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that case , immediately succeed . Hence it is concluded , that Isaiah delivered to Ahaz the prophecies contained in this chapter soon , very soon , after he had succeeded his father as king of Judah , even in the first year of his reign . And this first year of Ahaz , according to 2 Kings xvi . 1 , was the seventeenth of Pekah ' s reign over
Israel . In 2 Kings xv . 30 , it is said that Pekah was slain by Hoshea , in the twentieth year of Jotham , son of Uzziali ; that is , in the twentieth year from Jotham being made king , for
Jotham himself reigned only sixteen years ; see ver . 33 . Now Pekah began to reign in the fifty-second year , that is , in the last year of Uzziah ' s reign ; and he reigned twenty years . Compare ver . 2 with ver . 27 . Jotham began to reign in the second year of
Pekah , verse 32 ; and by comparing this with the last-quoted verse , it is plain that his reign would commence just after Pekah entered his second year . As Jotham reigned sixteen years , and Ahaz succeeded his father in the seventeenth of Pekah , it is
hence inferred , that Ahaz began to reign just about , rather after than before , the time that Pekah completed his seventeenth year . Consequently the twentieth of Jotham will be some where in the third year of Ahaz , but before that year was completed . For add to rather more than one , ( Pekah
having just entered his second year , ) the sixteen years of Jotham ' s reign , this will give rather more than the seventeenth of Pekah . As then there would not be three years wanting to complete the twentieth of Jotham , that would fall about the second , or at farthest before the third of Ahaz
was completed . Ahaz then had not reigned three full years when Pekah was slain by Hoshea , and the land of Ephrairn left desolate of her king . Of Rezin there is not so particular an account given , nor have we such notes of time as will enable us so
exactly to determine the time of his death . But from the narration given of it in 2 Kings xvi . 6—JO , it may be inferred , that ; his death must have happened nearly about the same time . In the space of two years there seems a sufficient length of time for the accompfialiment of all the intermediate
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events ; the success of the Syrians against the Jews , and the embass y from Ahaz to Tiglath-pileser , might take up one year ; his descent upon
Damascus , the capture of that city and people , with the slaughter of Rezin , might be accomplished in another . If so , this would be rather before the destruction of Pekah . Here again , then , it may be concluded that Ahaz
had not reigned three years when this event took place . That is , it was about two years after the prophet l \ ad spoken unto the king , as recorded in Isaiah , ch . vii .
Now , as it is most probable that Isaiah went in unto the prophetess , and that she conceived shortly after the predictions had been delivered to Ahaz , and as nine months must be allowed for the time of gestation , the birth , of the child
Maher-shalal-hashbaz , must have been some time in the second year of Ahaz . Thence reckoning forward till the time of the death of Rezin and Pekah , in the third year of Ahaz , as has just now been shewn , the age of the child could not have been two years \ very likely not
much more than one . At that age , it is by no means probable that he should be able to cry my father and my mother . Consequently , according to Isa ~ viii . 4 , the riches of Damascus , and the spoil of Samaria , were taken away before that time . In like manner it
may be added , that at that age the child could not know to refuse the evil and choose the good . And , therefore , before that period , agreeably to Isa . vii . \ 6 , the land which Ahaz ahhorred was left desolate of both her kings . Thus the prediction and accomplishment of the sign have been verified .
2 . It is also said , that €€ within threescore and five years' * from the time of the prophecy being delivered , " Ephraim shall be broken that it be not a people . " This also we shall verify by shewing : its accomplishment . In doing which the notes of time must be collected from the account of the
reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel , and from a comparison of the two together . That there may not appear to be any favouring of the prophecy , it will be proper to compute rather above than under what may be exactly indicated .
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506 Mr . S . Freeman on the Prophecies of Isaiah . ch , vii .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1823, page 506, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1788/page/10/
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