This Sunday’s lectionary names two divine promises and the responses to them. To understand why the responses might surprise us, consider how we normally respond to promises. Expecting exact fulfillment of promises is built into our brains. 

But the Bible has a different expectation. God makes promises but fulfills almost none of them literally. In today’s reading, Ahaz, a king in David’s line, refuses to take seriously God’s well-known promise to protect the royal city Jerusalem. He refused even to ask for an authenticating sign to assure him that the Lord would protect Zion from the hostile kings on their way to attack the city. Instead, he relied on the Assyrian Empire for help. When pressed by Isaiah to ask for a sign, he hypocritically announced, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!” Isaiah’s response to the king’s refusal was quick, “Listen, house of David!  . . . The Lord himself will give you a sign; the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. . . for before the child learns to reject evil and choose good, the land of those two kings whom you dread shall be deserted” (Isaiah 7:1-16). Most scholars suggest the “young woman” was a pregnant royal wife standing nearby and that she shortly would give birth to a son in the Davidic line, Hezekiah. Unlike his father Ahaz, Hezekiah trusted in the Lord’s promise to protect Zion and his own kingship from Assyria. God fulfilled the ancient promise to David because Hezekiah trusted in its power.  

This promise-fulfillment story in Isaiah is a good illustration of how God fulfills promises – indirectly rather than directly, and at times requiring centuries before taking effect, and demanding trust. Seven centuries later, the promise to David takes effect in Joseph, a descendant of David; Joseph’s ancestry makes Jesus the “son of David” (Matt 1:20). Like King Hezekiah, Joseph learns how the divine promise spoken by Isaiah to Ahaz truly means “God is with us.” The ancient promise wakes up a Galilean village and begins a divinely guided history.

Richard Clifford, S.J., has taught biblical studies for 55 years, most recently at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College, and has written many scholarly and popular books and articles.