the region of the underworld (the appearance of the deceased) or from the heavenly spheres (thunderstorm, hail, etc.). Isa.7:12. And Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I tempt the Lord. Isa.7:13. Then Isaiah said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to make trouble for people that you want to make it difficult for my God? Ahaz, out of fear that the prophet might fulfill his promise regarding the sign, under a plausible pretext, from his point of view, refuses the sign. In fact, the passage from the book of Deuteronomy that the king had in mind (Deut. 6:16) contains a reproach to the Jews for the fact that they themselves often demanded signs or wonders from God. The prophet understands the mood of Ahaz, and also understands that in his stubbornness, with which he refuses the advice of the prophet, he is supported by other members of the family of David, and therefore, as if as a punishment for Ahaz and the entire house of David, he himself utters to them a sign from God. Ahaz and his relatives have already abused the patience of the people, that is, the prophets, removing them from any influence on the course of state affairs; now they dare not accept direct assistance from the Lord himself. Isa.7:14. So the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel. “So” – in Hebrew. locben actually means: “for this and that.” “Sign” – Heb. the word “ot” here means in Holy Scripture: 1) miracle (Isa.38:7, 22; Exod.4:8–9); 2) a symbolic sign or action to verify any truth (Is. 20:3; Gen. 9:13); 3) a natural event, which, however, none of the people could foresee and the fulfillment of which provides a guarantee that in another event, prefigured by it, the event will also be fulfilled (1 Samuel 2:34; 1 Samuel 10:1, 7, 9) and 4) events that serve as a seal of the truth of events that took place before them (Exodus 3:12; Isaiah 37:30). In the present place, “ot” has precisely the latter meaning. A future event - the birth of the Messiah (Immanuel) from the royal house of David - should serve as proof, confirmation that this time the house of David will not perish. But since this birth is a matter of the distant future and requires from Ahaz and his family all the strength of faith in the promises given to their forefather, David, the sign announced by the prophet becomes, for all its comforting nature, a difficult test for Ahaz, who was not distinguished by firmness in faith. Thus, Ahaz is punished for refusing to fulfill God's command. “Behold” or here – in Hebrew. hinneh. The prophet, in his contemplation, sees this distant future event already taking place (cf. Is. 42:1). "Virgin" - in Hebrew. haalmah. The prefix before almah shows that the prophet means one, specific Virgin - the only one of her kind. Is it not clear from this that by the Virgin we should mean the Most Holy Virgin Mary? The very meaning of the prophet’s speech and the most ancient translations of the Bible, as well as the interpretations of the fathers and teachers of the Church, confirm us in this understanding. Actually, the Hebrew word almah in itself does not have a decisive meaning here, since the very origin of this word has not been established: some translate this term with the expression hidden (i.e., a virgin hidden from the eyes of men), deriving it from the verb. alam, which, however, has a real meaning, is not at all suitable here; others see in the word almah the designation of a growing girl, deriving this name from another root - a lam, which means: “to grow up, to grow stronger physically,” and in order to prove the correctness of their translation they refer to the use of the word almah in other places in the Bible (Gen. 24:43; Ex. 2:8; Ps. 77, etc.). 13 Due to the uncertainty of the origin and philological meaning of the word almah, the testimony of the oldest translations of the Bible - LXX and Peshito - acquires special weight. In the first, the word almah is rendered by the expression παρυενος, which in the LXX means a maiden, in the strictest sense of the word. In the second, the same word is used, which always denotes a virgin. Then in the New Testament, the evangelist Matthew, speaking about the immaculate, virgin conception of the Messiah, says that this happened in fulfillment of the present prophecy of Isaiah (Matthew 1:18–25). It is obvious that the evangelist in this case conveys the general opinion of his contemporaries, the Jews, regarding the controversial place. The scholar Badham cites many passages from the rabbinic writings and several allusions from Philo, which indicate that the miraculous birth of the Messiah was expected by the Jews (The Academy, 8 June, 1895, pp. 485-487). Christian interpreters (even Protestants for a long time) also unanimously recognized that Isaiah here speaks of the Virgin, the Mother of the Messiah. Only in the 18th century did Protestant exegetes begin to forcefully prove that in our place there are no indications of the virgin conception of the Messiah and the ever-virginity of His Mother, but their evidence does not have sufficient justification (see the work of Ev. Nikolsky. The prediction of the prophet Isaiah about the Virgin and Emmanuel - in the readings of the General. Love Spiritual Enlightenment, 1885). The very context of the prophet’s speech indicates that almah must mean an immaculate virgin who retained her virginity even after she conceived a son. The event of the Virgin’s conception of a son could only appear as a particularly miraculous, convincing and comforting sign. Since the king was called by a prophet to ask for any miracle as a sign, then the sign that God Himself gives could only be the greatest miracle. It follows from this that the prophet, speaking about the birth of the Messiah by a Virgin, could only mean a truly virgin conception, exceeding the laws of nature, and point to the virginity and ever-virginity of His Mother. And the words of the prophet, more precisely from Hebrew, should be conveyed like this: “behold, a virgin is with child.” The Prophet sees in his prophetic contemplation the Virgin as pregnant and yet calls her a virgin! "Immanuel". In Hebrew, the word Immanuel means “God with us.” This name is not the proper name of the Messiah. Some understand it as indicating the divine help that the Jews would receive in the danger that threatened them from the two allied kings (Jerome, Eusebius, etc.). According to others, this name indicates the properties of the person to whom it is given, and means God incarnate (St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Basil the Great, etc.). It is better to combine both meanings of the word in the interpretation of this name, as St. John Chrysostom does. As for the first meaning of this word, all interpreters agree on the correctness of this meaning. But regarding the second interpretation, which has been accepted by the Christian Church since ancient times, rationalistic exegetes for the most part express their distrust of it. Without going into an analysis of these negative opinions, we will present here considerations that can confirm the messianic meaning of this passage (messianic in the full meaning of the word, when the Messiah is recognized as the incarnate Son of God). These considerations are: 1) In the 8th chapter. 8th Art. The land of Judah is called the land of Immanuel. Isn’t it clear from here that the prophet meant to designate the future Messiah with the word Emmanuel? Moreover, from here we can deduce the idea that this Messiah will have Divine dignity, will be God incarnate. In fact, in many other places, Isaiah calls God Himself the true King and Ruler of the Jewish land. Next, God and Emmanuel are equivalent concepts for Isaiah; 2) In the 9th chapter. (1-7 vv.) having to be born - of course from the house of David - the Baby is already an object that does not raise any doubts and does not call for any special explanation. It follows that the prophet’s listeners knew enough about His dignity, as well as about His birth. But how could they have known this if the prophet had not spoken about Him when he predicted to the house of David about the birth of Immanuel? We can add to this that all the amazing names of this Child mentioned in Chapter 9 are conveniently summed up in one name, Immanuel. 3) the prophet Micah (Micah 5:1–5), prophesying about the birth of the Messiah, means, in all likelihood, the prophecies of Isaiah in Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 9:5–6 vv. , and in him the Messiah is depicted as existing from eternity (1st article) and, therefore, as God incarnate. 4) Evangelist Matthew relates this prophecy about Emmanuel to the conception of Christ from the Immaculate Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:22–23). The Evangelist does not apply only the words of Isaiah to this event, does not compare only the prophecy of Isaiah with the story of the birth of the Messiah, but clearly testifies that in the conception of Jesus Christ from the Immaculate Virgin, the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled - and that, therefore, Isaiah by Emmanuel meant the true God, who had to appear on earth in the flesh of man. But how could this birth of the Messiah-God-Man be a sign for the time of the prophet Isaiah? Firstly, the prophet, predicting the highest good deed of God - the incarnation of the Son of God for the salvation of people - thereby wanted to say that the Jews and the house of David could all the more hope for a much less good deed - deliverance from two allied kings. Secondly, the birth of the Messiah from the line of David necessarily implied that the plans of these two kings to overthrow and destroy the dynasty of David would not come true. Patriarch Jacob clearly predicted that until the birth of the Messiah, the scepter would not be taken away from the house of Judah - and, consequently, from the family of David (Gen. 49:10). Isa.7:15. He will eat milk and honey until he understands to reject the bad and choose the good; Isa.7:16. for before this Child understands to reject the bad and choose the good, the land that you fear will be abandoned by both of its kings. Emmanuel will eat milk and honey, of which there was a lot in Palestine. The point is, according to ancient interpreters, that the Son of the Virgin will be a true man, because he will eat ordinary children's food (St. Irenaeus, St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, etc.). But the thought of human nature, of course, was not the main thought of the prophet when he spoke about Emmanuel as a sign from God. To understand the real meaning of verse 15, we must look at verse 22, which is undoubtedly closely related to verse 15. And in the 22nd Art. eating thick milk and honey is a sign of the devastation of grain fields by enemies, during whose invasion it was impossible to cultivate these fields. Next, and in the 15th Art. the prophet wants to talk about the devastation of the land of Judea, when the Jews will have to eat only milk and honey. This devastation will continue until the time when the one who is born of the Virgin, but even now as if existing, Emmanuel, like any ordinary baby, begins to demonstrate the ability to distinguish between good and evil, that is, until moral self-consciousness begins to manifest itself in him. The period during which infants do not usually show this self-consciousness lasts from two to three years. Consequently, the devastation of the country of Judea will continue in no case more than three years from the time Isaiah uttered the prophecy about the birth of Immanuel. In the 16th Art. the time of the liberation of Judea from the invasion of the allied kings was even more precisely determined. The Prophet says that this liberation will take place before the period specified by him in verse 15, that is, before the expiration of 2-3 years. The land or territory of the kingdoms of Syria and Israel will be abandoned by its kings. This prophecy could be fulfilled in the circumstance described in 4 books. Kings (2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 16:9): Tiglath-Pilezer, king of Assyria, killed Rezin, king of Syria, in 733–732, and at the same time took possession of the northern half of the kingdom of Israel. 14 Isaiah 7:17–25. After temporary relief for Judea, however, even more difficult times will come. The Lord will send Egyptian and Assyrian troops against the Jews, who will destroy all the fruits of the earth in the region of the Judean state. The land will be overgrown with thistles, and the vast majority of its inhabitants will be taken into captivity. Isa.7:17. But the Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house days such as have not come since Ephraim fell away from Judah, he will bring upon the king of Assyria. "On you". Under Ahaz, the Assyrian king had not yet occupied the territory of the Judean state, but Ahaz entered into vassal relations with this king. This circumstance deprived the Kingdom of Judah of independence and had no less sad consequences than the fall of the 10 tribes of Israel under Rehoboam. Isa.7:18. And it will come to pass on that day that the Lord will give a sign to the fly that is at the mouth of the river of Egypt, and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria, "Mukhe". The Egyptians are called flies from the river of Egypt because in Egypt, after the floods produced by the Nile, flies multiply enormously. The prophet wanted to point out the large number of Egyptian hordes and the persistence of the Egyptians with which they would strive to take possession of Palestine (proverb: as annoying as a fly). "Bee". The Assyrians are called bees because there were many bees in their country and because the Assyrians inflicted severe injuries on their enemies, were especially angry and indomitable in anger, like irritated bees. Isa.7:19. and they will all fly and settle in the deserted valleys and in the clefts of the rocks, and in all the thorny bushes, and in all the trees. However, for now the prophet only says about flies and bees that they will settle in the land of Judea, that is, they will occupy it, perhaps even in order to protect it from their rivals. Isa.7:20. On that day the Lord will shave his head and the hair of his legs with a razor hired from the other side of the river by the king of Assyria, and even take away his beard. The prophet points out here that the Assyrians will cause much more evil to Judea than the Egyptians - here the prophet seems to completely forget about the Egyptians. “Hair” is a symbol of strength and courage. The “beard” was considered by Eastern people to be almost a sacred adornment of every man, and to lose it was shameful. Isa.7:21. And it will come to pass in that day: whoever keeps a cow and two sheep Isa.7:22. according to the abundance of milk which they give, they will eat butter; All who remain in this land will eat butter and honey. Isa.7:23. And it will happen in that day that in every place where there grew a thousand vines for a thousand pieces of silver there will be thorns and thorns. Isa.7:24. They will go there with arrows and bows, for all the land will be thorns and thorny bushes. Isa.7:25. And you will not go to any of the mountains that were cleared by furrowers, for fear of thorns and thorny bushes: oxen will be driven there, and small livestock will trample them. This describes the devastation of Judea, which had reached its extreme. Thorn bushes and thorns grow everywhere in it - bushes in which even wild animals live. It is clear that here the prophet foresees the devastation of the Judean side in which it found itself after the Jews were taken into captivity under Nebuchadnezzar, who could be called the king of Assyria, as he owned the former territory of the Assyrian state. Modern critics believe that there are some parts in chapter 7 that do not belong to the prophet Isaiah. So the inscription of the chapter (v. 1) is almost the same as 2 Kings 16:5. Isaiah himself had no need to give the genealogy of Ahaz and remind him of him as the king of the Jews. We can therefore agree, says Condamin, that these words were added to the 7th chapter. publisher of the speeches of Isaiah. The words of verse 8: another 65 years... most critics also consider it a later insertion, mainly on the grounds that the consolation contained in them could not have any meaning for Ahaz at the very time when Isaiah talked with him. But these remarks concern minor passages in the 7th chapter and, moreover, do not contain evidentiary force. 1) Isaiah could hardly have taken verse 1 himself. from the 4th book. Kingdoms, because this book most likely appeared after his death (it already talks about the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah), 2) nevertheless, even in the distant fall of enemy kingdoms there was something comforting for Ahaz. It is clear that all the quotes mentioned are talking about unmarried young girls. Note ed. Some of the new commentators (eg Condamin) correct the reading of the text of v. 16, following the LXX translation and taking into account the context of the speech. Instead of: by the kings, as the Russian Synodal translation translates, they read kings (i.e. melachim instead of melcheja) and read the whole phrase like this: “the country (Judea), for which you fear (the attack of) two kings, will be devastated.” The 17th verse, with this interpretation, is a further disclosure of the 16th, thus beginning to depict the punishment to which Ahaz will be subjected for his disbelief in the words of God. Taking into account the fact that the Russian translation, which agrees with the Masoretic Hebrew text, incorrectly combines both kingdoms - Syrian and Israel into one land, we can admit that the interpretation of Condamin is much more natural. You might be interested in: