Chapters 1–5 outlined Judah and Israel’s sins. In chapter 6, we learn of the Lord’s call on Isaiah to bring the nation to conviction and repentance. The two main sections of Isaiah begin with similar themes. In each section, a king of Judah faces a military threat. Isaiah delivers God’s word of hope to each king, offering a sign. The primary difference between the two kings is that the first, Ahaz, is evil. In chapters 7–12, we learn how Ahaz rejects the Lord’s sign. In the second section (chapters 36–39), we see good King Hezekiah trust in the Lord’s sign. The sign rejected by Ahaz leads to God’s judgment described in chapters 13–35, while Hezekiah’s faith results in God’s blessings described in chapters 40–66.
V 1–2 Ahaz, king of Judah in the lineage of David, faced a military and political threat when the kings of Israel and Syria united to force Judah into a coalition against Assyria. When Ahaz refused, they plotted to dethrone him and install a puppet king. The people of Judah were terrified as these strong armies came against them (v. 2).
2 Kings 16:5–9 complements this chapter by describing the alliance of Rezin, king of Aram (Syria), and Pekah, king of the northern ten tribes of Israel. Though they besieged Jerusalem, they “could not prevail,” because God sovereignly prevented it despite Judah’s spiritual weakness. Trials like this are often the means God uses to grow our faith, teaching us to look to Him rather than ourselves or human strategies. This situation sets the stage for Isaiah’s message in 7:3–9:
If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all (Isaiah 7:9b).
Instead of trusting the word of the Lord through Isaiah, Ahaz turned to Assyria. We too are often tempted to trust in others rather than the Lord. In doing so, we doubt God’s promises given to us in His Word. 2 Kings 16:7: So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.”
Ahaz voluntarily submitted to a pagan power, demonstrating his dependence on human alliances rather than God. To procure the funds to entice the king of Assyria to come to his aid, he robbed the Temple (v. 8). This highlights Judah’s spiritual decline leading to her eventual exile to Babylon. Instead of trusting God’s covenant promises, he attempted to purchase security through an ungodly alliance. The Assyrian king responded by invading Damascus and killing King Rezin. This brought short-term relief to Judah but also reduced Judah to a vassal state of Assyria.
Ahaz’s actions demonstrate the failure of the Davidic line to trust God, underlining the need for a greater Davidic King who would lead Israel and the nations to faith in God the Father. Though Ahaz failed, God still protected Jerusalem. His covenant promises to David remained intact. This grace is assured by Isaiah 7:14: Behold, the virgin shall conceive… the promise of Immanuel (“God with us”).
Ungodly alliances lead to judgment: trusting in man rather than God brings ruin. Isaiah repeatedly warns Judah—and us—not to rely on men and worldly alliances: Isaiah 30:1: Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “Who execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, in order to add sin to sin.” The application of this truth is timeless: our faith must rest in God alone, where abiding safety and security are found.
V 3–6 Isaiah spoke God’s word to the people and the king to remind them that God is sovereign over their enemies. God defends His covenant promises, especially those articulated in the Davidic Covenant: 2 Samuel 7:12–13: When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you… and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
God’s call to those in authority—and He has given us authority in Yeshua—is faith, not fear: Be careful, keep calm, and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart… (v. 4).
God sent Isaiah to meet Ahaz at a strategic water source (v. 3), symbolizing provision and survival. Isaiah took his son Shear-Jashub, whose name means “a remnant shall return.” “Remnant” points to the group God will preserve as a testimony to His faithfulness, while “return” points to their spiritual repentance. Paul refers to the remnant in his response to the Roman Christians who believed that God had forsaken all of the Jewish people because of their sin and rejection of the Messiah in Rom 11:1-5.
The Lord’s message was not to fear the conspiracies of Syria and Israel. God would not allow their plans to succeed (v. 7). The two kings are named, but God calls them “two stubs of smoldering firebrands” (v. 4)—burned-out threats. Yet Ahaz doubted that God would provide and leaned toward an alliance with Assyria.
V 7–9 Isaiah delivered God’s word, declaring these kings too weak to succeed. Syria’s capital, Damascus, and its king Rezin would be powerless against God. Ephraim (the northern kingdom) with its capital Samaria and King Pekah would be destroyed. In 65 years, Ephraim would lose its identity. Indeed, in 722 B.C., Assyria crushed Israel, deported the people, and repopulated the land with foreigners (2 Kings 17:24ff), mixing idolatry with Israel’s corrupted faith.
Isaiah spoke to Ahaz and his advisers using a Hebrew wordplay: the same root means “to believe” and “to be established.” The message was clear: if Ahaz did not trust God, he would not stand firm.
V 10–12 God offered Ahaz a sign. Ahaz refused. Though God graciously invited him to ask for a sign as high as heaven or as deep as Sheol, Ahaz made a pious-sounding refusal in v. 12. But this only concealed his rebellion, he had already decided to trust Assyria (2 Kings 16:7–9). Ahaz represented faithless leadership in David’s house.
V 13–14 Isaiah then turned from addressing Ahaz personally to addressing the whole house of David. The sign was for the entire Davidic line, immediate and future. It was intended to encourage the remnant to trust the Lord in crisis and look ahead to the Messiah who would preserve David’s line despite the kings’ unfaithfulness.
The sign:The virgin shall conceive… An unmarried young woman in the royal house would shortly marry and conceive. Her son would be called Immanuel (“God with us”). Before the child was old enough to eat solid food, Assyria would lay waste the lands of Syria and Israel (733–732 B.C.).
This sign affirmed that God had the situation fully in hand and rebuked unbelief. The prophecy was given to the house of David (“you” in v. 14 is plural). In the fullness of time, the messianic Child would be born to the house of David for the salvation of all mankind, beginning with regathered Israel. He would ultimately save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).
The Controversy about the Virgin Birth The Hebrew word almah means a young woman of marriageable age, not explicitly a virgin. It occurs seven times in the Hebrew Bible as in Gen. 24:43; Ex. 2:8; Prov. 30:19. The word betulah more precisely means “virgin,” often paired with phrases clarifying sexual purity (Gen. 24:16).
Critics argue that almah should be rendered simply as “young woman,” suggesting that Matthew misapplied the prophecy. However, the Septuagint—a Greek translation produced by Jewish scholars in the 2nd–3rd centuries BCE at the request of the king of Egypt—translated almah as parthenos (“virgin”). This reflects how the Jewish community understood this passage centuries before Matthew’s Gospel. It illustrates that both Matthew and earlier Jewish interpreters recognized Isaiah’s prophecy as referring to a virgin in the sense we understand the word today.
V 18–20 Because Ahaz did not believe God but sought protection from Assyria, the very nation he trusted became Judah’s oppressor. The Assyrians were notorious for their cruelty. God’s judgment is described vividly: He would “whistle” for insects (flies and bees) to invade—an echo of the plagues against Egypt. Flies were pervasive, defiling, pointing to overwhelming forces and speak of Egypt’s armies. While bees were known to be organized, stinging, and disciplined invaders referring to Assyria.
Shaving a man’s beard was a humiliating act for a defeated foe (2 Sam. 10:4–5). The “hired” reference points to Ahaz paying Assyria to attack Israel and Syria (2 Kings 16:7–8).
V 21–22 Judgment would be nearly total, leaving only a remnant. A herdsman would have only three cattle left, but God promised provision for the poor, who would survive on milk and honey.
V 23–25 The rich farmer would see his vineyards turn to briars, though they had been prized for their value. The only people using the land would be hunters seeking wild game. Otherwise, it would be left to wild animals searching among the thorns. What a day of judgment God has for a king and his people who will not trust and obey Him. He truly is a jealous God.
