Season 6, Podcast 52, Isaiah 7:1-16, “Shall Call His Name Immanuel.” Artwork

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Season 6, Podcast 52, Isaiah 7:1-16, “Shall Call His Name Immanuel.”

April 30, 2025 • Ronald • Season 5 • Episode 52

Season 6, Podcast 52, Isaiah 7:1-16, “Shall Call His Name Immanuel.”

This is a time of enormous turmoil for the Jews. Shortly after the death of King Solomon, about 930 BC, due to heavy taxes, the ten northern tribes under the leadership of Jeroboam I rejected Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, and formed their own kingdom, known as the Northern Kingdom. The Northern tribes consisted of Reuben, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim, and Manasseh. The Southern Kingdom, consisting of Judah and Benjamin, remained in Jerusalem. About 200 years later the Northern Kingdom was conquered by Assyria, around 722 BC. Many were assimilated into the Assyrian empire. Gradually they migrated or were scattered. They have since been known as the Ten Lost Tribes.

In the opening of Isaiah 7, Rezin, the King of Syria, and Pekah, King of Israel, declare war against Judah. They want Ahaz, King of Judah (around 735 to 715 BC) to form an alliance with them against Assyria. When Ahaz refuses, Rezin and Pekah invade Judah around 735 BC. They are unsuccessful. King Ahaz wants to form an alliance with Assyria.

The King of Assyria attacks Israel, the northern tribes. Pekah, King of Israel, is assassinated by Hoshea who became the last King of Israel. After that they become known as the Ten Lost Tribes. There are many theories, but no one really knows where they went.

The Lord is not pleased with Israel or Judah. The above is the context in which Isaiah 7 is written.

Isaiah 7:1

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.

King Ahaz, does not have the faith or the righteousness of his Father, Jotham. Ahaz and Judah are terrified. Rather than seeking help from the Lord, Ahaz seeks to be confederate with Assyria. Isaiah describes Judah this way.

Isaiah 7:2

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.

The Lord sends Isaiah to talk to Ahaz and calm him down for the decision he is about to make could bring about the annihilation of the northern tribes and eventually the southern tribes.

Isaiah 7:3

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;

Don’t you love the address. Isaiah is so concrete in his language. Sometimes he writes like a novelist. Isaiah has a gift for making his reader experience the event due to his specific imagery. You are invited to go with Isaiah and his son ‘at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field.’ Concreteness makes Isaiah exciting to read through his rich imagery, but it also makes him slippery. Like a poem, the Book of Isaiah must be explicated line by line, image by image. To explicate means to explain it thoroughly.

The Lord is very direct in his language to Ahaz.

Isaiah 7:4

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.

How many times in our own lives, when we must face our fears, could we also use such counsel. The Lord is telling Ahaz there is more smoke than fire. “Take heed, be quiet, fear not, neither be fainthearted.” In the scriptures we find the phrase “be quiet” in another form. Listen to King David who faces a worse situation.