Verse 4: “Say to him, ‘Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear and let not your heart be faint in regard to these two embers that are smoking, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.’”

Say to him: God wanted Isaiah, His prophet, to go to Ahaz with revelation and with instructions.

Take heed: Guard yourself. This is also a word that can relate to paying attention in a spiritual sense.

Let not your heart be faint: Take courage. Prophecy has the ability to strengthen our hearts. It can cause us to have courage. When we are courageous, we can faithfully carry our God’s instruction.

Embers: As a large coal burns in the fire it gets smaller and smaller until it is just a little ember. This is how God sees these two invading kings and this is how He wants Ahaz to see them.

Smoking: The imagery that God is using here is that these two kings are like smoke – they are no longer burning with fire, but they are on the brink of being snuffed out or extinguished. God did not want Ahaz to fear these kings or this confederacy.

Verse 5: “Because they have taken evil counsel against you – Syria, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah – saying,”

They have taken evil counsel against you: These kings had discussed and reached an agreement to destroy the southern kingdom and Jerusalem. This, however, did not mean that this was God’s purpose for the southern kingdom at that time. It is always God’s purpose that will prevail.


Verse 6: “Let us go up into Judah and let us trouble her and break through so that we can set another king in her midst – the son of Tabeel.”

Note: This is the evil counsel of the kings of Syria and Ephraim.

Break through: This would imply breaking through the walls of Jerusalem – breaching them.

The son of Tabeel: This is the man they wanted to set as king over the southern kingdom. He would have been a puppet king who would have done the bidding of these other two kings.

Verse 7: “Thus said the Lord God: ‘It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass.’”

Note: In this verse God starts to give them revelation.

Said: This is written in the past tense even though it was something that was going to happen in the future. This speaks of the assurance of prophecy. When God speaks about future events, from His perspective, they are as good as done. We need to accept God’s
Word no matter how futuristic or how unlikely it may seem in our eyes.

It shall not stand: This confederacy is doomed. Despite their manpower and despite their resources they were not going to be able to do what they had planned (see 2 Kings 16:5).

Verse 8: “For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixtyfive years Ephraim will be broken, so that it will not be a people.”

Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken: This breaking up of the northern kingdom happened around 721/722 BC. That means that Isaiah possibly gave this prophecy to Ahaz around 787 BC.

Note 1: There are 2 thoughts concerning the prophecy of Isaiah 7:8. The predominant Christian view is that the prophecy was given at the beginning of Ahaz’s rule and was fulfilled around 670 BC., when the last of those in the Northern Kingdom were carried off.
This view, however, does not seem to fit the intent of Isaiah 7:8. When it says that Ephraim (the Northern Kingdom) shall be broken, i.e. is no longer a people, it seems to be a clear reference to the Assyrian exile in 721/722 BC. The simple solution is that this prophecy of
Isaiah 7:8 was given previously at 787 BC and then restated in the days of Ahaz.

Note 2: In regard to dating, there is a more than small difference between the religious Jewish dating and the secular historians. Secondly, even for major events, there can still be a 20-30 year discrepancy on when an event happened. For example, in regard to the birth of Messiah, there is a 2-5 year discrepancy. In regard to the edict to rebuild Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah, scholars allow for a 15-20 year discrepancy. In regard to Isaiah 7:8, the question is as to whether this is a restating or not. It seems unlikely that a prophecy that would have a fulfillment in 65 years would be given to Ahaz, who reigned less than 20 years.

Note 3: In regard to 2 Chronicles 28: No one is asserting that Ahaz did not have problems from the Northern alliance, but his reign did not cease. His kingdom did not fall due to the Northern alliance, and this is what needs to be emphasized.