Isaiah 7 to 9 – Notes on Messiah and YHWH

Isaiah 7:14    Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 8: 5      The LORD spoke also unto me again, saying, ‘Forasmuch as this people refuses the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many; the king of Assyria, and all his glory, and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks, and he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach to the neck, and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.’

The son of the virgin is called “Immanuel”.

Immanu-El translates to “With us is God.”

The son of the virgin is called, “With us is God.”

Matthew’s gospel confirms that Jesus Christ is this Immanu-El – God with us. (Matthew 1:22-23)

The land over which the king of Assyria will “stretch out his wings”, is the land of “Immanuel”.

The land is therefore the land of the son of the virgin.

THE HISTORY:

2 Kings 15:37 In those days the LORD began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.”

The first mention of Rezin, or Pekah the son of Remaliah, is 2 Kings 15:37, recording their assault on Judah.

2 Kings 16:9   And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.

Rezin is killed when Assyria comes through.

2Ki 15:25  But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his room.

2Ki 15:27  In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.

Pekah murdered his Pekahiah King of Israel (in the days of Azariah king of Judah); Remaliah being a captain of Pekahiah’s. 2 Kings 15:28 records that “he did evil in the sight of YHWH; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin.”

2 Kings 15:29  In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

30  And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

Pekah was murdered during the sieges of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, and in the second year of the reign of Pekah, Jotham took the throne in Judah after his father Uzziah died.

Isaiah 8:13-15  (v 11) For the LORD spoke to me thus …. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

“The LORD of hosts” is literally translated as “YHWH of hosts”.

YHWH spoke to me thus…

YHWH of hosts “shall be for a sanctuary”

YHWH of hosts “shall be …. for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence…” and “a gin and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem”.

YHWH of hosts shall cause “many among” “the inhabitants of Jerusalem”, “to stumble, and fall, and be broken…”

Jesus Christ is that “stone of stumbling” and “rock of offence”:

1 Peter 2:6-8:   Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.’

Unto you therefore which believe [He is] precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.”

Romans 9: 30-33   What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone, as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence’ and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” (Isa 28:16; Isa 49:23)

Jesus Christ is that Rock upon which those who fall are broken, and upon falling upon them are crushed:

Matthew 21:42 & 44:      Jesus saith unto them, ‘Did you never read in the Scriptures, “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?”

Therefore say I unto you, ‘The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.’”

As multiple passages in Isaiah’s writing make clear, YHWH speaks in the third-person singular about another individual to Whom He refers also as YHWH, the unique and holy name given by God to Moses at the burning bush:

Ex 3:14  And God said unto Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM”, and He said, ‘Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, “I AM hath sent me unto you.”’”

“I AM THAT I AM” is the English rendering of the Hebrew tetragrammaton YHWH, and “I AM”, is the English for “YH”.

Readers generally understand that YHWH is only used as the name of God Almighty. Many assume it to be a reference to God the Father individually.

In Isaiah 8, YHWH spoke to Isaiah concerning YHWH, using the third-person singular. Some may assume that God is talking about Himself in the third-person as an idiosyncrasy, but the Divine Speaker told Isaiah that YHWH would fulfill roles belonging exclusively to Jesus Christ, which is confirmed repeatedly by the New Testament authors, including their records of Christ’s own words concerning Himself, to which the letters give further affirmation.

By using the name YHWH to refer to the coming Messiah, Jesus called the Christ, God Almighty, as the Scriptures record, is affirming that Jesus Christ is rightly recognized as God Almighty, and that there are at least two Divine Individuals Who rightly bear the name YHWH, and are rightly recognized as the living and true God.