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Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 7:24

With arrows and with bows ... - This is a continuation of the description of its desolation. So entirely would it be abandoned, so utterly desolate would it be, that it would become a vast hunting-ground. It would be covered with shrubs and trees that would afford a convenient covert for wild beasts; and would yield to its few inhabitants a subsistence, not by cultivation, but by the bow and the arrow. There can scarcely be a more striking description of utter desolation. But, perhaps, the long... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 7:25

And on all hills ... - All the fertile places in the mountains that used to be cultivated with the spade. Vineyards were often planted on the sides of hills; and those places were among the most productive and fertile in the land; see Isaiah 5:1.The mattock - The spade; the garden hoe; or the weeding-hook. An instrument chiefly used, probably, in vineyards.There shall not come thither - There shall not be.The fear of briers and thorns - This does not make sense; or if it does, it is not a sense... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 7

We have here, A.M. 3246. B.C. 758. (1,) an historical account of the occasion of this prophecy, Isaiah 7:1-3 . (2,) A prediction of the ill success of the designs of the Israelites and Syrians against Judah, Isaiah 7:4-16 . (3,) A denunciation of the calamities to be brought upon the king and people of Judah by the Assyrians, Isaiah 7:17-25 . read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 7:1

Isaiah 7:1. And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz Of whose idolatries and abominable wickedness the reader will find a particular account, 2 Chronicles 28:1-4. Rezin and Pekah went up toward Jerusalem “The confederacy of these two kings against the kingdom of Judah was formed in the time of Jotham; and perhaps the effects of it were felt in the latter part of his reign. See 2 Kings 15:37. However, in the very beginning of the reign of Ahaz, they jointly invaded Judah with a powerful... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 7:2

Isaiah 7:2. And it was told the house of David Ahaz and his royal relations and courtiers. He calls them the house of David, to intimate that the following comfortable message was sent to Ahaz, not for his own sake, but only for the sake of his worthy progenitor David, to whom God had promised an everlasting kingdom. Syria is confederate with Ephraim With the kingdom of the ten tribes, commonly called Ephraim, because that tribe was by far the most numerous and potent of them. And... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 7:3

Isaiah 7:3. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah This fifth discourse, delivered as immediately from the Lord, which extends from hence to the end of chap. 12., is of a very mixed and various argument. It may be divided into five parts: the first contained in this chapter; the second from Isaiah 8:1, to Isaiah 9:7; the third from Isaiah 9:7, to Isaiah 10:5; the fourth from Isaiah 10:5, to the end of that chapter; and the fifth is contained in the eleventh and twelfth chapters. The first part of... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 7:4

Isaiah 7:4. Say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet Settle thy mind by the belief of that joyful message which I am now to deliver to thee from the Lord; Fear not for the two tails, &c. These two kings and their forces, which, though they seem to threaten utter destruction, yet shall not be able to do much mischief, being not whole fire-brands, but only small pieces or ends of them, taken out of the fire, in which there is more smoke than fire: and the fire will be speedily... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 7:5-6

Isaiah 7:5-6. Syria and Ephraim have taken evil, or mischievous counsel, saying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it Hebrew, נקיצנה , harass, weary, or distress it; and make a breach therein Violently break in upon the land, or break their power and kingdom, and subdue it to ourselves; and set a king in the midst of it Or viceroy, that shall act by our authority; even the son of Tabeal Some considerable captain, in whose fidelity both of them had great confidence; but whether... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 7:7-9

Isaiah 7:7-9. It shall not stand Namely, their evil counsel. For the head of Syria is Damascus As if he had said, As Damascus is the head city of Syria, and Rezin is the head, or king, of Damascus, so shall they continue to be, and not advance themselves, and enlarge their territories, by possessing themselves of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah as they design. Rezin shall be kept within his own bounds, and be head of Damascus only. And, in a similar sense, (Isaiah 7:9,) Samaria shall... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 7:10-12

Isaiah 7:10-12. The Lord spake again unto Ahaz Namely, by Isaiah. “From hence to Isaiah 7:16, we have the confirmation of the promise, by a sign to Ahaz, in the name of God; in which we have, first, the prophet’s address to Ahaz, exhorting him, by the divine command, to ask whatever sign he would, with the reply of Ahaz, Isaiah 7:10-12: and, secondly, a declaration of God’s good pleasure to give an illustrious sign, which he offers rather to the true believers than to a hypocritical and... read more

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