For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken—the promise of deliverance is placed within a timeframe related to the child's growth. Before the child reaches maturity, the threat posed by the two kings (Rezin and Pekah) will be gone. This promise was historically fulfilled when Assyria destroyed both Aram and Israel in the years following this prophecy (732 BCE for Aram, 722 BCE for Israel). The assurance is immediate: Ahaz's fear will be resolved within a foreseeable timeframe, not in some distant future. The verse thus provides Ahaz the assurance he needed; the political crisis will resolve through God's action before the Immanuel child reaches maturity.

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