they reversed its capture by King Uzziah about forty years earlier (2 Kgs 14:22). It is often said that Israel and Syria may have wanted to secure Judah as part of an alliance against Assyria, but there is no strong evidence for this. Their advance looks more like a war of conquest (Isa. 7:6). It is possible that the pictures of Jerusalem under siege in Isaiah 1 come from this time. Ahaz’ response to the crisis was to turn to the great power itself for help. submitting to Tiglath-Pileser as an obedient