Isaiah 10:5

The destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser king of Assyria was foretold in the foregoing chapter, and it had its accomplishment in the sixth year of Hezekiah, Kg2 18:10. It was total and final, head and tail were all cut off. Now the correction of the kingdom of Judah by Sennacherib king of Assyria is foretold in this chapter; and this prediction was fulfilled in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, when that potent prince, encouraged by the successes of his predecessor against the ten tribes, came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them, and laid siege to Jerusalem (Kg2 18:13, Kg2 18:17), in consequence of which we may well suppose Hezekiah and his kingdom were greatly alarmed, though there was a good work of reformation lately begun among them: but it ended well, in the confusion of the Assyrians and the great encouragement of Hezekiah and his people in their return to God. Now let us see here,

I. How God, in his sovereignty, deputed the king of Assyria to be his servant, and made use of him as a mere tool to serve his own purposes with (Isa 10:5, Isa 10:6): "O Assyrian! know this, that thou art the rod of my anger; and I will send thee to be a scourge to the people of my wrath." Observe here, 1. How bad the character of the Jews was, though they appeared very good. They were a hypocritical nation, that made a profession of religion, and at this time particularly of reformation, but were not truly religious, not truly reformed, not so good as they pretended to be now that Hezekiah had brought goodness into fashion. When rulers are pious, and so religion is in reputation, it is common for nations to be hypocritical. They are a profane nation; so some read it. Hezekiah had in a great measure cured them of their idolatry, and now they ran into profaneness; nay, hypocrisy is profaneness: none profane the name of God so much as those who are called by that name and call upon it, and yet live in sin. Being a profane hypocritical nation, they are the people of God's wrath; they lie under his wrath, and are likely to be consumed by it. Note, Hypocritical nations are the people of God's wrath: nothing is more offensive to God than dissimulation in religion. See what a change sin made: those that had been God's chosen and hallowed people, above all people, had now become the people of his wrath. See Amo 3:2. 2. How mean the character of the Assyrian was, though he appeared very great. He was but the rod of God's anger, an instrument God was pleased to make use of for the chastening of his people, that, being thus chastened of the Lord, they might not be condemned with the world. Note, The tyrants of the world are but the tools of Providence. Men are God's hand, his sword sometimes, to kill and slay (Psa 17:13, Psa 17:14), at other times his rod to correct. The staff in their hand, wherewith they smite his people, is his indignation; it is his wrath that puts the staff into their hand and enables them to deal blows at pleasure among such as thought themselves a match for them. Sometimes God makes an idolatrous nation, that serves him not at all, a scourge to a hypocritical nation, that serves him not in sincerity and truth. The Assyrian is called the rod of God's anger because he is employed by him. (1.) From him his power is derived: I will send him; I will give him a charge. Note, All the power that wicked men have, though they often use it against God, they always receive from him. Pilate could have no power against Christ unless it were given him from above, Joh 19:11. (2.) By him the exercise of that power is directed. The Assyrian is to take the spoil and to take the prey, not to shed any blood. We read not of any slain, but he is to plunder the country, rifle the houses, drive away the cattle, strip the people of all their wealth and ornaments, and tread them down like the mire of the streets. When God's professing people wallow in the mire of sin it is just with God to suffer their enemies to tread upon them like mire. But why must the Assyrian prevail thus against them? Not that they might be ruined, but that they might be thoroughly reformed.

II. See how the king of Assyria, in his pride, magnified himself as his own master, and pretended to be absolute and above all control, to act purely according to his own will and for his own honour. God ordained him for judgment, even the mighty God established him for correction (Hab 1:12), to be an instrument of bringing his people to repentance, howbeit he means not so, nor does his heart think so, Isa 10:7.

1. He does not think that he is either God's servant or Israel's friend, either that he can do no more than God will let him or that he shall do no more than God will make to work for the good of his people. God designs to correct his people for, and so to cure them of, their hypocrisy, and bring them nearer to himself; but was that Sennacherib's design? No, it was the furthest thing from his thoughts - he means not so. Note, (1.) The wise God often makes even the sinful passions and projects of men subservient to his own great and holy purposes. (2.) When God makes use of men as instruments in his hand to do his work it is very common for him to mean one thing and them to mean another, nay, for them to mean quite the contrary to what he intends. What Joseph's brethren designed for hurt God overruled for good, Gen 50:20. See Mic 4:11, Mic 4:12. Men have their ends and God has his, but we are sure the counsel of the Lord shall stand. But what is it the proud Assyrian aims at? The heart of kings is unsearchable, but God knew what was in his heart.

2. He designs nothing but to destroy and to cut off nations not a few, and to make himself master of them. [1.] He designs to gratify his own cruelty; nothing will serve but to destroy and cut off. He hopes to regale himself with blood and slaughter; that of particular persons will not suffice, he must cut off nations. It is below him to deal by retail; he traffics in murders by wholesale. Nations, and those not a few, must have but one neck, which he will have the pleasure of cutting off. [2.] He designs to gratify his own covetousness and ambition, to set up for a universal monarch, and to gather unto him all nations, Hab 2:5. An insatiable desire of wealth and dominion is that which carries him on in this undertaking.

3. The prophet here brings him in vaunting, and hectoring; and by his general's letter to Hezekiah, written in his name, vainglory and arrogance seem to have entered very far into the spirit and genius of the man. His haughtiness and presumption are here described very largely, and his very language copied out, partly to represent him as ridiculous and partly to assure the people of God that he would be brought down; for that maxim generally holds true, that pride goes before destruction. It also intimates that God takes notice, and keeps an account, of all men's proud and haughty words, with which they set heaven and earth at defiance. Those that speak great swelling words of vanity shall hear of them again.

(1.) He boasts of the great things he had done to other nations. [1.] He had made their kings his courtiers (Isa 10:8): "My princes are altogether kings. Those that are now my princes are such as have been kings." Or he means that he had raised his throng to such a degree that his servants, and those that were in command under him, were as great, and lived in as much pomp, as the kings of other countries. Or those that were absolute princes in their own dominions held their crowns under him, and did him homage. This was a vainglorious boast; but how great is our God whom we serve, who is indeed King of kings, and whose subjects are made to him kings! Rev 1:6. [2.] He had made himself master of their cities. He names several (Isa 10:9) that were all alike reduced by him. Calno soon yielded as Carchemish did, Hamath could not hold out any more than Arpad, and Samaria had become his as well as Damascus. To support his boasts he is obliged to bring the victories of his predecessor into the account; for it was he that conquered Samaria, not Sennacherib. [3.] He had been too hard for their idols, their tutelar gods, had found out the kingdoms of the idols and found out ways to make them his own, Isa 10:10. Their kingdoms took denomination from the idols they worshipped; the Moabites are called the people of Chemosh (Jer 48:46), because they imagined their gods were their patrons and protectors; and therefore Sennacherib vainly imagined that every conquest of a kingdom was the conquest of a god. [4.] He had enlarged his own dominions, and removed the bounds of the people (Isa 10:13), enclosing many large territories within the limits of his own kingdom and shifting a great way further the ancient land-marks which his fathers had set; he could not bear to be hemmed in so closely, but must have more room to thrive. By his removing the border of the people Mr. White understands his arbitrarily transplanting colonies from place to place, which was the constant practice of the Assyrians in all their conquests; and this is a probable interpretation. [5.] He had enriched himself with their wealth, and brought it into his own exchequer: I have robbed their treasures. In this he said truly, Great conquerors are often no better than great robbers. [6.] He had mastered all the opposition he met with: "I have put down the inhabitants as a valiant man. Those that sat high, and thought they say firmly, I have humbled and made to come down."

(2.) He boasts of the manner in which he had done them. [1.] That he had done all this by his own policy and power (Isa 10:13): "By the strength of my hand, for I am valiant; and by my wisdom, for I am prudent;" not by the permission of Providence and the blessing of God. He knows not that it is God that makes him what he is, and puts the staff into his hand, but sacrifices to his own net, Hab 1:16. "This wealth is all gotten by my might and the power of my hand," Deu 8:17. Downright atheism and profaneness, as well as pride and vanity, are at the bottom of men's attributing their prosperity and success thus to themselves and their own conduct, and raising their own character upon it. [2.] That he had done all this with a great deal of ease, and had made but a sport and diversion of it, as if he had been taking birds' nests (Isa 10:14): my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people; and when he had found them there was no more difficulty in taking them than in rifling a nest, nor any more reluctance or regret within his own breast in destroying families and cities than in destroying crows'-nests; killing children was no more to him than killing birds. "As one gathers the eggs that are left in the nest by the dam, so easily have I gathered all the earth." Like Alexander, he thought he had conquered the world; and whatever prey he seized there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped, as birds do when their nests are rifled. They durst not make any opposition, no, nor any complaint; such awe did they stand in of this mighty conqueror. They were so weak that they knew it was to no purpose to resist, and he was so arbitrary that they knew it was to no purpose to complain. Strange that ever men who were made to do good should take a pride and a pleasure in doing wrong, and doing mischief to all about them without control, and should reckon that their glory which is their shame! But their day will come to fall who thus make themselves the terror of thy mighty, and much more of the feeble, in the land of the living.

(3.) He threatens what he will do to Jerusalem, which he was now about to lay siege to, Isa 10:10, Isa 10:11. He would master Jerusalem and her idols, as he had subdued other places and their idols, particularly Samaria. [1.] He blasphemously calls the God of Israel an idol, and sets him on a level with the false gods of other nations, as if none were the true God but Mithras, the sun, whom he worshipped. See how ignorant he was, and then we shall the less wonder that he was so proud. [2.] He prefers the graven images of other countries before those of Jerusalem and Samaria, when he might have known that the worshippers of the God of Israel were expressly forbidden to make any graven images, and if any did it must be by stealth, and therefore they could not be so rich and pompous as those of other nations. If he means the ark and the mercy-seat, he speaks like himself, very foolishly, and as one that judged by the sight of the eye, and might therefore be easily deceived in matters of spiritual concern. Those who make external pomp and splendour a mark of the true church go by the same rule. [3.] Because he had conquered Samaria, he concluded Jerusalem would fall of course: "Shall not I do so to Jerusalem? can I not as easily, and may I not as justly?" But it did not follow; for Jerusalem adhered to her God, whereas Samaria had forsaken him.

III. See how God, in his justice, rebukes his pride and reads his doom. We have heard what the great king, the king of Assyria, says, and how big he talks. Let us now hear what the great God has to say by his servant the prophet, and we shall find that, wherein he deals proudly, God is above him.

1. He shows the vanity of his insolent and audacious boasts (Isa 10:15): Shall the axe boast itself against him that hews therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that draws it? So absurd are the boasts of this proud man. "O what a dust do I make!" said the fly upon the cart-wheel in the fable. "What destruction do I make among the trees!" says the axe. Two ways the axe may be said to boast itself against him that hews with it: - (1.) By way of resistance and opposition. Sennacherib blasphemed God, insulted him, threatened to serve him as he had served the gods of the nations; now this was as if the axe should fly in the face of him that hews with it. The tool striving with the workman is no less absurd than the clay striving with the potter; and as it is a thing not to be justified that men should fight against God with the wit, and wealth, and power, which he gives them, so it is a thing not to be suffered. But if men will be thus proud and daring, and bid defiances to all that is just and sacred, let them expect that God will reckon with them; the more insolent they are the surer and sorer will their ruin be. (2.) By way of rivalship and competition. Shall the axe take to itself the praise of the work it is employed in? So senseless, so absurd was it for Sennacherib to say, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, Isa 10:13. It is as if the rod, when it is shaken, should boast that it guides the hand which shakes it; whereas, when the staff is lifted up, is it not wood still? so the last clause may be read. If it be an ensign of authority (as the nobles of the people carried staves, Num 21:18), if it be an instrument of service, either to support a weak man or to correct a bad man, still it is wood, and can do nothing but as it is directed by him that uses it. The psalmist prays that God would make the nations to know that they were but men (Psa 9:20), the staff to know that it is but wood

2. He foretels his fall and ruin.

(1.) That when God had done his work by him he would then do his work upon him, Isa 10:12. For the comfort of the people of God in reference to Sennacherib's invasion, though it was a dismal time with them, let them know, [1.] That God designed to do good to Zion and Jerusalem by this providence. There is a work to be done upon them, which God intends, and which he will perform. Note, When God lets loose the enemies of his church and people, and suffers them for a time to prevail, it is in order to the performing of some great good work upon them; and, when that is done, then, and not till then, he will work deliverance for them. When God brings his people into trouble it is to try them (Dan 11:35), to bring sin to their remembrance and humble them for it, and to awaken them to a sense of their duty, to teach them to pray and to love and help one another; and this must be the fruit, even the taking away of sin, Isa 27:9. When these points are, in some measure, gained by the affliction, it shall be removed, in mercy (Lev 26:41, Lev 26:42), otherwise not; for, as the word, so the rod shall accomplish that for which God sends it. [2.] That when God had wrought this work of grace for his people he would work a work of wrath and vengeance upon their invaders: I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria. His big words are here said to come from his stout heart, and they are the fruit of it; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Notice is taken too of the glory of his high looks, for a proud look is the indication of a proud spirit. The enemies of the church are commonly very high and haughty; but, sooner or later, God will reckon for their haughtiness. He glories in it as an incontestable proof of his power and sovereignty that he looks upon proud men and abases them, Job 40:11, etc.

(2.) That, how threatening soever this attempt was upon Zion and Jerusalem, it should certainly be baffled, and broken, and come to nothing, and he should not be able to bring to pass his enterprise, Isa 10:16, Isa 10:19. Observe,

[1.] Who it is that undertakes his destruction, and will be the author of it; not Hezekiah, or his princes, or the militia of Judah and Jerusalem (what can they do against such a potent force?), but God himself will do it, as the Lord of hosts, and as the light of Israel. First, We are sure he can do it, for he is the Lord of hosts, of all the hosts of heaven and earth. All the creatures are at his command; he makes what use he pleases on them. He is the Lord of the hosts both of Judah and of Assyria, and can give the victory to which he pleases. Let us not fear the hosts of any enemy if we have the Lord of hosts for us. Secondly, We have reason to hope he will do it, for he is the light of Israel, and his Holy One. God is light; in him are perfect brightness, purity, and happiness. He is light, for he is the Holy One; his holiness is his glory. He is Israel's light, to direct and counsel his people, to favour and countenance them, and so to gladden and comfort them in the worst of times. He is their Holy One, for he is in covenant with them; his holiness is engaged and employed for them. God's holiness is the saints' comfort; they give thanks at the remembrance of it, and with a great deal of pleasure call him their Holy One, Hab 1:12.

[2.] How this destruction is represented. It shall be, First, As a consumption of the body by a disease: The Lord shall send leanness among his fatnesses, or his fat ones. His numerous army, that was like a body covered with fatness, shall be diminished, and waste away, and become like a skeleton. Secondly, As a consumption of buildings, or trees and bushes, by fire: Under his glory, that very thing which he glories in, he will kindle a burning, as the burning of a fire, which shall lay his army in ruins as suddenly as a raging fire lays a stately house in ashes. Some make it an allusion to the fire kindled under the sacrifices; for proud sinners fall as sacrifices to divine justice. Observe, 1. How this fire shall be kindled, Isa 10:17. The same God that is a rejoicing light to those that serve him faithfully will be a consuming fire to those that trifle with him or rebel against him. The light of Israel shall be for a fire to the Assyrians, as the same pillar of cloud was a light to the Israelites and a terror to the Egyptians in the Red Sea. What can oppose, what can extinguish, such a fire? 2. What desolation it shall make: it shall burn and devour its thorns and briers, his officers and soldiers, which are of little worth, and vexations to God's Israel, as thorns and briers, whose end is to be burned, and which are easily and quickly consumed by a devouring fire. "Who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? They would be so far from stopping the fire that they would inflame it. I would go through them and burn them together (Isa 27:4); they shall be devoured in one day, all cut off in an instant." When they cried not only Peace and safety, but Victory and triumph, then sudden destruction came; it came surprisingly, and was completed in a little time. "Even the glory of his forest (Isa 10:18), the choice troops of his army, the veterans, the troops of the household, the bravest regiments he had, that he was most proud of and depended most upon, that he valued as men do their timber-trees (the glory of their forest) or their fruit-trees (the glory of the Carmel), shall be put as briers and thorns before the fire; they shall be consumed both soul and body, entirely consumed, not only a limb burned, but life taken away." Note, God is able to destroy both soul and body, and therefore we should fear him more than man, who can but kill the body. Great armies before him are but as great woods, which he can fell or fire when he pleases.

[3.] What would be the effect of this great slaughter. The prophet tells us, First, That the army would hereby be reduced to a very small number: The rest of the trees of his forest shall be few; very few shall escape the sword of the destroying angel, so few that there needs no artist, no muster-master or secretary of war, to take an account of them, for even a child may soon reckon the numbers of them, and write the names of them. Secondly, That those few who remained should be quite dispirited: They shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. When he either falls or flees, and his colours are taken by the enemy, this discourages the whole army, and puts them all into confusion. Upon the whole matter we must say, Who is able to stand before this great and holy Lord God?

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Isa 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

Ver. 5. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger.] Or, Woe to the Assyrian; or, Heu Assur, Alas, the Assyrian! q.d., Alas, that I am forced by this sharp and iron rod to correct my people, whom I have bred so choicely! Dolentis vocem assumit Deus, saith Oecolampadius.

The rod of mine anger.] Or, My rod of anger. A rod of anger to beat the little ones, and a staff of indignation to bastinado the bigger and more stubborn. So Nebuchadnezzar is called the "hammer of the whole earth." {Jer 50:23} Tamerlane called himself, The wrath of God, and the desolation of the world, {a} Attilas styled himself, King of Huns, Medes, Goths, Dacians; "The terror of the world, and God’s scourge." The wicked are God’s rod, said that martyr, whom, when he hath worn to the stump, he will cast into the fire. {b}

{a} Ira Dei ego sum, et orbis vastitas.

{b} Acts and Mon., fol. 1544.

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_10:5-34

O Assyrian

O Assyrian

Ho Asshur, the name both of the people and its national god.

(Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)

The judgment of the world power

The leading idea of the passage is the contrast between the mission assigned to Assyria in the scheme of Jehovahs providence, and the ambitious policy of universal dominion cherished by the rulers of that empire, Assyria was the instrument chosen by Jehovah to manifest His sole Deity by the extinction of all the nationalities that put their trust in false gods. But the great world power, intoxicated by its success, and attributing this to its own wisdom and resource, recognises no difference between Jehovah and other gods, but confidently reckons on proving His impotence by the subjugation of His land and people. Hence, it becomes necessary for Jehovah to vindicate His supreme Godhead by the destruction of the power which has thus impiously transgressed the limits of His providential commission. And this judgment will take plebe at the very moment when Assyria seeks to crown its career of conquest by an assault on Jehovahs sanctuary on Mount Zion, the earthly seat of His government. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)

Assyria an instrument of vengeance

We must not omit the reflection that this was a terrible thing for Assyria. What man likes to be an instrument through which righteousness will punish some other man! Who would willingly accept a calling and election so severe? (J. Parker, D. D.)

Nations instruments in the hands of God

What are the nations but instruments in the hands of Him who made them? So we are puzzled and perplexed by many an imperial policy; we do not like it, and yet still it proceeds to work out all its mysterious issues--now severe, now beneficent. We are in tumult and darkness and perplexity, thick and that cannot be disentangled; and how seldom we realise the fact that all this may be a Divine movement, clouding of the Divine presence, and an outworking of Divine and eternal purposes. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Our Assyria may be the world

Our Assyria may be the world in Christs sense, that flood of successful, heartless, unscrupulous, scornful forces which burst on our innocence, with their challenge to make terms and pay tribute, or go down straightway in the struggle for existence . . . It is useless to think that we common men cannot possibly sin after the grand manner of this imperial monster. In our measure we fatally can. In this commercial age private persons very easily rise to a position of influence which gives almost as vast a stage for egotism to display itself as the Assyrian boasted. But after all the human Ego needs very little room to develop the possibilities of atheism that are in it. An idol is an idol, whether you put it on a small or a large pedestal. A little man with a little work may as easily stand between himself and God as an emperor with the world at his feet. Forgetfulness that he is a servant, a trader on graciously intrusted capital--and then at the best an unprofitable one--is not less sinful in a small egoist than in a great one; it is only very much more ridiculous than Isaiah, with his scorn, has made it to appear in the Assyrian. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)

Our Assyria may be the forces of nature

Our Assyria may be the forces of nature, which have swept upon the knowledge of this generation with the novelty and impetus with which the northern hosts burst across the horizon of Israel. Men today, in the course of their education, become acquainted with laws and forces which dwarf the simpler theologies of their boyhood, pretty much as the primitive beliefs of Israel dwindled before the arrogant face of Assyria. The alternative confronts them either to retain, with a narrowed and fearful heart, their old conceptions of God, or to find their enthusiasm in studying, and their duty in relating themselves to, the forces of nature alone. If this be the only alternative, there can be no doubt but that most men will take the latter course. We ought as little to wonder at men of today abandoning certain theologies and forms of religion for a downright naturalism--for the study of powers that appeal so much to the curiosity and reverence of man--as we wonder at the poor Jews of the eighth century before Christ forsaking their provincial conceptions of God as a tribal Deity for homage to this great Assyrian who handled the nations and their gods as his playthings. But is such the only alternative? Is there no higher and sovereign conception of God, in which even these natural forces may find their explanation and term? Isaiah found such a conception for his problem, and his problem was very similar to ours. Beneath his idea of God, exalted and spiritual, even the imperial Assyrian, in all his arrogance, fell subordinate and serviceable. The prophets faith never wavered, and in the end was vindicated by history. Shall we not at least attempt his method of solution? We could not do better than by taking his factors. Isaiah got a God more powerful than Assyria, by simply exalting the old God of his nation in righteousness. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 10:5. 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 foretels the invasion of Sennacherib and the destruction of his army, it must have been delivered before the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign. “In the former chapters the prophet had foretold the fate of the Ephraimites and Syrians, who had determined to attack, and, if possible, subvert the Jewish Church and state. He therefore now turns his discourse to the Assyrians, the executors of this judgment, who also in their time should make the same attempt against Judea, and denounces their punishment, teaching, at the same time, in what light they were held by God, and consequently were to be considered by the careful observers of the ways of God. The proposition in this verse is elegant, but very difficult to be turned into another language, according to its original force. Its immediate meaning is, ‘Wo to the Assyrian, who is the rod of mine anger, and the staff, which is in his hands, is my severity;’ that is, ‘whatever strength or power they have, which they have used in afflicting my people, would have been none at all, if my people had not provoked my wrath and severity; so that, not the Assyrians themselves, but my wrath and severity, and the decrees of my justice, ought to be esteemed the rod and staff beating my people; since, without that severity, the Assyrians themselves could have done nothing.’ Vitringa remarks, that all the characters of this prophecy belong to Sennacherib; though possibly it may have a more extensive scope, and refer to the destruction of all the enemies of God, and the following great empires, which God made use of as rods and scourges, to chastise and amend his people, till the manifestation of the kingdom of his Son in the world: see Jer 51:20.” — Dodd. Be this as it will, the prophet here instructs us in a great and important truth: “That God often prospers wicked and tyrannical governments to be his scourge and the instruments of his vengeance upon others; and when they have done the work which God allots them, he then punishes them for those very oppressions which they have exercised toward their neighbours, and to which they were carried on purely by their own ambition and covetousness, although Providence made them serviceable to better ends and purposes.” — Lowth.

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

The Assyrian Invasion and its Sequel

This is one of the finest of Isaiah's prophecies. The subject is the advance against Jerusalem of the arrogant Assyrian conqueror, who meets with a sudden check and is foiled when his triumph is apparently secure. Then with Jehovah's interposition for the deliverance of Zion is connected a forecast of the reign of the Messianic king (Isa_11:1-10). The occasion to which the prophecy probably refers is Sennacherib's famous invasion in the reign of Hezekiah, 701 b.c. (36, 37; 2Ki_18:13 to 2Ki_19:36), but some scholars place it earlier, in the time of the preceding Assyrian king, Sargon. The cities referred to in Isa_10:9 were captured between 740 and 717 b.c., so that the Assyrian king's boast must at least be later than 717 b.c. It may be true that the line of march which Sennacherib followed was not identical with that which the prophet represents the invader as taking in Isa_10:28-32 but Isaiah speaks before the event, and naturally thinks of the Assyrians as approaching Jerusalem by the usual route from the N.; he is drawing a vivid imaginative picture of the threatening danger, and expresses his confident expectation of a wonderful deliverance through a sudden discomfiture of the foe (Isa_10:16-19; Isaiah 33, 34). The same remarkable anticipation is a feature of Isaiah's other utterances at this crisis (Isa_14:25; Isa_17:13-14; Isaiah 33, Isa_37:6-7, Isa_37:29-35) and it received a startling fulfilment (Isa_37:36-37).

Isa_10:5-11. The Assyrian, though proud of his conquests, is but the instrument of divine punishment.

12-19. and when God's purposes have been accomplished through him he shall be punished for his pride.

20-27. The faithful remnant of God's people, therefore, need not fear.

28-34. Though his advance towards Jerusalem seems irresistible, the Assyrian will meet with a sudden discomfiture.

Isa_11:1-10. The future king of David's line and the nature of his kingdom.

11-16. God's people shall be restored to their own land and reunited.

Isaiah 12. Two hymns of the redeemed.

1-3. A hymn of joy in the deliverance Jehovah has wrought.

4-6. A hymn of praise for God's mighty deeds, which have manifested His glory to all the world.

5. And the staff in their hand] RV 'the staff in whose hand': Jehovah speaks, declaring the Assyrian the minister of His wrath.

6. Hypocritical] RV 'profane.' Nation.. people] not merely referring to Judah, but to be understood generally: the Assyrian has been commissioned in the divine providence to punish godless nations. Similarly in later history Christians recognised Attila as 'the scourge of God.'

7-11. The spirit of the Assyrian is represented; he has no idea of his mission, but is fired by ambition and pride of conquest.

8. Altogether] RV 'all of them.'

9. The places named were all captured by the Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, or Sargon; Calno (a Chaldean city, cp. Gen_10:10) in 738 b.c., Carchemish (on the W. bank of the Euphrates) in 717; Hamath (on the Orontes, in early times the Hivite capital) in 720; Arpad (near Hamath, with which it is always coupled in OT.) in 740; Samaria (capital of Israel) in 722; Damascus (capital of Syria) in 732. The mention of the last two cities amongst the Assyrian conquests shows that at this time Isaiah's prophecy in Isa_8:4 had been fulfilled.

10, 11 The Assyrian's argument is—how can Jerusalem, with fewer gods to protect it, hope to hold out successfully?

12. Work] i.e. of judgment, or punishment.

13. People] RV 'peoples.' I have put down] RV 'I have brought down as a valiant man them that sit on thrones.'

14. The helplessness of the world before the Assyrians is vividly imaged. Left] RV 'forsaken.' Peeped] RV 'chirped': cp. Isa_8:19.

15. The prophet now speaks in indignant retort to the vainglorious boasting of the Assyrian; how can he, being but an instrument of providence, exalt himself against Jehovah?

As if the rod, etc.] RV 'as if a rod should shake them that lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood.'

16. The two figures of famine and fire are used to express the destruction of the Assyrian host.

17. The light of Israel] i.e. Jehovah, who, while He gives light to His own people, at the same time consumes their enemies (Isa_29:6-7; Isa_30:27; Isa_33:14). In one day] Isaiah anticipates a sudden catastrophe for the Assyrians (Isa_10:32-34).

18. A standardbearer fainteth] RV 'a sick man pineth away.'

19. Rest] RV 'remnant' (of the Assyrian armies).

20-23. The divine judgment will have a purifying effect on Judah; a remnant shall escape (Isa_1:9; Isa_6:13) who shall be truly devoted to Jehovah.

20. Upon him that smote them] i.e. the Assyrian, on whose help Ahaz relied (Isa_7:20).

21. Characteristic teaching of Isaiah, which he had embodied in the symbolic name Shear-jashub ('a remnant shall return'), given to his son (Isa_7:3). It is noteworthy that in this same verse there occurs also the divine title 'Mighty God,' which the prophet had ascribed to the Messianic king (Isa_9:6).

22. Yet a remnant] RV 'only a remnant.' The consumption, etc.] RV 'a consumption' (i.e. judgment) 'is determined, overflowing with righteousness.'

24. He shall smite, etc.] RV 'though he smite,' etc. After the manner, etc.] alluding to the oppressive cruelty of Pharaoh.

25. Cease] RV 'be accomplished.' God's indignation against His people will be appeased after their punishment, and His anger will then turn to the destruction of their enemies.

26. Scourge for him] i.e. for the Assyrian. According to] RV 'as in.' The slaughter of Midian is also referred to as a typical deliverance in Isa_9:4. His rod] i.e. Jehovah's, contrasted with the Assyrian oppressor's rod (Isa_10:24). As the Egyptian oppression was followed by the exodus, so the Assyrian oppression is to be succeeded by a similarly striking deliverance.

27. Because of the anointing] i.e. because of the anointed king of David's house to which God has promised a lasting kingdom. But RV 'by reason of fatness.' A new metaphor. Judah is compared to a bullock which grows so fat and strong that a yoke can no longer be imposed upon it. A conjectural emendation by Robertson Smith makes the last sentence of this v. read, 'There cometh up from the north the destroyer.'

28-32. The prophet reverts to the present. The Assyrian advance and consequent panic vividly portrayed.

28. The towns mentioned are all to the N. of Jerusalem. Passed to] RV 'passed through.'

Hath laid up, etc.] RV 'layeth up his bag-gage': cp. 1Sa_17:20. Carriage is used in AV for 'things carried.'

29. Passage] RV 'pass.'

30. Cause it to be heard, etc.] RV 'hearken, O Laishah,' viz. to the noise of the approaching armies. O poor Anathoth] RM 'Answer her, O Anathoth.'

31. Is removed] RV 'is a fugitive.' Gather themselves to flee] rather, 'save their households by flight': cp. Exo_9:19.

32-34. Arrived within sight of Jerusalem, and threatening the city, the Assyrian meets with sudden disaster.

32. RV 'This very day shall he halt at Nob, he shaketh his hand at the mount,' etc.

33. Haughty, etc.] RV 'lofty shall be brought low.'

34. The figure is the same as in Isa_10:17-19. The Assyrians are to fall like a forest that is hewn down. Note close connexion with Isaiah 11.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ASSYRIA’S DESTRUCTION PREDICTED; JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM UNDER MESSIAH; AND A HYMN OF PRAISE THEREON, Isa_10:5 to Isa_12:6.

5. The pieces of prophecy beginning here and closing with chap. 12 are with fair reason thought to belong to the period of Ahaz. The objections to this, found in Isa_10:9-11; Isa_10:28-32, will be considered in the comments there. High and miraculous prophetic power in our seer is assumed throughout, of course, as hitherto.

Judgment upon Israel has been fearfully depicted as seen in vision; and now upon Assyria, the instrument of Israel’s calamities, (Isa_10:15,) like judgments are denounced.

O Assyrian — Woe to, or, as some suppose, Ho, what ho! address in the second person rather than in the third.

Rod of mine anger — The instrument to execute it.

The staff in their hand — The sceptre he wields over punishment-deserving Israel is the sign of my indignation. The general term “Assyrian” includes king and people.

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

SECTION V PROPHECIES OF WOE UPON FOREIGN NATIONS (Isa_10:5-23)

Vers. 5-19. ASSYRIA, AFTER BEING GOD"S INSTRUMENT TO PUNISH ISRAEL, SHALL HERSELF BE PUNISHED IN HER TURN. The wicked are a sword in the hand of God, (Psa_17:13) wherewith he executes his judgments; but this fact is hid from them, and they imagine that they are successful through their own strength and might. So it was with Assyria (vers. 5-14), which its long career of victory had made proud and arrogant above measure. God now, by the mouth of Isaiah, makes known his intention of bringing down the pride of Assyria, and laying her glory in the dust, by a sudden and great destruction (vers. 15:19), after she has served his purposes.

O Assyrian; literally, Ho! Asshur. "Asshur" is the nation personified, and is here addressed as an individual. The transition from vers. 1-4 is abrupt, and may be taken to indicate an accidental juxtaposition of two entirely distinct prophecies. Or Assyria may be supposed to have been in the prophet"s thought, though not in his words, when he spoke of "prisoners" and "slain" in the first clause of ver. 4. The rod of mine anger Jer_51:20, where it is said of Babylon, "Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war; for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy the kingdoms"). So Assyria was now the "rod" wherewith God chastised his enemies. The true "staff" in the hand of Assyria, wherewith she smote the peoples, was "God"s indignation.

Vers. 5-19. Assyria, a notable example of pride and its punishment.

History furnishes no better example of pride and its punishment than that of Assyria. The pride of the Assyrians is equally apparent in Scripture and on the native monuments.

I ASSYRIA"S PRIDE AS SHOWN FORTH IN SCRIPTURE.

1. In Rabshakeh"s embassy (2Ki_18:19-35) Rabshakeh not only scoffs at the military power of Judaea and Egypt, but ridicules the idea that Jehovah can deliver Jerusalem if the Assyrians attack it. "Hearken not unto Hezekiah," he says, "when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the King of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

2. In the words by which Isaiah expresses what was in the heart of Assyrian kings, in Isa_10:8-11, Isa_10:13, Isa_10:14, and Isa_37:24, Isa_37:25.

II ASSYRIA"S PRIDE AS INDICATED BY THE MONUMENTS. Here we may note:

1. The titles assumed by the kings, which are such as the following: "the great king ", (comp. 2Ki_18:19, 2Ki_18:28) "the powerful king," "the king of kings," "the lord of lords," "the supreme monarch of monarchs," "the favorite of the great gods," "the illustrious chief who is armed with the scepter and girt with the girdle of power over mankind," and the like.

2. The contempt poured upon adversaries, who are "wicked people," "impious heretics," "enemies of Asshur," "traitors," and "rebels.

3. The claim to a series of uninterrupted successes, without notification of a single defeat, or even check, as ever suffered by the Assyrian arms. Their pride forbids the monarchs to allow that they ever experience a reverse.

III ASSYRIA"S PUNISHMENT. The downfall of Assyria is sudden, strange, abnormal. She seems at the zenith of her power, stretching out her arm on the one side to Ethiopia, on the other to Lydia and the coasts of the Aegean, when, almost without warning, her glory suffers eclipse. A wild nation from the north, previously almost unknown, invades her land, devastates her fields, threatens her towns, destroys her material prosperity. Scarcely has this visitation passed by, when she is attacked from the east. An old enemy, long contended with and long despised, has in some wonderful way increased in strength, and assumes a menacing attitude. She trembles, but she puts on a bold face and confronts the danger. Summoning to her aid the forces of her subject allies, she retires within the strong walls of her capital city, and there awaits attack. But the chief of the subject allies deserts her standard, leagues itself with her main enemy, and joins in the siege of Nineveh. After a stubborn defense the city falls, and with it the empire, which has lasted nearly seven centuries. The downfall is strange, sudden, tragic, astonishing. Scripture alone reveals its cause. Scripture puts it before us as God"s doing his judgment on Assyria"s pride, his predetermined and distinctly predicted punishment. Because "the axe boasted itself against him that hewed therewith, and the saw magnified itself against him that moved it" (ver. 15), "therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, sent among Assyria"s fat ones leanness, and under her glory kindled a burning like the burning of a fire," and she was consumed, "soul and body," and ceased to be a nation.

The warning may well be taken to heart by modern countries, which set themselves against God; by modern scientists, who in the pride of their intellect deny God; and by the irreligious generally, who practically deny and defy him.

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 5-15. Assyria the rod of Jehovah.

I A WARLIKE POWER MAY BE THE PENAL INSTRUMENT OF PROVIDENCE. Assyria is here described as the "staff of Jehovah"s anger," the "rod of his wrath," appointed to march against a people who have excited the Divine indignation. As he plunders and spoils, and proceeds on his devastating way, he may be in effect like Attila, the "scourge of God," destined like a wholesome tempest to purify the moral air of a corrupt age, and to prepare for a better sanitary state.

II YET HE WHO IS BUT AN INSTRUMENT OF ANOTHER WILL MAY IGNORE HIS OFFICE AND WORK. The Assyrian"s thoughts are bent on destruction. His motive is personal ambition. In haughty pride he not only overvalues his power, but mistakes its nature. His courtiers, he vaunts, are equal to kings. All foreign lands without distinction are to meet the same doom from him. As the heathen kingdoms of the north have been subdued by him, powerful and many as the gods had been, so the little kingdom of Judah, with its few gods or idols, will not be able to withstand him. As a heathen, the Assyrian recognizes, though in a mistaken way, the power of religion as the mainstay of a state. The idols or fetishes are to him the signs of a real supernatural power residing in the nation.

III DIVINE DENUNCIATION OF VAIN-GLORY. When Jehovah executes his judgments at the right time, this insolent pride will be punished.

1. Its folly exposed. The prophet reads the heart of the vain-glorious conqueror. He is saying to himself, "It was the strength of my hand, it was the clearness of my own intelligence, that accomplished these victories, that cast down my powerful foes. I was like a boy pillaging a deserted nest.

2. Its fallacy rebuked. It is as it" the axe should boast that it does the work of the hewer, or as if the saw were to brag against the sawyer, or the staff were to boast that it swings the hand of him who holds it that the lifeless instrument raises the living hand. How deeply do these thoughts run through the lore of Israel down to Paul, who uses the image of the potter and the clay in a similar manner! Says Lord Bacon, "It was prettily devised of Aesop; the fly sat upon the axletree of the chariot-wheel, and said," What a dust do I raise!" So there are. stone vain persons, that whatsoever goeth alone or moveth upon greater means, if they have ever so little hand in it, they think it is they that carry it." But "All service ranks the same with God With God, whose puppets, best and worst, Are we; there is no last nor first. J.

Vers. 5-19. Man in his folly and God in his righteousness.

We have a graphic picture here of

I MAN IN HIS FOLLY. Under the dominion of the folly which is born of sin, man.

1. Indulges in designs which are beyond his strength. (Ver. 7.) It is "in his heart" to do much greater things, often to work much greater wickedness, than he has power to execute. Under sin, men indulge in great-and even gross self-exaggeration; guilt is an infatuating thing.

2. Looks with dangerous complacency on his little triumphs. (Vers. 8, 9.) He has the stout heart" and the high looks" (ver. 12) which come from a consciousness of success, and which are the sure precursors of further folly. Few men can stand even the smaller triumphs, and still fewer the greater ones. When a man finds himself indulging the spirit of complacency he had better question himself severely, for he is walking on a "slippery place.

3. Attributes to himself what is his only in a very slight degree. (Ver. 13; 1Co_4:7) Man can only work with the materials which he has received from God, under the conditions which God determines, within the limits which God imposes. "All our springs are in him." The attitude of arrogant authorship is as preposterous as it is offensive.

1. Comes to hasty and ignorant conclusions. (Vers. 10, 11, 14.) The blind Assyrian ignorantly associated the idols of other lands with "the idols of Jerusalem." He was either ignorant of Jehovah"s Name, or he placed him on a level with other gods. He was going forth in a blind confidence that should be rudely shaken, that should be completely shattered. Man in his guilty folly assumes many things to be true which are absolutely false; he fails to make inquiry, and his ignorance utterly and fatally misleads him. And there is nothing in regard to which this is so true as the nature, the character, and the will of God.

2. Is blind to the end and issue of his doings. "He meaneth not so," etc. (ver. 7). Under the sway of sin man moves along a path which he thinks will lead to honor, enjoyment, success, triumph; but "the end of that way is death." Selfishness has its own purpose in view, and confidently reckons on achieving its end; but behind or above it is a Power which it is unable to resist, and which turns it to another anti very different end.

II GOD IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Everywhere present, sleeplessly watching, mightily interposing, is the righteous Ruler of all.

1. He punishes his own people when they go astray. "I will send him against a hypocritical nation," etc. (ver. 6); "When the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion" (ver. 12). Judgment often "begins at the house of God," with the people of God. Whom the Lord loves he chastens. God has a gracious purpose in his visitations; he desires and designs repentance and restoration, but he does not spare. He speaks of his own people as "the people of his wrath" (ver. 6). Let no Christian nation, "or" Christian Church," or Christian man wrap itself (himself) up in imaginary security. God may have a rod in his hand even for Judah as well as for Assyria.

1. He will overwhelm with humiliation those who impiously oppose themselves to his holy will. (Vers. 15-19.)

2. He will use the ungodly as instruments in his hand of righteousness and power. (Vers. 5-7.) Sennacherib should be the rod with which the hand of God would smite. God can make and will make the wrath and the ambition of men to serve the high purpose which he has in his mind. Thus he used Pharaoh, Cyrus, Pilate, and many others, who thought that their own aims were the ultimate issue that was being wrought out.

(1) How unspeakably humiliating is the involuntary tribute God may compel us to render!

(2) How immeasurably preferable is the willing service he invites us to offer! C.

Vers. 5-7. The Divine overrulings.

The figure of Assyria as an aggrandizing power is here set before us. "About B.C. 1100, the rule of Assyria, under Tiglath-Pileser I, had stretched from Kurdistan to the Grecian Archipelago, including the whole of Lebanon and Phoenicia. But a strong league of the Hittite kings of Syria had effectually humbled it, and torn away from the successors of the great king all his dominions on this side the Euphrates. After a hundred and fifty years of obscurity, Assyria once more, in the middle of the ninth century B.C., under its warlike king, Assur-Nazirhabal, entered on a career of conquest, and cleared its home territories of their Babylonish garrisons. He was succeeded by his son, Shalmaueser II, who proved the Napoleon of his day. After conquering Babylonia, he marched in triumph to the shores of the Persian Gulf, and exacted tribute from the petty kings of Chaldaea. But these triumphs only kindled his military ardor. He now determined to extend his empire to the ancient grandeur it had obtained under Tiglath-Pileser I The kingdom of Damascus and the states of Palestine were thus in imminent danger. A new era of mortal struggle had come to them a struggle only to end, after an agony of more than a hundred years, in the destruction of Damascus and Samaria, and the degrading vassalage of all the nations from the Euphrates to the Levant. Henceforth all Western Asia trembled at the name of Assyria. The heavens were black with tempests, driving, with only momentary lulls, across the whole sweep of Syria and Palestine" (Dr. Geikie). Fixing attention on Assyria, we observe

I SELF-WILLED ASSYRIA, CARRYING OUT ITS OWN PLANS. Describe the historical facts. The poet seems to be watching this aggrandizing king determined to push his conquests to the Mediterranean, and become master of the world. The career and spirit of the first Napoleon are full of effective comparisons. The lust of conquest ever grows with success, and the Assyrian king had no more thought of God than Napoleon had. He simply meant to serve his own ends. These great world-conquerors are prominent examples of "taking life into our own ordering, and resolutely fashioning it to our own ends;" and they are examples, too, of the curse to all around, and the ruin to the man himself, of every self-willed life.

II OVERRULED ASSYRIA CARRYING OUT GOD"S PLANS. What a supreme humiliation for conquering Assyria was this prophetic declaration! Assyria was, in actual fact, only carrying out the purpose of Jehovah, who was known to the Assyrians but as the God of one of the little states which they would be obliged to overrun. Assyria and its proud king were only Jehovah"s rod and staff, executing for him the fierceness of his indignation. Assyria was now as much the servant of God judging and punishing Syria and Israel, as the Hebrews had been the servants of God in exterminating the Canaanites, whose cup of iniquity had become full, and was running over. God makes "the wrath of man praise him, and the remainder of wrath he restrains.

III THERE IS EVER CONSOLATION FOR GOD"S PEOPLE IN GOD"S OVERRULINGS. We should always try to look beyond man"s little plan, and see how things fit into God"s great plan. We may never be satisfied with what things look like, we should ask God to teach us what they are. There are no forces working in the moral or intellectual world of today which are out of God"s range. We need never be despondent. The purposes of grace are overmastering purposes. It is always true that "man proposes, and God disposes." As practical appeal, show how important for us it is that we should be kin with God, fit into his purposes, and do his will, not just by his overruling and mastery, but by our own spirit of surrender, submission, and joyous service; never saying, "What shall I do?" but ever looking up to God and saying, "Lord what wilt thou have me to do? R.T.

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

THE ASSYRIAN INVASION OF JUDAH

Isa_10:5-34. O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, &c.

This prophecy may be used to illustrate the following truths of abiding interest.

I. The power of empires and the policy of statesmen are all under the control of God. Free-will is one great fact of the universe; an all-controlling providence is another; and God knows how to harmonise both. In investing man with free-will, God did not abdicate the throne of the universe; He still rules, and whether they do it voluntarily or involuntarily, all men further His purposes.

1. This is a truth to be ever remembered by those who rule. Their desire should be to work along with God, and not merely in subordination to Him. This is the one secret of true prosperity and abiding power.

2. It is full of consolation for good men when rulers are yielding to a mad and wicked ambition (Psa_76:10).

II. God exercises His control of empires and statesmen for the pro motion of the welfare of His people. Every great empire has some under lying policy that guides and controls all its actions; e.g., the underlying policy of Russia is said to be the ultimate acquisition of Constantinople. God’s “great policy” is the promotion of the welfare of His people. In raising up or casting down kingdoms He has this object always in view. This again is a profoundly practical truth.

1. The ruler who remembers it will at least abstain from every form of assault on the Church of God. He who undertakes to persecute the Church, undertakes to make war upon Him from whom he received his power, and who can instantly resume it (Act_9:4 and Mat_28:18).

2. Remembering it, God’s people will not be dismayed in times of calamity. They will look with assured confidence, not for the destruction of the Church, but of her persecutors; and they will not look in vain. When the “whole work” that God has in view shall be accomplished, the ungodly instrument by which it was effected shall be utterly broken (Isa_10:12-20). [All this belongs to a realm of truth, the importance and preciousness of which is not likely to be appreciated in these times of freedom from persecution, but by the martyrs in all ages it has been well understood].

III. In the view of God the welfare of His people is promoted precisely in pro portion as their holiness is promoted. We see from Isa_10:20-21, that while God intended by the Assyrian invasion to punish iniquity (Isa_10:6), His ultimate design was to bring His people back to Himself in penitence and faith. Here we have,

1. A correction of our views. We are apt to suppose that by the welfare of the Church is meant peace and outward prosperity. We are satisfied if her revenues and social influence are increasing. God often thinks it better to take these things away. The day of true welfare for Judah begins when the fierce armies of Assyria come up against her (H. E. I., 3666).

2. Light is cast upon God’s estimate of holiness. So precious is it in His sight, that He overrules even the policies of great empires for the promotion of it among His people. It is distinctly revealed that this is His aim in all the discipline of our personal life (Heb_12:10; H. E. I., 85–90, 2842, 2843). This should be to us, then,

3. An instruction. We should estimate holiness as God does. We should constantly “follow” it (Heb_12:14; H. E. I., 2845–2848). And besides humbly submitting to His chastisements (Lam_3:22), we should thankfully acquiesce in whatever calamities He is pleased to send upon His Church or on ourselves, even though they be relatively as terrible as an invasion by the Assyrians, remembering that His purpose therein is to bring us back to Himself, to make us like Himself, and so render us capable of a happiness that shall be perfect and eternal.

THE ASSYRIAN

Isa_10:5-34. O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, &c.

The Assyrian. I. His commission—subordinate, a mere rod in God’s hands—defined. II. His pride—he boasts of his schemes—his achievements—his strength and wisdom—of what he will do against God. III. His rebuke—just—keen—humiliating. IV. His punishment—irresistible—sudden—signal—effected by Divine power.

I. The mightiest nations are but instruments of the Divine will. II. Are employed to execute wrath upon the guilty. III. God appoints their special work. IV. Defines its limits. V. Controls their ambitious purposes. VI. Rewards them accordingly.—J. Lyth, D.D.: Homiletical Treasury, p. 16.

We know what the Assyrians were in the history of the world. They do not stand alone; they belong to a class of men who have appeared again and again, and are numerously represented in the world to-day—men of enormous force, of abounding energy, of vast ambition, of unscrupulous determination. Such men as Ghengis-Khan, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Cæsar, and Napoleon, are their conspicuous representatives, but their representatives only. They are to be found elsewhere than on thrones and at the head of armies. They have been represented in the Church by ambitious and unscrupulous popes, cardinals, and bishops not a few. They are represented among our nobles by domineering landlords; in commerce by great capitalists, who brook no competition, but will crush a rival at any cost. This chapter concerns men who live in England to-day, and it has for us more than an historic interest.

I. The ambition of powerful men. Having power, they naturally and lawfully wish to use it. The astonishing and lamentable thing is the manner in which they delight to use it. God intends all the power that He gives to be used for the same purposes as He uses His own—for the upholding of weakness, the relief of the needy, the dispensing of blessing. But almost always those to whom God intrusts much power use it for self-aggrandisement. Their delight is to crush others (Isa_10:13-14; H. E. I. 243; P. D. 244). Instead of doing their best to resemble God, they do their utmost to resemble the devil. What a pitiable mistake! How much the ambitious man thus loses! What a horrible per version of means of blessing!

II. The godlessness of powerful men.

1. Mistaking the use to which their strength should be put, they also forget its source. They are so besotted as to think that it is theirs, something which they have originated; as if the jets of a fountain should boast of the water that leaps up through them, forgetful of the reservoir whence it comes (1Co_4:7). We see how foolish this is; let us not forget how common it is; let us be on our guard against an error so common and so absurd (Deu_8:10-18; Dan_4:29-31. P. D. 2861).

2. Their godlessness appears, too, in their imagination that there is no limit to their power (Isa_10:8-11; chap. Isa_37:24). In their projects there is no dependence on Divine guidance and support, no submission to the Divine will (Jas_4:13-15).

III. The real position of powerful men. They imagine that they are autocrats: they really are merely instruments in the hand of God. God will be served by us, voluntarily or involuntarily. He knows how, without impairing the freedom of the will, to use powerful men for the accomplishment of His purposes; in much the same way as the miller deals with the stream that rushes past his mill—he does not try to destroy it, or to stop it, he merely turns it in among his wheels, and then unconsciously it uses its mighty force in doing his work (Isa_10:5-6; P. D., 2899). So it was with Pharaoh: though resolved not to serve Jehovah (Exo_5:2), he did serve Him most effectually (Exo_9:16). So, though we may not be able in all cases to trace it, we may be sure it is with all wicked men (Psa_76:10). God absolutely controls the vast universe over which He rules: if we will not serve Him as sons, we must do it as slaves or as tools.

IV. The end of men who forget the source of their power, and use it in a godless spirit. They are but rods in God’s hand, and when He has accomplished by them what He intended to do, He breaks them, and casts them aside. In their folly they imagine that they can never be broken (Psa_10:6); yet how easy is it for Him utterly to destroy them! Far-stretching and mighty they seem as a forest, yet how easily is a forest destroyed by fire (Isa_10:16-19). God’s judgments are as axes, by which even the monarchs of the forest are brought low (Isa_10:33-34). By Isaiah we are reminded of three historic instances in which all this has been verified: the Egyptians (Isa_10:24; Isa_10:26); the Midianites (Isa_10:26); the Assyrians (Isa_10:17-18; Isa_10:32-34; Isa_37:36). If we needed any proof that God and His government of the world are still the same, surely we have it in the history of Napoleon I. Let the mighty nations of the earth lay these lessons to heart (P. D., 2787). Let all who are disposed to vaunt their wealth or power be mindful of them: the ruler or the merchant-prince of to-day may be a beggar to-morrow (1Sa_2:3-4; 1Sa_2:7-10; H. E. I., 4404, 4976; P. D., 149, 1617).

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

C.—ASSYRIA’S DESTRUCTION THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL

Isa_10:5 to Isa_12:1

This address is related to the two that precede as bright day to dark night. After Israel is compelled to hear that the same Assyria to which Judah’s king had appealed for help shall be the instrument of his severe chastisement, now Assyria must hear that the Lord will destroy His instrument, because it fulfilled its mission, not in the mind of God, but in the sense of its own brutal lusts, and with proud boasting about its own might. Out of the toils of the world-power, whose totality Assyria represents here, shall redeemed Israel return home. Out of the almost dried up root of the race of David shall a sprout grow up that shall set up a kingdom which shall pervade and rule all nations with the spirit of peace.

As regards the time of the composition of this prophecy, it must be noticed, first of all, that Isa_10:5-34 did not originate at the same time with chapters 11 and 12 Concerning Isa_10:5-34, every thing depends on whether the passage Isa_10:9-11 is understood in the sense of an ideal or an actual time past. Vitringa, Caspari, Drechsler, Delitzsch take the view that the destruction of Samaria, that took place in the sixth year of Hezekiah, appears as a past event in our passage only in the contemplation of the Prophet. I cannot join in this view. The reasoning of the Prophet must have been without meaning and effect to his hearers if the conquest of the cities Carchemish, Calno, Arpad, Hamath, Damascus and Samaria were not at that time an accomplished fact and well known to all contemporaries. In addition, the messengers of Sennacherib, according to Isa_36:18 sq.; Isa_37:11 sq., really boasted thus. Nowhere in chap. 10 is Ephraim spoken of as one that is to be conquered. Only the conquest of Jerusalem is lacking in order to let the destroying work of Jehovah on the people of His choice appear complete (Isa_10:12). Of course one may say that our passage then belongs in the neighborhood of chapters 36 and 37. But those chapters, as they stand, are a historical report complete in themselves; whereas an essential piece, forming a consolatory conclusion, is lacking to the cycle of prophecies affecting Assyria, which begins chap. 7, if Isa_10:5 sq. does not belong to it. As long as we have no proof that the passage Isa_10:9-11 is not to be understood of things historically past, I can only assume that the Prophet combined the later address with the earlier, in order to give to that earlier the suitable conclusion. Concerning chap. 11 we have a datum for determining the period of its composition in the short prophecy against Philistia, Isa_14:28-32. This short passage lives in the sphere of ideas of chap. 11. In fact, without chap. 11. it is not at all intelligible. On the contrary, we learn from Isa_14:28 that Isaiah recognized in Hezekiah in a certain sense “the root” (שֹׁרֶשׁ) or “branch” (נֵצֶר)—through which the kingdom of David was to spring up with new life. The passage Isa_14:28-32 was written in the year of Ahaz’s death (728). The young king Hezekiah is described there as “the basilisk” (צֶכַּע) that shall proceed from “the root of the serpent” (שׂרֶשׁ נָחָשׁ). It is known that Messianic hopes were connected with Hezekiah (comp. Delitzsch on Isa_7:14 sq and Isa_9:6); how far Isaiah shared them we know not. At all events chap. 11. was written after the death of Ahaz, and just as the hopeful Hezekiah ascended the throne (728 B. C.). Chap. 12 is a doxology that certainly belongs to that period in which the whole prophetic cycle, chaps, 7–12. were put together.

In accordance with this combination, the discourse plainly subdivides into three principal parts, and each principal part again into three subdivisions, so that three forms the underlying number. In the first part is Assyria, in the second Israel, in the third the Messiah, the chief subject. The chief traits of the discourse may be represented in the following scheme:—

Assyria’s Destruction The Salvation Of Israel (Isa_10:5 to Isa_12:6)

I. Woe against Assyria (Isa_10:5-19).

1. Woe to the instrument that does not execute the will of God according to the mind of God (Isa_10:5-11).

2. Woe to the instrument that knew not that it was an instrument (Isa_10:12-15).

3. The execution of the woe (Isa_10:16-19).

II. Israel’s redemption in general (Isa_10:20-34).

1. The believing remnant of Israel returns out of the shattered world-power (Isa_10:20-23).

2. The condemned world-power is also not to be feared in the present (Isa_10:24-27).

3. The impetuous onset of the condemned world-power in the light of its final ruin (Isa_10:28-34).

III. Israel’s redemption in relation to the Messiah (Isa_11:1 to Isa_12:6).

1. From the apparently dried up root of the house of David shall go forth a sprout that shall found a kingdom of most glorious peace (Isa_11:1-9).

2. The return of Israel takes place only when the Messiah has appeared and the heathen have gathered to Him (Isa_11:10-16).

3. Israel’s song of praise for the wrath and the grace of his God (Isa_12:1-6).

I. WOE AGAINST ASSYRIA

Isa_10:5-19

1. WOE TO THE INSTRUMENT THAT DOES NOT EXECUTE THE WILL OF GOD ACCORDING TO THE MIND OF GOD

Isa_10:5-11

5          5O 6Assyrian, the rod of mine anger,

7 8And the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

6     I will send him against an 9hypocritical nation,

And against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge,

10To take the spoil, and to take the prey,

And 11to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

7     Howbeit he meaneth not so,

Neither doth his heart think so;

But it is in his heart to destroy

And cut off nations not a few.

8     For he saith,

Are not my princes altogether kings?

9     Is not Calno as Carchemish?

Is not Hamath as Arpad?

Is not Samaria as Damascus?

10     As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols,

12And whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

11     Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols,

So do to Jerusalem and her 13idols?

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

On Isa_10:5. As remarked at Isa_10:1, this הוֹי occasioned the existing arrangement of the chapter. What we have said concerning the origin of Isa_9:7 to Isa_10:4, and Isa_10:5-12, shows that this coincidence of the הוֹי is accidental. The expression שׁבט אפו is clear. It is found only here. Analogous is שֵׁבֶט עֶבְרָתוֹ Pro_22:8; Lam_3:1; comp. Pro_22:15; Job_9:34; Job_21:9.—The second clause is difficult. The translation: “The staff which in their hand, is the staff of my anger” (Gesenius) is grammatically incorrect. For then אֲשֶׁר must not be wanting before הוּא. Quite as grammatically impossible is that of Hendewerk and Knobel, who point מַטֵּה and connect it, across הוא בידם as a parenthesis, with זעמי: “and the staff of my anger, it is in their hand.” To treat הוא בידם as a gloss, like Hitzig, Ewald, I. Edit and Diestel do, is violence. Only that rendering is grammatically possible that takes זעֹמי as subject, and what precedes as predicate. Then הוא only serves to mark מַטֶּה as predicate. For, were it not there, it would not be known which of the two words מַטה and זעמי is subject, and which predicate. Comp. e.g. הַדָּם הוּא הַנֶּכֶּשׁ Deu_12:23.—זַעַם beside here, is found Isa_10:25; Isa_13:5; Isa_26:20; Isa_30:27.

On Isa_10:6. חנף comp. on Isa_9:16.—צִוָּה like Jer_14:14; Jer_23:32, with אֵל Isa_27:4.

On Isa_10:7. Piel דִּמָּה is found also Isa_14:24; Isa_40:18; Isa_40:25; Isa_46:5; but is used in the last three texts in the sense of “to make like, compare,” in which sense Hithp. (“to make one’s-self like”) is used Isa_14:14.

On Isa_10:10. מָצָא with לְ like Isa_10:14; Psa_21:9; comp. 1Sa_23:17. כְּסִילים are “carved images;” comp. 1Sa_21:9; 1Sa_30:22; 1Sa_12:8. Before ירושלים is to be supplied מִכְּסילֵי comp. Isa_5:29; Isa_13:4.

On Isa_10:11. The עצבים (in Isaiah again only Isa_46:1) are not essentially different from בְּסִילִים. For as the underlying meaning of בָּסַל is caedere, caedendo fingere (Exo_34:1; Exo_34:4; Deu_10:1-2; 1 Kings 5:32), so, too, עָצַב, (kindred to קָצַב ,חָצַב) originally meant caedere, secare, “to cut out, to shape by hewing” (Job_10:8; Jer_44:19).

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The Lord denounces woe against Assyria that is to be the instrument of His judgments (Isa_10:5). For He sent him against Israel (Isa_10:6), but Assyria did not execute the mission in the spirit in which he was commissioned, but in the spirit of his brutal and insatiable greed of conquest (Isa_10:7). This his sentiment appears in the grounds he assigns for his confidence that he will make conquest of Jerusalem: 1) his princes are all of them kings, which gives a measure of the extent of his might; 2) a row of conquests of great cities proves his invincibility. Having conquered kingdoms whose idols excel those of Samaria and Jerusalem, he will be able to treat Jerusalem as Samaria (8–11).

2. Woe unto Assyria——not a few.

Isa_10:5-7. The pivot on which the whole of the following announcement turns, is that the Lord denounces woe against the instrument of His wrath. In Isa_10:5 (see Text. and Gram.), the Prophet expresses the thought that not only is Assyria the rod of God’s anger, but that the anger of God is also the staff, as it were, the magician’s staff (comp. Isa_10:24; Isa_10:26, where allusion is evidently to the rod of Moses) in the hand of Assyria. This turn of the image need give no surprise in our artistic Prophet. How far Assyria is used as a rod is explained, Isa_10:6. He is to be commissioned against the impure people, that on account of this impurity are objects of divine wrath, as it were on an official mission, to rob and trample down Israel, that they may become as the mire of the streets (Isa_7:25), comp. Jer_51:20 sqq. Assyria will indeed trample down Israel, and as many other nations as possible, but not in order to execute the purpose of Jehovah on them, but only to gratify his own lust for world-conquest.

3. For he said—her idols.

Isa_10:8-11. Assyria confides only in his own strength. He has no suspicion that he is Jehovah’s instrument, the rod of His anger. Hence he enumerates the facts that justify his hope of easily subduing Israel. First, his princes are kings (comp. 2Ki_25:28). When such have only second rank in the army of the great king of Assyria (Isa_36:4) how wide must be his dominion. His second ground of confidence is past great successes. Three pairs of conquered cities are named. The conquest of one is premised as an event that made sure that the next one named must in turn succumb. “Is not Calno like Carchemish?” Carchemish was a city on an island in the Euphrates at the mouth of the Chaboras, called by the Romans Circesium, Circessum, Circusium,Jer_46:2-12; 2Ch_35:20, and appears from the text to have been subdued earlier than Calno. The latter is called כַּלְנֵהGen_10:10; and כַּלנֶהAmo_6:2 : perhaps the כַּנֵּה of Eze_27:23 is the same city. It lay North-east twenty hours from Babylon on the East bank of the Tigris opposite Seleucia, and belonged to Babylon. Rebuilt at a later day by the Persian king Pacorus (90 b. c.), it received the name Ctesiphon. Thus Carchemish and Calno were two cities of Mesopotamia. Did Calno become as Carchemish, it appears that the conquest of the latter was not merely a happy chance, but the proof of the existence of a real power, which in every like case will conquer in like manner. Arpad is mentioned Isa_36:19; Isa_37:13; Jer_49:23; 2Ki_18:34; 2Ki_19:13. The classics do not mention the city. According to the Arabian geographer Marassid, (comp.Knobelin loc.), an Arphad lay in the Pashalik Haleb (Aleppo) North-west from the latter place. According to Kiepert (D. M. G. XXV. p. 655) Arpad lay 3 German miles north of Haleb on the spot where is found at present the ruins of Tel Erfad. In every passage where Arpad is mentioned, Hamath is found too. But, beside that, Hamath is often mentioned in the Old Testament. According to Num_34:8 the northern border of the land to be possessed by the Israelites, was to extend to Hamath, which, according to 2Ki_14:25; 2Ki_14:28; comp. 2Ch_8:4, was actually the case at times. Comp., beside Amo_6:2; Amo_6:14. The city lay on the Orontes and was called later Epiphania. Arpad and Hamath were thus Syrian cities lying nearer the Holy Land.

Damascus and Samaria lay still nearer Judah. After naming three pairs of names of conquered cities as proof of the irresistibleness of Assyria, the Prophet could simply proceed; so will Jerusalem, too, be unable to resist. But three thoughts suggest themselves, which he would express before that conclusion. First, that the idols of the conquered heathen cities surpassed the (supposed) idols of Jerusalem and Samaria. Second, the point that Samaria is already conquered; and third, the thought that Samaria and Jerusalem, may just as well be set in a pair as Carchemish and Calno, Arpad and Hamath, Damascus and Samaria. Now the Prophet might, of course, have said: as I have conquered the heathen kingdoms, whose idols surpass those of Samaria and Jerusalem, and as I have subdued Samaria itself, shall I not be able just so to subdue Jerusalem? But then Samaria would belong to the premise, and Jerusalem would alone form the apodosis, and there would be lacking conformity to the pairs before named. Hence he combines Samaria and Jerusalem together in the apodosis, beginning with הֲלֹא “shall I not,” Isa_10:11, but forms again within this apodosis, another protasis and apodosis, whereby, of course, the construction becomes abnormal; but still the thought is expressed that Samaria and Jerusalem should join as a fourth comparison, to the foregoing three. It is to be noticed that our passage assumes the conquest of Samaria, by the Assyrians (722 b. c.). According to 2Ki_16:9, Tiglath-Pileser subdued Damascus. Samaria fell by Shalmaneser, according to 2Ki_17:5 sq., but according to the Assyrian monuments by Sargon, in the third year of the siege. It was long after, that Rabshakeh actually used the language against Judah (Isa_36:18 sqq.; Isa_37:10 sqq.). that Isaiah here prophetically puts into the mouth of the Assyrian. Perhaps Isaiah had here in mind, what Amos (Isa_6:1 sqq.), at an earlier period held up to the people, though it must remain in doubt, whether Isaiah means the same conquest of Hamath and Arpad, that Amos refers to. Moreover, nothing more is known of the conquest of the cities Carchemish, Calno, Hamath and Arpad, by the Assyrians. But comp. on Isa_36:19. That the Assyrian speaks of ממלכות האליל (אליל as collective in the singular) “the kingdoms of the idols” is a Judaism. The Prophet presents the Assyrian as making a distinction between idolatrous kingdoms and Israel, the monotheistic: whereas, the Assyrian knows nothing of monotheism, and afterwards speaks of the idols and images of Samaria and Jerusalem. Moreover the Prophet describes them as “nothings” (comp. Isa_2:8; Isa_2:18; Isa_2:20; Isa_19:3; Isa_31:7) whereas the Assyrian by no means regarded them so; for he held them all to be superterrestrial powers; only he maintained a distinction among them in respect to power. Thus we see how Isaiah suffered here some mixing of his point of view with that of the Assyrian.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Isa_7:1. “Hierosolyma oppugnatur, etc. Jerusalem is assaulted but not conquered. The church is pressed but not oppressed.”—Foerster.

2. On Isa_7:2. “Quando ecclesia, etc. When the Church is assaulted and Christ crucified over again in His elect, Rezin and Pekah, Herod and Pilate are wont to form alliance and enter into friendly relations. There are, so to speak, the foxes of Samson, joined indeed by the tails, but their heads are disconnected.”—Foerster.—“He that believes flees not (Isa_28:16). ‘The righteous is bold as a lion’ (Pro_28:1). Hypocrites and those that trust in works (work-saints) have neither reason nor faith. Therefore they cannot by any means quiet their heart. In prosperity they are, indeed, overweening, but in adversity they fall away (Jer_17:9).” Cramer.

3. On Isa_7:9. (“If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”) “Insignis sententia, etc. A striking sentiment that may be adapted generally to all temptation, because all earnest endeavor after anything, as you know, beguiles us in temptation. But only faith in the word of promise makes us abide and makes sure whatever we would execute. He warns Ahaz, therefore, as if he said: I now promise you by the word, it shall be that those two kings shall not hurt you. Believe this word! For if you do not, whatever you afterwards devise will deceive you: because all confidence is vain which is not supported by the word of God.”—Luther.

4. On Isa_7:10-12. “Wicked Ahaz pretends to great sanctity in abstaining from asking a sign through fear of God. Thus hypocrites are most conscientious where there is no need for it: on the other hand, when they ought to be humble, they are the most insolent. But where God commands to be bold, one must be bold. For to be obedient to the word is not tempting God. That is rather tempting God when one proposes something without having the word for it. It is, indeed, the greatest virtue to rest only in the word, and desire nothing more. But where God would add something more than the word, then it must not be thought a virtue to reject it as superfluous. We must therefore exercise such a faith in the word of God that we will not despise the helps that are given in addition to it as aids to faith. For example the Lord offers us in the gospel all that is necessary to salvation. Why then Baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Are they to be treated as superfluous? By no means. For if one believes the word he will at the same time exhibit an entire obedience toward God. We ought therefore to learn to join the sign with the word, for no man has the power to sever the two.

But do you ask: is it permitted to ask God for a sign? We have an example of this in Gideon. Answer: Although Gideon was not told of God to ask a sign, yet he did it by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, and not according to his own fancy. We must not therefore abuse his example, and must be content with the sign that is offered by the Lord. But there are extraordinary signs or miracles, like that of the text, and ordinary ones like Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Yet both have the same object and use. For as Gideon was strengthened by that miraculous event, so, too, are we strengthened by Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, although no miracle appears before our eyes.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther. Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, also asked the Lord to show him the right wife for Isaac by means of a sign of His own choosing, (Gen_24:14).

It ought to be said that this asking a sign (opening the Bible at a venture, or any other book) does not suit Christian perfection (Heb_6:1). A Christian ought to be inwardly sensible of the divine will. He ought to content himself with the guarantees that God Himself offers. Only one must have open eyes and ears for them. This thing of demanding a sign, if it is not directly an effect of superstition (Mat_12:39; Mat_16:4; 1Co_1:22), is certainly childish, and, because it easily leads to superstitious abuses, it is dangerous.

5. On Isa_7:13. “Non caret, etc. That the Prophet calls God his God is not without a peculiar emphasis. In Zec_2:12 it is said, that whoever touches the servants of God touches the pupil of God’s eye. Whoever opposes teacher and preacher will have to deal with God in heaven or with the Lord who has put them into office.”—Foerster.

6. On Isa_7:14. “The name Immanuel is one of the most beautiful and richest in contents of all the Holy Scripture. ‘God with us’ comprises God’s entire plan of salvation with sinful humanity. In a narrower sense it means ‘God-man’ (Mat_1:23), and points to the personal union of divinity and humanity, in the double nature of the Son of God become man. Jesus Christ was a God-with-us, however, in this, that for about 33 years He dwelt among us sinners (Joh_1:11; Joh_1:14). In a deeper and wider sense still He was such by the Immanuel’s work of the atonement (2Co_5:19; 1Ti_2:3). He will also be such to every one that believes on Him by the work of regeneration and sanctification and the daily renewal of His holy and divine communion of the Spirit (Joh_17:23; Joh_17:26; Joh_14:19-21; Joh_14:23). He is such now by His high-priestly and royal administration and government for His whole Church (Mat_28:20; Heb_7:25). He will be snch in the present time of the Church in a still more glorious fashion (Joh_10:16). The entire and complete meaning of the name Immanuel, however, will only come to light in the new earth, and in the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev_21:3; Rev_21:23; Rev_22:5).”—Wilh. Fried. Roos.

Isa_8:7. On Isa_8:5 sqq. “Like boastful swimmers despise small and quiet waters, and on the other hand, for the better display of their skill, boast of the great sea and master it, but often are lost in it,—thus, too, did the hypocrites that despised the small kingdom of Judah, and bragged much and great things of the power and splendor of the kingdom of Israel and of the Syrians; such hypocrites are still to be found now-a-days—such that bear in their eye the admiranda Romae, the splendor, riches, power, ceremonies and pomp of the Romish church, and thereupon ‘set their bushel by the bigger-heap.’ It is but the devil’s temptation over again: ‘I will give all this to thee.’ ”—Cramer.—“Fons Siloa,” etc. “The fountain of Siloam, near the temple, daily reminded the Jews that Christ was coming.”—Calvin on Joh_9:7.

8. On Isa_8:10. “When the great Superlatives sit in their council chambers and have determined everything, how it ought to be, and especially how they will extinguish the gospel, then God sends the angel Gabriel to them, who must look through the window and say: nothing will come of it.”—Luther.—“Christ, who is our Immanuel, is with us by His becoming man, for us by His office of Mediator, in us by the work of His sanctification, by us by His personal, gracious presence.”—Cramer.

9. On Isa_8:14-15. Christ alone is set by God to be a stone by which we are raised up. That He is, however, an occasion of offence to many is because of their purpose, petulance and contempt (1Pe_2:8). Therefore we ought to fear lest we take offence at Him. For whoever falls on this stone will shatter to pieces (Mat_21:44).” Cramer.

10. On Isa_8:16 sqq. He warns His disciples against heathenish superstition, and exhorts them to show respect themselves always to law and testimony. “They must not think that God must answer them by visions and signs, therefore He refers them to the written word, that they may not become altogether too spiritual, like those now-a-days who cry: spirit! spirit! … Christ says, Luke 16 : They have Moses and the prophets, and again Joh_5:39 : Search the Scriptures. So Paul says, 2Ti_3:16 : The Scripture is profitable for doctrine. So says Peter, 2Pe_1:9 : We have a sure word of prophecy. It is the word that changes hearts and moves them. But revelations puff people up and make them insolent.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther.

Chap. 9–11. On Isa_9:1 sqq. (2). “Postrema pars, etc. The latter part of chap. 8 was νομικὴ καὶ ἀπειλητική (legal and threatening) so, on the other hand, the first and best part of chap. 9 is εὐαγγελικὴ καὶ παραμυθητική, (evangelical and comforting). Thus must ever law and gospel, preaching wrath and grace, words of reproof and words of comfort, a voice of alarm and a voice of peace follow one another in the church.” Foerster.

12. On Isa_9:1 (2). Both in the Old Testament and New Testament Christ is often called light. Thus Isaiah calls Him “a light to the gentiles,” Isa_42:6; Isa_49:6. The same Prophet says: “Arise, shine (make thyself light), for thy light is come,” Isa_60:1. And again Isa_9:19 : “The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light.” In the New Testament it is principally John that makes use of this expression: “The life was the light of men,” Joh_1:4, “and the light shined in the darkness,” Joh_9:5. John was not that light, but bore testimony to the light, Joh_9:8. “That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” Joh_9:9. And further: “And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,” Joh_3:19. “I am the light of the world,” (Joh_8:12; Joh_9:5; comp. Joh_12:35).

13. On Isa_9:1 (2). The people that sit in darkness may be understood to comprise three grades. First, the inhabitants of Zebulon and Naphtali are called so (Isaiah 8:23), for the Prophet’s gaze is fixed first on that region lying in the extreme end of Palestine, which was neighbor to the heathen and mixed with them, and on this account was held in low esteem by the dwellers in Judah. The night that spreads over Israel in general is darkest there. But all Israel partakes of this night, therefore all Israel, too, may be understood, as among the people sitting in darkness. Finally, no one can deny that this night extends over the borders of Israel to the whole human race. For far as men dwell extends the night which Christ, as light of the world, came to dispel, Luk_1:76 sqq.

14. On Isa_9:5 (6). Many lay stress on the notion “child,” inasmuch as they see in that the reason for the reign of peace spoken of afterwards. It is not said a man, a king, a giant is given to us. But this is erroneous. For the child does not remain a child. He becomes a man: and the six names that are ascribed to Him and also the things predicted of His kingdom apply to Him, not as a child, but as a man. That His birth as a child is made prominent, has its reason in this, that thereby His relation to human kind should be designated as an organic one. He does not enter into humanity as a man, i.e. as one whose origin was outside of it, but He was born from it, and especially from the race of David. He is Son of man and Son of David. He is a natural offshoot, but also the crowning bloom of both. Precisely because He was to be conceived, carried and born of a human mother, and indeed of a virgin, this prophecy belongs here as the completion and definition of the two prophetic pictures Isa_7:10 sqq.; Isa_8:1 sqq.—“He came down from heaven for the sake of us men, and for our bliss (1Ti_1:15; Luk_2:7). For our advantage: for He undertook not for the seed of angels, but for the seed of Abraham (Heb_2:16). Not sold to us by God out of great love, but given (Rom_5:15; Joh_3:16). Therefore every one ought to make an application of the word ‘to us’ to himself, and to learn to say: this child was given to me, conceived for me, born to me.”—Cramer.—“Cur oportuit, etc. Why did it become the Redeemer of human kind to be not merely man nor merely God, but God and man conjoined or θεάνθρωπον? Anselm replies briefly, indeed, but pithily: Deum qui posset, hominem, qui deberet.” Foerster.

15. On Isa_9:5 (6). “You must not suppose here that He is to be named and called according to His person, as one usually calls another by his name; but these are names that one must preach, praise and celebrate on account of His act, works and office.” Luther.

16. On Isa_9:6. “Verba pauca, etc. A few words, but to be esteemed great, not for their number but for their weight.” Augustine. “Admirabilis in, etc. Wonderful in birth, counsellor in what He preaches, God in working, strong in suffering, father of the world to come in resurrection, Prince of peace in bliss perpetual.” Bernard of Clairvaux. In reference to “a child is born,” and “a son is given,” Joh. Cocceius remarks in his Heb. Lex. s. v. יֶלֶד: “respectu, etc., in respect to His human nature He is said to be born, and in respect to His divine nature and eternal generation not indeed born, but given, as, Joh_3:16, it reads God gave His only begotten Son.”

“In the application of this language all depends on the words is born to us, is given to us.” The angels are, in this matter, far from being as blessed as we are. They do not say: To us a Saviour is born this day, but; to you. As long as we do not regard Christ as ours, so long we shall have little joy in Him. But when we know Him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, as a gift that our heavenly Father designed for us, we will appropriate Him to ourselves in humble faith, and take possession of all His redeeming effects that He has acquired. For giving and taking go together. The Son is given to us; we must in faith receive Him.” J. J. Rambach, Betracht. über das Ev. Esaj., Halle, 1724.

On Isa_9:6 (7). “The government is on His shoulders.” “It is further shown how Christ differs in this respect from worldly kings. They remove from themselves the burden of government and lay it on the shoulders of the privy counsellors. But He does not lay His dominion as a burden on any other; He needs no prime minister and vicegerent to help Him bear the burden of administration, but He bears all by the word of His power as He to whom all things are given of the Father. Therefore He says to the house of Jacob (Isa_46:3 sq.): Hearken unto me ye who were laid on my shoulders from your mothers’ womb. I will carry you to old age. I will do it, I will lift, and carry and deliver,—on the contrary the heathen must bear and lift up their idols, (Isa_46:1; Isa_46:7).”—Rambach. “In the first place we must keep in mind His first name: He is called Wonderful. This name affects all the following.” “All is wonderful that belongs to this king: wonderfully does He counsel and comfort; wonderfully He helps to acquire and conquer, and all this in suffering and want of strength. (Luther, Jen. germ. Tom. III. Fol. 184 b.). ” “He uses weakness as a means of subduing all things to Himself. A wretched reed, a crown of thorns and an infamous cross, are the weapons of this almighty God, by means of which He achieves such great things. In the second place, He was a hero and conqueror in that just by death, He robbed him of his might who had the power of death, i.e., the devil (Heb_2:14); in that He, like Samson, buried His enemies with Himself, yea, became poison to death itself, and a plague to hell (Hos_13:14) and more gloriously resumed His life so freely laid down, which none of the greatest heroes can emulate.”—Rambach.

17. On Isa_9:18 (19) sqq. True friendship can never exist among the wicked. For every one loves only himself. Therefore they are enemies one of another; and they are in any case friends to each other, only as long as it concerns making war on a third party.

Isaiah 10-18. On Isa_10:4. (Comp. the same expression in chap. 10). God’s quiver is well filled. If one arrow does not attain His object, He takes another, and so on, until the rights of God, and justice have conquered.

19. On Isa_10:5-7. “God works through men in a threefold way. First, we all live, move and have our being in Him, in that all activity is an outflow of His power. Then, He uses the services of the wicked so that they mutually destroy each other, or He chastises His people by their hand. Of this sort the Prophet speaks here. In the third place, by governing His people by the Spirit of sanctification: and this takes place only in the elect.”—Heim and Hoffmann.

20. On Isa_10:5 sqq. “Ad hunc, etc. Such places are to be turned to uses of comfort. Although the objects of temptation vary and enemies differ, yet the effects are the same, and the same spirit works in the pious. We are therefore to learn not to regard the power of the enemy nor our own weakness, but to look steadily and simply into the word, that will assuredly establish our minds that they despair not, but expect help of God. For God will not subdue our enemies, either spiritual or corporal, by might and power, but by weakness, as says the text: my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2Co_12:9).—Luther.

21. On Isa_10:15. “Efficacia agendi penes Deum est, homines ministerium tantum praebent. Quare nunc sibilo suo se illos evocaturum minabatur (cap. Isa_5:26; Isa_7:18); nunc instar sagenae sibi fore ad irretiendos, nunc mallei instar ad feriendos Israelitas. Sed praecipue tum declaravit, quod non sit otiosus in illis, dum Sennacherib securim vocat, quae ad secandum manu sua et destinata fuit et impacta. Non male alicubi Augustinus ita definit, quod ipsi peccant, eorum esse; quod peccando hoc vel illud agant, ex virtute Dei esse, tenebras prout visum est dividentis (De praedest Sanctt.).”—Calvin Inst. II. 4, 4.

22. On Isa_10:20-27. “In time of need one ought to look back to the earlier great deliverances of the children of God, as to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or later, from the hand of the Midianites. Israel shall again grow out of the yoke.”—Diedrich.

Isaiah 11-23. On Isa_11:4. “The staff of His mouth.” “Evidence that the kingdom of Christ will not be like an earthly kingdom, but consist in the power of the word and of the sacraments; not in leathern, golden or silver girdles, but in girdles of righteousness and faith.”—Cramer.

24. On Isa_11:10 sqq. If the Prophet honors the heathen in saying that they will come to Christ before Israel, he may be the more readily believed, when Isa_11:11 sqq., he gives the assurance that the return out of the first, the Egyptian exile, shall be succeeded by a return out of the second, the Assyrian exile, (taking this word in the wider sense of Isaiah). It is manifest that the return that took place under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only an imperfect beginning of that promised return. For according to our passage this second return can only take place after the Messiah has appeared. Farthermore, all Israelites that belong to “the remnant of Israel,” in whatever land they may dwell, shall take part in it. It will be, therefore, a universal, not a partial return. If now the Prophet paints this return too with the colors of the present (Isa_11:13 sqq.), still that is no reason for questioning the reality of the matter. Israel will certainly not disappear, but arise to view in the church of the new covenant. But if the nation is to be known among the nations as a whole, though no more as a hostile contrast, but in fraternal harmony, why then shall not the land, too, assume a like position among the lands? But the nation can neither assume its place among nations, nor the land its place among lands, if they are not both united: the people Israel in the land of their fathers.

25. On Isaiah 11 “We may here recall briefly the older, so-called spiritual interpretation. Isa_11:1-5 were understood of Christ’s prophetic office that He exercised in the days of His flesh, then of the overthrow of the Roman Empire and of Antichrist, who was taken to be the Pope. But the most thorough-going of those old expositors must acknowledge, at Isa_11:4, that the Antichrist is not yet enough overthrown, and must be yet more overthrown. If such is the state of the case, then this interpretation is certainly false, for Isa_11:4 describes not a gradual judgment, but one accomplished at once. There have been many Antichrists, and among the Popes too, but the genuine Antichrist described 2 Thessalonians 2, is yet to be expected, and also the fulfillment of Isa_11:4 of our chapter. Thereby is proved at the same time that the peaceful state of things in the brute world and the return of the Jews to their native land are still things of the future, for they must happen in that period when the Antichristian world, and its head shall be judged by Christ. But then, too, the dwelling together of tame and wild beasts is not the entrance of the heathen into the church, to which they were heretofore hostile, and the return of the Jews is not the conversion of a small part of Israel that took place at Pentecost and after. The miracles and signs too, contained in Isa_11:15-16 did not take place then. We see just here how one must do violence to the word if he will not take it as it stands. But if we take it as we have done, then the whole chapter belongs to the doctrine of hope (Hoffnungslehre) of the Scripture, and constitutes an important member of it. The Lord procures right and room for His church. He overthrows the world-kingdom, together with Antichrist. He makes of the remnant of Israel a congregation of believers filled with the Spirit, to whom He is near in an unusual way, and from it causes His knowledge to go out into all the world. He creates peace in the restless creatures, and shows us here in advance what more glorious things we may look for in the new earth. He presents to the world a church which, united in itself, unmolested by neighbors, stands under God’s mighty protection. All these facts are parts of a chain of hope that must be valuable and dear to our hearts. The light of this future illumines the obscurity of the present; the comfort of that day makes the heart fresh.” Weber, der Prophet Jesaja, 1875.

Chap. 12–26. On Isa_12:4 sq. “These will not be the works of the New Testament: sacrificing and slaying, and make pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the Holy Sepulchre, but praising God and giving thanks, preaching and hearing, believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. For to praise our God is good; such praise is pleasant and lovely” (Psa_147:1). Cramer.

27. On Chap. 12 “With these words conclude the prophetic discourses on Immanuel. Through what obscurity of history have we not had to go, until we came to the bright light of the kingdom of Christ! How Israel and the nations had to pass through the fire of judgment before the sun arises in Israel and the entire gentile world is illumined! It is the, same way that every Christian has to travel. In and through the fire we become blessed. Much must be burnt up in us, before we press to the full knowledge of God and of His Son, before we become entirely one with Him, entirely glad and joyful in Him. Israel was brought up and is still brought up for glory, and we too. O that our end too were such a psalm of praise as this psalm!” Weber, Der Pr. Jes. 1875.

Footnotes:

[6]Heb. Asshur.

[7]Or, though.

[8]And in whose hand my fury is a staff.

[9]unclean.

[10]To plunder plunder, and to prey prey.

[11]Heb. to lay them a treading.

[12]And yet their graven images excelled them, etc.

[13]carver images.

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER IX

ATHEISM OF FORCE AND ATHEISM OF FEAR

ABOUT 721 B.C.

Isa_10:5-34

IN chapter 28 Isaiah, speaking in the year 725 when Salmanassar IV was marching on Samaria, had explained to the politicians of Jerusalem how entirely the Assyrian host was in the hand of Jehovah for the punishment of Samaria and the punishment and purification of Judah. The invasion which in that year loomed so awful was not unbridled force of destruction, implying the utter annihilation of Gods people, as Damascus, Arpad, and Hamath had been annihilated. It was Jehovahs instrument for purifying His people, with its appointed term and its glorious intentions of fruitfulness and peace.

In the tenth chapter Isaiah turns with this truth to defy the Assyrian himself. It is four years later. Samaria has fallen. The judgment which the prophet spoke upon the luxurious capital has been fulfilled. All Ephraim is an Assyrian province. Judah stands for the first time face to face with Assyria. From Samaria to the borders of Judah is not quite two days march, to the walls of Jerusalem a little over two. Now shall the Jews be able to put to the test their prophets promise! What can possibly prevent Sargon from making Zion as Samaria, and carrying her people away in the track of the northern tribes to captivity?

There was a very fallacious human reason, and there was a very sound Divine one.

The fallacious human reason was the alliance which Ahaz had made with Assyria. In what state that alliance now was does not clearly appear, but the most optimist of the Assyrian party at Jerusalem could not, after all that had happened, be feeling quite comfortable about it. The Assyrian was as unscrupulous as themselves. There was too much impetus in the rush of his northern floods to respect a tiny province like Judah, treaty or no treaty. Besides, Sargon had as good reason to suspect Jerusalem of intriguing with Egypt, as he had against Samaria or the Philistine cities; and the Assyrian kings had already shown their meaning of the covenant with Ahaz by stripping Judah of enormous tribute.

So Isaiah discounts in this prophecy Judahs treaty with Assyria. He speaks as if nothing was likely to prevent the Assyrians immediate march upon Jerusalem. He puts into Sargons mouth the intention of this, and makes him boast of the ease with which it can be accomplished (Isa_10:7-11). In the end of the prophecy he even describes the probable itinerary of the invader from the borders of Judah to his arrival on the heights, over against the Holy City (Isa_10:27-32),

"Cometh up from the North the Destroyer.

He is come upon Ai; marcheth through Migron; at Michmash musters his baggage.

They have passed through the Pass; Let Geba be our bivouac.

Terror-struck is Ramah; Gibeah of Saul hath fled.

Make shrill thy voice, O daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! Answer her Anathoth!

In mad flight is Madmenah; the dwellers in Gebim gather their stuff to flee.

This very day he halteth at Nob; he waveth his hand at the Mount of the Daughter of Zion, the Hill of Jerusalem!"

This is not actual fact; but it is vision of what may take place today or tomorrow. For there is nothing-not even that miserable treaty-to prevent such a violation of Jewish territory, within which, it ought to be kept in mind, lie all the places named by the prophet.

But the invasion of Judah and the arrival of the Assyrian on the heights over against Jerusalem does not mean that the Holy City and the shrine of Jehovah of hosts are to be destroyed; does not mean that all the prophecies of Isaiah about the security of this rallying-place for the remnant of Gods people are to be annulled, and Israel annihilated. For just at the moment of the Assyrians triumph, when he brandishes his hand over Jerusalem, as if he would harry it like a birds nest, Isaiah beholds him struck down, and crash like the fall of a whole Lebanon of cedars (Isa_10:33-34).

Behold the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, lopping the topmost boughs with a sudden crash,

And the high ones of stature hewn down, and the lofty are brought low!

"Yea, He moweth down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon by a Mighty One falleth."

All this is poetry. We are not to suppose that the prophet actually expected the Assyrian to take the route, which he has laid down for him with so much detail. As a matter of fact, Sargon did not advance across the Jewish frontier, but turned away by the coast-land of Philistia to meet his enemy of Egypt, whom he defeated at Rafia, and then went home to Nineveh, leaving Judah alone. And, although some twenty years later the Assyrian did appear before Jerusalem, as threatening as Isaiah describes, and was cut down in as sudden and miraculous a manner, yet it was not by the itinerary Isaiah here marked for him that he came, but in quite another direction: from the southwest. What Isaiah merely insists upon is that there is nothing in that wretched treaty of Ahaz-that fallacious human reason-to keep Sargon from overrunning Judah to the very walls of Jerusalem, but that, even though he does so, there is a most sure Divine reason for the Holy City remaining inviolate.

The Assyrian expected to take Jerusalem. But he is not his own master. Though he knows it not, and his only instinct is that of destruction (Isa_10:7), be is the rod in Gods hand. And when God shall have used him for the needed punishment of Judah, then will God visit upon him his arrogance and brutality. This man, who says he will exploit the whole earth as he harries a birds nest (Isa_10:14), who believes in nothing but himself, saying, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent." is but the instrument of God. and all his boasting is that of "the axe against him that heweth therewith and of the saw against him that wieldeth it." "As if," says the prophet, with a scorn still fresh for those who make material force the ultimate power in the universe-"As if a rod should shake them that lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood." By the way, Isaiah has a word for his countrymen. What folly is theirs, who now put all their trust in this world-force, and at another time cower in abject fear before it! Must he again bid them look higher, and see that Assyria is only the agent in Gods work of first punishing the whole land, but afterwards redeeming His people! In the midst of denunciation the prophets stern voice breaks into the promise of this later hope (Isa_10:24-27); and at last the crash of the fallen Assyrian is scarcely still, before Isaiah has begun to declare a most glorious future of grace for Israel. But this carries us over into the eleventh chapter, and we had better first of all gather up the lessons of the tenth.

This prophecy of Isaiah contains a great Gospel and two great Protests, which the prophet was enabled to make in the strength of it: one against the Atheism of Force, and one against the Atheism of Fear.

The Gospel of the chapter is just that which we have already emphasised as the gospel par excellence of Isaiah: the Lord exalted in righteousness. God supreme over the supremest men and forces of the world. But we now see it carried to a height of daring not reached before. This was the first time that any man faced the sovereign force of the world in the full sweep of victory, and told himself and his fellow-men: "This is not travelling in the greatness of its own strength, but is simply a dead, unconscious instrument in the hand of God." Let us, at the cost of a little repetition, get at the heart of this. We shall find it wonderfully modern.

Belief in God had hitherto been local and circumscribed. Each nation, as Isaiah tells us, had walked in the name of its god, and limited his power and prevision to its own life and territory. We do not blame the peoples for this. Their conception of God was narrow, because their life was narrow, and they confined the power of their deity to their own borders because, in fact, their thoughts seldom strayed beyond. But now the barriers, that had so long enclosed mankind in narrow circles, were being broken down. Mens thoughts travelled through the breaches, and learned that outside their fatherland there lay the world. Their lives thereupon widened immensely, but their theologies stood still. They felt the great forces which shook the world, but their gods remained the same petty, provincial deities. Then came this great Assyrian power, hurtling through the nations, laughing at their gods as idols, boasting that it was by his own strength he overcame them, and to simple eyes making good his boast as he harried the whole earth like a birds nest. No wonder that mens hearts were drawn from the unseen spiritualities to this very visible brutality! No wonder all real faith in the gods seemed to be dying out, and that men made it the business of their lives to seek peace with this world-force, that was carrying everything, including the gods themselves, before it! Mankind was in danger of practical atheism: of placing, as Isaiah tells us, the ultimate faith which belongs to a righteous God in this brute force: of substituting embassies for prayers, tribute for sacrifice, and the tricks and compromises of diplomacy for the endeavour to live a holy and righteous life. Behold, what questions were at issue: questions that have come up again and again in the history of human thought, and that are tugging at us today harder than ever!-whether the visible, sensible forces of the universe, that break so rudely in upon our primitive theologies, are what we men have to make our peace with, or whether there is behind them a Being, who wields them for purposes, far transcending them, of justice and of love; whether, in short, we are to be materialists or believers in God. It is the same old, ever-new debate. The factors of it have only changed a little as we have become more learned. Where Isaiah felt the Assyrians, we are confronted by the evolution of nature and history, and the material forces into which it sometimes looks ominously like as if these could be analysed. Everything that has come forcibly and gloriously to the front of things, every drift that appears to dominate history, all that asserts its claim on our wonder, and offers its own simple and strong solution of our life-is our Assyria. It is precisely now, as then. a rush of new powers across the horizon of our knowledge, which makes the God, who was sufficient for the narrower knowledge of yesterday, seem petty and old-fashioned today. This problem no generation can escape, whose vision of the world has become wider than that of its predecessors. But Isaiahs greatness lay in this: that it was given to him to attack the problem the first time it presented itself to humanity with any serious force, and that he applied to it the only sure solution-a more lofty and spiritual view of God than the one which it had found wanting. We may thus paraphrase his argument: "Give me a God who is more than a national patron, give me a God who cares only for righteousness, and I say that every material force the world exhibits is nothing but subordinate to Him. Brute force cannot be anything but an instrument, "an axe," "a saw," something essentially mechanical and in need of an arm to lift it. Postulate a supreme and righteous Ruler of the world, and you not only have all its movements explained, but may rest assured that it shall only be permitted to execute justice and purify men. The world cannot prevent their salvation, if God have willed this."

Isaiahs problem was thus the fundamental one between faith and atheism; but we must notice that it did not arise theoretically, nor did he meet it by an abstract proposition. This fundamental religious question-whether men are to trust in the visible forces of the world or in the invisible God-came up as a bit of practical politics. It was not to Isaiah a philosophical or theological. question. It was an affair in the foreign policy of Judah.

Except to a few thinkers, the question between materialism and faith never does present itself as one of abstract argument. To the mass of men it is always a question of practical life. Statesmen meet it in their policies, private persons in the conduct of their fortunes. Few of us trouble our heads about an intellectual atheism, but the temptations to practical atheism abound unto us all day by day. Materialism never presents itself as a mere ism; it always takes some concrete form. Our Assyria may be the world in Christs sense, that flood of successful, heartless, unscrupulous, scornful forces which burst on our innocence, with their challenge to make terms and pay tribute, or go down straightway in the struggle for existence.

Beside their frank and forceful demands, how commonplace and irrelevant do the simple precepts of religion often seem; and how the great brazen laugh of the world seems to bleach the beauty out of purity and honour! According to our temper, we either cower before its insolence, whining that character and energy of struggle and religious peace are impossible against it; and that is the Atheism of Fear, with which Isaiah charged the men of Jerusalem, when they were paralysed before Assyria. Or we seek to ensure ourselves against disaster by alliance with the world. We make ourselves one with it, its subjects and imitators. We absorb the worlds temper, get to believe in nothing but success, regard men only as they can be useful to us, and think so exclusively of ourselves as to lose the faculty of imagining about us any other right or need of pity. And all that is the Atheism of Force, with which Isaiah charged the Assyrian. It is useless to think that we common men cannot possibly sin after the grand manner of this imperial monster. In our measure we fatally can. In this commercial age private persons very easily rise to a position of influence, which gives almost as vast a stage for egotism to display itself as the Assyrian boasted. But after all the human Ego needs very little room to develop the possibilities of atheism that are in it. An idol is an idol, whether you put it on a small or a large pedestal. A little man with a little work may as easily stand between himself and God, as an emperor with the world at his feet. Forgetfulness that he is a servant, a trader on graciously entrusted capital - and then at the best an unprofitable one-is not less sinful in a small egotist than in a great one; it is only very much more ridiculous, than Isaiah, with his scorn, has made it to appear in the Assyrian.

Or our Assyria may be the forces of nature, which have swept upon the knowledge of this generation with the novelty and impetus, with which the northern hosts burst across the horizon of Israel. Men today, in the course of their education, become acquainted with laws and forces, which dwarf the simpler theologies of their boyhood, pretty much as the primitive beliefs of Israel dwindled before the arrogant face of Assyria. The alternative confronts them either to retain, with a narrowed and fearful heart, their old conceptions of God, or to find their enthusiasm in studying, and their duty in relating themselves to, the forces of nature alone. If this be the only alternative, there can be no doubt but that most men will take the latter course. We ought as little to wonder at men of today abandoning certain theologies and forms of religion for a downright naturalism-for the study of powers that appeal so much to the curiosity and reverence of man-as we wonder at the poor Jews of the eighth century before Christ forsaking their provincial conceptions of God as a tribal Deity for homage to this great Assyrian, who handled the nations and their gods as his playthings. But is such the only alternative? Is there no higher and sovereign conception of God, in which even these natural forces may find their explanation and term? Isaiah found such a conception for his problem, and his problem was very similar to ours. Beneath his idea of God, exalted and spiritual, even the imperial Assyrian, in all his arrogance, fell subordinate and serviceable. The prophets faith never wavered, and in the end was vindicated by history. Shall we not at least attempt his method of solution? We could not do better than by taking his factors. Isaiah got a God more powerful than Assyria, by simply exalting the old God of his nation in righteousness. This Hebrew was saved from the terrible conclusion, that the selfish, cruel force which in his day carried all before it was the highest power in life, simply by believing righteousness to be more exalted still. But have twenty-five centuries made any change upon this power, by which Isaiah interpreted history and overcame the world? Is righteousness less sovereign now than then, or was conscience more imperative when it spoke in Hebrew than when it speaks in English? Among the decrees of nature, at last interpreted for us in all their scope and reiterated upon our imaginations by the ablest men of the age, truth, purity, and civic justice as confidently assert their ultimate victory, as when they were threatened merely by the arrogance of a human despot. The discipline of science and the glories of the worship of nature are indeed justly vaunted over the childish and narrow-minded ideas of God that prevail in much of our average Christianity. But more glorious than anything in earth or heaven is character, and the adoration of a holy and loving will makes more for "victory and law" than the discipline or the enthusiasm of science. Therefore, if our conceptions of God are overwhelmed by what we know of nature, let us seek to enlarge and spiritualise them. Let us insist, as Isaiah did, upon His righteousness, until our God once more appear indubitably supreme.

Otherwise we are left with the intolerable paradox, that truth and honesty, patience and love of man to man, are after all but the playthings and victims of force; that, to adapt the words of Isaiah, the rod really shakes him who lifts it up, and the staff is wielding that which is not wood.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

10:5–11:16 The primacy of the Lord’s moral law was established in 9:8–10:4; this passage works out the implications of the law: (1) Assyria was only a tool in God’s hands and was therefore as liable to judgment by God as any other nation (10:5-19, 28-34); (2) those among God’s people who trusted in him and obeyed his covenant would be rescued (10:20-27); and (3) God would establish his kingdom on earth (ch 11).

10:5-19 This judgment was pronounced on Assyria because of their ruthless destruction of nations (10:7), blasphemous boasting (10:12), oppression (10:13-14), and self-perceived autonomy (10:15).

10:5 The Assyrians were God’s instrument (rod . . . club) in judging Syria, Israel, and Judah, but they would not go unpunished for their own wickedness.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

God calleth for the Assyrians to be the executioners of his vengeance.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

It was written when Assyria proposed (a design which it soon after tried to carry out under Sennacherib) to destroy Judah and Jerusalem, as it had destroyed Samaria. This is the first part of Isaiah's prophecies under Hezekiah. Probably between 722 and 715 B.C. (see Isa 10:27). (Isa 10:9, Isa 10:11 show that Samaria was destroyed before this prophecy)

O Assyrian, &c.--rather, "What, ho (but MAURER, Woe to the) Assyrian! He is the rod and staff of Mine anger (My instrument in punishing, Jer 51:20; Psa 17:13). In their hands is Mine indignation" [HORSLEY, after JEROME]. I have put into the Assyrians' hands the execution of Mine indignation against My people.

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 5. O Assyrian - "Ho to the Assyrian"] Here begins a new and distinct prophecy, continued to the end of the twelfth chapter: and it appears from Isa 10:9-11 of this chapter, that this prophecy was delivered after the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser; which was in the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah: and as the former part of it foretells the invasion of Sennacherib, and the destruction of his army, which makes the whole subject of this chapter it must have been delivered before the fourteenth of the same reign.

The staff in their hand - "The staff in whose hand"] The word הוא hu, the staff itself, in this place seems to embarrass the sentence. I omit it on the authority of the Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint: nine MSS., (two ancient,) and one of my own, ancient, for ומטה הוא umatteh hu, read מטהו mattehu, his staff. Archbishop Secker was not satisfied with the present reading. He proposes another method of clearing up the sense, by reading ביום beyom, in the day, instead of בידם beyadam, in their hand: "And he is a staff in the day of mine indignation."

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

(5) O Assyrian.—The words open, as has been said above, a perfectly distinct section. Assyria had been named in connection with the Syro-Ephraim alliance against Judah (Isa_7:17-20; Isa_8:7-8); but this is the first prophetic utterance of which it is the direct subject. Anticipating the phraseology of Isa_13:1, we might call it the “burden of Assyria.” In the judgment of the best Assyrian scholars, some years had passed since the date of the alliance and invasion. Tiglath – pileser had taken Damascus and reduced Samaria to submission. Pekah and Ahaz had met at Damascus to do homage to their common suzerain. In B.C. 727 Salmaneser succeeded to the throne of Assyria, and began the conquest of Samaria and the deportation of the Ten Tribes in B.C. 722 (2Ki_17:3-6). On his death, in B.C. 721, the throne was seized by Sargon, who had been his Tartan, or commander-in-chief (Isa_20:1). The achievements of this king are recorded at length in an inscription discovered by M. Botta at Khorsabad (Records of the Past, vii. 28. Lenormant’s Manual, 1 p. 392). In it he says:—“I besieged, took, and occupied the city of Samaria, and carried into captivity 27,280 of its inhabitants. I changed the form of government of the country, and placed over it lieutenants of my own.” In another inscription discovered at Kouyunyik, but unfortunately incomplete, Sargon speaks of himself as “the conqueror of the far-off land of Judah” (Layard, Inscriptions, 33:8). It was probably to this king, exulting in his triumphs and threatening an attack on Judah, and not (as was commonly thought prior to the discovery of the inscription) to his son Sennacherib, who succeeded him B.C. 704, that the prophet now addressed himself. The first words proclaim that the great king was but an instrument working out the Divine intent, the “rod,” and the “staff,” the “axe” and the “saw” (Isa_10:15). So in Isa_7:20, the earlier king of Assyria is as “the razor that is hired.” So Nebuchadnezzar in Jer_51:20 is the “battle-axe” or “hammer” of Jehovah. (Comp. Isa_37:26.)

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

5. O Assyrian] Ho Asshur, the name both of the people and its national god. The god being little more than the personified genius of the nation, we might almost venture to suppose that he is here directly addressed and is the speaker in Isa_10:8 ff. But the word is never used of the god in the O.T.

the rod of mine anger] the instrument with which Jehovah chastises the nations, cf. Jer_51:20.

and the staff … indignation] lit. “and a staff, it is in their hand, my indignation,”—an absolutely refractory clause. Driver (Tenses § 201, 1, Obs.) translates “and a staff is it in their hand, [viz.] mine indignation.” But to say in one line that Assyria is the rod of Jehovah’s anger and in the next that His indignation is a staff in their hand is awkward in the extreme. Better a “flat tautology” than that, although the objection is meaningless as applied to a synonymous parallelism. It is best to omit the words “it is in their hand” as a gloss and render and the staff of mine indignation.

5–7. Jehovah’s plan contrasted with Assyria’s purpose.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger,..... Either as calling him to come against the land of Israel to spoil it, so Kimchi; or as grieving that he was obliged to make use of him in such a manner against his people; or as threatening him with ruin. So the Targum, Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions render it, "woe to the Assyrian"; wherefore this, and what follows, serve to comfort the people of God; that though they should be carried captive by the Assyrians, yet they should be utterly destroyed, and a remnant of the Jews should be saved. The Assyrian monarch is called the "rod of God's anger", because he was made use of by him as an instrument to chastise and correct Israel for their sins:

and the staff in their hand is mine indignation; that is, the staff which was in the hand of the king of Assyria, and his army, with which they smote the people of Israel, was no other than the wrath and indignation of God against that people, and the execution of it, which he committed to them as instruments. Kimchi interprets "their hand" of the land of Israel, into which this staff was sent, the Assyrian, to smite and chastise them. The Targum is,

"woe to the Assyrian, the government of my fury; and an angel sent from before me against them for a curse.''

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

O Assyrian - The word הוי hôy, is commonly used to denounce wrath, or to indicate approaching calamity; as an interjection of threatening; Isa 1:4. ‘Wo sinful nation;’ Isa 10:8, Isa 10:11, Isa 10:18, Isa 10:20-21; Jer 48:1; Eze 13:2. The Vulgate so understands it here: Vae Assur; and the Septuagint, Οὐαι Ἀσσυρίοις Ouai Assuriois - ‘Woe to the Assyrians.’ So the Chaldee and the Syriac. It is not then a simple address to the Assyrian; but a form denouncing wrath on the invader. Yet it was not so much designed to intimidate and appal the Assyrian himself as to comfort the Jews with the assurance that calamity should overtake him. The ‘Assyrian’ referred to here was the king of Assyria - Sennacherib, who was leading an army to invade the land of Judea.

The rod of mine anger - That is, the rod, or instrument, by which I will inflict punishment on a guilty nation. The Hebrew would bear the interpretation that the Assyrian was, an object against which God was angry; but the former is evidently the sense of the passage, as denoting that the Assyrian was the agent by which he would express his anger against a guilty people. Woe might be denounced against him for his wicked intention, at the same time that God might design to make use of his plans to punish the sins of his own people. The word “anger” here, refers to the indignation of God against the sins of the Jewish people.

And the staff - The word “staff” here, is synonymous with rod, as an instrument of chastisement or punishment; Isa 9:4; compare Isa 10:24; Nah 1:13; Eze 7:10.

In their hand - There has been considerable variety in the interpretation of this passage. Lowth and Noyes read it, ‘The staff in whose hand is the instrument of my indignation.’ This interpretation Lowth adopts, by omitting the word הוא hû' on the authority of the Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint, and five manuscripts, two of them ancient. Jerome reads it, ‘Wo to the Assyrian! He is the staff and the rod of my fury; in their hand is my indignation.’ So Forerius, Ludovicus, de Dieu, Cocceius, and others. Vitringa reads it, ‘And in the hands of those who are my rod is my indignation.’ Schmidius and Rosenmuller, ‘And the rod which is in their hands, is the rod of mine indignation.’ There is no necessity for any change in the text. The Hebrew, literally, is, ‘Wo to the Assyrian! Rod of my anger! And he is the staff. In their hands is my indignation.’ The sense is sufficiently clear, that the Assyrian was appointed to inflict punishmerit on a rebellious people, as the instrument of God. The Chaldee renders it, ‘Wo to the Assyrian! The dominion (power, ruler) of my fury, and the angel sent from my face, against them, for a malediction. Septuagint, ‘And wrath in their hands.’

In their hand - In the hand of the Assyrians, where the word ‘Assyrian’ is taken as referring to the king of Assyria, as the representative of the nation.

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

Woe. Or come on, Heus, though (Calmet) ho is ordinarily rendered, alas! It here indicates that God makes use of this scourge with regret, and will afterwards consign it to the flames. (Haydock) --- The prophet speaks of Salmanasar, or of Sennacherib. (St. Cyprian; St. Jerome)

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).

O Assyrian: so it is God’s call or invitation to him to take the charge, and set upon the work. Or, Woe to the Assyrian! because though he do my work, yet he doth it in a wicked manner, and for wicked ends, as we shall see.

The rod of mine anger; the instrument of mine anger. wherewith I shall chastise my people.

The staff in their hand is mine indignation; mine anger against my people puts the weapons of war into their hand, and gives them strength and success in this expedition.

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

O Assyrian - This is God's invitation to him to take the charge, and set upon the work. The rod - The instrument of mine anger, wherewith I shall chastise my people. Anger - Mine anger against my people puts the weapons of war into their hand.

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

The law of contrast prevails in prophecy, as it does also in the history of salvation. When distress is at its height, it is suddenly brought to an end, and changed into relief; and when prophecy has become as black with darkness as in the previous section, it suddenly becomes as bright and cloudless as in that which is opening now. The hoi (woe) pronounced upon Israel becomes a hoi upon Asshur. Proud Asshur, with its confidence in its own strength, after having served for a time as the goad of Jehovah's wrath, now falls a victim to that wrath itself. Its attack upon Jerusalem leads to its own overthrow; and on the ruins of the kingdom of the world there rises up the kingdom of the great and righteous Son of David, who rules in peace over His redeemed people, and the nations that rejoice in Him: - the counterpart of the redemption from Egypt, and one as rich in materials for songs of praise as the passage through the Red Sea. The Messianic prophecy, which turns its darker side towards unbelief in chapter 7, and whose promising aspect burst like a great light through the darkness in Isaiah 8:5-9:6, is standing now upon its third and highest stage. In chapter 7 it is like a star in the night; in Isaiah 8:5-9:6, like the morning dawn; and now the sky is perfectly cloudless, and it appears like the noonday sun. The prophet has now penetrated to the light fringe of Isa 6:1-13. The name Shear-yashub, having emptied itself of all the curse that it contained, is now transformed into a pure promise. And it becomes perfectly clear what the name Immanuel and the name given to Immanuel, El gibbor (mighty God), declared. The remnant of Israel turns to God the mighty One; and God the mighty is henceforth with His people in the Sprout of Jesse, who has the seven Spirits of God dwelling within Himself. So far as the date of composition is concerned, the majority of the more recent commentators agree in assigning it to the time of Hezekiah, because Isa 10:9-11 presupposes the destruction of Samaria by Shalmanassar, which took place in the sixth year of Hezekiah. But it was only from the prophet's point of view that this event was already past; it had not actually taken place. The prophet had already predicted that Samaria, and with Samaria the kingdom of Israel, would succumb to the Assyrians, and had even fixed the years (Isa 7:8 and Isa 8:4, Isa 8:7). Why, then, should he not be able to presuppose it here as an event already past? The stamp on this section does not tally at all with that of Isaiah's prophecy in the times of Hezekiah; whereas, on the other hand, it forms so integral a link in the prophetic cycle in chapters 7-12, and is interwoven in so many ways with that which precedes, and of which it forms both the continuation and crown, that we have no hesitation in assigning it, with Vitringa, Caspari, and Drechsler, to the first three years of the reign of Ahaz, though without deciding whether it preceded or followed the destruction of the two allies by Tiglath-pileser. It is by no means impossible that it may have preceded it.

The prophet commences with hoi (woe!), which is always used as an expression of wrathful indignation to introduce the proclamation of judgment upon the person named; although, as in the present instance, this may not always follow immediately (cf., Isa 1:4, Isa 1:5-9), but may be preceded by the announcement of the sin by which the judgment had been provoked. In the first place, Asshur is more particularly indicated as the chosen instrument of divine judgment upon all Israel. "Woe to Asshur, the rod of mine anger, and it is a staff in their hand, mine indignation. Against a wicked nation will I send them, and against the people of my wrath give them a charge, to spoil spoil, and to prey prey, to make it trodden down like street-mire." "Mine indignation:" za‛mi is either a permutation of the predicative הוּא, which is placed emphatically in the foreground (compare the אתּה־הּוּא in Jer 14:22, which is also written with makkeph), as we have translated it, though without taking הוּא as a copula (= est), as Ewald does; or else בידם הוּא is written elliptically for בידם הוּא אשׁר, "the staff which they hold is mine indignation" (Ges., Rosenmller, and others), in which case, however, we should rather expect הוא זעמי בידם ומטה. It is quite inadmissible, however, to take za‛mi as a separate genitive to matteh, and to point the latter with zere, as Knobel has done; a thing altogether unparalleled in the Hebrew language.

(Note: In the Arabic, such a separation does occur as a poetical licence (see De Sacy, Gramm. t. ii. 270).)

The futures in Isa 10:6 are to be taken literally; for what Asshur did to Israel in the sixty year of Hezekiah's reign, and to Judah in his fourteenth year, was still in the future at the time when Isaiah prophesied. Instead of וּלשׂימו the keri has וּלשׂוּמו, the form in which the infinitive is written in other passages when connected with suffixes (see, on the other hand, Sa2 14:7). "Trodden down:" mirmas with short a is the older form, which was retained along with the other form with the a lengthened by the tone (Ewald 160, c).

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.)

The Assyrian is now distinctly brought into view, as the instrument which God would use in punishing His people. But instead of simply executing this task, the Assyrians would seek their own ends and exceed their commission, and for this they must themselves be punished. The Prophet begins therefore with a woe against them. “Woe unto Asshur (the Assyrian or Assyria itself), the rod of my anger, and the staff in their (the Assyrians’) hand is my indignation,” (i.e., its instrument).

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

Woe Against Assyria

v. 5. O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation, literally, "Woe to Asshur (which is) the rod of My wrath, and the staff, that in their hand, Mine indignation. " The Lord here pronounces a woe upon Assyria; for whereas He wanted to use this nation merely as His instrument in punishing Israel, the Assyrians took the opportunity to gratify their own lust for conquest and bloodshed.

v. 6. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, one that is impure, corrupt, and wicked, and against the people of My wrath will I give him a charge, bidding Assyria smite Israel for its sins, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets, destroy their power, render them utterly helpless. So much the charge of the Lord to Assyria included, not, indeed, as if the Lord had sent this command by some messenger, but that He places even the heathen nations into His service to carry out His plans, to punish the disobedient.

v. 7. Howbeit he, that is, Assyria, meaneth not so, does not hold the same idea that the Lord holds, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few, that is, Assyria was driven only by the thought of conquest and destruction and therefore was guilty before God, even while carrying out His plans. The plans of sinners are no less to be condemned, though they by them unwittingly fulfill God’s designs. The selfish and blameworthy pride of Assyria is now described.

v. 8. For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? Assyria was a world-power, and even its provinces had the extent and the might of kingdoms, so that their governors could well rank with kings.

v. 9. Is not Calno, a large city on the Tigris, as Carchemish, an important commercial center on an island in the Euphrates? Is not Ramath, an important city and formerly a capital on the Orontes, as Arpad, a city in Syria proper? Is not Samaria as Damascus? Three pairs of cities are named in such a way that boasting Assyria emphasizes the great ease with which its conquests were made.

v. 10. As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, conquering those upon whom the people of Judah looked down as idol-worshipers, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria, being more plentiful than they and therefore supposedly better able to defend their cities;

v. 11. shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, which had been destroyed in the sacking of the city, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? The God of Jerusalem, so the speaker boastfully asserts, would no more be able to protect this city titan the gods of the other cities had succeeded in doing. Cf. Isa 36:18-20; Isa 37:11-13. This blasphemous boast could not remain unpunished, as the Lord now shows.

v. 12. Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, Assyria being His instrument of chastisement upon those whom He had chosen for His people, and a remnant of whom remained true to Him in the general apostasy and now bowed under His chastening hand, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, the blasphemous pride which showed itself in his boasting, and the glory of his high looks, literally, "the haughtiness of the loftiness of his eyes," the description showing the self-complacent nature of his assumed glory.

v. 13. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, ascribing his success entirely to his own ability; for I am prudent, always making use of proper understanding; and I have removed the bounds of the people, changing their boundaries to suit himself, and have robbed their treasures, taking at will everything that they had accumulated, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man, butting down those occupying thrones like a mighty hero or an angry steer;

v. 14. and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people, locating them with an experienced hand; and as one gathereth eggs that are left, forsaken by the mother bird, have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing, in defense, or opened the mouth, or peeped, in terrified protest. All nations had bowed in dumb resignation under the hand of the mighty Assyrian, and for this he took all credit to himself. But the prophet counters with a reproof of bitter irony:

v. 15. Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify Itself against him that shaketh it, drawing it to and fro in severing the wood? It is just as foolish for a tool to boast over against the workman as for the king of Assyria to ascribe to himself all the might which he possesses only by divine permission. 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, literally, "as if a staff should lift up" (that which is) "not wood," that is, the person handling it. That rod or staff should lift up or shake those who have hold of them presents the very extreme of absurd presumption. So it was utterly absurd for the king of Assyria, who, although unknown to himself, carried out God’s punishment upon Israel, to ascribe to himself the wisdom and power, the design and success of this campaign. The very evil in the world is used by God to serve His objects. Cf Gen 50:20. The punishment upon Assyria is now pronounced:

v. 16. Therefore shall the Lord, the All-powerful, the Lord of hosts, who commands the untold legions of heaven, send among his fat ones leanness, consuming the mighty ones of Assyria, and under his glory He shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire, to consume it in a moment, with a mighty crackling and hissing.

v. 17. And the Light of Israel, the Holy One of Israel Himself, shall be for a fire and His Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day, the Assyrian nation being devoured in one great destruction,

v. 18. and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, the majesty of his leaders and the wealth of his merchants, both soul and body, in a complete destruction; and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth, rather, as when a consumptive pines away, hurrying forward to an early death.

v. 19. And the rest of the trees of his forest, the few that have survived the devastation of the fire, shall be few, that a child may write them, put down the number which he easily counted. Thus the Lord, even in the midst of His enemies, has some few whom He has chosen, who are saved in the general destruction which will come upon the unbelievers.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Woe

This word marks the beginning of God's announcement about a severe punishment against Assyria.

the Assyrian

This refers to the king of Assyria.

the club of my anger, the rod by whom I wield my fury

Both of these phrases mean basically the same thing. Yahweh compares the king of Assyria to a weapon a person holds in his hand and hits other people with. It emphasizes that the king of Assyria and his army are a tool that Yahweh uses to punish Israel. AT: "who will be like a weapon in my hands that I will use to show my anger" (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)

I send him ... I order him

The word "him" here also refers to the king of Assyria. But it does not mean God is only sending the king; he is sending with him the army of Assyria. AT: "I send the army of Assyria ... I order them" (See: Synecdoche)

against an arrogant nation and against the people who bear my overflowing wrath

"to attack a nation full of proud people who have made me very angry"

who bear my overflowing wrath

Yahweh speaks of his wrath as if it were more liquid than a container could hold; "the people" are trying to carry this container, but it is heavy, and Yahweh keeps pouring liquid in even after it starts to spill out. AT: "at whom I continue to be angry even after I have punished them" (See: Metaphor)

to take the spoil

"to take everything they have"

to take the prey

to take the people like prey. See how you translated "prey" in Isaiah 5:29.

trample them like mud

Possible meanings are 1) Yahweh compares the army of Assyria attacking Israel to people stomping through mud who do not care what happens to the mud. AT: "trample them until they become like mud" or 2) the people are stomping on other people so they are lying in the mud and unable to rise. This is a metaphor for completely defeating them. AT: "completely defeat them" (See: Simile and Metaphor)

translationWords

Assyria

anger

nation

people group

wrath

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Woe that I made Assyria the rod of My wrath with which to chastise My people.

and...a staff is My fury in the hands of the people of Assyria.

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.

הוי Oh. Sign of the vocative.

The rod of mine anger, wherewith I have chastised many.

And the staff, etc. And the staff that is in the hand of the Assyrians, is the instrument of my indignation.

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.