Ver. 7. "_Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass._" (A plan stands when it is carried out.) Ver. 8. "_For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and in threescore and five years more, Ephraim shall be broken, and be no more a people._" Ver. 9. "_And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye believe not, ye shall not be established._" Each of these two verses forms a complete whole.--The words: "For the head of Aram," &c., to "Rezin" receive their explanation from the antithesis to vers. 5 and 6, where the king of Aram and the king of Ephraim had declared their intention of extending their dominion over Judah. As, concerning this intention and this hope, the Lord has declared His will that it shall not be, we must understand: Not as regards Judah, and not as regards Jerusalem. It is in vain that men's thoughts exalt themselves against the purposes of God. From Aram, the Prophet turns, in the second part of the verse, to Ephraim: "And even Ephraim! What could it prevail against the Lord and His Kingdom! It surely should give up all attempts to get more; its days are numbered, the sword is already suspended over its own head." But inasmuch as it is possible, although not likely, that Ephraim, before its own overthrow, may still bring evil upon Judah, this is expressly denied in ver. 9: Samaria, according to the counsel of God, and the limit assigned to it, is the head of Ephraim only, and not, at the same time, of Judah, &c. With this are then connected the closing words: "If ye believe not, ye shall not be established" (properly, the consequence will be that ye do not continue), which are equivalent to it: it is hence not Samaria [Pg 37] and the son of Remaliah that you have to fear; the enemy whom you have to dread, whom you have to contend against with prayer and supplication, is in yourselves. Take heed lest a similar cause produce a similar effect, as in the last clause of ver. 8 it has been threatened against Ephraim.--This prophecy and warning, one would have expected to have produced an effect so much the deeper, because they were not uttered by some obscure fanatic, but by a worthy member of a class which had in its favour the sanction of the Lawgiver, and which in the course of centuries had been so often and so gloriously owned and acknowledged by God.[3] [Pg 38] Vers. 10, 11. "_And the Lord spoke farther unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it from the depth, or above from the height._"