Isaiah 7:10 - Meaning and Application

Here, God, through the prophet, makes Ahaz a gracious offer to confirm what had just been promised, and to strengthen his faith by any sign or miracle he chose (Isaiah 7:10-11). “Ask a sign from the Lord your God.” This shows God’s truthfulness and his willingness to prove what he says. He never tells us anything he is not able and ready to confirm, and he often shows great mercy to people who need visible proof, since we live in a world where sense and sight matter to us (Hebrews 6:17).

Ahaz was an evil man, yet God is still called “the Lord your God,” because Ahaz was a descendant of Abraham and David, and stood within the covenants made with them. God is very gracious even to the unthankful. Ahaz is even invited to choose his sign, like Gideon with the fleece (Judges 6:37), and he could ask for a sign in the sky, on the earth, or in the sea, because God’s power is the same everywhere.

Ahaz answers rudely and turns down this gracious offer, which is no courtesy to any superior (Isaiah 7:12). He says, “I will not ask.” The real reason was not humility, but unbelief. He was relying on the Assyrians, their armies, and their gods for help, so he did not want to place himself under any further obligation to the God of Israel. He did not ask for a sign to strengthen faith, because he meant to keep on in unbelief and feed his doubts. Still, he gives a pious-sounding excuse, “I will not tempt the Lord,” as if it would be tempting God to do what God himself had invited him to do.

A secret dislike of God is often hidden under respectful words. People who have already decided not to trust God often say they do not want to “tempt” him. In the same way, they use holy language to cover a stubborn heart.

The prophet then reproves Ahaz and his court, and with them the whole house of David, for despising prophecy and caring little for God’s word (Isaiah 7:13). He asks, in effect, “Is it a small thing that you weary people by your oppression and tyranny, making yourselves burdensome and hateful to everyone? Will you also weary my God?” It is like the unjust judge who neither feared God nor respected man (Luke 18:2). “You have wearied the Lord with your words” (Malachi 2:17). Nothing is more offensive to God than distrust.

The phrase also means this: “Will you think my God is tired and unable to help you, or tired of doing you good?” Men may grow faint and weary, and human helpers may fail, but the Creator of the ends of the earth does not grow tired or weak (Isaiah 40:28-31). Or it may mean, “When you insult the prophets, you imagine you are only slighting men like yourselves, but you are really insulting God, whose messengers they are.” The prophet calls God “my God” with joy. Ahaz would not say, “He is my God,” even though the prophet had invited him to say, “the Lord your God” (Isaiah 7:11). Whatever others do, we must confess the Lord as our God and hold to him.

Then, in God’s name, the prophet gives them a sign. Since they refused to ask, unbelief would not stop God’s promise. “The Lord himself will give you a sign” (Isaiah 7:14), and it is a double sign. First, it is a sign of God’s goodwill toward Israel and the house of David. They may know that mercy still remains for them, and that they have not been abandoned, no matter how great their present trouble and danger. The Messiah will be born from their nation and from David’s line, so they cannot be destroyed while that blessing still lies within them.

This blessing would come in a glorious way, because the child would be born of a virgin. That would show both God’s power and God’s purity in bringing him into the world. It would show that he is no ordinary person, since he would not be born by normal human generation. It would also show that he is holy, not stained by the common corruption of human nature, and therefore fit to receive the throne of his father David.

Though this was not fulfilled for more than 500 years, it was still a strong comfort to the house of David, to whom this prophecy is addressed (Isaiah 7:13). It was a proof that God would not cast them off. Ephraim did envy Judah and seek its ruin (Isaiah 11:13), but it could not succeed, because the ruler’s staff would not depart from Judah until Shiloh came (Genesis 49:10). Those whom God plans to save can take this as a sign that no trouble along the way will swallow them up.

The Messiah would also come on a glorious mission, shown in his glorious name: “They will call his name Immanuel,” which means, “God with us.” That means God in our nature, God at peace with us, and God in covenant with us. This was fulfilled when he was called Jesus, meaning Savior (Matthew 1:21-25), because if he had not been Immanuel, God with us, he could not have been Jesus, the Savior.

This was another sign of God’s favor to the house of David and the tribe of Judah. The one who planned to bring this great salvation among them would surely also bring the other deliverances that pointed to it and prepared for it. This is a sign from the promise itself, not from the sky or from the earth, but from the covenant made with David, which they already knew. The promised offspring will be Immanuel, God with us. Let that comfort them (Isaiah 8:10), and let them remember that their land is Immanuel’s land (Isaiah 8:8). The house of David should not panic because of these threats (Isaiah 7:2), or fear the son of Tabeal (Isaiah 7:6), because nothing can break the promise tied to the Son of David who will be Immanuel. The strongest comfort in trouble comes from Christ, from our relationship to him, our share in him, and our hope in him and from him.

The child is also foretold to be truly human, though born of a virgin. He will be nourished and raised like other children. “Butter and honey shall he eat,” as other children do, especially the children of that land flowing with milk and honey. Though he is conceived by the Holy Spirit, he will not live on angelic food. As it is fitting for him, he will be made like his brothers in every way (Hebrews 2:17).

Even though this child was born in this extraordinary way, he would not become a man at once. Like other children, he would grow little by little through infancy, childhood, and youth, until he reached manhood. He would grow in wisdom and size, become strong in spirit, and come to the point where he knew how to reject evil and choose good. See (Luke 2:40; Luke 2:52). Children are fed when they are young so they can be taught when they grow up. Their care comes first, so that their education can follow.

There is also a specific sign here of the soon destruction of the powerful rulers who were now frightening Judah, see (Isaiah 7:16). “Before this child,” it should be read, meaning the child the prophet had in his arms. He does not mean Immanuel here, but Shear-jashub, his own son, whom he was told to bring as a sign (Isaiah 7:3). Before this child is three or four years older, and can know how to refuse evil and choose good, the land you dread, those joined forces of Israel and Syria, will be left without both their kings. Pekah and Rezin were so closely allied that they seemed almost like the rulers of one kingdom.

This came true. Within two or three years, Hoshea plotted against Pekah and killed him (2 Kings 15:30). Before that, the king of Assyria took Damascus and killed Rezin (2 Kings 16:9). In fact, there was also an immediate event that happened at once, and the child’s very name pointed to it. Shear-jashub means, “The remnant shall return.” That surely points to the amazing return of the 200,000 captives whom Pekah and Rezin had taken away. They were brought back, not by human strength, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. Read the story in (2 Chronicles 28:8-15).

Since the prophetical name of this child was fulfilled, there was good reason to trust that the further word about him would also be fulfilled, that Syria and Israel would lose both their kings. One mercy from God should encourage us to hope for another, especially when it also prepares us to receive it.