Here’s something new - mention of an “anointed one” (a messiah) who isn’t just another king. I wonder who this can be?
Ahaz
2 Kings 16:1-4, 2 Chronicles 28:1-4
Pekah’s victory
2 Chronicles 28:5-8
Future hope
Isaiah7:10-16
The future king
Isaiah 9:1-7
Judah will be invaded
Isaiah 7:17-25, 8:5-22
The coming chastisement
Isaiah 9:8-10:4
Oded’s intercession
2 Chronicles 28:9-15
Ahaz, the new king of Judah, is not faithful to God. So he loses in battle to Pekah, king of Israel. Even worse than that, the looming threat of the Assyrian empire concentrates minds. Or at least, Isaiah clearly hopes it will. His prophecies make it clear that Assyria marches to God’s tune, which is a thought far from the minds of Ahaz and his advisors. Their efforts are bent on appeasing Asssyria, or defending themselves against its threat. Isaiah wants him to know that Israel’s God has power over Assyria, as well as over Judah and Israel.
It feels like events are building to a crisis. Words like these of Isaiah: “Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.” (7:8) send a chill down the spine.
Time is running out.
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