Isaiah 7 · a question people ask

Why does Isaiah take his son Shearjashub along?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. It gives only the LORD's command: "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son" (7:3). Shearjashub says nothing, and the chapter doesn't name him again. In the next chapter Isaiah says, "Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel" (Isaiah 8:18). And in chapter 10 the Hebrew has the same two words as his name: "A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God" (Isaiah 10:21), where A remnant will return is she'ar yashuv. The book doesn't say more than that, and these notes don't say what the name means.

The verses

“Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field.”
Isaiah 7:3 · World English Bible
“Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.”
Isaiah 8:18 · World English Bible
“A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.”
Isaiah 10:21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 7

Isaiah 7: Ask a sign

The LORD told Ahaz to ask a sign "either in the depth, or in the height above" (7:11). He wouldn't, and the answer was that "the Lord himself will give you a sign": Immanuel (7:14), words Matthew says were fulfilled in the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:22-23). And the place the LORD sent Isaiah to meet Ahaz (7:3) is where, in chapter 36, Rabshakeh stood (36:2).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions