Isaiah 7:16

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. FOR BEFORE THE CHILD SHALL KNOW TO REFUSE THE EVIL (HEBREW, IN RESPECT TO THE EVIL), AND CHOOSE THE GOOD (Hebrew, in respect to the good). The alarm as to the foe, and the distress as to food (Isaiah 7:14) shall last only until the child grows to know good and evil: for, etc. THE LAND THAT THOU ABHORREST SHALL BE FORSAKEN OF BOTH HER KINGS - rather desolate shall be the land, before the face of whose two kings thou art alarmed (DeDieu and Gesenius). THE LAND - namely, Syria and Samaria regarded as one, just two years after this prophecy, lost both the kings, as it foretells. Hoshea, the son of Elah, conspired against Pekah, and slew him. Tigla...

16._Before the child shall know. _Many have been led into a mistake by connecting this verse with the preceding one, as if it had been the same child that was mentioned. They suppose that it assigns the reason, and that the particle כי (_ki_) means _for _(110) But if we carefully examine the Prophet’s meaning, it will quickly be apparent that he leaves the general doctrine, to which he had made a short digression, and returns to his immediate subject. After having founded the hope of the preservation of the city on the promised Mediator, he now shows in what way it will be preserved. _The child. _I interpret this word as referring, not to Christ, but to all children in general. Here I differ from all the commentators; for they think that the demonstrative ה points out a particular child. But I view...

10-16 Secret disaffection to God is often disguised with the colour of respect to him; and those who are resolved that they will not trust God, yet pretend they will not tempt him. The prophet reproved Ahaz and his court, for the little value they had for Divine revelation. Nothing is more grievous to God than distrust, but the unbelief of man shall not make the promise of God of no effect; the Lord himself shall give a sign. How great soever your distress and danger, of you the Messiah is to be born, and you cannot be destroyed while that blessing is in you. It shall be brought to pass in a glorious manner; and the strongest consolations in time of trouble are derived from Christ, our relation to him, our interest in him, our expectations of him and from him. He would grow up like other children, by the use of the diet of those countries; but he would, unlike other children, uniformly...

THE LAND THAT THOU ABHORREST - The land concerning which thou art so much “alarmed or distressed;” that is, the united land of Syria and Ephraim. It is mentioned here as ‘the land,’ or as one land, because they were united then in a firm alliance, so as to constitute, in fact, or for the purposes of invasion and conquest, one people or nation. The phrase, ‘which thou abhorrest,’ means properly, which thou loathest, the primary idea of the word - קוץ _qûts_ - being to feel a nausea, or to vomit. It then means to fear, or to feel alarm; and this, probably, is the meaning here. Abaz, however, evidently looked upon the nations of Syria and Samaria with disgust, as well as with alarm. This is the construction which is given of this passage by the Vulgate, Calvin, Grotius, Junins, Gataker, and Piscator, as well as by our common version. Another construction, however, has been given of the pas...

SECTION IV. PROPHECIES CONNECTED WITH THE SYRO-ISRAELITE WAR (Isaiah 7-10:4). EXPOSITION ISAIAH 7:1 THE PROPHECY GIVEN TO AHAZ AT THE TIME OF THE SYRO-ISRAELITISH WAR. The Syro-Israelitish war is touched on both in Kings and Chronicles. In Kings the alliance between Rezin and Pekah is distinctly declared, as also the fact that they conjointly besieged Jerusalem (2 Kings 16:5). From Chronicles we lear

FOR BEFORE THE CHILD SHALL KNOW TO REFUSE THE EVIL, AND CHOOSE THE GOOD,.... This may be understood of Isaiah's child, Shearjashub, he had along with him, he was bid to take with him; and who therefore must be supposed to bear some part, or answer some end or other, in this prophecy; which it is very probable may be this, viz. to assure Ahaz and the house of David that the land which was abhorred by them should be forsaken of both its kings, before the child that was with him was grown to years of discretion; though it may be understood of any child, and so of the Messiah; and the sense be, that before any child, or new born babe, such an one as is promised, Isaiah 7:14, arrives to years of discretion, even in the space of a few years, this remarkable deliverance should be wrought, and the Jews freed from all fears of being destroyed by these princes: the land that thou abhorres

Isaiah 7:1. _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. 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._ They were tossed to and fro, bent, thrown down, as the trees of a forest in a tornado. They had already felt the power of these two confederate kings, and they were terribly afraid. David himself would have had confidence in God; but «the house of David» had gone far astray. Ahaz had cast off the fear of God, and he had therefore great fear of men. Isaiah 7:3

CHAPTER 7 The Prophet before King Ahaz 1. _The king in trouble (Isaiah 7:1)_ 2. _Isaiah sent and his message (Isaiah 7:3)_ 3. _A sign offered and refused (Isaiah 7:10)_ 4. _The sign: The virgin birth (Isaiah 7:13)_ 5. _The advent of the Assyrian (Isaiah 7:17)_ Study carefully the historic setting of this chapter and2 Chronicles 28:1-27 7. See lecture on “Messianic Predictions.” In verse 14 the virgin birth of Christ is announced. Much of the controversy is around the word “virgin” (almah), which the critics declare does not m

ISAIAH GIVES AHAZ THE ENCOURAGING SIGN OF IMMANUEL WHEN HE IS DISMAYED BY THE ALLIANCE OF SYRIA AND EPHRAIM AGAINST HIM. For the historical circumstances see pp. 59, 70f. Apart from Isaiah 7:1, which is derived from 2 Kings 16:5 and is out of chronological order, this section seems to have been written by an editor on the basis of Isaiah's autobiography (contrast the 1st person of the preceding chapter with the 3rd of this). The alarm, described in the picturesque metaphor of Isaiah 7:2, specially affected the house of David, since its position was menaced by the project of the allies to abolish the Davidic dynasty and install a creature of their own. The news which caused such dismay was that Syria had alighted on Ephraim ...

FOR BEFORE. This was the sign to Ahaz and all present. Compare the further sign, Isaiah 8:4, and see App-101. CHILD. sucking child. THE LAND. the soil. ABHORREST: or vexest. SHALL BE FORSAKEN. So it came to pass two years later. Compare 2 Kings 15:30; 2 Kings 16:9. See note on Isaiah 1:4. OF. because of. Connect this with "abhorrest", not with "forsaken". BOTH HER KINGS: i.e. Pekah and Rezin (Isaiah 7:1)....