Introduction
The book of Isaiah
is a very tricky book to understand at times, and chapter seven in particular,
offers us some very challenging verses to explore. The country is on the brink
of war. Isaiah has prophesied to the king on more than one occasion, and there
is this talk about Immanuel (God with us). Who is he and what does it
all-mean? It is the hope of this author
to shed some light on these topics, and possibly touch on some other things
that arise from the text as well. We will also be taking a look at how the
author of the Gospel according to Matthew, chose to use verses from Isaiah and several
other prominent prophets of old.
Historical Context
So
this story begins with Judah and its king being under the threat of war from
the neighboring countries of Syria and Israel. Before they came under attack
for both countries, “The Lord sent Pekah and the Israelites against him. The
Israelites killed 120,000 Judean soldiers and took 200,000 Judeans into captivity
to Samaria, together with a large amount of spoil.”[1]
This took place before Isaiah had given his speech to the king. When this took
place it is thought to be right around the time of Ahaz assuming command of the
throne. Shortly following this, Assyria had began its domination of countries
that were near by, and the kings of Israel and Syria were growing ever more
scared of the impending doom. According to Webb, “The kings of Israel an Syria
have formed an anti-Assyrian pact and are determined to force Judah to join
them by deposing Ahaz and in stalling a puppet king in his place (6). It is the
year 734 BC.”[2]
This
has king Ahaz scared to death because if he did not submit to what these two
men wanted, they were going to kill him and place another man on the throne.
That also would be bad because no matter how horrible of a king Ahaz was, he
was still part of the Davidic line. However, “the problem of Ahaz and Judah,
was fear of Rezin and Pekah. Isaiah’s purpose was to convince Ahaz that there
was nothing to fear from these two kings and their armies.”[3]
The Sign
Now
that we have laid a foundation for verses 10-25, let us start by taking a look
at the sign of the Lord given to Ahaz. At this point, God sends Isaiah back to
king Ahaz with the chance to tell the Lord what kind of sign he would like to
see as proof that what the Lord has been telling him all along is true. Most
commentators agree Ahaz could have chosen anything in the universe, and the
Lord had offered to do it; because of his saying he would go as deep as Sheol
and as high as heaven. What exactly is a sign in ancient times? “Paul Kruger notes that the essence of a
“sign” is that it is “a means of transmitting information. The content of this information
is determined by the context in which it is used.”’[4]
So a sign could be most anything and at times it was used as a form of
judgment, but the sign is not always the judgment itself.[5]
Wegner goes on to tell us that “the word can also be used merely to signify a
banner or standard (Num2:2). Most of the eighty occurrences of the word “sign”
signify some type of miraculous event…. But it can also refer to a common,
everyday occurrence that has significance because of what it means, foretells
or predicts….”[6]
Instead
of taking the Lord’s offer, Ahaz feigns that he does not want to test the Lord,
because in actuality he is full of disbelief. Wegner backs this up by saying,
“Ahaz feigns trust by stating that he does not need a sign to believe Yahweh
and that accepting God’s sign would be testing him; God through Isaiah quickly
rebuffs this.”[7]
What then is the sign that the Lord chooses for him since he refuses to choose?
It will be the birth of a baby boy named Immanuel. The birth would be a sign
for the king in the immediate circumstances.[8]
From research that has been conducted, there are several views on what exactly
this sign is; Walton believes that “all the evidence points to the naming of
the child as the sign.”[9]Willis
on the other hand states, “not only Immanuel (7:14), but also Shear-jashub and
Maher-shalalhash-bazz are specifically said to be “signs” which the Lord gave
Isaiah to convey the divine message to Ahaz. (8:18).[10]
The sign then is going to be a young male child born of a young woman or is it
a virgin? We will take a closer look at that in the next section. According to most commentators, the sign will
be a young boy meant to give hope to Ahaz that God will bring him deliverance
from these two countries, and not to get into bed with Assyria for protection.
The Woman (alma)
There
has been a huge debate over the use of the word alma. Does it mean virgin or
something else? From what has been gathered it seems that the word generally
describes a young woman of marry able age. According to Willis, “the meaning of
this Hebrew word has been widely discussed. It now seems absolutely certain
that both almah and bethulah both mean “a young woman of marriageable age,
irrespective of her marital status. “[11]
Another challenge that is presented to us is who is this woman, and does Ahaz
know her? It would seem that Ahaz had three different types of women in his
order. He had wives, concubines and almah’s. From the commentators that this author has
read, all seem to be in agreement that the young woman would be someone that
Ahaz knows personally, it may in fact be one of his children that is going to
be born.
This
topic is not easily covered in a manner of a few paragraphs. I recommend you
take a look at the bibliography and review for yourselves the articles listed
there.
Matthew’s Usage
There has been some controversy over
Matthew’s usage of OT text. Some will argue that the original writers never had
in mind the coming of Christ, or anything to do with Christ, when their text
was written. It all boils down to inerrancy and infallibility. Wegener
believes, “there is little doubt that NT believers read the OT Scriptures in
light of Christ coming.”[12]
He goes on to say, “I believe that the key to how Matthew reuses OT passages
can be found within the text itself. Matthew employs the Greek word … meaning
to make full, fill, fill up, complete, to indicate that he believes the OT passage
to be filled up by Jesus.”[13]Matthew
saw greater meaning in Isaiah’s vocabulary item and in Isaiah’s prophecy as a
whole than was seen in the original setting.”[14]
Conclusion
This
essay has covered much ground in a short period of time. It would now seem
apparent from studying this portion of text that Ahaz was a coward unwilling to
trust God even when God gave him a sign. The sign of a young male named
Immanuel that came from a young woman out of his harem. While she was not a
virgin, Matthew in his Gospel, saw the implications of this text and translated
how he felt appropriate because he had a clearer view of what had come than
Isaiah had.
[3]
Willis, Meaning of Isaiah, 3
[4]
Paul D.Wegner, "How many virgin
births are in the Bible? (Isaiah 7:14): a prophetic pattern approach." Journal
Of The Evangelical Theological Society 54, no. 3 (September 1, 2011): 467-484.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed
January 19, 2014)469.
