Immanuel – Isaiah’s Son, and the Assyrian

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Unsolved mysteries in scripture

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Christians traditionally and sentimentally refer to Isaiah 7:14 as a virgin birth prophecy.

But scripture has to be interpreted properly

In context, it refers to the birth of Isaiah’s son, who was a time marker for the Assyrian invasion that overthrew Syria and Samarian threats to the kingdom of Judah.

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Context: Isaiah 7

Invasion threat to King Ahaz of Judah from Samaria and Syria

7 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.

2 Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with[a] Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.

3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub,[b] to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.

***Note: Isaiah already has one son, who seems to be at least a young adult, and who accompanies Isaiah on a mission. So maybe Isaiah is in his forties by now, as well as his wife.

4 Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.

5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying,

6 “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”

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Yahweh’s promise of protection to Isaiah and Ahaz – which will happen within 65 years, not 2000 years later

7 Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“‘It will not take place,
    it will not happen,
8 for the head of Aram is Damascus,
    and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.
Within sixty-five years
    Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
    and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
    you will not stand at all.’”

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The Lord also speaks to King Ahaz who shies away from Yahweh

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz,

11 “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”

13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?

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Yahweh gives Ahaz (and Isaiah) a sign of protection

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you[c] a sign: The virgin[d] will conceive and give birth to a son, and[e] will call him Immanuel.[f]

***Note: controversy is over the Hebrew word Almah, which means a very young woman, usually unmarried, therefore assumed a virgin.

For those who can read Hebrew, proof :

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It does not say Ishah, or wife here.

There are other words for wife, but they are not used either.

Almah is not used in any case to mean wife.

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Timing of the sign- deliverance will come when child is young- since the threat is imminent, this has to be soon

15 He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,

16 for 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.

17 The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”

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Assyria, the Lord’s Instrument

18 In that day the Lord will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.

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Summary so far

The child to be born will be named Immanuel, which is a mystery, since no child was ever named that in the Bible by his mother, who is an almah, young maiden, not wife.

The child will be young when the “within 65 years” prophecy is fulfilled, and Assyria comes to defeat Ephraim and Syria.

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Whose Child?

Child could not be for Ahaz.

Hezikiah was already about 9 years old when Ahaz became king, and became king himself when he was 25 years old (716-687 BC) . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezekiah

So Ahab had already had his son before he became king (732-716 BC), which was during the second reign of Pekah ben Remaliah. (752-740, 733-722 BC)

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It is interesting, however, that Ahaz is an ancestor of Yahsua/ Jesus.

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Child is for Isaiah

8 Moreover the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.

3 And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

4 For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

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Notice the father and the Lord named the son, not the mother.

Since Isaiah already had another , older son, Shear-Jashub, before Maher-shalal-hash-baz, his wife was not an almah anymore.

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Finally, the Lord addresses “Immanuel”

8 And he [King of Assyria] shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

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According to rabbinic literature, Isaiah was the maternal grandfather of Manasseh of Judah.[43]

Manasseh was Hezekiah’s oldest son.

So Isaiah was Hezekiah’s brother in law.

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Unsolved Mysteries?

Why was the mother called an almah, and not a wife?

If the mother was to name the child, why did the Lord tell Isaiah to do it?

Why was the name changed to something else?

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Timing of Predicted Child and Yahshua/Jesus

Mary was an almah, but was married to Joseph, and did not call Yahshua/Jesus Immanuel.

The timing of delivering Israel from oppression at a young age for the child Jesus does not apply.

Yahshua/Jesus as a young child, as well as an adult, saw no deliverance of Israel from enemies.

The prophecy of “within 65 years” is not fulfilled, as Yahshua/Jesus was born about 1200 years later.

Israel was under Roman occupation before and after Yahshua/Jesus was on earth.

The Assyrians no longer existed as an identifiable group at that time.

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Future application of prophecy?

Since there are unexplained aspects of this prophecy as noted above, possibly the answer is in the future, not the past.

Most of the prophecy was fulfilled thousands of years ago as explained in the post.

But for the rest of it, there will be a future time when a child born of a virgin “sees” the land of Israel/ Judah delivered from its enemies, when the Assyrian collective of now modern nations invade Israel for the last time, as prophesied in Ezekiel 38.

Maybe the “woman” Israel will finally call her “child” Immanuel, meaning “God is with us.”

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More thoughts on this topic:

Immanuel Hasn’t Come Yet