This chapter Isaiah 10 is composed of two parts: the first Isaiah 10:1 closes the prophecy commenced in Isaiah 9:8, and should have been connected with that in the division into chapters; and the second part commences an entirely new prophecy, respecting the destruction of the Assyrians; see the Ana... [ Continue Reading ]
WO UNTO THEM THAT DECREE UNRIGHTEOUS DECREES - To those who frame statutes that are oppressive and iniquitous. The prophet here refers, doubtless, to the rulers and judges of the land of Judea. A similar description he had before given; Isaiah 1:10, Isaiah 1:23, ... AND THAT WRITE ... - Hebrew, ‘And... [ Continue Reading ]
TO TURN ASIDE - Their sentences have the effect, and are designed to have, to pervert justice, and to oppress the poor, or to deprive them of their rights and just claims; compare Isaiah 29:21; Proverbs 27:5. THE NEEDY - DALIYM - דלים _dalı̂ym_. Those of humble rank and circumstances; who have no p... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHAT WILL YE DO - The prophet here proceeds to denounce the judgment, or punishment, that would follow the crimes specified in the previous verses. That punishment was the invasion of the land by a foreign force. ‘What will ye do? To whom will you fly? What refuge will them be?’ Implying that th... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT ME - בלתי _biltı̂y_. There has been a great variety of interpretation affixed to this expression. The sense in which our translators understood it was, evidently, that they should be forsaken of God; and that, as the effect of this, they should bow down under the condition of captives, or am... [ Continue Reading ]
O ASSYRIAN - The word הוי _hôy_, is commonly used to denounce wrath, or to indicate approaching calamity; as an interjection of threatening; Isaiah 1:4. ‘Wo sinful nation;’ Isaiah 10:8, Isaiah 10:11, Isaiah 10:18, Isaiah 10:20; Jeremiah 48:1; Ezekiel 13:2. The Vulgate so understands it here: _Vae A... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SEND HIM - Implying that he was entirely in the hand of God, and subject to his direction; and showing that God has control over kings and conqueror’s; Proverbs 21:1. AGAINST AN HYPOCRITICAL NATION - Whether the prophet here refers to Ephraim, or to Judah, or to the Jewish people in general,... [ Continue Reading ]
HOWBEIT HE MEANETH NOT SO - It is not his purpose to be the instrument, in the hand of God, of executing his designs. He has a different plan; a plan of his own which he intends to accomplish. NEITHER DOTH HIS HEART THINK SO - He does not intend or design it. The “heart” here, is put to express “pu... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE SAITH - This verse, and the subsequent verses to Isaiah 10:11, contain the vaunting of the king of Assyria, and the descriptions of his own confidence of success. ARE NOT MY PRINCES ALTOGETHER KINGS? - This is a confident boast of his “own” might and power. His own dominion was so great that... [ Continue Reading ]
IS NOT CALNO AS CARCHEMISH? - The meaning of this confident boasting is, that none of the cities and nations against which be had directed his arms, had been able to resist him. All had fallen before him; and all were alike prostrate at his feet. Carchemish had been unable to resist him, and Calno h... [ Continue Reading ]
The argument in these two verses is this: ‘The nations which I have subdued were professedly under the protection of idol gods. Yet those idols were not able to defend them - though stronger than the gods worshipped by Jerusalem and Samaria. And is there any probability, therefore, that the protecti... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE ... - In this verse God, by the prophet, threatens punishment to the king of Assyria for his pride, and wicked designs. HIS WHOLE WORK - His entire plan in regard to the punishment of the Jews. He sent the king of Assyria for a specific purpose to execute his justice on the people of Jeru... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE SAITH - The king of Assyria saith. This verse and the following are designed to show the reason why the king of Assyria should be thus punished. It was on account of his pride, and wicked plans. He sought not the glory of God, but purposed to do evil. FOR I AM PRUDENT - I am wise; attributin... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MY HAND HATH FOUND, AS A NEST - By a beautiful and striking figure here, the Assyrian monarch is represented as describing the ease with which he had subdued kingdoms, and rifled them of their treasures. No resistance had been offered. He had taken them with as little opposition as a rustic take... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THE AXE ... - In this verse God reproves the pride and arrogance of the Assyrian monarch. He does it by reminding him that he was the mere instrument in his hand, to accomplish his purposes; and that it was just as absurd for him to boast of what he had done, as it would be for the axe to boas... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE SHALL THE LORD - Hebrew, אדון _'ādôn_. THE LORD OF HOSTS - In the present Hebrew text, the original word is also אדני _'ădonāy_, but fifty-two manuscripts and six editions read Jehovah. On the meaning of the phrase, “the Lord of hosts,” see the note at Isaiah 1:9. This verse contains... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LIGHT OF ISRAEL - That is, Yahweh. The word “light” here, אור _'ôr_, is used also to denote a “fire,” or that which causes light and heat; see Ezekiel 5:2; Isaiah 44:16; Isaiah 47:14. Here it is used in the same sense, denoting that Yahweh would be “the fire” אור _'ôr_ that would cause the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GLORY OF HIS FOREST - In these expressions, the army of Sennacherib is compared with a beautiful grove thick set with trees; and as all the beauty of a grove which the fire overruns is destroyed, so, says the prophet, it will be with the army of the Assyrian under the judgments of God. If the ‘b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE REST OF THE TREES ... - Keeping up still the image of a large and once dense forest, to which he had likened the Assyrian army. ‘The rest’ here means that which shall be left after the threatened judgment shall come upon them. THAT A CHILD MAY WRITE THEM - That a child shall be able to numb... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS - The prophet proceeds to state the effect on the Jews, of the judgment that would overtake the army of the Assyrian. One of those effects, as stated in this verse, would be, that they would be led to see that it was in vain to look to the Assyrians any more for aid, or to... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REMNANT ... - That is, those who shall be left after the invasion of Sennacherib. SHALL RETURN - Shall abandon their idolatrous rites and places of worship, and shall worship the true God. THE MIGHTY GOD - The God that had evinced his power in overcoming and destroying the armies of Sennacheri... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOUGH ... - In this verse, and in Isaiah 10:23. the prophet expresses positively the idea that “but” a remnant of the people should be preserved amidst the calamities. He had said Isaiah 10:20, that a remnant should return to God. He now carries forward the idea, and states that only a remnant... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS - Note, Isaiah 1:9. SHALL MAKE A CONSUMPTION - The Hebrew of this verse might be rendered, ‘for its destruction is completed, and is determined on; the Lord Yahweh of hosts will execute it in the midst of the land.’ Our translation, however, expresses the force of the origi... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE ... - In this verse the prophet returns to the main subject of this prophecy, which is to comfort the people of Jerusalem with the assurance that the army of the Assyrian would be destroyed. O MY PEOPLE - An expression of tenderness, showing that God regarded them as his children, and not... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YET A VERY LITTLE WHILE - This is designed to console them with the hope of deliverance. The threatened invasion was brief and was soon ended by the pestilence that swept off the greater part of the army of the Assyrian. THE INDIGNATION SHALL CEASE - The anger of God against his offending peopl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD OF HOSTS SHALL STIR UP - Or shall raise up that which shall rove as a scourge to him. A SCOURGE FOR HIM - That is, that which shall punish him. The scourge, or rod, is used to denote severe punishment of any kind. The nature of this punishment is immediately specified. ACCORDING TO THE... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BURDEN SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY - The oppressions and exactions of the Assyrian. FROM OFF THY SHOULDER - We bear a burden on the shoulder; and hence, any grievous exaction or oppression is represented as borne upon the shoulder. AND HIS YOKE ... - Another image denoting deliverance from oppression... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS COME TO AIATH - These verses Isaiah 10:28 contain a description of the march of the army of Sennacherib as he approached Jerusalem to invest it. The description is expressed with great beauty. It is rapid and hurried, and is such as one would give who was alarmed by the sudden and near approac... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE GONE OVER THE PASSAGE - The word “passage” (מעברה _ma‛__e__bı̂râh_) may refer to any passage or ford of a stream, a shallow part of a river where crossing was practicable; or it may refer to any narrow pass, or place of passing in mountains. The Chaldee Paraphrase renders this, ‘They have... [ Continue Reading ]
LIFT UP THY VOICE - That is, cry aloud from alarm and terror. The prophet here changes the manner of describing the advance of Sennacherib. He had described his rapid march from place to place Isaiah 10:28, and the consternation at Ramah and Gibeah; he now changes the mode of description, and calls... [ Continue Reading ]
MADMENAH - This city is mentioned nowhere else. The city of Madmanna, or Medemene, mentioned in Joshua 15:31, was in the bounds of the tribe of Simeon, and was far south, toward Gaza. It cannot be the place intended here. IS REMOVED - Or, the inhabitants have fled from fear; see Isaiah 10:29. GEBI... [ Continue Reading ]
AS YET SHALL HE REMAIN - This is still a description of his advancing toward Jerusalem. He would make a station at Nob and remain there a day, meaning, perhaps, “only” one day, such would be his impatience to attack and destroy Jerusalem. AT NOB - Nob was a city of Benjamin, inhabited by priests; Ne... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE LORD ... - The prophet had described, in the previous verses, the march of the Assyrians toward Jerusalem, station by station. He had accompanied him in his description until he had arrived in full sight of the city, which was the object of all his preparation. He had described the const... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL CUT DOWN THE THICKETS OF THE FOREST - The army of the Assyrians, described here as a thick, dense forest; compare Isaiah 10:18. WITH IRON - As a forest is cut down with an axe, so the prophet uses this phrase here, to keep up and carry out the figure. The army was destroyed with the pe... [ Continue Reading ]