The exordium of the oracle is highly significant : therefore,' e., since yott thus perversely refuse to make choice of a sign," Jehovah shall give you a sign himse/f,' e., one of his own selection ;' thus preparing the minds of the bearers for some thing different from what might have been expected, had AhaL shewn a better spirit. Accordingly, the prophet, taking high ground, proceeds to assure the faithful that God had not forgotten his pro mises to the fathers, but that the predicted 'seed of the woman' should certainly be born in due time ; which was primarily, and on the very face of it, an earnest of all those spiritual blessings dis cernible to the eye of faith through the symbols of the law, and the figurative language of prophecy, as attendant upon his coming. Moreover, there were certain advantages of an outward and tempo ral kind to the Jewish nation, as such, necessarily bound up with the appearance of such a Deliverer among them, and of these also this renewed assur ance of his advent was secona'arily, and by infe rence, a pledge. 1st, It is manifest that if the iwo rinsed Saviour was to come out of Judah (Gen.
xlix. ro) that tribe should at least not 1,e extermi. nated, and disappear from among the nations like the ten which had separated front it. 2dly, So far from this, it was distinctly foretold by Jacob him self, in the passage referred to, that the tribe of Judah should continue to enjoy that pre-eminenc‘ which was accorded to its head in consequence ot the misconduct of Reuben, until Shiloh,' the peace bringer,' z: e., the Messiah (comp. Is. ix. 6 ; Micah v. 5 ; Eph. 14) should come.' Now it is clear that the hostile kings sought, if not the annihilation of Judah, which on a former occasion they were very near effecting (2 Chron. xxviii. 5-8), at least to humble it by the destruction of its inde pendence. This is intimated in the preceding oracle, vers. 8, 9 : For Damascus shall be (as for merly) the head of Syria (but no more), and Rezin the head of Damascus ; and Samaria shall be the head of Ephraim, and Remaliah's son the head of Samaria,' i.e., neither Rezin nor Pekah shall succeed in adding Juchea to his dominions, and making Damascus or Samaria its capital instead of Jerusalem.' So that we have here an important connection between the sign and the circumstances of those to whom it was vouchsafed. This, how ever, is not all. For, 3dly, it was already known from God's covenant with David (2 Sam. vii. 12-16; xxiii. 2-5 ; compared with Acts ii. 3o), that the Messiah was to be in the direct line of that prince ; a promise which could not be redeemed if his fanzily should become .extinct. And, 4thly, as in that covenant it is expressly affirmed that David's throne,' as well as house,' should be established for ever' (comp. Ps. lxxxix. 34-37) it follows that his posterity should reign in his stead in uninter rupteez' succession, unless by their own misconduct they forfeited the privilege, which was held imme diately and conditionally from God as the real Head of the Theocracy (r Kings ii. 4 ; viii. 25 ; Ps. bcxxix.
3o, 31, 32 ; Cxxxii. 11, 12) ; while the Messiah, although about to inaugurate an entirely new order of things, appears, according to this representation, as the last of the series, who should sit down on the throne of his father David, never to rise from it (see Dr. Alexander's Connection of O. and IV. T., p. 22o). But the confederacy of Rezin and Pekah (whether or not they meant to extirpate the royal family) was, as Dr. Fairbairn points out, a direct contravention of this divine decree ; and, although on a less important occasion, as much an instance of the kings of the earth setting themselves, and the rulers taking counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed,' as was the later con federacy of Pilate and Herod. For, as we are
informed in vers. 5, 6, their counsel' was not only to `go up against Judah, and make it afraid' by beleaguering its capital, but to displace the existing dynasty, and set a king' of their own nomination in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal,' who should of course hold sway as their satrap or vice roy, ready at all times to do their bidding. The promise now given, however, taken in connection with the emphatic declaration of ver. 7, was a token that the Lord held them in derision,' and that their attempt should prove abortive ; while in ver. 16 he speaks to thein,' as it were, in his wrath,' and threatens them with merited punishment for their presumption. However remote such con. siderations might be from the thoughts of the worldly-minded king and his courtiers, they would readily suggest themselves to those whose 'hope wP–s in the Lord their God,' and yvho 'made his testimonies their meditation.' To Aliaz, on the other hand, the prophetic announcement wore a very different aspect. Un like the promises to the patriarchs and to David, no mention is made of any bond of union betwixt him and his illustrious successor. In this divine purpose and provision for a better state of things, the existing royal house is entirely overleapt ; silently passed by on account of their unfaithful ness and corruption' (Dr. Fairbairn's Hermen. Afanued, p. 423). And if we takc into view the entire communication, which is continuous to the end of the chapter, there is evidently, as the same writer observes, an intended contrast between the child Immanuel and the degenerate king. The very name of the former was a tower of strength, and a beacon of hope. He was to be born in a time ofpeace, if not of prosperity, which we con sider to be indicated by the allusion to his being fed on milk and honey ;' because the supply of these articles, common as they were, depended on freedom of access to the fields and forests from which they were respectively- procured. Accord ingly, ere he attained the years of discretion Om Kpicews) expressed by the phrase, Know to refuse the evil, and choose the good' (the proper parallel to which is to be found in Heb. v. 13, 14), and so should be of an age to think and act for himself, and to take an interest in public affairs, these deadly foes of his nation and throne should have utterly disappeared, both king and people. Ahaz, on the contrary, is specially marked out (ver. 17) as an object of divine displeasure. He had already been sorely harassed by the kings of Syria and Israel, and might still, for anything that here said, suffer from them. But no sooner should he escape from one enemy than he should fall into the hands of another (comp. 2 Chron. xxviii. 2o). And, as a necessary consequence, the people of his rule would suffer with him (gun-quid delirant reges, plectuntur Achim*); and so great should be the devastation of the country, and its inhabitants so reduced in number, that at the return ofpeoce, for want of hands to cultivate the fields, men would be glad to subsist on the food of chil dren : for milk and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land' (vers. 21, 22 ; comp. 2 Chron. xxviii. 19).