000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

6 Fourth Sunday of Advent/Year A
Israel, all peoples, and the created order on a journey toward that future
for which we hope and pray.
Fourth Sunday of Advent/Year A
Isaiah 7:10–16
Isaiah 6–8 is concerned with the threat of an invasion of Judah and
Jerusalem by the allied forces of Syria and Samaria around the year 734.
Isaiah 7:1 refers to the fact that Rezin, king of Aram (Syria), and Pekah,
king of Samaria (Israel), were planning an assault on Jerusalem. Their purpose
was to coerce King Ahaz to join in their alliance against Assyria, the
dominant military power in the region.
In this situation, the Lord told Isaiah to take his son Shear-jashub
(whose name means “a remnant will return”), go to Ahaz, and speak to
him: “Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint
because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands [Kings Rezin and
Pekah]” (7:4). Of the threatened invasion the Lord said: “It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass” (v. 7). That is, the attack by Syria and
Samaria on Assyria will fail (which it did). In verses 8–9, the Lord adds:
“If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.” If Ahaz holds
firm, either everything will turn out well or, at worst, a remnant will return
from any resulting deportation. Ahaz should not go to pieces. This leads
to today’s exchange between Isaiah and Ahaz.
The Lord says to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the LORD your God” (v. 10), but
Ahaz refuses to “put the LORD to the test” (v. 11). The sign is to persuade
Ahaz to accept Isaiah’s advice. The ability to perform signs was a recognized
part of prophetic activity (in first-century Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth and
Hanina ben Dosa were recognized performers of signs). In spite of Ahaz’s
refusal to test the Lord, a sign is offered: “Look, the young woman [almah]
is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (v. 14).
Ahaz is further assured that “before the child knows how to refuse the evil
and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will
be deserted” (v. 16). Syria and Samaria will no longer threaten Jerusalem.
In Isaiah 8:1–4, Isaiah went “to the prophetess, and she conceived and
bore a son” (8:3). He was named “Maher-shalal-hash-baz,” a name that
bodes ill, meaning that the defeat of Syria and Samaria by the Assyrians is
imminent.
The lectionary places our passage on the Fourth Sunday of Advent,
where it has traditionally functioned in Christian perspective as a prophecy