Isaiah 7:1, 2 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… The historical circumstances connected with this and the following two chapters throw light on the object and meaning of the prophecy. At the close of Jotham's reign, both the neighboring nations of Israel and of Syria invaded the country of Judah, wasting and desolating it. Now, in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, they agreed to unite their forces, and so they hoped to take even the chief city, dethrone the reigning king, and partition the land between them. News of this confederacy reached Ahaz, and produced the utmost consternation and bewilderment both in him and in the people of Jerusalem. Hurried efforts were made to fortify the city, and especially to secure the water-stores, on which their ability to stand a siege so directly depended. Plans were also formed to secure the help of the King of Assyria, though the price of such help would too surely be the loss of national independence, and the payment of tribute to Assyria. In those degenerate days few people even thought of seeking help from Jehovah, the mighty God of their fathers. While busy, inspecting the waterworks, and probably filled with new anxiety on finding them neglected and out of repair, Ahaz sees the prophet of Jehovah approach. Isaiah's message is full of mercy and encouragement. He would quiet the unreasoning and unreasonable fears of the king; he speaks slightingly of Rezin and Pekah, as only two tails of smoking firebrands, whose strength is almost spent; they can only smoke, not blaze, and their kingdoms are hasting to decay. He bids the king not to think for a moment of leaning on Assyria, but to trust in the living God. He graciously offers, in God's Name, a sign for the confirming of his faith, bidding Ahaz even choose such a one as he felt would convince him. The king stubbornly refuses; and then Isaiah gives one, after sternly rebuking the false humility of the king. The sign is a figurative and poetical assurance that, within some three or four years, the power of his present enemies would be utterly broken. And then mercy passes into judgment, and the prophet sternly reveals the consequences that will follow any leaning upon Assyria. In the text we have a state of public affairs that might well cause alarm, and we dwell on the spirit in which times of national peril may and should be met. I. NATIONAL CALAMITY WITHOUT THOUGHT OF GOD THE OVERRULER. Just this we have in the historical connection of the text. Viewed politically, there were grave and perilous complications. Assyria was pushing its way towards the Mediterranean. Syria and Israel were in its way. Instead of resisting their more serious Eastern foe, they confederated to injure the small country of Judah, which blocked their way southwards towards Egypt. Rezin had seized Elath, Judah's great commercial port on the Red Sea, and Pekah had overrun the territory of Judah. There was a general panic. King and people alike asked - How could they resist this combination of the neighboring countries against them? A great fear possessed the king, and drove him to the most impolitic action he could possibly take. Having no sense of reliance on God, consciously severed by his willfulness from God, he sought alliance with Assyria, and brought ruin on himself and his neighbor-foes. The figure of the trees waving to and fro confusedly in the wind, is expressive of the man who is not stayed on God, but left to the uncertainties of a judgment based only on circumstances. II. NATIONAL CALAMITY WITH THE THOUGHT OF GOD THE OVERRULER. This is the contrast suggested in the passage, If Ahaz had been a God-fearing man, how differently he would have locked on these circumstances! If he had been a David, or a Jehoshaphat, or a Hezekiah, a man with the fear of God before his eyes, he would have met the perilous conditions with calmness, and seen in them an occasion for (1) special prayer; (2) renewed dependence; (3) and the testing of the sincerity of his trust; (4) also a call to watching for the Divine will; (5) and the requirement to set himself in an attitude of obedience, ready at once, and heartily, to follow the Divine lead. Apply to modern complexities of party politics and international complications, as well as to times of national calamity, by disease, or by depressed trade. Show what a vantage-ground he occupies who believes in God as the God of nations, looks for his providential rulings and overrulings, and knows that he "makes the wrath of man praise him, and restrains the remainder of that wrath." Show how quiet a nation may be when it knows that national polity is directed in the fear of him who must be called the "God of the whole earth." - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
    |