Ahaz Warned to Trust God

Isaiah 7:1-25

“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 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.” (Isaiah 7:1-2)

Ahaz, the third king Isaiah prophesied under was Uzziah’s grandson.  He did not serve the Lord, and this prophecy is a warning to him about things to come.  Syria and Israel had both been attacking Judah but neither had been able to defeat it.  When Ahaz received word that they had formed and alliance to work together, he and the people were upset and emotionally tossed around like the branches of a tree in the wind. 

“Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now 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; 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.

Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, 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 the son of Tabeal: Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.  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.  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.” (Isaiah 7:3-9)

God sent Isaiah and his son Shearjashub to meet Ahaz near the end of the tunnel which carried water to the upper reservoir.  They were to tell Ahaz not to be worried about the actions of the two trouble makers, Rezin of Syria or Pekah of Israel.  Though they had agreed to unite and defeat Judah and install their own government, God said it would never happen.  Syria was depending on the power of Damascus and her king Rezin to get the victory, and Israel was depending on their government in Samaria and king Pekah to win the victory.  Even united they were no match for God’s power.   In fact he told them that Israel would go completely out of existence within sixty five years.    He went on to warn that if Ahaz could not trust God’s promise, his kingdom would not last. 

“Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.

But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.

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?” (Isaiah 7:10-13)

God offered to show Ahaz whatever sign he might choose to prove that the promise that Syria and Israel would not succeed.   In a burst of fake spirituality, Ahaz rejected the Lord’s offer saying it would be wrong to ask, even though God had offered.  God said it was bad enough when they tried to fool people with their fake spirituality, but it was foolish to think they could fool God as well.  Because they were not interested in a sign about what would happen in the near future God would give them a sign for the more distant future. 

 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” (Isaiah 7:14-15)

About seven hundred years in the future, Christ would be born of the Virgin Mary.  He would be called Immanuel, or God with us.  He would experience some of the blessings of god and learn to make proper choices between good and evil.

“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 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.” (Isaiah 7:16-17)

Long before the Messiah came, both Israel and Judah would lose their kings because they didn’t consider the land worth enough to follow God.  Judah itself would go through worse things than they had experienced since Israel separated into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah just after Solomon’s death, some two hundred fifty years before.  The immediate threat would be the King of Assyria. 

“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.  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.   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.” (Isaiah 7:18-20)

Both Egypt and Assyria would buzz around Israel and Judah looking for opportunities to gain control, seizing any open areas for their own.  The Assyrians would be hired to protect Judah, but would turn on her instead taking away everything.  II Kings 16 and II Chronicles 28 describe the events.  II Chronicles 28:20-21 describes what the Assyrians did.  “And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.  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.”  It was exactly what God had warned would happen. 

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; 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.  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.

With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.  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.” (Isaiah 7:21-25)

When both Israel and Judah were destroyed, ther e would be a period when the cultivated fields would revert back to a natural state.  Lands that had once supported a thousand huge old grape vines, worth  a thousand silver dollars apiece would produce nothing but wild briars and weeds.  The cultivated fields would be completely overgrown with grass so that even the weeds didn’t grow, and th eland would be used solely for grazing.  The herdsmen would live well because there was no place their livestock could not graze.

This last part of the prophecy would not be fulfilled until after Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, and the Jews he left to care for the fields fled to Egypt, over a hundred fifty years later.