Isaiah 7 or 2 Nephi 17
By
Jeffrey Bushman Aug. 2017
Chapter 17
Ephraim and Syria wage war against
Judah—Christ will be born of a virgin—Compare Isaiah 7. About 559–545 B.C.
Ephraim and Syria are afraid or Assyria and are trying to form an
alliance and would like Judah to join but they refuse. They decide they should take over Judah and
then they could defend themselves better against Assyria. They went to battle against Judah and Pekah’s
army slew 120,000 of Judah’s solders and took 200,000 captive. Eventually they were released, but Ahaz is
afraid he will lose. He was inspecting
the city’s water supply when Isaiah came to him with a message of comfort.
1 aAnd it came to pass in the days of bAhaz the son of cJotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah,
that dRezin, king of Syria, and ePekah the son of Remaliah, king of
Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail
against it. . During Ahaz’s reign over
the kingdom of Judah , Rezin king of Syria and Pekah, who is the king of
Israel, in Samaria, made an alliance to join together and help conquer Judah or
Ahaz the king.
2 And it was told the house of David (Judah), saying: Syria is confederate with
Ephraim (All northern tribes were called by the
name of Ephraim, the leading tribe). And his heart was moved, and the
heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. . The house of David is
Judah, and their hearts are moved with the fear of what may happen. They have had previous trouble with these two
countries.
3 Then said the Lord unto Isaiah: Go
forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the aconduit
(HEB canal or tunnel) of the upper pool in the highway(IE
by way of the launderers’ field near the stream below the pool of Siloam)
of the fuller’s field; Here
Isaiah is sent with his son whose name means “a remnant will return”,
while Ahaz was looking at the water supply for the city. Look at Bible footnotes.
4 And say unto him: Take heed, and
be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted for the two tails of these smoking
firebrands(IE Don’t be alarmed by the attack; those
two kings have little fire left) just smoke, for the fierce anger of
Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the
son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying: They want to take over
Judah.
6 Let us go up against Judah and vex
it, and let us make a breach (HEB divide it up) therein
for us, and set a king in the midst of it, yea, the son of Tabeal. . Lets
break our way into Jerusalem and set up the son of Tabeal as our puppet king.
7 Thus saith the Lord God: aIt shall not stand, neither shall it
come to pass. . The Lord tells Judah that
their enemies plan will not happen. 1st
prophecy
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus, Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall
Ephraim be abroken that it be not a people. You especially don’t need
to worry about Israel for they will not even be a people in 65 years, they will
be scattered. (Lost 10 tribes) 2nd
prophecy. 1. Pul from Assyria attacked Syria and Israel in
732, and took many of Israel captive into Assyria. 2. Then in 730-728 Pul annexed the
Transjordan area and deported large numbers of Israel to the far reaches of the
Assyrian empire. 3. In 726 Hoshea
(Israels King) refused to pay Assyrian tribute and Pul’s successor Shalmanesar,
retaliated by attacking Israel and besieging Samaria, which fell in 722 B.C. Finally, large groups of Israelites fled from
Assyria to the remote areas northward and became the lost 10 tribes of
Israel. Israel did not retain her
identity as a people. These are your
ancestors.
9 And the head of Ephraim is
Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will anot believe (IE If you lack faith you will not be saved) surely
ye shall not be established. Believe
what I tell you for your enemy is only Pekah the king of Israel but he is only
one person. But if you won’t believe me
you will be in trouble for you will not be protected. (3rd prophecy)
10 Moreover, the Lord spake again
unto Ahaz, saying:
11 Ask thee a asign of the Lord thy God; ask it either
in the depths, or in the heights above. . This is a command from
Isaiah to Ahaz, you can ask what sign you want and I will do it to show you
that what I say will happen. The Lord
wanted to strengthen Ahaz’s faith to
follow the Lord and receive his protection against any and all who would try to
over-power them. But Ahaz refused to ask
for some sign that would strengthen his faith in the Lord. (D&C 63:10 Yea signs come . . .
not by the will of men, nor as they please, but by the will of God.)
12 But Ahaz said: I will not ask,
neither will I atempt the Lord. This seems to be an offer
from the Lord to give Ahaz a sign to bolster his faith but he refused the
Lord’s offer and eventually went to Assyria instead for help, Ahaz chose not to
trust in the Lord but chose to make an agreement with Assyria who destroyed
Syria and some of Israel but later wanted to control Judah, and Judah started
paying a tribute to Assyria. Israel and
Syria was not the threat to Judah but Assyria
13 And he said: Hear ye now, O house
of David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God
also? ? Isaiah
seems to be saying I can’t believe you will reject my God who has made this
great offer, is it because you think you know better than God?
14 Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign—Behold, a avirgin shall conceive, and shall bear a
son, and shall call his name bImmanuel.
The Lord will give you a sign anyway that he wants you to have. You could have had any sign you wanted but
not now. Some believe that this prophecy
could mean that their enemies would be destroyed so soon that the women would
name their children Immanuel or “God is with us’. We will take the belief that the most
important part of this prophecy is about the birth of Christ. Ludlow states in his reference book, that 5
stages are to take place for this prophecy to be completed. 1st In
Hebrew a definite article precedes the term ‘virgin’ meaning ‘the virgin’ shall
conceive not just any virgin. (Mary) 2nd she will have a son. 3rd
with us is El or “with us is God”.
15 Butter(or
curds and honey, the only food available to the poor at that time) and ahoney shall he eat, that he may know to
refuse the evil and to choose the good.
16 For abefore (before
he is mature) the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the
good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of bboth her kings. . 4th
Before this child is old enough to choose good from evil both kings of Syria
and Israel will be vacated.
17 The Lord shall abring (IE the
immediate danger is the threat of Assyria) upon thee, and upon thy
people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come from the day that bEphraim departed from Judah, the king of
Assyria. . 5th The king
of Assyria will come and vex you more than Judah has been vexed since Ephraim
split with Judah. These prophecies seem
to be designed to build the faith of Judah that the Lord would save them. Also in the time of Christ’s birth it was to
mean that God would actual come down to dwell among his people. And in the last days we know that because of
our faith in Christ we will be able to exercise our faith against all odds at
the end of the world, because we will know that “God is with us”.
18 And it shall come to pass in that
day that the Lord shall hiss (or whistle, i.e.
signal) for (IE for attacking forces) the
fly that is in the uttermost part of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land
of Assyria. . They are then warned
about the future attack of Assyria.
19 And they shall come, and shall
rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and
upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.
20 In the same day shall the Lord
shave (IE The land will be depopulated by a foreign
invader) with a arazor that is hired, by them beyond the
river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet; and it shall
also consume the beard. Cutting
off hair was usually a sign of great humiliation and disdain. But as Judah was carried away as captives it
helped identified who were now slaves if they tried to escape and it was more
sanitary on their long journey.
21 And it shall come to pass in that
day, a man shall nourish (IE Only a few
self-sustaining survivors shall remain.) a young cow and two sheep; Those left after Assyria
will have fewer animals per capita to take care of.
22 And it shall come to pass, for
the abundance of milk they shall give he shall eat butter; for butter (HEB curd) and honey shall every one eat that is
left in the land. Because only a few men are left, those will have more
milk to drink than before and honey to eat because of all the wild plants now
covering former pastures allowing the bees to make more honey, than in the
past.
23 And it shall come to pass in that
day, every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand
silverlings( or pieces of silver), which
shall be for briers and thorns. Wild
plants instead of agriculture.
24 With arrows and with bows shall
men come thither, because all the land shall become briers and thorns. Assyria shall come
25 And all hills that shall be digged (HEB hoed with the hoe) with the mattock, there
shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the
sending forth of oxen, and the treading of lesser cattle( sheep, or goats). Those
parts that were farmed will not grow briers and thorns because of the sheep and
goats that will graze there.
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