4¶ In that day shall one take up a parable against you, A.C.753. and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be *Heb. with a utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: lamentation of how hath he removed it from me! + turning away he hath +Or, instead divided our fields. 5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD. lamentations. of restoring. m Deut. xxxii. 8,9. 6 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: 1 Or, Prophethey shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not shame. take sy not as they Heb. Drop, prophesy &c. the n Is. xxx. 10. door, shorten 7¶O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? 8 Even + of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. 9 The § women of my people have ye cast out from their ◊ pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever. 10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. *Heb. upright? day. Heb: yester- against a gar ment. Or, wives. 11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, Or, walk with saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong lie falsely. drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people. 12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. 13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them. 2 CHRONICLES XXVII. VER. 3, TO THE END. 3 He built the high gate of the house of the LORD, and on the wall of * Ophel he built much. 4 Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. 5¶He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year, and the third. *Or,the tower. So + Heb. This. A.C. 753. * Or, established. 742. At the end of Jotham's reign. 758. * 6 So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God. 7¶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. 8. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead. 2 KINGS XV. VER. 37. 37 In those days the LORD began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah. 2 KINGS XV. Ver. 33, 34, part of ver. 35, 36, 38. 33 Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. 34 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD. 36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah ? 38 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead. CHAPTER XI. PART II. Events in the Kingdom of Israel contemporary with the Reign 2 KINGS XV. VER. 27, 28, 29. 27 In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. 28 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-bethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria. CHAPTER XII. PART I. Reign of Ahaz, 16 Years-from 742 to 726. SECTION I. Character of Ahaz. 2 KINGS XVI. VER. 1-5. 1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah A.C.742. • Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. a 2 Chron. 2 Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, xxviii. 1, &c. and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. b SECTION II. Invasion of Resin and Pekah. 2 KINGS XVI. VER. 5. 5¶ Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Rema- Is. vil. 1, 4, lah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they &c. besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. ISAIAH VII. 5. 1 * And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of c 2 Kings xvi. 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. on Ephraim. 2 And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is Heb. resteth 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 date and place of these chapters of Isaiah are assigned in the sacred text. Compare 2 Kings xvi. 5. with Isaiah vii. 1. A.C. 742. 3 Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet That is, The Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the remnant shall conduit of the upper pool in the +highway of the fuller's field; return. d 2 Kings Heb. let not the heart be tender. Or, waken. 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 Heb. from a shall Ephraim be broken, || that it be not a people. people. 9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Or. Do ye Samaria is Remaliah's son. * If ye will not believe, surely not believe? it is because ye ye shall not be established. are not stable. + Heb. And the LORD 10+ Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, say added to speak. ing, + Or, make thy petition deep. 11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; task 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; 27 In this and the following verses are contained the most undoubted and clear predictions of the birth of the Messiah, and as such it is alluded to by the inspired evangelist, Matt. i. 23. There is great difficulty in apprehending how the birth of this child Emmanuel could be a sign to Ahaz, who died several hundred years before our Saviour was born. Ahaz, at the time this prophecy was given, was besieged in Jerusalem by the two kings, Rezin and Pekah, who confederated together in the hopes of taking that city, and of destroying Ahaz, and the family of David. But God, who had always, for the sake of his servant David, expressed mercy and favour for this house, sent his prophet to encourage Ahaz, and to assure him that the designs of his enemies should not stand nor come to pass, and that "within threescore and five years, Ephraim shall be broken." He adds, that if the king will not believe this prediction, he "shall not be established." To confirm his faith, Isaiah offers Ahaz any sign that will best satisfy him out of the whole compass of nature; which the king refusing, the prophet immediately addresses the house of David, and declares • Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and * shall A.C. 742. call his name Immanuel. e Matt. i. 23. Luke i. 31. Or, thou, O Virgin, shalt that God himself will give them a sign; "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and But this prophecy is introduced in so solemn a manner; the sign is so marked and peculiar, chosen by God himself; the name of the child so expressive, that it must have raised hopes far beyond what the present occasion suggested: and, in its higher signification, must have been supposed to describe the great Deliverer, who was to spring from the house of David. The further accomplishment of this prophecy, therefore, must have reference to the birth of the Great Immanuel. Ahaz is told, if " ye believe not, ye shall not be established," (v. 9.) that is, unless ye believe this prophecy of the destruction of Israel, ye Jews, also, as well as the people of Ephraim, shall be destroyed. Accordingly, we read that Ephraim was taken captive by Esarhaddon, for the third time, exactly sixty-five years from the beginning of the reign of Ahaz. This king carried all the remnant of the ten tribes of Israel, who had revolted from the house of David, into Babylon and Syria; and they were now brought to full and utter destruction, and never after recovered themselves. After Esarhaddon had possessed himself of the land of Israel, he sent his army into Judea ; where Manasseh was vanquished, taken prisoner, and conveyed in chains to Babylon, the same year, (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11.) The near connexion of these two facts makes the prediction of the one naturally cohere with the prediction of the other; and the words are well suited to this event in the history of the people of Judah. But the full accomplishment of this prophecy could not take place till Immanuel was born; when both these monarchies were brought to an end. The kingdom of Judah, which at that time extended over the dominions of both nations, was destroyed in the second year of our Lord's age, by the death of Herod the Great. Ten years after, Judea was reduced to the form of a Roman province: in the mean while, it was governed by Archelaus with the title of Ethnarch, who was a mere vassal of the emperor, and to whom he assigned only half his father's dominions. By referring to the two next sections, it will be seen that after this sign was given, Ahaz sustained the greatest defeat ever experienced by a king of Judah; which must be considered as a punishment to the king for his mistrust of God's promises, as well as for his own and the people's idolatry. The faithful worshippers of Jehovah in the midst of this calamity would be comforted by the |