Isaiah 7:17
17 The LORD [Yahovah] shall
bring [bow'] upon thee, and upon thy people, [`am] and upon thy father's ['ab]
house, [bayith] days [yowm] that have not come, [bow']
from the day [yowm] that Ephraim ['Ephrayim] departed [cuwr] from Judah;
[Yahuwdah] even the king [melek] of Assyria. ['Ashshuwr] KJV-Interlinear
17
"The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house
such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah,
the king of Assyria." NASB
Ahaz had received the
promise of safety from invasion, but Ahaz rejected this promise and thus the
consequences of that rejection will result in even greater suffering for both
Ahaz and the nation from the very source in which they chose to place their
trust.
From the time of the
splitting up of the nation into two separate nations when Jeroboam rebelled and
took with him ten of the tribes leaving only Benjamin and Judah, (1 Kings
12:16-24), to the time of the impending future judgment of the nation at the
hands of Assyria in whom Ahaz had placed his trust, then there will be an even
greater violence against Judah from Assyria.
Initially, Judah was
under threat from Syria and Israel. They
invaded and attempted a failed siege against Jerusalem. They returned a year later as a result of
Ahaz’s continued and growing wickedness, and again laid siege against the city. Tens of thousands were killed or taken
captive, 2 Chron. 28.
From this second seige,
Ahaz stripped the temple of its treasures and ornaments, and sent them to
Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to induce him to come and defend him from Syria
and Ephraim. The consequence of that was that the king of Assyria took advantage
of this to bring increasing sufferings on Judah, but he first killed Rezin, and
took Damascus; 2 Kings 16:7.
After this, Assyria now
controlled both Syria, and the northern kingdom of Israel also called Ephraim. And that set the stage for a more formidable enemy
against Judah and Ahaz, and that means even greater hardships and suffering for
Judah.
Both enemies of Ahaz are
now dead as promised, but instead of relying on God, Ahaz rejected God and as a
result, will now have an even greater and far more dangerous enemy.
When you continually
reject Gods will, then the difficulties in your life will continue to increase against
you until you either change your ways and turn to that which is right and
expected of you, or until your death, in which case you will lose far, far more
than you realize or expect.
Escaping your
difficulties through death or by some other means, namely drugs or alcohol for example,
is never an escape, for the price of that escape will affect your entire
eternal future, and that is a huge price to pay, when simply complying with
Gods will, will produce certain and guaranteed blessings, far greater that you
can begin to imagine.
Nevertheless, during the
time of your rejection, you will indeed experience suffering in whatever
appropriate form God deems for you, so that you can either reform your thinking,
or demonstrate your utter stubbornness toward change.
A wise person will yield
to suffering and change.
A fool will maintain
their stubbornness and simply refuse to learn even as their losses pile up.
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