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I said in my post yesterday that I will write a post about the orthodox Jewish Artscroll commentary's treatment of Isaiah 7:14. The Artscroll draws from rabbinic and medieval Jewish sources as it presents options for the meaning of verses.
In reviewing the Artscroll's treatment of Isaiah 7:14, it turned out that it was not much to write home about. Overall, it was what one might expect from a Jewish commentary: Immanuel was a child born in the eighth century B.C.E., either to the wife of Isaiah or of King Ahaz. On a slightly interesting note, the commentary said that Immanuel was born after the destruction of the Syro-Ephraimite alliance that threatened Judah and the Davidic line, whereas the conventional view is that he was born before that, allowing stages in his life to be temporal markers for when destruction would occur for the Syro-Ephraimite alliance. The reference in Isaiah 7:15 to the child eating curds and honey refers to the prosperity that would emerge after the threat of the Syro-Ephraimite alliance was already removed.
The Artscroll also provided some homiletical details: God was punishing Ahaz with the Syro-Ephraimite invasion because of Ahaz's sins, yet God delivered Ahaz due to the merit of David his ancestor. Also, when Ahaz refused to ask God for a sign, his reason was that he did not want God to get any glory. Ahaz hated God that much.
I vaguely recalled that, when I read the commentary a few years back, it did have an unusual twist that stood out to me. In rereading the comments on Isaiah 7-8, the twist was that the Artscroll largely portrayed Isaiah 7-8 as a message of hope. Many interpret Isaiah 7-8 to be about God's deliverance of Judah from the Syro-Ephraimite alliance, only for Judah to suffer severely at the hands of the Assyrians, the ones from whom Judah sought assistance. But the Artscroll, through its translation and application of the verses, focuses the chapters on the theme that God will shatter the Assyrians and deliver Judah, which would occur during the reign of the righteous King Hezekiah. Judah could have hope because Immanuel, God is with them!
Yet, actually, in comparing the Artscroll with how the standard historical-critical HarperCollins Study Bible treats the chapters, the two are not that far apart in terms of their overall interpretation, but only in their emphasis. The HarperCollins Study Bible focuses on God's employing Assyria to judge sinful Judah----as a Bible professor of mine said years ago in interpreting Isaiah 7-8, God does not provide cheap grace, but God's presence can entail judgment and purification, not just comfort and deliverance. Still, HarperCollins holds that ultimate deliverance of Judah is part of those chapters, however small.
The Artscroll, as said above, focuses on deliverance, but it cannot escape the numerous passages in First Isaiah about God's judgment of Judah for her sins at the hands of the Assyrians. The Artscroll, in a few places, lands on the view that God used the Assyrians to discipline Judah, even though God ultimately delivered her.
To add some confusion to the mix, in Isaiah 7:22, Isaiah predicts that there will be an abundance of milk and people remaining in the land will eat curds and honey. The Artscroll treats that verse in a "glass-half-full" manner, whereas HarperCollins employs a "glass-half-empty" approach. The former applies it to the prosperity that will exist under the reign of Hezekiah after God's defeat of Assyria, whereas the latter considers it a result of the Assyrian onslaught. Yet, even HarperCollins interprets the butter and honey that Immanuel eats in Isaiah 7:15 as a rare delicacy (Stephen Geller at Jewish Theological Seminary called it "ice cream"), while it appears to interpret the curds and honey of 7:22 more negatively. (Looking at the verse, the point may be that, as a result of the Assyrian invasion, there will be more cattle around producing milk on the rather desolate land, so the fewer people who remain will be eating lots of butter and honey.)
Also of interest was the Artscroll's interpretation of the child of Isaiah 9: wonderful, counselor, mighty God, etc., whose kingdom shall have no end. I was already aware that standard Jewish interpretation interprets that child to be Hezekiah. The grand titles, according to the Artscroll, relate to the glorious deed of God in defeating Sennacherib. But did not Hezekiah's kingdom come to an end? The Artscroll offers two possible answers to that. One, Hezekiah would have been the Messiah had he given God glory after the fall of Sennacherib, but Hezekiah failed to do so. Second, ad-olam refers to the duration of Hezekiah's life, not to eternity: Hezekiah's righteous reign would last to the end of his life.
This post is less detailed than my post yesterday, but it is a brief repository of what I learned from the Artscroll's interpretation of Isaiah 7-9.
