Isaiah 7:15

Butter and honey. The “butter” of Bible times was curded milk, considered a delicacy in many parts of the Orient even today (see Ex. 3:17; Judges 5:25). A land of “milk and honey” was a land of plenty. Thus the mention here of eating curded milk and honey implies an abundance of food. The land was to be desolate, but there would be adequate food for the few who remained in the land following the Assyrian invasion (Isa. 7:22).

That he may know. Literally, “at [Heb. le] his knowing,” meaning “when he knows.”

The preposition le has the same meaning in Gen. 24:63, “at the eventide”; Gen. 3:8, “in the cool”; Gen. 8:11, “in the evening”; 2 Sam. 11:1, “at the time”; etc. When the child that was to be called Immanuel became old enough “to refuse the evil, and choose the good,” he would have “butter and honey” to eat. Whether this refers to the age of 2 or 3, when a child’s tastes have become pronounced, or the age of about 12, when moral perception is well developed, is not certain. Two or three years hence would be about 732 B.C., and 12 years, about 722 (see on Isa. 7:1). Damascus fell in 732, and Samaria ten years later. The few who were not then carried captive would find plenty to eat (see on vs. 21,22) in the desolate land (see on vs. 17-20, 23-25). See on ch. 8:4.