“As in [Isaiah] 7:15, 16 the infancy of the Messiah was made the measure of the time that Judah would suffer from her two adversaries, so here the infancy of Maher-shalal-hash-baz is made the measure of the time that would elapse before the king of Assyria would devastate Damascus and Syria… .
“There is thus a formal relationship between the two prophecies. There is, however, an even deeper relationship. Men could verify the prophecy concerning Isaiah’s son; they could witness its fulfillment. It would thus become as it were a pledge or earnest of the prophecy of the virgin’s Son. Seeing that Maher-shalal-hash-baz had been born in accordance with the prophecy, they could be sure that in His own good time God would fulfill the promise concerning the virgin, and that she would bear a son.” 52
Prophecy: “Behold, the child shall not have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother [an idiom meaning two or three years, or a short time] before the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.”
Fulfillment: Damascus was conquered in 732 b.c. Samaria was besieged in 733 b.c. and then destroyed in 721 b.c. The prophecy was fulfilled literally (2 Kings 16:9; 15:29–30).