“The House of David”

The kings of the southern kingdom retained “house of David” as a title, thereby asserting their descendancy from David. “House of Ephraim” is the corresponding lineage designation for the kings of the northern kingdom. Thus, when the southern kingdom is referred to by lineage (house of David), so the northern kingdom is referred to by its lineage designation (house of Ephraim).

Isaiah’s description that the news of the Ephraim/Syrian alliance “moved” Judah is an understatement. The political reality of a close neighbor being aligned with another locally powerful state would generate a response that might be more accurately described as “shaken.”

The simile of trees, moving in the wind, communicates beyond the visual simile of movement. Isaiah sets up a parallel where the heart is to be seen as a parallel image to the trees. As the trees are moved by the wind, the heart is also implicitly moved by the wind. This parallel has lost its literary force for the English reader, because we use different words for “wind” and “spirit.” Hebrew did not. The Hebrew ruach “wind” is used both for the physical phenomenon and to describe the spirit. The spirit as well as the wind was considered a real, yet unseen power. Hence when the wind moves the trees, the invisible power moves them. The invisible power of the spirit moves the heart in like manner.

Text: Isaiah frequently uses the king of a country or a city of the country to represent that country.

Ludlow notes: “Isaiah uses these names interchangeably, such as referring to the kingdom of Judah as Jerusalem or to the nation of Israel as Ephraim.”