Isaiah 7:1-9 – Trust God and not our own resources

To understand Isaiah 7, we need to go back in time to when Israel became divided into two kingdoms. After Solomon’s death, ten tribes of Israel under Jeroboam withdrew from the house of David and formed their own kingdom in the north. They collectively came to be referred to as Israel or Ephraim in the Bible. Samaria was made the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south remained with the Davidic dynasty in Jerusalem.

Then there came a time when Assyria arose in power and became a dominant force terrorizing the nations around them. Israel, the Northern Kingdom under the rule of Pekah, then joined forces with Rezin, the king of Aram or Syria in their attempt to protect themselves against the Assyrians. These two allied kings then tried to rope Judah in to collaborate with them to form an even stronger force against the Assyrians. But King Ahaz resisted the coercion. So Pekah and Rezin threatened to attack Judah and place a puppet king in his place.   

So in verse 2 we read that when news reached King Ahaz that the Arameans or Syrians army was camping in Ephraim, he and his people became disheartened. Verse 2 said, they “…shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind”. In other words, they were terrified and panic-stricken. However, verse 1 clearly states that the attempt of the northern alliance would not succeed, and “they could not conquer it.” The truth we need to know is this: when God is for and with us, we have no reason to panic.

God then sent Isaiah to meet Ahaz to assure the king and counsel him what to do. The prophet was to tell the king, “Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.” For added confidence, the prophet was told to bring along his son Shear-jashub. This is significant for the name means “a remnant shall return.” What God wanted Ahaz to see was that the forces that were coming up against Judah were mere men. They were like spent burning stubs. Ahaz and Judah need not panic for God was on their side. Unfortunately, Ahaz could not bring himself to place his entire trust in the Lord. This was suggested when Isaiah was sent to meet him “at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field.” Ahaz was out there to inspect the water supplies pending the attack of the northern alliance. He would rather trust his own resourcefulness than God.  

The audience that Isaiah was addressing did not trust God as they should. If they had they would have abandoned themselves to the Almighty. But they would rather trust their own ingenuity than the assurance God gave. In these verses, we sense that God is inviting us to trust Him entirely and not in our own resourcefulness. No matter how tough our circumstance in life may seem, know that God is here for us. He wants us to trust Him rather than our own strength and assets. We should learn to abandon ourselves to His loving care. He is trustworthy!