Bible Commentaries

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, ^a went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

(a) That is, the second time: for in the first battle Ahaz was overcome.

And it was told the house of ^b David, saying, Syria is confederate with ^c Ephraim. And his heart was ^d moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind.

(b) Meaning, the kings house.

(c) That is, Israel, because that tribe was the greatest, (Genesis 48:19).

(d) For fear.

Then said the LORD to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and ^e Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field;

(e) That is to say, the rest will return which name Isaiah gave his son, to signify that the rest of the people would return out of their captivity.

And say to him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking ^f firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

(f) Which have but a little smoke and will quickly be quenched.

Let us go up against Judah, and trouble it, and let us conquer it for ourselves and set a king in the midst of it, [even] the son of ^g Tabeal:

(g) Who was an Israelite, and as it seems, enemy to the house of David.

For the head of Syria [is] Damascus, and the head of Damascus [is] Rezin; and within ^h sixty five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.

(h) Counting from the 25 years of the reign of Uzziah, at which time Amos prophesied this thing, and now Isaiah confirms that the Israelites would be led into perpetual captivity, which came to pass 20 years after Isaiah gave this message.

Ask thee ⁱ a sign from the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.

(i) For the confirmation of this thing that your enemies will be destroyed and you preserved.

But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I ^k tempt the LORD.

(k) Not to believe God's word without a sign, is to tempt God, but to refuse a sign when God offers it for the aid and help of our infirmity is to rebel against him.

And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; [Is it] a small thing for you to weary ^l men, but will ye weary my God also?

(l) You think you have to do with men when you contemn God's messengers but it is God against whom you bend yourselves.

Therefore the Lord ^m himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

(m) Forasmuch as you are unworthy, the Lord for his own promise sake will give a sign which will be that Christ the Saviour of his Church and the effect of all signs and miracles will be revealed.

ⁿ Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

(n) Meaning that Christ is not only God, but man also, because he will be nourished as other men until the age of discretion.

For before the ^o child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken by both her kings.

(o) Not meaning Christ, but any child: for before a child can come to the years of discretion, the kings of Samaria and Syria will be destroyed.

The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that ^p Ephraim departed from Judah; [even] the king of ^q Assyria.

(p) Since the time that the twelve tribes rebelled under Rehoboam.

(q) In whom you have put your trust.

And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the LORD shall hiss for the ^r fly that [is] in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that [is] in the land of Assyria.

(r) Meaning, the Egyptians: for since the country is hot and moist, it is full of flies, as Assyria is full of bees.

And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all ^s bushes.

(s) Signifying that no place will be free from them.

In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, [namely], by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the ^t feet: and it shall also consume the beard.

(t) That is, that which is from the belly downward meaning that he would destroy both great and small.

And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] a man shall ^u nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

(u) He who before had a great number of cattle will be content with one cow and two sheep.

And it shall come to pass, for the ^x abundance of milk [that] they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.

(x) The number of men will be so small that a few beasts will be able to nourish all abundantly.

With arrows and with ^y bows shall [men] come there; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

(y) As they who go to seek wild beasts among the bushes.

And [on] ^z all hills that shall be dug with the mattock, there shall not come there the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

(z) The mountains contrary to their will, will be tilled by such as shall flee to them for comfort.