Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 10:33
Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature [shall be] hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
33, 34. Just when the Assyrian is in sight of his goal, Jehovah smites him down. The description naturally passes into figurative and somewhat vague language. The image is that of a stately forest laid low by the axe-man.
Isa 10:33 . The Lord Jehovah of Hosts, as in Isa 10:16.
The “high ones of stature,” and the “lofty ones” (R.V.) are the great trees; the epithets keep within the limits of the figure. For be humbled read lie low.
Isa 10:34 . the thickets of the forest (R.V.) cf. ch. Isa 9:18. The verb in the first clause is probably passive: “shall be cut down.” Lebanon ] Better, the Lebanon. Lebanon means “the white (mountain)” either from its snows or its chalk cliffs and in Hebr. prose always retains the art.; here, however, the reference is to its forests, which supply a figure for the Assyrian army.
a mighty one ] or “a majestic One” Jehovah Himself.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold, the Lord … – The prophet had described, in the previous verses, the march of the Assyrians toward Jerusalem, station by station. He had accompanied him in his description until he had arrived in full sight of the city, which was the object of all his preparation. He had described the consternation which was felt at his approach in all the smaller towns. Nothing had been able to stand before him; and now, flushed with success, and confident that Jerusalem would fall, he stands before the devoted city. But here, the prophet announces that his career was to close; and here his arms to be stayed. Here he was to meet with an overthrow, and Jerusalem would still be safe. This is the design of the prophecy, to comfort the inhabitants of Jerusalem with the assurance that they still would be safe.
Will lop the bough – The word bough here ( pu’rah) is from pa’ar to adorn, to beautify; and is given to a branch or bough of a tree on account of its beauty. It is, therefore, descriptive of that which is beautiful, honored, proud; and is applied to the Assyrian on account of his pride and magnificence. In Isa 10:18-19, the prophet had described the army of the Assyrian as a magnificent forest. Here he says that the glory of that army should be destroyed, as the vitality and beauty of the waving bough of a tree is quickly destroyed when it is lopped with an axe. There can scarcely be conceived a description, that would more beautifully represent the fading strength of the army of the Assyrian than this.
With terror – In such a way as to inspire terror.
The high ones of stature – The chief men and officers of the army.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 33. Shall lop the bough with terror] purah; but purah, wine-press, is the reading of twenty-six of Kennicott’s and twenty-three of De Rossi’s MSS., four ancient editions, with Symmachus, Theodotion, and the Chaldee.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The bough; the top bough, Sennacherib; or,
the boughs, his valiant soldiers or commanders of his army, which he compareth to a forest, Isa 10:18,34.
With terror; with a most terrible and amazing stroke by an angel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
33. boughliterally, the”beauty” of the tree; “the beautiful branch.”
high ones of stature“theupright stem,” as distinguished from the previous”boughs” [HORSLEY].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror,…. Cut off the king of Assyria and his army, in a most terrible manner; “the glory” of it, as in Isa 10:18 the word signifies that which is the ornament, the beauty and glory, of the tree. The Septuagint render it, “the glorious ones”; and the Arabic version, “the nobles”, the generals, and principal officers of the army; the Targum is,
“behold, the Lord of the world, the Lord of hosts, shall cast forth the slain in his camp, as grapes that are trod in a winepress.”
And the high ones of stature [shall] be hewn down; the princes of Assyria, so boasted of as kings, Isa 10:8 comparable to tall trees, to oaks and cedars:
and the haughty shall be humbled; who, like their monarch, boasted of their wisdom and strength, Isa 10:12 but now both he and they will be brought very low.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(33) Behold, . . . the Lord of hosts . . .The sudden change of tone indicates another pressure of the strong hand of Jehovah (Isa. 8:11), another burst of intensest inspiration. So far shalt thou go, the prophet says to Sargon, as he said afterwards to Sennacherib (Isa. 37:28-32), and no farther. In the boughs that are to be lopped, and the thickets of the forest that are to be cut down, we have the same imagery as in Isa. 10:17-19. The constant boasts of the Assyrian kings that they cut down the forests of the nations they conquered, gave a special fitness to this emblem of the work of the Divine Nemesis. High as the cedars of Lebanon might rise in their majesty, the Mighty One of Israel (better, Glorious One; comp. Isa. 10:18, Isa. 33:21; Psa. 93:4) would lay them low.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Final Result ( Isa 10:33 to Isa 11:10 ).
And now the scene suddenly changes. After the detail of the march the final result is dismissed in two sentences as a new prophecy opens up. Assyria is by now almost irrelevant. In mind now are all the enemies who come from the north in their proud and arrogant presumption against God’s people, all the enemies of Israel. They will be hewn down like a condemned forest and fall before the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, preparing the way for the new growth of the Spirit endued King. And then will arise God’s solution for the world, the anointed son of David, and He will establish everlasting righteousness.
All The Enemies of the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts Will Be Severely Dealt With And His King Will Reign In Righteousness (Isa 10:33 to Isa 11:4).
The destruction of the high and mighty ones, and the raising up of His righteous king go together. It is as though from the felled forest grows up the shoot and branch of Jesse. Out of seeming disaster God will bring triumph.
Analysis of Isa 10:33 to Isa 11:4.
a Behold the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will lop the boughs with terror, and the high ones of stature will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. And He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One (Isa 10:33-34).
b And there will come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit (Isa 11:1).
c And the Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh (Isa 11:2).
c And His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh, and He will not judge after the sight of His eyes, nor reprove after the hearing of His ears (Isa 10:3).
b But with righteousness will He judge the poor, and reprove with equity on behalf of the meek of the earth (Isa 10:4 a).
a And He will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked (Isa 10:4 b).
In ‘a’ the Lord Yahweh of hosts will reveal His righteousness (compare Isa 10:22) by bringing down the high ones and the lofty ones, cutting down the forests as the Mighty One and in the parallel His chosen One will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips. In ‘b’ a shoot will come forth from the stock of Jesse and a branch from his roots (in contrast with the high and lofty forests), and in the parallel He will judge the poor with righteousness and reprove the meek with equity, this in complete contrast with the king of Assyria. In ‘c’ The ‘Spirit of Yahweh’ will rest on Him, and He will be just and right, and in the parallel His delight will be in the ‘fear of Yahweh’ and He will judge fairly and honestly.
Isa 10:33
‘Behold the Lord, Yahweh of hosts,
Will lop the boughs with terror,
And the high ones of stature will be hewn down,
And the lofty will be brought low.
And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,
And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.’
All who oppose God are in mind here, all the proud foes from the north. This includes Assyria and its attack on God’s people, but it also includes all others who come through Lebanon from the north. This prophecy is placed here, not only to emphasise Assyria’s defeat, but also to demonstrate God’s final victory on all who come from the north. It is the ultimate victory against the ultimate enemy. It was from the forests of Lebanon that the enemy continually emerged. But now the forests of Lebanon will be no more, with all that they represent of the foes from the north. They will be laid bare. All God’s enemies will be cut down and destroyed to prepare the way for the son of David, and it is inevitable, for they are in opposition to the sovereign Lord, Yahweh, Lord of all the hosts of heaven and earth.
The vivid picture brings home the direct action of God. No longer the indirect forest fire (Isa 10:16-19), but the direct action of the woodcutter which will be on all that is against God and His people. Note that the action takes place outside the land. His people will now be safe under their King. (It is the geography of parable, not to be taken literally).
The emphasis is on the humbling of proud man before the terror of Yahweh. The boughs are lopped. The huge giants of the forest are hewn down, the tallest of the trees are brought low. The impenetrable thickets are chopped down with iron. The whole of Lebanon will fall at the hands of the Mighty One. For a similar world picture see Isa 2:10-21. We know Who has done it, but how it will come about is not described.
And then, in contrast, from the stump of a tree will blossom the One Who will change the world.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 10:33-34. Behold, the Lord, &c. We have in these verses the consequence of the expedition before mentioned, Interpreters, however, vary greatly respecting their application; but Vitringa is clearly of opinion, from the whole scope and coherence of the prophesy, that the passage refers not, as some would have it, to the destruction of the house of David, but to that of Sennacherib, which has been the subject of this whole prophesy; and whose overthrow is painted in similar terms, Isa 10:18-19. In Ezekiel the Assyrian is called a cedar in Lebanon. The mighty one by whom this great cedar in Lebanon was to fall, can mean no other than the destroying angel referred to in Isa 10:17. See Vitringa.
REFLECTIONS.1st, God proceeds in his controversy with Israel.
1. He accuses their governors of oppression and injustice, in framing such laws as immediately tended to distress the poor; or by making the proceedings so tedious, and expensive, that the needy man never could afford to maintain his right; or in their administration they were so corrupt, that they enriched themselves with the spoil of the fatherless and widows, and feared not to rob and plunder those who were too weak to resist. Note; There is a lawgiver, to whom the oppressed may appeal, and woe to those whose unrighteous decrees shall come before his bar!
2. He warns them of the folly, sin, and danger of their ways. They braved it out now, but what will ye do in the day of visitation, when God rises up to judge? and in the desolation which shall come from far? from the king of Babylon: to whom will ye flee for help, in that day of calamity? and where will ye leave your glory? the riches, which they accounted their great support, but in that day would perish irrecoverably. Without me, when forsaken of my help, they shall bow down under the prisoners, or among the prisoners, and shall fall under, or among the slain; either in chains led captive, or left dead by the enemies’ sword; and after all, greater judgments are still in store. Note; (1.) As there is an awful day of inquiry approaching, it becomes every one seriously to consider what he shall then do, and how he shall be able to stand before the eternal Judge. (2.) Whatever greatness and glory a sinner may acquire, he must leave it all behind, and go a naked criminal to a righteous bar, where no covering or excuse can hide his iniquities, and whence there lies no appeal. (3.) They who live without God, will die without hope, the prisoners of the grave, and lying down among the slain in the second death. (4.) It will be the consummation of misery to the damned, that no gleam of hope will ever cheer their darkness, nor the least prospect appear of God’s justice being ever satisfied.
2nd, Desolations upon Israel being accomplished, let not Judah think to go unpunished: Sennacherib is commissioned to shake the rod over them; yet God prescribes bounds to his pride, and faith, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further.
1. The Jews are described as an hypocritical nation; for, though they complied with the reformation of Hezekiah, their hearts in general remained unchanged, and their religious services were but vain formality, and therefore they are called, The people of my wrath; nothing being in God’s sight more detestable than hypocrisy, yet no sin so common among professors.
2. God hath a rod prepared to scourge them; the Assyrian monarch is commissioned from him to ravage and spoil their country, and as mire in the streets to tread them under foot. Note; (1.) The tyrants of the world are but the tools of providence. (2.) They who most impiously employ their power against God, receive it from him, and he can make their wickedness subservient to his glory. (3.) When God chastises his children, he intends their profiting, not their perdition.
3. The proud instrument employed thinks not who employs him, nor means to answer God’s purposes but his own; to establish universal monarchy, and to gratify his ambition: boasting, therefore, his power and conquests, he promises himself success against Jerusalem, as well as the other cities that he had taken; his princes, equal to kings, were able to supply his army for the accomplishment of the extensive conquests which he meditated. A variety of cities, the capitals of vanquished countries, he enumerates, over which his arms had proved successful; and whose inhabitants he had transplanted into other countries, after having plundered their houses of their treasures, as eggs taken from the nest while the dam is absent, so that no resistance was made, and none able to withstand him, of all the nations that he or his predecessors had invaded; and this he vainly imputes to his own strength and wisdom, as if none could defeat his politics, and none could withstand his power. Whence he concludes, that as the gods of the heathen whom he had subdued were more powerful than the gods of Jerusalem and Samaria, and the former were already fallen a prey, the latter would afford him as easy a victory; blasphemously comparing Judah’s God to the idols of the nations, and supposing him equally unable to protect his votaries. Note; (1.) Nothing is farther from the hearts of sinners than to serve God’s designs; but while they mean only their own ends, they are made to answer his. (2.) What is a worm of earth, though princes bow before him, compared with him whom angels, principalities, and all the powers above, obey? (3.) To leave out God in the account of our gains, and to ascribe them to our own prudence, is direct atheism. (4.) Vanity and self-sufficiency generally end in shame and disappointment.
4. God by his prophet rebukes the insolent boaster, and foretels his approaching ruin. Not more absurd would be the boast of the axe or saw in the craftsman’s hand, as if the work done was theirs and not his who used them, than for this proud king, the rod of God’s justice, to vaunt his conquests; or for this staff of God’s indignation to arrogate the glory of his victories to himself, as if he was not the mere instrument, but the self-sufficient agent in those atchievements: but God will make him know his folly in his fall; when he has done his work of chastising and correcting God’s people, for which he is employed, then shall his pride and haughtiness be humbled; his mighty army, the glory of his strength, like a body emaciated with consumption, shall pine away, and as fuel for the fire shall be burnt to ashes. God, the Light and Holy One of Israel, the Messiah, shall, by his angel, in one day consume the whole army, and as easily as briers and thorns fall before devouring fire. Though thick as a forest his tents or as the javelins of his soldiers, and tall as cedars his mighty captains, they shall be consumed together, body and soul, as when a standard-bearer fainteth, and the rout is universal; so easily and utterly would they be destroyed; and so few escape the general ruin, that, instead of a muster-master, a little child might number them. Note; (1.) The most proud and insolent, God can abase. (2.) In all the visitations on his believing people, God has some gracious design to answer; when that is done, the rod will be burnt. (3.) In the midst of our trials, if God be our light, we shall see a door of escape, or be comforted with his presence, which can make the heaviest afflictions light. (4.) None ever hardened his heart against God, and prospered. (5.) When God arises to judge the wicked, he will destroy both body and soul together in hell.
3rdly, When judgment is executed on the enemies of God’s church, mercy is reserved in store for his faithful people. Amid the general desolations, a remnant would be preserved, and return to their old habitations after Sennacherib raised the siege of Jerusalem, or from the Babylonish captivity: but this prophecy looks farther, and especially regards the times of the Messiah, Rom 9:27.
1. A remnant of Israel would then be saved, escaping from the general blindness and unbelief which were upon the rest of their countrymen; renouncing their vain confidence, as now they were taught by sad experience the vanity of trusting in Assyria for help, and therefore in faith and truth placing all their hopes of salvation on the power and grace of their Redeemer alone. Note; When we return to God, renouncing our self-dependence and our sins, God will turn to us in pardon and peace.
2. When the mighty God the Saviour hath secured his own faithful people, the remnant of Jacob, then vengeance will, according to God’s decree, be executed on the more numerous part of Israel that have rejected his salvation; and herein God will abundantly manifest his righteousness, when in all the land a consumption shall be made of the obstinately unbelieving.
4thly, Now God,
1. Encourages his people to trust, and not to be afraid: terrible as Sennacherib’s invasion appeared, God had set bounds to his ambition: though for a while they should suffer, as when their fathers were in Egypt, under the scourge, or be distressed as at the Red Sea, when the Egyptians pursued them, yet in a moment the cause of their fears would cease, and God’s anger, which seemed to threaten them in this invasion, be removed by the destruction of the Assyrians. A destroying angel, his scourge, should pass through the Assyrian host with sudden and terrible destruction by night, as the sword of Gideon smote the Midianites, and the sea swallowed up the Egyptians, when Moses stretched out his rod. Their enemies defeated, the burden of tribute imposed on them, 2Ki 18:14, would be taken off, and their yoke of bondage to Assyria be destroyed, because of the anointing, for the sake of the faithful, who have an unction from the Holy One, or for the sake of the Messiah, who is the author of every mercy and blessing that descends on his people. Note; God’s believing people need never fear; there is hope for them in the darkest day.
2. He describes the rapid progress of the Assyrian king advancing to the siege, and the ravages and dismay which he shall spread around him: without the least resistance he marches from Aiath to Migron, and thence to Michmash, where he establishes his magazines; and, hastening through the noted pass, 1Sa 14:4, encamps for a night at Geba, in Benjamin. Frighted at his approach, the inhabitants sought only to save themselves by flight; while detachments from his army ravaged the country, and the cries of the poor people, plundered by the soldiers, were heard from one end of Judaea to the other. Nob was his last station, where he halted within sight of Jerusalem, and, shaking his hand in threatening, promised himself a speedy conquest of those high battlements. Note; Success is apt to intoxicate, and the confidence of the proud turns to their destruction.
3. His overthrow is determined. The Lord, the Lord of Hosts, before whom the mightiest are but as dust before the whirlwind, will stretch out his hand, and confound the aspiring hopes of the Assyrian; and all his army and chief captains, as the cedars of Lebanon fall under the stroke of the axe, shall perish by the destroying angel. Note; (1.) The terrors of God in the day of wrath will overwhelm the proudest, and sink the mightiest in despair. (2.) None ever persecuted God’s church and people with impunity.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 10:33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature [shall be] hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
Ver. 33. Behold, the Lord shall lop the bough, ] i.e., Those of greatest state and stature in the Assyrian army.
And the haughty shall be humbled.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 10:33-34
33Behold, the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash;
Those also who are tall in stature will be cut down
And those who are lofty will be abased.
34He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,
And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
Isa 10:33-34 Isa 10:33-34 is hard to define as to who is lopped off. It seems to be a literary link between Isa 10:16-19; Isa 11:1. Isaiah often used forestry imagery. Whoever compiled the scroll of Isaiah used word plays and themes as a way to link together Isaiah’s recorded prophetic messages. We must remember that the major truth of the literary unit and stanzas are more important than
1. the details
2. the exact historical setting of each literary building block
Our love for the Bible and desire to know more have caused us to treat the Bible in non-contextual, literal ways, which destroy the literary nature of Scripture and especially prophecy!
I think this is an elaboration of Isa 10:16-19. The imagery is the destruction of a forest, which symbolizes the Assyrian army and its leadership.
Isa 10:33 The second half of this verse has several terms found only here in the OT. This is why the central truth of the paragraph (prose) or stanza (poetry) is crucial. The main truth or imagery is key, not each and every detail.
Isa 10:34
NASB, NKJVby the Mighty One
NRSVwith its majestic trees
TEVthe finest trees
NJBof a Mighty One
LXXwith its lofty ones
REBwith its noble trees
This phrase can refer to
1. God (cf. Isa 10:33 a; Isa 10:34 a)
2. the tall trees of Lebanon (cf. Isa 10:33 b,c; LXX)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the Kingdom of the Messiah
Isa 10:33-34; Isa 11:1-9
The advance of the Assyrian along the great north road is graphically described. It was marked by raided villages and towns. The night sky was lurid with flames. But his collapse would be as sudden and irretrievable as the felling of forest timber. As the one chapter closes we can almost hear the crash of the Assyrian tree to the ground, and there is no sprout from his roots. But in the next the prophet descries a fair and healthy branch uprising from the trunk of Jesses line. The vision of the King is then presented, who can be none other than the divine Redeemer on whom rests the sevenfold Spirit of God. The second verse defines the work of the Comforter, and is evidently the model of that royal hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus. But remember that He on whom this divine unction rested longs to share the pentecostal gift with the least of His disciples, 1Jn 2:27. Note that as mans sin brought travail and groaning on all creation, so will His redemption deliver it, Rom 8:19-25.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
lop: Isa 10:16-19, Isa 37:24-36, Isa 37:38, 2Ki 19:21-37, 2Ch 32:21
the high ones: Amo 2:9
and the haughty: Isa 2:11-17, Job 40:11, Job 40:12, Dan 4:37, Luk 14:11
Reciprocal: 2Ki 19:35 – and smote Psa 37:36 – General Isa 2:13 – General Isa 10:18 – consume Isa 10:25 – For yet Isa 17:13 – but Isa 23:9 – Lord Isa 25:11 – he shall bring Isa 31:8 – shall the Isa 33:10 – Now will I rise Isa 37:7 – I will Isa 37:36 – the angel Isa 45:14 – men of stature Isa 48:3 – and I Isa 51:13 – where is Jer 22:7 – cut Jer 46:22 – and come Eze 31:3 – a cedar Dan 4:10 – a tree Zec 11:2 – Howl Luk 3:9 – General Rom 8:39 – height
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 10:33-34. The Lord of hosts shall lop the bough The top bough, Sennacherib; with terror Hebrew, bemagnaratza, with a dreadful crash, as Bishop Lowth renders it, expressed by the very sound of the Hebrew word; by a most terrible and unexpected blow; and the high ones, &c. The lofty boughs, Hebrew, excelsi statura, the high of stature: that is, his valiant soldiers, or the great commanders of his army, compared to the tall trees of a forest; shall be hewn down By a sudden and irresistible stroke; and the haughty The proud, self- confident boasters, elati animo, the high-minded, as signifies; shall be humbled Shall be laid motionless in the dust, namely, by the invisible power of the destroying angel. And he shall cut down the thickets, &c., with iron Or, as with iron, as the trees of the forest are cut down with instruments of iron; and Lebanon Or, his Lebanon, the Assyrian army, which being before compared to a forest, and being called his Carmel in the Hebrew text, (Isa 10:18,) may very fitly, upon the same ground, be called his Lebanon here. Shall fall by a mighty one By a mighty angel, Isa 37:36.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the {z} bough with terror: and the high ones of stature [shall be] hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
(z) Fear and destruction will come on Judah for the princes and the people will all be led away captive.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The prophet now changed his perspective as well as his figure. Even though Assyria would menace and, indeed, destroy Jerusalem, Yahweh of armies would cut the enemy down to size as a lumberjack trimmed branches off a tree and finally felled it. God’s irresistible instrument would cut back Assyria’s many lofty leaders. This would be a felling as colossal as the harvesting of Lebanon’s vast forests (cf. Eze 31:3).
"The . . . ’forest thickets’ refers to thick underbrush that must be cleared to allow the fine trees to grow. . . .’the Lebanon’ refers, not to a country as today, but to a region on the slopes of Mount Hermon to the north of Israel. It was renowned for the magnificent gigantic trees which grew there." [Note: Watts, p. 166.]
This prophecy found literal fulfillment when God Himself defeated the Assyrians in 605 B.C. (ch. 37).