n. The fourth gospel, although
written much later, ignores the belief in the virgin birth, and even
seems to do so of set purpose as belittling and materialising the
truth. The supposed Old Testament prophecies of the event have nothing
whatever to do with it. The famous passage, "Behold a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel," is a
reference to contemporary events, and the word translated "virgin"
simply means a young woman. It is a prophecy of the birth of a prince
whose work it should be to put right for Judah what the reigning king
Ahaz had been putting wrong. The story in the seventh of Isaiah is as
follows: Ahaz, a rather weak ruler, was greatly concerned by the news
that Rezin, king of Syria and Pekah, king of northern Israel, had
formed an alliance against him and were marching on Jerusalem. In his
extremity this monarch of a petty state turned toward the mighty ruler
of Assyria, the greatest military power in the world, and asked his
help against the combination. Isaiah, statesman as well as prophet,
saw that this was a wrong move. Assyria was aspiring to universal
dominion, and to form an alliance with the military master of that
mighty state would be to supply him with an excuse for further
interference. The policy of Ahaz was therefore as suicidal as that of
John Balliol when he called in Edward the First to adjudicate on his
claim to the crown of Scotland, or the policy of Spain when she called
in Napoleon. Sargon, king of Assyria, was overturning thrones in all
directions, profiting by the divisions and jealousies of his foes. The
great empires of Egypt and Babylonia went down before him as well as
the smaller states. The condition of things in this ancient world was
just like that of Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century
when the star of Napoleon was in the ascendant. For Ahaz to turn for
help to Sargon was to court disaster in the end. Isaiah saw this and
went out to meet Ahaz one day "at the end of the conduit of the upper
pool in the highway of the fuller's field"--a vivid descriptive touch.
The king was apparently preparing to stand a siege in his capital and
was making sure of the water supply. Isaiah's remonstrance was in
substance: You need not take so much trouble with your preparations;
Syria and Israel will have more than enough to do presently to defend
their own borders from Sargon. Besides, men like Rezin and Pekah are
not men to be