CHAPTER VII.

Ahaz, king of Judah, being attacked by Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, God sends Isaiah to him, to assure him that he would defend Jerusalem, and that the kingdoms of Syria and Israel should be soon destroyed. II. The prophet, to give Ahaz the stronger assurance that the kingdom of Judah should not be delivered into the hands of the enemies that attacked him, foretells the extraordinary birth of a child. III. He declares, that the kingdom of Israel should be ravaged by the Egyptians and Assyrians.

Reflections.

THE care which God took to send Isaiah to Ahaz, who was a wicked and idolatrous king, to promise him protection against the kings of Syria and Israel, who made war upon him, is an instance of the goodness of God towards men, even those that offend him, and of his love to his people. Isaiah exhorts Ahaz and his subjects not to fear those two smoking fire-brands, as he in contempt calls the kings of Syria and Israel; and, in fact, these two kings, who intended to invade the kingdom of Judah, were themselves destroyed soon after, with their kingdoms. There is, in this chapter, a remarkable prediction; the prophet says, that within three-score and five years, Ephraim, that is, the Israelites of the ten tribes, should be broken, that it be no more a people. This came to pass at the end of that term, when Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, sent strangers to dwell in the land of Israel, in the room of the Israelites, who had remained there pretty numerous after Salmaneser, king of Assyria, had destroyed the kingdom of the ten tribes. The behaviour of Ahaz, who rejected the promises and offers that Isaiah made him from God, shows us, that if it be tempting God to expect what he has not promised, it is no less offending him not to believe his promises, nor to receive the offers of his favour. However, we here find, that God, notwithstanding Ahaz's refusal,

told him by Isaiah, that in a very short time, and before a young son of that prophet had any knowledge, Jerusalem should be delivered from both the kings who made war against it. But what is most remarkable is, that Isaiah then foretold that a virgin should bring forth a son. This prophecy relates to Jesus Christ, and is applied to him in the Gospel, as he alone was born of a virgin; and to him alone can be ascribed what Isaiah saith of this extraordinary child, and the august titles given him in this and the following chapters. Farther, as the Messiah, whose birth is here predicted, was to be of the family of king David, this prophecy tended to assure the Jews, that God would not suffer that family, and the kingdom of Judah, who were then attacked, to be destroyed by their enemies.

CHAPTER VIII.

I. Isaiah continues to prophesy, that the attempts of the kings of Syria and Israel against Jerusalem would be in vain; and that before a son who was born to him should be of an age to understand, the Assyrians should come against those two kingdoms, and pass on even to the kingdom of Judah. II. He exhorts the Jews to put their trust in God, and fear none but him; to cleave to his word, and not to have recourse to sorcerers nor idols. He speaks, lastly, of the desolation that should at that time befal those Jews which dwelt in Galilee.

Reflections.

THE repeated assurances which Isaiah gave king Ahaz and the Jews, that they should be delivered from the kings of Syria and Israel, show, that God defeats the attempts which the enemies of his church form against it, and that he renders their contrivances vain and ineffectual; and therefore that in God alone we ought to place our fear and our trust. The event answered the prediction: Tiglathpileser, king of the Assyrians, came to Ahaz's assistance, took the city of Damascus, which was the capital of the kingdom of Syria, slew Rezin

their king, and in him put an end to that kingdom. Tiglath-pileser took also part of the kingdom of Israel, and carried the people captive into Assyria; but made Ahaz king of Judah tributary. Some time after, Salmaneser, who succeeded Tiglath-pileser, totally destroyed the kingdom of Israel: and at the end of eight years, Sennacherib, another king of Assyria, made war upon the kingdom of Judah, under the reign of Hezekiah, son of Ahaz: He even besieged Jerusalem, but in vain, since God protected and miraculously delivered that city. Thus all that Isaiah had foretold was fulfilled. In the second part of this chapter, the prophet very strongly condemns those, who, in the danger the Jews were then in, instead of applying to God and his word, had recourse to sorcerers, and to the dead. From whence it appears, that it is a great crime, and extreme impiety, to consult sorcerers, and those who pretend to foretell things to come; and that those who give credit to such persons, and make use of such damnable methods, forsake God. This teaches us likewise, that we ought to have no other support of our trust, or rule of our faith, than God's word. Lastly, It is to be observed, that if Galilee, where the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali were situated, was the first that was laid waste by the Assyrians, that country had afterwards the happiness to be the first that was enlightened by the Gospel; Jesus Christ's most usual abode being in Galilee, as we are taught by St. Matthew, in the fourth chapter of his Gospel, where he applies to the inhabitants of Galilee the last words of this, and the first words of the following chapter.

CHAPTER IX.

THIS chapter has two parts. I. Isaiah foretells, that God would deliver Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Judah, and establish an everlasting kingdom in the family of David, by a son which should be born to him. II. He prophesies, that the kingdom of Israel, which at that time made war against that of

Judah, should be humbled by the Syrians and Philistines, and by the king of Assyria.

Reflections.

WE read in the beginning of this chapter, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; which words were fulfilled, not only in the deliverance which God formerly vouchsafed the Jews when he defended them against their enemies, but chiefly in the favour granted to that people, and afterwards to other nations, in causing the light of his Gospel to shine upon them, when they were in the darkness of sin, and of death. This happy change was wrought by the coming of Jesus Christ the Son of God, whose glory, divinity, and eternal kingdom, are here described in terms so clear and remarkable, and which can be applied to no other. II. We are next to observe what Isaiah prophesied, that God would display divers judgments upon the Israelites, by means of the Syrians and their other neighbours; and that because they would not turn to him that smote them, but even soothed themselves in their sins, he would send them new and greater calamities, and that his anger should not be turned away, but his hand still stretched out against them. This teaches us, that God afflicts men to bring them to him; that when they harden themselves, he doubles the stroke of his rod and therefore, that the only way to turn away his wrath, is to profit by his chastisements, to be converted and humbled.

CHAPTER X.

I. THIS chapter contains threatenings against those who oppress others by violence and injustice; and particularly against the Assyrians, whom the prophet foretells God would make use of to punish the kingdom of Israel; and that they should think to become masters even of Jerusalem, as they had conquered Calno, and some other cities here mentioned. But the prophet adds, that after they had executed the designs of the Almighty, he would punish them for their injustice and pride. II. He comforts the

inhabitants of Jerusalem against the fear of the king of Assyria, by promising them that God would redeem the remnant of his people.

Reflections.

WE may gather in general from this chapter, that violent, proud and unjust men, are threatened with the curse of God. But what we are chiefly to ob

serve here is, that God thought fit to make use of the king of Assyria to punish the Israelites; that this prince was to accomplish the designs of God without knowing it; that he would boast of his success, and even threaten to reduce Jerusalem! but that afterwards God would destroy him, because he had unjustly attacked the Israelites, and out of a principle of pride, and because he had attributed his victories to his own wisdom and strength. In this chapter, which is very remarkable, we see plainly that although God lets the wicked alone, and employs them to chastise men, and to execute his designs, he nevertheless punishes them justly for doing it; since their actions are voluntary and free, and the end they propose is only to gratify their own passions, and not to fulfil the designs of Providence. This should teach us to adore the ways of God's providence, and to confess, that he presides over all things, even over the criminal and unjust actions of the wicked; but that, however, he is by no means the author of the sins which men commit: that he has a right to punish them, and that he will infallibly do it. These considerations, which perfectly vindicate the ways of God's providence, teach us not to fear the power and malice of men, and to trust always in him. Isaiah says, in this chapter, That a remnant of Israel shall return; which describes not only what happened to those who were delivered from the king of Assyria, or from the Babylonish captivity, but this relates in general to those Jews who were saved by believing in Jesus Christ, while the rest were rejected. This is St. Paul's application of the words