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702. Bible Study: Isaiah 7 (Kingdom of Israel teams with Aram (modern Syria) against the southern Kingdom of Judah) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 7 from the book of Isaiah.
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  Dear God, please be with us as we read through this chapter and
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  give us insight, wisdom and understanding of the words that
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  you gave the prophet Isaiah in Jesus name, Amen.
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  When Ahaz son of Jotham the son of Uzziah was king of Judah,
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  King Resin of Aram and Pika son of Ramallah king of Israel,
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  marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not
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  overpower it. OK, so why did Israel attack
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  Judah? The nations of the region,
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  including Israel and Judah were threatened by Assyria at that
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  time in order to throw off Assyrians yoke.
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  Israel and Aram which is Syria today formed an alliance and
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  then about 734 BC attempted to force Judah to join their
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  conspiracy. King Resin of Aram or Syria
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  Today and King Pika of Israel desired to replace Ahaz on
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  Judah's throne with the son of Tabio in order to gain another
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  ally in their anti Syrian political policy.
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  So going back to scripture now the House of David was told Arum
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  has allied with Ephraim. Now Ephraim's another name for
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  the 10 tribes of Israel or you know, it was one of the tribes
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  that was in the northern grouping of Israel.
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  So the hearts of Ahaz, he's the king of Judah and his people
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  were shaken as the trees of the forest are shaken by a wind.
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  Then the Lord said to Isaiah, go out and your go out you and your
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  son sheer Jeshub to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the
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  upper pool on the road to Launderers Field.
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  Say to him, be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid.
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  Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of
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  firewood, because the fierce anger of resin and Arum and the
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  and of the son of Remalia. Arim Ephraim and Remalia's son
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  have plotted your rune saying let us invade Judah.
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  Let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves and make the
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  son of Tabil king over it. OK, so this is, you know,
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  another further separation. Of course, there's the southern
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  tribe of Judah and the northern tribe 10 tribes of Israel and
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  actually Judah's with Benjamin also.
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  So there's two in the South and 10 in the north.
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  And one of those is Ephraim. And I don't know if it's
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  specifically someone from Ephraim made this alliance with
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  Syria or Aram back at that time and they decided to go against
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  Judah. So not only that but they are
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  teeming with a foreign nation to come against Judah and take
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  over. It's always been a power
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  struggle when Israel separated into two nations or two kingdoms
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  I guess I should say the northern Kingdom and southern
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  Kingdom there were kings ruling at the same time. 1 was of the
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  10 tribes and the other was for the 2 tribes and it was a power
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  struggle. But most all of the kings of the
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  northern tribes were evil except for Jehu who was considered evil
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  but God used him to I think it was to pronounce judgement on
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  Ahab who is another king on his house.
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  So God used him as an instrument even though he was evil.
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  So pretty much all the kings of the northern 10 tribes were evil
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  and then a little bit less than half were good on the, I think
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  it was 8 out of 19 or something like that or somewhere 8 out of
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  18 somewhere of that on regarding Judah.
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  So almost half of Judah's kings were good and half of them were
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  bad. Almost not quite.
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  OK, going back to Scripture yet. This is what the sovereign Lord
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  says. It will not take place.
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  It will not happen. For the head of Aram is
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  Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only resin.
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  Within 65 years, Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
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  The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only
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  Romalia's son. If you do not stand firm in your
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  faith, you will not stand at all.
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  So God was warning the king of Judah, even though he was
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  considered an evil king, He was saying you need to stand up to
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  these to that are coming against you because God was going to be
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  with them. That's why.
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  But they were plotting to take Judah out and that wasn't going
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  to happen because eventually, as we know, that's where Jesus came
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  from, the tribe of Judah. And and so God is going to
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  protect that. He, you know, intended to
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  protect that. So in the study Bible, it says
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  who was Ephraim? After Israel divided into the
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  northern and southern kingdoms, Ephraim became the most
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  prominent tribe in the north. Ephraim became another name for
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  the northern Kingdom as a whole. So I guess it's used in other
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  prophecies as well. OK, going back to the Scripture
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  again, the Lord spoke to Ahaz. Remember, he's the king of
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  Judah. Ask the Lord your God for a
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  sign, whether in the deepest depths or the highest heights.
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  But a has said, I will not ask. I will not put the Lord to the
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  test. When I read that I I just don't
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  even know why this was inserted in there.
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  There's more I obviously don't understand because this was
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  documented that God asked him for.
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  You know, what sign do you want? What sign do you want that this
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  is going to come true. But he said I'm not going to
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  test the Lord, which is really interesting because all the time
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  they do it normally, he just he wasn't going to do it this time.
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  So it said here's a question and answer.
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  Why did God want Isaiah's son to go with Isaiah?
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  Isaiah was instructed to take his son with him to meet Ahaz as
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  an implied sign to Judah's king. The name Sheer Jashub, a remnant
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  will return. That's what his name was, is of
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  course symbolic. Perhaps he had been born shortly
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  after Isaiah's call and given a name expressive of the threat to
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  Judah described in chapter 6, verses 11 through 13.
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  There is a double. There is a double ambiguity in
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  the name. It can suggest either warning or
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  hope, and also either physical return from exile or spiritual
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  return to God. Without a doubt, the element of
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  warning is prominent in the context of Isaiah confronting
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  Ahaz. Well I do see these things
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  throughout the Bible that they are both a literal and a
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  symbolic. They often have multiple
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  meanings. So I think it a lot in the Bible
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  has double meanings. What are some of the passages
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  in? Then it talks about what are
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  some passages in no. Why are some passages in poetic
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  verse? Poetry is a vibrant medium for
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  expressing a range of emotions. It was commonly used in the Old
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  Testament, probably because the Hebrew language has components
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  that at the very root of poetic that are at the very root of
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  poetic expression. Poetry fits naturally in the
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  book of Isaiah because it aptly expresses issues of life and
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  death, victory and defeat, judgment and consolidation.
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  Why did God offer to give Ahaz a sign?
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  The threat posed by the Aramean and Israelite invaders was still
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  frightening Ahaz and his advisors.
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  The offer of a sign revealed God's grace and ongoing concern
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  for Judah's destiny. It was as though the Lord were
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  saying, What will it take to prove this to you?
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  By now Ahaz must have made-up his mind to appeal to Assyria
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  for military assistance. That's recorded in Second Kings
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  chapter 16. And that is why with a show of
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  piety, he declined to seek a sign from God.
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  So I guess he already had kind of his mind made-up about that.
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  So continuing in Scripture, it says that a has said he wasn't
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  going to test the Lord. Then Isaiah said here, now you
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  House of David, well that's House of David is the tribe of
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  Judah. So here now basically Judah, is
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  it not enough to try the patience of humans?
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  Will you try the patience of my God also?
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  Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
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  The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will
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  call him Emmanuel. He will be eating curds and
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  honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose
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  right. For before, before the boy knows
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  enough to reject the wrong and choose right.
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  The land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
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  The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the House
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  of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from
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  Judah. He will bring the king of
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  Assyria. So God is basically saying, you
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  know these two are going to come against you.
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  That's not going to happen. But here the the king of Assyria
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  is going to be coming to you for destruction.
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  So there's a couple more questions and answers which I
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  will read for Let's see. Is that really OK?
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  Actually I lost my place in the Bible, so I will read the last
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  paragraph of Chapter 7. In that day the Lord will
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  whistle for flies from the Nile Delta in Egypt, and for bees
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  from the land of Assyria. They will come and settle in the
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  steep ravines and in the crevices, in the rocks, on all
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  the thorn bushes, and at all the water holes.
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  In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the
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  Euphrates River, the king of Assyria, to shave your head in
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  private parts and to cut your beard.
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  Also in that day a person will keep alive a young cow and two
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  goats, and because of the abundance of the milk they give,
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  there will be curds to eat. All who remain in the land will
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  eat curds and honey. In that day, in every place
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  there were 1000 vines worth 1000 silver shekels.
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  There will only be breeders and thorns.
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  Hunters will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be
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  covered with breeders and thorns.
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  As for all the hills once cultivated by the Hoe, you will
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  no longer go there for fear of the Breeders and thorns.
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  They will become places where cattle are turned loose and
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  where sheep run. So that's the end of Chapter 7
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  from the book of Isaiah. And there's more questions than
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  answers. So why did God offer to give a
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  has a sign the threat posed by the Aramean and Israelite
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  invaders? I I actually read that already.
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  OK, is this a prediction of the Messiah when he talks about the
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  virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will be
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  called Emmanuel? Like many prophecies, this
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  passage seems to have a double meaning.
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  The first meaning was that a child, perhaps another son of
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  Isaiah, would be born to a virgin, which could simply refer
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  to a young woman during the time of Ahaz.
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  By the time he was grown, Judas two enemies, Israel and Aram
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  would be destroyed. The second meaning of this
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  passage was later applied to the birth of the Messiah.
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  The name Emmanuel means God with us became a title for the
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  Messiah. What does eating Kurds and honey
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  have to do with knowing right and wrong?
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  Kurds and honey suggest living off the land due to the fact
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  that the coming Assyrian invaded invasion of Judah would make
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  farming impossible. Knowing right and wrong refers
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  to the age of responsibility under the law around age 12 or
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  13. Apparently then, by the time
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  this boy was 12 or 13, Judah would be devastated by Assyria,
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  and would also by that time the lands Judah would be devastated
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  by Assyria, and also by that time the lands of Israel and
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  Arum would be even more severely laid waste.
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  Why are flies and bees mentioned?
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  In the years that lay ahead, rulers in Judah would look to
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  Assyria and Egypt for military help, but God warned that both
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  were to be viewed as sources not of support, but of great danger.
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  Egypt was noted for its flies, Assyria for its bees.
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  Isaiah pictured the troublesome insects settling everywhere,
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  therefore making it impossible to escape from foreign invasion
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  of armies. It's really interesting.
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  I kind of looked it up like just to see what the connection
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  between flies in Egypt today and also bees for Assyria, which
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  would be Turkey and Iraq and Iran.
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  And it's really interesting because they they still have
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  this like high level of bees and they still have the high level
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  of flies. Really interesting that
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  something written in the Bible in the seven hundreds BC still
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  pertains to the way it is today. OK, going back, why shave the
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  Israelites hair? This metaphor pictures the great
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  shame Judah would experience at the hands of the Assyrian.
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  Shaving pure partially, particularly of the beard, was a
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  way of inflicting shame on a defeated foe.
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  Who was the prophetess? Isaiah's wife?
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  So this is actually the next paragraph, so we will read that
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  later. But anyway, that is the end of
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  Chapter 7, so we'll conclude there and start with Chapter 8
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  next time.