28/05/17 Isaiah 7:1-9 “God’s counsel
and prophecy are sure”
Note that many dates BC in this
message are approximate at best and may differ by some years from one source to
another.
Isaiah 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 the king of Syria, and Pekah
the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward
Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
could not prevail against it – could not engage in battle against it (Jerusalem).
The dates for the kings of this
era are disputed by various scholars, with some times seemingly including
co-regencies, but the following is a guide.
Uzziah – 792 – 740 BC (with first
28 years probably coregent with Amaziah?)
Jotham – 750 – 735 BC (some years
as co-regent with Uzziah until around 740 BC, possibly co-regent with Ahaz from
735 – 732 BC)
Ahaz – 735 – 716 BC (probably
co-regent with Jotham until 732 BC?)
Hezekiah – 716 – 687 (some have
him co-regent with Manasseh 697 – 687 BC)
Manasseh – 687 – 643 BC
Amon – 643/2 – 641/0 BC
Josiah – 640 – 609 BC
Jehoahaz – 609 – 609 BC
Jehoiakim – 609 – 598 BC
Jeconiah – 598 – 597 BC
Zedekiah – 597 – 586 BC, then
Babylon with Nebuchadnezzar.
Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon, and the
final four kings are all considered bad. Only Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah and
Josiah are considered good, although Manasseh did repent during his reign. Not
one of the kings of Israel was considered even slightly good!
Rezin was king of Syria from 754 – 732 BC, and Pekah (son of Remaliah; the
previous king, Pekahiah, was not his father) was king
of Israel from 740 – 732 BC.
Ahaz, though, was exceptionally
evil in that he even burned his children in the fire to false gods. The
following suggests that the battle went completely against Ahaz and Judah, yet
Isaiah 7:1 says that Rezin and Pekah
could not prevail against Ahaz. This occurs around 733 BC.
2 Chronicles 28:1-6 – 1 Ahaz [was] twenty years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not [that which
was] right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father: 2 For
he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for
Baalim. 3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son
of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the
heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. 4 He
sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and
under every green tree. 5 Wherefore the Lord his God
delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and
carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought [them] to
Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who
smote him with a great slaughter. 6 For Pekah
the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and
twenty thousand in one day, [which were] all valiant men; because they
had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.
2 Kings 16:3-5 – 3 But he (Ahaz) 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. 4 And
he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under
every green tree. 5 Then Rezin king
of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah
king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could
not overcome [him].
However, Isaiah 7:1 should read
that Rezin and Pekah were
not able to engage in battle because Jerusalem was besieged, remaining within
their walls. They (Rezin and Pekah)
certainly had great superiority, yet couldn’t engage with the enemy in order to
gain the victory, although Syria was able to take a huge number away as
captives, and Israel was able to slaughter a huge number of the men of Judah.
Yet Judah survived to continue on many years after Israel was finally taken
completely into captivity. This commenced in about 732 BC with Israel being destroyed
as a nation by around 722 BC (with a final “cleanup”
of Israel in around 670 BC). While Judah returned after 70 years of captivity, the
ten tribes of Israel continued to remain scattered among the nations.
Isaiah 7:2 – And it was told the
house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was
moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the
wind.
the house of David – the kingdom of Judah was under threat of being replaced
with an outsider, probably a Syrian (Tabeal – see Vs
6). Here “the house of David” probably means Ahaz together with the royal
court, or the royal family.
is confederate with – rests upon; settles down upon. Syria was resting
(relying) upon the support of Ephraim (that is, the kingdom of Israel). Syria
had already taken control of Israel and would use this control over Israel to
further her conquests.
And the heart of Ahaz (and whoever
was also in that house of David here) was moved (made to quiver; stagger;
tremble; be unstable; totter) as was the heart of such of his people who were
aware of the threat to Jerusalem and Judah; their hearts were moved as the
trees are moved (quiver; shake) in the wind. The idea here is of great fear of
what such a mighty enemy should do if they should get control of the kingdom.
As trees may be even blown out of the ground by great wind storms, Ahaz and his
people feared that this great storm could destroy their kingdom. When the storm
rages, all trees quiver and shake as one. Ahaz and his people were shaking in
their boots!
But the message is to be quiet and
listen to what God has to say, to not fear, nor be fainthearted (Vs 4). God is
still maintaining His authority over His people; not even their evil
disobedience may shake God’s authority over them.
Isaiah 7:3 – Then said the Lord
unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear–jashub
thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the
fuller’s field;
Go forth – an imperative, a command.
Isaiah is commanded to take his
son Shear-jashub (“the remnant shall turn” – that is,
back to God).
Isaiah 8:18 – Behold, I and the
children whom the Lord hath given me [are] for signs and for wonders in
Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
Together they will meet with Ahaz,
at the end of the conduit (pipe; canal) from the upper pool (probably a major
part of their water supply in times of siege). With a battle coming, the city
will have to be prepared with supplies of food and water. Ahaz was probably
already supervising the defence of Jerusalem. The conduit (probably an
underground channel) was apparently accessible from the public road known as
the highway of the fuller’s field.
A fuller was a person who cleaned cloths
(especially woven cloths).
The word "full" is
from the Anglo-Saxon fullian, meaning "to
whiten." To full is to press or scour cloth in a mill. (Easton’s Bible Dictionary)
Mark 9:3 – And his raiment
became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white
them.
The cloth was usually trodden or
trampled by foot in a container of liquid; this was generally alkaline to scour
the cloth more effectively, and could be gained from the ashes of certain
plants, although a most effective yet common liquid used was urine, which can
normally range from a Ph of 6 through to around 7.5. Plant-derived ash was used
to increase alkalinity.
Wikipedia
– In Roman
times, fulling was conducted by slaves working the cloth while ankle deep in
tubs of human urine. Urine was so important to the fulling business that it was
taxed. Stale urine, known as wash, was a source of ammonium salts and assisted
in cleansing and whitening the cloth.
Smith’s Bible Dictionay – Other substances also are mentioned as being employed in
cleansing, which, together with alkali, seem to identify the Jewish with the
Roman process, as urine and chalk. The process of whitening garments was
performed by rubbing into them calk or earth of some kind. Creta
cimolia (cimolite) was
probably the earth most frequently used. The trade of the fullers, as causing
offensive smells, and also as requiring space for drying clothes, appears to
have been carried on at Jerusalem outside the city.
The word translated “soap” in
Malachi 3:2 is 01287 תירב boriyth which
means lye, potash, soap, alkali (for washing), and is the feminine form derived
from the word bor
(lye, potash, alkali used in smelting metal – such as flux used to weld or
solder pieces of metal).
The fuller’s field was probably
outside the town because of its unsavoury odour.
Isaiah 7:4 – And say unto him,
Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of
these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin
with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
And say (command; order) to Ahaz,
“Take heed (be on one’s guard; beware; be guarded or kept) and be quiet
(pacified; at peace); fear not (do not be afraid), neither be fainthearted
(tender; weak; - do not let your heart be tender or easily shaken from its
resolve) because of the two tails (ends; stumps) of these smoking firebrands, that
is, the fierce (burning) anger of Rezin (as king of
Syria) and of the son of Remaliah. Note that Pekah is not even named here except as the son of his
father who was a nobody (see also vs 5 and 9). Pekah
gained the throne of Israel through rebellion and murder, having no other
reason for him to be king; thus, God is treating him with scorn for the upstart
that he is. To call someone the son of his father, especially without naming
him, is to belittle him in middle-eastern culture.
Both Syria and Israel are on their
last legs as nations; Assyria is about to take control of both of them soon. The
Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III was begged by Ahaz
to rescue him and his people, Judah, from Rezin of
Syria and Pekah of Israel. Tiglath-pileser
would attack and defeat Israel and Syria; this probably caused Rezin’s execution in 732 BC and the end of Syria as a
nation, at least for quite a while.
The Assyrian king, Shalmaneser V, then took over in 727 BC, causing the
destruction of the nation of Israel in around 722 BC, also taking 27,000 of
them into captivity. Then the next Assyrian king, Sargon II, took over this
destruction of Israel, probably completing the process begun by Shalmaneser V. Since then Israel has ceased to exist as a viable
nation, although a number of Israelites continued to live in the land (in
particular around Samaria) until around 670 BC when Esar-haddon,
king of Assyria, appears to have taken the last of the Israelites from Samaria
to Babylon. It is possible that king Manasseh of Judah was also taken off to
Babylon at this same time.
Thus, these two smoking stumps
were about to be put out; extinguished! Their fierce anger would serve them
little against the commands of God.
2 Kings 16:7-9 – 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath–pileser king of Assyria, saying, I [am] thy servant
and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out
of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. 8 And
Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in
the treasures of the king’s house, and sent [it for] a present to the
king of Assyria. 9 And the king of Assyria hearkened unto
him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried
[the people of] it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.
Isaiah 7:5-6 – 5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, 6 Let us go up against
Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in
the midst of it, [even] the son of Tabeal:
Tabeal – This name is Aramaic meaning “good is God” or “God is
good” (but which God is debatable). This suggests a Syrian person was to be
placed on the throne of Judah, effectively ending the line of David on the
throne.
Ezra 4:7 – And in the days of
Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath,
Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, unto
Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter [was] written
in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue.
let us make a breach – let us gain a foothold, a beach-head from which to
launch our attack on Judah. It appears that putting one of their own people on
the throne is a major part of this breach.
Syria (Rezin
doesn’t rate a mention here either), Ephraim (that is, the ten northern tribes
forming Israel), and that unmentionable son of Remaliah,
have taken evil (bad; disagreeable; malignant; mischievous) counsel (advice)
against Ahaz, saying, “Let us go against Judah and vex (cause sickening dread)
in her people. Let us make a breach (break into; break through) therein for us
– that is, let us make a breakthrough (gain a foothold) into gaining control
over these people, by setting a king of our choosing, the son of Tabeal, to rule over them.
However, in the next verse God
assures Ahaz through Isaiah that, simply, because God has spoken it, it just
won’t happen, full stop! End of story!
Isaiah 7:7 – Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it
come to pass.
It shall not stand, neither
shall it come to pass – from quwm (arise;
become powerful; be established; be confirmed; endure; be valid; proven;
fulfilled; persist)
The evil counsel (Vs 6) will not
be established; it will not endure; it will not be fulfilled – all because God
has said so! It just won’t happen, no matter how perfect their plans might be.
Psalm 33:10 – The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
Job 5:12 – He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their
hands cannot perform [their] enterprise.
Proverbs 19:21 – [There are] many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel
of the Lord, that shall stand.
And it wasn’t only Israel and
Syria who would have their plans dashed to pieces by God! Judah also would find
their own counsel would be destroyed one day when Babylon came, over a hundred
years later, to deliver God’s judgment upon them.
Jeremiah 19:3-9 – 3 And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah,
and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which
whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because
they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense
in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the
kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; 5
They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with
fire [for] burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake [it], neither came [it] into my mind: 6
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son
of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7 And I will make
void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to
fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek
their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the
heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make
this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth
thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of
their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the
siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they
that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
This is an important doctrine that
all Christians should heed today: that no matter what their plans, if they
leave God out of the picture, then their plans are as so much mist that is here
today and gone tomorrow!
James 4:13-15 – 13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to
morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy
and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what [shall
be] on the morrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapour,
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye [ought]
to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Isaiah 7:8 – For the head of Syria
[is] Damascus, and the head of Damascus [is] Rezin;
and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a
people.
For Damascus is in charge of
Syria, and Rezin is in charge of Damascus, and within
65 years Ephraim (probably representing the royal line of the kings of Israel
who ruled from Samaria) would be broken so greatly that Israel would not only
have ceased being a nation, but also now as a people. Even though the nation
was broken in around 722 BC, individuals of Israel continued to dwell in and
around Samaria (chief city of Ephraim) until around 670 BC. God is stating that
Ephraim (representing the royal line of Israel) is going to be broken, yet at
this point in time it hasn’t happened yet. One assumes that Ephraim still has a
choice, yet the prophecy allows for no choice at all.
This is an interesting point of
prophecy, that while God often gives His people a choice between doing good and
doing evil, His prophecy concerning the same situation usually takes the form
of what God knows will happen after their free will choice is
made. It’s a characteristic that can only apply to one who has a perfect
foreknowledge of the future and can prophecy it as being after the
decisions have been made by Israel, but stated by the prophet before the
choice has been established in time.
Isaiah 7:9 – And the head of
Ephraim [is] Samaria, and the head of Samaria [is] Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not
be established.
For Samaria (the royal court of
the kings of Israel) is in charge of Ephraim (the tribe from whom the kings of
Israel came) and the son of Remaliah (once again that
insult of not mentioning Pekah’s name) is in charge
of (or rules) Samaria.
“If you will not believe these
words of God through His prophet, then you shall not continue to remain in your
position of authority.” (The next few verses, which we will look at next time,
give some meaning to this.)
The following passage suggests
that Ahaz may have not believed the words of God as spoken by Isaiah.
2 Chronicles 28:16-22 – 16 At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria
to help him. 17 For again the Edomites had come and smitten
Judah, and carried away captives. 18 The Philistines also had
invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken
Beth–shemesh, and Ajalon,
and Gederoth, and Shocho
with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the
villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages
thereof: and they dwelt there. 19 For the Lord brought Judah
low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed
sore against the Lord. 20 And Tilgath–pilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him,
but strengthened him not. 21 For Ahaz took away a portion [out]
of the house of the Lord, and [out] of the house of the king, and of
the princes, and gave [it] unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him
not. 22 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet
more against the Lord: this [is that] king Ahaz.
There is a common fault of
interpretation by such as the calvinists who deny the existence of any free
will decisions made concerning the choice between good and evil. They say that
God must have foreordained such events without any free will input because God
speaks of them as established facts. But this explanation does not take into
account God’s foreknowledge (His perfect knowledge of all future events). Even
though they haven’t occurred yet, in God’s knowledge they are as much facts in
the future as those that have already occurred in the past. Thus, God’s
prophecy is sure because He already knows everything that will happen,
including every free will decision that mankind makes in that time. Is God’s
prophecy dependent upon future events (decisions), or are future events
(decisions) dependent upon God’s will? The Bible would teach both do occur!
Did God foreordain that Judah
could not be able to understand His message through Isaiah, though? Look at Isaiah 6:9-10 – 9 And he
said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye
indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people
fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert,
and be healed.
Did God command that they not see
nor hear, or was He prophesying due to His perfect knowledge of the future? Was
God commanding that they not see nor understand because He already knew that
they would not obey His counsel? And the sticky question that foils the
calvinist: does this strongly imply free will to obey or disobey God’s commands,
or does it mean that God foreordained His people to disobey while at the same
time commanding them to obey? For the calvinist, in denying any free will to do
with choosing between good and evil, has condemned their God as being guilty of
foreordaining His chosen people to be destroyed by the very sin that He forbade
them to carry out. The calvinist God thus wills His elect nation Israel to
fail; yet, at the same time, He condemns them for choosing that evil which they
had no choice but to do! If Israel obeys God, then they have to disobey His
will that they fail. On the other hand, Israel, in obeying God’s will that they
fail, has disobeyed God’s command that they do not sin. They just can’t win
with the calvinist God!
I read a comment recently on an
internet forum concerning such. One person (clearly a calvinist, although he
didn’t declare it) stated that God foreordained that Israel should fail in
order that the gospel should go to the Gentiles so that all the world might
have the opportunity to be saved.
“We know that God caused Israel
to “fail”, and because of Israel’s “failure”, – salvation then became worldwide
– to the four corners of the globe!”
In other words, Israel, that elect
nation, has to fail so that God can better achieve His purposes! But, why not
just choose the Gentiles in the first place? Surely God is so sovereign that He
didn’t need Israel to fail to satisfy His will for the gospel to be preached to
all the world? And what guarantee is there that the calvinist God will not do
likewise to the Gentile church? That is, the calvinist God can choose his elect
without any guarantee that he will not dump them for another “better” option
further down the track! Being chosen as the calvinist God’s elect is truly a
risky business! And they cannot complain, for he is so totally sovereign that
there is no room at all for any other discussion on the matter!
Truly, Israel under calvinist rule
cannot win, no matter what way she chooses (for without free will, she cannot
even choose to obey the God who has willed that she should disobey!). This is
heresy of the rankest variety!!
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