Background
These chapters continue the oracles of First Isaiah. Most scholars agree that these oracles date to Isaiah ben Amoz, though they probably were edited and arranged at later dates. In chapter 7, we are in the reign of King Ahaz of Judah, who is pictured in the Bible as a bad King. The Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Aram allied to attack Jerusalem in Judah. Aram, the home of the Aramaeans, was located in present day Syria, on the northern border of Israel:
Biblical Scholar Walter Bruggemann describes these chapters as the challenge of fear versus faith. The heart of the people of Judah, Isaiah 7:2 says, “shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.” In verse 2, Ahaz is referred to by the title “the House of David.” This suggests that the threat concerned the future of the entire Davidic dynasty, and therefore implied whether God would really keep his covenant with the nation.
Yahweh instructs Isaiah to bring his son Shear-jashub to confront Ahaz and to challenge Ahaz to be brave. Shear-jashub means “a remnant shall return,” so the son’s name invokes judgment as well as hope. Isaiah’s charge from Yahweh summarizes the key message of these oracles: “If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all” (7:9).
Yahweh invites Ahaz to ask for a sign about how the threat from the north will affect Judah. Ahaz refuses (7:11-12). Although Ahaz’s refusal to ask for a sign is stated in pious terms, it seems he is in fact afraid to hear what God might have to say. Isaiah then offers a number of signs and statements of judgment, but with a final note of hope.
Focus: 7:14-17
The first sign Isaiah gives Ahaz is famous because of how it has been taken up in Christian thought: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”
This sign is mentioned in the infancy narrative of Jesus in Matthew 1:
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means ‘God with us). (Matt. 1 22)
It is also alluded to in Luke 1:
How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:34-35).
The Christian tradition thus has taken the sign to Ahaz as a sign about Jesus as messiah. Further, the Christian tradition has emphasized the virgin birth as a miracle with theological significance. For Christians in the Catholic tradition, the virgin birth is tied closely to an explanation of how Jesus could have been born without the taint of original sin. For both Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christians, the virgin birth is connected with Mary’s purity and with practices of Marian devotion. Here’s where this text is used in Handel’s Messiah:
The Hebrew word ‘alma means a young woman of marriageable age, but is not a specific word for a “virgin.” The Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures in common use when the Gospels were written uses the word “virgin.” In the modern period, some scholars have questioned whether the notion of the virgin birth therefore rests on a mistake.
As Bruggemann notes, in its original context Isaiah’s sign is not about a virgin birth. It is, rather, about the innocent young woman, the child’s name (God With Us) and the propitious time of the birth, as a sign of reassurance that Yahweh will not allow Israel and Syria to prevail if Ahaz relies on Yahweh. However, as Bruggemann also notes, this doesn’t make the subsequent Christian tradition “wrong.” The scriptures are pregnant (pun intended) with meaning, and the New Testament frequently draws out Christological implications from the Hebrew Scriptures that likely were not on the horizon of the original writers and editors.
Some questions on this section:
- Walter Bruggemann notes that “[f]aith (‘stand firm in faith’) is not a matter of intellectual content or cognitive belief. It is rather a matter of quite practical reliance upon the assurance of God in a context of risk where one’s own resources are not adequate.” (Bruggemmann, Isaiah Vol. 1, 67.) We all are having to do this during the time of COVID. What does this mean for you?
- Do you see any reassuring signs of “God With Us” today?
- How might this example of how the Christian tradition took up the sign of the young woman and the child inform your reading of scripture?
Focus: 9:2-6
Our next focus section provides another example of a sign relating to a child that has been taken up into the Christian tradition. Part of this passage is mentioned in Matthew 4:12-17:
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Again, this is a very free use of Isaiah by the author of Matthew, but the original context doesn’t necessarily render the Christian usage “wrong.” Jesus is depicted in the New Testament as a rightful heir to David’s throne. (See Matthew 1.)
Here is where 9:2 appears in Handel’s
And here is 9:6:
In its original context, this text seems to refer to God’s promise to keep his covenant regarding the Davidic Kingdom. If Ahaz cannot remain steadfast and faithful, God will provide another King in David’s line.
Some questions on this section:
- How do the various titles ascribed to the child resonate with you? Do any of them reflect your experience of Jesus?
- Can Christians use this text in a way that is not supercessionist — that is, in a way that understands it first as a text of Jewish hope?
Focus: 10:1-6, 20-26
This section repeats some themes we saw in Week 1. One of the basic sins of Judah’s rulers was oppression of the poor; this sin will be judged; and Yahweh will preserve a remnant in Israel.
Focus: 11:1-9
This section is another promise about the Davidic line that Christian thought has understood Christologically. The reference to the “spirit of the LORD” has also been understood in the Christian tradition to refer to the Holy Spirit. Again, the Christian reading goes beyond the original historical context, but can be seen as a creative use of the text in light of the experience of Jesus.
This section also includes the famous eschatological image of the wolf living with the lamb (the lion actually lies with the calf), a vision of a restored creation that also reverberates throughout the New Testament, particularly in the letters of Paul and in the book of Revelation.
Some questions on this section:
- What do you think is the significance of the image of a shoot growing out of a stump? Do you see new shoots growing out of dead stumps anywhere today?
- How do you understand some of the images of the eschatological kingdom in this text? How might those images inform your hope?