Now it came to pass in the days of aAhaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that bRezin king of 1Aram and cPekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they dcould not conquer it.The people of the kingdom of Aram were descended from Aram, the youngest son of Shem, the son of Noah (Gen 10:22, 23). The territory of the Arameans also included the areas later identified as Syria and Mesopotamia.2 Kin 16:1; Is 1:12 Kin 15:372 Kin 15:25; 2 Chr 28:6Is 7:6, 7 2 When the ahouse of David was told, “Aram bis allied with cEphraim ,” the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.Is 7:13; 22:22Is 8:12Is 9:9
3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz king of Judah, you and your son 1Shear-jashub, at the end of the aaqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the highway to the 2Fuller’s Field;A prophetic name meaning a remnant shall return.A field where freshly washed clothes were spread out to bleach and dry in the sun.2 Kin 18:17; Is 36:2 4 and say to him, ‘Take care and be acalm, bdo not fear cand be weak-hearted because of these two stumps of smoldering dlogs, on account of the fierce anger of King Rezin and Aram and of the eson of Remaliah .Ex 14:13; Is 30:15; Lam 3:26Is 10:24; Matt 24:6Deut 20:3; 1 Sam 17:32; Is 35:4Amos 4:11; Zech 3:2Is 7:1, 9 5 Because aAram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, have planned evil against you , saying,Is 7:2 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it; and let us breach its wall and tear it apart each of us taking a portion and set up the son of Tabeel over it as its puppet king,” 7 for this is what the Lord GOD says, “aIt shall not stand nor shall it happen.Is 8:10; 28:18; Acts 4:25, 26 8 For the head of Aram is aDamascus and the head of Damascus is King Rezin (now within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces and will no longer be a people).Gen 14:15; Is 17:1-3 9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son King Pekah. aIf you will not 1believe and trust in God and His message, be assured that you will not be established.”’”The same Hebrew word is used both for believe and be established.2 Chr 20:20; Is 5:24; 8:6-8; 30:12-14
10 Then the LORD spoke again to King Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a asign for yourself from the LORD your God one that will convince you that God has spoken and will keep His word; make your request as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.”2 Kin 19:29; Is 37:30; 38:7, 8; 55:13 12 But Ahaz said, “1I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!”This was a misplaced sense of faithfulness on Ahaz’s part. It is wise not to ask God for a sign, unless He offers one as He did to Ahaz. 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O ahouse of David! Is it too small a thing for you to try the patience of men, but will you btry the patience of cmy God as well?Is 7:2Is 1:14; 43:24Is 25:1 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Listen carefully, the 1avirgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name bImmanuel . Is 9:6; Jer 31:22; Mic 5:3-5; Matt 1:22, 23This prophecy of the virgin is declared in Matt 1:22, 23 to be fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. There has been a great deal of discussion over the Hebrew word found here for virgin (almah) and the word that Matthew uses (parthenos). The latter refers unambiguously to a virgin, while the former (almah) has been said to refer to a young woman, in contrast to the Hebrew word bethulah, which is the equivalent of the Gr parthenos. It has also been noted that the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew OT, has parthenos here for almah, and that Matt 1:23 is taken from the Septuagint. Some have wondered why the Septuagint translators used the more specific word parthenos. It is fair to say that this question is the result of oversimplifying the vocabulary and misinterpreting the distinctions. The Hebrew words almah and bethulah can actually refer to the same kind of woman; almah is a youthful woman of marriageable age, one who has not yet had her first child, while bethulah is one who has not been touched in an intimate way. Furthermore, in the present context it would be unthinkable to infer that the woman might have had sexual relations outside of marriage. So the well-known translation of “young woman” for almah, while technically not incorrect, can be viewed as too ambiguous for the Hebrew word and the context. Parthenos was an appropriate choice in the Greek. Another word, kore (for “girl”) could have been used, but it has a wider range of meaning than the Heb almah (Mark uses a related word, korasion, to translate Jesus’ Aramaic word talitha). It should also be acknowledged from a theological perspective that when Matthew cites the verse with parthenos, he thereby authenticates it as inspired.Matt 1:23Is 8:8, 10 15 He will eat acurds and honey when he knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.Is 7:22 16 For abefore the child will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the bland whose two kings you dread will be deserted both Ephraim and Aram. Is 7:2Is 8:4Is 8:14; 17:3; Jer 7:15; Hos 5:3, 9, 14; Amos 1:3-5
17 The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that aEphraim separated from Judah— He will call for the bking of Assyria.”1 Kin 12:162 Chr 28:20; Is 8:7, 8; 10:5, 6
18 In that day the LORD will awhistle for the fly that is in the 1bmouth of the rivers and canals of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.Lit end.Is 5:26Is 13:5 19 These armies, like flies and bees will all come and settle on the steep and rugged ravines and in the aclefts of the rocks, and bon all the thorn bushes and in all the watering places.Is 2:19; Jer 16:16Is 7:24, 25
20 In that day when foreign armies swarm the land the Lord will ashave with a brazor, chired from the regions beyond the dEuphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), that razor will shave the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard leaving Judah stripped, shamed and scorned. 2+@Kin 16:7, 8; 18:13-162 Kin 18:13-16; Is 24:1Ezek 5:1-4Is 10:5, 15Is 8:7; 11:15; Jer 2:18
21 Now in that day because of the poverty caused by the invaders a man will keep alive only a ayoung milk cow and two sheep;Is 14:30; 27:10; Jer 39:10 22 and because of the abundance of milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left in the land will eat only acurds and wild honey.Is 8:15
23 And it will come to pass in that day, ain every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be bbriars and thorns.Is 5:10; 32:13, 14Is 5:6 24 People will come there to hunt with arrows and with bows because all the land will be briars and thorns. 25 As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the pick and the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place where aoxen are pastured and where sheep tread.Is 5:17