Comentario sobre Isaías 7:8

For the head of Aram that is Damascus, and Jerusalem has nothing with them.

כי Although, Comp. כי עם קשה ערף הוא Although they be a stiffnecked people. (Exod. 34:9.) This plan will not be realised, although Rezin and Pekah besiege Jerusalem.

and the head of Damascus is Rezin In Damascus he shall be head, but not in Jerusalem, and also as regards Pekah and the ten tribes in another sixty-five years from the day it was decreed in the days of Amos (7:11): “And Israel shall surely be exiled from upon its land.”

And yet⁷A. V. Within. threescore, etc. Comp. the common phrase so and so many years are still left before such and such an event will take place. ב in בעוד is superfluous as in (טרם═)בטרם before. These sixty-five years begin with the year of the earthquake, that happened in the days of Uzziah, when Amos prophesied^7*This is not quite correct, since Amos prophesied two years before the earthquake (Amos 1:1.) And Israel will surely go into exile (Amos 7:11). Comp. And it was at the end of forty years (2 Sam. 15:7.)⁸No mention is there made when the 40 years began, but it is certain that they did not begin with the event recorded immediately before; in the same way the sixty-five years here are not to be counted from the year of this prophecy, but, according to Ibn Ezra, from the year of the earthquake in the reign of Uzziah.

Ephraim shall be broken, no longer to be a people Ephraim shall be shattered, no longer to be a people, for Sennacherib will exile them with their king, Hoshea son of Elah. Go out and calculate from Amos’ prophecy until the ten tribes were exiled, and you will find them to be sixty-five years. Amos’ prophecy was two years before Uzziah was stricken, as it is stated (Amos 1:1): “Two years before the earthquake.” And Uzziah was stricken for twenty-five years, plus these two years, giving us a total of twenty-seven years. Add the sixteen years of Jotham and the sixteen years of Ahaz and six years of Hezekiah, as it is stated (II Kings 18:10, 11): “And they captured it [at the end of three years]; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which is the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel...And the king of Assyria exiled Israel to Assyria.” Here are sixty-five years. Now how do we know that the duration of Uzziah’s state as a confirmed metzora was twenty-five years? For it is stated (ibid. 15:1): “In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah the king of Judah, became king.” Is it possible to say this? Did not Uzziah and Jeroboam reign simultaneously, according to the calculation you will find in the Book of Kings (See Rashi II Kings 14:22)? Rather he reigned a plagued kingship. In the twenty-seventh year he was stricken, and he reigned for fifty-two years. It is impossible, however, to count “and in another sixty-five years” from the day that Isaiah said this prophecy, for he said it in the days of Ahaz, and they were exiled in the sixth year of Hezekiah. In this manner it is explained in Seder Olam (ch. 28), that Scripture counted from the prophecy of Amos.

יֵחַת Shall be broken; comp. החתות Thou hast broken (9:3); it is Niphal, like יִמַּס (13:7) Will be melted מֵעָם By a people.⁹A. V. That it be not a people. Evil shall befall them by means of a people that will come against them. יֵחַת can also be Kal of a verb נחת ,פ״נ to go down, (like יִגַּשׁ he will approach; comp. תֵּחַת It comes down) (Prov. 17:9); הנחת Cause to come down (Joel 3:11), where the נ is not omitted. The meaning of יֵחַת מֵעָם is accordingly: They will go down and be no more considered as a nation.