March 7 - Immanuel

March 7 - Immanuel - Isaiah 7:1-25

The northern country of Israel and Aram had formed an alliance against Assyria. They had asked King Ahaz to join them, but he refused. Consequently, they attacked. If your Bible translation reads "Ephraim" in Isaiah 7:2, that is the same thing as Israel. When the northern tribes united, they went by either name as a kingdom.

Ephraim (Israel) and Aram united and as a force tried to march against Jerusalem. This panicked the people and King Ahaz. (Isaiah 7:2) But, the Lord told Isaiah to take his son Shear-Jashub (a remnant will return) and go out to Ahaz. Isaiah was to comfort him and assure him that they would not fall to the invaders.

God says that these are only men ... but, if Ahaz can't stand firm in his faith, he won't stand at all. (Isaiah 7:7-9)

And then, the Lord asks for proof of his faith. "Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights." Ahaz quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 when he says "I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test." (Isaiah 7:10-12). These are the same words that Jesus quotes when Satan confronts him in Matthew 4:7.

Isaiah catches Ahaz's intent immediately. He sounds like he's being humble before the Lord, but in reality, he's scared to death and truly doesn't trust that the Lord will follow through! I can imagine that many of us have wanted to shout these words in the past, "Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? (Isaiah 7:13)

Isaiah goes on to speak words that we know intimately. "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)

The word used here for 'virgin' is a word that can mean either young maiden or virgin. The Greek Septuagint translated it as virgin and used the same word when describing Mary .

Many times Old Testament prophecy had a two-fold meaning. The first would impact the listeners immediately, yet it would also hold true far into the future. Isaiah was telling Ahaz that a young woman would give birth to a child who would not be very old when the kings of Aram and Ephraim would break their alliance (Isaiah 7:15-17).

The alliance was broken in 732 bc when the Assyrian king Tigleth Pileser defeated Aram. Ahaz went to visit him and saw an altar in Damascus that he liked (2 Kings 16:7-10). God ... and Isaiah were furious with him. Although Judah did not fall to Assyria, she had to pay a heavy tribute. Isaiah foresaw this.

The prophecies in Isaiah 7:18-25 are horrendous. Shame followed any Israelite who allowed their head to be shaved. Assyria was the razor that would shave the hair from Judah. And though abundance of milk sounds like a good thing, it's not ... for that means that there are not enough animals to consume it. Honey would be plentiful because instead of crops in the fields, wildflowers would abound and bee swarms would be everywhere.

Isaiah saw the end of Judah. Ahaz had not yet turned completely against the Lord, but he was certainly treading into dangerous places.