Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 10:7
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.
7. Howbeit he meaneth not so ] The charge is not so much that Asshur exceeds his commission (as in Zec 1:15), as that he recognises no commission at all; his policy is entirely oblivious of moral interests.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Howbeit he meaneth not so – It is not his purpose to be the instrument, in the hand of God, of executing his designs. He has a different plan; a plan of his own which he intends to accomplish.
Neither doth his heart think so – He does not intend or design it. The heart here, is put to express purpose, or will.
It is in his heart to cut off nations – Utterly to destroy or to annihilate their political existence.
Not a few – The ambitious purpose of Sennacherib was not confined to Judea. His plan was also to invade and to conquer Egypt; and the destruction of Judea, was only a part of his scheme; Isa 20:1-6. This is a most remarkable instance of the supremacy which God asserts over the purposes of wicked people. Sennacherib formed his own plan without compulsion. He devised large purposes of ambition, and intended to devastate kingdoms. And yet God says that he was under his direction, and that his plans would be overruled to further his own purposes. Thus the wrath of man would be made to praise him; Psa 76:10. And from this we may learn
(1) That wicked people form their plans and devices with perfect freedom. They lay their schemes as if there were no superintending providence; and feel, correctly, that they are not under the laws of compulsion, or of fate.
(2) That God presides over their schemes. and suffers them to be formed and executed with reference to his own purposes.
(3) That the plans of wicked people often, though they do not intend it, go to execute the purposes of God. Their schemes result in just what they did not intend – the furtherance of his plans, and the promotion of his glory
(4) That their plans are, nevertheless, wicked and abominable. They are to be judged according to what they are in themselves, and not according to the use which God may make of them by counteracting or overruling them. Their intention is evil; and by that they must be judged. That God brings good out of them, is contrary to their design, and a thing for which they deserve no credit, and should receive no reward.
(5) The wicked are in the hands of God.
(6) There is a superintending providence; and people cannot defeat the purposes of the Almighty. This extends to princes on their thrones; to the rich, the great, and the mighty, as well as to the poor and the humble – and to the humble as well as to the rich and the great. Over all people is this superintending and controlling providence; and all are subject to the direction of God.
(7) It has often happened, in fact, that the plans of wicked people have been made to contribute to the purposes of God. Instances like those of Pharaoh, of Cyrus, and of Sennacherib; of Pontius Pilate, and of the kings and emperors who persecuted the early Christian church, show that they are in the hand of God, and that he can overrule their wrath and wickedness to his glory. The madness of Pharaoh was the occasion of the signal displays of the power of God in Egypt. The wickedness, and weakness, and flexibility of Pilate, was the occasion of the atonement made for the sins of the world. And the church rose, in its primitive brightness and splendor, amid the flames which persecution kindled, and was augmented in numbers, and in moral loveliness and power, just in proportion as the wrath of monarchs raged to destroy it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 10:7-9
Howbeit he meaneth not so
Man proposes, but God disposes
He meaneth not so.
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 hands 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 contrary to what He intends Gen 50:20; Mic 4:11-12). Men have their ends, and God His; but we are sure the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. (M. Henry.)
Gods use of evil men
As in applying of leeches the physician seeketh the health of his patient, the leech only the filling of his gorge, so is it when God turneth loose a bloody enemy upon His people; He hath excellent ends, which they think not on. (J. Trapp.)
It is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few
Assyrian conquests
The significance of Isa 10:9 appears when the dates of the events alluded to are considered . . . The application to Jerusalem is obvious . . . It is true the conquests alluded to in Isa 10:9-11 are not those of Sennacherib, and Isa 10:13, etc., would be in his mouth an exaggeration; and hence the prophecy has been referred by some to the period of Sargon. But the subject in Isa 10:7-11 is Assyria (see Isa 10:5), and though Isaiah may have regarded the king (verse 12) as being here the speaker, yet verses 5, etc., show that he speaks, not with reference to his personal achievements, but as an impersonation of the policy of his nation. And this policy Sennacherib in 701 was truly maintaining. The language of these verses does not, therefore, in reality militate against a date which in other respects is in entire accordance with the contents of the prophecy. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
Foolish ambition
Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, having enlarged his dominions by the conquest of Macedonia, was bent upon subduing Italy, and adding it to his empire. Asking the advice of his counsellor Cineas, he inquired of the prince what he meant to do after he conquered Italy? Next, said he, I mean to invade Sicily, which is a rich and powerful country and not far off. When you have got Sicily, said Cineas, what then? Africa, replied the king, containing many fine kingdoms, is at no great distance, and through my renown and the valour of my troops, I may subdue them. Be it so, said the counsellor, when you have vanquished the kingdoms of Africa, what will you do then! Pyrrhus answered, Then you and I will be merry to make you and me merry: had you all the world you could not be more merry, nor have better cheer. (R. Macculloch.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
He meaneth not so; he doth not at all design the execution of my will. and the glory of my justice, in punishing mine enemies; but only to enlarge his own empire, and satisfy his own lusts; which is seasonably added, to justify God in his judgments threatened to the Assyrian, notwithstanding this service.
To destroy and cut off nations not a few; to sacrifice multitudes of people to his own ambition and covetousness; which is abominable impiety.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. meaneth not soHe is onlythinking of his own schemes, while God is overruling them to Hispurposes.
thinkintend. Sinners’plans are no less culpable, though they by them unconsciously fulfilGod’s designs (Psa 76:10;Mic 4:12). So Joseph’s brethren(Gen 50:20; Pro 16:4).The sinner’s motive, not the result (which depends onGod), will be the test in judgment.
heart to destroy . . . not afewSennacherib’s ambition was not confined to Judea. His planwas also to conquer Egypt and Ethiopia (Isa 20:1-6;Zec 1:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so,…. His purposes, intentions, and thoughts, were not as the Lord’s; he did not imagine that he was only the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation, a minister of his wrath, and the executioner of his vengeance; he thought he was his own lord and master, and acted by his own power, and according to his own will, and was not under the direction and restraints of another; his intention was not to chastise and correct the people of the Jews, but utterly to destroy them, and not them only, but many other nations; as follows:
but [it is] in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few; not the nation of the Jews only, but many others, and so establish an universal monarchy; and what flushed him with hope and expectation of success were the magnificence of his princes, and the conquests he had already made.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Asshur was to be an instrument of divine wrath upon all Israel; but it would exalt itself, and make itself the end instead of the means. Isa 10:7 “Nevertheless he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; for it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.” Asshur did not think so ( lo’ – cen ), i.e., not as he ought to think, seeing that his power over Israel was determined by Jehovah Himself. For what filled his heart was the endeavour, peculiar to the imperial power, to destroy not a few nations, i.e., as many nations as possible, for the purpose of extending his own dominions, and with the determination to tolerate no other independent nation, and the desire to deal with Judah as with all the rest. For Jehovah was nothing more in his esteem than one of the idols of the nations. Isa 10:8-11 “For he saith, Are not my generals all kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish, or Hamath as Arpad, or Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath reached the kingdoms of the idols, and their graven images were more than those of Jerusalem and Samaria; shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, do likewise to Jerusalem and her idols?” The king of Asshur bore the title of the great king (Isa 36:4), and indeed, as we may infer from Eze 26:7, that of the king of kings. The generals in his army he could call kings,
(Note: The question is expressed in Hebrew phraseology, since sar in Assyrian was a superior title to that of melek , as we may see from inscriptions and proper names.)
because the satraps
(Note: Satrapes is the old Persian (arrow-headed) khshatra (Sanscr. xatra ) pavan , i.e., keeper of government. Pavan (nom. pava ), which occurs in the Zendik as an independent word pavan (nom. pavao ) in the sense of sentry or watchman, is probably the original of the Hebrew pechah (see Spiegel, in Kohler on Mal 1:8).)
who led their several contingents were equal to kings in the extent and splendour of their government, and some of them were really conquered kings (cf., 2Ki 25:28). He proudly asks whether every one of the cities named has not been as incapable as the rest, of offering a successful resistance to him. Carchemish is the later Circesium (Cercusium), at the junction of the Chaboras with the Euphrates (see above); Calno, the later Ctesiphon, on the left bank of the Tigris; Arpad (according to Mershid, i. p. 47, in the pashalic of Chaleb, i.e., Aleppo) and Hamath (i.e., Epiphania) were Syrian cities, the latter on the river Orontes, still a large and wealthy place. The king of Asshur had also already conquered Samaria, at the time when the prophet introduced him as uttering these words. Jerusalem, therefore, would be unable to resist him. As he had obtained possession of idolatrous kingdoms ( , to reach, as in Psa 21:9: ha – ‘elil with the article indicating the genus), which had more idols than Jerusalem or than Samaria; so would he also overcome Jerusalem, which had just as few and just as powerless idols as Samaria had. Observe there that Isa 10:11 is the apodosis to Isa 10:10, and that the comparative clause of Isa 10:10 is repeated in Isa 10:11, for the purpose of instituting a comparison, more especially with Samaria and Jerusalem. The king of Asshur calls the gods of the nations by the simple name of idols, though the prophet does not therefore make him speak from his own Israelitish standpoint. On the contrary, the great sin of the king of Asshur consisted in the manner in which he spoke. For since he recognised no other gods than his own Assyrian national deities, he placed Jehovah among the idols of the nations, and, what ought particularly to be observed, with the other idols, whose worship had been introduced into Samaria and Jerusalem. But in this very fact there was so far consolation for the worshippers of Jehovah, that such blasphemy of the one living God would not remain unavenged; whilst for the worshipers of idols it contained a painful lesson, since their gods really deserved nothing better than that contempt should be heaped upon them. The prophet has now described the sin of Asshur. It was ambitious self-exaltation above Jehovah, amounting even to blasphemy. And yet he was only the staff of Jehovah, who could make use of him as He would.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
7. Yet he will not think so. (161) When wicked men vomit out their rage, they disturb weak minds, as if it were not in the power of God to restrain their pride and fury. The Prophet therefore steps forth beforehand to meet them, and exhorts believers, whatever may be the excess to which wicked men indulge their insolence, still to feel that they are justly chastised by a secret judgment of God. He shows, as we lately noticed, that nothing will be farther from the intention of the Assyrians than to give their services to God, and to be the ministers of his wrath; but we must also consider what is their own motive of action.
Many would be ready to object, “Why dost thou, being God’s herald, threaten us with the Assyrian; as if that savage beast would submit to execute the commandments of God?” He therefore replies, that God works with such amazing skill that he brings men to yield obedience to him, even without their knowledge or will. “Although,” says he, “their attempts and plans are totally different, yet this will not prevent God from performing and carrying into execution, by means of them, whatever he has decreed.”
Many might likewise object, that it was a strange subversion of order, that God should place the elect people in subjection to the heathen nations; and that it was not just, however much the Jews had sinned, that their condition should be worse than that of those robbers who, on account of their wickedness and crimes, deserved the severest punishment. The Prophet therefore threatens that the Assyrians also will have their turn, and in due time will receive just punishment; and yet that it is not unreasonable that they should distress, plunder, devour, and slay other nations, because their own reward is reserved for them. Besides, the Prophet soothes the grief of the godly, and alleviates their solicitude and uneasiness, by declaring that God restrains the presumption of wicked men from carrying into effect whatever they think fit. He therefore shows that, however madly wicked men may rage, God mitigates his own judgments from heaven, so as to provide for the salvation of his Church. And thus, though the Assyrian, like a wild beast, may be eager to seize his prey, he bids them lift up their eyes to God, whose decree is far removed beyond the reach of that blind fury.
(161) Howbeit he meaneth not so. — Eng. Ver.
FT153 I will punish (margin, Heb. visit upon) the fruit of the stout heart. — Eng. Ver.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES
Isa. 10:7-15. Howbeit He meaneth not so, &c.
Man appoints, but God disappoints, Man proposes, but God disposes, are proverbs which sum up a good deal of human experience. We are often reminded of their truth even when we are striving to be on the side of God, and to be co-workers with Him. There will be great differences between what we mean and think, and what He has determined in reference to the same actions [970] But more frequently we see this in the case of men who, like the Assyrians, are constructing their plans in direct opposition to God, fully bent on carrying out ambitious and rapacious schemes. All the while they are only agents in effecting Divine purposes; they do what they never meant to do.
[970] P., D., 2899, 2906.
See the whole article PROVIDENCE in the H. E. I., and the other references given under this heading in the Index of Arrangement.
I. Mans purposes are often godless. In the sense,
1. Of being formed independently of God (Isa. 10:11; Isa. 10:13-14). Men forget that God is inseparably connected with us and all our movements (Psa. 139:1-12; they never ask whether God will approve of their plans, nor what will happen should He frown upon them; they assume that they have only to plan and execute, forgetting the lessons of experience. Their conduct is as foolish as it is irreligious; irrational because it is atheistic (Jas. 4:13-15).
2. Of being formed in defiance of God. Men harden themselves against the appeals and warnings of conscience and Scripture, and deliberately engage in enterprises upon which they know they cannot ask Gods blessing, upon which they know must rest Gods curse. Amid all their dark designs there is the torturing thought, which they would fain banish, but which clings to them still, that there is a Sovereign Lord whose counsel shall stand.
II. God knows how to use mans godless purposes for the furtherance of His glorious designs. This is done,
1. Sometimes by making an evil purpose the very means of continuing and spreading His good work. How often is this seen in the history of persecutions! (See Act. 18:1-2. The Pilgrim Fathers. Tyndales Bible. Martyrdoms, &c.). The means which men take for putting out the light are used by God for spreading it.
2. Sometimes by allowing the evil purpose to work on up to the point when its success appears certain, and then bringing about a totally different result. The device of Josephs brethren only needed time to effect Gods purpose. Haman; enemies of Daniel. There is no stage of a wicked design safe from the chance of utter confusion, and even its last act that was intended to be a triumph may turn out a tragedy.
3. Sometimes the evil purpose is allowed to do all that was intended, and yet God effects through it His highest designs, even when human wisdom would declare that the case was hopeless. The crowning example of this is to be found in the suffering and death of our Lord Himself. Every step of that malignant crime, which was thought to be a step towards the utter destruction of the Saviours mission, was but helping on the triumph intended in the counsels of Eternal Love (Joh. 12:32).
Learn,
1. The folly of leaving God out of our plans. To plan without Him is presumptuous arrogance (Isa. 10:15). It is to invite defeat, our knowledge being so limited and so certain to leave out some disturbing influence that will frustrate all our anticipations. A godless plan always means defeat in proportion to its apparent successes. The choice that really lies before us is to work with God as His children, or for Him as His slaves, His tools, His instruments. Our choice will be left perfectly free; but if we choose to reject His paternal guidance, we shall find that all that we have secured for ourselves is merely the contemptible honour of figuring in our small way as reprobates (Exo. 9:16).
2. The dignity of human life generally, as being comprehended in the supreme plans of God (Gen. 45:8) [973]
3. How to regard the disappointments of life. When things turn out differently than we meant or thought, it is useless to fret and fume against them. Instructed by Gods Word, let us humbly and reverently acquiesce in our disappointments as forming part of a plan of God, conceived in paternal love, which is unfolding moment by moment: each event, whether bright or dark, having its mission from Him, and clothed with the grandeur of an unerring counsel. If our purpose has been a righteous or beneficent one, though it may seem for a time to have been utterly set aside, yet in the end we shall find that God has used it to further results more important and glorious than it entered into our mind to ask or think [976]William Manning.
[973] See Outline: EVERY MANS LIFE A PLAN OF GOD, chap. Isa. 45:5.
[976] P. D., 863, 865, 867, 868, 2101, 3239.
Gods help is always sure,
His methods seldom guessed;
Delay will make our pleasure pure,
Surprise will give it zest;
His wisdom is sublime,
His heart profoundly kind;
God never is before His time,
And never is behind.
Lynch.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(7) Howbeit he meaneth not so.The thoughts which Isaiah puts into the mouth of the Assyrian are exactly in accord with the supreme egotism of the Sargon inscription, I conquered, I besieged, I burnt, I killed, I destroyed; this is the ever-recurring burden, mingled here and there with the boast that he is the champion of the great deities of Assyria, of Ishtar and of Nebo.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. He meaneth not so The Assyrian is unconsciously God’s instrument in inflicting punishment. He thinks only to build himself up. No thanks to him for executing the divine judgments. Woe to him, rather. His motives are worldly, selfish, and impure.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 10:7-11. Howbeit, he meaneth not so, &c. The prophet had taught the pious in what light they should consider the Assyrian, leading a large army with a splendid apparatus, and bringing under his power the people of God, so called, in the same manner as other nations; he shews that, though a great prince, he is only the minister of the divine providence and indignation; the executor of the counsels and decrees of the supreme ruler, Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts, without whom he could do nothing: and that in those very expeditions which he undertook against the Ephraimites and Syrians, he was to obey the secret rule of the divine providence. “Yet this prevents not, says the prophet, his becoming guilty of great crimes before God, in the execution of these secret decrees; for, ignorant of the divine counsels, he had far different thoughts in his mind; sacrificing only to his ambition and lust by this war; forgetful of humanity and equity, to which all men are bound, not by any secret, but by the manifest law of conscience and reason: through pride and arrogance he vainly lifted up himself above the true God worshipped at Jerusalem, and raised his ambition far above the state of man; so that God, by the prophet, taxes him with inhumanity and cruelty, with arrogance and ferocity; elation of mind, pride, and contempt of the true God; crimes of such a sort, that he in his turn could not avoid the divine vengeance.” After having declared that his princes (Isa 10:8.) were as kings; that is to say, that his nobles were as great as the kings of other nations, and indeed made kings or governors by him over the countries which he had subdued, he addssetting forth the greatness of his power and strength, and his prosperity in warIs not Calno as Carchemish, &c.? that is to say, “None of those cities against which he had turned his arms had been able to resist them; that he had subjugated them all, one as well as another.” Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, and Arpad, were cities of Syria and Samaria, which this mighty monarch had subdued. See 2Ki 18:34 and chap. Isa 36:19. To this proud boasting of his conquests, he adds impiety and arrogant contempt of that God of Israel, in whose hand he was but a rod:As my hand hath found or laid hold of those kingdoms of nothing, whose graven images are more excellent than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not, &c. The kingdoms of nothing mean those kingdoms which were consecrated to idols, that is, to gods different from the gods worshipped by the Assyrians. See 2Ki 19:12-13 and Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 10:7 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.
Ver. 7. Howbeit he meaneth not so. ] He is otherwise minded and affected than I am, and doeth my will merely beside and against his own will. As in applying of leeches the physician seeketh the health of his patient, the leech only the filling of his gorge, so is it when God turneth loose a bloody enemy upon his people; he hath excellent ends, which they think not on.
But it is in his heart to destroy and cut off.
a Camd. Rem., p. 214.
b Parei Hist. Prof. Med., p. 895.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
he meaneth not so = will not mean. The blindness of the instrument emphasizes the truth of the prophecy.
think so = so intend.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he meaneth: Gen 50:20, Mic 4:11, Mic 4:12, Act 2:23, Act 13:27-30
in his heart: Isa 36:18-20, Isa 37:11-13
Reciprocal: Exo 21:13 – God 1Ki 16:7 – because he killed him 2Ki 19:23 – With the multitude 1Ch 10:14 – he slew 2Ch 32:1 – win them Psa 9:6 – thou hast Psa 10:3 – boasteth Psa 66:7 – let Pro 20:24 – how Pro 24:8 – General Ecc 1:16 – communed Isa 16:8 – the lords Isa 29:8 – as when Isa 33:11 – conceive Jer 49:30 – for Jer 50:11 – ye destroyers Jer 51:53 – from Eze 9:1 – Cause Eze 29:20 – served Eze 31:8 – nor any Eze 38:10 – that at Dan 11:12 – his heart Nah 1:11 – one Hab 2:5 – who Mar 15:26 – the superscription Joh 19:24 – They parted Rom 3:7 – why yet Rom 9:19 – Why doth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
AN UNCONSCIOUS INSTRUMENT
He meaneth not so.
Isa 10:7
I. Little do bad men ween, in all their pride and power, that they are but rods and instruments in the hand of God, and that He will lay them aside when He has done with them.He meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so. So, child of God, be not dismayed by the proud boastings of your oppressor. It is but for a moment.
II. Meekly bend beneath the Fathers rod.Think not of the man who hurts youthe Shimei that curses, the Judas that betrays; but go behind them both, to Him Who is using them for His own purpose. It is a profound and comforting thought that those who oppress us are only as the axe or saw, the staff or rod, in the hand of those who wield them, and absolutely powerless of themselves. As if a staff should brandish those who wield it. As if a rod should lift up that which is no wood. Can a tool use its owner?
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Assyria did not consciously serve God. She planned to pursue her own selfish purposes and to destroy many nations to expand her own empire. She mistakenly thought she was sovereign.