SUMMARY
God gives King Ahaz a sign: before a child, soon to be born, is weaned and gains a sense of right and wrong, God will come to be with the people, to act in judgment and salvationSalvation can mean saved from something (deliverance) or for something (redemption). Paul preached that salvation comes through the death of Christ on the cross which redeemed sinners from death and for a grace-filled life. More on their behalf.
ANALYSIS
This text is difficult, because the sign promised to Ahaz is ambiguous. Is it good news or bad news? Perhaps that is the point, for if God comes to be with us (ImmanuelImmanuel means "God with us." Immanuel is foretold in Isaiah as one who embodies God's promise and protection. The angel, addressing Mary in Matthew's gospel, specifically identifies Immanuel with Jesus. More = “God with us”), that will always be both good and bad news. Good news, because God always means people well; bad news, because God’s presence will always expose human sin.
Immediately prior to the sign, God has promised that the threat against Judah by the northern kingdomThe Northern Kingdom consisted of ten of the twelve tribes of Israel and lasted for 200 years until it was destroyed by Assyria in 721 B.C.E. In the northern kingdom the kings were evil. Prophets like Elijah and Amos railed against them and their evildoing. More Israel, now in league with Syria, will not succeed (735-732 B.C.E.). In a striking verse, Ahaz is told, “If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand firm at all” (7:9).
At that point, God offers Ahaz a sign, and Ahaz refuses it. The response that he will “not put the LORD to the test” is normally seen positively in Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:7), but when God offers the sign freely, as God does here, to refuse it is an act of little faith and disobedience (Malachi 3:10).
God’s subsequent giving of the sign anyway seems to have a negative tone, which adds to the ambiguity of the passage. Still, the news is good initially. A child will be born, named Immanuel (“God with us”), and before the child is perhaps two years old, the threat from the north will be gone. But then, greater danger looms: the attacks from Assyria stand on the horizon (vv. 17-25).
Most English translations refer to the mother of the coming child as a “young woman” (properly translating the Hebrew ‘almah). Centuries later, however, the SeptuagintThe Septuagint is a pre-Christian (third to first century BCE) Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures. It is believed that the term Septuagint derives from the number of scholars-seventy (or seventy-two)-who reputedly did the work of translation. More (Greek translation of the Old Testament) used the word parthenos or “virgin,” thus setting up the New Testament’s use of the text to refer to Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus (Matthew 1:23). This seems to be an example of the book of Isaiah’s understanding of the word of God as a living reality, one that endures forever (Isaiah 40:8) and does not return empty, but continues to accomplish God’s purpose (55:10-11). The promise had its own meaning in Isaiah’s day, but it lives on, and God uses it for a new purpose in a new day.
