Isaiah 10:15

Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. SHALL THE AX BOAST? ... - Shall the instrument boast against Him who uses it? Though free in a sense, and carrying out his own plans, the Assyrian was unconsciously carrying out God's purposes. SHALL THE SAW MAGNIFY ITSELF AGAINST HIM THAT SHAKETH IT? - moves it backward and forward. AS IF THE STAFF SHOULD LIFT UP ITSELF, AS IF IT WERE NO WOOD - rather, 'as if the staff (man, the instrument of God's judgments on his fellow-man) should lift up (Him who is) not wood' (not a mere instrument, as man). In the literal sense the not-wood is man, as the staff is his instrument. In the parabolic sense God stands in the same relation to man ...

15._Shall the axe boast? _He now ridicules more strongly the mad effrontery of the Assyrians in imagining that he could create mountains of gold; for he tells us that the case is the same as if _an axe _or _a hammer _should despise the hand which sets them in motion, and should be proud of their activity, though it is manifest that they have no power of their own to move. But before explaining the subject more fully, I shall touch briefly on the words. _Like the rising up of a rod against him that raiseth it. _(164) This second class of the verse is somewhat obscure. The matter is plain enough, but in the form of expression there is some ambiguity, in consequence of which commentators greatly differ. Yet, when I examine the matter closely, the rendering which I have given appears to flow more naturally than the others. “What is this? If a staff rise against the hand of him that raiseth i...

5-19 See what a change sin made. The king of Assyria, in his pride, thought to act by his own will. The tyrants of the world are tools of Providence. God designs to correct his people for their hypocrisy, and bring them nearer to him; but is that Sennacherib's design? No; he designs to gratify his own covetousness and ambition. The Assyrian boasts what great things he has done to other nations, by his own policy and power. He knows not that it is God who makes him what he is, and puts the staff into his hand. He had done all this with ease; none moved the wing, or cried as birds do when their nests are rifled. Because he conquered Samaria, he thinks Jerusalem would fall of course. It was lamentable that Jerusalem should have set up graven images, and we cannot wonder that she was excelled in them by the heathen. But is it not equally foolish for Christians to emulate the people of the w...

Verse Isaiah 10:15. _NO WOOD_ - "Its master."] I have here given the meaning, without attempting to keep to the expression of the original, לא עץ _lo ets_, "the no-wood;" that which is not wood like itself, but of a quite different and superior nature. The Hebrews have a peculiar way of joining the negative particle לא _lo_ to a noun, to signify in a strong manner a total negation of the thing expressed by the noun. "How hast thou given help (ללא כח _lelo choach_) to the no-strength? And saved the arm (לא עז _lo oz_) of the no-power? How hast, thou given counsel (ללא חכמה _lelo chochmah_) to the no-wisdom?" Job 26:2....

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 boast when it had been welded with effect. In the axe there is no wisdom, no skill, no power; and though it may lay the forest low, yet it is not by any skill or power which it possesses. So with the Assyrian monarch. Though nations had trembled at his power, yet be was in the hand of God, and had been directed by an unseen arm in accomplishing the designs of the Ruler of the universe. Though himself free, yet he was under the direction of God, and had been so directed as to accomplish his designs. THE SAW MAGNIFY ITSELF - That is boast or exalt itself against or over him that uses it....

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 10:1 The prophecy begun in Isaiah 9:8 terminates with this stanza, which contains a warning against injustice and oppression, addressed to Israel and Judah equally, and accompanied by the threat of a "day of desolation," when those who have refused to make God their Refuge will have no resource, but to go into captivity with the "prisoners," or to perish with the "slain." A foreign conquest, accompanied by slaughter, and the deportation of captives, is not obscurely intimated. ISAIAH 10:1 WOE UNTO THEM THAT DECREE UNRIGHTEOUS DECREES (comp. Isaiah 1:17

SHALL THE AXE BOAST ITSELF AGAINST HIM THAT HEWETH THEREWITH?.... Hitherto are the words of the Assyrian monarch; and here begin the words of the prophet, rebuking him for his pride, and deriding his vain boasting, in attributing that to himself, to his wisdom and power, who was but an instrument, which belonged to God, the sole Governor and wise orderer of all things; which was all one as if an axe should ascribe the cutting down of trees to itself, and insist on it that the man that cut with it had no share in the action, nor was it to be ascribed to him; than which nothing is more absurd. The sense is, that the king of Assyria, in taking cities, and conquering kingdoms, and adding them to his own, was only an instrument in the hand of God, like an axe in the hand of one that hews down trees; and therefore it was vain and ridiculous to take that to himself which belonged to the Lord, o...

CHAPTER 10 The Assyrian, His invasion of Immanuel's land, and His end 1. _The first four verses belong to the preceding chapter. A description of the Assyrian enemy (Isaiah 10:5)_ 2. _The overthrow of his army announced (Isaiah 10:12)_ 3. _The punishment (Isaiah 10:16)_ 4. _The return of the remnant (Isaiah 10:20)_ 5. _The faithful remnant comforted (Isaiah 10:24)_ 6. The Assyrians march against Jerusalem (Isaiah 10:28

ASSYRIA'S BOASTFULNESS AND ITS PUNISHMENT. This prophecy, so far as it is Isaiah's, must be later than the capture of Carchemish in 717 and before Sennacherib's invasion in 701. Narrower limits cannot be fixed. Non-Isaianic material appears to be present in it. ISAIAH 10:5. Assyria is Yahweh's rod to smite any nation that has aroused His anger, but, inspired by lust of blood, plans to exterminate many peoples, and boastfully thinks to destroy Jerusalem with her divine nonentities, less powerful than those of cities she has seized. So, when she has served His purpose, He will punish her boastfulness in ascribing her conquests to her own wisdom and might. She has abolished the boundaries of subject peoples, merging them in her empire; plundered their treasures and abased their rulers, robbing the nations as a man takes the eggs from a nest abandoned by the panic-stricken birds, n

BOAST ITSELF. Hebrew. _pa'ar._ Not therefore peculiar to the "latter" portion of Isaiah (Isaiah 44:23, &c), as alleged. SHAKE ITSELF AGAINST. brandish. LIFT UP ITSELF, AS IF IT WERE NO WOOD. raise him that lifteth it up. NO WOOD: i.e. the user of it (who is flesh and blood, not wood)....