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“Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.” [Isa 7:8]
Israel/Ephraim was destroyed by Assyria
“But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,
the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.” [Isa 7:16]
Both kings are to be destroyed before the boy knows enough...".
When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah [Isa 7:1]
Assyria will plunder Aram and Israel before Isaiah's son, Maher-Shala-Hash-Baz, is old enough to say "My father" or "My mother".
Before the boy (Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz) knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” [Isa 8:4]
“Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.” [Isa 7:8]
“But before the boy (Emmanuel) knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,
the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.” [Isa 7:16]
“Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west have devoured Israel with open mouth. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.” [Isa 9:12]
“Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.” [Isa 7:8]
“But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,
the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.” [Isa 7:16]
In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also. [Isa 7:20 cf., Isa 8:6-8]
As a result
However, Assyria will not succeed in destroying Judah because Emmanuel/Yahweh of Hosts will be a sanctuary for them [Isa 8:14a] and deliver them [Isa 8:7-10]
Assyria would have plundered Aram and Israel before the child is old enough to say "My father" or "My mother".
Before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” [Isa 8:4]
This is an important event, before this time, Assyria must have plundered Aram and Israel
Before the boy (Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz) knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” [Isa 8:4]
When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it. [Isa 7:1]
By the word of Yahweh, Isaiah, along with his son, Shear-Jashub (A remnant will return), goes to meet King Ahaz
Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field [Isa 7:3]
He tells Ahaz that the plot of Aram and Israel against him will not succeed. Then he gives him the prophecy regarding Emmanuel, the son to be conceived by the virgin.
The sign of the prophecy of Emmanuel
...Adonai is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River—the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks 8and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, O Immanuel!”
9Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! 10Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us (Immanuel). [Isa 8:7-10]
The prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled during the reign of King Hezekiah when Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against Jerusalem.
“Therefore this is what Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. 34By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city,” declares Yahweh. 35“I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”
36Then the Angel of Yahweh went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand (185,000) men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. [Isa 37:33-37]
“...but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.” [Isa 8:14]
“...but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.” [Isa 8:14]
“Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—2The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” [Isa 9:1-2]
See also, Isa 11:1-5
God will punish the Assyrian. However, this punishment will come after God is through disciplining His people. After this, therefore, the people of God will enjoy everlasting peace.
When Adonai has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem ,
he will say,
“ I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. [Isa 10:12]
Therefore, this is what Adonai, Yahweh of Hosts, says:
“O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians, who beat you with a rod and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did. 25Very soon my anger against you will end and my wrath will be directed to their destruction.” [Isa 10:24-25]
...Adonai is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River—the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks 8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, O Immanuel! ”
9 Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! 10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us (Immanuel). [ Isa 8:7-10 ]
God will punish the Assyrian. However, this punishment will come after God is through disciplining His people. After this, therefore, the people of God will enjoy everlasting peace.
When Adonai has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem,
he will say,
“I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. [Isa 10:12]
In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also. [Isa 7:20 cf., Isa 8:6-8]
As a result
However, Assyria will not succeed in destroying Judah because Emmanuel/Yahweh of Hosts will be a sanctuary for them [Isa 8:14a] and deliver them [Isa 8:7-10]
Emmanuel will
His reign on David's Throne will commence from
“...that time on and forever.” [Isa 9:7]
The time spoken of is the time when he shatters
“...the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.” [Isa 9:4]
Emmanuel will
Emmanuel is a son of David and will reign on David's Throne,
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Hosts will accomplish this. [Isa 9:6-7]
See also, Isa 11:1
The Son of the Virgin will reign on David's Throne forever
In that day Adonai will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.
12 He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. [Isa 11:11-12 cf., Isa 10:20]
The remnant will return from
Ephraim and Judah will unite, they will again be one nation as in the days of David and Solomon [Isa 11:13].
Subdued NationsThey will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them. [Isa 11:14]
They will subdue nations such as
Yahweh will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River. He will break it up into seven streams so that men can cross over in sandals. 16There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt. [Isa 11:15-16]
To make a way for the returning remnant, Yahweh will
In Zion, nature will function as in the Garden of Eden.
Animals such as lions, wolves, bears, etc., which are normally carnivores, will be herbivores. Dangerous and venomous animals such as snakes will pose no danger in Zion.
Apparently, the fundamental nature of things will be different under the reign of Emmanuel.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and
a little child will lead them.
7The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together, and
the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and
the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
9They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea.
10In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. [Isa 11:6-10]
“See, I lay a Stone in Zion, a tested Stone, a Precious Cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed” [Isa 28:16]
The Stone that Yahweh says He will lay in Zion is evidently a person. Just as with the more common usage of "pillar", a "Cornerstone" is can be, as in this case, representative of a leader in a community. For example, Isaiah speaks of the leaders of Egypt as her cornerstones [Isa 19:13].
This person, this Stone,
Since the One in focus as playing the role of a foundation, i.e., ruler for Israel is Emmanuel, the One to rule on David's Throne, this is Emmanuel.
Saying that he has been tested implies that he was at the time this prophecy was spoken already in existence for only so could he have been 'tested'.
The plain reading of this prophecy implies that the beginning of Emmanuel's, this Stone's existence, is not in the future when he would be conceived by the virgin.
(But for the hindsight we now have through the New Testament, this plain meaning would have been hard, if not impossible, to even consider at the time.)
Though the Light is Great, the people of Israel cannot see because they are under a curse of blindness of eyes, deafness of ears and harness of heart
He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes , hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” [Isa 6:9-10]
He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” [Isa 6:9-10]
Yahweh cursed the people with an inability to understand the message of the prophets.
But your many enemies will become like fine dust, the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.
Suddenly, in an instant, 6Yahweh of Hosts will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
7Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night— 8as when a hungry man dreams that he is eating, but he awakens, and his hunger remains; as when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but he awakens faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion. [Isa 29:5-8]
...your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” [Isa 30:20-21]