Isaiah 7:6

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: LET US GO UP AGAINST JUDAH, AND VEX IT - throw it into consternation (Gesenius) [nªqiytsenaah, from quwts (H6972), to affect with weariness]. Let us weary it out with a long siege (Mercer). So the same verb means in Proverbs 3:11. LET US MAKE A BREACH - rather, cleave it asunder. The Hebrew verb baaqa` (H1234), to divide in two. Their scheme was to divide a large portion of the territory between themselves, and set up a vassal-king of their own over the rest. SON OF TABEAL - unknown; a Syrian sounding name, perhaps...

6._Let us go up_. That is, _Let us make an invasion _ נקיצנה (_nekitzennah_) is rendered by some, _Let us distress _or _afflict_; which is also expressed by the derivation of the word. But in this conjugation it rather signifies “to stir up and arouse.” Though I do not reject the former interpretation, yet I prefer the latter, because it agrees better with the scope of the passage. Again, I understand the word _arouse _as meaning to _disturb_, and to cause revolutions; as we commonly say, _to raise disturbances_, (104) so as not to allow the tranquillity of that kingdom to be preserved. _Let us open it to us. _The following word, נבקיענה, (_nabkignennah_,) is interpreted by some, _Let us break into it _(105) Others render it, Let us cause it to brea

1-9 Ungodly men are often punished by others as bad as themselves. Being in great distress and confusion, the Jews gave up all for lost. They had made God their enemy, and knew not how to make him their friend. The prophet must teach them to despise their enemies, in faith and dependence on God. Ahaz, in fear, called them two powerful princes. No, says the prophet, they are but tails of smoking firebrands, burnt out already. The two kingdoms of Syria and Israel were nearly expiring. While God has work for the firebrands of the earth, they consume all before them; but when their work is fulfilled, they will be extinguished in smoke. That which Ahaz thought most formidable, is made the ground of their defeat; because they have taken evil counsel against thee; which is an offence to God. God scorns the scorners, and gives his word that the attempt should not succeed. Man purposes, but God...

AND VEX IT - Margin, ‘Weaken it.’ Probably the word means to throw into consternation or fear, by besieging it - “Gesenius.” AND LET US MAKE A BREACH THEREIN - Let us break down the walls, etc. AND SET A KING - Subdue it, and make it tributary to the allied kingdoms of Syria and Ephraim. THE SON OF TABEAL - Nothing more is known of this person. He might have been some disaffected member of the royal family of David, who had sought the aid of Rezin and Pekah, and who would be allied to them, or tributary to them. It is possible that he had already a party in Jerusalem in his favor; compare Isaiah 8:12. Probably, the two kings wished to cut off such portions of the territory of Judah as should be convenient to them, and to set a king ove

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

LET US GO UP AGAINST JUDAH, AND VEX IT,.... By besieging or distressing it; or "stir it up" to war, as Jarchi interprets it: AND LET US MAKE A BREACH THEREIN FOR US; in the walls of the city of Jerusalem, and enter in at it; the Targum is, "let us join, and put it to us;'' and so Jarchi, let us level it with us, as this valley, which is even: the sense may be, let us make a breach and division among them, and then part the kingdom between us c; or if we cannot agree on that, let us set up a king of our own, as follows: AND SET A KING IN THE MIDST OF IT, [EVEN] THE SON OF TABEAL; which Jarchi, by a situation of the alphabet the Jews call "albam", makes it to be the same with Remala, that is, Remaliah; and so supposes, that the intention was to set Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, over Judah; but it is not reasonable to think that the king of Syria should join in such a design;...

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 ...

VEX. terrify. THE SON OF TABEAL: i.e. Rezin, king of Syria....