We will begin by asking a serious question: What is “the sign” and “who was ETERNAL giving the sign to?” To answer that, we need a brief history lesson first.[2] The setting is around 735 BCE and asking what the king of Assyria, Tiglath-pileser III, and his people were doing? They are Assyrians and were invading nations and therefore, were invading, conquering, raping, pillaging, destroying, and terrorizing as they have always done. What can I say, that is just what they do!
The setting in the land of Israel then was that the Davidic Kingdom of Israel had split in two. However, this series of verses will conclude with the reunification of the Kingdom, thus this will cover a long span of time.
The capital of the ten tribes (the House of Israel) was Samaria in the North and the capital of two tribes (the House of Judah) was Jerusalem to the South. The king of Israel was Phacee, the king of Judah was Achaz, and the king of Syria (or Aram) was Rasin.
Tiglath-pileser (the King of Assyria) was invading southward through Phoenicia and down into the Mesopotamian area. He burst through Aram and Israel like a wrecking ball forcing kings Rasin and Phacee to pay tribute to Tiglath-pileser. As vassals to Tiglath-pileser, they were forced to do everything that the conquering king demanded; this put them into a very humiliating situation. To try to remedy the situation, Rasin and Phacee formed an alliance and they invited King Achaz of Judah to join their conspiracy and help them fight against King Tiglath-pileser.
King Achaz refused to join their alliance and attack Assyria; so King Rasin and King Phacee decided to attack Jerusalem. Their plan was to force Achaz to join their alliance and attack Assyria; if he refused they would assassinate him and set up somebody else in that area that would join them.
This history background brings us to Isaiah Chapter 7 with the two armies attacking Jerusalem, but not making much headway. In verses 2 through 7, King Achaz (of Judah) realizes his predicament and seeks help from the Prophet Isaiah. ETERNAL sends Isaiah and Isaiah’s son Shearjashub to King Achaz to tell him not to fear the alliance because The Mighty One will protect him. Shearjashub is the first son mentioned in this passage. Obviously, Isaiah’s son had already been born. Shearjashub’s name means, “a remnant will return.”
Isaiah’s message from ETERNAL was given to Achaz and Achaz was assured that the other kings’ plan would not succeed and neither king would have power over Judah or her boundaries. In addition, within sixty-five years, Ephraim (Israel) would be crushed and broken. Achaz was having trouble believing Isaiah’s message so ETERNAL sent him another word:
Isaiah 7:9,11 (TLB). “...you don’t believe Me? If you want Me to protect you, you must learn to believe what I say...[3] Ask Me for a sign to prove that I will indeed crush your enemies as I have said. Ask anything you like, in heaven or on earth.”
Starting in verse 12 the king refused and said:
Isaiah 7:12-13. “No, I will not ask or test ETERNAL.” Then Isaiah said, “O House of David, you aren’t satisfied to exhaust my patience; you exhaust ETERNAL’s as well!
Next comes verse 14.
Isaiah 7:14. Therefore ETERNAL Himself shall give you a sign; behold, a “virgin” (H5959) “ shall ” “conceive” (H2030), and bear a son, and shall call his name “Emmanuel.”
The KJV in Isaiah 7:14 uses the English word “virgin” which is translated from the Greek Septuagint. In the Hebrew, the word “`almah” (al-maw’ H5959 in Gesenius’) means “a young woman, a maiden, a youthful spouse recently married. The idea of unspotted virginity is not that which this word conveys.”
In addition, the word “shall” is NOT in the Hebrew. The addition of this word would seem to make this a matter that would happen at some distant time. The English word “conceive” comes from the Hebrew word “hareh” (H2030/2029. Haw-reh’ in Strong’s) is from H2029 which is “harah” (haw-raw’). It is a primary root meaning, “To be pregnant.” Thus, the young woman in question was not to become pregnant, but she was already pregnant.
The “sign” was to be that she would name the child “Immanuel.” Thus Achaz, who must have known the girl and that she was already pregnant, would then realize that The Mighty One of Israel was protecting him. If this was a woman that King Achaz did not know, if it was just somebody that lived down the street that he had no knowledge of, the fact that she was pregnant and had a child which she named “Immanuel” would not mean anything to him.
However, if it was someone that he already knew, let us say a relative -- maybe a niece, then in a short time after he got the special message from ETERNAL. If someone came up to him and said, “By the way, your niece had a son and she named him ‘Immanuel’ which means ‘our SOVEREIGN is with us,’ then he would be assured that what Isaiah told him was true. It is to be hoped that the fulfillment of Isaiah’s message would have rung a bell in Achaz’s mind and he would have thought, “Oh yeah, that’s what the SOVEREIGN told me.”
Stop and think about this for a moment. Practically, IF Achaz’s message was a prophecy about a “supposed man of Galilee,” how was ETERNAL’s message going to benefit Achaz in his present situation in 735 BCE because the Galilean would not even be born for over 700 more years? That would be as if ETERNAL had told him: I am going to give you a sign that these two armies are not going to annihilate you but the sign will not happen for 735 years from now. That would not be very comforting to Achaz because by then, all parties involved would have long since died and he would have been just as well off without such a sign.
Therefore, if this was truly a prophecy about “a man from Galilee,” it really is not that much of a sign that is going to help Achaz. It is not going to benefit him at all. In other words, what the Protestants and Catholics say this verse means is just pure nonsense. It is not dual meaning either because pulling verses out of context is a Catholic-Protestant theological scheme to shore up their invented eschatological (end time) ideas.
Are you beginning to see the dishonesty in any translation that is based on the Septuagint? This one verse should be reason enough to scrap the Septuagint because this one verse is something that the Catholic/Protestants have built a total false religion around. The whole basis of the Catholic-Protestant religion is that, “a man from Galilee” was born of a virgin to be “the savior of the world.” To prove it they quote Isaiah 7:14 from a Greek translation that came out of the Roman Catholic Church. The name “Immanuel” is the key because if it were a prophecy about a Galilean, why wasn’t he named that? The prophecy says “she will name him Immanuel” but no Galilean known was named Immanuel. In addition, this “Immanuel” would know good and evil, thus he was a sinner like all of humankind.
Did ETERNAL’s sign come true? Yes, check it out in 2 Kings 16:7-9. Within three years, in 732 BCE, the Assyria army destroyed King Rasin and his army and took Syria into captivity. Thus, we see that in three years or by the time Immanuel learned to reject the evil and choose the good, Judah had been delivered from harms way.
The latter part of Chapter 7 and the first of Chapter 8 shows that even with the sign Achaz did not trust ETERNAL enough to leave the matter to Him to solve. Instead Achaz paid Tiglath-pileser to save him and brought condemnation upon himself. The outcome of that scenario is that Achaz (a Jew) paid the Assyrians to take Israel into captivity, but once on the rampage they strip Judah's wealth.
Isaiah 7:19-21 (NLB). They will come in vast hordes, spreading across the whole land, even into the desolate valleys, caves, and thorny parts, as well as to all your fertile acres. In that day, ETERNAL will take this “razor”—these Assyrians you have hired to save you—and use it on you to “shave off everything you have” your land, your crops, your people. When they finally stop plundering, the whole nation will be a pastureland; whole flocks and herds will be destroyed, and a farmer will be fortunate to have a cow and two sheep left.
Another Child Sign
Then in verse Chapter 8 verse 3 we have another son’s name as a sign, but this time it is to be Isaiah’s son and he must impregnate his wife. The child’s name is Mahershalalhashbaz[4], which means “haste the booty, haste the spoil.”
Isaiah 8:4. Before this child shall have knowledge to cry out “my father and my mother” both Syria and Israel will fall.
Starting in Isaiah 8:6, ETERNAL states that since the people of Jerusalem planned to refuse His gentle care and were enthusiastic about asking the king of Assyria to come to aid them, then ETERNAL will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates’ River. The king of Assyria and all his mighty armies will rage against them. This flood of war will overflow all its channels and sweep into the land of Judah.
However, the people are told not to fear anything except ETERNAL and if they fear Him, they need not fear anything else, for He is their Rock of salvation. However, Israel and Judah refused His care and did not rely on their SOVEREIGN, but they stumbled over the Words of ETERNAL their Rock.
Isaiah 8:12-15 (Good News Bible). “Do not join in the schemes of the people and do not be afraid of the things that they fear. Remember that I, ETERNAL Almighty, am [Set Apart]; I am the One you must fear. Because of My awesome holiness, I am like a stone that people stumble over; I am like a trap that will catch the people of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel and the people of Jerusalem. Many will stumble; they will fall and be crushed. They will be caught in a trap.” You, my disciples, are to guard and preserve the messages that SOVEREIGN has given me. ETERNAL has hidden Himself from His people, but I trust Him and place my hope in Him.
Verse 14 is also taken out of context to try to help validate a Galilean as a savior. However, in context the message is clear even in the KJV:
Isaiah 8:13-16 (NIV). The ETERNAL Almighty is the One you are to regard as [set apart], He is the One you are to fear, He is the One you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary. But for both houses of Israel He will be a Stone that causes men to stumble and a Rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured. Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples.
Notice ETERNAL said He shall be a sanctuary for both houses of Israel. When will that be? Since it has not happened yet, it is prophesied for a future time. Therefore, in the text flow, The Mighty One is beginning to bring focus on the latter days. I will quote the next few verses from The New English Bible since it is written in Modern English.
Isaiah 8:16-18 (TNEB). Fasten up the message, seal the oracle with my teaching and I will wait for ETERNAL who hides His face from the House of Jacob; I will watch for Him. See, I and the sons whom ETERNAL has given me are to be signs and portents in Israel, sent by ETERNAL of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.
...8:19-21. But, men will say to you, “Seek guidance of ghosts and familiar spirits who squeak and gibber; a nation may surely seek guidance of its g-ds, of the dead on behalf of the living, for an oracle or a message?” They will surely say some such thing as this; but what they say is futile. So despondency and fear will come over them, and then, when they are afraid and fearful, they will turn against their king and their g-ds.
Isaiah is prophesying of the lack of spiritual knowledge for ALL the Children of Israel will be from the destruction of the first Temple and their captivity until the building of the third Temple. Catholic monks added the chapter breaks and they make an unnatural break in the text flow. Thus, the flow is from their darkness back then until their descendants see the light of their salvation in the New Kingdom age in the Wonderful World of Tomorrow. Remember that Isaiah’s first son’s name means “a remnant will return” and in the latter days, the remnant of ALL Israel will return as the Davidic Kingdom is finally established.
Isaiah 8:22-9:1 (TNEB). Then, whether they turn their gaze upwards or look down, everywhere is distress and darkness inescapable, constraint and gloom that cannot be avoided; for there is no escape for an oppressed people. For, while the first invader has dealt lightly with the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the second has dealt heavily with Galilee of the Nations on the road beyond Jordan to the sea.
The next verse is speaking of the first awakening just before the Davidic kingdom is set up as people stand from the darkness of death into the sunlight of life.
Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: light has dawned upon them, dwellers in a land as dark as death.
Isaiah now begins to show that the “Hope of Israel” is that ETERNAL will bring joy and gladness when He finally sets up His Messianic Kingdom and the former tyranny is burned with fire.
...9:3-5. Thou hast increased their joy and given them great gladness; they rejoice in Thy presence as men rejoice at harvest, or as they are glad when they share out the spoil. For Thou hast shattered the yoke that burdened them, the collar that lay heavy on their shoulders, the driver’s goad, as on the day of Midian’s defeat. All the boots of trampling soldiers and the garments fouled with blood shall become a burning mass, fuel for fire.
Here we see the final sign of a son. This one, just like Isaiah’s first son, had already been born. However, different from the first son, at the time of Isaiah, this son had died long before. This son was buried with a body of flesh, but when he stands from his grave he is reborn as a spirit being with a spirit body; the first born in the image of his Father, the ETERNAL SOVEREIGN. Then the Righteous Remnant will be changed also.
...9:6-7. For a boy has been born for us, a son given to us to bear the symbol of dominion on his shoulder; and he shall be called in purpose “wonderful,” in battle “Elohim-like,” “Father for all time Prince of peace.” Great shall the dominion be, and boundless the peace bestowed on David’s throne and on his kingdom, to establish it and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now and for evermore. The zeal of ETERNAL of Hosts shall do this.
How much plainer can it be? King David awakening from his grave[5] is the “Hope of Israel!” He is the promised Messiah [Mashiach] who ruling under ETERNAL, will finally bring peace and reunification to both houses of Israel in the everlasting Davidic Kingdom of The Wonderful World of Tomorrow.[6] The Prophet Elijah will be awakened to turn the hearts of the Children of Israel back to the faith of the fathers, the Abrahamic Hebrew faith and the hearts of the fathers to their descendants the Children of Israel.
[The Understanding of Isaiah 53 - index]
[The Hope of Israel - main index page ]
Footnotes
[1]. Genesis 2:7. The CREATOR formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The word soul is translate from the Hebrew word (Strong’s #H5315) “nephesh” and means “properly a breathing creature, that is, animal vitality.” Thus man does not ‘HAVE’ a soul, man as a breathing creature ‘IS A’ soul and has breath.
[2] See 2 Kings 6:23-17:6. The Jewish king paid the Assyrian king (19:8) to take Syria (19:9) and Israel (17:6) into captivity.
[3]. In Spite of his smooth, pious response (cf. Deuteronomy 6:16), Ahaz all the while intended to put his trust in Assyria (2 Kings 16:7). Isaiah foretold the kind non-trustworthy of friend Assyria would prove to be, (Isaiah 7:17-25); “The Ryrie Study Bible,” Moody Press, note for Isaiah 7:12.
[4] MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ A name meaning "quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil." Symbolic name Isaiah gave his son to warn of the impending destruction and captivity of Syria and Israel as they threatened Judah and King Ahaz. In addition, the name was to show that the SOVEREIGN would deliver Judah from her enemies. The sign also called on Ahaz for faith. Without faith, Judah could become part of the spoil. The prophecy was that the two enemies of Judah would be destroyed before they could attack the Southern Kingdom. Assyria defeated Syria in 732 BCE and Israel in 722 BCE. Judah survived until 586 BCE; Holman Bible Dictionary.
[5] Ibid. and the article “The Three Awakenings.”
[6]. See our booklet “ The Wonderful World of Tomorrow.”
