Then exactly what Isaiah foresaw happened. Tiglath-Pileser immediately invaded Syria and attacked Damascus. Rezin and Pekah were forced to hurry back to defend their own countries, and Judah was saved from Syro-Israelitish attack; but Ahaz had already thrown himself at the feet of the great Assyrian conqueror, with terrible results to his own country. CHAPTER IV. _On Deaf Ears._ Though the spineless Ahaz sent his cowardly note, and the presents that followed, to Tiglath-Pileser secretly, the truth leaked out. Great indignation was aroused among certain opponents of the king in Jerusalem at the discovery of his act of treachery to the nation, and a new party was formed to fight against submission to Assyria. The aim of the new movement was, principally, to preserve the independence of Judah. The only avenue open seemed to be the alliance with Israel and Syria that the lamented king, Jotham, would not enter into. With Ahaz looked upon as a traitor, the only one whom these patriots could turn, was the Prophet Isaiah, who loved his land and knew its traditions. So, the leaders of the patriotic party came to him with their plans. But Isaiah stood firm in the position he had taken with Jotham against entangling alliances. He shocked these gentlemen with a well-spoken rebuke. He told them that the patriotism Judah needed was not of alliances and war, but of faith in God, of trust in Him who always guards and protects a righteous nation against its enemies. Isaiah knew well enough the weakened and helpless condition of both Israel and Syria. To join with them in a war against Tiglath-Pileser would mean even greater ruin for Judah than the peaceful submission of Ahaz. He pictured the results of such an alliance in the following words: "Because this people have rejected the waters of Shiloah that flow softly, And rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son, Therefore the Lord is about to bring upon them The waters of the River Euphrates, mighty and great, (Even the King of Assyria, in all his glory). And it shall rise above all its channels, And overflow all its banks; And it shall sweep onward into Judah, And it shall overflow and pass over it, 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."