Isaiah 10:25

Isa 10:25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.

Ver. 25. For yet a very little while.] Heb., A little little, or a little of a little. Yet a little modicum, and wrath shall be at an end. Oecolampadius rendereth it, Adhuc paululum, minus quam paululum. Hold out therefore faith and patience.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 10:25-26. 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 Egyptians: the consequence of which would be the removal of the yoke now imposed, or to be imposed upon them. The indignation — My displeasure at my people, which is the rod and staff in their hand, Isa 10:5; shall cease — And, when it ceaseth, they will be disarmed, and disabled from doing any farther mischief. And mine anger in their destruction — Hebrew, על תבליתם, upon, or, with their destruction, as Dr. Waterland properly renders the words, namely, the destruction of the Assyrians. The enemy that threatens and afflicts God’s people, shall himself be reckoned with and punished. The rod wherewith God corrected them shall not only be laid aside, but put into the fire, and it shall appear by its destruction that his anger is turned away from them. The reader will recollect that, upon the destruction of the Assyrian army, the calamities wherewith God had chastised his people in a great measure ceased, at least for a time. The Lord of hosts — Who is well able; shall stir up a scourge for him — He lifted up his staff against Zion; and God will now lift up a scourge for him: he was a terror to God’s people, and God will be a terror to him. The destroying angel shall be his scourge, which he can neither flee from nor contend with. According to the slaughter of Midian — Whom God slew suddenly and unexpectedly in the night. At the rock of Oreb — Upon which one of their chief princes was slain, and nigh unto which the Midianites were destroyed. And as his rod was upon the sea — To divide it, and make way for thy deliverance, and for the destruction of the Egyptians. So shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt — As he did in Egypt, to bring his plagues upon that land and people. Thus the prophet, for the encouragement of God’s people, quotes precedents, and puts them in mind of what God had done formerly against the enemies of his church, who were very strong and formidable, but were brought to ruin. Respecting the last clause of this verse, “I think,” says Bishop Lowth, “there is a designed ambiguity in these words. Sennacherib, soon after his return from his Egyptian expedition, which, I imagine, took him up three years, invested Jerusalem. He is represented by the prophet as lifting up his rod, in his march from Egypt, and threatening the people of God, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians had done, when they pursued them to the Red sea. But God, in his turn, will lift up his rod, as he did at that time over the sea, in the way, or, after the manner of Egypt: and as Sennacherib had imitated the Egyptians in his threats, and came full of rage against them from the same quarter; so God will act over again the same part that he had taken formerly in Egypt, and overthrow their enemies in as signal a manner.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A still further reason is given for the elevating words, with a resumption of the grounds of consolation upon which they were founded. "For yet a very little the indignation is past, and my wrath turns to destroy them: and Jehovah of hosts moves the whip over it, as He smote Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff stretches out over the sea, and He lifts it up in the manner of Egypt." The expression "a very little" (as in Isa 16:14; Isa 29:17) does not date from the actual present, when the Assyrian oppressions had not yet begun, but from the ideal present, when they were threatening Israel with destruction. The indignation of Jehovah would then suddenly come to an end (câlâh za‛am, borrowed in Dan 11:36, and to be interpreted in accordance with Isa 26:20); and the wrath of Jehovah would be, or go, ‛al-tabilthâm. Luzzatto recommends the following emendation of the text, יתּם על־תּבל ואפּי, "and my wrath against the world will cease," tēbēl being used, as in Isa 14:17, with reference to the oikoumenon as enslaved by the imperial power. But the received text gives a better train of thought, if we connect it with Isa 10:26. We must not be led astray, however, by the preposition ‛al, and take the words as meaning, My wrath (burneth) over the destruction inflicted by Asshur upon the people of God, or the destruction endured by the latter. It is to the destruction of the Assyrians that the wrath of Jehovah is now directed; ‛al being used, as it frequently is, to indicate the object upon which the eye is fixed, or to which the intention points (Psa 32:8; Psa 18:42). With this explanation Isa 10:25 leads on to Isa 10:26. The destruction of Asshur is predicted there in two figures drawn from occurrences in the olden time. The almighty Judge would swing the whip over Asshur (‛orer, agitare, as in Sa2 23:18), and smite it, as Midian was once smitten. The rock of Oreb is the place where the Ephraimites slew the Midianitish king 'Oreb (Jdg 7:25). His staff would then be over the sea, i.e., would be stretched out, like the wonder-working staff of Moses, over the sea of affliction, into which the Assyrians had driven Israel (yâm, the sea, an emblem borrowed from the type; see Kohler on Zac 10:11, cf., Psa 66:6); and He would lift it up, commanding the waves of the sea, so that they would swallow Asshur. "In the manner of Egypt:" b'derek Mitzraim (according to Luzzatto in both instances, "on the way to Egypt," which restricts the Assyrian bondage in a most unhistorical manner to the time of the Egyptian campaign) signifies in Isa 10:24, as the Egyptians lifted it up; but here, as it was lifted up above the Egyptians. The expression is intentionally conformed to that in Isa 10:24 : because Asshur had lifted up the rod over Israel in the Egyptian manner, Jehovah would lift it up over Asshur in the Egyptian manner also.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

For--Be not afraid (Isa 10:24), for, &c.

indignation . . . cease--The punishments of God against Israel shall be consummated and ended (Isa 26:20; Dan 11:36). "Till the indignation be accomplished," &c.

mine anger--shall turn to their (the Assyrians') destruction.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 25. The indignation - "Mine indignation."] Indignatio mea, Vulg. ἡ οργη, Sept. μου η οργη κατα σου, MS. Pachom. Μου ἡ οργη ἡ κατα σου, MS. I. D. II. So that זעמי zaami, or הזעם hazzaam, as one MS. has it, seems to be the true reading.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(25) The indignation shall cease . . .—The “indignation” is the wrath of Jehovah poured out upon His people. That wrath is to cease, and His anger shall be for the destruction of their enemies.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him,.... The Assyrian monarch; this scourge stirred up or awakened by the Lord, with which that monarch was severely scourged, is no other than the angel that was sent of God to destroy his army, Kg2 19:35,

according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: this refers to the destruction of the Midianites in the time of Gideon; and suggests, that the slaughter of the Assyrians should be like that, as it was; for as that was in the night, and very general, and immediately from the hand of the Lord, and was unthought of, and unexpected, and such of their princes that fled were taken and slain, particularly Oreb, at the rock which took its name from him; for not mount Horeb, and the rock there smitten by Moses, are meant, which is written with different letters; see the history of this in Jdg 7:19 so it was in the night when the Assyrian army was destroyed, and that wholly; and not by the Israelites, but by the Angel of the Lord; and at once, at an unawares; and though Sennacherib fled and escaped, he was slain by his own sons, in his own city, in the temple of his god, Kg2 19:35,

and as his rod was upon the sea; referring to Moses's rod, which was lifted up, by the order of the Lord, over the Red Sea, when the Egyptians were drowned:

so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt; and destroy the Assyrians, in like manner as he destroyed the Egyptians, all at once.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 people shall come to an end; his purposes of chastisement shall be completed; and the land shall be delivered.

In their destruction - על־תבליתם ‛al-tabelı̂ytām from בלה bâlâh, to wear out; to consume; to be annihilated. It means here, that his anger would terminate in the entire annihilation of their power to injure them. Such was the complete overthrow of Sennacherib by the pestilence; 2Ki 19:35. The word used here, occurs in this form in no other place in the Hebrew Bible, though the verb is used, and other forms of the noun. “The verb,” Deu 7:4; Deu 29:5; Jos 9:13; Neh 9:21, ...“Nouns,” Eze 23:43; Isa 38:17; Jer 38:11-12; Isa 17:14, et al.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Little. Twenty-eight years, (Psalm lxxxix. 4.) or he alludes to the destruction which took place in a single night, (Calmet) or in a moment, ver. 16. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The indignation; mine anger, as it is explained in the next clause; either,

1. Towards my people; which shall weaken the Assyrian, whose great strength lay there; of which see above, Isa 10:5. Or,

2. Towards the Assyrian, with whom God was very angry, Isa 10:12, &c., yea, so angry, as not to be satisfied without their destruction, as it follows.

Shall cease; as anger commonly doth, when vengeance is fully executed.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

25. Yet a very little while — Time not definite, as in Isa_16:14, nor does it date from the present — but it is very soon.

The indignation shall cease — Whose indignation? — the Assyrian’s or God’s? To be parallel with the next clause, it is God’s — executed, however, by the Assyrian. Hence the indefinite expression. After due chastisement of Israel and Judah by the hand of the Assyrian, indignation is at an end. Then the anger, of which he was the executioner on others, shall tend, or turn, to the Assyrian’s destruction.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The indignation shall cease; rather, there shall be an end of wrath; i.e. "my wrath against Israel shall come to an end Israel having been sufficiently punished. And mine auger in their destruction; rather, and my anger shall be to their destruction; i.e. to the destruction of the Assyrians (see the margin of the Revised Version).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Indignation - Mine anger towards the Assyrian. Cease - As anger commonly does when vengeance is fully executed.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

This verse assigns a reason for the exhortation not to fear in v. 24. “For yet a very little, and wrath is at an end, and my anger (shall go forth or tend) to their destruction,” (i.e., the destruction of the enemy. The first clause may have reference to that destruction also, or to the restoration of God’s people to His favor.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For [in] yet very few days...the fury shall be over My fury, which was given as a staff into the hand of Assyria, as he said above, “And My fury is a staff in his hands” (v. 5).

and My wrath that became a rod, shall return because of their blasphemy Heb. (עַל-תַּבְלִיתָם). Comp. (Lev. 20:12) “they have committed a disgrace (תֶּבֶל),” i.e., because of the insults and blasphemies which the servants of the king of Assyria blasphemed Me.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

מעט מזער. A very little. Supply בימים, of time. And the indignation, etc. And mine anger and wrath, on account of their great iniquities will all be spent. תבליתם. Their iniquities. According to some, their destruction; comp. בלותי, My old age (Gen. 18:12). The form of the word is like that of תַּכְלִית (Ps. 132:32)

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.