NOTES for Isa 7:1-14

Everything is simple and obvious: a serious threat hangs over Israel. The prophet Isaiah does not begin calculating the probability of one outcome or another, or what there is to say about the numbers of Israelite and enemy troops... He turns to the One Person who can deal with the situation. And he receives a simple answer: “Thus says the Lord God: it shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.” The key words here are “thus says the Lord”! If He has spoken, then there is nothing to fear.

"I will not ask for a sign." Why does a person need signs when he can explain away any sign, even the most fantastic and unbelievable one, in such a way that God drops out of the equation? And on the other hand, why do we need something visible when what matters far more for each of us is a real sense of God's work in our own life?

When you receive an answer to a question, when you see that what you asked for has been done, signs are unnecessary. We demand proof when we do not believe and do not trust, when we need the option of saying that the evidence is unconvincing. But when we understand that God's works are real facts, even the word "sign" disappears from our vocabulary. The Virgin Mary did not ask the Angel for proof that what was promised would happen; she simply asked him to explain how the prophecy would be fulfilled.

Very strong enemies attacked Judea, forming an alliance against King Ahaz. The king is in a panic, and God through the prophet Isaiah offers His protection; one need only believe Him. To strengthen faith, God is even ready to give a sign, which is not very usual for Him: see Mark 8:12. But Ahaz does not want to ask for it. Nevertheless, God gives a prophecy about the coming salvation connected with the birth of a certain Child with the very significant name Immanuel, meaning God with us. The later prophecies of Isaiah and of other prophets will clarify this image of the Child, the Messiah, the Savior, so that humanity turns out to be prepared for the Nativity of Christ. Again we see how God's answer to human evil, war, fear, unbelief, becomes conquering good: the birth of the Son of Man.

Enemies are approaching Jerusalem, yet the prophet Isaiah promises salvation to King Ahaz and the people. This promise will be confirmed by a wondrous sign: the Virgin will conceive in her womb and bear a Son whose name is "God with us."

Seven centuries later the evangelist will apply this prophecy to the birth of the Savior of Israel, in whom God Himself will visit His people. Thus the news of the coming Messiah becomes salvation for God's people - Christ saves those who believe in Him even seven hundred years before His birth.

Today's reading includes one of the earliest known messianic hymns in Israel's history (vv. 13-16). Later, the interpretation of this text raised many questions because of differences between the Hebrew text and the Greek translation of the Seventy, the Septuagint. The issue is that in v. 14 the Hebrew text uses a word that means a young woman, while the Greek translation uses a word that means a chaste young woman. This difference between the translation and the original became possible because, at the time when the Greek translation was made, there were some variant readings in the Hebrew original. They were later removed, but they had already become fixed in this translation, especially since it was authoritative in its own right.

Clearly, when Matthew refers to this prophecy in his Gospel (Matt. 1:23), he has in mind the version reflected in the Septuagint. But no less interesting than the prophecy itself is the situation that had developed in Jerusalem in the days when it was spoken. The city was plainly threatened by serious danger from Judah's old enemies, the Northern Kingdom and Syria (vv. 1-3). The prophet reassures the king by foretelling that the plans of Judah's enemies will not succeed, so he has nothing to fear (vv. 2-9).

But the king was not satisfied with Isaiah's own testimony, and then the prophet told him to ask God for a "sign," that is, for a sign in order to receive an answer from Him no longer through a mediator, but directly (vv. 10-11). The king, however, does not dare make such a request (v. 12). He feared an unfavorable answer, after which nothing could be changed. And it is in response to this refusal that the prophecy of the Messiah's imminent birth is heard (vv. 13-14).

At first glance, such an event can hardly be considered the sign the prophet advised the king to ask for. In general, such a sign looked rather strange in the context of the situation, almost like mockery: the enemy is at the gates, and Isaiah says, wait for the Messiah; He will be born soon, and then everything will be well. It sounded much as it would if, in response to complaints and laments about very concrete and earthly problems, we were advised to hope for the imminent second coming of Christ.

But Isaiah, like every prophet, sees the situation exactly this way. He raises the bar as high as possible, not in order to evade an answer. For him, both the day of Judgment and the messianic Kingdom are truly near; they are as real to him as the enemy army moving toward the city. Therefore reality as a whole looks different to him. The king sees this reality only in part; the prophet perceives it as a whole, in all its fullness.

In a hard hour for the king, and for his whole state as well, the Lord Himself, addressing the king, offers him the chance to ask Him for a sign. But the king did not take this opportunity, and his motivation appears quite pious: the king seems not to want to test the Lord, and he seems ready to entrust himself to His will. Yet the opposite is what happens, and in practice the king goes against the Lord's will precisely by refusing to ask Him. This means that there can also be false piety, when behind our talk about "trusting in a higher will" there can stand a basic unwillingness to act and choose. But He did not create us in His image and likeness so that we would fold our hands and drift with the current.

What Ahaz did not want to learn, Isaiah announced to the people: the prophecy of the birth of the Infant, whose very name, Immanuel, "God with us," means that with His coming into the world an unprecedented union of God and humanity will begin.

But before that, terrible and destructive disasters lie ahead, and the prophet speaks of them directly. And still there is the prophecy of the Infant, and hope is given to the people. A sign is given that the disasters are temporary, and it will not always seem that the Lord has turned away from the people.