Baby Names - Week 2

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday          Isaiah 7:1-2

Tuesday         Isaiah 7:3-6

Wednesday   Isaiah 7:7-9

Thursday        Isaiah 7:10-13

Friday             Luke 2:1-7

Saturday         Luke 2:8-14

Opening Prayer

Gracious God, your angel said the child would be called Immanuel, which means God with us.   Remind us always that you are with us.   

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

READING:

The name Immanuel (im-ma-nu-AIL) first appears in Isaiah 7:14 as part of a prophetic word that Isaiah spoke to King Ahaz of Judah (the southern kingdom) at a time when Syria and Israel (the northern kingdom) had formed a coalition against Assyria, the region’s greatest power. They wanted Judah to join their uprising. The prophet Isaiah counseled Ahaz to trust in the Lord rather than to appeal to Assyria for help against Syria and Israel, who were threatening to invade Judah for refusing to join them. Then he invited Ahaz to ask the Lord for a sign to confirm the prophetic word, but the unfaithful king refused, having already decided to place his trust not in the Lord but in Assyria.

In response to Ahaz’s refusal to trust God, Isaiah proclaimed:

Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of human beings? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel. — Isaiah 7:13-14

Shortly after that Syria and Israel were soundly defeated, exactly as Isaiah had prophesied. Many years later the southern kingdom of Judah was destroyed by Babylon, its people taken captive.

Matthew’s Gospel recalls Isaiah’s prophecy, applying it to the child who would be born of Mary, the virgin betrothed to Joseph. The sign given hundreds of years earlier to an apostate king was meant for all God’s people.                    Ann Spangler