Isaiah 7:2

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Now in the days that Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram marched up to wage war against Jerusalem. He was accompanied by Pekah son of Remaliah the king of Israel, but he could not overpower the city. ²When it became known to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind.³Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct that feeds the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer's Field, ⁴and say to him: 'Calm down and be quiet. Do not be afraid or fainthearted over these two smoldering stubs of firewood, over the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. ⁵For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted your ruin, saying, ⁶'Let us invade Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install the son of Tabeal over it as king.'" ⁷But this is what the Lord GOD says: "It will not arise; it will not happen. ⁸For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. ⁹The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the house: Isaiah 7:13, Isaiah 6:13, Isaiah 37:35, 2 Samuel 7:16, 1 Kings 11:32, 1 Kings 12:16, 1 Kings 13:2, Jeremiah 21:12

is confederate with: Heb. resteth on, Isaiah 7:17, Isaiah 11:13, 2 Chronicles 25:10, 2 Chronicles 28:12, Ezekiel 37:16-19, Hosea 12:1

And his heart: Isaiah 8:12, Isaiah 37:27, Leviticus 26:36, Leviticus 26:37, Numbers 14:1-3, Deuteronomy 28:65, Deuteronomy 28:66, 2 Kings 7:6, 2 Kings 7:7, Psalms 11:1, Psalms 27:1, Psalms 27:2, Psalms 112:7, Psalms 112:8, Proverbs 28:1, Matthew 2:3

Reciprocal: Genesis 43:18 - the men Exodus 14:10 - sore afraid Leviticus 26:16 - terror 1 Samuel 17:24 - sore 1 Samuel 28:5 - he was afraid 2 Kings 16:5 - Rezin Psalms 83:5 - they are Isaiah 8:6 - rejoice Isaiah 8:9 - Associate Isaiah 33:14 - sinners Ezekiel 21:7 - For the Ezekiel 27:16 - Syria Matthew 1:20 - Joseph Acts 21:3 - Syria 2 Thessalonians 2:2 - shaken Revelation 6:13 - of a

Cross-References

Genesis 7:1
Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

Genesis 7:8
The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground

Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

Genesis 7:15
They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life.

Genesis 7:19
Finally, the waters completely inundated the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered.

Genesis 7:21
And every creature that had moved upon the earth perished-birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind.

Genesis 8:20
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. Taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Leviticus 10:10
You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,

Ezekiel 44:23
They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it was told the house of David,.... Ahaz, and his family, the princes of the blood, his court and counsellors; who had intelligence of the designs and preparations of the Syrians and Israelites against them:

saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim; the ten tribes; or the kingdom and king of Israel. Some render it, "Syria led"; that is, its army "unto Ephraim" y; marched it into the land of Israel, and there joined the king of Israel's army; others, as the Vulgate Latin version, "Syria rests upon Ephraim" z; depends upon, trusts in, takes heart and encouragement from Ephraim, or the ten tribes, being his ally. The Septuagint version is, "Syria hath agreed with Ephraim"; entered into a confederacy and alliance with each other; which is the sense of our version; and is confirmed by the Targum, which is,

"the king of Syria is joined with the king of Israel:''

and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind; the metaphor denotes the strength and force of the confederate armies, comparable to a strong, blustering, boisterous wind; see Isaiah 32:2 and the weakness of the king and people of Judah, who were like to trees shaken by the wind; and also the fear they were possessed with, partly through consciousness of guilt, and partly through distrust of divine power and Providence; and also on account of what they had suffered already from these powerful enemies, when they attacked them singly; and therefore might much more dread them, as they were combined together against them; see 2 Chronicles 28:5.

y נחה "duxit exercitum", Tigurine version. z "Syria quievit super Ephraim", Forerius, Cocceius; "Syria acquiescit in Ephraimo", Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And it was told the house of David - That is, the royal family; or the king and princes; the government. Ahaz was the descendant and successor of David.

Syria is confederate with Ephraim - Ephraim was one of the tribes of Israel, and the kingdom of Israel was often called “Ephraim,” or the kingdom of Ephraim; in the same way as the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were called the kingdom of Judah. The phrase, ‘is confederate with,’ is in Hebrew ‘resteth on;’ see the margin. The meaning is, that Syria was “supported by” Ephraim, or was allied with Ephraim. The kingdom of Israel, or Ephraim, was situated “between” Syria and Jerusalem. Of course, the latter could not be attacked without marching through the former, and without their aid. In this sense it was that Syria, or the Arameans, relied or “rested” on Ephraim. Though Syria was by far the stronger power, yet it was not strong enough to attack Jerusalem had the kingdom of Israel been opposed to it.

And his heart - The heart of the king - of Ahaz.

Was moved as the trees of the wood - This is a very beautiful and striking image. It expresses universal trembling, consternation, and alarm, as the trees are moved “together” when the wind passes violently over them. A similar expression is found in Ovid - in “Canaces,” Epist. xi. ver. 76, 77.

Ut quatitur tepido fraxina virga noto

Sic mea vibrari pallentia membra videres.