Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>]

Dear Joseph,
> HH: No, they didn't need to know the  individual. All they needed to know 
> was the time period needed for a  virgin to bear and raise a child who 
> did not quite know how to discern  good from evil. This would take about 
> 3-4 years.
>
>
> JW:
> So according to you Isaiah gave his immediate audience information they did  
> not need, such as naming a child Immanuel, which they did anyway, and an  
> audience that was not Isaiah's used this information instead but didn't name the  
> child Immanuel. This is a long way from Translation.
>   

HH: I did not say that Isaiah gave his audience information they did not 
need. I understand the entire prophecy as a rebuke of Ahaz, even the 
deliverance part regarding Damascus and the northern kingdom. Ahaz got 
help against these foes by imploring Assyria for help:

2Kings 16:7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, 
saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the 
hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, 
which rise up against me.
2Kings 16:8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the 
house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it 
for a present to the king of Assyria.
2Kings 16:9 And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of 
Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of 
it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.

HH: God knew in advance that Ahaz would do this, and the prophecy in 
Isaiah 7 anticipates the ruin that Assyria would bring in Judah because 
Ahaz depended on Assyria rather than the Lord. Isaiah warned Ahaz in 
advance to depend on the Lord:

Is. 7:7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "'It will not take 
place, it will not happen,
Is. 7:8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is 
only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be 
a people.
Is. 7:9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only 
Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not 
stand at all.'"

HH: He did not stand firm in the Lord but turned instead to Assyria. 
Ahaz was an apostate:

2Chr. 28:19 The LORD had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, 
for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful to 
the LORD.
2Chr. 28:20 Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to him, but he gave him 
trouble instead of help.
2Chr. 28:21 Ahaz took some of the things from the temple of the LORD and 
from the royal palace and from the princes and presented them to the 
king of Assyria, but that did not help him.
2Chr. 28:22  In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more 
unfaithful to the LORD.
2Chr. 28:23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had 
defeated him; for he thought,  "Since the gods of the kings of Aram have 
helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me." But they 
were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.

Hh: The prophecies in Isaiah 7 give in advance the shifting fortunes of 
Israel as a consequence of Ahaz's leadership. The woman and her young 
son are pathetic symbols of the nation's fate. To me the son's name 
Immanuel is a testimony to the faith in God that the humble people of 
Israel retained despite Ahaz's wickedness of Ahaz. Isaiah tells the king 
that even the nameless young mother in Israel knew enough to trust in 
the Lord and show it by the name she gave her son. But Ahaz refused to 
trust in the Lord. So the nameless young mother and her son were a 
rebuke to Ahaz, not only in the son's name, but in the sad fate that 
they would suffer.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard


>  
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> Joseph Wallack
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