As we read this chapter, we keep in mind the image of cattle and bees. Most of the time, "milk and honey" represent a life of plenty, almost luxury, because you also have everything else. More literally, it would be curdled milk, perhaps even what we might call yoghurt, eaten like a dessert with honey drizzled over it. God had promised before the Conquest, Canaan would be a such a land of milk and honey. In Hebrew literature, exploring possible associations in novel ways offered a rich background of imagery.
The Northern Kingdom, referred to by the chief tribe Ephraim, had allied with Syria against the growing threat of Assyrian invasion. Judah refused to join the alliance. The rulers of Israel and Syria decided to attack Jerusalem, and place a puppet ruler on the throne, so as to combine forces for a much larger army to oppose Assyria. We note Edom was in on the deal, as well. King Ahaz of Judah disobeyed God and stripped the Temple and royal treasuries to send a bribe to Assyria to hasten their advance. In essence, Ahaz disobeyed God and trusted in human wisdom. We find him in about 735 BC, inspecting the water supply to the city as he prepares for the siege. The troops of Syria were already in marching distance, marshalling with the army of Ephraim. The Syrians would eventually take back the City of Elath, and Israel would slaughter a very large chunk of Judah's army, destroying some Judean cities in the process. However, Isaiah notes this plan to grab the throne of David eventually failed, but this story takes place sometime earlier.
Isaiah received a command from God to meet Ahaz at the pool out on the lower end of the ridge on which the most ancient part of Jerusalem was built, overlooking the place where the Hinnom and Kiddron Valleys met. Isaiah is told to take his very young son with him, the one whose name ("A Remnant Shall Return") reminds everyone the entire nation was under judgment for failure to keep the Covenant of Moses, as noted in the previous chapters. He was likely still a young boy at this time, and would help to visualize a part of the message. It's important to remember, Ahaz was the sort of man to put his children through the fires of Molech, among other pagan idolatries.
The first order of business is to assure Ahaz he would not lose his throne. God had promised to maintain the House of David for as long as the kingdom lasted. These two kings might do some damage as punishment against Judah's sins, but weren't really that dangerous. Rezin was just a man who held a throne no one seemed to keep very long. Ephraim was already marked out for utter destruction in some 65 years, and its ruler was some guy whose father was never a member of the royal family -- "bin Remaliah." Indeed, God never mentions the name of Pekah, but refers to him as some nobody son of a nobody. Since Ahaz wasn't much for obeying God either, his life could be snuffed out just as easily as these two, but the family of David would maintain the throne.
Further, since Ahaz clearly lacked any confidence in Jehovah, perhaps he should propose a sign to test if He was real -- anything he could imagine. What would it take to convince him? In false piety, Ahaz declined, perhaps citing Deuteronomy 6:16, but of course ignoring a couple of verses before that (14): "You shall not go after other gods." As with Pekah, now Isaiah ceases calling Ahaz by name, and addresses him merely by his family name. It was not enough for Ahaz to provoke to human kings to anger, but he had been provoking the King of Heaven for quite some time.
God would provide His own sign. Pointing out his young son, Isaiah told a parable regarding the boy's age. Ahaz was asked to picture in his mind the boy's mother as a virgin girl. She got married, conceived and had a son. She raised him during a time of plenty, when there was milk and honey. There was no threat to his life, neither from conditions of his childhood, nor from idolatry such as Ahaz practiced. No, this boy was dedicated to God, as Moses had commanded of every first-born male, since the Passover which started the Exodus. Indeed, his mother gave him a name which meant "God is with us." By the time this boy has lived long enough he can be expected to obey the Law -- age 12 -- it would be long enough for God to destroy both kings of Ephraim and Syria. Before Isaiah's own son was 12, this had come true literally. Both Pekah and Rezin were killed in 732 BC when Assyria invaded.
However, this deliverance would hardly bring the sweetness of milk and honey. Comparing Egypt to the biting flies which might hang on the flanks of cows, and comparing Assyria to the bees which infested the untamed forests, the two would do battle not far away. In the process, both would strip Judah and Ephraim of food, and drafting as combat support slaves any able-bodied men and women they could round up. Indicating Assyria would prevail in this clash, it would be the "barber of Assyria" whom Ahaz had hired, who would denude the land of everything that had value. In other terms, those who survive the ravages of Assyria would just about manage to keep a cow, or maybe some sheep to graze the once verdant farm fields. There wouldn't be much else, but they would have plenty of milk for making curds, and lots of honey from beehives infesting what was once fertile vineyards. Not the milk and honey of plenty, but the milk and honey of desperate people who have nothing else.
The sins of Ahaz, and those of Judah who followed his lead deep into idolatry, would add to the account of sins of Judah. The warning had been too clear during Uzziah's reign some time before. And if that were not enough, the example of Ephraim would point out what happens when the nation abandons the Covenant of Moses. God would keep His promise to maintain the line of David on the throne, but without repentance, that throne would mean nothing, because Judah would be carried away into exile.
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By Ed Hurst
02 July 2008
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