of the Lord, See 2 Kings 18. 17, there did the prophet give assurance to Ahaz, that he need not fear his foes; there did he make light of their furious purposes, and declare, in the name of the Lord, that Syria, and no more, should appertain to the monarch of Damascus; Ephraim and not Judah, to the king of Israel; and moreover, that within threescore and five years from that time, the kingdom of Ephraim should be utterly destroyed. To which assurance the prophet adds these words of warning," If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established." Judah should be cut off as well as Ephraim. And in like manner, Christians, no less certainly than Jews. We may seem to have safety for the present. And very probably the most impenitent amongst us may be visited by no signal chastisement on earth, or like Ahaz may be protected from the evils which they most justly deserve. But surely they shall not be established. If like Ahaz, and like Judah and Jerusalem, they persist in disobedience, their sin will find them out at length; and that, when it will be too late to repent.

It was probably in reference to this promise of protecting "the house of David," that "the Lord spake again unto Ahaz," and offered him by the prophet a sign, by way of pledge of protection. And it was because Ahaz would fain apply to the Assyrians for help, see 2 Kings 16. 17, that he refused the proffered sign, pretending to do so in compliance with a precept of the Law. See Deut. 6. 16. Upon which refusal, the Lord gives a sign unasked, a sign well fitted to raise the hopes, and to confirm the faith, of those who still believed and hoped in Him; a sign that it would be in vain for the gentiles and the people of Israel to be gathered together, with a view to put down the son of David from the throne of Judah, to put down God's anointed King from his holy hill of Sion. See Acts 4. 27. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." For this sign God's faithful people were to wait. Till this sign took place, nay and further, till the child thus marvellously conceived, but fed in the ordinary manner during infancy, should grow of age to refuse the evil and choose the good, the sceptre should not depart from Judah; and the holy land which Ahaz was abhorring, or, was provoking God to visit with the height of his displeasure, should then, and not till then, be finally "forsaken of both her kings." Such was the sign given by the Lord himself to his people aforetime, as the object of their hope. Such is the sign which we know to have been fulfilled in the miraculous conception and birth of Christ. See Matt. 1. 23. Let it be to us a pledge of salvation. Let us think of God's power manifested in this else unheard of miracle. Let us think of the child thus born, the holy child Jesus, as "Immanuel," or God with us. And let us rejoice in belonging to that kingdom of his, before which all others must fade away, in being subjects of that King, of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end. See Ch. 9. 7.

The wasting of Judah by Assyria foretold.

17 The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land 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 with a razor that is hired, namely, 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.

21 And it shall come to pass in

that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; 22 And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give that he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.

23 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns.

24 With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

25 And on all hills that shall be digged 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 for the treading of lesser cattle.

LECTURE 1106.

The desolation of those who trust in the world.

The land spoken of in this chapter, as doomed to be “forsaken of both her kings," ver. 16, is usually supposed to mean the two countries of Samaria and Syria. But that it rather means the holy land of Canaan, the one land divided for a time into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, appears probable, for this reason amongst others, that this remainder of the chapter points plainly to evil about to betide the realm of Judah, and the kings of the house of David. And these prophetic warnings seem to be immediately connected with the prophetic note of time previously set down, according to which, the holy land, which Ahaz had so largely helped to pollute, would have lost both its proper kings, if not before the birth of the Messiah, yet previously to his growing up to man's estate. In confirmation of which view, it may be mentioned, that according to the opinion of many who are learned in the history of those times, Judea was reduced into the form of a Roman province at or about the twelfth year after the birth of our blessed Lord; the very year in which "all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." Luke 2.47.

Ahaz then and Judah are here warned, that though they should not be destroyed by this particular invasion of the kings of Israel and Syria, yet were their days numbered, the sceptre must at

length depart not only from Israel but from Judah also; the favour and protection of the Lord must be utterly withdrawn from Jerusalem. And first of all, evil would come on them from that very quarter, to which Ahaz was inclined to look for help in his present jeopardy, instead of trusting in the help of the Lord. "The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria." Out of Egypt too would God summon an enemy to avenge his cause; that Egypt to which his people, in despite of his commands, were so apt to resort for friends; that Egypt out of fondness for whose worldly comforts they had from the first been disposed to undervalue their own promised land.

The extent to which the country would be emptied of its inhabitants, when shorn by the king of Assyria, as by a sharp razor, is next described, in various remarkable particulars. The land being still fertile, and the people few, they would have plenty of that kind of food, which least depends upon the husbandry of man. The Assyrians would have carried off their flocks and herds, together with the multitude of the people, so that no one would be likely to possess more than one cow and two sheep. Yet the pasturage being wider in the depopulated land, these would give their owner "abundance of milk." Honey also would abound as usual. For "the bee that is in the land of Assyria," whom the Lord would fetch for the chastisement of his people, would wage war with men, and make spoil of cattle, but would not rob the land of those resources for man's refreshment, which God has contrived to provide abundantly, by the diligence of one of the least but most remarkable of his creatures. As to the vineyards, for lack of hands to cultivate them, even the most valuable would be overrun with "briers and thorns." And by reason of the wild beasts frequenting them, it would not be safe to go thither unarmed. Only to those few spots which might be cleared by cultivation this fear would not extend. And only in such places might the remnant of sheep and oxen still be in safety pastured.

Such were the evils hereafter to be brought upon Judah, by that nation, to which Ahaz now resorted for defence. Such is the common consequence of trusting in the world, for that help, which is to be found only in the Lord. Let those who have tried it answer truly, and they cannot fail to own, that in all its plenty is desolation, in all its sweetness woe. Selfishness is the character of the worldly. To be deceived, betrayed, and ruined, is the lot of those who trust in the world. The help which it affords is made the means of establishing the bondage at which it aims. And the deluded sinner, who by faith in things unseen, might have enjoyed liberty and life, having chosen instead to make the world his friend, spends the days of his sojourning on earth in fear and trembling, lonely in the midst of multitudes, and whilst yet amongst the living, dead.

That Assyria would soon spoil both Israel and Judah.

1 Moreover the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Mahershalal-hash-baz.

2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.

3 And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalal-hash-baz.

4 For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

5 The LORD spake also unto me again, saying,

6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son ;

7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks

:

8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

9 Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak

the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

11 For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, 12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. 16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry:

and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

LECTURE 1107.

Of abiding by the written word of God.

The words which Isaiah was commanded to write on a great roll, and by which he afterwards named his son, mean, as we learn in the margin of the Bible, "Make speed to the spoil, hasten to the prey." Both the writing attested by two witnesses, and the name by which the child was called, would be evidences of the prediction here set down. And not only should Samaria, the kingdom of the ten tribes, be spoiled by the Assyrians, but further this great river would overflow Judah also. It would "reach even to the neck;" as we know it did in the time of Hezekiah, when all the land was overrun by the Assyrians, and only Jerusalem escaped. Strange that this harm should happen to that which the prophet calls, "thy land, O Immanuel." Strange if it were not for the sin of the Lord's people. Yet shall not their enemies triumph in the end. The deliverance of Jerusalem from the hand of the Assyrians, in the time of Hezekiah, may serve for a true token to us, that no power of man, no malice of the devil, shall ever prevail against the church of God.

The prophet, in the spirit, defies the foes of Immanuel's land. For the Lord, he states, had so instructed him, to fear no confederacy of man, but to fear the Lord, and to have Him in holy awe. And God would prove, as He has proved in Christ Jesus, a sanctuary of safety to the faithful, and a stone of stumbling to the unbelieving. See 1 Pet. 2. 8. All depended on the deference paid to the testimony of the law and of the prophets. And Isaiah for his part resolves, that he will wait with patience and with faith, however long it might please God to hide away his face; thankful to think, that he and his children were privileged to be signs unto the people of the Lord. But as for the people, they were apt to resort to the delusions of false religion. Them therefore he refers, "to the law and to the testimony;" warning them, that if they desert these guides, they must wander in darkness, and destitution, in the murmurs of discontent and anguish, both as towards God, and towards man. And these things are not spoken by the prophet only. We find at least a part of this passage applied in the Epistle to the Hebrews as spoken by our Saviour Christ. See Heb. 2. 18. And we may

hence justly conceive, that we are acting according to his will, in rejecting all man's devices in religion, and in holding, that if any speak and teach not according to the written word, "it is because there is no light in them."