Reaching even to its neck,
And its outstretched wings shall cover the breadth of thy land,
O Immanuel."

To the king, the prophet sent a concise message that would have been
heeded and understood by any one but a weakling like Ahaz. Isaiah
referred to the utter helplessness into which Ahaz had cast Judah by
his cowardly self-subjugation to Tiglath-Pileser. He pictured what
might happen when that mighty monarch would receive the king's pitiful
cry for help:

"In that same day the Lord will shave with the razor hired
beyond the Euphrates the head and the hidden hair; and it
shall even sweep away the beard."

Despite Isaiah's efforts, the peace party that stood by Ahaz, and the
war party that desired an alliance with Pekah and Rezin, continued
their separate agitations.

The capture of the town of Elath, at the head of the Arabian Gulf, by
a detachment of the Syrian army, strengthened Ahaz in his belief that
help could come only from Tiglath-Pileser. On the other hand, it
convinced the war party that only the union with Samaria and Damascus
could restore to the country this center of Judah's lucrative trade,
that commanded the commerce to the south.

Isaiah recognized the uselessness of appealing to either of these
opposing parties. He determined to appeal to the country at large, to
the whole people, who were interested not in party quarrels, but in
the welfare of the nation. He wanted to create a public opinion in