Friday, October 28

Isaiah 2: Once again Isaiah’s vision, as at the first (1:1), concerns “Judah and Jerusalem” (verse 1)

This chapter contains three oracles, none of which can be assigned with certainty to a particular date; they do seem to come, however, from early in Isaiah’s ministry.

The first of these oracles (verses 1-5) is concerned with the ideal Jerusalem, the Jerusalem to come—“it shall come to pass in the last days” (verse 2). It speaks of the future glorification of God’s holy city, that more blessed Jerusalem of promise, of which the ancient capital of David was a prefiguration and type (Galatians 4:26; Revelation 21:10).

It will be, says the prophet, a city of peace (verse 4), something that the Jerusalem on earth has never been. Isaiah will describe this Jerusalem at greater length in chapter 4.

Although the literary and historical relationship between the two texts is uncertain, verses 2-4 of this chapter are substantially identical to Micah 4:1-4.

This oracle is internally balanced by “into Zion” (verses 2-3) and “out of Zion” (verses 3-4). The image of flowing upwards indicates that this is not a natural process, so to speak; it does not follow the natural law of gravity. It suggests, rather, the divine magnetism by which God’s reverses the order of nature.

The second oracle (verses 6-9) moves from the ideal Jerusalem to the actual, unfaithful city known to Isaiah. This oracle is critical of the idolatrous pursuit of wealth in the Jerusalem of Isaiah’s time. We remember that his prophetic calling came in the last year of King Uzziah (6:1), whose reign (783-742) had restored a great deal of Judah’s prosperity. This prosperity, Isaiah saw, led to the worship of human achievement as a particularly virulent form of idolatry. It was the sin of pride, and it was Isaiah’s task to threaten its punishment.

Consequently, this second oracle offers a series of contrasts with the first. Instead of drawing the nations to the ways of God, the prophet describes the actual Jerusalem as conformed to the ways of the nations:

Thus, the first oracle says, “He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” To which the second oracle responds, “They are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners.”

That is to say, instead of the Lord’s people teaching true wisdom to the nations, the Lord’s people have deliberately adopted the wisdom of the other nations. This disposition to conform to the expectations of the world remains, of course, a temptation for the people of God in all generations.

Likewise, instead of conferring spiritual riches on the world—“For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”—the Lord’ city acquires worldly riches for itself: “Their land is also full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures.”

Instead of being a city of peace—“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks”—Jerusalem is now allied with the forces of war: “Their land is also full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots.”

Whereas the first oracle spoke of the knowledge of the true God—“Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob”— the second oracle speaks of the worship of false gods: “Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.”

Isaiah is exhorting the Jerusalem of the mid-eighth century, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

This punishment of these evils is the theme of the third oracle (verses 10-22).

Isaiah refers to the Holy Land’s many limestone caves that provided shelter and concealment on occasions of danger: “Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust . . . They shall go into the holes of the rocks, / And into the caves of the earth . . . To go into the clefts of the rocks, / And into the crags of the rugged rocks” (verses 10, 19, 21). These natural formations, in which men sought escape from their enemies (1 Samuel 13:6; 14:11; 22:1; 1 Kings 14:8; Hosea 10:8), will offer scant protection for those who flee from the wrath of God. Such meager refuge for the frightened stands in strong contrast to the pride of spirit that evokes God’s anger.

Twice in this section, Isaiah uses the expression “the haughtiness of man” (verses 11, 17)). This word, gabehuth—used only in these two verses of the Hebrew Scriptures, is related to the Hebrew word for “mountain,” gaboah. The imagery used here has to do with great height: “everything proud and lofty,” “everything lifted up,” “the cedars of Lebanon” and “the oaks of Bashan,” “all the high mountains,” “all the exalted hills,” “every high tower” and “every fortified wall.”

The pride indicated here is something solid. It is more than an attitude of pride; it is something tangible that expresses pride. Isaiah thinks of man’s haughtiness in institutional terms; it takes on economic, political, and military expression.

This pride takes shape in technology. The imagery here recalls the pride that inspired the Tower of Babel: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). In the Judah of his day, Isaiah was witnessing once again the repetition of that ancient pride which led to the division of tongues.

Saturday, October 29

Isaiah 3: The previous chapter ended with a warning about putting excessive trust in men (2:22). The present chapter continues this theme by listing the failures of Judah’s leadership.

The “staff and stay” (KJV), found twice in this verse, are the masculine and feminine forms of the same noun (mash‘en and mash‘enah). This combination formed an idiom indicating totality, not unlike our English “kit and boodle.” Every form of support, says Isaiah, is coming apart. Can famine (also mentioned in verse 7) be far off?

The prosperity attendant on the reign of King Uzziah was accompanied by grave social inequities and other evils. The present chapter of Isaiah speaks of two such: the lack of adequate leadership (verses 1-15) and the elaborate cultivation of female finery in clothing and adornment (verses 16-24).

Two criticisms are rendered with respect to Judah’s current leadership:

First, Israel’s leadership is in a state of collapse (verses 2-3), and with it all societal support and structure, including the basic technical crafts, such as carpentry. The leadership is immature (verse 4), so all of society disintegrates (verses 5,12). Indeed, this leadership is, itself, an expression of God’s judgment: When the Lord wants to punish a nation, He permits them to have unwise and inexperienced men as its leaders: “I will give children to be their princes, / And babies shall rule over them.”

And again, Youths oppress my people, / women rule over them. / O my people, your guides lead you astray; / they turn you from the path.” The reference to the rule of “women” is justified by the disastrous example of Athalia in the previous century.

Since leadership is not taken seriously, says, Isaiah, serious men refuse to assume it (verses 6-7): “Do not make me a ruler of the people.” Thus, the nation is deprived of those governmental ministries on which its very preservation depends—namely, “the mighty man and the man of war, / the judge and the prophet, / and the diviner and the elder; / the captain of fifty and the honorable man, / the counselor and the skillful artisan, / and the gifted composer.” Such men, so essential to a nation’s prosperity, are loath attach themselves to the likes of Ahaz.

Second, the mention of women in leadership leads to a sarcastic description of the arrogant clothing styles for women in vogue at the time (verses 16-26). Isaiah’s description is bound to remind a modern reader of a contemporary fashion show, in which a line of pretentious young ladies come strutting across a walkway, walking in ridiculous gyrating strides that have no purpose except to draw meretricious and lascivious attention to themselves: “the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet” (verse 16). Isaiah goes on with an obvious relish for sarcasm, listing the various articles of clothing and jewelry, all the way to purses and hand mirrors.

This passage has been called “the most extensive catalogue of feminine finery found in the Old Testament” ((Page H. Kelley). Isaiah is obviously offended by the vulgarity of these women, who get all dolled up for the sole purpose of calling attention to themselves. When Jerusalem falls, however, all this will be gone. He presents their punishment in a series of contrasts: “Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; / Instead of a sash, a rope; / Instead of well-set hair, baldness; / Instead of a rich robe, a garment of sackcloth; / And shame instead of beauty.”

Sunday, October 30

Isaiah 4: Hitherto the prophet Isaiah, when writing of the Lord’s “day” (2:12,17,20; 3:18; 4:1), has portrayed it in the colors of judgment and retribution. In the present chapter he writes in terms of renewal.

Once again we discern a paralleled reversal of elements in the preceding parts of this book:

In the earlier texts we were presented with the tragedy in which marriage was impossible, because so many men were slain in battle. In that scene, prophesied Isaiah, “seven women shall take hold of one man, saying . . . ‘let us be called by your name, / To take away our reproach.”

Now, in contrast, the prophet speaks of the bridal canopy, , the huppa: “For over all the glory (kavod) there a bridal canopy” (verse 5).

The earlier text spoke of the vulgarity and unseemly dress of Judah’s women: “the daughters of Zion are haughty, / and walk with outstretched necks / and wanton eyes, / walking and mincing as they go.”

This scandalous scene is now replaced by purification, in which “the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion” (verse 4).

Hitherto, the Lord’s judgment has been revealed in punishment: “Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, / from the terror of the Lord / and the glory of His majesty” (2:10). Now, however, it is revealed in the glory of the holy city, because “the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night” (verse 5).

The previous chapter described the degenerate leadership of Judah, inasmuch as “children are their oppressors, / and women rule over them” (3:12). Now, however, “the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious; / And the fruit of the earth excellent and appealing / for those of Israel who have escaped” (verse 2).

The “Branch of the Lord” is the future Davidic king who will gather the Lord’s elect remnant. He is the fulfillment of the promises made to David. He is portrayed as both human, the fruit of the earth, and divine, as branching forth from the Lord. This is Isaiah’s first explicit prophecy of the Incarnation. Compare Isaiah 11:1—“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, / And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.”

This remnant, preserved and gathered by the Messiah (verses 2-3), has been transformed by the divine purging. Consequently, it is “holy” (verse 3), marked by a quality proper to God. These survivors have been purged by the spirit of judgment and burning (verse 4), a theme later to be taken up in the preaching of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:11-12).

The guidance of this remnant evokes the imagery of pillar of the Exodus, when the people were overshadowed by the divine shadow and fire (verses 5-6).

Described here as a wedding canopy, the huppa, the marriage chamber is indicated (Psalms 19 [18]:6; Joel 2:16). This rich metaphor evokes the Lord’s espousal of His people (cf. 49:17-18; 54:1-13), who will find shelter under that canopy: “And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain” (verse 6).

Monday, October 31

Isaiah 5: This final chapter of the Isaian preface is the most melancholy, as the divine judgment now looms most unmistakably over Jerusalem. What more can the Lord do (verse 4)?

This chapter breaks into two unequal parts: the parable of the vineyard (verses 1-7) and a description of its terrible harvest (verses 8-30).

The image of the vine appears prominently in Psalm 80 (79):8-16, which bears several resemblances with our Isaian text:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
You cast out the nations, and planted it.
You prepared for it,
And caused it to take deep root,
And it filled the land.
The hills were covered with its shadow,
And the mighty cedars with its boughs.
She sent out her boughs to the Sea,
And her branches to the River.
Why have You broken down her hedges,
So that all by-passers in the way pluck at her?
The boar out of the woods uproots it,
And the wild beast of the field devours it.
Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts;
Look down from heaven and see,
And visit this vine
And the vineyard Your right hand has planted,
And the branch You made strong for Yourself—
burned with fire and cut down.

Isaiah begins with the description of the vineyard, which is an image much favored in the Book of Isaiah (3:14-15; 27:2-6; 63:1-6; 65:8-10). The poetry of the first verse is most striking: ’ashírah n’a lidídi shírat dódi lekármo / kérem hayáh lidídi beqéren ben shámen–“let me sing for my beloved my darling’s song of his vineyard; a vineyard my beloved had on a very fertile hill.”

As in our Lord’s parable of the vineyard (Matthew 21:33-44, with parallels in Mark and Luke), Isaiah builds his case gradually, not showing his hand until after the judgment is reached. He describes the vineyard’s construction, his friend’s care for it, and finally the failure of the vineyard to bring forth the fruit that was expected (verses 1-2). Then he calls, once again, on “Jerusalem and Judah” to pass judgment on the vineyard (verses 3-4). Having enumerated the punishments that will be inflicted on the faithless vineyard (verses 5-6), Isaiah at last identifies the vineyard as God’s own people (verse 7), but only after the judgment has been pronounced.

In the preparation of His vineyard, God spared neither effort nor expense (verse 2). The list of His labors signifies the various stages of His intervention in the history of salvation. Nonetheless, what did the vineyard produce? It brought forth be’ushim, a word that appears nowhere else in the Bible outside of this text (verses 2,4). Derived from the verb ba’ash, meaning “to stink,” the word may be translated as “stinky fruit.”

The fault, of course, lies on those charged with the cultivation of the vineyard—that is, the spiritual and political rulers of Judah. They are the reason the vineyard has produced stinky fruit. In this respect our Lord’s own corresponding parable is more explicit, laying the blame on Israel’s leadership.

The punishment of the vineyard, recognized by Israel to refer to Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon in 587, involves the “briars and thorns” (verse 6) associated with man’s original fall (Genesis 3:18).

Tuesday, November 1

Isaiah 6: Having arranged several of his oracles as a preface, to set the historical and religious context for his call to prophesy (chapters 1-5), the Book of Isaiah now comes to the call itself. In this account the prophet hints at a paradigm for the entire religious reform of his own times, inasmuch as the revelation of God’s “triple” holiness brings him to a sense of his sinfulness and to a repentant obedience to the Lord’s summons.

Two kings are contrasted, the dying Uzziah and “the Lord, high and lifted up.” Corresponding to this contrast, two kinds of people are implied. There are those that place their trust in earthly monarchs, such as Uzziah, who reigned for more than half a century in Judah, or, in context, Tiglath Pileser III, who began his reign over Assyria and most of the Fertile Crescent three years earlier, in 745. In contrast to these worldlings, there are those that place not their trust in men, but in the Lord.

Uzziah was exactly the kind of monarch desired by the worldly. In every way by which the world assesses the success of a king, Uzziah was successful. Isaiah, however, speaks only of his death, and this twice (here and in 14:28). For the prophet the only thing finally significant about Uzziah was that he died. Thus, he represents the dead and decaying order constructed on rebellion against God.

The Lord is “high and lifted up” (here and in 57:15), the same expression that will describe God’s Servant (52:13).

He is manifest in His Temple, the locus of sacrifice, the place where heaven and earth are joined. About Him are the Seraphim, “the fiery ones,” each with six flame-like wings. They cover their eyes, not their ears, for they remain attentive to do God’s bidding. Before Him they cover their feet in humility, as though waiting for Him to dispatch them to do His will (verse 2). Meanwhile they chant to one another, in antiphonal responses, announcing the holiness and glory of God. Holiness is God’s glory hidden and unseen. Glory is God’s holiness revealed.

The revelation of God’s holiness in this vision of His glory causes Isaiah great consternation and fear. It is not simply the disquietude of the creature before the Creator, but the terror of the sinner in the presence of the All Pure. Isaiah now knows himself to be contaminated (verse 5; cf. Job 42:5-6; Luke 5: 8). He is “undone,” reduced to silence, recognizing himself at one with the world of sinners. He is part of a society that has polluted language at its source (cf. Psalms 12 [11]: 1-4). His own lips are unclean, unworthy to participate in the seraphic hymn to God’s holiness. He is unable to do more than confess his vileness before the God to whom he will henceforth refer as “the Holy One of Israel.”

Because man cannot cleanse himself, a Seraph is dispatched to purge the prophet’s lips with a burning coal from the altar, the place of sacrifice (verse 6). This coal from the altar represents the purging power of that Sacrifice, of which all the biblical sacrifices are types and preparations, that Sacrifice that takes away the sins of humanity. This coal is so hot that even the Seraph, the “fiery one,” must handle it with tongs. The fire itself, burning perpetually (Leviticus 6:12-13), represents the divine holiness (Exodus 3:2-6; 19:18-25).

Isaiah’s sins are purged away by the sacrificial fire (verse 7). That is to say, his confession leads immediately to his purging, and this purging leads immediately to his calling as a prophet. The chapter’s remaining verses concern the conditions and purpose of Isaiah’s ministry.

Wednesday, November 2

Isaiah 7: The question of hope, raised in chapter 5, was somewhat answered in chapter 6. Isaiah had been cleansed, suggesting that Judah might also be cleansed and not perish. The theme of such hope continues in the present chapter.

The covenanted house of David was in dire straits by reason of international politics. It was now 735, seven years after Isaiah’s call. Assyria was on the offensive throughout the Fertile Crescent, thereby prompting local nations in the Crescent’s western half to form a coalition against this new power from the east.

Syria (Damascus) and Israel (Samaria, Ephraim), the major partners in this coalition, had invaded Judah in order to add this latter to their alliance against Assyria (2 Kings 15:37). This invasion failed (verse 1; 2 Chronicles 28:5-8). A second invasion against Judah was imminent (2 Chronicles 28:17-18), this time with a view to replacing King Ahaz on the throne (verse 2). This plan, of course, placed the house of David in jeopardy.

Isaiah himself had recently fathered a son, to whom he gave a name symbolizing the idea of a “remnant” (Shear-Jashub, “a remnant shall return”), thus indicating the hope that he entertained with respect to Judah’s prospects. The prophet brings this son with him as he approaches the king to deliver the oracle that opens this chapter (verse 3).

The son serves as a kind of prophetic enactment of Isaiah’s message to Ahaz. The prophet and his son meet the king at the aqueduct that provided Jerusalem with water prior to Hezekiah’s construction of an underground aqueduct some years later. Presumably Ahaz was inspecting the water supply in view of the coming siege.

Isaiah speaks the word of reassurance; the efforts of Syria and Israel will come to nothing, so Judah should not fear them. The king must put his trust in God (verse 4), because the promise of God trumps the proposals of men (verses 5-9). (The king, alas, had already sought the aid of Assyria against this coalition of the local states.)

Within sixty-five years, says Isaiah, Israel will cease to be a kingdom. Since this alliance of Syria and Israel was formed in 735 (that is, seven years after Isaiah’s call as a prophet), the ending year of the sixty-five years was 670, the very year during which alien migrants, brought by the Assyrians under the Emperor Esarhaddon (2 Kings 17:24; 2 Chronicles 33:11; Ezra 4:2), arrived from the east to settle the land of Samaria, the former kingdom of Israel. Isaiah ends with a plea for faith—“If you don’t stand in faith, you won’t stand at all” (ta’aminu . . . te’amenu).

The second oracle in this chapter, also addressed to Ahaz, has three parts. First, the king is again summoned to faith (verses 10-11). Second, Isaiah condemns the king for his unbelief (verses 12-15). Third, Isaiah foretells Jerusalem’s eventual downfall *verses 16-17).

Isaiah’s prophecy of the child (verses 14-16) concerned the fate of Damascus, the capital of Syria, which fell to the Assyrians three years later, in 732, and of Israel, which the Assyrians destroyed ten years after that. In this prophecy’s most elementary meaning, the intended child is any child conceived about this time. Such a child, says the prophet, would not reach the age of discretion (“able to distinguish right from wrong”) before the whole land would be over-run with Assyrians. There would no; agriculture; the child would have only dairy products and honey to eat. They could call any such child “Emmanuel,” because the name means “God is (still) with us.” By the time the child reached the age of discretion, it would be all over for Syria and Israel. Indeed, Isaiah’s second son, soon to be conceived (8:1-4), would be such a child.

Thursday, November 3

Isaiah 8L Isaiah must take a large tablet, something that could serve as a conspicuous sign, and write on it in clear letters, “concerning Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, four words meaning “Quick-Spoil-Hurry-Booty” (verse 1). If this seems mysterious to us, it was no less so to Isaiah’s contemporaries. Witnesses to the event were recorded (verse 2), who could vouch for the date of the inscription.

Later, Isaiah is instructed to make this strange inscription the name of his second son (verse 3), who becomes an enfleshment of the prophet’s spoken message of impending doom (verse 4). When his prophecy has been fulfilled by the Assyrian invasion, the two witnesses could testify to the date of the prophecy. This prophetic act forms a striking but contrasting parallel to the Emmanuel prophecy in the preceding chapter.

In 734 Tiglath-Pileser, who had marched across the Fertile Crescent, turned his forces south, along the sea coast, to check the Egyptians, who might have been tempted to march north and intervene. He next neutralized King Hosea of Israel, depopulating a large section of Galilee. Finally, he turned his attention to Syria, which fell in 732.

Shiloh (verse 6) was the stream that flowed quietly from the spring of Gihon and provided water to Jerusalem. It symbolized the tranquility of obedient faith. This faith had been abandoned when Israel broke with the throne of David in 922. This faithless northern kingdom was now putting its trust in Syria and in its own apostate monarchy.

Syria and Israel would soon be visited by another river, the mighty Tigris, which symbolized the Assyrian Empire (verse 7). These nations had chosen the world rather than God, and now the world would flood them over. The invasion would be so devastating that even Judah would feel the flood, barely able to keep its head above water (verse 8). In appealing to Assyria for help (2 Kings 16), Ahaz had submitted the Davidic throne to a foreign and idolatrous power. It would never be the same again.

The second part of this chapter treats of the faithful remnant, those who will escape the coming devastation attendant on the Assyrian invasion.

Isaiah mocks the coalition arranged against Judah:

Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces! / Give ear, all you from far countries. / Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces; / Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. / Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; / Speak the word, but it will not stand, / For God is with us—Emmanu-El.

The prophet’s confidence is related to his inner separation from the infidelity of his contemporaries: “For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people.”

Isaiah deliberately separates himself and his family from the irresponsible path currently pursued by his countrymen. “And I will wait on the Lord, / Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; / And I will hope in Him.”

Much of the true service of God consists in knowing how to “wait it out” in hope.

Friday, November 4

Isaiah 9: This chapter is made up of two parts: a separate oracle (verses 1-7) and the first part of a longer poem (9:8—10:4).

The original setting for the opening oracle in this chapter (verses 1-7) was the Assyrian invasion into Syria and Galilee in 733. Now, for the first time, the Israelites suffer the wrath of the Assyrians, who come into the territory of the tribe of Naphtali, along the western coast of the Sea of Galilee and extending further north, and the land of the tribe of Zebulun, the area lying west and southwest of Naphtali, toward the Mediterranean Sea (cf. Joshua 19:10-16,32-39). Afflicted along with these western tribes was the land of Gilead, east of the Jordan valley (verse 1). These Israelite territories, in the eyes of the Assyrians, were indistinguishable from Syria and were treated accordingly, their populations deported a full decade before the downfall of Samaria in 722.

Isaiah calls these territories “Galilee of the Gentiles,” probably because non-Israelites populated much of it; the region had come under the influence and even the rule of the Gentiles since the period of Solomon (1 Kings 9:11).

With the disastrous arrival of the Assyrians, darkness fell on this whole region, but Isaiah prophesies the restoration of light (verse 2). The Messiah, after all, would come for the Gentiles as well as for the Israelites (11:10; 42:1,6; 49:6; 60:1-3). Christians see the fulfillment of this prophecy, for Israelite and Gentile alike, in the arrival of Jesus, who began His ministry in this very area (Matthew 4:12-17).

There is a problem in the Hebrew text of the third verse, which reads, “You have multiplied the nation and not increased the joy,” which is perfectly grammatical but makes no sense. This Hebrew reading, which is followed by the Latin Vulgate and the King James Version, comes from a copyist’s mistaking lo, “unto it,” as lo’, “not.” To make coherent sense of the verse it is reasonable, and seems necessary, to correct the text to “You have multiplied the nation and increased joy unto it.”

The following verse (4) goes on to enumerate the blessings that increased the joy of the people, comparing their blessings to Gideon’s liberation of Israel from the Midianites as recorded in Judges 6—8. Gideon’s victory, we recall, benefited the Galilean tribes of Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali (Judges 6:35). Hence the propriety of Isaiah’s historical reference.

The Hebrew text of verse 5 contains a play of sounds impossible to convey adequately in English: “Every soldier’s boot (se’on) used in battle (so’en).” A fire will destroy all instruments of war, because the reign of the Messiah will be a reign of peace.

Which consideration brings us to verse 6, which indicates the reason for this coming era of peace, the birth of the Messiah. He is both a human child and a divine Son, described here in terms that fit only one person in history. His name is fourfold: “wonderful counselor” (like Solomon, but unlike the current king, Ahaz), “almighty God” (’El gibbór, corresponding to the Immánu El in 7:14), “everlasting Father” (indeed, the new Adam), and “prince of peace (sar shalom). This King will be the true Solomon—Shlomo, “man of peace”; his will be a true reign of peace (verse 7). This son of David will be David’s very Lord (Matthew 22:41-46).