Fear And Prayer

Et factum est in diebus Achaz filii Joathan regis Juda,ascendit Rasim rex Syriae et Phacee filius Romeliae rex Isreal ad Jerusalem, expugnare eam, et non potuerant eam debellare. Et annuntiatum est in domo David a dicentibus: Consensit Syria cum Ephraim, et expavit anima ejus, et anima plebis ejus, sicut in sylva arbor, cum a vento commovetur. Et dixit Dominus ad Isaiam: Exi in obviam Achaz, tu, et qui relictus est Jasub filius tuus, ad piscinam superioris viae villae fullonis: et dices ei: Vide ut quiescas, et noli timere, neque anima languescat a duobus titionibus fumigantibus istis. Cum enim ira furoris mei facta fuerit, iterum sanabo: quoniam filius Aram et filius Romeliae, qui cogitaverunt cogitationem pessimam, dicentes: Ascendamus in Judaeam, et colloquentes eis, convertamus eos ad nos, et regem statuemus eis filium Thabeel. Haec dicit Adonai Dominus Sabaoth: Non manebit cogitatio ista, neque sic fiet Forsitan sic confortatus Achaz cum genuiseet filium, vocavit nomen ejus Ezechias. Ezechias autem interpretatur, confortavit Dominus. Vere completa est in Ezechia confortatio Domini, cui animus exstitit sanctus super omnes reges, qui fuerunt ante eum. Nam inter caetera bona, quae merito praestitit ei Deus, cum misisset ad eum Sennacherib, rex Assyriorum, Rapsacem principem militiae suae, et libellum plenum improperiis et blasphemiis contra Deum, sicut exponit Isaias propheta: Ezechias accepit libellum illum, et ingressus in templum apparuit ante Dominum, et oravit, et confestim missus est ad eum Isaias propheta, annuntians ei protectionem Dei, et confortans eum, et exiit ad preces Ezechiae angelus a facie Domini, et percussit in castris Assyriorum centum octoginta quinque millia virorum. Qualia autem fuerint verba Rapsacis, vel qualis oratio Ezechiae, vel qualis confortatio Isaiae, lege in Isaia, et profer causam excitationis in populo. Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia I Source: Migne PG 56.626

And in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came to Jerusalem to fight against it, and they were not able to conquer it. When the house of David was told, 'Syria is allied with Ephraim,' his heart and the heart of his people trembled with fear like a tree of the forest shaken by the wind. And the Lord said to Isaiah: 'Go out and meet with Ahaz, you and Shearjashub your son, at the pool on the road to fuller's house, and say to him, 'Listen and be quiet and do not fear. Do not let your heart grow faint because of these two smouldering stumps. For when the anger of my wrath comes, again I shall heal, because the son of Aram and the son of Remaliah, who have thought the worst thought, saying, 'Let us go up to Jerusalem and speak with them, let us turn them to us and we shall set up the son of Tabal as king for them.' Thus says the Lord God of Hosts, 'This thought shall not prevail, nor will it come to be.' 1 Perhaps it was because Ahaz was so strengthened when he sired his son that he called his name Hezekiah, for the name Hezekiah is translated as 'the Lord has strengthened.' And truly the strengthening of the Lord was fulfilled in Hezekiah, in him who possessed a soul that was holy beyond all the other kings who came before him. For among the other goods with which God rightly gifted him, when Sennacherib the king of Assyria sent forward that man Rapasca, the general of his army, and he had a little book full of insults and blasphemies against God, as Isaiah the prophet tells us, Hezekiah received that book, and went into the temple and stood before the Lord, and he prayed, and immediately the Prophet Isaiah was sent to him, announcing to him the protection of God, and strengthening him, and at the prayers of Hezekiah an angel was sent out from the face of the Lord, and he struck down one hundred and eighty five thousand in the camps of the Assyrians. Such were the words of Rapasca, and such the prayer of Hezekiah, or such was the strength with Isaiah, of the law in Isaiah, and it brought joy to the people. Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from Homily 1 1 Isaiah 7.1-7 2 Isaiah 36-37