Vocabit Nomen Eius Emmanuel

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The title of this post is taken from the end of verse 14 in Isaiah chapter 7 where the Lord through Isaiah the prophet tells King Ahaz of Judah to ask for a sign, and Ahaz in false piety refuses to "tempt the Lord," whereupon Isaiah prophesies the following in verses 14, 15 and 16:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. Curds and honey he will eat so that he may learn to reject evil and choose good; for before the child learns to reject evil and choose good, the land of those two kings whom you dread shall be deserted.

Isaiah 7:10-14 was the Old Testament reading for Tuesday within the Fourth Week of Advent. I have often disliked how certain Biblical readings are cut off without giving a fuller picture of the entire story of King Ahaz and the prophet Isaiah, so I did some subsequent research into the following related passages of Sacred Scripture:

• The Reign of Ahaz over Judah in 2nd Kings 16
• The Misdeeds and Punishment of Ahaz in 2nd Chronicles 28

Assyrian Empire

The period of time in which Isaiah's prophecy is given is during the time of the Divided Kingdom where 10 of the 12 Tribes form the Northern Kingdom of Israel whose capital is Samaria, and 2 form the southern Kingdom of Judah. Apostasy and the murder of babies filled both kingdoms. Indeed, 2nd Chronicles 28:3 records the following:

Moreover, he [Ahaz] offered sacrifice in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and immolated his children by fire in accordance with the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites.

Digression: This is prophetic of today's wicked and adulterous generation in these United States where more than 55 million children since the Roe v Wade decision in SCOTUS in 1973 have been butchered by the ax of the abortionist for the convenience of sexual intercourse without the consequence of child rearing.

During this period of time the Middle East was divided into:

• Egypt under the Pharaohs in the south
• The Southern Kingdom of Judah under Ahaz in Jerusalem
• The Northern Kingdom of Israel (also called Ephraim) under Pekah in Samaria
• Syria (also called Aram - hence the Aramaic language) under Rezin in Damascus
• Assyria stretching across northern Mesopotamia under Tiglath-Pileser III

Syro-Ephraimite War

Pekah and Rezin had formed an alliance against Assyria. Ahaz opposed that alliance. Pekah and Rezin feared a two-prong conflict between Judah to the south and Assyria to the north and east, so they tried to preemptively conquer Judah and replace Ahaz with a puppet king, but that effort failed. Ahaz obviously feared for his kingdom (and his life), so the prophet Isaiah came to him and said in Isaiah 7:9 (right before the prophecy about Emmanuel):

The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
Within sixty-five years,
Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation.
Unless your faith is firm,
you shall not be firm!

Note the last part of verse 9 and the forgiveness in the heart of God for the wickedness that Ahaz had done: "Unless you faith is firm, you shall not be firm." Then in verse 11 God tells Ahaz to ask for a sign and Ahaz refuses. Why? Because (as the reader will learn from reading the corresponding passages in 2nd Kings 16 and 2nd Chronicles 28), Ahaz intends to ally himself with Assyria instead of relying on the Lord. Nevertheless, the Lord gives a sign, that of a virgin who will bear a son to be named "God with us."  Isaiah goes on the prophecy in chapter 7 that while Jerusalem herself will be saved, because of Ahaz's lack of faith the surrounding countryside will be leveled, rendering agriculture impossible and leaving only cattle for milk and curds, and bees for honey. Furthermore, the machinations of Israel the Northern Kingdom came to naught, for 2nd Kings 17 records that during the reign of evil Hoseah the people living there were deported and the Northern Kingdom came to an end. In the meantime, Hezekiah succeeded Ahaz in Judah the Southern Kingdom, fulfilling on an immediate basis the prophecy that a young women would given birth to a child named, "God with us," for 2nd Chronicles 29:2 records:

He [Hezekiah] did what was right in the LORD’s sight, just as David his father had done.

And then a little more than 700 years later we would see the ultimately fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Matthew 1:22-23:

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,"
which means "God is with us."

I like the manner in which the Latin Vulgate translates the last part of Isaiah 7:9: "Si non credideritis, non permanebitis." "If you have not believed, you will not endure." Neither the Northern Kingdom nor the Southern Kingdom endured. The inhabitants of the former were deported into captivity of Assyria and of the later by Babylon because both had fallen into unbelief and apostasy. Yet the promise of the Christ Child remained in spite of man's rebellion.