Days Not Yet Come
“But the Lord will bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon the house of your father, days that have not yet come, from the day that Ephraim took away from Judah: the king of the Assyrians” (Isaiah 7:17).
Ahaz was greatly alarmed at the alliance of the two kings, Rezin and Pekah, and the God of all promised him help. Since he wished to establish him further in faith, he told him to ask for a sign, “in the depth or in the height” (Isaiah 7:11). But Ahaz refused, and said most perversely, “I will not ask, nor will I put the Lord to the test” (Isaiah 7:12), for he was looking instead for the trickery of false prophets. So God in a way came forward of his own accord and himself gave a sign to the house of David. For he said: “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
When the word about these things had been fully completed, he turns the prediction of what was to come back to the person of Ahaz himself. For it was necessary, truly necessary, that the announcement of the salvation through Christ be made to those of the house of David, that is, to those of the tribe of Judah, from which Christ himself arose according to the flesh (Hebrews 7:14). But the announcement of the terrible and dreaded things that would happen in due time he makes to those who had chosen to disobey, so that they might know that it is truly bitter, and not without cost, for those who dishonor the divine glory to weary the Lord (Isaiah 7:13), and to choose to worship, in place of him, others who are not gods.
So he subtly signals in advance that in time Jerusalem itself, and the whole land of the Jews, would fall into the worst miseries and come under the hand of their enemies. Since the arrangement of the words is rather obscure, I will try, as far as I am able, to make it clear before anything else.
“God will bring,” he says, “upon you, and upon your people, and upon the house of your father, days that have not yet come, from the day that Ephraim took away from Judah.” The sense of the lines is this: in the times of the reign of Rehoboam son of Solomon, Ephraim “took away,” that is, tore itself away (Ephraim meaning, again, the ten tribes) from the tribe of Judah. For they were separated: the ten tribes, parted from the tribe of Judah, settled in Samaria, while the tribe of Judah and the half-tribe of Manasseh remained in Jerusalem. But as time went on, many …
Greek
ΛΟΓΟΣ Εʹ.}1 9Ἀλλ' ἐπάξει Κύριος ἐπὶ σὲ, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός σου ἡμέρας, αἳ οὐδέπω ἥκασιν, ἀφ' ἧς ἡμέρας ἀφεῖλεν Ἐφραῒμ ἀπὸ Ἰούδα τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἀςσυρίων.9 Τεθορυβημένῳ λίαν τῷ Ἄχαζ ἐπὶ τῇ συμφωνίᾳ τῶν δύο βασιλέων, τοῦ τε Ῥαασσὼν καὶ τοῦ Φακεὲ, ‹70.208› κατεπηγγέλλετο μὲν τὴν ἐπικουρίαν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός· ἐπειδὴ δὲ προσεμπεδοῦν ἤθελεν εἰς πίστιν αὐ- τὸν, αἰτεῖν ἐκέλευσε σημεῖον, "6εἰς βάθος ἢ εἰς ὕψος."6 Παραιτουμένου δὲ τοῦ Ἄχαζ, καὶ δυστροπώ- τατα λέγοντος, Οὐ μὴ αἰτήσω, οὐδ' οὐ μὴ πειράσω Κύριον (ἐζήτει γὰρ μᾶλλον τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ψευδομάν- τεων φενακισμοὺς), ηὐτομόλησε τρόπον τινὰ Θεὸς, καὶ τῷ οἴκῳ ∆αβὶδ ἐδίδου σημεῖον αὐτός. Ἔφασκε γάρ· "6Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει, καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ."6 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ περὶ τούτων εὖ μάλα διεπεραίνετο λό- γος, μεθίστησι πάλιν τῶν ἐσομένων τὴν προαγόρευ- σιν, ἐπ' αὐτὸ τοῦ Ἄχαζ τὸ πρόσωπον. Ἔδει γὰρ, ἔδει σωτηρίας μὲν τῆς διὰ Χριστοῦ γενέσθαι τὴν προανάῤῥησιν πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου ∆αβὶδ, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς, ἐξ ἧς καὶ αὐτὸς ἀνατέταλκε τὸ κατὰ σάρκα Χριστός· τῶν γεμὴν συμ- βησομένων κατὰ καιροὺς δεινῶν τε καὶ ἀπευκτῶν τοῖς ἀπειθεῖν ᾑρημένοις ποιεῖται τὴν προανάῤῥησιν, ἵν' εἰδεῖεν ὅτι πικρὸν ἀληθῶς, καὶ οὐκ ἀζήμιον τοῖς τὴν θείαν ἀτιμάζουσι δόξαν τὸ παρέχειν ἀγῶνα Κυ- ρίῳ, καὶ προσκυνεῖν ἑλέσθαι παρ' αὐτὸν ἑτέροις τοῖς οὐκ οὖσι θεοῖς. Ὅτι τοίνυν ἔμελλον κατὰ καιροὺς, αὐτά τε τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, καὶ ἅπασα δὲ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἡ χώρα ταῖς ἐσχάταις περιπεσεῖσθαι ταλαιπωρίαις, καὶ ὑπὸ χεῖρα γενέσθαι τῶν ἐχθρῶν, προκαταμηνύει λεπτῶς. Ἀσαφεστέραν δὲ οὖσαν τὴν τῶν λέξεων συνθήκην, ὡς ἂν οἷός τε, καὶ πρό γε τῶν ἄλλων δια- τρανοῦν πειράσομαι. "6Ἐπάξει, φησὶν, ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ σὲ, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός σου, ἡμέρας, αἳ οὔπω ἥκασιν, ἀφ' ἧς ἡμέρας ἀφεῖλεν Ἐφραῒμ ἀπὸ Ἰούδα."6 Ἔστι δὲ τῶν στίχων τοιοῦτος ὁνοῦς· Ἐν καιροῖς τῆς βασιλείας Ῥοβοὰμ υἱοῦ Σολο-μῶνος ἀφεῖλε, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἀπέσπασεν ἑαυτὸν ὁ Ἐφραῒμ, τοῦτ' ἔστι, πάλιν αἱ δέκα φυλαὶ, ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς. Ἐχωρίσθησαν γὰρ καὶ αἱ μὲν δέκα φυλαὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς, κατῳκήκασι τὴν Σα- μάρειαν, ἡ δέ γε φυλὴ Ἰούδα καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ φυλῆς Μανασσῆ μεμενήκασιν ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις. Ἀλλὰπροϊόντος τοῦ καιροῦ πολλὰ