Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

Ver. 4. The Prophet points out that before the Church is raised to the dignity of the saints of God, a thorough change of its moral conditions, an energetic expunging of the sin now prevailing in her, must take place, "_When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion._" The "daughters of Zion" are none other than those whose haughtiness, luxury, and wantonness were described in chap. iii. 16 ff., and to whom the deepest abasement was then threatened. The filth, under the image of which sin is here represented (comp. Prov. xxx. 12); "A generation pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness," forms the contrast to the splendid attire which is there spoken of Behind this splendid attire the filthiness is concealed. The filth is not washed away (1 Cor. vi. 11; Eph. v. 26) from the daughters of Jerusalem,--for, inasmuch as this washing away is accomplished by means of the spirit of destruction, it could not apply to them--but from Jerusalem; comp. the phrase, "from the midst thereof," which immediately follows. Jerusalem, the city of the Lord, in which no unclean person, and no unclean thing are permitted to dwell, is cleansed from the filth with which its unworthy daughters contaminate it. "_And shall remove the blood of Jerusalem._" The "blood of Jerusalem" is the blood which attaches to Jerusalem, which has been shed in it. The connection of the punishment of the sins of avarice on the part of the rulers, in chap. iii. 13-15, with the punishment of the luxury and ostentation on the part of the women, is illustrative of the relation of filth and blood to each other. Blood is shed in order to furnish pride and vanity with the means of their gratification. The avarice of the rulers, and their shedding of blood, are put together in Ezek. xxii. 13; comp. ver. 27: "Her princes are in the midst thereof like wolves ravening the prey, shedding blood, destroying souls, to get dishonest gain." Bloodguiltiness those too incur who deprive the poor of the necessary means of support, Mic. iii. 2, 3. The comparison of [Pg 22] chap. i. 15: "Your hands are full of blood," and of ver. 21: "But now murderers," compared with vers. 17, 23, 26, shews that we have to think especially of unjust judges and avaricious rulers. Yet, there is no reason for limiting ourselves to the nobles and rulers _alone_; comp. Ezek. xxii. 29: "The people of the land use oppression, and boldly practice robbery, and vex the poor and needy, and oppress the stranger." Where sins so gross are still prevalent, where the law of the Lord is so wantonly broken, an installation into the dignity of the saints of God is out of the question. For that, it is absolutely essential that exertions be made that the high destination of the people: "Ye shall be holy for I am holy," become a truth; that in a moral point of view it show itself as truly separated from the world,--and that is something so infinitely great, that men are utterly unable for it, that it can proceed from God only, with whom nothing is impossible.--The last words of the verse are commonly explained: "by the spirit of _judgment_, and by the spirit of destruction or burning." In that case the putting away of the filth and blood by the judging activity of the Lord, by the destruction of sin, would be spoken of [Hebrew: mwpT], however, may also be taken in the sense of "right:" by the spirit of right which lays hold of, and changes the well disposed (comp. Mic. iii. 8: "But I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of _right_ and might"), and by the spirit of destruction which consumes the disobedient. In favour of the latter view are the parallel passages; above all, chap. xxviii. 6, where it is said of the Messianic time, "In that day the Lord will become, &c.," "And for a spirit of right to him that sitteth for right;" farther, chap. i. 27, 28: "Zion shall be redeemed by right, and her converts by righteousness. But the transgressors and sinners are destroyed together, and they that forsake the Lord are consumed." Comp. Matt. iii. 11: [Greek autos humas baptisei en pneumati hagiô kai puri], where likewise a double washing, that of grace and that of wrath, is spoken of. In chap. xxxii. 15: "Until the Spirit be poured out upon us from on high," Isaiah likewise points to the regeneration which, in the Messianic time, will be accomplished by the Spirit; and it is, according to the whole _usus loquendi_ of the Old Testament, most natural to think of the Spirit transforming from within The Spirit of God scarcely occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament as the executor of God's judgments; so that the supposition is [Pg 23] very natural that the spirit of destruction has been brought in by the spirit of right only.--The word [Hebrew: ber] is, by some, understood as "burning," by others, as "destruction." We ourselves decide in favour of the latter signification, which occurs also in chap. iv. 13, for this reason, that it is in that signification that [Hebrew: ber] is, in Deuteronomy, used as the _terminus technicus_ of the extirpation of the wicked. If the Church does not comply with the command: [Greek: exareite ton ponêron ex humôn autôn], 1 Cor. v. 13; Deut. xiii. 6 (5), God himself will enforce His authority by His Spirit, who carries out the judgments of the avenging God, just as He carries out every influence of the Creator upon the created. On the "Spirit of the Lord," comp. my remarks on Rev. i. 4.

Ver. 5. The image is here taken from the journey of Israel through the wilderness. During that journey, they were guided and protected by a symbol of God's presence, which by day presented itself as smoke, and by night assumed the form of flaming fire. By this symbol the God of Israel was designated as the jealous God, as the living, personal energy, energetic in His love for His people, energetic in wrath against His and their enemies. Comp. especially Exod. xiii. 21: "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light;" and xl. 38: "For a cloud was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night;" comp. Numb. ix. 15, 16. The same phenomenon is to be repeated in future, although in a different form. In a manner the most real, the Lord will manifest himself as the living energy of His Church, dwelling in the midst of her, and ruling over her as a protector, so that the world's power can no longer injure her. That such will be done in and by His _Sprout_, in Christ, appears from the relation of the verse under consideration to ver. 2; for the verse before us still belongs to the expansion of the proposition placed at the head of the whole: "The _Sprout_ of the Lord becomes for beauty and glory, and the fruit of the land for exaltation and ornament to the escaped of Israel." Christ in His person and Spirit is the true Shechinah, the true indwelling of God in His Church. This indwelling is, even in the Law, designated as the highest privilege of the covenant-people; its being raised to a higher power is therefore to the Prophet the highest blessing of the future, the source from which all other blessings flow. That which the heathen in vain longed [Pg 24] for and imagined; that which Israel hitherto possessed only very imperfectly, a _praesens numen_, whereby the antithesis of heaven and earth is done away with, and earth is glorified into a heaven;--that, the purified Church of the Lord possesses in the most perfect and real manner, and in it, absolute security against the world, a decided victory over it. The words: "_Over her assemblies_," show that the whole life of the people shall then bear a religious character, and shall be a continual service of God, comp. Acts ii. 42, where, as a type of the completion of the Church, it is said: "And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." [Hebrew: mqra] is only the name for that which is called, "the assembly," and stands in Levit. xxiii. and Is. i. 13 of the religious assemblies which were held on the holy days, comp. my pamphlet: _Ueber den Tag des Herrn S_. 32. The same phenomenon is, according to its appearance by day, designated, at the same time, as _clouds_ and _smoke_. Smoke is never "vapour, vapoury clouds" (_Knobel_); and here the smoke by day corresponds with the _flaming fire_ by night. If then the smoke can be considered as a product of the fire only (comp. my remarks on Rev. xv. 8), the cloud cannot come into consideration according to its matter, but according to its form only. The smoke assumes the form of a cloud which affords protection from the burning sun of tribulations, as once, in the burning desert, from the scorching heat of the natural sun, comp. Num. x. 34: "And the cloud of the Lord was upon them;" Ps. cv. 39: "He spread a cloud for a covering;" Is. xxv. 5. The cloud which thus affords protection to the Church turns a threatening face towards her enemies. Rev. xv. 8.--The words: "_For above all glory is a covering_," point to the ground of the protecting, gracious presence of God in the Church. Several interpreters explain the sense thus: "As we cover and preserve precious things more carefully, in order that they may not be injured, so does God in His grace surround His Church, which has been adorned with glorious virtues, and raised to the high dignity of the saints of God, and protects her from every danger." Others understand by [Hebrew: kl-kbvd] the whole glory mentioned in the preceding context; but in that case we should expect the article. One may also supply the limitation: For, _in the Kingdom of God_, there is a covering over all glory.

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Ver. 6. God--this is the same sense--protects His Church from every danger and calamity. By His gracious presence in His Sprout, He affords to them that protection which a hut does from sun, storms, and rain. Luther says: "In this passage, accordingly, Christ is held up to us as He who in all tribulations, bodily as well as spiritual, is our protection." There is an allusion to the 21st verse of Ps. xxxi. (which was written by David): "Thou hidest them in the secret of thy countenance from the conspiracy of every one; thou keepest them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." The pavilion in this Psalm is a spiritual one, viz., God's grace and protection. That word of David shall be gloriously fulfilled when the Sprout of the Lord shall appear.--The "_Sun_" comes into consideration in its scorching quality; and the "_heat_" is in Scripture the image of temptations, sufferings, and trials; comp. remarks on Rev. viii. 12, xvi. 8; Song of Sol. i. 6; Ps. cxxi. 6; Matt. xiii. 6, compared with v. 21; Is. xlix. 10, xxv. 4; and, according to the last passage, we must especially have in view the enmity and assaults of the world's power. The "_rain_" appears as an image of tribulation in the Song of Sol. ii. 11; Is. xxv. 4: "The spirit of the terrible ones (the passions of the kings of the world, and conquerors) is like a violent shower against the wall;" xxxii. 2.--A comparison of the Messianic prophecy in chap ii. with that which we have now considered shows very clearly how necessary it is to regard the single Messianic prophecies as fragments only, supplementing one another, inasmuch as commonly a few aspects only were presented to the spiritual eye of the Prophet. Just as the description in chap. ii. receives an important supplement from the passage now considered, inasmuch as the latter contains the mention of the personal Messiah, so it, again, supplements that before us by announcing the participation by the Gentiles in the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom.

[Footnote 1: Light is the image of salvation; to walk in the light is to enjoy a participation in it. Israel is not wantonly to wander away from the path of light which the Lord has opened up to them, into the dark desolation of misery. In the words [Hebrew: lkv vnlkh] there is a clear reference to [Hebrew: lkv vnelh] of the Gentile nations in ver. 3. If the Gentiles apply with such zeal for a participation in the blessings of the Kingdom of God, how disgraceful would it be if you, the people of the covenant, the children of the Kingdom, should lose your glorious possession by your ungodly walk. In vers. 6-11 the Prophet states the grounds of his admonition to the people to walk in the light of the Lord which he had expressed in the preceding verse. This admonition implies that there existed a danger of losing a participation in the light; and it is this danger which the Prophet here more particularly details. It is not without reason, so the words may be paraphrased, that I say: "Walk ye in the light of the Lord," for at present the Lord has _forsaken_ the people on account of their sins, and with that, a participation in His light is incompatible. By being full of heathenish superstition, of false confidence in earthly things, yea, even of the most disgraceful that can be imagined for Israel, viz., gross idolatry, they rather become more and more ripe for the divine judgment which will break in irresistibly upon them.]

[Footnote 2: So _Gesenius_ also in the _Thesaurus_: "The whole earth shall be holy and shall more beautifully bloom and be adorned with plenty of fruits and corn for the benefit of those who have escaped from those calamities." _Gesenius'_ wavering clearly shows how little satisfaction the non-Messianic explanation affords to its own abettors. Besides the explanations of [Hebrew: cmH ihvh] by "the new growth of the people," and "the rich produce of the country," he advances still a third one, viz., "a divinely favoured ruler,"--an explanation which has even the grammar against it, as we are at liberty to translate only: "The Sprout of the Lord;" and likewise the analogy of [Hebrew: pri harC], according to which the Genitive can have a reference to the _origin_ only.]

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THE PROPHECY, CHAP. VII.
IMMANUEL.

A crisis of the most important nature in the history of Israel is formed by the Syrico-Ephraemitic war, by the expedition of the allied kings, Rezin of Damascus, and Pekah of Samaria, which had been already prepared under the reign of Jotham, and which broke out in the first years of Ahaz. It was in consequence of this war that Asshur came into the land. The inroad of the Assyrian King, Pul, under Menahem of Israel, had been transitory only, comp. Vol. 1. p. 165. It was only with the invasion under Ahaz that the tendency of Asshur began of making lasting conquests on the other side of the Euphrates, which could not fail to bring about a collision with the Egyptian power. The succeeding powers in Asia and Europe followed Asshur's steps. "Hitherto,"--so says _Caspari_, in his pamphlet on the Syrico-Ephraemitic war, S. 17 ff.--"hitherto Israel had to do with the small neighbouring nations only,--now, in punishment of their sins, oppressed by them; then, in reward of their obedience, oppressing and ruling over them. And the Syrico-Ephraemitic war itself had been a link only in the chain of these attacks--its last link. Israel, having arrived at the point of being hardened, and having entered upon a path in accordance with this tendency, required another more severe corrective--its being crushed by the mighty world's power. The appearance of these mighty powers, just at the period when Israel entered upon their hardening, is most providential.--The beginning of the end of the kingdom of the ten tribes had come, and the breaking up of its independent political existence had commenced. As enmity to Judah had given its origin to the kingdom of the ten tribes, so also did it bring about its destruction; born out of it, it died of it. It owed its existence to the incipient enmity; when the latter was accomplished (Isa. vii. 6,) it caused its death.--The Assyrians came to the help of Judah, but charged a high price for their help, viz., Judah's submission and fealty. Thirty heavy years of servitude, and, to a great part, of [Pg 27] fears of the worst, 2 Kings xvi. 18; Is. xxxiii. 18 (?); xxxvii. 3, followed for this kingdom also; and when, at the close of this period, it freed itself from them after the fashion of the kingdom of Israel, it shared nearly the same fate, 2 Kings xviii. 31 ff. It was only to the mercy of the Lord, who looked graciously upon the feeble beginnings of conversion, that it owed its deliverance. The Assyrian power, which had put an end to the kingdoms of Damascus and Israel, and which was the first power that appeared on the stage of history and came into conflict with the people of God, became a significant sign of the final fate of the world's power in its attacks upon the Kingdom of God. But, as a prelude to the long series of visitations which it had to endure from the world's power in its different phases, Judah was even now led to the very brink of destruction; there came a period, the 14th year of Hezekiah, when almost nothing more of it was to be seen by the outward eye than its metropolis exposed to the utmost danger."

A remarkable proof of the fact that the spirit which filled the prophets was a higher one than their own, is the fact that Isaiah recognized so distinctly and clearly the importance of the decisive moment.

In close connection with the great crisis at which the history of the people of God had arrived, stands the richer display of the Messianic announcement which begins with the chapter before us. Messiah is henceforth represented to Judah as an Immanuel against the world's powers, as the surety for its deliverance from the severe oppressions hanging over it, as He who at last, at His appearance, would conquer the world, and lay it at the feet of the people of God.

After these general introductory remarks, let us turn more particularly to the contents of the chapter before us. It was told to the house of David: "Aram is encamped in Ephraim." The position of Ahaz was, humanly considered, desperate. His enemies were far superior to him, and he could scarcely hope for help from heaven, for he had an evil conscience. The idea of seeking help from Asshur was natural. Isaiah received a commission to oppose this idea before it became a firm resolution. In doing so he, by no means, occupies the position of an ingenious politician. On the contrary, the whole commission is [Pg 28] forced upon him. It can scarcely be doubted that the Assyrians would have penetrated to Western Asia, even if Ahaz had not called them to his assistance. The expedition of the Syrians and Ephraimites with the view of making conquests, could not but turn their attention to that quarter. As the instruments of the judgments upon Damascus and Samaria, which Isaiah announced as impending under any circumstances, we can surely think of none but Asshur. But if once they came into these regions, in order to chastise the haughtiness of the Syrians and Ephraimites, who would set up as a new conquering power, then was Judah too threatened by them. _In a political point of view it did not make any great difference whether Ahaz sought help from the Assyrians, or not_; on the contrary, the king of Asshur could not but be more favourably disposed towards him for so doing. _Isaiah, throughout, rather occupies the position of the man of God._ The kings of the people of God were, in general, not prevented from forming alliances; but such alliances must belong to the category of permitted human resources. Such, however, was not the case here. Asshur was a conquering power, altogether selfish. His help had to be purchased with dependance, and with the danger of entire destruction; to stay upon him was to stay upon their destroyer, Is. x. 20. Such an alliance was a _de facto_ denial of the God of Israel, an insult to His omnipotence and grace. If Ahaz had obeyed Him; if he had limited himself to the use of the human means granted to him by the Lord without trusting in them, and had placed all his confidence in the Lord, He would have delivered him in the same manner as He afterwards delivered Hezekiah, in the first instance from Aram and Ephraim, and then from Asshur also. But although Ahaz did not follow the prophet, his mission was by no means in vain. Even before the mission, this result lay open before the Lord who sent him. The great point was to establish, before the first conflict of Israel with the world's power, thus much, that this conflict had been brought about by the sin of the house of David, and that hence it did not afford any cause for doubting the omnipotence and mercy of the Lord whose help had been offered, but rejected.

The Prophet seeks out the king at a place to which he had been driven by his despairing disquietude which was clinging convulsively to human resources. He endeavours, first, to exert [Pg 29] an influence upon him by taking with him his son, whose symbolical name, containing a prophecy of the future destinies of the people, indicated that the king's fear of a total destruction of the State was without foundation. After the king has thus been prepared, he endeavours to make a deeper impression upon him by the announcement, distinct and referring to the present case, that the enemies should not only entirely fail in their intention of conquering and dividing between themselves the kingdom of Judah; but that the kingdom of Ephraim was itself hastening towards that destruction which it was preparing for its brethren, and that after sixty-five years it should altogether lose its national independence and existence, ver. 1-9. But Ahaz makes no reply; and his whole deportment shows that he does not follow the Prophet's exhortation to "take heed and be quiet," and that the words: "If ye do not believe, ye shall not be established," with which the Prophet closes his address, have not made any impression upon him. In order that the greatness of the king's hardness of heart may become manifest, the Prophet offers, in the commission of the Lord, to confirm the certainty of his statement by a miraculous sign, which the king himself is called upon to fix, without any restriction, in order that any suspicion of imposition may be removed. "But Ahaz, the unbeliever, is afraid of heavenly communications, has already chosen his help, wishes that every thing should go on in an easy human manner, and refuses the Lord's offer in a polite turn which even refers to the Law. A sign is then forced upon him, because as the king of Judah, he must see and hear for all Judah that the Lord is faithful and good."[1] The Prophet, in ver. 14, points to the birth of the Saviour by a Virgin. How then was it possible that in the present collision that people should be destroyed, among whom, according to former promises. He was to be born; that that family should be extinguished from which he was to be descended? The name "Immanuel," by which the future Saviour is designated as "He in whom the Lord is, in the truest manner, to be with His people," is a guarantee for His help in the present distress also. The Prophet then states the time in which the land shall be entirely delivered from its present enemies. The contemporaries, as the representative of whom [Pg 30] the child appears (the Prophet, in the energy of his faith, has transferred the birth of this child from the future to the present), shall, after the short space of about two years, again obtain the full enjoyment of the products of the land, ver. 15. For, before this period has elapsed, destruction will fall upon the hostile kings in their own land, ver. 16. The danger, however--and this is pointed out in ver. 17-25--will come from just that quarter from which Ahaz expects help, viz., from Asshur. But the security for deliverance from this danger also--the conqueror of the world's power which was soon to begin its course in Asshur, is none other than Immanuel, whom the Prophet, in the beginning of the humiliation of the people of God, makes, so to say, to become man, in order that, during the impending deep humiliation of the people of God, He may accompany it in its history during all the stages of its existence, until He should really become man. He is, however in this discourse, not yet pointed out as the deliverer from Asshur, and the world's power represented by him. The darkness of the misery to be inflicted by Asshur should not, and could not, in the meantime, be cleared up for Ahaz; the picture must end in night. But in the following discourse, chap. viii. 1, ix. 6 (7), which serves as a necessary supplement to the one before us, the Saviour is depicted before the eyes of those despairing in the sight of Asshur; and the two-fold repetition of His name Immanuel, in chap. viii. 8, 10, serves to show that the two discourses are intimately connected, and form one whole.

Ahaz persevered in his unbelief, according to 2 Kings xvi. 7, 8. He sent messengers with large presents to Tiglath-pileser, King of Assyria, saying: "I am _thy servant_ and _thy son_ (a word as ominous as that: 'We have no king but Cæsar,'in John xix. 35); come up and save me out of the hand of the King of Aram, and out of the hand of the King of Israel which rise up against me." But before the asked-for help came, king and people had to endure very severe sufferings from Aram and Ephraim. Ahaz, after having first made preparations to secure Jerusalem against the impending siege, sent out his armies. They met with a twofold heavy defeat from the divided armies of the allied kings,[2] from which he might have been spared by [Pg 31] being still, and hoping. The hostile armies then came up to Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. It was probably by the intelligence of the advance of Asshur that they were induced to raise the siege. It was now confirmed that the Prophet had been right in designating the two hostile kings as mere tails of smoking firebrands. Damascus was taken by the King of Ophir; the inhabitants were carried away into exile to Kir; Rezin was slain, 2 Kings xvi. 9: the land of Israel was devastated; a portion of its inhabitants was carried away into exile; the king was made tributary, 2 Kings xv. 29. Exactly at the time fixed by the Prophet, the overthrow of the two hostile kingdoms took place; but the deliverance which, without any farther sacrifice, Ahaz would have obtained, if he had believed the Prophet, had now to be purchased by very heavy sacrifices; and with perfect justice it is said in 2 Chron. xxviii. 20, 21, that the king of Asshur did not help him, but rather, by coming unto him, distressed him. Ahaz purchased this help at the price of his independence, and had probably to submit to very hard claims being made upon him. (_Caspari_, S. 60.) The world's power, to which Ahaz had offered a finger, seized, more and more, the whole hand, and held it by a firm grasp. Under Hezekiah, faith broke through the consequences of the sin of the family; but this interruption lasted as long only as did the faith. In addition to that which Ahaz had, for his unbelief, to suffer from Aram, Ephraim, and Asshur, came the rebellion of the neighbouring nations,--of the Edomites, according to 2 Chron. xxviii. 17, and of the Philistines, according to ver. 18.

Ver. 1. "_And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, that Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem, to war against it, and could not fight against it._"

In thus tracing back the pedigree of Ahaz to Uzziah, there is a reference to chap. vi. 1: "In the year that King Uzziah [Pg 32] died," &c. These two chapters stand related to each other as prophecy and fulfilment. It was in the year of Uzziah's death that the Prophet had been seized with fearful forebodings; and by the divine word these fearful forebodings had soon been raised into a clear knowledge of the threatening judgments which were impending. Under Ahaz, the second successor of Uzziah, this knowledge began to be realized, keeping pace with the hardening which in Ahaz had become personified. He, the type of the unbelieving Jewish people, did not hear and understand, did not see and perceive; and the announcement of the Prophet served merely to increase his hardening. Even as early as that, the germ of the carrying away of the people, announced by the Prophet in chap. vi., was formed.--The circumstance of the hostile kings being introduced as _going up_ implies the spiritual elevation of Jerusalem; comp. remarks on Ps. xlviii. 3; xlviii. 17. The city of God is unconquerable unless her inhabitants and, above all, the anointed one of God, make, by their unbelief, their glorious privilege of no avail. In the last words: "_And could not fight against it_," (the singular [Hebrew: ikl] because Rezin is the chief person, Rezin and Pekah being identical with Rezin with Pekah, comp. Esth. iv. 16), the result of the siege is anticipated; and this is easily accounted for by the consideration that ver. 1 serves as an introduction to the whole account, stating, in general terms, the circumstances which induced the Prophet to come publicly forward. In the following verses, the share only is mentioned which the Prophet took in the matter; and the account is closed after he has discharged his commission. The apparent contradiction to 2 Kings xvi. 5, according to which Jerusalem was really besieged,--a contradiction which occurs also in that passage itself: "And they besieged Ahaz, and could not fight"--is most simply reconciled by the remark that a fruitless struggle can, as it were, not be called a struggle, just as, _e. g._, in the Old Testament, such as have a name little known are spoken of as being without a name.

Ver. 2, "_And it was told to the house of David, saying: Aram rests upon Ephraim. Then his heart trembled, and the heart of his people, like as the trembling of the trees of the wood before the wind._"

The representative of the house of David was, according to [Pg 33] ver. 1, Ahaz, to whom the suffix in [Hebrew: lbbv] refers. It is thereby intimated that Ahaz does not come into consideration as an individual, but as a representative of the whole Davidic family, of which the members were responsible, conjunctly and severally, and which in Ahaz denied their God, and gave themselves up to the world's power,--a deed of the family from the consequences of which a heroic faith only, like that of Hezekiah, could deliver, but in such a manner only that it at once became valid again when this faith ceased, until at length in Christ the house of David was raised to glory. Ver. 19 shows that [Hebrew: nvH] must be taken in the signification "to let oneself down," "to sit down," "to encamp." The anguish of the natural man, who has not his strength in God at the breaking in of danger, is most graphically described.

Ver. 3. "_And the Lord said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field._"

Why is the Prophet to seek out the king just at this place? The answer is given by chap. xxii. 2. "And a reservoir you make between the two walls for the waters of the old pool: and not do ye look unto him who makes it (viz., the impending calamity), and not do ye regard him who fashioned it long ago." When a siege of Jerusalem was imminent, in the lower territory, the first task was to cut off the water from the hostile army. This measure Hezekiah, according to 2 Chron. xxxii. 3, took against Sennacherib: "And he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men, to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city, and they helped him." That might be done in faith; but he who, like Ahaz, did not stand in the faith, sought in it, _per se_, his safety; his despairing heart clung to such measures. The stopping of the fountains was, in his case, on a level with seeking help from the Assyrians. It is thus in the midst of his sin that the Prophet seeks out the king, and recalls to his conscience: "take heed and be quiet." But why did the Prophet take his son Shearjashub with him? It surely cannot be without significance; for otherwise it would not have been recorded, far less would it have been done at the express command of the Lord. As the boy does not appear actively, the reason can only be in the signification of the name. According to chap. viii., the Prophet was accustomed to give to [Pg 34] his sons symbolical names which had a relation to the destinies of the nation. They were, according to chap. viii. 18, "for signs and for wonders in Israel." But as an interpretation of the name, the passage chap. x. 21 is to be considered: "The remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God." The word [Hebrew: wvb] can, accordingly, be understood of returning to the Lord, of repentance only, comp. chap. i. 27; Hos. iii. 5. But with repentance the recovery of salvation is indissolubly connected. The reason why it is impossible that they who commit the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never recover salvation lies solely in the circumstance, that it is impossible that they should be renewed to repentance. The fundamental passage, which is comprehended in the name of the Prophet's son: "And thou returnest unto the Lord thy God.... And the Lord thy God turneth thy captivity (_i.e._, thy misery), and hath compassion upon thee, and returneth and gathereth thee from all the nations" (Deut. xxx. 2, 3), emphatically points out the indissoluble connection of the return to the Lord, and of the return of the Lord to His people. This connection comes out so much the more clearly, when we consider that, according to Scripture, repentance is not the work of man but of God, and is nothing else but the beginning of the bestowal of salvation; comp. Deut. xxx. 6: "And the Lord thy God circumciseth thine heart, and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live;" Zech. xii. 10. King and people feared entire destruction; and it was at this that their powerful enemies aimed. Isaiah took his son with him, "as the living proof of the preservation of the nation, even amidst the most fearful destruction of the greater part of it." After having in this manner endeavoured to free their minds from the extreme of fear, he seeks to elevate them to joyful hopes, by the prophetical announcement proper, which showed that, from this quarter, not even the future great judgment, which would leave a portion only, was to be feared.

Ver. 4. "_And say unto him: Take heed and be quiet; fear not, nor let thy heart be tender for the two ends of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and of the son of Remaliah._"

[Pg 35]

The words "_Take heed_" point to the dangerous consequences of fear; comp. ver. 9: "If ye do not believe, ye shall not be established." On the words "_be quiet_," lit., make quiet, viz., thy heart and walk, comp. chap. xxx. 15: "For thus saith the Lord: By returning and rest ye shall be saved; in _quietness_ and confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not." Such as he was, Ahaz could not respond to the exhortations to be quiet. Quietness is a product of _faith_. But the way of faith stood open to Ahaz every moment, and by his promising word and by his example, the Prophet invited him to enter upon it. In the words: "Fear not," &c., there is an unmistakable reference to Deut. xx. 1, ff., according to which passage the priest was, on the occasion of hostile oppression, to speak to the people: "Let not your hearts be tender, and be not terrified." That which, in the Law, the priest was commanded to do, is here done by the Prophet, who was obliged so often to step in as a substitute, when the class of the ordinary servants fell short of the height of their calling.--The "firebrand" is the image of the conqueror who destroys countries by the fire of war, comp. remarks on Rev. viii. 8. The Prophet is just about to announce to the hostile kings their impending overthrow; for this reason, he calls them _ends_ of firebrands, which no longer blaze, but only glimmer. He calls them thus because he considers them with the eye of _faith_; to the bodily eye a bright flame still presented itself, as the last words: "For the fierce anger," &c., and vers. 5 and 6 show. _Chrysostom_ remarks: "He calls these kings 'firebrands,'to indicate at the same time their violence, and that they are to be easily overcome; and it is for this reason, that he adds 'smoking,'_i.e._, that they were near being altogether extinguished."

Vers. 5, 6. "_Because Aram meditates evil against thee, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, saying: Let us go up against Judah, and drive it to extremity, and conquer it for us, and set up as a king in the midst of it the son of Tabeal._"

We have here, farther carried out, the thought indicated by the words: "for the fierce anger," &c. The interval, in the original text, between vers. 6 and 7, is put in to prevent the false connection of these verses with ver. 7 (_Hitzig_ and _Ewald_).--[Hebrew: qvC] always means "to loathe," "to experience disgust;" here, [Pg 36] in Hiph., "to cause disgust," "to drive to extremity;" comp. my work on Balaam, Rem. on Num. xxii. 3.--[Hebrew: bqe] means always: "to cleave asunder," "to open," "to conquer."--The words: "_For us_," show that Tabeal is to be the vassal only of the two kings. The absolute confidence with which the Prophet recognizes the futility of the plan of the two kings, forms a glaring contrast to the modern view of Prophetism, Ver. 2 shows in what light ordinary consciousness did, and could not fail to look on the then existing state of things.

Ver. 7. "_Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass._" (A plan stands when it is carried out.)

Ver. 8. "_For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and in threescore and five years more, Ephraim shall be broken, and be no more a people._"

Ver. 9. "_And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye believe not, ye shall not be established._"

Each of these two verses forms a complete whole.--The words: "For the head of Aram," &c., to "Rezin" receive their explanation from the antithesis to vers. 5 and 6, where the king of Aram and the king of Ephraim had declared their intention of extending their dominion over Judah. As, concerning this intention and this hope, the Lord has declared His will that it shall not be, we must understand: Not as regards Judah, and not as regards Jerusalem. It is in vain that men's thoughts exalt themselves against the purposes of God. From Aram, the Prophet turns, in the second part of the verse, to Ephraim: "And even Ephraim! What could it prevail against the Lord and His Kingdom! It surely should give up all attempts to get more; its days are numbered, the sword is already suspended over its own head." But inasmuch as it is possible, although not likely, that Ephraim, before its own overthrow, may still bring evil upon Judah, this is expressly denied in ver. 9: Samaria, according to the counsel of God, and the limit assigned to it, is the head of Ephraim only, and not, at the same time, of Judah, &c. With this are then connected the closing words: "If ye believe not, ye shall not be established" (properly, the consequence will be that ye do not continue), which are equivalent to it: it is hence not Samaria [Pg 37] and the son of Remaliah that you have to fear; the enemy whom you have to dread, whom you have to contend against with prayer and supplication, is in yourselves. Take heed lest a similar cause produce a similar effect, as in the last clause of ver. 8 it has been threatened against Ephraim.--This prophecy and warning, one would have expected to have produced an effect so much the deeper, because they were not uttered by some obscure fanatic, but by a worthy member of a class which had in its favour the sanction of the Lawgiver, and which in the course of centuries had been so often and so gloriously owned and acknowledged by God.[3]

[Pg 38]

Vers. 10, 11. "_And the Lord spoke farther unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it from the depth, or above from the height._"

Ahaz observed a dignified silence after those words of the Prophet; but his whole manner shews the Prophet that they have not made any impression upon him. If David's spirit had rested on Ahaz, he would surely, if he had wavered at all, have, on the word of the Prophet, thrown himself into the arras of his God. But in order that the depth of his apostacy, the greatness of his guilt, and the justice of the divine judgments may become manifest, God shows him even a deeper condescension. The Prophet offers to prove the truth of his announcement by any miraculous work which the king himself should determine, and from which he might, at the same time, see God's omnipotence, and the Divine mission of the Prophet. As Ahaz refused the offered sign, the word 2 Tim. ii. 12, 13: [Greek: ei arnoumetha, kakeinos arnêsetai hêmas. ei apistoumen, ekeinos pistos menei--arnêsasthai gar heauton ou dunatai] came into application. According to Deut. vii. 9 ff. the truth and faithfulness of God must now manifest itself in the [Pg 39] infliction of severe visitations upon the house of David.--The character of a _sign_ is, in general, borne by everything which serves for certifying facts which belong to the territory of faith, and not to that of sight. 1. In some instances, the sign consists in a mere naked word; thus in Exod. iii. 12: "And this shall be the sign unto thee that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain." Moses'doubts of the truth of his Divine mission originated in the consciousness of his own unworthiness, and in the condition of those to whom he was sent. From these doubts he was delivered by the announcement that, at the place where he had been called, he, at the head of the delivered people, should serve his God. This was to him a _sign_ that God was in earnest in calling him. 2. In other instances the assurance given by the sign consists in its perceptibility and corporeality; so that the word assumes, as it were, flesh and blood. A case of this kind it is, _e.g._, when, in chap. viii. 18, Isaiah calls his two sons, to whom, at the command of God, he had given symbolical names, expressive of the future salvation of the covenant-people, "Signs and wonders in Israel;" farther, chap. xx. 3, where the Prophet walks naked and barefoot for a sign of the calamity impending over Egypt and Ethiopia in three years. 3. In another class of signs, a fact is announced which is, in itself, natural, but not to be foreseen by any human combination, the coming to pass of which, in the immediate future, furnishes the proof that, at a distant future, that will be fulfilled which was foretold as impending. The wonderful element, and the demonstrative power do not, in such a case, lie in the matter of the sign, but in the telling of it beforehand. It is in this sense that, in 1 Sam. x., Samuel gives several _signs_ to Saul, that God had destined him to be king, _e.g._, that in a place exactly fixed, he would meet two men who would bring him the intelligence that the lost asses were found; that, farther onwards, he would meet with three men, one of whom would be carrying three kids, another, three loaves of bread, and another, a bottle of wine, &c. In 1 Sam. ii. 34, the sudden death of his two sons is given to Eli as a sign that all the calamities threatened against his family should certainly come to pass. In Jer. xliv. 29, 30, the impending defeat of Pharaoh-Hophras is given as a _sign_ of the divine vengeance breaking in upon the Jews in Egypt. Even before the [Pg 40] thing came to pass, it could not in such a case, be otherwise than that the previous condition and foundation brought before the eyes in a lively manner (Jer. xliv. 30: "_Behold_, I give Pharaoh-Hophras into the hands of his enemies") gave a powerful shock to the doubts as to whether the fact in question would come to pass. 4. In other cases, the assurance was given in such a manner, that all doubts as to the truth of the announcement were set at rest by the immediate performance of a miraculous work going beyond the ordinary laws of nature. Thus, _e.g._, Isaiah says to Hezekiah, in chap. xxviii. 7: "And this shall be the sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing which He has spoken," and, as a _sign_ that the Lord would add fifteen years to the life of the King, who was sick unto death, he makes the shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz to go back ten degrees. Of this description were also the signs granted to Gideon, and, in many respects, the plagues in Egypt also. In the passage before us, no other sign can possibly be spoken of than one of the _two last classes_. For it was a real, miraculous sign only which could possibly exert any influence on a mind so darkened as was that of Ahaz, and it was the vain offer of such an one only which was fitted to bring to light his obduracy. If, then, the Prophet was willing and able to give a real, miraculous sign, why, then, is the answer of Ahaz so unsuitable? And we can surely not suppose, as _Meier_ does, that he should have intentionally misunderstood the Prophet. The temptation of the Lord by the children of Israel, to which the word of the Lord, Deut. vi. 16, quoted by Ahaz, refers, consisted, according to Exod. xvii., in their having asked _water_, as a _miraculous sign_ that the Lord was truly in the midst of them. How could the Prophet reproach Ahaz with having offended, not men merely, but God, unless he had offered to prove, by a fact which lay absolutely beyond the limits of nature, the truth of his announcement, the divinity of Him who gave it, the divinity of his own mission, and the soundness of his advice? _Hendewerk_ is of opinion that "it is difficult to say what the author would have made to be the sign in the heavens; probably, a very simple thing." But in making this objection it is forgotten that Isaiah gives _free choice_ to the king. _Hitzig_ says: "Without knowing it, Isaiah here plays a very dangerous game. For if Ahaz had accepted his proposition, Jehovah would [Pg 41] probably have left His servant in the lurch, and he would have begun to doubt of his God and of himself." In these words, at all events, it is conceded that the prophets themselves would not be what people in modern times would have them to be. If such was their position towards _miracles_, then, in their own convictions, _prophecies_, too, must be something else than general descriptions, and indefinite forebodings. But how should it have been possible that an order could have maintained itself for centuries, the most prominent members of which gave themselves up to such enthusiastic imprudence and rashness? Moreover, it is overlooked that afterwards, to Hezekiah, our Prophet grants that in reality which here he offers to Ahaz in vain,--[Hebrew: hemq] and [Hebrew: hgbh] are _Infin. absol._ "going high," "going low." The Imperat. [Hebrew: walh] must be understood after [Hebrew: hgbh] also. Some explain [Hebrew: walh] by "to hell," "down to hell;" but this is against the form of the word, which it would be arbitrary to change. Nor does one exactly see how, if we except, perhaps, the apparition of one dead, Isaiah could have given to the king a sign from the Sheol; and in other passages, too (comp. Joel iii. 3 [ii. 30]), signs in the heavens and in the earth are contrasted with one another. _Theodoret_ remarks that both kinds of miracles, among which the Lord here allowed a choice to Ahaz, were granted by Him to his pious son, Hezekiah, inasmuch as He wrought a phenomenon in _heaven_ which affected the going back of the shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz; and on _earth_, inasmuch as He, in a wonderful manner, destroyed the Assyrians, and restored the king to health. _Jerome_ farther remarks, that, from among the plagues in Egypt, the lice, frogs, &c., were signs on earth; the hail, fire, and three day's darkness, were signs in the heaven. It is on the passage before us that the Pharisees take their stand, when in Matt. xvi. 1 they ask from the Lord that He should grant them a sign from heaven. If even the Prophet Isaiah offered to prove in such a manner his divine mission, then, according to their opinion, Christ was much more bound to do this, inasmuch as He set up far higher claims. But they overlooked the circumstance that enough had already been granted for convincing those who were well disposed, and that it can never be a duty to convince obstinate unbelief in a manner so palpable.

[Pg 42]

Ver. 12. "_And Ahaz said: I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord._"

Ahaz declines the offer by referring to Deut. vi. 16., and thus assuming the guise of reverence for God and His commandment. "He pretends," says _Calvin_, "to have faith in the words of the Prophet, and not to require anything besides the word." The same declarations of the Law, the Lord opposes to Satan, when the latter would induce Him to do something for which he had no word of God, Matt. iv. 7. That would really have been a tempting of God. Ahaz had no doubt that the miracle would really be performed; but he had a dislike to enter within the mystical sphere. Who knows whether the God who grants the miracle is really the highest God? comp. Is. x. 10, 11, xxxvi. 18-20, xxxvii. 10-12. Who knows whether He is not laying for him a trap; whether, by preventing him from seeking the help of man. He is not to bring upon him the destruction which his conscience tells him he has so richly deserved? At all events the affording of His help is clogged with a condition which he is resolved not to fulfil, viz., his conversion. A better and easier bargain, he thought, could be struck with the Assyrians; how insatiable soever they might be, they did not ask the heart. How many do even now-a-days rather perish in sin and misery, than be converted!

Ver. 13. "_And he said: Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it too little for you to provoke man, that you provoke also my God?_"