In looking at the context of “First Isaiah,” I can respect the arguments put forth by Collins and Sweeney, that chapter 7 speaks to the events of the author’s social location. With the alliance of Syria and Israel at his doorstep, Isaiah speaks to Ahaz of displaying “faith and trust that the crisis will pass” (Collins 218). As part of this, Isaiah insists of revealing a sign from God that seemingly “had to be fulfilled in his (life)time” for it to have an effect on him” (219). For Collins and Sweeney, this pulls Isaiah 7:14-17 away from a pronouncement of messianic prophecy and locates it with the arrival of a son to Isaiah or Ahaz. Furthermore, scholars also note the point-of-view shift, as chapter 7 presents a third-person narrator, sandwiched by first-person accounts from Isaiah ben Amoz, a style that recalls the stories of the Deuteronomistic History.
Allow me to refute these contentions. First, with the shifting point-of-view, the chapter 7 narrative does exist in a sea of visions and prophetic announcements. It actually makes sense for Isaiah to write in this manner, recalling his interactions with Ahaz and understanding the effect that the Assyrian alliance had on Judah’s fall. I believe he intentionally wrote this in the third person to distance himself from Ahaz, while attempting to objectify this encounter, rather than giving the audience the sense that this is only one side of the story. Secondly, chapter 7 could clearly be offering a messianic prophecy, as Matthew contends. While Collins suggests that an imminent sign is necessary for Ahaz, the question is, “Why?”. See, Collins has already announced that Isaiah’s mission to advise Ahaz “was supposed to fail,” as noted in Isaiah 6 (218). Furthermore, Collins likens Ahaz’s refusal to listen, to the “hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in the book of Exodus” (218). If the sign makes no difference to Ahaz, maybe it is not for him.
As such, I can accept that chapter 7 was written by Isaiah himself, with some editorial shifting, announcing the good news of hope, found in the birth of the Messiah.