Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 7:15

"Butter and honey shall he eat, when he knoweth to refuse the evil, and choose the good." — Isaiah 7:15 (ASV)

Butter and honey - The word translated “butter” (חמאה chem'âh) does not mean butter, but thick and curdled milk. This was the common way of using milk as food in the East, and it still is. In no passage in the Old Testament does the word seem to mean butter.

Jarchi says that this circumstance indicates a state of plenty, meaning that the land would yield its usual increase despite the threatened invasion. Eustatius, commenting on this passage, says that it denotes delicate food. The more probable interpretation, however, is that it was the usual food of children, meaning that the child would be nourished in the customary manner. That this was the common nourishment for children is abundantly proven by Bochart; “Hieroz.” P. i. lib. xi. ch. li. p. 630.

Barnabas, in his epistle, says, ‘The infant is first nourished with honey, and then with milk.’ This was usually done by the prescription of physicians. Paulus also says, ‘It is fitting that the first food given to a child be honey, and then milk.’ Similarly, Aetius states, ‘Give to a child, as its first food, honey’ (see “Bochart”).

Some have indeed supposed that this refers to the fact that the Messiah would be man as well as God, and that his eating honey and butter was expressive of the fact that he had a human nature! However, it is hoped that it is hardly necessary now to protest against this mode of interpretation.

This interpretation is likely to bring the Bible into contempt and the whole science of exegesis into scorn. The Bible is a book of sense, and it should be interpreted on principles that commend themselves to the sober judgment of mankind.

The word translated “honey”—דבשׁ d^ebash—is the same word—“dibs”—which is now used by the Arabs to denote the syrup or jelly made by boiling down wine. This is about the consistency of molasses and is used as food. Whether it was used this way in the time of Isaiah cannot now be determined, but the word here may be used to mean honey (compare the note at Isaiah 7:22).

That he may know - As this translation currently stands, it is unintelligible. It would seem from this that his eating butter and honey would contribute to his knowing good and evil. But this cannot be the meaning. It evidently means ‘until he shall know,’ or ‘at his knowing’ (Nord. “Heb. Gram.,” Section 1026. 3). He will be nourished in the usual way until he arrives at such a period of life as to know good from evil. The Septuagint translates it, Πρινη γνῶναι αὐτὸν Prinē gnōnai auton—‘before he knows.’ The Chaldee translates it, ‘Until he shall know.’

To refuse the evil ... - Ignorance of good and evil denotes infancy. Thus, in Nineveh, it is said there were more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand (Jonah 4:11), commonly supposed to denote infants; compare Deuteronomy 1:39.

The meaning is that he would be nourished in the usual way in infancy, and before he would be able to discern right from wrong, the land would be forsaken by its kings. It may not be easy to determine at what particular period of life this occurs.

A capability to determine, to some degree, between good and evil, or between right and wrong, usually becomes manifest when a child is two or three years of age. It is shown when there is a capability of understanding law and feeling that it is wrong to disobey it. This capability is certainly shown at a very early period of life, and it is not improper, therefore, to suppose that the time designated here was not more than two or three years.