John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 7:4

"and say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither let thy heart be faint, because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah." — Isaiah 7:4 (ASV)

And you shall say to him The Hebrew word שמר (shamar,) which signifies to keep, is here put in the Hiphil; and the greater part of interpreters take it for beware; but they erroneously apply this to an unnatural and far-fetched meaning, that Ahaz should beware of carrying on war. A more natural meaning is, that he ought not to waver or wander about in uncertainty, but to remain calm and serene. Accordingly, I have rendered it refrain. The meaning therefore is, that Ahaz should be composed, and should not be agitated or harass his mind by uneasiness, as fickle and unsteady persons tend to do when they are struck with terror.

This interpretation is confirmed by the word which follows, Be quiet; for these two are connected: first, to keep quiet watch, so as not to be distracted by a variety of opinions, or gaze around in all directions; and, secondly, to have a calm and composed mind. Such are the highly delightful fruits yielded by faith; for through a variety of attacks unbelievers give way, wander in uncertainty, and do not know which way they should turn, while believers keep themselves under restraint and quietly turn to God. Ungodliness is never at rest; but where faith exists, there the mind is composed and does not tremble to an immoderate degree. These words very aptly express the power of faith.

Fear not. After having pointed out the remedy for allaying the distresses of the mind, he likewise bids them not fear; for faith, which places our salvation in the hand of God, is not more opposite to anything than to fear. It is impossible, I acknowledge, not to fear when dangers threaten, for faith does not deprive us of all feeling.

On the contrary, the children of God are undoubtedly moved by two kinds of fear, one of which arises from the feeling of human nature, even though they are endowed with perfect faith. The other arises from the weakness of faith; for no one has made such progress as not to have any remaining distrust against which we should continually strive.

We must not, therefore, understand the exhortation of the Prophet to mean that the Lord forbids every kind of fear, but he enjoins believers to be armed with such firmness as to overcome fear. As if he had said, “Do not allow yourselves to be discouraged; and if you are assailed by fierce and severe attacks, maintain unshaken resolution, so that you may not be overpowered by dangers, but, on the contrary, live to God and overcome all your distresses.” For the same reason he immediately adds,—

And let not your heart be faint. To be faint means “to melt away,” for not without reason does the Apostle exhort us to strengthen our hearts by faith (Hebrews 11:27; Hebrews 13:9). It is the softness of indolence, when we forget God and melt away, as it were, through our unbelief. You would not call that man soft or effeminate who relies on the Spirit of God and steadfastly resists adversity. Hence we infer that the Prophet meant simply that Ahaz should undauntedly await the accomplishment of what the Lord had promised to him.

For the two tails. Isaiah employs an elegant metaphor to lessen the understanding which the Jews had formed about those two very powerful kings which had filled their minds with terror. Their rage and cruelty appeared to be a devouring fire, which was sufficient to consume the whole of Judea, and could not be quenched.

Isaiah, on the other hand, calls them not firebrands, (for that might have been thought to be something great,) but tails, that is, some fragments or ends of firebrands, and these, too, not burning, but only smoking, as if some firebrand snatched from the fire were going out, and emitted nothing but a slight smoke.

This metaphor yields great consolation, for it warns us to form a very different opinion about the violence of the ungodly from what it appears to be. One would think that they are endowed with such great power that they could burn and destroy the whole world. To quell excessive terror, the Lord declares that what we imagined to be a burning, and a perpetual burning, is but a slight smoke and of short duration.