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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 10:5 - 10:19
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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.