I
S A I A H
CHAP. VII.
This
chapter is an occasional sermon, in which the prophet sings both of mercy and
judgment to those that did not perceive or understand either; he piped unto
them, but they danced not, mourned unto them, but they wept not. Here is, I.
The consternation that Ahaz was in upon an attempt of the confederate forces
of Syria and Israel
against Jerusalem, ver. 1, 2. II. The assurance which God, by
the prophet, sent him for his encouragement, that the attempt should be
defeated and Jerusalem
should be preserved, ver. 3-9. III. The
confirmation of this by a sign which God gave to Ahaz, when he refused to ask
one, referring to Christ, and our redemption by him, ver. 10-16. IV. A
threatening of the great desolation that God would bring upon Ahaz and his
kingdom by the Assyrians, notwithstanding their escape from this present
storm, because they went on still in their wickedness, ver. 17-25. And this is
written both for our comfort and for our admonition.
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The
Distress of Ahaz; Comfort Administered to Ahaz.
B.
C. 740.
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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 prophet Isaiah had his commission renewed in the year that king Uzziah
died, ch. vi. 1. Jotham his son reigned, and reigned well, sixteen
years. All that time, no doubt, Isaiah prophesied as he was commanded, and yet
we have not in this book any of his prophecies dated in the reign of Jotham;
but this, which is put first, was in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham. Many
excellent useful sermons he preached which were not published and left upon
record; for, if all that was memorable had been written, the world could
not have contained the books, John xxi. 25. Perhaps in the reign of Ahaz,
a wicked king, he had not opportunity to preach so much at court as in
Jotham's time, and therefore then he wrote the more, for a testimony against
them. Here is,
I. A very formidable design laid against Jerusalem by Rezin king of Syria and
Pekah king of Israel, two neighbouring potentates, who had of late made
descents upon Judah severally. At the end of the reign of Jotham, the Lord
began to send against Judah Rezin and Pekah, 2 Kings xv. 37. But now, in
the second or third year of the reign of Ahaz, encouraged by their former
successes, they entered into an alliance against Judah. Because Ahaz, though
he found the sword over his head, began his reign with idolatry, God
delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria and of the king of Israel
(2 Chron. xxviii. 5), and a great slaughter they made in his kingdom, v.
6, 7. Flushed with this victory, they went up towards Jerusalem, the royal
city, to war against it, to besiege it, and make themselves masters of it; but
it proved in the issue that they could not gain their point. Note, The sin of
a land brings foreign invasions upon it and betrays the most advantageous
posts and passes to the enemy; and God sometimes makes one wicked nation a
scourge to another; but judgment, ordinarily, begins at the house of God.
II. The great distress that Ahaz and his court were in when they received
advice of this design: It was told the house of David that Syria and
Ephraim had signed a league against Judah, v. 2. This degenerate royal
family is called the house of David, to put us in mind of that article
of God's covenant with David (Ps. lxxxix. 30-33), If his children forsake
my law, I will chasten their transgression with the rod; but my
loving-kindness will I not utterly take away, which is remarkably
fulfilled in this chapter. News being brought that the two armies of Syria and
Israel were joined, and had taken the field, the court, the city, and the
country, were thrown into consternation; The heart of Ahaz was moved with
fear, and then no wonder that the heart of his people was so, as the
trees of the wood are moved with the wind. They were tossed and shaken,
and put into a great disorder and confusion, were wavering and uncertain in
their counsels, hurried hither and thither, and could not fix in any steady
resolution. They yielded to the storm, and gave up all for gone, concluding it
in vain to make any resistance. Now that which caused this fright was the
sense of guilt and the weakness of their faith. They had made God their enemy,
and knew not how to make him their friend, and therefore their fears
tyrannised over them; while those whose consciences are kept void of
offence, and whose hearts are fixed, trusting in God, need not be afraid of
evil tidings; though the earth be removed, yet will not they fear; but the
wicked flee at the shaking of a leaf, Lev. xxvi. 36.
III. The orders and directions given to Isaiah to go and encourage Ahaz in his
distress; not for his own sake (he deserved to hear nothing from God but words
of terror, which might add affliction to his grief), but because he was a son
of David and king of Judah. God had kindness for him for his father's sake,
who must not be forgotten, and for his people's sake, who must not be
abandoned, but would be encouraged if Ahaz were. Observe,
1. God appointed the prophet to meet Ahaz, though he did not send to the
prophet to speak with him, nor desire him to enquire of the Lord for him (v.
3): Go to meet Ahaz. Note, God is often found of those who seek him
not, much more will he be found of those who seek him diligently. He speaks
comfort to many who not only are not worthy of it, but do not so much as
enquire after it.
2. He ordered him to take his little son with him, because he carried a sermon
in his name, Shear-jashub--A remnant shall return. The prophets
sometimes recorded what they preached in the significant names of their
children (as Hos. i. 4, 6, 9); therefore Isaiah's children are said to be for
signs, ch. viii. 18. This son was so called for the encouragement
of those of God's people who were carried captive, assuring them that they
should return, at least a remnant of them, which was more than they could
pretend to merit; yet at this time God was better than his word; for he took
care not only that a remnant should return, but the whole number of those whom
the confederate forces of Syria and Israel had taken prisoners, 2 Chron.
xxviii. 15.
3. He directed him where he should find Ahaz. He was to meet with him not in
the temple, or the synagogue, or royal chapel, but at the end of the
conduit of the upper pool, where he was, probably with many of his
servants about him, contriving how to order the water-works, so as to secure
them to the city, or deprive the enemy of the benefits of them (ch.
xxii. 9-11; 2 Chron. xxxii. 3, 4), or giving some necessary directions for the
fortifying of the city as well as they could; and perhaps finding every thing
in a bad posture or defence, the conduit out of repair, as well as other
things gone to decay, his fears increased, and he was now in greater
perplexity than ever; therefore, Go, meet him there. Note, God
sometimes sends comforts to his people very seasonably, and, what time they
are most afraid, encourages them to trust in him.
4. He put words in his mouth, else the prophet would not have known how to
bring a message of good to such a bad man, a sinner in Zion, that ought to be
afraid; but God intended it for the support of faithful Israelites.
(1.) The prophet must rebuke their fears, and advise them by no means to yield
to them, but keep their temper, and preserve the possession of their own souls
(v. 4): Take heed, and be quiet. Note, In order to comfort there
is need of caution; that we may be quiet, it is necessary that we take heed
and watch against those things that threaten to disquiet us. "Fear not
with this amazement, this fear, that weakens, and has torment; neither let
thy heart be tender, so as to melt and fail within thee; but pluck up thy
spirits, have a good heart on it, and be courageous; let not fear betray the
succours which reason and religion offer for thy support." Note, Those
who expect God should help them must help themselves, Ps. xxvii. 14.
(2.) He must teach them to despise their enemies, not in pride, or security,
or incogitancy (nothing more dangerous than so to despise an enemy), but in
faith and dependence upon God. Ahaz's fear called them two powerful politic
princes, for either of whom he was an unequal match, but, if united, he durst
not look them in the face, nor make head against them. "No," says
the prophet, "they are two tails of smoking firebrands; they are
angry, they are fierce, they are furious, as firebrands, as fireballs; and
they make one another worse by being in a confederacy, as sticks of fire put
together burn the more violently. But they are only smoking firebrands: and
where there is smoke there is some fire, but it may be not so much as was
feared. Their threatenings will vanish into smoke. Pharaoh king of Egypt is
but a noise (Jer. xlvi. 17), and Rezin king of Syria but a smoke; and such
are all the enemies of God's church, smoking flax, that will soon be
quenched. Nay, they are but tails of smoking firebrands, in a manner
burnt out already; their force is spent; they have consumed themselves with
the heat of their own anger; you may put your foot on them, and tread them
out." The two kingdoms of Syria and Israel were now near expiring. Note,
The more we have an eye to God as a consuming fire the less reason we shall
have to fear men, though they are ever so furious, nay, we shall be able to
despise them as smoking firebrands.
(3.) He must assure them that the present design of these high allies (so they
thought themselves) against Jerusalem should certainly be defeated and come to
nothing, v. 5-7. [1.] That very thing which Ahaz thought most
formidable is made the ground of their defeat--and that was the depth of their
designs and the height of their hopes: "Therefore they shall be
baffled and sent back with shame, because they have taken evil counsel
against thee, which is an offence to God. These firebrands are a smoke
in his nose (ch. lxv. 5), and therefore must be extinguished."
First, They are very spiteful and malicious, and, therefore they shall
not prosper. Judah had done them no wrong; they had no pretence to quarrel
with Ahaz; but, without any reason, they said, Let us go up against Judah,
and vex it. Note, Those that are vexatious cannot expect to be prosperous,
those that love to do mischief cannot expect to do well. Secondly, They
are very secure, and confident of success. They will vex Judah by going up
against it; yet that is not all: they do not doubt but to make a breach in the
wall of Jerusalem wide enough for them to march their army in at; or they
count upon dissecting or dividing the kingdom into two parts, one for the king
of Israel, the other for the king of Syria, who had agreed in one viceroy--a
king to be set in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal, some
obscure person, it is uncertain whether a Syrian or an Israelite. So sure were
they of gaining their point that they divided the prey before they had caught
it. Note, Those that are most scornful are commonly least successful, for
surely God scorns the scorners. [2.] God himself gives them his word that the
attempt should not take effect (v. 7): "Thus saith the Lord
God, the sovereign Lord of all, who brings the counsel of the heathen
to naught (Ps. xxxiii. 10), It shall not stand, neither shall it come
to pass; their measures shall all be broken, and they shall not be able to
bring to pass their enterprise." Note, Whatever stands against God, or
thinks to stand without him, cannot stand long. Man purposes, but God
disposes; and who is he that saith and it cometh to pass if the Lord
commands it not or countermands it? Lam. iii. 37. See Prov. xix. 21.
(4.) He must give them a prospect of the destruction of these enemies, at
last, that were now such a terror to them. [1.] They should neither of them
enlarge their dominions, nor push their conquests any further; The head
city of Syria is Damascus, and the head man of Damascus is Rezin; this he
glories in, and this let him be content with, v. 8. The head city of
Ephraim has long been Samaria, and the head man in Samaria is now
Pekah the son of Remaliah. These shall be made to know their own, their
bounds are fixed, and they shall not pass them, to make themselves masters of
the cities of Judah, much less to make Jerusalem their prey. Note, As God has
appointed men the bounds of their habitation (Acts xvii. 26), so he has
appointed princes the bounds of their dominion, within which they ought to
confine themselves, and not encroach upon their neighbours' rights. [2.]
Ephraim, which perhaps was the more malicious and forward enemy of the two,
should shortly be quite rooted out, and should be so far from seizing other
people's lands that they should not be able to hold their own. Interpreters
are much at a loss how to compute the sixty-five years within which Ephraim
shall cease to be a people; for the captivity of the ten tribes was but
eleven years after this: and some make it a mistake of the transcriber, and
think it should be read within six and five years, just eleven. But it
is hard to allow that. Others make it to be sixty-five years from the time
that the prophet Amos first foretold the ruin of the kingdom of the ten
tribes; and some late interpreters make it to look as far forward as the last
desolation of that country by Esarhaddon, which was about sixty-five years
after this; then Ephraim was so broken that it was no more a people. Now it
was the greatest folly in the world for those to be ruining their neighbours
who were themselves marked for ruin, and so near to it. See what a prophet
told them at this time, when they were triumphing over Judah, 2 Chron. xxviii.
10. Are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?
(5.) He must urge them to mix faith with those assurances which he had given
them (v. 9): "If you will not believe what is said to you, surely
you shall not be established; your shaken and disordered state shall not
be established, your unquiet unsettled spirit shall not; though the things
told you are very encouraging, yet they will not be so to you, unless you
believe them, and be willing to take God's word." Note, The grace of
faith is absolutely necessary to the quieting and composing of the mind in the
midst of all the tosses of this present time, 2 Chron. xx. 20.
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The
Promise of Immanuel.
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B.
C. 740.
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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.
Here, I. God, by the prophet, makes a gracious offer to Ahaz, to confirm the
foregoing predictions, and his faith in them, by such sign or miracle as he
should choose (v. 10, 11): Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God;
See here the divine faithfulness and veracity. God tells us nothing but what
he is able and ready to prove. See his wonderful condescension to the children
of men, in that he is so willing to show to the heirs of promise the
immutability of his counsel, Heb. vi. 17. He considers our frame, and
that, living in a world of sense, we are apt to require sensible proofs, which
therefore he has favoured us with in sacramental signs and seals. Ahaz was a
bad man, yet God is called the Lord his God, because he was a child of Abraham
and David, and of the covenants made with them. See how gracious God is even
to the evil and unthankful; Ahaz is bidden to choose his sign, as Gideon about
the fleece (Judg. vi. 37); let him ask for a sign in the air, or earth, or
water, for God's power is the same in all.
II. Ahaz rudely refuses this gracious offer, and (which is not mannerly
towards any superior) kicks at the courtesy, and puts a slight upon it (v.
12): I will not ask. The true reason why he would not ask for a sign
was because, having a dependence upon the Assyrians, their forces, and their
gods, for help, he would not thus far be beholden to the God of Israel, or lay
himself under obligations to him. He would not ask a sign for the confirming
of his faith because he resolved to persist in his unbelief, and would indulge
his doubts and distrusts; yet he pretends a pious reason: I will not tempt
the Lord; as if it would be a tempting of God to do that which God himself
invited and directed him to do. Note, A secret disaffection to God is often
disguised with the specious colours of respect to him; and those who are
resolved that they will not trust God yet pretend that they will not tempt
him.
III. The prophet reproves him and his court, him and the house of David, the
whole royal family, for their contempt of prophecy, and the little value they
had for divine revelation (v. 13) "Is it a small thing for you
to weary men by your oppression and tyranny, with which you make
yourselves burdensome and odious to all mankind? But will you weary my God
also with the affronts you put upon him?" As the unjust judge that
neither feared God nor regarded man, Luke xviii. 2. You have wearied
the Lord with your words, Mal. ii. 17. Nothing is more grievous to the God
of heaven than to be distrusted. "Will you weary my God? Will you
suppose him to be tired and unable to help you, or to be weary of doing you
good? Whereas the youths may faint and be weary, you may have tired all
your friends, the Creator of the ends of the earth faints not, neither is
weary." ch. xl. 28-31. Or this: "In affronting the
prophets, you think you put a slight only upon men like yourselves, and
consider not that you affront God himself, whose messengers they are, and put
a slight upon him, who will resent it accordingly." The prophet here
calls God his God with a great deal of pleasure: Ahaz would not say, He is my
God, though the prophet had invited him to say so (v. 11): The Lord
thy God; but Isaiah will say, "He is mine." Note, Whatever
others do, we must avouch the Lord for ours and abide by him.
IV. The prophet, in God's name, gives them a sign: "You will not ask a
sign, but the unbelief of man shall not make the promise of God of no effect: The
Lord himself shall give you a sign (v. 14), a double sign."
1. "A sign in general of his good-will to Israel and to the house of
David. You may conclude it that he has mercy in store for you, and that you
are not forsaken of your God, how great soever your present distress and
danger are; for of your nation, of your family, the Messiah is to be born, and
you cannot be destroyed while that blessing is in you, which shall be
introduced," (1.) "In a glorious manner; for, whereas you have been
often told that he should be born among you, I am now further to tell you that
he shall be born of a virgin, which will signify both the divine power and the
divine purity with which he shall be brought into the world,--that he shall be
a extraordinary person, for he shall not be born by ordinary generation,--and
that he shall be a holy thing, not stained with the common pollutions of the
human nature, therefore incontestably fit to have the throne of his father
David given him." Now this, though it was to be accomplished above 500
years after, was a most encouraging sign to the house of David (and to them,
under that title, this prophecy is directed, v. 13) and an assurance
that God would not cast them off. Ephraim did indeed envy Judah (ch.
xi. 13) and sought the ruin of that kingdom, but could not prevail; for the
sceptre should never depart from Judah till the coming of Shiloh, Gen. xlix.
10. Those whom God designs for the great salvation may take that for a sign to
them that they shall not be swallowed up by any trouble they meet with in the
way. (2.) The Messiah shall be introduced on a glorious errand, wrapped up in
his glorious name: They shall call his name Immanuel--God with us, God
in our nature, God at peace with us, in covenant with us. This was fulfilled
in their calling him Jesus--a Saviour (Matt. i. 21-25), for, if he had
not been Immanuel--God with us, he could not have been Jesus--a
Saviour. Now this was a further sign of God's favour to the house of David
and the tribe of Judah; for he that intended to work this great salvation
among them no doubt would work out for them all those other salvations which
were to be the types and figures of this, and as it were preludes to this.
"Here is a sign for you, not in the depth nor in the height, but in the
prophecy, in the promise, in the covenant made with David, which you are no
strangers to. The promised seed shall be Immanuel, God with us; let
that word comfort you (ch. viii. 10), that God is with us, and (v.
8) that your land is Immanuel's land. Let not the heart of the house of
David be moved thus (v. 2), nor let Judah fear the setting up of
the son of Tabeal (v. 6), for nothing can cut off the entail on the Son
of David that shall be Immanuel." Note, The strongest consolations, in
time of trouble, are those which are borrowed from Christ, our relation to
him, our interest in him, and our expectations of him and from him. Of this
child it is further foretold (v. 15) that though he shall not be born
like other children, but of a virgin, yet he shall be really and truly man,
and shall be nursed and brought up like other children: Butter and honey
shall he eat, as other children do, particularly the children of that land
which flowed with milk and honey. Though he be conceived by the power
of the Holy Ghost, yet he shall not therefore be fed with angels' food, but,
as it becomes him, shall be in all things made like unto his brethren,
Heb. ii. 17. Nor shall he, though born thus by extraordinary generation, be a
man immediately, but, as other children, shall advance gradually through the
several states of infancy, childhood, and youth, to that of manhood, and
growing in wisdom and stature, shall at length wax strong in spirit, and come
to maturity, so as to know how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
See Luke ii. 40, 52. Note, Children are fed when they are little that they may
be taught and instructed when they have grown up; they have their maintenance
in order to their education.
2. Here is another sign in particular of the speedy destruction of these
potent princes that were now a terror to Judah, v. 16. "Before this
child (so it should be read), this child which I have now in my arms" (he
means not Immanuel, but Shear-jashub his own son, whom he was ordered to take
with him for a sign, v. 3), "before this child shall know how
to refuse the evil and choose the good" (and those who saw what his
present stature and forwardness were would easily conjecture how long that
would be), "before this child be three or four years older, the land
that thou abhorrest, these confederate forces of Israelites and Syrians,
which thou hast such an enmity to and standest in such dread of, shall be
forsaken of both their kings, both Pekah and Rezin," who were in so
close an alliance that they seemed as if they were the kings of but one
kingdom. This was fully accomplished; for within two or three years after
this, Hoshea conspired against Pekah, and slew him (2 Kings xv. 30), and,
before that, the king of Assyria took Damascus, and slew Rezin, 2 Kings xvi.
9. Nay, there was a present event, which happened immediately, and when this
child carried the prediction of in his name, which was a pledge and earnest of
this future event. Shear-jashub signifies The remnant shall return,
which doubtless points at the wonderful return of those 200,000 captives whom
Pekah and Rezin had carried away, who were brought back, not by might or
power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. Read the story, 2 Chron.
xxviii. 8-15. The prophetical naming of this child having thus had its
accomplishment, no doubt this, which was further added concerning him, should
have its accomplishment likewise, that Syria and Israel should be deprived of
both their kings. One mercy from God encourages us to hope for another, if it
engages us to prepare for another.
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Judgments
Announced.
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B.
C. 740.
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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.
After the comfortable promises made to Ahaz as a branch of the house of David,
here follow terrible threatenings against him, as a degenerate branch of that
house; for though the loving-kindness of God shall not be utterly taken away,
for the sake of David and the covenant made with him, yet his iniquity shall
be chastened with the rod, and his sin with stripes. Let those that
will not mix faith with the promises of God expect to hear the alarms of his
threatenings.
I. The judgment threatened is very great, v. 17. It is very great, for
it is general; it shall be brought upon the prince himself (high as he is, he
shall not be out of the reach of it), and upon the people, the whole body of
the nation, and upon the royal family, upon all thy father's house;
it shall be a judgment entailed on posterity, and shall go along with the
royal blood. It is very great, for it shall be unprecedented--days that
have not come; so dark, so gloomy, so melancholy, as never were the like
since the revolt of the ten tribes, when Ephraim departed from Judah, which
was indeed a sad time to the house of David. Note, The longer men continue in
sin the sorer punishments they have reason to expect. It is the Lord that will
bring these days upon them, for our times are in his hand, and who can resist
or escape the judgments he brings?
II. The enemy that should be employed as the instrument of this judgment is
the king of
Assyria
. Ahaz reposed great confidence in that prince for help against the
confederate powers of Israel and Syria, and minded the less what God said to
him by his prophet for his encouragement because he built much upon his
interest in the king of Assyria, and had meanly promised to be his servant if
he would send him some succours; he had also, made him a present of gold and
silver, for which he drained the treasures both of church and state, 2 Kings
xvi. 7, 8. Now God threatens that that king of
Assyria
whom he made his stay instead of God should become a scourge to him. He was so
speedily; for, when he came to him, he distressed him, but strengthened him
not (2 Chron. xxviii. 20), the reed not only broke under him, but ran into
his hand, and pierced it, and thenceforward the kings of Assyria were, for a
long time, grieving thorns to Judah, and gave them a great deal of trouble.
Note, The creature that we make our hope commonly proves our hurt. The king of
Assyria, not long after this, made himself master of the ten tribes, carried
them captive, and laid their country waste, so as fully to answer the
prediction here; and perhaps it may refer to that, as an explication of v.
8, where it is foretold that Ephraim shall be broken, that it shall not be a
people; and it is easy to suppose that the prophet (at v. 17) turns his
speech to the king of Israel, denouncing God's judgments against him for
invading Judah. But the expositors universally understand it of Ahaz and his
kingdom. Now observe, 1. Summons given to the invaders (v. 18): The
Lord shall whistle for the fly and the bee. See ch. v. 26. Enemies
that seem as contemptible as a fly or a bee, and are as easily crushed, shall
yet, when God pleases, do his work as effectually as lions and young lions.
Though they are as far distant from one another as the rivers of Egypt and the
land of Assyria, yet they shall punctually meet to join in this work when God
commands their attendance; for, when God has work to do, he will not be at a
loss for instruments to do it with. 2. Possession taken by them, v. 19.
It should seem as if the country were in no condition to make resistance. They
find no difficulties in forcing their way, but come and rest all of them in
the desolate valleys, which the inhabitants had deserted upon the first
alarm, and left them a cheap and easy prey to the invaders. They shall come
and rest in the low grounds like swarms of flies and bees, and shall render
themselves impregnable by taking shelter in the holes of the rocks, as bees
often do, and showing themselves formidable by appearing openly upon all
thorns and all bushes; so generally shall the land be overspread with them.
These bees shall knit upon the thorns and bushes, and there rest undisturbed.
3. Great desolations made, and the country generally depopulated (v.
20): The Lord shall shave the hair of the head, and beard, and feet; he
shall sweep all away, as the leper, when he was cleansed, shaved off all
his hair, Lev. xiv. 8, 9. This is done with a razor which is hired, either
which God has hired (as if he had none of his own; but what he hires, and whom
he employs in any service for him, he will pay for. See Ezek. xxix. 18, 19),
or which Ahaz has hired for his assistance. God will make that to be an
instrument of his destruction which he hired into his service. Note, Many are
beaten with that arm of flesh which they trusted to rather than to the arm of
the Lord, and which they were at a great expense upon, when by faith and
prayer they might have found cheap and easy succour in God. 4. The
consequences of this general depopulation. (1.) The flocks of cattle shall be
all destroyed, so that a man who had herds and flocks in abundance shall be
stripped of them all by the enemy, and shall with much ado save for his own
use a young cow and two sheep--a poor stock (v. 21), yet he shall think
himself happy in having any left. (2.) The few cattle that are left shall have
such a large compass of ground to feed in that they shall give abundance of
milk, and very good milk, such as shall produce butter enough, v.
22. There shall also be such want of men that the milk of one cow and two
sheep shall serve a whole family, which used to keep abundance of servants and
consume a great deal, but is now reduced. (3.) The breed of cattle shall be
destroyed; so that those who used to eat flesh ( as the Jews commonly did)
shall be necessitated to confine themselves to butter and honey, for there
shall be no flesh for them; and the country shall be so depopulated that there
shall be butter and honey enough for the few that are left in it. (4.) Good
land, that used to be let well, shall be all overrun with briers and thorns (v.
23); where there used to be a thousand vines planted, for which the tenants
used to pay a thousand shekels, or pieces of silver, yearly rent, there shall
be nothing now but briers and thorns, no profit either for landlord or tenant,
all being laid waste by the army of the invaders. Note, God can soon turn a
fruitful land into barrenness; and it is just with him to turn vines into
briers if we, instead of bringing forth grapes to him, bring forth wild
grapes, ch. v. 4. (5.) The implements of husbandry shall be turned into
instruments of war, v. 24. The whole land having become briers and
thorns, the grounds that men used to come to with sickles and pruning-hooks to
gather in the fruits they shall now come to with arrows and bows, to hunt for
wild beasts in the thickets, or to defend themselves from the robbers that
lurk in the bushes, seeking for prey, or to kill the serpents and venomous
beasts that are hid there. This denotes a very sad change of the face of that
pleasant land. But what melancholy change is there which sin will not make
with a people? (6.) Where briers and thorns were wont to be of use and to do
good service, even in the hedges, for the defence of the enclosed grounds,
they shall be plucked up, and all laid in common. There shall be briers and
thorns in abundance where they should not be, but none where they should be, v.
25. The hills that shall be digged with the mattock, for special use,
from which the cattle used to be kept off with the fear of briers and thorns,
shall now be thrown open, the hedges broken down for the boar out of the
wood to waste it, Ps. lxxx. 12, 13. It shall be left at large for oxen to
run in and less cattle. See the effect of sin and the curse; it has made the
earth a forest of thorns and thistles, except as it is forced into some order
by the constant care and labour of man. And see what folly it is to set our
hearts upon possessions of lands, be they every so fruitful, ever so pleasant;
if they lie ever so little neglected and uncultivated, or if they be abused by
a wasteful careless heir or tenant, or the country be laid waste by war, they
will soon become frightful deserts. Heaven is a paradise not subject to such
changes.
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