Isaiah 7: The Immanuel Prophecy

Today, we are beginning a different section of the Book of Isaiah, having completed the first six chapters, which contain a prophecy about the southern kingdom of Judah. Now, Isaiah’s focus goes to the northern kingdom of Israel. As always, let’s begin by reading the chapter:

1 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 And it was told to the house of David, saying, "Syria's forces are deployed in Ephraim." So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.

3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field, 4 "and say to him: 'Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. 5 'Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, 6 "Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel"-- 7 'thus says the Lord GOD:
"It shall not stand,
Nor shall it come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus,
And the head of Damascus is Rezin.
Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken,
So that it will not be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
And the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son.
If you will not believe,
Surely you shall not be established." ' "
10 Moreover the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 "Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above." 12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!" 13 Then he said, "Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 "Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 "For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. 17 "The LORD will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father's house--days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah."

18 And it shall come to pass in that day
That the LORD will whistle for the fly
That is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt,
And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 They will come, and all of them will rest
In the desolate valleys and in the clefts of the rocks,
And on all thorns and in all pastures.
20 In the same day the Lord will shave with a hired razor,
With those from beyond the River, with the king of Assyria,
The head and the hair of the legs,
And will also remove the beard.
21 It shall be in that day
That a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep;
22 So it shall be, from the abundance of milk they give,
That he will eat curds;
For curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land.
23 It shall happen in that day,
That wherever there could be a thousand vines
Worth a thousand shekels of silver,
It will be for briers and thorns.
24 With arrows and bows men will come there,
Because all the land will become briers and thorns.
25 And to any hill which could be dug with the hoe,
You will not go there for fear of briers and thorns;
But it will become a range for oxen
And a place for sheep to roam.
Isaiah 7:1-25 (NKJV)

At the beginning of Chapter 7 are many different names. Personally, I have trouble keeping it all straight in my head, so I thought it would be helpful to give you a chart and remind you of the accomplishments of these men. Additionally, I also gave a reference to the verses about each in the historical section of the Bible.

Ahaz*The 12th King of Judah, the son of Jotham. In Matthew 1:9, he is included in the genealogy of Christ. Became king at age 20 and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not follow the Lord.*2 Kings 16.

Jotham*The son of King Uzziah. He was the regent for some years during the leprosy of his father and reigned as King of Judah, beginning at the age of 25. He reigned for 16 years in Jerusalem and followed the Lord. Also included in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1:9.*2 Kings 15.

Uzziah*In some passages, he is referred to as Azariah, though there also is a high priest of that name, so don’t get confused. Uzziah, the son of Amaziah, began to reign as king at the age of 16. He reigned 52 years, and followed the Lord, except for the time discussed in the Isaiah 6 blog entry when he attempted to burn incense on the altar and was stricken with leprosy. Also included in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1:9*2 Chronicles 26

Rezin*He was the King of Damascus, the main city of Syria, during the reign of Ahaz in Judah. He was a military leader interested in conquest. Though unsuccessful in the attempted overthrow of Judah talked about in Isaiah 7, he recovered from Elath to Syria, according to 2 Kings 16. He was attacked, defeated and killed by Tiglath-pileser II, the king of Assyria.*2 Kings 15-16

Pekah*Murdered his master, Pekahiah, seized the throne and became the 18th king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Remaliah. Under Pekah, Israel tried to force Judah to join them. He was killed by Hoshea. He reigned for 20 years in Israel. He did not follow the Lord.*2 Kings 15

Remaliah*Not a king, Remaliah is only known for being the father of Pekah.*--

Ephraim*One of the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim is one of the 13 tribes. Remember, the descendants of Levi were responsible for the priestly duties and were in the center of the 12 tribes. The boundaries of the land entitled to Ephraim are in Joshua 16:1-10. It was a sizable chunk about 55 miles by 70 miles. The land of Ephraim was of great wealth and security. After the revolt of Jereboam, the kingdom of Ephraim moved north and is synonymous with Israel.*--

Tabel*The son of Tabel went with Pekah and Rezin, when they invaded Judah. If they had won, his son would have been set up as a puppet king of that territory. It did not happen that way!*Isaiah 7:6

Shear-jashub*The son of Isaiah. His name means “a remnant shall return.”*--

Okay, let’s begin with the first two verses of the chapter:

1 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 And it was told to the house of David, saying, "Syria's forces are deployed in Ephraim." So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.

I don’t think that things have changed so much since the days of these verses. What we see here is aggression in trying to obtain more land. In this case, Ahaz is ruling in Jerusalem, when Rezin (the king of Syria) and Pekah (the king of Israel) attempt to expand their land by taking Judah. Sometimes, this reflects the will of the people, but it can just as easily be one aggressive leader who wants to leave his mark. Before we get too judgmental, we would not be such a large country if we had not done the same with the Indians, the Mexicans, etc. Few people are satisfied with what they have…most want more. “Don’t fence me in!” Remember that today’s Israel is a country the size of New Jersey. It was slightly larger at that time, but not much larger, especially when you take into consideration that it was basically split between north and south, after the revolt of Jereboam. Once again, keep this in perspective with the chapters that we have studied up to this point. The northern tribes are about to go into captivity by the Assyrians. It is interesting to note that the people Israel makes a pact with here to try and take Jerusalem are the ones who take Israel captive shortly. They were not long, lost friends, but allies in a military coup. One of my favorite words in this passage is a simple one. They went up to Jerusalem to make war against it. The forces trying to take over Jerusalem are heading south. We often think of up being synonymous with north. “Up,” in this case, refers to up in elevation. Someday, Mt. Zion will be the highest place on earth, and in addition to this pointing to that future time, it also points to Jerusalem being “the high ground.” In Bible times, Rome became the cultural center of the universe, but Jerusalem was the spiritual center. Though God would also punish the southern kingdom, He was not yet ready for that to happen, as He defended them from the enemies discussed here. Just seeing the name of Ephraim here when discussing the enemies of Jerusalem makes your heart sad, as it has not been so many years since the tribes had one purpose and one goal…to serve the Lord. Ephraim had been one of the most powerful of all the tribes. You have to understand the separation of the tribes in the revolt of Jereboam to see the significance. The tribes separated, as Jereboam took 10 tribes north, with Ephraim being the largest. That’s why when you read the word Ephraim in the Bible, it usually applies to all the northern tribes. Simeon remained with Judah in the south, but since Judah was the largest of those two tribes, that becomes the “House of Judah” when discussed after this time. Let’s look at a verse from 2 Chronicles to show another aspect of this:

13 And from all their territories the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him. 14 For the Levites left their common-lands and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem , for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the LORD. 15 Then he appointed for himself priests for the high places, for the demons, and the calf idols which he had made. 16 And after the Levites left, those from all the tribes of Israel , such as set their heart to seek the LORD God of Israel , came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers. 17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah , and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.
2 Chronicles 11:13-17 (NKJV)

Many people have heard of the lost 10 tribes of Israel . There really weren’t any lost tribes. The Jews in the northern tribes who had not fallen into idolatry came south after the Levites and continued to serve the Lord. In the same manner, it would make sense that those into idols and false gods in Jerusalem might have ventured north to join those who believed what they did. The heart of Ahaz was moved, as were the hearts of the people. What does this show? They were not trusting in the Lord. Think about what had happened in the lives of the Jews prior to this time. God put them in a land flowing with milk and honey. Though there were giants in the land, God had made them victorious. Only Joshua and Caleb trusted in the Lord to deliver them and God punished the Jews by having them wait to take the land until the last of the untrusting had died in the wilderness. With all God had done, this generation was failing to trust Him in the same manner. Yet even with that lack of trust, it is God’s purpose to deliver them here. Okay, the next verses:

3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field, 4 "and say to him: 'Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. 5 'Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, 6 "Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel"—

Once again, the Lord is using Isaiah, who received His commission just after Uzziah died. This occurred at least 16 years after that commission as Ahaz is the grandson of Uzziah. God tells Isaiah to take his son to meet King Ahaz. Of course, God had a specific location in mind for this meeting. Why was he to take his son with him? I can’t tell you all the reasons, but at least one reason was the name of Isaiah’s son, Shear-jashub. His name means “a remnant shall return.” God’s plan included the Babylonian captivity, included the Diaspora and included the Jews coming to know Jesus as Messiah. As mentioned before, there is always a remnant, but the greatest remnant of all has yet to be seen. That will occur in the Great Tribulation. Let’s discuss the location of this meeting. It is at the end of the conduit (or aqueduct) from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. Each aspect of this story points to Jesus. We can all picture a conduit or aqueduct. It is an incredible structure used to transport water great distances. Aqueducts may look archaic, but the engineering is an incredible feat. In 8 miles of the channel, it may only lower by a few inches to allow gravity to push the water. Another aspect to keep in mind, though, is that without an exit for that water (a spigot of some kind) all the water above you isn’t going to do you much good. Now, let’s apply that to our lives. We can live many days without food, but we will die very quickly without water. Those in a survival situation always go by the 3-3-3 rule…we can survive three hours without shelter, three days without water and three weeks without food. Though we feel like we are going to die if we don’t fill our bellies with food, the truth is that water is much more necessary to our survival. In the New Testament, when Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman, we learn more:

10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
John 4:10-14 (NKJV)

This is more symbolism in the Old Testament of Jesus. Above God’s land flows living water, yet they are still thirsty. Let’s look at the next aspect of the location, it’s next to the upper pool. The word for upper is “elyon” in Hebrew. It means the most high. Many times throughout the Bible, God is referred to as the “Most High,” beginning in Genesis 14:18. Everything about this signifies it is a blessing from God. God is the most high and any pool in Israel is also regarded as a blessing, as there is very little rainfall. There was certainly more rainfall in those days as it was a land flowing with milk and honey, but don’t lose sight of the desert climate and the importance of water there. This place is also along the highway. At that time, a highway was a road above all else, allowing the traveler to not get dirty. It is probably where we got our phrase “take the high road,” signifying being on higher moral and ethical ground. Lastly, this was near Fuller’s Field. A fuller was someone who cleaned cloth. This was where the local women did their laundry, but more specifically, this often took place with freshly-woven cloth. The name “Fuller” makes more sense when you understand that they were making the cloth more full. Fuller’s soap was an alkali made from plant ashes to aid in this process. For this to take place there needed to be space and plenty of running water. Here’s another verse that seems to apply:

2 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.
Mark 9:2-3 (NKJV)

The word above for launderer is “fuller.”

The first mention of that location in the Bible also involves Isaiah, yet it is in the reign of King Hezekiah. You can read about it in 2 Kings 18 or Isaiah 36. To remind you, Judah is being besieged by Assyria under King Sennacherib. Hezekiah pays a fine to Sennacherib and has to remove gold and silver from God’s temple to do that. Hezekiah remains steadfast in his love of the Lord and tells the people that the Lord will deliver them. Sennacherib makes light of that situation. Though Isaiah prophesies in those verses that not one arrow will strike them, Sennacherib surrounds Jerusalem with 185,000 archers. An angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 Assyrians in the night.

Certainly, when Isaiah returns to this location he will understand the significance of it. God is telling them that once again, He will deliver them. Interestingly, Hezekiah was a godly king, but here, it involves an unbelieving king. God told them not to fear the two “smoking firebrands,” referring to Rezin and Pekah. A “smoking firebrand” was a stick that stirred up fire or anger. Notice that the description of the anger of those two men was “fierce.” It doesn’t matter how fierce they were and Isaiah understood the power of God. Here’s a good memory verse to remind you who we serve:

22 'You must not fear them, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.'
Deuteronomy 3:22 (NKJV)

God is very aware of their plans. They plan to find an opening in the wall, sneak in and attack from the inside. He is also aware they have brought with them the son of Tabel to be their ruler. Then the Lord continues in the following verses:

7 'thus says the Lord GOD:
"It shall not stand,
Nor shall it come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus,
And the head of Damascus is Rezin.
Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken,
So that it will not be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
And the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son.
If you will not believe,
Surely you shall not be established." ' "

God is telling Ahaz that he need not fear his two enemies in the north. Their hateful plans toward Judah will not come to fruition. God also reminds us of many things to come. Even in these days, the main city of Syria is Damascus. Damascus is the longest, continuously-inhabited city in the world’s existence. Later, in Isaiah 17, God tells us that city will be wiped off the face of the earth. Damascus has been a thorn in Israel’s side for many years, but we know that it won’t always be the case. Through this prophecy, God is asking Ahaz to have faith. Faith might seem like it is belief in something that we cannot see, yet it is not belief without a foundation. Some of us have been given the gift of faith and along with it, the ability to see Jesus as our Messiah. There, as well, our faith has a foundation. We can look around us and see what God has made. We can look inside of ourselves and feel what God has done in our hearts. That is a strong foundation, and the foundation for those of us who have come to the Lord is the Rock of our salvation. Christ is who we believe in, but once we have believed, He lives in our hearts. It is simple to look back on my days before becoming a Christian and remember the darkness within. So, to unbelievers, faith might be belief in something they cannot see. To believers, faith is belief in something you can feel with every fiber of your being. As this chapter continues, you will see God giving Ahaz every chance at believing in Him. He is also giving Isiaiah an idea of how long it will be before the northern tribes will go into captivity. The verses then change dramatically as they go from pointing subtly to the Messiah to pointing overtly to the Messiah. Let’s go on to the Immanuel Prophecy:

10 Moreover the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 "Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above." 12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!" 13 Then he said, "Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 "Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 "For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. 17 "The LORD will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father's house--days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah."

God then speaks again to Ahaz and offers to give him a sign. How many people have asked God for a sign? “God, if You really exist, show me!” Most people say something along those lines when they are seeking the Lord. I know that in my walk with the Lord, He has revealed Himself to me many times in many different ways. This section of the Bible reminds me of Saul of Tarsus, a man who had tortured Christians, as He walked along the Damascus Road. God spoke to Saul, and the voice was apparent to others with Saul at the time. Would you call that a sign from the Lord? I certainly would! Many studying the Bible discuss the difference between us choosing God and God choosing us. When you read Acts 9, it shows that God put Saul in a position where he had few choices. Yet, here in Isaiah, it seems that God is doing the same with Ahaz. The difference is Ahaz still doesn’t believe! He acts piously and says, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord.” Isaiah then speaks, and tells Ahaz not to weary God. Since Ahaz wasn’t creative enough to come up with a sign of his own, God comes up with one for him.

• A virgin will conceive and bear a Son.
• His name shall be Immanuel
• He shall eat curds and honey
• Before that Child arrives, both the King of Israel and the King of Judah will be gone!
• The King of Assyria will be responsible.

There were five different parts of the sign God was willing to accomplish for Ahaz, though the sign was for all the people. I think it is interesting that five in the Bible seems to symbolize grace, a free gift. There were five loaves multiplied from the little boy’s lunch to feed thousands. David picked up five stones to slay the giant, Goliath. Without the gift of God, that would not have been possible. Let’s look at these five promises. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son. The word here used for virgin is “alma.” Sadly, this has been one of the most contentious aspects of the Bible. So many people claim to be Christians, but have great difficulty with the virgin birth, as that is against the “laws of nature.” When translators worked on the Revised Standard Version, they translated this to mean “young woman” rather than “virgin.” This verse is quoted by the angel when telling Joseph that Mary is with child before their marriage. In the Greek of the New Testament, the word used is “parthenos,” which definitely means virgin. The easiest way of interpreting this word to mean virgin is the situation: God offers to give Ahaz a sign, any outrageous sign that he can come up with. With Ahaz unable to deliver when asking for a sign, God offers to do something outrageous to prove He is God. How outrageous would it be for a young maiden to have a son? Everywhere we look, you see young women with children. That’s ordinary. Now, a virgin bearing a child…that’s outrageous! In Genesis 24:16-43, when we see the story of the unnamed servant looking for a bride for Isaac, it specifically says “virgin:”

16 Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her.
Genesis 24:16 (NKJV)

The word for virgin here is “betula.” The word used for young woman is different…”nara.” Just a few verses later, we see the first usage of “alma:”

'behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, "Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink," 44 'and she says to me, "Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,"--let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master's son.'
Genesis 24:43-44 (NKJV)

I am spending too much time here trying to convince people who don’t believe Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and a virgin named Mary. God said it. I believe it! It goes all the way back to Genesis:

"Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel."
Genesis 3:14-15 (NKJV)

God is talking to Satan here, after he caused Adam and Eve to sin. I think it is interesting that God says He will put enmity, or hatred, between Satan and the woman, and between his seed and her Seed. If you know anything about reproduction, it is the man who has the seed, while the woman has the egg. Here, God is pointing to the Seed not coming from the man. That seed came from the Holy Spirit in the form of the virgin birth.
The next part of the prophecy is that Jesus will be called Immanuel. Jesus was never called that word, Immanuel, but what the word means is significant. Immanuel means “God with us.” We have discussed this already in Isaiah, but when you look through the Bible, you can see different aspects of this. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night was an example of “God with us” to the Jews in the wilderness. Then, they built a Tabernacle for Him in Jerusalem. When Jesus was born, all the people living at that time had the great gift of “God with us,” as He walked alongside them on this earth. That is simply amazing! God chose to leave the perfection of heaven and live on a sinful earth, where the people wanted to tear Him to pieces. He also knew they were going to accomplish that goal. And still He came. I don’t know who came up with this statement, but it will remain one of my favorites: It wasn’t the nails that held Him to the cross; it was His love for you and me. When Jesus returned to heaven, He left the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. In this age, that is “God with us.” In the Millennium, Jesus will rule on the throne of David for a thousand years, and again, it will be “God with us.” Once this world has passed away, we will spend eternity with our King, and forever, we will have “God with us!”
The third part of the prophecy is that He shall eat curds and honey. This is telling us that He will be poor. This is one of the places the Jews must have missed in their studies that confused them when Jesus came as their Messiah. They looked for a powerful king to take the throne of David. Instead, He was a lowly carpenter. There are verses in the Bible that refer to Jesus vanquishing all of their enemies, but they refer to His second coming. The first time He came, it was not in wrath and judgment, but in love. He washed feet, and was the lowliest of men.

The fourth part of the prophecy points to the fact that before the Child is born, the kings of Judah and Israel will be gone. Remember that God chose to be the King of Israel, but the Israelites wanted to be like all of the other nations, and chose Saul for that role. It was God’s permissive will to allow that, not His perfect will. That history of the kings of this region was to pass away shortly, and it should have demonstrated to all of the Jews the mighty power of God. Who would have seen this coming? Certainly none of the people of Judah or Israel. They went into captivity, and the kings of the country were something of the past. If you look at Israel in the days of Jesus, the Romans were in charge. And after that time, the Jews were dispersed to the four corners of the earth. The next King they will have will be Jesus, God’s perfect will!
The last part of the prophecy tells us that the King of Assyria will be responsible for the fall of the people. The northern tribe goes into captivity by the hand of the Assyrians. The southern tribe is actually taken by the King of Babylon, who conquered Assyria. Let’s tackle the next section of verses:

18 And it shall come to pass in that day
That the LORD will whistle for the fly
That is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt,
And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 They will come, and all of them will rest
In the desolate valleys and in the clefts of the rocks,
And on all thorns and in all pastures.
20 In the same day the Lord will shave with a hired razor,
With those from beyond the River, with the king of Assyria,
The head and the hair of the legs,
And will also remove the beard.
21 It shall be in that day
That a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep;
22 So it shall be, from the abundance of milk they give,
That he will eat curds;
For curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land.

It shall come to pass in that day…in what day? When they go into captivity. Even the most remote and desolate area of the country will be besieged by the enemy. When it says that the Lord will shave with a hired razor, it points to the fact that God can use heathen countries to impose His penalties. The heathen countries don’t have to be listening to Him. He has the power to have anyone do anything that He desires. A Jewish man was proud of his beard and here we see that the razor would take the beard away, along with the hair of the head and the legs. This shows that they will lose their identity as Jews and their pride. Additionally, if you look at Leviticus 9, you will see that anyone with leprosy was required to shave their bodies. Leprosy is a symbol of sin, and the nation of Israel had become leprous. This is also emblematic of the Nazarite. There were requirements to be a Nazarite in the Old Testament. They could never have eaten a grape and they were never to shave their head or their beard. If they fell, they would have to shave. It was a sign of falling away from the Lord. That exists here, as well. So Israel became sinful and in addition to losing its Jewish identity, lost its priestly one, as well. Lastly, we see they will be very poor. The idiom of eating curds and honey may not sound so bad to us. Basically, it is thickened milk and honey. I love honey butter. It is delicious. But what God intended is for us to understand that this was the meal of a nomad, a desert wanderer. This was not the meal of a king. It also shows a juxtaposition of the land flowing with milk and honey. The Jews seem to be losing everything in their captivity: their land, their identity, their possessions, their freedom. But they have not lost their God, nor the covenant that He made with them! Let’s finish the chapter:

23 It shall happen in that day,
That wherever there could be a thousand vines
Worth a thousand shekels of silver,
It will be for briers and thorns.
24 With arrows and bows men will come there,
Because all the land will become briers and thorns.
25 And to any hill which could be dug with the hoe,
You will not go there for fear of briers and thorns;
But it will become a range for oxen
And a place for sheep to roam.

The wealth of the land has turned to absolute desolation. He refers to briers and thorns here, and I think it points to one of the seven parables of Matthew 13. Let’s review:

Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 "And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 "Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 "But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 "But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
Matthew 13:3-9 (NKJV)

Fortunately for us, this is one of the parables that Jesus interpreted for us:

18 "Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 "yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 "But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."
Matthew 13:18-23 (NKJV)

You can see that the thorns are the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. They choke the Word and make the people unfruitful. That is exactly what had happened in pre-captivity Israel. The land flowing with milk and honey gave the Jews prosperity. Prosperity can be a gift from the Lord, but it can take our eyes away from Him and place those eyes on ourselves. We often take credit for the gifts the Lord gives us, as we become filled with pride. God always humbles the prideful, and as the Jews became less and less fruitful in their spiritual walks with Him, He tried to bring them back gently. He always does that with us at first, but when we don’t listen, He speaks louder. Here, He let the Jews know that they were letting Him down, and that the prosperity He had given them had been taken away. But don’t forget, when the Jews returned from the 70 years, God restored them. He also punished them again, but I like to emphasize the restoration to prosperity. That shows the grace of God, as He is always ready to forgive us! Don’t ever forget that when you are feeling like a loser for failing again. Your behavior will never surprise God. He will continue to love you even when you fail. But don’t forget that every sin is an extra burden on the shoulders of Jesus. He already bore that load for each of us, but if we can live cleanly now, we can take some of the burden off of Him. He loves us so much. To me, that is one of the ways we can show Him how much we love Him!