Isaiah 7

This chapter belongs to the opening portion of the Book of Isaiah. Chapter 6 recounts Isaiah's call vision, received in the year King Uzziah died, and chapter 7 turns to a crisis in the reign of Uzziah's grandson Ahaz. Chapters 7 through 12 are often called the "Book of Immanuel."

Outline

• Verses 1–2 Rezin king of Aram and Pekah king of Israel go up against Jerusalem but cannot prevail against it. When word comes that Aram has allied itself with Ephraim, the hearts of the king and his people are shaken.
• Verses 3–9 Isaiah, accompanied by his son Shear-jashub, meets Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool. Isaiah declares that the two kings are nothing more than "the two tails of these smoking firebrands" and that their plan to set up the son of Tabeal as king will not succeed. He also announces that within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken, and he warns that unless they believe, they will not be established.
• Verses 10–16 When told to ask for a sign, Ahaz refuses, saying that he will not tempt the Lord. Isaiah then gives as a sign the son whom a virgin will conceive and bear, Immanuel, and declares that before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land of the two kings will be laid waste.
• Verses 17–25 The chapter foretells the day when the king of Assyria will come. The invasion is portrayed through the images of the fly of Egypt, the bee of Assyria, and a hired razor, and the vineyards are said to become overgrown with briers and thorns, turning into ground where oxen and sheep roam.

Key Verses

• Isaiah 7:9: "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established" (the Korean Revised Version includes this clause in verse 8). The verse is known for a Hebrew wordplay, since "believe" and "be established" derive from the same root.
• Isaiah 7:14: "A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." This is one of the principal verses that the New Testament connects with the birth of Jesus.

People and Places

• Ahaz: King of Judah, grandson of Uzziah and son of Jotham.
• Rezin: King of Aram.
• Pekah: Son of Remaliah and king of the northern kingdom of Israel.
• The prophet Isaiah and his son Shear-jashub: The name Shear-jashub is understood to mean "a remnant shall return," linking it to the concept of the remnant.
• Places mentioned include Damascus, the capital of Aram, and Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, as well as Jerusalem, Assyria, and Egypt. In this chapter, "Ephraim" refers to the northern kingdom of Israel.

Interpretive Considerations

The Hebrew word almah, rendered "virgin" in verse 14, denotes a young woman of marriageable age. The Septuagint translated it with the Greek parthenos, meaning "virgin," and Matthew 1:22–23 follows this rendering in applying the verse to the virgin birth of Jesus.

Interpretations fall into three main lines. Within the evangelical tradition, many read the verse as a direct messianic prophecy of Christ. A dual-fulfillment interpretation holds that it was first fulfilled in a child of Ahaz's own day (a royal son or a son of Isaiah) and ultimately fulfilled in Christ. Historical-critical scholarship regards it primarily as a sign for its own time. Various explanations have also been proposed for the figure of sixty-five years.

The historical background appears in 2 Kings 16. Contrary to Isaiah's counsel, Ahaz sought help from Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria. The Immanuel theme continues in Isaiah 8:8–10 and Isaiah 9:1–7.

In the Korean Church

Verse 14, together with Matthew 1, is frequently used as a sermon text during Advent and at Christmas. The name Immanuel is also widely sung in Christmas-season hymns and praise songs and in Sunday school Christmas programs.