Behold, the Virgin Will Conceive
1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind. 3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field. 4 Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying, 6 “Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide it among ourselves, and set up a king within it, even the son of Tabeel.” 7 This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “It shall not stand, neither shall it happen.” 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people. 9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’” 10 Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt Yahweh.” 13 He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.
A frightened king is offered any sign he likes, refuses it out of piety, and is given one anyway.
In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
Around 735, two northern powers allied and moved on Judah to force it into their coalition against Assyria, intending to replace its king with a man of their own Isaiah 7:6.
David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.
The image is of a whole forest moving at once. Panic in a capital is not individual.
Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field.
The location is exact, and it is where a king inspects his water supply before a siege. The prophet is sent to intercept him at the one place his fear had taken him. And he brings a child whose name means a remnant shall return — an argument walking beside him before a word is spoken.
Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
The two kings terrifying Judah are described as the smoking ends of torches that have gone out. Within twenty years both nations were finished.
The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’”
A pun in Hebrew on one root — the word behind believe and the word behind established are the same, so the line runs closer to: if you will not hold firm, you will not be held firm. Faith is not being recommended as a mood; it is named as the thing the throne is standing on.
“Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”
An open offer with no limit on it, made to a king who has already decided to buy Assyrian help instead 2 Kings 16:7.
But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt Yahweh.”
The refusal is dressed in a commandment Deuteronomy 6:16 and it is the most cynical sentence in the chapter. A man who has already made his arrangements declines to consult God, and cites Scripture for it.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
The sign is given over the refusal, and it is addressed to the house of David in the plural rather than to Ahaz alone Isaiah 7:13.
The Hebrew word describes a young woman of marriageable age. It does not by itself settle virginity, though it is never used in Scripture of a married woman; the Greek translation made three centuries before Christ rendered it with the unambiguous term, and Matthew quotes that rendering of the birth of Jesus Matthew 1:23.
The sign has two horizons, which is how this book's signs generally work. Within a few years — before a child then being born could tell right from wrong — the two kings Ahaz feared would be gone Isaiah 7:16, and that much was verifiable in his lifetime. The name given is not verifiable in anyone's lifetime, and it is the reason the verse was still being quoted seven centuries later: God with us.
settled What this mark means