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Isaiah 7:8 (NET) reads:
For Syria’s leader is Damascus, and the leader of Damascus is Rezin.
Within sixty-five years Ephraim will no longer exist as a nation.
As the IVP OT Commentary points out:
From 735, the date of these events, sixty-five years would stretch to
670 b.c. This has seemed strange to some interpreters since Ephraim
suffered significant territorial reduction in 733, and Samaria was
destroyed and the people deported by 721. Esarhaddon was near the end
of his reign in 670. He had successfully invaded Egypt in 671 and had
a number of other campaigns to the west during this time period. So
far, however, there is no indication of deportations into or out of
Israel during his reign.
The NET translators state:
This statement is problematic for several reasons. It seems to intrude
stylistically, interrupting the symmetry of the immediately preceding
and following lines. Furthermore, such a long range prophecy lacks
punch in the midst of the immediate crisis. After all, even if Israel
were destroyed sometime within the next 65 years, a lot could still
happen during that time, including the conquest of Judah and the
demise of the Davidic family. Finally the significance of the time
frame is uncertain. Israel became an Assyrian province within the next
15 years and ceased to exist as a nation. For these reasons many
regard the statement as a later insertion, but why a later editor
would include the reference to “65 years” remains a mystery. Some try
to relate the prophecy to the events alluded to in Ezra 4:2, 10, which
refers to how the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal settled
foreigners in former Israelite territory, perhaps around 670 b.c.
However, even if the statement is referring to these events, it lacks
rhetorical punch in its immediate context and has the earmarks of a
later commentary that has been merged with the text in the process of
transmission.
A few related questions:
- What alternate theories exist for explaining this conundrum (I’ve already explored the ones mentioned in this post, I am looking for additional theories with scholarly support)?
- What additional textual evidence (aside from it simply not ‘seeming to fit’ in this context) exists for this verse/prophecy being an interpolation?
- How have OT scholars dealt with this text historically (pre-Reformation)?
- What do early Jewish commentaries say?
