Sunday, January 17
In Isaiah 7:14-16, Immanuel is a sign linked to the specific dilemma of Ahaz: Before the child Immanuel would be old enough to decide between different kinds of food, “The land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings” (Isaiah 7:16). This refers to the land and kings of Syria and northern Israel (see Isa. 7:1, 2, 4-9) and reiterates God’s promise that their power would soon be extinguished.
Why does Isaiah mention “butter and honey” that the boy would have to eat? Isaiah 7:15.
The crops and fields of Judah would be destroyed by the Assyrians (Isaiah 7:23-25). So the people, including the Old Testament Immanuel, whoever he was (Isaiah 7:14, 15), would be forced to return to the diet of nomads (Isaiah 7:21, 22). But while they would be poor, they would have enough on which to survive.
When was the prophecy regarding Syria and northern Israel fulfilled? 2 Kings 15:29, 30; 2 Kings 16:7-9; 1 Chronicles 5:6, 26.
This prophecy of Isaiah was given about 734 B.C. In response to the bribe of Ahaz, Tiglath-pileser III did what he probably would have done anyway: He smashed the northern coalition, conquered the Galilee and Transjordanian regions of northern Israel, deported some of the population, and turned the territories into Assyrian provinces (734-733 B.C.). The remainder of Israel was saved when Hoshea, after murdering King Pekah, surrendered and paid tribute. In 733 and 732 B.C. Tiglath-pileser conquered Damascus, the capital of Syria. Then he made Syria into Assyrian provinces. So, by 732, within about two years of Isaiah’s prediction, Syria and Israel had been conclusively defeated, and it was all over for the two kings who had threatened Ahaz.
Soon after Shalmaneser V replaced Tiglath-pileser III in 727 B.C., King Hoshea of Israel committed political suicide by rebelling against Assyria. The Assyrians took the capital city of Samaria in 722 B.C. and deported thousands of Israelites to Mesopotamia and Media, where they were eventually absorbed into the local populations and lost their identity (see Isaiah 7:8—within 65 years Ephraim would no longer even be a people). God had predicted what would happen to the enemies of Judah, but His point to Ahaz was that this would happen anyway, without any need to rely on Assyria.
Think, if you were living in the northern kingdom while all this was happening, how easy it would be to lose faith. What can we do, now, today, to learn to keep our faith intact, so that when tomorrow’s calamities come, we can stay firm? See 1 Peter 1:13-25.
