Judah. They kne'w that Judah was in an especial way God's people. They designed to set aside the house of David. They knew, or at any rate Ephraim knew, that the throne belonged to the descendants af David by God's promise, ThllS they set them- selves age.inst God knowingly. They thought their wisdom would be greater or their strength superior to his. But thus to think ie utter madnese. The" foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Cor. i. 24). I11 vain do "the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying, Let ns break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from u~. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall· have them in derision" (Ps. ii. 2-4). God had only to put it into the heart of the King of Assyria to make an immediate expedition, and all the fine schemes of the confederates, which needed time for their. execution, came at once to non~ht, and were confounded. The would-be allies were crushed separately ; their victim escaped them; and '·' the house of David " outlasted both their own. II. 'l'm: WISDOM OF FULL TRUST IN Gon. When once God had sent him the message, "It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass," Ahaz might have rested securely on the promise, and have been content simply to "stand still and see the salvation of God.~ But he can only have had a weak and imperfect trust in Isaiah's words. He must bethink himself how he may escape h\s foes; he must bring in another to help him besides God. Accordingly, he" goes to Assyria." He takes the silver and gold out' of the royal palace :and out of·the temple :treasury, and sends them to 'l'iglath- Pileser, with the offer of becoming his servant (2 Kings xvi. 7, 8), and he probably flatters himself that·he has done well, and owes his escape from Rezin and Pekah to himself. But he has renlly taken a step on the downward path which will conduct the houlje of·David and the people of Judah to ruin. He has placed himself under an idolater, and paved the way for. new idolatries (2 Kings xvi.10---16). He has helped to sweep away two states, which, while, tlicy continued, served as a breakwater to keep the w_aves of invasion off his own kingdom. He has called in one, who, from the tnrn point of view, has really "disttes_sed him, and strengthened him not" (2 Chron. xxviii. 20). How much wiser would he ·have been to have accepted God's promise in full faith, and not supplemented it by his own "inventions" ( l<:ccles. vii. 29) ! God would have found a way to help him and save him, which would have involved no such evil consequences as those which flowed from his own self-willed action.
Vers. n~M.;...;Righifttl and 'WT0'11,gful aakingfor signs. To ask for a sign is sometimes spoken of in Scripture as indicative of want of faith, and therefore as an offence to God. "A.n evil and adulterous generati0n seeketh after a sign" (Matt. xii. 39). "This is an evil generation; they seek a- sign" (Luke xi. 29). "Jesus sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? . Verily I say unto you, 'l'here shall no sign be given to this generation" (Mark viii.12). "The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after ·wisdom" (1 Cor. i. 22). On the other hand, it is sometime,i spoken of without any dispraise, and seems to be viewed as natural, rightful, eveu as a sort of proof offaith. Ahaz, in the present passage, is bidden to "ask a sign," and is blamed for refusing to do so. His refusal "wearies" God (ver. 13). The disciples ask our Lord, unrebuked, " What shall· be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? •• (Matt. xxiv. 3). ·Hezekiah asks Isaiah, " What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day?" (2 Kings xx. 8; comp. eh. xxxviii. 22). Can any tests be laid down whereby the right and the wrong may·be distinguished in·this matter? We think that some may. I. IT 1s BIGHT TO ABK FOR A SIGN. 1. When a person comes forward and claims our obedience as a Divine teaoher or leader. Moses anticipated that his countrymen in Egypt would refuse to listen to him if he presented himself to them without credentials, and was given at once the power of working certain miracles !LS signs that he was com- missioned by God· (Exoo.. iv. 1-9). As soon as Jesus came forward to teach and to preach, he was asked, not unreasonably or improperly, "What sigu showest thou?" (John ii. 18), and responded, without blaming those who asked him, by a reference to the greatest of his miracles, his resurrection. The apostles were authorized to work: miracles as signs of their Divine mission. 2. When we have an invitation from Gu,l through his accreditod messenger, as A.haz had, to ask a sigu. 3. When we feel that 182 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [oH, vu. 1-26.
much depends on onr decision in a practical matter-e.g. the lives of others-we may humbly ask, as Gideon did (Judg. vi. 36-40), that God will, if he so please give us some exteml\l indicl\tion, or else such strength of internal conviction as will ~sure us what his will is; only in such cases we must be careful to make our request conditional on its being acceptable to him, and we must be ready, if it be not granted to act in the matter to the best of our ability on such light as is vouchsafed us. ' II. IT JS WRONG TO ASK FOR A SIGN. I. In a captious spirit, with an intention to cavil at it, and (if possible) not accept it. This was the condition of mind of the Pharisees, who would not have believed even had Christ come down from the cross before their ey8:', as t_hey asked him to ~o (Matt. xxvii, 42). 2. When we have already had abundant signs given us, and there 1s no reasonable ground for doubt or hesitation as to our duty. This was the case of those Jews who still" required a sign" (1 Cor. i. 22) after the Resurrection and Ascension. 8. When we ask for it merely to !!'ratify our curiosity, as Herod Antipas just before the Crucifixion (Luke xxiii. 8). 4."When we arbitrarily fix on our own sign, and determine to regard the result, whatever it be, as a sign from heaven, This is the case of those who choose to decide a practical matter by sortes Virgilianre, or sortes BiJJlicre, or any other appeal to chance. 1'hey are not entitled to uk God for signs of this kind, or to regard such signs as significant of his will. To trust to them is not faith, but superstition.