24

mantles, and the handkerchiefs, and the purses, the mir-22 rors, and the linen garments, and the turbans, and the 23 shawls. And it shall come to pass, that instead of a sweet smell there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle a rope; and instead of well-set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and a branded mark instead of beauty. Thy men [O Zion] 25 shall fall by the sword, and thy warriors in the war. And her doorways shall sigh and mourn; and she shall 26 sit desolate upon the ground.

VII.

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, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it was told to the 2 house of David, saying, 'Syria is encamped with Ephraim.' And his heart was shaken, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are shaken before the wind.

Then said Jehovah to Isaiah, 'Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub [a remnant returneth] thy

on one of the side pieces of the nose, which is pierced with less pain than the middle wall between the two nostrils.

No. 4. [Chap. vii. 1-16, and viii.-ix. 12.]

ON THE INVASION OF JUDEA IN THE REIGN OF AHAZ.

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...

Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah . . . king of Israel.] The invasion of Judah by these two kings is related in 2 Kings xvi. and 2 Chron. xxviii.

3 Thou and Shearjashub thy son.] This figurative name for an imaginary son means, a remnant returneth. It seems borrowed from Isaiah x. 21, written when the population of Judea had been so killed off and scattered by Sennacherib, in Hezekiah's reign, that only a remnant returned to the fields. The misfortunes in the reign of Ahaz had not so far scattered the people as that it could be said a remnant returneth." Hence we must suppose that this passage relating to Ahaz's

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son, at the end of the conduit of the Upper Pool in the 4 highway of the fuller's field; and say to him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted because of the two tails of these smoking firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria hath taken evil counsel against thee with Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, saying, 'Let us go up ' against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach 'therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even 7the son of Tabeal;' thus said the Lord Jehovah, It 8 shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For as

the head of Syria is Damascus, and as the head of Damascus is Rezin; (so within sixty and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people,) and as the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and as the head of Samaria

reign was altered and in part written in Hezekiah's reign.

At the end of the conduit of the Upper Pool.] There were two pools of Gihon, from which the city of Jerusalem was supplied with rain-water, caught upon the high ground toward the north-west. From this passage, and from 1 Kings i. 33-39, relating to David, it appears that the kings of Judah sometimes dwelt on the high ground of Gihon under a tent in summer time, to avoid the close air of the city.

The fuller's field.] So named because the clothes from the city were there washed in water from this pool. The son of Tabeal.] This person, whom the invaders wished to put on the throne of Judea, is otherwise unknown.

8 Within sixty and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people.] These few words are an after addition. They disturb the prophecy of the overthrow of Rezin and Pekah, which is to take place in a few months. They introduce a new prophecy, and the time fixed brings us to the middle of Manasseh's reign. This second prophecy is explained by Ezra iv. 2, which tells us of a further movement of the population by Ezarhaddon.

is Remaliah's son; so if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.

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13

Moreover Jehovah spake again to Ahaz, saying, 'Ask 11 'unto thee a sign from Jehovah thy God; ask it either in 'the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, 'I 12 'will not ask, neither will I try Jehovah.' And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, 1 the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [or God is with us]. Curds and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the 16 child shall know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, the land by whose two kings thou art vexed shall be made desolate.

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Moreover Jehovah said to me, 'Take to thee a great 'tablet, and write on it with a man's pen concerning 'Maher-Shalal Hash-baz.' And I took to me faithful 2

14 The young woman shall conceive.] This purports to have been written near the end of Ahaz's reign, when his son Hezekiah was nearly twenty years of age. The young woman may be his wife; and the promised child would be Ahaz's grandchild, and heir to the throne. In the LXX., and in Matt. ii. 23, this word ny a young woman, is rendered Tapevos, a virgin. But the Hebrew word has no such exact meaning, and is to be distinguished from a maiden, a virgin.

Shall call his name Immanuel.] Or, God is with us. This figurative name is played upon in chap. viii. 10.

16 Before the child shall know to refuse the evil.] This must mean within a few months, or a year or two at most. A knowledge of good and evil is an expression sometimes used for manhood, perhaps the age of sixteen or seventeen; but the words above hardly bear that meaning.

2 I took to me faithful witnesses.] Of his marriage, or of a figurative marriage, with the prophetess, who gives birth to an imaginary son.

witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the 3 son of Jeberechiah. And I went in unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son.

Then said Jehovah to me, 'Call his name Maher-shalal Hash-baz *[or Spoil hasteneth, Prey speedeth]. For before the 'child shall have knowledge to cry, "My father and my 'mother," the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away in the face of the king of 'Assyria.'

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666

And Jehovah spake to me again, saying, Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of the Siloah that go 7 softly, and rejoiceth over Rezin and Remaliah's son;

Uriah the priest.] He is mentioned in 2 Kings xvi. as living in Ahaz's reign.

us.

Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.] He is unknown to

But Zech. ix. 1-10 and x. were written in Hezekiah's reign, and if we must give them to a writer of the name of Zechariah, this may be the man.

3 Call his name Maher-shalal Hash-baz.] This figurative name for an imaginary son means, Spoil hasteneth, prey speedeth. This is not the child promised in chap.

vii. 14.

4 Before the child shall have knowledge.] This is not the child of chap. vii. 14, although the two prophecies relate to the same event. This with the imaginary child would seem to have been the one first written, and that of a real child in chap. vii. 14 a later addition, written after his birth in chap. ix. 6.

The king of Assyria.] Syria and Israel are to be defeated by Tiglath-pilezer, king of Assyria, who was called in by Ahaz as an ally.

The waters of the Siloah.] A brook on the south side of Jerusalem, which received the waste water from the temple, and hence used figuratively for the teachings of the temple.

The

7 Rejoiceth over Rezin and Remaliah's son.] nation foolishly rejoiced at the victories of the Assyrians over Syria and Israel, not as yet knowing that the Assyrians would soon be a far more dangerous enemy

now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the River [Euphrates], strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory. And it shall come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. And it shall pass through Judah; it shall overflow and go over, it shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel [or God is with us].

Do your worst, O ye peoples, but ye shall be broken 9 in pieces. And give ear, all ye of far countries; gird yourselves, but ye shall be broken in pieces; gird your

than those two little states. Judah would have done more wisely to have joined Israel and Syria against Assyria. But the statesmen in Jerusalem had no knowledge of the power of Assyria, and could not foresee from what quarter danger was to come.

The waters of the river.] When this word, a river, is used without a name, it means the Euphrates. The Nile they knew only in its eastern branch in the Delta, which was a small stream. See chap. xviii. 2 for "the rivers," meaning the armies of Assyria and Babylon; and Hab. iii. 9 for the same.

8 It shall pass through Judah.] We are told in 2 Chron. xxviii. 21 that the Assyrians, when called in by Ahaz, were no help to him. It was then that the prophet Joel wrote his noble words of encouragement, calling on the people to beat their plowshares into swords and their pruning-hooks into spears. In the danger, he does not venture to name the Assyrians as enemies; but he compares Israel, Syria, Edom, and Assyria to four swarms of locusts, of which Assyria is the worst, saying, "What the grasshopper hath left the cricket hath eaten, what the cricket hath left the locust hath eaten, and what the locust hath left the great locust hath eaten." He adds, "Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen." Ye brought it on yourselves.

9 Do your worst, O ye peoples.] These are Syria, Israel, and Edom. Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt would have been called nations.