Isaiah 7:4

Be quiet; fear not. With the help of the Lord of heaven there was no need to fear. But the king refused to trust in God, and consequently gave way to despair when confronted by circumstances with which he knew not how to cope.

The two tails. An expression of contempt. The ostensibly vigorous but nevertheless effete kingdoms of Israel and Syria, and their kings, were but the smoldering, smoking remnants of firebrands. They had almost burned themselves out. One more flicker and they would be gone. The God of heaven now foretold their doom in order that Ahaz might be able to pursue an intelligent policy with respect to them. It was the ascendant power of Assyria, not the waning kingdoms of Syria or Israel, that Ahaz needed to take into consideration. During the next 40 or 50 years Judah would be all but swallowed up by Assyria, yet Ahaz was pursuing a policy that would inevitably play into Assyrian hands.