Isaiah 7:4
4 And say ['amar] unto him, Take
heed, [shamar] and be quiet; [shaqat] fear [yare'] not, neither
be fainthearted [rakak] [lebab] for the two [shanayim]
tails [zanab] of these smoking [`ashen] firebrands, ['uwd] for the
fierce [choriy] anger ['aph] of Rezin [Ratsiyn] with
Syria, ['Aram] and of the son [ben] of Remaliah. [Ramalyahuw] KJV-Interlinear
4 and
say to him,' Take care, and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted
because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce
anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah. NASB
Isaiah uses the name of
the king of Syria, but does not use the name of the king of the northern
kingdom of Israel.
Usually when the name of
a person is not mentioned, but they are mentioned in some other form or
reference, that is an insult intended for that person. The king of Israel was not an authorized king
as far as scripture is concerned. The
only authorized royalty was the family of David and his descendants.
So, this was a bit of a
put-down.
Isaiah tells Ahaz, to
remain calm and to not worry.
Isaiah uses a phrase, two
tails, to refer to the two countries that are planning to attack Judah.
The reference to the
tails, means the end, or the rear, or that which is left over.
The people see their
enemies as fire storms that are on their way to destroy Judah. But, this reference is to what is available
when a fire is nearly burned out. There
is nothing but a bit of fuel, lots of smoke, and lots of ashes.
So, what Isaiah is saying
is that these two countries are not a threat, because their fire life is mostly
burned out, with little remaining.
Later Isaiah will tell
Ahaz that both of these countries will soon be destroyed. So the point here is, when an evil nation
advances itself on others, even when it is at its height, it is very close to
being extinguished.
God controls history, and
even though there will be people and nations who will try to enforce their own
plans on history, they will fail. God
always prevails.
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