and thou shalt say unto him, Take heed and be quiet; fear not, and let not thy heart faint before these two ends of smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
Syria and Israel have joined forces against Jerusalem. King Ahaz of Judah is shaking, and so are his people. God sends Isaiah to meet him with four short commands and one strange picture: two firebrands burned down to stumps, giving off nothing but smoke.
Ahaz was one of the worst rulers Judah ever had. Yet God's first word to him is not a rebuke. It is reassurance.
How touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him; He announces deliverance to him; He says to him, "Take heed and be quiet" — let Me act. He says, "Fear not" to him who on his part had everything to fear.
The picture sizes up the enemy by God's measure, not the king's. What looked like an unstoppable fire was already burning out.
The king might have considered his enemies fierce burning firebrands but, as the LORD told him through Isaiah, they were only smoking firebrands. There was no reason to fear or to be fainthearted. The LORD said about all the 'evil counsels' of Ahaz' enemies: 'It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass' (v. 7).
The wording itself carries a tone, as one commentator notes:
Ahaz cowered before the two smoking stumps of firebrands — the scornful name Jehovah gave to the fierce anger of the combined kings of Israel and Syria.
The reassurance is not optimism. The two kings had a clear aim: remove David's line from the throne and put their own man on it. That aim ran straight into God's promise.
Those kings had nothing less in mind than wiping out the house of David and setting up a man called "the son of Tabeal." Little as they meant it, this was a blow at the promised Messiah... It is true that the house of David was in a terrible state. David's heir was an evil man, one of the worst who ever sat on the throne of Judah (2 Chron. 28:1-5, 22-25). As far as he himself went, there was no reason for Jehovah to step in. Ahaz and Judah deserved the worst their enemies could do to them.
Another writer draws out what was at stake in the same event: it was not only Judah's comfort that was threatened but God's own word.
It was not merely that their enterprise, if successful, must vex Judah, but set aside David's line. It was a blow at the Messiah, little as they might have thought of this; and the oath and honour of God were thus at stake.
God shows Ahaz the plans behind the invasion. That is the ground of the calm He asks for.
God knew every detail, as He lets Ahaz see. Whatever Syria, Damascus, or Rezin might plan, it was not what God willed. Everything turns on this. What the Christian needs is a conscious sense of relationship with God: then there is nothing to fear. What the people have to dread is not the strength of the enemy, but their own sin, which makes them weak.
Ahaz did not stay quiet. He leaned on the king of Assyria instead, and the outcome shows a pattern.
Our fear that evil will come on us makes us look for support in what seems to us a safe path. God then uses those very things to discipline us. The kings of Israel and of Syria came against Judah of their own will. God stops them. Ahaz and his people would lean on the king of Assyria; and God makes the Assyrian come against them in the end.
The same call runs through Scripture. One writer turns it into a question for today.
What inner peace it would give us if we learned more how to 'be quiet' in our different circumstances and put our confidence in the LORD who is able to help. The same thought appears at the very start of Israel's history: 'Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord' (Ex. 14:13)... 'It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD' (Lam. 3:26). Should it be less true in our day? Surely not.
- Fear — Ahaz trembled at a threat God had already cancelled. It looked real to him, but God said it would not stand.
- Grace — God says "Fear not" to a man who, judged by his own life, had everything to fear. Ahaz earned none of it.
- Sight — The enemy looked like fire; God calls them smoke. Quietness comes from seeing the threat at God's measurement, not our own.
- Reason — The plot aimed at the house of David, so it struck at the promised Messiah. God defended His own promise, not Ahaz's merit.
- Choice — Ahaz refused to be quiet and leaned on Assyria; the very prop he chose became the rod that beat him.
Inasmuch as Syria hath taken evil counsel against thee, Ephraim [also] and the son of Remaliah, saying,
Two powers stand behind Judah's fear: Syria, and Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) under its king, the son of Remaliah. God tells Ahaz what they have plotted in private — and the question is whether a frightened king will believe Him.
Syria and Israel had not always stood together. Commentators trace the alliance to shared political interest.
The king of Israel had once been at war with Syria. Now he is its ally. No doubt he wanted, on the one side, to free himself from the yoke of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who, as we have seen, had stripped him of a large part of his land. He also wanted to win back what Judah had taken from him, while he served the plans of his ally.
The "evil" devised was not merely an invasion. The aim reached the throne itself, and that touched far more than Ahaz.
Their venture, if it succeeded, would not merely trouble Judah. It would set aside David's line… so the oath and honour of God were at stake.
Behind the two kings, writers see a hand they themselves never recognised.
These kings aimed at nothing less than wiping out the house of David and setting up a man called "the son of Tabeal." Little as they intended it, this was truly a blow at the promised Messiah. If they did not mean this, Satan did; he was without doubt the true author of the movement.
Isaiah does not simply tell Ahaz to calm down. He tells him what his enemies said among themselves — words Ahaz may never have heard.
God points out the intentions of the two kings (v. 4-6), intentions Ahaz may not have known. But God also has His king at Jerusalem, and they will not succeed in setting up another… God knew every detail, and He lets Ahaz see it. Whatever Syria, Damascus, or Rezin might plan, it was not what God willed. Everything turns on this.
The same passage puts Judah's real weakness somewhere other than the battlefield:
The people do not have to dread the strength of the enemy. What weakens them is their own sin. The danger before them comes to nothing. But if we look for support in anything of this world, God abandons us. He leaves us to face the results of the tie we have chosen.
The plot failed for no merit in the king it threatened. Ahaz was an evil man. God moved to guard His own purpose.
But God takes care of His own purposes; no power on earth or in hell can frustrate them. He intends David's son and heir to rule the whole world in the coming day. So He would preserve the line to the end. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful — He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:13).
Kelly draws out how the attack backfired on those who launched it:
The attempt to destroy seemed terrible to those it aimed at, all the more because their conscience was bad. Yet it led at once to God revealing the doom of the destroyers. The confederacy came to nothing. The Syrian chief could not shield Ephraim, who was more guilty still. God had sentenced Ephraim — yes, to be broken within sixty-five years, so that it would no longer be a people. That is just what happened (2 Kings 17).
Notice the tone God takes with a king who deserved judgment.
But how touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him. He promises him deliverance. He tells him, "Take heed and be quiet" — let Me act. He says, "Fear not" to a man who had every reason to fear.
Isaiah added a warning. Rescue from this plot would not cover Ahaz's refusal to trust God.
God might rescue Ahaz from the present danger. But unless he turned to the word of the Lord and rested on it, he would not escape the punishment he deserved.
- Counsel. Syria and Ephraim were once enemies. They joined for political gain: to shake off Assyria and win back land Judah had taken.
- Target. Their plan was to set aside David's line and put their own man on the throne. Commentators see a blow aimed at the Messiah, with Satan behind it.
- Exposed. God told Ahaz the enemies' intentions, which Ahaz himself may not have known. Nothing they whispered escaped Him.
- Overruled. The plot could not stand. God was guarding His own purpose, not rewarding Ahaz. The confederacy collapsed, and within sixty-five years Ephraim was no longer a people.
- Believed — or not. God met a wicked king with "fear not" instead of judgment. But He warned him too: rescue from this threat was no substitute for resting on His word.