Nothing to Fear

And it was told to the house of David, saying, “Syria’s forces are deployed in Ephraim.” So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.

Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, and say to him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel”— thus says the Lord GOD:

“It shall not stand,

Nor shall it come to pass.

For the head of Syria is Damascus,

And the head of Damascus is Rezin.

Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken,

So that it will not be a people.

The head of Ephraim is Samaria,

And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son.

If you will not believe,

Surely you shall not be established.” ’ ” (Isaiah 7:2-9)

Ahaz, the king of Judah from about 735 to 715 BC, didn’t much trust God. He was being threatened by nations to the north: the northern Kingdom of Israel, ruled by Pekah, had allied itself with Rezin, king of the Arameans in Syria. Thanks to the alliance, Syria had moved its troops into Israel. So Ahaz and his officials were understandably concerned.

But the Assyrian Empire under Tiglath-Pileser would soon invade the region and conquer both Syria and Israel, carrying them into captivity around 722 BC, barely two years after Isaiah’s prophesy (2 Kings 15:29). Nevertheless, Ahaz didn’t trust God. Instead, he sacrificed his son as a burnt offering and offered sacrifices and burned incense to other gods (2 Kings 16:3-4).

Ahaz had heard from Isaiah that God would ultimately destroy the enemies he was so worried about. He should have been comforted. He should have had confidence in God. Instead, Ahaz was more willing to put his trust in everything and everyone else instead. He turned his back on God. But despite his disbelief, God took care of him and protected the people of God anyway.

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