_A.M. 3264. B.C. 740._ The wo of the unjust oppressors of God's people, Isaiah 10:1. The commission given to the king of Assyria to invade Judah, Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 10:6. His pride and insolence in the execution of that commission, Isaiah 10:7. A rebuke given to his haughtiness, and a threatening... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wo_, &c. The first four verses of this chapter are closely connected with the foregoing, and ought to have been joined thereto, being a continuation of the subject treated of in it. We have here the fourth evil charged on the people, and the punishment of it. The sin complained of is the injustice... [ Continue Reading ]
_What will ye do_ To save yourselves? _in the day of visitation?_ When I shall come to visit you in wrath, as the next words limit the expression. _The desolation which shall come from far_ From the Assyrians. This he adds, because the Israelites, having weakened the Jews, and being in amity with th... [ Continue Reading ]
_O Assyrian_, &c. We have here the fourth section of the fifth sermon, which reaches to the end of this chapter, and which is two-fold; containing, 1st, A proposition in this verse; and, 2d, The unfolding of it in the following verses. It is a new and distinct prophecy, and, as the former part of it... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will send him_ By my providence, giving him both opportunity and inclination to undertake this expedition; _against a hypocritical nation_ Or, _a profane nation_, as the word חנ Šrather signifies; _and against the people of my wrath_ The objects of my just wrath, devoted to destruction. _To tread... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he saith, Are not my princes_, &c. Are they not equal for power, and wealth, and glory, to the kings of other nations, though they be my subjects and servants? _Is not Calno as Carchemish?_ Have I not conquered one place as well as another, the stronger as well as the weaker? Have I not from ti... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore_ Because of this impudent blasphemy; _when the Lord hath performed his whole work_ Of chastising his people as long as he sees fit. _I will punish the fruit of the stout heart_, &c. Here it is foretold, says Bishop Newton, that when the Assyrians “shall have served the purposes of Divine... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he saith_, &c. “From hence to the twentieth verse we have a more full exposition and confirmation of what had gone before, particularly the pride of the Assyrian and his vain boasting in these verses; a refutation thereof in Isaiah 10:15; and the punishment ordained for him by God, in Isaiah 10... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall the axe boast itself_, &c. How absurd is it for thee, who art but an instrument in God's hand, to blaspheme thy Lord and Master, who has as great power over thee as a man hath over the axe wherewith he heweth? _As if the rod_, &c. See the margin; _or, as if the staff_, &c. Should forget that... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts_ The sovereign Lord and General of his and of all other armies; _send among his fat ones leanness_ Strip him, and all his great princes and commanders, of all their wealth, and might, and glory. _And under his glory he shall kindle_, &c. He will destroy h... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it shall come to pass_, &c. The prophet having, 1st, Explained the cause for which God had decreed to permit the Assyrians to have such power over his people, namely, for the punishment of hypocrites, and the purification of his church; and having also shown the crimes which the kings of Assyri... [ Continue Reading ]
_The remnant shall return_ Hebrew, שׁאר ישׁוב, _shear- jashub_, the name given to one of the prophet's sons, (see Isaiah 7:3,) in confirmation of the truth of God's promises. It may be rendered, as here, _the remnant_, or, _a remnant_, or, but _a remnant, shall return; unto the mighty God_ Hebrew, א... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore_, &c. We have here the fourth part of the enarration, or unfolding of the proposition, mentioned Isaiah 10:5, namely, the application of it to the consolation of the people of God: to which, having digressed a little, the prophet returns, it being the true and proper scope of his discours... [ Continue Reading ]
_For yet a very little while_, &c. Here the prophet proceeds to assign the reasons why the Lord would not have his people to fear the Assyrians, because, in a short time, he would take vengeance upon them, and that in a very singular and extraordinary manner, as he did upon the Midianites and Egypti... [ Continue Reading ]
_In that day his burden shall be taken away_, &c. The burden imposed on the Jews by the Assyrian. They shall not only be eased of the Assyrian army, now quartered upon them, and which was a grievous yoke and burden on them; but they shall no more pay that tribute to the king of Assyria which, before... [ Continue Reading ]
_He is come to Aiath_ Here the prophet returns to his former discourse concerning Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, of whose march toward Jerusalem, the route of his army, and their several stations, he gives so minute a detail, that though the description is a prophecy, he seems rather to speak like... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord of hosts shall lop the bough_ The top bough, Sennacherib; _with terror_ Hebrew, במערצה _bemagnaratza, with a dreadful crash_, as Bishop Lowth renders it, expressed by the very sound of the Hebrew word; by a most terrible and unexpected blow; _and the high ones_, &c. The lofty boughs, Hebre... [ Continue Reading ]