The contrast of Ahaz and Mary

What a contrast from Ahaz in Isaiah with the scene of Mary from Luke.

  • Ahaz is the reigning King; Mary is among the lowest of the low.
  • Ahaz neither believes nor asks for confirmation; Mary believes even without confirmation.
  • Ahaz seems afraid to ask of God; Mary simply accepts the message from God.
  • Ahaz is told to ask for a sign; Mary is offered a sign (the pregnancy of Elizabeth).
  • Ahaz is told what to do by the Prophet; Mary is asked what she will do by the Angel.

One could easily ascertain that none of the skepticism innate to Ahaz resides in this simple virgin.

Image by Jacques GAIMARD

Infections Can Be a Problem

By Steve Hall


https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032523.cfm
Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10
Luke 1:26-38


“The virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. . . .”

We’ve heard the full verse often enough as well as the incident which prompted these words. Most often, after the passage was read, our attention was directed toward the prophecy of Isaiah as it is implicitly today through the subsequent reading from Luke. But context can be important. Who was this King Ahaz and why did he brush aside the words of the Prophet?

For at least a hundred years the United Kingdom of David and Solomon had been split into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Neither Kingdom was entirely faithful to the Covenant of Sinai and pagan practices were tolerated in both. Nevertheless, if degrees of faithfulness can be measured, the Southern Kingdom was generally more observant of the Covenant than was its sister Kingdom to the North.

The regional power at the time was the Kingdom of Assyria which was considered a threat by those smaller Kingdoms to its south. It was this threat which led the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Damascus to form an alliance and pressure the Kingdom of Judah to join with them. This happened almost immediately after the twenty year old Ahaz assumed the throne of David. Immediately upon his accession, Ahaz had to meet a coalition formed by his northern neighbors, Israel and Damascus (Syria). 

In these circumstances we enter into our current reading. Isaiah counsels Ahaz to trust in God rather than foreign alliances, and tells him to ask for a sign to confirm that this is a true prophecy (verse 7:11). Ahaz refuses, saying he will not test God (7:12). Isaiah replies that Ahaz will have a sign whether he asks for it or not. And so we come to the question: Why did Ahaz refuse to ask for a sign?

It would be simplistic to attribute his reluctance to the immaturity of age. After all, the young man had grown up in the court of his father and Isaiah had been around during that time as well. His words might also suggest that he felt inadequate to making such a request. But there was another factor not to be overlooked. While his father, King Jotham, had been nominally true to the Covenant, he had failed to remove pagan worship from the land of God’s Promise. We must assume, therefore, that both his covenant commitment and his faith were somewhat lukewarm. Such an ambivalent spiritual position could easily have been passed on to the son. In any case, the advise of the Prophet was given the pink-slip and Ahaz sought the protection of . . . Assyria. 

Through Assyria's intervention, and as a result of its invasion and subjection of the kingdoms of Damascus and Israel, Ahaz was relieved of his troublesome neighbors; but his protector henceforth claimed and held suzerainty* over his kingdom. In fact, Assyria’s influence grew and it wasn’t long before Ahaz was introducing even more pagan practices to the people of Judah, even desecrating the Temple in doing so.

If we now return to the question posed earlier — Why did Ahaz refuse to ask for a sign? — it would not be out of line to assume that King Ahaz was a religious skeptic. Skeptical about the authenticity of the Prophet, the authenticity of his message, the ability of God to deal with the problem at hand, about the interest of God in the problem, and also skeptical for numerous other possible but potential reasons.

What a contrast with the scene from Luke.

  • Ahaz is the reigning King; Mary is among the lowest of the low.
  • Ahaz neither believes nor asks for confirmation; Mary believes even without confirmation.
  • Ahaz seems afraid to ask of God; Mary simply accepts the message from God.
  • Ahaz is told to ask for a sign; Mary is offered a sign (the pregnancy of Elizabeth).
  • Ahaz is told what to do by the Prophet; Mary is asked what she will do by the Angel.

One could easily ascertain that none of the skepticism innate to Ahaz resides in this simple virgin.

Now, we could stop there, but another related matter demands to be addressed. Ahaz was told to ask — “Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God.” He refused, and his reluctance seemed tied to a lukewarm faith and a resulting skepticism. Was he afraid of the answer he would get or that he would not get one? We’ll never know for sure. But we too are told to ask. Over and over again we are told to ask.

“Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) RSV-CE

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” (John 15:16) RSV-CE

“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13) RSV-CE

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7) RSV-CE

“Until now you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24) RSV-CE

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7) RSV-CE

Now I am not among those who profess that our weakness in faith is the reason for God’s seeming failure to act. I am, however, convinced that a subtle skepticism is fed to us by the forces of evil. It minimizes our expectations and infects our relationship with God. It directs us to turn to ourselves or the human powers that be for solutions to problems. It would convince us that truth, Justice, peace and happiness can be achieved without the presence of God. To paraphrase the temptations of Jesus:

“And the devil took men up, and showed men all the ideal kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to mankind, ‘To you I will give all authority over the ideals of Truth, Justice, Peace and Happiness; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours.’" (A paraphrase of Luke 4:5-7)

This was a lie when spoken to Jesus. It was a lie when spoken to Ahaz. It is a lie when spoken to us. Our skepticism regarding the divine promises is part and parcel of our separation from our God. Our response to these doubts should always be that of the father with the sick child:

“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) RSV-CE


*Suzerainty is the relation between states in which a subservient nation has its own government, but is unable to take international action independent of the superior state

Subscribe to Homeless Catholic Sign up with your email address to receive weekly reflections.
Thank you!
Something went wrong. Please try again.
Using Format