Isaiah 7-9

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:18-25

War-pictures. I. INVADING HOSTS . The armies of Egypt and Assyria are compared to swarms of bees. As the bee-master calls to his winged slaves with a peculiar sound, so at the call of Jehovah the swarms of Israel's foes will come on, with swords that sting, and settle down in the low-lying pastures of the land, in the rock-clefts, the hedges of thorn, and the pastures. (For the image of the bees, compare Deuteronomy 1:44 ; Psalms 118:1-29 .) In Joel 2:1-32 . we find a splendid... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:18-25

National judgment for national sins. In this latter part of the chapter we have one of those highly elaborate, intense, and suggestive pictures which are peculiar to the books of the prophets. The mighty Assyrian army sweeps over the land; the people flee before them; they fill every corner; they eat up all the food; they carry away all the flocks and herds; a man can barely save one cow and two sheep; they consume the fruits; they trample down the shrubs; they bear off the people captive;... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:19

And rest ; or, settle . In the desolate valleys . Gesenius and Vance Smith translate "the precipitous valleys;" Mr. Cheyne, "the steeply walled valleys." But the cognate word used in Isaiah 5:6 can only mean "waste," which supports the rendering of the Authorized Version. The exact word used does not occur elsewhere. Upon all bushes; rather, upon all pastures . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:20

Shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired ; rather, with the hired razor ; i.e. the razor that Ahaz will have hired ( 2 Kings 16:8 ). The metaphor well expresses the stripping of the land bare by plunder and exaction (comp. Ezekiel 5:1 , Ezekiel 5:12 , and 2 Chronicles 28:19-21 ). God would use Tiglath-Pileser as his instrument to distress Ahaz. By them beyond the river ; or, in the parts beyond the river . "The river" is undoubtedly the Euphrates, and they who dwell... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:21

A man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep ; literally, two ewes . A stop having been put to cultivation, men shall return to the pastoral life, but shall not possess more than two or three head of cattle apiece, the Assyrians having swept off most of the beasts. Tiglath-Pileser, in his inscriptions, mentions his carrying off homed cattle and sheep to the amount of many thousands from the countries which he overran or conquered. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:22

For the abundance of milk that they shall give . The small number of the cattle will allow of each having abundant pasture. Hence they will give an abundance of milk. He shall eat butter ; rather, curds—the solid food most readily obtained from milk (comp. above, Isaiah 7:15 ). Curdled milk and wild honey should form the simple diet of the remnant left in the land. It is, of course, possible to understand this in a spiritual sense, of simple doctrine and gospel honey out of the flinty... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:23

A thousand vines at a thousand silverlings . By "silverlings" our translators mean "pieces of silver," probably shekels. "A thousand vines at a thousand shekels" may mean either a thousand vines worth that amount, or a thousand vines rented at that sum annually (comp. Song of Solomon 8:11 ). The latter would point to vineyards of unusual goodness, since the shekel is at least eighteen pence, and the present rent of a vineyard in Palestine is at the rate of a piastre for each vine, or... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:24

With arrows and with bows . Only the hunter will go there, armed with his weapons of chase, to kill the wild animals that will haunt the thickets. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:25

On all hills that shall be digged ; rather, that shall have been digged in former times, whether for corn cultivation or for any other. There shall not come thither the fear of briers (so Ewald and Kay). But almost all other commentators translate, "Thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers," etc. The briers and thorns of the East tear the clothes and the flesh. It shall be ; i.e. "each such place shall be." For the sending forth of oxen ; rather, for the sending in of oxen ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 7

Probably no portion of the Bible has been regarded as so difficult of interpretation, and has given rise to so great a variety of expositions, as the prophecy which is commenced in this chapter, and which is closed in Isaiah 9:7. The importance of the prophecy respecting the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14 ff; Isaiah 8:7; Isaiah 9:1-7), is one reason why interpreters have been so anxious to ascertain the genuine sense; and the difficulties attending the supposition that there is reference to the Messiah,... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:18-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:18-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:19

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:20

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:21

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:22

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:23

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:24

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:25

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 7

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