Background
Here Isaiah moves from poetry into narrative, and we get a specific historical crisis. It’s about 735 BC. The Assyrian empire under Tiglath-pileser III is expanding westward. Two small kingdoms, Syria (Aram, capital Damascus, King Rezin) and Israel (Ephraim, capital Samaria, King Pekah son of Remaliah), have formed an alliance to resist Assyria. They want Judah to join. When King Ahaz of Judah refuses, they march on Jerusalem, intending to depose him and install a puppet, “the son of Tabeal” (2 Kgs. 16:5; 2 Chr. 28:5–8). Historians call it the Syro-Ephraimite war.
Ahaz is terrified, and he has a plan: he will send silver and gold from the temple to Tiglath-pileser and ask Assyria to rescue him (2 Kgs. 16:7–9). Isaiah is sent to talk him out of it and to invite him to trust the Lord instead.
This is the context of one of the most famous prophecies in the Bible: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Nephi quoted the chapter as 2 Ne. 17.
The thread through the chapter
Isaiah 7 is about faith under pressure, and the whole chapter hinges on one line: “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” (verse 9).
The crisis is real. Two armies are coming, and Ahaz’s heart shakes “as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind” (verse 2). The Lord sends Isaiah to meet him at the city’s water supply, where Ahaz is presumably inspecting his defenses. Isaiah brings along his son, whose name is itself a sermon: Shear-jashub, “a remnant shall return.”
Isaiah’s message is simple: Calm down. Don’t be afraid of these two burnt-out stubs of firewood. Their plan will fail. Just believe. Then, remarkably, the Lord offers Ahaz a sign, anything he likes, from the depths to the heights (verse 11).
Ahaz refuses, with pious-sounding words: “I will not… tempt the LORD” (verse 12). But his real reason is that he has already decided to trust Assyria. He doesn’t want a sign that might obligate him to trust God.
So the Lord gives a sign anyway, not just to Ahaz but to “the house of David” (verse 13): a young woman, a virgin, will conceive and bear a son named Immanuel, God with us. In the short term, before such a child is old enough to know right from wrong, both enemy kings will be gone (verse 16). In the long term, the sign points to the one true Immanuel, born of a virgin in Bethlehem (Matt. 1:22–23).
The rest of the chapter describes the cost of Ahaz’s unbelief. The Assyrian “razor” he hired will shave Judah bare (verses 17–25).
The irony is complete: the king who wouldn’t trust “God with us” ends up with Assyria with him. The chapter asks each of us the same question: In my crisis, will I trust the Lord’s promise or hire my own razor?
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.
Two smoking stubs
During Ahaz’s reign, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel attacked Jerusalem but could not take it. When word came that Syria and Ephraim had joined forces, Ahaz and his people shook like trees in the wind. The Lord told Isaiah: “Take your son Shear-jashub and go meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the laundry field. Tell him: Stay calm and don’t be afraid of these two smoldering stubs of firewood. They’ve plotted to invade Judah and put their own man on the throne, but it won’t happen. Syria is only as strong as Damascus, and Damascus only as strong as Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. If you don’t stand firm in faith, you won’t stand at all.”
1 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.
2 And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
3 Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field;
4 And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
6 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 the son of Tabeal:
7 Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.
9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.
The sign of Immanuel
The Lord spoke to Ahaz again: “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, as deep as the grave or as high as heaven.” Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t put the Lord to the test.” Isaiah said: “Listen, house of David! Isn’t it enough to wear out people’s patience? Must you wear out God’s too? The Lord Himself will give you a sign: a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel, ‘God with us.’ He will eat curds and honey by the time he knows to reject evil and choose good. Before that child knows right from wrong, the lands of the two kings you dread will be deserted.”
10 Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.
13 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?
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
The razor Ahaz hired
The Lord will bring on you and your dynasty the worst days since Israel split from Judah: the king of Assyria. The Lord will whistle for Egypt like flies and for Assyria like bees, and they will settle everywhere. The Lord will use the razor you hired from beyond the Euphrates, the king of Assyria, to shave Judah’s head, body, and beard. In that day a man will keep only a young cow and two sheep, and the few people left will live on curds and honey. Prime vineyards worth a thousand silver pieces will turn into thorns and briers, fit only for hunting and grazing.
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.
Seeing Christ in Isaiah 7
Isaiah 7 gives us the name Immanuel, and with it the heart of the gospel: God with us. Matthew and Nephi both testify that it was fulfilled when Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary (Matt. 1:22–23; 1 Ne. 11:18–21).
Notice the chapter’s contrast. Ahaz wanted a powerful ally with him, and he chose Assyria. God offered to be with him, and he refused. The sign God gave anyway was a vulnerable baby, not an army. The Savior’s power has always come in that unexpected form: God with us in weakness, in poverty (“butter and honey”), in a manger. Yet He is the only ally who cannot become our razor.
Liken it to yourself
- When my “heart is moved as the trees of the wood,” what do I tend to hire for protection: money, connections, busyness, control? Are any of them razors in disguise?
- Verse 9 in paraphrase: If you don’t stand firm in faith, you won’t stand at all. What does it look like, concretely, to put my weight on the Lord’s promises this week?
- Ahaz covered his unbelief with pious words (verse 12). Do I ever use spiritual-sounding reasons to avoid doing what the Lord invites?
- What “smoking firebrands” in my life seem terrifying now but may already be burning out?
Worth exploring next
- Ahaz and Hezekiah at the same spot. Read Isaiah 7:1–12 and Isa. 36:1–37:7. Father and son face invasion at the same conduit of the upper pool. What does each one do?
- The Immanuel sequence. Isaiah 7–12 is sometimes called “the Book of Immanuel.” Follow the child through Isa. 8:8–10, Isa. 9:6–7, and Isa. 11:1–10. How does the picture grow?
- Nephi’s vision. Read 1 Ne. 11:13–33. How does Nephi’s vision of the virgin and her Son deepen Isaiah 7:14?
This chapter elsewhere in scripture
Nephi’s text of this chapter (2 Ne. 17) reads differently from the King James Version in 15 verses. The BoM markers show the 4 where more than a small word changes.
- 2 Ne. 17 — Nephi quotes the chapter.
- Matt. 1:22–23 — Matthew quotes verse 14 as fulfilled in Jesus’s birth.
- 2 Kgs. 16 — The historical account of Ahaz, Syria, Israel, and Assyria.
- 1 Ne. 11:13–21 — Nephi sees the virgin mother of the Son of God.
Sources & further reading
- “Immanuel”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Ahaz”, Bible Dictionary.
- Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997.
- Victor L. Ludlow, Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982.
- Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998.
- Terry B. Ball and Nathan Winn, Making Sense of Isaiah: Insights and Modern Applications, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009.
- Chapter 13: The Establishment of Zion (Isaiah 1–12), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).