{"id":3485,"date":"2020-10-16T14:53:13","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T14:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/?p=3485"},"modified":"2020-10-16T14:53:13","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T14:53:13","slug":"isaiah-7-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/2020\/10\/16\/isaiah-7-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaiah 7-12"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Oldtidens_Israel, Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Biblical Scholar Walter Bruggemann<\/a> describes these chapters as the challenge of fear versus faith. The heart of the people of Judah, Isaiah 7:2 says, \u201cshook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.\u201d In verse 2, Ahaz is referred to by the title \u201cthe House of David.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahweh instructs Isaiah to bring his son Shear-jashub to confront Ahaz and to challenge Ahaz to be brave. Shear-jashub means \u201ca remnant shall return,\u201d so the son\u2019s name invokes judgment as well as hope. Isaiah\u2019s charge from Yahweh summarizes the key message of these oracles: \u201cIf you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all\u201d (7:9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus: 7:14-17<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first sign Isaiah gives Ahaz is famous because of how it has been taken up in Christian thought: \u201cLook, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sign is mentioned in the infancy narrative of Jesus in Matthew 1:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: \u201cThe virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel\u201d (which means \u2018God with us). (Matt. 1 22)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also alluded to in Luke 1:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How will this be,\u201d Mary asked the angel, \u201csince I am a virgin?\u201d The angel answered, \u201cThe 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<\/em>. (Luke 1:34-35).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s purity and with practices of Marian devotion. Here\u2019s where this text is used in Handel\u2019s Messiah:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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