COMMENTARY

Lesson 1: Isaiah 7:10-16 (C); Isaiah 7:10-14 (RC); Isaiah 7:10-17 (E)
Yahweh gave King Ahaz the sign of a child as deliverance. The historical situation behind this Lesson needs to be known for an understanding of the passage. It was the time of the Syro-Ephramite war (736-734 B.C.). Israel and Syria joined in an attack on Judah and King Ahaz. He planned to get help from Assyria, but Yahweh through Isaiah urged him not to do it, but to rely on Yahweh for deliverance. With a practical and pietistic mind, Ahaz preferred to get help from Assyria. To prove that Yahweh would save his country, Yahweh asks Ahaz to ask for a sign as proof of his promise. Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign. Yahweh declares he will give a sign anyway: a woman will bear a child with the name Emmanuel and by t…