Isaiah 7:17 ¶
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 Ephraim departed
from Judah; even the king of Assyria. 18
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss
for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and
for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of
them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all
thorns, and upon all bushes. 20 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 feet:
and it shall also consume the beard. 21
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a
young cow, and two sheep; 22 And it
shall come to pass, for the 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. 23 And it shall come to pass in
that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines
at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns.
24 With arrows and with bows shall men
come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. 25 And on all hills that shall be digged
with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns:
but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser
cattle.
This passage is filled with symbolism. Since
Ahaz did not have the faith he should and was not willing to ask for a sign
from the Lord trouble will come upon him and his house from another quarter,
from Assyria, who will betray him.
2Chronicles 28:21 For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house
of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it
unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.
22 And
in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is
that king Ahaz.
So, in the reign of his son, Hezekiah,
Sennacherib, king of Assyria invaded Judah and took all the cities.
2Kings 18:13
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of
Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. 14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king
of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou
puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king
of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
Since in the time of Rehoboam when the ten
tribes of Israel rebelled against the house of David…
1Kings 12:16 ¶ So when all Israel saw that the king
hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion
have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your
tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto
their tents. 17 But as for the children
of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
…there has not been trouble as there will be
in these perilous times.
Even the time of the great slaughter and
captivity was not as bad as this time would be. Here is that previous episode
that caused such distress but was not as terrible as what is coming.
2Chronicles 28: 1
¶ Ahaz was twenty years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that
which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father: 2 For he walked in the ways of the kings of
Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. 3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of
the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations
of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. 4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the
high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.5 Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into
the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great
multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also
delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great
slaughter.6 ¶ For Pekah the son of
Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were
all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew
Maaseiah the king’s son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah
that was next to the king. 8 And the
children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand,
women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and
brought the spoil to Samaria. 9 But a
prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the
host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of
your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and
ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven. 10 And now ye purpose to keep under the children
of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with
you, even with you, sins against the LORD your God? 11 Now hear me therefore, and deliver the
captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce
wrath of the LORD is upon you. 12 Then
certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan,
Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa
the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war, 13 And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the
captives hither: for whereas we have offended against the LORD already, ye
intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great,
and there is fierce wrath against Israel. 14
So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and
all the congregation. 15 And the men
which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil
clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and
gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of
them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their
brethren: then they returned to Samaria.
16
¶ At that time did king Ahaz send unto
the kings of Assyria to help him. 17 For
again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives.
18 The Philistines also had invaded the
cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken
Bethshemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof,
and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and
they dwelt there. 19 For the LORD
brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and
transgressed sore against the LORD. 20
And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him,
but strengthened him not. 21 For Ahaz
took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the
king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped
him not. 22 And in the time of his
distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of
Damascus, which smote him: and he
said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria
help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they
were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. 24
And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in
pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of
the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 And in every several city of Judah he made
high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God
of his fathers. 26 Now the rest of his
acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book
of the kings of Judah and Israel. 27 And
Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in
Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel:
and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.
God calls Egypt and Assyria in His sovereign
power and they will fill the land. There is no place safe from them. The
Assyrian king whom Ahaz tried to hire will, like a sharp razor, cut off the
beard, a sign of male power and masculinity and dignity. Head and feet the
Assyrian king will cut and shave, signifying destruction of Judah.
Shaving the hair is a sign of reproach and
shame, of domination.
2Samuel 10:4
Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved off the one half of
their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks,
and sent them away.
5 When
they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly
ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and
then return.
Verse 21 prophecies that there will be a
scarcity of men AND cattle. In verse 15 the food of weaned infants is mentioned
in the case of the kings who will die and now the prophecy is that the people
will live off of what a baby eats, also underscoring the coming scarcity and
want as I see it. The once good land will be overrun with briers and thorns and
men will fight over it for their cattle to graze. The idea here is a time of
want is coming. This is the prophecy that God is giving King Ahaz through
Isaiah.
I think there is a curious thing in these
accounts of the kings of Judah and Israel in that the writing assumes that the
people who might read this in the immediate context would have a knowledge
themselves of what happened so it is not written like it was trying to inform
us in detail of events. It is a written summary with details left out that we,
of course, would like to have. Ahaz is tormented by Israel and Syria who almost
crush Judah and even speak of a confederacy to do so completely and place a
puppet king on the throne of Judah but God says no. Still, because of Ahaz
faithlessness the one he tries to buy for help, the king of Assyria, will turn
on him and make things even worse than the depredations of Syria and Israel.
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