Isaiah 31:8

Isa 31:8 Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.

Ver. 8. Then shall the Assyrian fall.] Fall in his forces, flee in his person; but evil shall hunt that violent man to destroy him. {Psa 140:11}

Not of a mighty man.] Or, Of a mean man, but of an angel.

And his young men shall be discomfited.] Heb., Shall be unto melting; they shall melt away. {1Sa 14:16} Vide hic, saith A Lapide; see here how this world is nothing else but a perpetual ruin of all kinds and conditions of men.

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 31:8-9. Then shall the Assyrian, &c. — When you have cast away your idols, and seriously sought unto God for help; both which things were performed by Hezekiah; fall by the sword, not of a mighty man, &c. — Not of any man, mean or mighty, but of an angel. But he shall flee from the sword — From, or for fear of, that plague, which so strangely and suddenly destroyed his army. And his young men — Hebrew, בחוריו, his choice young men, his guards, and valiant commanders, and soldiers, shall be discomfited — Hebrew, למס יהיו, shall be for melting, or shall melt away; a great part of them being destroyed by the angel, and the hearts of the rest melting for fear. And he shall pass to his stronghold — Sennacherib shall flee away with all speed from Jerusalem, to his strong city of Nineveh. Or, as it is in the margin, which see. And his princes shall be afraid of the ensign — Of the Lord’s ensign, which he hath lifted up against them. Or, as וחתו מנס, may be properly rendered, shall be struck with consternation at his flight. Saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion — That is, either, 1st, whose fire is continually burning upon the altar in Zion; a sign that his presence and residence are there. Or, rather, 2d, who is, and will appear to be, in Zion like a fire, to defend his people, and to consume their enemies. Thus God promises that he would be, unto Jerusalem, a wall of fire round about, Zec 2:5. See also Zec 12:6.

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

When your repentance appeareth.

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

Assyrian--Sennacherib, representative of some powerful head of the ungodly in the latter ages [HORSLEY].

sword, not of . . . mighty . . . mean man--but by the unseen sword of God.

flee--Sennacherib alone fled homewards after his army had been destroyed (Isa 37:37).

young men--the flower of his army.

discomfited--rather, "shall be subject to slavery"; literally, "shall be liable to tribute," that is, personal service (Deu 20:11; Jos 9:21) [MAURER]. Or, not so well, "shall melt away" [ROSENMULLER].

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 8. Then shall the Assyrian fall, c.] Because he was to be discomfited by the angel of the Lord, destroying in his camp, in one night, upwards of one hundred and eighty thousand men and Sennacherib himself fell by the hands of the princes, his own sons. Not mighty men, for they were not soldiers; not mean men, for they were princes.

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

(8) Not of a mighty man . . .—The Hebrew has no adjectives, but the nouns are those which are commonly opposed to each other in this way, as in Isa_2:9, like the Latin vir and homo. The thought expressed is, of course, that the whole work would be of God, and not of man. The “sword” was that of the Divine judgment (Deu_32:41), perhaps, as in 1Ch_21:16, of the destroying angel of the pestilence.

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

8. not of a mighty man … mean man] R.V. not of man … men (see on ch. Isa_2:9). Lit. “of a Not-man … Not-mortal,” i.e. a superhuman sword.

shall be discomfited] R.V. shall become tributary, “be subjected to bond-service,” as 1Ki_9:21 f., &c.

8, 9. The discomfiture of the Assyrians will be accomplished by Jehovah Himself. The connexion with what precedes is not very close.

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.

Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man,.... That is, the Assyrian army under Sennacherib their king, which besieged Jerusalem in Hezekiah's time; which, as soon as the people were brought to a sense of their sin, and repentance for it, and cast away their idols as a proof of it, were utterly destroyed; but not in battle, not by the sword of Hezekiah, or any of his valiant generals:

and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him; neither the sword of a general, nor of a private soldier, nor indeed of any man, but of an angel; see Kg2 19:35,

but he shall flee from the sword; from the drawn sword of the angel, who very probably appeared in such a form as in Ch1 21:16 which Sennacherib king of Assyria seeing, as well as the slaughter made in his army by him, fled from it; in the Hebrew text it is added, "for himself" (y); he fled for his life, for his own personal security; see Kg2 19:36,

and his young men shall be discomfited; his choice ones, the flower of his army: or "melt away" (z), through fear; or die by the stroke of the angel upon them: the sense of becoming "tributary" seems to have no foundation.

(y) "fugiet sibi", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius; "fuga consulet sibi", Junius & Tremellius. (z) "in liquefactionem, erunt", Vatablus; "colliquescent", Piscator.

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

Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword - The sword is often used as an instrument of punishment. It is not meant here literally that the sword would be used, but it is employed to denote that complete destruction would come upon them.

Not of a mighty man - The idea here is, that the army should not fall by the valor of a distinguished warrior, but that it should be done by the direct interposition of God (see Isa 37:36).

Of a mean man - Of a man of humble rank. His army shall not be slain by the hand of mortals.

But he shall flee - The Assyrian monarch escaped when his army was destroyed, and fled toward his own land; Isa 37:37.

From the sword - Margin, ‘For fear of.’ The Hebrew is ‘From the face of the sword;’ and the sense is, that he would flee in consequence of the destruction of his host, here represented as destroyed by the sword of Yahweh.

And his young men - The flower and strength of his army.

Shall be discomfited - Margin, ‘For melting;’ or ‘tribute,’ or ‘tributary.’ Septuagint, Εἰς ἥττημα Eis hēttēma - ‘For destruction.’ The Hebrew word (מס mas), derived probably from מסס mâsas, “to melt away, to dissolve”) is most usually employed to denote a levy, fine, or tax - so called, says Taylor, because it wastes or exhausts the substance and strength of a people. The word is often used to denote that people become tributary, or vassals, as in Gen 49:15; Deu 20:11; compare Jos 16:10; 2Sa 20:24; 1Ki 4:6; 1Ki 5:13; Est 10:1. Probably it does not here mean that the strength of the Assyrian army would become literally tributary to the Jews, but that they would be as if they had been placed under a levy to them; their vigor and strength would melt away; as property and numbers do under taxation and tribute.

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

Flee not. Hebrew, "flee to himself," lo. Septuagint and Vulgate have read la, "not." The angel destroyed the army, and the king was slain at his return. --- Tributaries. Ninive being afterwards subject to the Chaldeans, &c. (Calmet) --- Hebrew, "shall melt." (Vatable)

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).

Then; when you have cast away your idols, and seriously sought to me for help; both which things were performed by Hezekiah.

With the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man; by the sword, not of any man, either mean or mighty, but of an angel.

From the sword; from, or for fear of, that plague which so strangely and suddenly destroyed his army.

His young men, Heb. his choice young men; his guards and valiant commanders and soldiers.

Shall be discomfited, Heb. shall melt away, a great part of them being destroyed by the angel; and the hearts of the rest melting for fear.

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

Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; rather, and Assyria shall fall by the sword of one who is not a man Assyria"s destruction will not be by the visible swords of human enemies, but by the invisible sword of God. (comp. 2Ki_19:35) And the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him; rather, and the sword of one who is not a mortal shall detour him an instance of "synonymous parallelism." He shall flee; more literally, betake himself to flight. His young men shall be discomfited; rather, as in the margin, shall be for tribute. They shall become the vassals of a foreign power.

Vers. 8, 9. Fleeing away.

Here is a prophetic vision of flight, which may suggest other kinds and instances of "fleeing away." Sennacherib comes up vain-gloriously against Jerusalem, confidently reckoning on complete success, thinking to swallow up Judah as a pleasant morsel; and, behold! he is found hurrying homewards as one that is pursued by overtaking legions, not staying at his first fortification, but, in his terror and humiliation, "passing on beyond his stronghold" for fear, his princes frightened away by the flags" of the enemy that was to have been so easily and so utterly subdued. Our thoughts may be directed to

I THE VANQUISHED FLEEING FROM THE VICTORIOUS. The annals of human history, which have hitherto been principally the record of human strife, are only too full of heart-rending illustrations (see, among others, Erckmann-Chatrian"s "Waterloo").

II CRIME FLEEING FROM THE FEET OF JUSTICE. Both fact and fiction will supply abundant illustrations of the intolerable wretchedness of those who, pursued by the officers of law, are dogged by apprehension and alarm at every step they take. "Let no man talk of murderers escaping justice, and hint that Providence must sleep: there were twenty score of violent deaths in one long minute of that agony of fear.

III WRONG FLEEING FROM REVENGE. See the vivid picture of Carker fleeing from Dombey (Dickens): "Shame, disappointment, and discomfiture gnawing at his heart, a constant apprehension of being overtaken: the same intolerable awe and dread that had come upon him in the night returned unweakened in the day... rolling on and on, always postponing thought, and always racked with thinking... pressing on ... change upon change... long roads and dread of night... and still the old monotony of bells and wheels and horses" feet, and no rest.

IV GUILT FLEEING FROM THE FACE OF GOD. Guilt fleeing:

1. Weakly and vainly. Long before Jonah, in the hour of self-reproach that followed his act of disobedience, "fled from the presence of the Lord," men had tried to put a distance between their sin and its rightful Judge. And long since then have they tried to escape his eye and his hand. Saddest of all vain endeavors is the thrice-guilty deed of the suicide, who acts as if, by entering another world, he could flee from the face of the Omnipresent One.

2. But there is a sense in which guilt flies away from the face of God really and most blessedly. When God"s conditions of penitence and faith have been fulfilled, then is our guilt "purged away," our transgressions are removed from us as far as the east is from the west," our sins are "hidden from his face," they are "cast into the depths of the sea". (Psa_65:3 Psa_103:12 Psa_51:9 Mic_7:19) Moreover, we look forward to the time when there shall be a glorious fulfillment of the Divine promises, and we shall have

V EVIL DISAPPEARING FROM THE FACE OF MAN; when sorrow and sighing shall flee away," when "death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire," when "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying... for the former things are passed away". C. (Isa_35:10 Rev_20:14 Rev_21:4)

The surprise of the Lord"s deliverances.

No inhabitant of Jerusalem could have imagined how God intended to deliver the city from Sennacherib. God"s way is in the sea, his footsteps are not known; but he leads his people safely like a flock. The following points will recall familiar illustrations.

I GOD"S PROMISED DELIVERANCES ALWAYS DO COME. "If it tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not tarry." "No good thing has failed God"s people of all that he has promised." "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard, and saved him out of all his troubles.

II THEY COME WHEN WE DO NOT EXPECT THEM, And therefore we are constantly urged to keep watchful and expectant. Disraeli truly remarked that "the unexpected is the thing that happens.

III THEY COME IN WAYS THAT SEEM STRANGE. In some cases not seeming at all to be the deliverances which they really are.

IV THE SURPRISE THEY BRING IS USUALLY FULL OF GRATITUDE AND JOY. For in most cases it is manifestly better than our thought. Then let God save us and deliver us just in his own way and time. Enough for us to wait earnestly on him in our prayer, and wait patiently for him, trustingly sure that he always has his "set time in which to favor Zion. 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 sword - Not of any man, but of an angel. Discomfited - Hebrew. shall melt away, a great part of them being destroyed by the angel; and the hearts of the rest melting for fear.

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

The second motive is, that Israel will not be rescued by men, but by Jehovah alone; so that even He from whom they have now so deeply fallen will prove Himself the only true ground of confidence. "And Asshur falls by a sword not of a man, and a sword not of a man will devour him; and he flees before a sword, and his young men become tributary. And his rock, for fear will it pass away, and his princes be frightened away by the flags: the saying of Jehovah, who has His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem." The lxx and Jerome render this falsely φεύξεται οὐκ (לא) ἀπὸ προσώπου μαχαίρας. לו is an ethical dative, and the prophet intentionally writes "before a sword" without any article, to suggest the idea of the unbounded, infinite, awful (cf., Isa 28:2, beyâd; Psalter, vol. i. p. 15). A sword is drawn without any human intervention, and before this Asshur falls, or at least so many of the Assyrians as are unable to save themselves by flight. The power of Asshur is for ever broken; even its young men will henceforth become tributary, or perform feudal service. By "his rock" most commentators understand the rock upon which the fugitive would gladly have taken refuge, but did not dare (Rosenmller, Gesenius, Knobel, etc.); others, again, the military force of Asshur, as its supposed invincible refuge (Saad., etc.); others, the apparently indestructible might of Asshur generally (Vulgate, Rashi, Hitzig). But the presence of "his princes" in the parallel clause makes it most natural to refer "his rock" to the king; and this reference is established with certainty by what Isa 32:2 affirms of the king and princes of Judah. Luther also renders it thus: und jr Fels wird fur furcht wegzihen (and their rock will withdraw for fear). Sennacherib really did hurry back to Assyria after the catastrophe in a most rapid flight. Minnēs are the standards of Asshur, which the commanders of the army fly away from in terror, without attempting to rally those that were scattered. Thus speaks Jehovah, and this is what He decrees who has His 'ūr and tannūr in Jerusalem. We cannot suppose that the allusion here is to the fire and hearth of the sacrifices; for tannūr does not mean a hearth, but a furnace (from nūr, to burn). The reference is to the light of the divine presence, which was outwardly a devouring fire for the enemies of Jerusalem, an unapproachable red-hot furnace (ignis et caminus qui devorat peccatores et ligna, faenum stipulamque consumit: Jerome).

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.)

This future abandonment of all false confidences is described as springing from the demonstration of Jehovah’s willingness and power to save. “And Assyria shall fall by no man’s sword, and no mortal’s sword shall devour him, and (yet) he shall flee from before the sword, and his young men (or chosen warriors) shall become tributary (literally, tribute).” No man’s sword, but that of God. The objection that the prophecy, as thus explained, was not fulfilled, proceeds upon the false assumption that it refers exclusively to the overthrow of Sennacherib’s host, whereas it describes the decline and fall of the Assyrian power after that catastrophe.

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

General Information:

Yahweh continues speaking to the people of Judah, referring to the Assyrians as though they are one person.

Assyria will fall by the sword; a sword not wielded by man will consume him

"Sword" refers to military might. This can be stated in active form. AT: "God's sword, and not a man's sword, will destroy the Assyrian army" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)

He will flee

"The Assyrians will flee"

They will lose all confidence because of terror

The word "confidence" can be expressed with the adjective "confident." The word "terror" can be expressed with the adjective "terrified." AT: "They will no longer be confident because they are so terrified" (See: Abstract Nouns)

his young men will be forced to do hard labor

This can be stated in active form. AT: "enemies will capture their young men and force them to do hard labor" (See: Active or Passive)

his princes

"their leaders"

at the sight of Yahweh's battle flag

The word "sight" can be expressed with the verb "see." AT: "when they see the flag of Yahweh's army" (See: Abstract Nouns)

this is Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. Translate as in Isaiah 30:1. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

whose fire is in Zion and whose firepot is in Jerusalem

Both of these clauses mean the same thing and are used together for emphasis. Here God's presence and his power to judge and destroy are spoken of as if they were a fire. AT: "whose powerful presence is in Zion" (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)

translationWords

Assyria

sword

labor

confidence

terror

prince

fear

Yahweh

fire

Zion

Jerusalem

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

With a sword, not of a mighty man, but with the drawn sword of an angel. The sword is a figurative expression.

And his young men that will have escaped shall be discomfited, shall be overtaken on the ways in which they try to flee.

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.