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Tom wrote:

In my initial post, I mentioned Isaiah 7:15-16 “He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.”

I am not completely sure what this is saying, could you please exegete it for me, thanks.

I know that it is a prophecy about our Lord, but the words “at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good,…” have been used by some to try to prove that there is an age of accountability. I think they are stretching the passages meaning to prove their point, but need more input to know for sure.

Well, first of all this section of the book of Isaiah is directing our attention to the coming hope of Israel. Isaiah 7:1 - 9:7 predicts the ill success of the Syro-Israelitish invasion of Judah--Ahaz's alliance with Assyria, and its fatal results to Judea--yet with certainty of final preservation and the coming of the Messiah.

In chapter 7 verse 14 we have the wonderful prophecy regarding the birth of Jesus. [/i]"...Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."[/i] We know from the New Testament that Isaiah is refering to the Virgin Mary (Matt. 1:23, Luke 1:27). Although some, especially the Jews of the second century A.D., understood the prophecy to mean Ahaz's wife and her child Hezekiah (ref. 2 Kings 18:2). But as Jerome (c. 400 A.D.) pointed out, Hezekiah was already born. Others identify the woman as Isaiah's wife or a woman betrothed to him (8:3). The child would then be Isaiah's son in the immediate context.

The question raised here is whether we have a detailed and emphatic reference to the coming of the Messiah and to the manner of His birth or do we have a strickly limited reference to the fact of the presence in power of the almighty Jehovah. In considering the matter, we must remember that so very often Old Testament prophecy has a double reference, and immediate and an ultimate fulfilment. In verses 15-16 there is quite obviously an early deliverance in view. The birth of the child with the sacred name Immanuel "God with us" is token of the fact that deliverance is sure. But beyond that there is the certain and ultimate promise of the salvation of Jehovah on the behalf of His people Israel. Only through the coming of the Son of God and the reality of the incarnation did the way open for the fulfilment of this latter and more absolute deliverance.

In verse 15 it says the child's diet will be of "curds and honey" which suggests the He would grow up after Judah's destruction. This is not a typical food for infants, but points to a time when people will not have milk and honey but rather have to live off unworked fields (v.22). The Child is identified with the remnant. In verse 15 we also read "that He may know to refuse the evil." Self indulgence made the failed leadership of Israel insensitive to social and spiritual values (5:11-23), but this diet will sensitize Christ to the work of the Lord (42:1-4).

Then in verse 16 we read "For before". Before this child grows to the age of moral comprehension the land you dread will be forsaked by both her kings. Pekah and Remaliah will both be defeated. What he's saying is this is going to happen very soon. In this understanding, "child" points primarily to Isaiah's son, and secondarily to Christ.

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Matthey Henry writes:

Here is another sign in particular of the speedy destruction of these potent princes that were now a terror to Judah, Isaiah.7:16. "Before this child (so it should be read), this child which I have now in my arms’’ (he means not Immanuel, but Shear-jashub his own son, whom he was ordered to take with him for a sign, v. 3), "before this child shall know how to refuse the evil and choose the good’’ (and those who saw what his present stature and forwardness were would easily conjecture how long that would be), "before this child be three or four years older, the land that thou abhorrest, these confederate forces of Israelites and Syrians, which thou hast such an enmity to and standest in such dread of, shall be forsaken of both their kings, both Pekah and Rezin," who were in so close an alliance that they seemed as if they were the kings of but one kingdom. This was fully accomplished; for within two or three years after this, Hoshea conspired against Pekah, and slew him (2 Ki. 15:30), and, before that, the king of Assyria took Damascus, and slew Rezin, 2 Ki. 16:9. No, there was a present event, which happened immediately, and when this child carried the prediction of in his name, which was a pledge and earnest of this future event. Shear-jashub signifies The remnant shall return, which doubtless points at the wonderful return of those 200,000 captives whom Pekah and Rezin had carried away, who were brought back, not by might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. Read the story, 2 Chr. 28:8–15. The prophetical naming of this child having thus had its accomplishment, no doubt this, which was further added concerning him, should have its accomplishment likewise, that Syria and Israel should be deprived of both their kings. One mercy from God encourages us to hope for another, if it engages us to prepare for another.

So in my opinion the focus on the phrase of the child coming to an age of understanding or "that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good" refers to a relatively short period of time. We shouldn't try to impose some doctrine of accountability into this verse which was never intended to be there. It simply points the reader to the fact that the time is short that it takes for any child to come to the years of discretion, and in that short time the kings of Samaria and Syria will be destroyed.



Wes

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. - Isaac Watts