thus saith the Lord Jehovah It shall not stand, nor come to pass;
Syria and Israel had joined forces against Jerusalem. King Ahaz and his people were shaking with fear. Into that panic Isaiah carries a single sentence from God about the enemy plan: it will not stand.
The "it" God rejects is not just an invasion. It is a plan: remove Ahaz and put the invaders' own man on the throne. One writer traces the plan back further than the two kings themselves:
The aim of "the two smoldering stumps of firebrands" was to dethrone king Ahaz and put "the son of Tabeal" in his place. He was probably a Syrian; it is not a Hebrew name. This was surely Satan's plot, if not man's, to destroy the line of David. For this reason God did not hand Jerusalem over to them.
God had sworn an oath about David's line. So an attack on that throne touched His own honour:
How could He look on in peace at a compact between apostate Israel and heathen Syria? Their plan, if it succeeded, would not only trouble Judah. It would set aside David's line. It was a blow at the Messiah, little as they may have thought of this; and the oath and honour of God were therefore at stake.
Ahaz had no claim on this help. He was faithless. The reason for the rescue lay outside the king altogether:
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 — for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:13). So the prophet was sent to Ahaz to assure him about the evil plan of his enemies: "It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass."
God told Ahaz what his enemies were plotting in private. He knows their plan better than the plotters do:
God knew all the details, as He shows Ahaz. Whatever Syria, Damascus, or Rezin might plan, it was not what God willed. On this everything turns. What the Christian needs is to know the relationship he has with God: then there is nothing to fear. The people should not dread the strength of the enemy, but their own sin, which weakens them.
What looked overwhelming from inside Jerusalem looked very different from God's side. God measured the two kings differently:
The king may have seen his enemies as fierce, burning firebrands. But the LORD told him through Isaiah that they were only smoldering 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, and it shall not come to pass" (v. 7).
A word this sure asks to be believed. God was listening for an answer that never came:
Terrible as the failure had been, the LORD was ready to meet the heart that would respond to His faithfulness and trust in Him… He looked for some response from the heart before Him — some feeble "Amen" to His faithful word, a little link of faith. That would allow Him, so to speak, to bring about all He had promised. But no response came.
- Plot — The invasion aimed to unseat David's line and install "the son of Tabeal". Behind the two kings, writers see Satan's hand.
- Purpose — Messiah would come from that line. So God's own oath and honour stood in the way, and the plan had no future.
- Promise — The guarantee rested on God's faithfulness, not on Ahaz. God cannot deny Himself.
- Proportion — God called the enemies who terrified Judah smoldering firebrands. The real danger was Judah's own sin, not their strength.
- Response — A word this sure asks for faith; God waited for even a feeble "Amen" from Ahaz, and heard none.
for the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years shall Ephraim be broken, so as to be no [more a] people;
Isaiah speaks these words to a terrified king. Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel have joined forces against Jerusalem. God's answer is not an army. It is a list of names and a deadline.
Two kings were closing in on the throne of David. Commentators point out that far more than one king's safety was at stake.
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 have universal dominion in the coming day; He would therefore preserve the line until the end. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:13). So God sent the prophet to Ahaz to assure him about the evil plan of his enemies: "It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass." Ephraim would be broken within 65 years, despite its alliance with pagan Syria.
Ahaz himself gave God no reason to step in. The same writer calls him "an evil man, one of the worst that ever sat upon the throne of Judah." He adds that "Ahaz and Judah deserved the worst that their enemies could inflict upon them." So the rescue rests on God's promise, not on the king's worth.
The verse reads like a chain of titles: Syria has a capital, the capital has a king, and that is the end of the list. God is not on it.
God shows comfort to His people. He knows perfectly all that is happening, and He despises the strength of the enemy. He knows who Pekah and Rezin are, and that Damascus is head of Syria. When God sends our enemies to discipline us, we have no strength against them. God knows every difficulty. What is missing is the faith that gives perfect security.
The next verse repeats the same formula for the northern kingdom. One writer notes that the chief of Ephraim's capital "is paraded before us like his ally in due form and title. Such would each remain, and no more."
Sixty-five years is an odd, precise figure. Working it out shows why it was given.
Isaiah prophesied that in sixty-five years Ephraim would be broken and would no longer be a people (Isa. 7:8). He said this in 742 B.C. Samaria fell and Israel went into captivity in 721 B.C. So the prophecy no doubt pointed to Esarhaddon planting a colony of foreigners in Samaria in 678 B.C. That fulfils the sixty-five years. This also agrees with the prophecy saying "the head of Ephraim is Samaria."
The date can be checked. Other prophecies also name a set number of years.
Compare, for instance, three predictions. Jeremiah foretold the seventy years' captivity (Jer. 29:10). Isaiah foretold that within sixty-five years Ephraim would be broken and would not be a people (Isa. 7:8). Ezekiel foretold the desolation of the land of Egypt for forty years (Ezek. 29:11-12). These are plain instances of chronological prophecy.
Ephraim came to break Judah. Instead, Ephraim is the one who will be shattered.
How blessed are the ways of God! The attack seemed terrible to those it targeted, all the more because their conscience was bad. Yet at once it brought out the doom of the attackers themselves. The confederacy came to nothing. The Syrian leader could not shield Ephraim, who was more guilty still. Ephraim's sentence was fixed: within sixty-five years it would be so broken that it would not be a people. And that is exactly how it turned out (2 Kings 17).
Note the wording. Ephraim is not merely defeated. It is "shattered from being a people." A nation with a capital and a king is told it will stop being a nation at all.
The verse takes the threat apart. Ahaz still leaned on Assyria for help, and Assyria became the next danger.
Whatever Syria, Damascus, or Rezin might plan, it was not what God willed. On this all turns. What the Christian needs is a conscious relationship with God: then there is nothing to fear. The people should not dread the strength of the enemy, but their own sin, which weakens them. The danger they face ends in nothing. But if we look for any support at all in something of this world, God abandons us. He leaves us to the consequences of the support we have chosen. But Ahaz, afraid and unbelieving, leaned on Assyria — and it was from the Assyrian that Judah would need deliverance.
- Purpose. The attack struck at David's line, so God made it His own matter. No power on earth or in hell can frustrate His purposes.
- Measure. Syria's chain of command stops at Rezin; God names the enemy in full and shows him to be nothing more.
- Deadline. Isaiah set a date of sixty-five years. Esarhaddon settled foreigners in Samaria in 678 B.C., and Ephraim stopped being a people.
- Reversal. Those who came to destroy heard their own sentence instead, and it happened exactly as spoken.
- Danger. Their own sin, not the enemy's strength, weakened them. Leaning on worldly help left Ahaz to face what he chose.
and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye believe not, surely ye shall not be established.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.