Isaiah 7:9

(Verse 12.) And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. This is not humility, but pride, that he does not want to ask for a sign from the Lord. Although it is written in Deuteronomy: You shall not test the Lord your God (Deut. 6:16), and the Savior used this against the devil as a testimony (Matt. 4): nevertheless, being commanded to ask, he should have fulfilled the command in obedience, especially since both Gideon and Manoah asked for and received a sign (Judges 6 and 13). However, according to the ambiguity of the Hebrew language, in which it is written 'Ulo Enasse Adonai' (), and all similarly translated it, I will not attempt the Lord, that it may be read, I will not exalt the Lord. For the impious king knew that if he sought a sign, he would receive it, and the Lord would be glorified. Therefore, like a worshipper of idols, who had set up altars in every corner of the streets and on the mountains and in shady groves, and considered fanatics to be Levites, he does not want to seek a sign as commanded.

That the way to understand, therefore, may be open to you, you do rightly first of all, in professing that you believe; for no one embarks upon the sea and trusts himself to the deep and liquid element unless he first believes it possible that he will have a safe voyage. Neither does the husbandman commit his seed to the furrows and scatter his grain on the earth, but in the belief that the showers will come, together with the sun's warmth, through whose fostering influence, aided by favoring winds, the earth will produce and multiply and ripen its fruits. Nothing in life can be transacted if there be not first a readiness to believe. What wonder then, if, coming to God, we first of all profess that we believe, seeing that, without this, not even common life can be lived.

(Verse 3, 4 and following) And the Lord said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-Jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field. And say 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, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.

Certainly one must have faith in the Scriptures as containing the divine mind, and thus one must proceed to the understanding of what is written in them. For one must go beyond the types and thus apprehend the truth of what has been shown to us. First one must believe in the Scriptures with the simple faith that they are "inspired by God and useful" and then go on to examine subtly and enquiringly the meaning contained in them.

There is no salvation except through wisdom. But wisdom is neither disclosed nor obtained except through faith. Hence: "Unless you believe, you shall not understand." For you should not "be more wise than it behooveth to be wise,... according as God hath divided to every …

And the head of Ephraim, as above. If you will not believe. Here he places the condemnation of the unbelieving. If you will not believe, namely in the promises of the Lord, you too shall not continue in your land, but you will be taken …

Isaiah according to the Septuagint translation says: "Unless you believe, you shall not understand." And Augustine says: "Unless a man captivates his understanding and follows through faith what he hears, he is not disposed to the gift of understanding." A man is disposed to receive …

16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. God, by the prophet, makes a gracious offer to Ahaz, to confirm the foregoing predictions, and his faith in them, by such sign or miracle as he should choose (

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And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,..... Samaria was the metropolis or chief city of Ephraim, or the ten tribes of Israel: and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son; Pekah, son of Remaliah, was king of Samaria, as of all Israel. The sense is, that, until the sixty five years were ended, there should be no enlargement of the kingdom of Israel; Judah should not be added to it; Samaria should continue, and not Jerusalem be the metropolis of it; and Pekah, during his life, should be king of Israel, but not of Judah.

The confirmation of this by a sign which God gave to Ahaz, when he refused to ask one, referring to Christ, and our redemption by him,

believe, . . . be established--There is a paronomasia, or play on the words, in the Hebrew: "if ye will not confide, ye shall not abide." Ahaz brought distress on himself by distrust in the Lord, and trust in Assyria.

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As I told you in the reading, Isaiah had a very heavy commission from God. He was to go and speak to people who would not hear him and to be to them a messenger rather of death, than of life. Though the message, itself, would be full of life, yet they would refuse it, and so bring upon themselves a tenfold death. As a sort of experiment in his work, he was called upon, first, to go and speak to king Ahaz, that wicked king.

As I told you in the reading, Isaiah had a very heavy commission from God. He was to go and speak to people who would not hear him and to be to them a messenger rather of death, than of life. Though the message, itself, would be full of life, yet they would refuse it, and so bring upon themselves a tenfold death. As a sort of experiment in his work, he was called upon, first, to go and speak to king Ahaz, that wicked king. He knew in his own soul that what he had to say would be rejected, but, nevertheless, at the command of God, he went to speak to the king. He was told where he would meet him. God knows where to send His faithful servants. He has arranged every circumstance about the true preacher— what he shall say and where he shall say it—and every congregation is a picked congregation for God's sent servants. He knows who comes and who is away. He knows how to adapt the message with great specialty to the individual case of each person who is within sound of the preacher's voice and He knows how to adapt even the voice, itself, to the ears of every hearer. We know all this, for we have had abundant evidence of it again and again. The tidings which Isaiah took to Ahaz were very pleasant ones. He was not to be afraid of the king of Israel and the king of Syria. These men were determined to destroy him and his people, but they were only like smoking firebrands, almost extinct. Their power would soon come to an end and, therefore, the Prophet told the king not to be distressed, but to be quiet and to wait patiently till he saw what God would do. Then he challenged the faith of Ahaz and warned him that if he did not believe, neither would he be established! Isaiah anticipated what was all too true, that Ahaz would not trust, that he would prefer to look to outward means, send for the king of Assyria and lean upon an arm of flesh rather than put his trust in God.