Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 10:12
Wherefore it shall come to pass, [that] when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
12. The verse seems to interrupt what might well have been a single speech of the Assyrian King, by a threat of the doom reserved for him. The arrogant assumption that Jehovah is a mere tribal deity, who is defeated when His images are overthrown, rouses the prophet to this indignant outburst.
when the Lord hath performed ] completed, lit. “cut off.” The figure is taken from the cutting off of the finished web from the loom. See ch. Isa 38:12; also Zec 4:9.
his whole work ] The work of chastisement and purification, to be executed on mount Zion and on Jerusalem.
the fruit of the stout heart (lit. “fruit of the pride of heart,” see ch. Isa 9:9) of the king of Assyria ] The “fruit” is the outcome of his pride in such language as Isa 10:8-11 ; Isa 10:13 f.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wherefore … – In this verse God, by the prophet, threatens punishment to the king of Assyria for his pride, and wicked designs.
His whole work – His entire plan in regard to the punishment of the Jews. He sent the king of Assyria for a specific purpose to execute his justice on the people of Jerusalem. That plan he would execute entirely by the hand of Sennacherib, and would then inflict deserved, punishment on Sennacherib himself, for his wicked purposes.
Upon mount Zion – Mount Zion was a part of Jerusalem (see the note at Isa 1:8), but it was the residence of the court, the dwelling-place of David and his successors; and perhaps here, where it is mentioned as distinct from Jerusalem, it refers to the court, the princes, nobles, or the government. I will execute my purposes against the government, and the people of the city.
I will punish – Hebrew, I will visit; but here, evidently used to denote punishment; see the note at Isa 10:3.
The fruit of the stout heart – Hebrew, The fruit of the greatness of the heart. The greatness of the heart, is a Hebraism for pride of heart, or great swelling designs and plans formed in the heart. Fruit is that which a tree or the earth produces; and then anything which is produced or brought forth in any way. Here it means that which a proud heart had produced or designed, that is, plans of pride and ambition; schemes of conquest and of blood.
The glory of his high looks – Hebrew, The glory of the lifting up of his eyes – an expression indicative of pride and haughtiness. The word glory, here, evidently refers to the self-complacency, and the air of majesty and haughtiness, which a proud man assumes. In this verse we see –
(1) That God will accomplish all the purposes of which he designs to make wicked people the instruments. Their schemes shall be successful just so far as they may contribute to his plans, and no further.
(2) When that is done, they are completely in his power, and under his control. He can stay their goings when he pleases, and subdue them to his will.
(3) The fact that they have been made to further the plans of God, and to execute his designs, will not free them from deserved punishment. They meant not so; and they will be dealt with according to their intentions, and not according to Gods design to overrule them. Their plans were wicked; and if God brings good out of them, it is contrary to their intention; and hence, they are not to be screened from punishment because he brings good out of their plans, contrary to their designs.
(4) Wicked people are in fact often thus punished. Nothing is more common on earth; and all the woes of hell will be an illustration of the principle. Out of all evil God shall educe good; and even from the punishment of the damned themselves, he will take occasion to illustrate his own perfections, and, in that display of his just character, promote the happiness of holy beings.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 10:12
When the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion
Gods two-sided providence
1.
God designed to do good to Zion and Jerusalem by this providence. 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.
2. When God had wrought this work of grace for His people, He would work a work of wrath and vengeance upon their invaders. (M. Henry.)
Stoutness of heart
The stout heart here threatened is entirely different from true magnanimity or greatness of mind, arising from good principles and accompanied with other virtues, which excites to the most laudable and renowned actions. It is an odious, stubborn disposition, which acts in direct contrariety to lowliness of mind and poverty of spirit, whereby people are inclined to think modestly of their abilities and performances; it proceeds from pride, is strengthened by external grandeur and dignity, and discovered by vain self-conceit and foolish boasting of past exertions and successes, and future intended enterprises. The fruit of the king of Assyrias stout heart was a daring expedition against Jerusalem, undertaken in proud contempt of the true God, and accompanied with blasphemous insults, repeatedly offered to the Most High over all the earth. (R. Macculloch.)
Penalty in apparent success
When the scum is at highest, it falls in the fire. (J. Trapp.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. The Lord – “JEHOVAH”] For Adonai, fourteen MSS. and three editions read Yehovah.
The fruit – “The effect”] ” peri, f. tsebi, vid. Isa 13:19, sed confer, Pr 1:31; Pr 31:16; Pr 31:31.” – SECKER. The Chaldee renders the word peri by obadey, works; which seems to be the true sense; and I have followed it. – L.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Wherefore; because of this impudent blasphemy.
Hath performed his whole work, of chastising his people so long and so much as he sees fit and necessary for them.
Punish, Heb. visit, to wit, in wrath, as before on Isa 10:3.
The glory of his high looks; his insolent words and carriages, proceeding from intolerable pride of heart.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. whole workHis entire planis regard to the punishment of the Jews (Isa10:5-7).
Zionthe royalresidence, the court, princes and nobles; as distinguished from”Jerusalem,” the people in general.
fruitthe result of,that is, the plants emanating from.
stoutHebrew,“greatness of,” that is, pride of.
gloryhaughtiness.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Wherefore it shall come to pass,…. It shall surely be; what God has purposed in his heart, and published in his word, shall certainly be fulfilled:
[that] when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem; in correcting, chastising, and humbling the inhabitants thereof, by suffering them to be besieged by the Assyrian army. God sometimes makes use of wicked men to chastise his people; this is his work, and not theirs; and when he begins, he goes on, and finishes it; and when he has done, punishes the instruments he uses; after he has scourged his children, he takes the rod, and breaks it to pieces.
I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks; that is, he would punish him for his wicked actions, which were the fruit of the haughtiness of his heart, and the pride of his eyes; or for that pride which filled his heart, and showed itself in his lofty looks. Kimchi joins this to the preceding clause, and makes the sense to be, that God would punish the Assyrian for his pride, in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; for there his army died, or near it, being smitten by the angel. The Targum is,
“and it shall be, when the Lord hath finished to do all that he hath said in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And when He had made use of him as He would, He would throw him away. “And it will come to pass, when the Lord shall have brought to an end all His work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will come to punish over the fruit of the pride of heart of the king of Asshur, and over the haughty look of his eyes.” The “fruit” ( peri ) of the heart’s pride of Asshur is his vainglorious blasphemy of Jehovah, in which his whole nature is comprehended, as the inward nature of the tree is in the fruit which hangs above in the midst of the branches; tiph’ereth , as in Zec 12:7, the self-glorification which expresses itself in the lofty look of the eyes. Several constructives are here intentionally grouped together (Ges. 114, 1), to express the great swelling of Asshur even to bursting. But Jehovah, before whom humility is the soul of all virtue, would visit this pride with punishment, when He should have completely cut off His work, i.e., when He should have thoroughly completed ( bizza’ , absolvere ) His punitive work upon Jerusalem ( maaseh , as in Isa 28:21). The prep. Beth is used in the same sense as in Jer 18:23, agere cum aliquo . It is evident that maaseh is not used to indicate the work of punishment and grace together, so that yebazza could be taken as a literal future (as Schrring and Ewald suppose), but that it denotes the work of punishment especially; and consequently yebazza is to be taken as a futurum exactum (cf., Isa 4:4), as we may clearly see from the choice of this word in Lam 2:17 (cf., Zec 4:9).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verse 12-19: THE PROUD ASSYRIAN TO BE HUMBLED
1. When the Lord has accomplished his disciplinary purpose upon His people, He will then punish the arrogance and haughtiness of the Assyrian -putting an end to it by the infliction of His vengeance in an extraordinary way, (Verse 12, 33-34; Isa 14:25; Isa 30:31-33; Isa 31:8-9).
2. Again, the Assyrian is seen boasting of his own military power, political sagacity and the ease with which he has gathered the wealth of nations without any effective opposition, (Verse 13-14; Isa 37:24-27; 2Ki 19:22-24; Hab 2:6-8; comp. Jer 48:16).
3. That boasting is inappropriate and premature; the story is not yet complete, (Verse 15; comp. Verse 5; Jer 51:20; Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9).
4. The fiery indignation of the Lord of Hosts will, in a single day, bring the Assyrian to such utter humiliation and bankruptcy of military might that “the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few”, (Verse 16-19; Isa 30:33; Isa 31:9; Isa 37:23; Isa 33:10-12; Jer 21:14; Eze 20:47-48; comp. Isa 21:17).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. But it shall come to pass. Hitherto the Prophet had explained what would be the pride of the Assyrian, after having obtained a victory over Israel; but now he foretells what will happen to the Assyrian himself, and what will be the purpose of God against him. Wicked men do everything in the same manner as if God were not in heaven, and could not frustrate their designs. What else is the meaning of those haughty words, My hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, than this, that he thought that he would vanquish all the gods? But God opposes his designs, and, after having made use of his agency, punishes himself also.
This verse contains two clauses. First, he declares that God will punish a wicked king. Secondly, he suggests that the time is not yet come, in order to encourage believers to the exercise of patience. He foretells that the time which God regards as fit for doing it will be, when he shall have chastised the sins of his Church; in the same manner as if the master of a house were to settle the disturbances of his own family. The object which he has in view is, that believers may not give way to despondency, when they behold a wicked tyrant in such a state of exultation, and may not abandon the hope of salvation, as if it were impossible to restrain him.
I will visit upon the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria. (162) God promises, in a word, that after having permitted the Assyrian to plume himself beyond measure, he will in his turn be an avenger; for it belongs to him to repress the pride of the flesh, which is connected with sacrilege. Accordingly, the preposition על ( gnal) (163) is emphatic, as if it declared that the Assyrian will not be protected by his loftiness from undergoing punishment. Fruit is here taken in a metaphorical sense, for wicked men think that they are happy and prosperous when they swell with pride, as if they gathered some fruit. He places in the foreground the heart, which is the seat of pride, and which, when it swells with haughtiness, pours out fierceness and cruelty. Afterwards, he adds the eyes, by which the inward feelings of the heart are manifested, and which, by being lifted up, are the heralds of secret vice. To whatever extent the Assyrian, in his pride, may elevate himself, God testifies that he has in his own power the means of suddenly changing his glory into dishonor and reproach. Accordingly, he includes contempt, scorn, disdain, and haughty looks, indicative of excessive confidence, which are usually beheld in proud men.
I will visit. He introduces God as speaking, because that which God utters with his own mouth is more impressive, ( ἐμφατικώτερον,) than if he spoke by the mouth of the Prophet. Hence draw a general doctrine. God cannot endure the arrogance of proud men, without suppressing it; for he wages incessant war with the haughty and disdainful. (Pro 3:34; Jas 4:6; 1Pe 5:5.)
When the Lord shall have finished his whole work. Observe how, in order to repress immoderate haste, the Prophet added this by way of limitation; for as soon as we see a proud man, we wonder that the Lord endures him. Isaiah here shows that God endures that proud tyrant, whatever may be the insolence with which he vaunts and exalts himself, because he chose to make use of his agency, and that the seasonable time for the Lord’s destruction of the wicked is not always at hand, but that we ought to wait patiently for it. When he shall have chastised the kingdom of Judah, as if he were bringing the members of the family into a state of submission, he will not be slow or sluggish in punishing a foreign enemy; as a father commonly throws away or breaks the rod with which he chastised his son.
His whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem. By a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, ( συνεκδοχικῶς,) Mount Zion is here put for the Church, and Jerusalem is employed in the same sense, in order that by means of the Temple and the royal city, as the head, he might describe the whole body, and by means of the most important part might describe the whole kingdom. He calls it the whole work, because through our foolish haste we would draw away God from his work, though it were only begun. More especially, our wrath against wicked men rages so strongly, that it is difficult to restrain our impatience, if God do not instantly comply with our wish in punishing them. To mitigate this fervor, he bids them allow full and ample time for God’s fatherly chastisements.
The whole work denotes a proper measure. This is a useful and highly consolatory doctrine; for we see wicked men, in a wonderfully arrogant and seemingly triumphant manner, mocking God, and uttering reproaches and slanders against his doctrine, so that hardly any words can express their insolence. If the Lord would comply with our wish, he would immediately hasten to subdue and destroy them. But he wishes first to humble his Church by means of them.
On Mount Zion and on Jerusalem. He does not now speak of Syrians or Egyptians, but of the Jews, of Zion, of the Temple and the habitation which he was pleased to consecrate to himself. Thus, at the present day, there are various diseases of the Church, which the Lord determines to heal and remove. He has indeed begun to do so; but we are mistaken if we think that the work is finished; and he will not cease till he has subdued us, so that we may be moved by the true fear of him, and may submit to his yoke with becoming modesty and gentleness. We need not wonder, therefore, that he gives a loose rein to tyrants, and hitherto permits them to rage against the Church. But the consolation is at hand. When he shall have made use of their agency in chastising the Church, he will visit their pride and arrogance. And we need not wonder if God, by striking his elect first of all, expresses in this manner his peculiar regard for their salvation. Judgment must therefore begin at the house of God, and must afterwards extend to those who are without, who will endure chastisements still more severe.
(162) Bogus footnote
(163) Upon.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
3.
SMITING OF THE SCOURGE
TEXT: Isa. 10:12-19
12
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
13
For he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and like a valiant man I have brought down them that sit on thrones:
14
and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped.
15
Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? shall the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? as if a rod should wield them that lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood.
16
Therefore will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory there shall be kindled a burning like the burning of fire.
17
And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
18
And he will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and it shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.
19
And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may write them.
QUERIES
a.
Why does the Lord turn and punish the king of Assyria?
b.
How does the Lord punish him?
PARAPHRASE
After the Lord has used the King of Assyria to accomplish His purpose of chastening the covenant people, then He will turn upon the Assyrians and punish them toofor they are proud and haughty. They boast, We in our own power and wisdom have won these wars. We are great and wise. By our own strength we broke down the walls and destroyed the people and carried off their treasures. In our greatness we have robbed their nests of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs; and no one moved a finger or opened his mouth to peep against us. But the Lord says, Shall the axe boast of greater power than the man who uses it? Is the saw greater than the man who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand is moving it? Can a cane walk by itself? Because of all your evil boasting, O King of Assyria, the Lord of Hosts will send a plague among your proud troops, and strike them down. God, the Light and Holy One of Israel, will be the fire and flame that will destroy them. In a single night He will burn those thorns and briers, the Assyrians who destroyed the land of Israel. Assyrias vast army is like a glorious forest, yet it will be destroyed. The Lord will destroy them, soul and body, as when a sick man wastes away. Only a few from all that mighty army will be left; so few a child could count them!
COMMENTS
Isa. 10:12-15 BRAGGING BULLY: The King of Assyria, like so many ruling tyrants before and after him, refused to acknowledge Divine Providence in his military success. He would not even avail himself of logic and reason to consider that there might be a Divine Ruler of the cosmos and mans affairs by whose permission he conquered and prevailed against other nations. He magnified himself as a god like so many other rulers have done. Recall rulers like Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:28 ff) and Belshazzar (Dan. 5:1 ff).
God rules in the affairs of earthly governments to carry out His divine purposes of redeeming all men who are willing to be redeemed. He permits nations and rulers to govern the earth as a terror to the evil doer and a rewarder of those who do good (Cf. Rom. 13:1-7). God permits even evil rulers to exercise their tyrannybut only so far! There is always a point, in the wisdom of God, beyond which He will not permit evil to govern (Cf. Jer. 27:1-15). When evil reaches that point the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe intervenes!
When Sennacheribs army had overpowered most of the northern kingdom, Israel, and had besieged Jerusalem, God spoke through Isaiah the prophet (2Ki. 19:20 ff), and promised to defend the city (2Ki. 19:34; Isa. 37:35). The angel of the Lord went forth and smote the Assyrian army, leaving one hundred eighty-five thousand dead corpses (2Ki. 19:35; Isa. 37:36). Sennacherib returned to Nineveh without capturing the city of Jerusalem (2Ki. 19:36).
To the rationalist and unbeliever, this story of the angels smiting an army and causing a great king to return to his native land without capturing a city seems beyond the realm of historical possibility. However, confirmation of the fact that Sennacherib did not take Jerusalem was found in an inscription on a prism called the Taylor Cylinder, discovered at Kouyunjik, the site of ancient Nineveh, in 1830 by J. E. Taylor. An almost identical inscription is found on the Oriental Institute Cylinder in the University of Chicago. In the inscription Sennacherib tells that he made other Palestinian cities yield, but when he comes to describe his campaigning against Jerusalem he fails to tell of the capture of that city and its king Hezekiah. Rather the text of the inscription tells of King Hezekiah in these words, As for himself, like a bird in a cage in his royal city Jerusalem, I shut (him) up. Since Sennacherib did not capture Jerusalem (as indicated in the Bible), he made as good a story out of the siege as possible, and reported that he had shut up poor Hezekiah like a bird in a cage. Actually, Hezekiah was reposing quite safely in his cage.
Isa. 10:16-19 BROKEN BRAGGART: There is no evidence in the archaeological records that Sennacherib ever returned to the region of Palestine. The Bible gives us an adequate reasonthe loss of his army before the walls of Jerusalem. The slaughter of 185,000 soldiers in one night, even with our modern death-dealing weapons would be considerable defeat to any army!
The Bible tells us that Sennacherib finally met his death at the hands of his own sons (2Ki. 19:37; Isa. 37:38). Esarhaddon (681668 B.C.), Sennacheribs son and successor, tells of this very event in the following inscription: In the month Nisanu, on a favorable day, complying with their exalted command, I made my joyful entrance into the royal palace, the awesome place, wherein abides the fate of kings. A firm determination fell upon my brothers. They forsook the gods and turned to their deeds of violence, plotting evil . . . To gain the kingship they slew Sennacherib, their father.
In 625 B.C. the Assyrians were driven out of the Mespotomian-Babylonian area by the Chaldean prince Nabopolassar, founder of the Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean empire and father of Nebuchadnezzar. He had joined forces with the Medes in 614 B.C. and attacked the city of Ashur. Two years later in 612 B.C. they again joined forces to bring about the destruction of Nineveh, captial city of Assyria. With the fall of Nineveh (see Nahum for a graphic prediction of the fall of Nineveh), the Assyrians were reduced to chaos and retreated westward to set up a government at Haran under Ashur-uballit II (612609 B.C.). Assyria awaited help from Egypther one time enemyagainst the new danger from Babylon, but help did not come. Josiah of Judah marched his armies to Megiddo to prevent Necho II of Egypt from passing through the valley of Esdraelon en route to Haran. Josiah was killed at Megiddo (2Ki. 23:29-30), but he probably succeeded in delaying Necho long enough to permit Nabopolassar to strike the death blow to the Assyrian Empire. And so about all that was left of Assyria, that great forest were a few scattered treesso few that a child may write them.
QUIZ
1.
Why did the King of Assyria brag so?
2.
How could God, on the one hand, use the King of Assyria to punish the covenant people, and on the other hand, turn and punish Assyria?
3.
Is there any confirmation that the King of Assyria considered the besieged Hezekiah as one that could not move the wing, or . . . chirp?
4.
What happened to the army of the King of Assyria?
5.
What happened to the King of Assyria?
6.
What happened to Assyria?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(12) Wherefore it shall come to pass . . .Better, And it shall come to pass . . . The boast of the proud king is interrupted by the reassertion of the fact that he is but an instrument in the hand of Jehovah, and that when his work was done he too will be punished for his pride. The fruit of the stout heart includes all the words and acts in which his arrogance had shown itself.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. To the boastful speech of the Assyrian succeeds a prediction of his fate. The limit of divine permission in inflicting judgments on Israel and Judah is reached. The answer of God to these boastings is, that when Israel, (first in captivity,) and Jerusalem, (next, by a siege,) shall have had due judgment inflicted for disregard of Jehovah, the arrogant Assyrian himself shall suddenly lose, in the case of Jerusalem, the game almost within his grasp, and his haughtiness shall receive its just judgment and rebuke.
Hath performed his whole work Of disciplinary correction.
Zion Jerusalem People originally intrusted with the true religion, with Jerusalem as its central seat. Israel and Judah are seen in juxtaposition in this expression, and the same may be true of the Assyrian in these passages. That is, in perspective prophecy here the whole historic career of Assyria and Babylon may be in view, though the chief features of Assyria, on its nearer side to the prophet, mostly occupies his mind.
Stout heart His hauteur, pride, and arrogance.
Glory of his high looks This defines the other member of the parallelism.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 10:12. Wherefore it shall come to pass We have in this verse the punishment which God decreed for the king of Assyria, after he had performed all that work for which God raised him up. Bishop Newton observes, that this verse intimates that the Assyrians should be severely punished for their pride, ambition, tyranny, and cruelty, after they had served the purposes of divine providence. There was no prospect of such an event while the Assyrians were in the midst of their successes and triumphs; but still the word of the prophet prevailed; and it was not long after these calamities brought upon the Jews, that the Assyrian empire, properly so called, was overthrown, and Nineveh destroyed. Instead of I will punish the fruit, &c. Bishop Lowth reads, I will punish the effect, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2. WOE TO THE INSTRUMENT THAT KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS AN INSTRUMENT
Isa 10:12-15
12Wherefore it shall come to pass,
That when the Lord hath performed his whole work
Upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem,
I will 14punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria,
And the glory of his high looks.
13For he saith,
By the strength of my hand I have done it,
And by my wisdom; for I am prudent:
And I have removed the bounds of the people,
And have robbed their treasures,
And I have 15put down the inhabitants 16like a valiant man:
14And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people:
And as one gathereth eggs that are left,
Have I gathered all the earth;
And there is none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
15Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith?
Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?17As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up,
Or as if the staff should lift up 18itself, as if it were no wood.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
On Isa 10:12. is scindere, abscindere; hence to make an end, complete. It is found once more in Isa 38:12, and in the sense abscindere. There is ground for rendering as fut. exactum: for , etc. will take place only when Assyria shall have executed his task. There is no doubt but that the Hebrew imperfect can have the meaning of the fut. exact.; comp. e.g. Gen 44:10; Gen 44:23; 1Ki 8:35. But it makes a difference whether the fut. exact. is expressed by the perfect or imperfect. In the latter case the original imperfect meaning will still cling to it. The transaction spoken of will not be represented as real and accomplished, but only as possibly and ideally present. So, too, here. There lies therefore in the imperfect a certain element of comfort, as well becomes this comforting passage. , comp. Isa 2:11; Isa 2:17.
On Isa 10:13. The imperfects , belong to those isolated cases where the simple Vav. copul. is used with the verbal ending unabbreviated (according to circumstances) as a weakening (of course not normally) of the Vav. consec. with the abbreviated verbal ending. These cases occur especially in poetry, in the 1st pers. sing., and in periods comprising several clauses. Comp. Isa 43:28; Isa 44:19; Isa 48:3; Isa 51:2; Isa 57:17; Isa 63:3-6; Psa 104:32; Ewald, 233 a.Kthibh paratum, opes paratae, only here; Kri Deu 32:35; Job 3:8. is the sole example of Poel of a verb ; as regards meaning = Isa 17:14; Isa 42:22. is , Kri must be pronounced . is secondary form of the strong one (Isa 1:24; Isa 49:26; Isa 60:16); also means validus, potens, Isa 16:14; Isa 17:12; Isa 28:2. There exists here no reason for departing from Kthibh. To construe as adjunct of the subject is flat, and then seems strange. To take it as adverbial definition of (bull-like sitting on thrones, stiergleich Thronende, Delitzsch) gives an extraordinary and displeasing figure. If, with Drechsler, we render simply inhabitants, then seems strangely used. It seems to me best, therefore, to take as adjunct to the object: I cast down the enthroned as the strong one (i.e., the bull, comp. Isa 34:7; Psa 22:13; Psa 50:13). Because they are to be cast down they must be sitting high. But they shall be cast down like the bull, i.e., like one lays low a bull by a blow on the forehead. [J. A. Alexander retains the Kthibh, and connects with the subject meaning mighty man = like a mighty man or hero that I am, and adds: there is no necessity for departing from the less poetical but more familiar sense, inhabitants, and bringing down, i.e., subduing].
On Isa 10:14. comp. Isa 10:10. for a familiar usage. see Isa 8:19.
On Isa 10:15. Hithp. only here in Isa. a saw is . . The plural in is explained by the collective construction of . comp. Isa 11:15; Isa 13:2; Isa 19:16; Isa 30:23, and Isa 10:32. (comp. Isa 31:8; Deu 32:21) is a bold antiphrase.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Wherefore it shallhigh looks.
Isa 10:12. In the foregoing strophe the Prophets view-point was before the execution of judgment on Jerusalem. In this he takes his view-point after it. As before Assyria boasted what he would do, here he boasts what he has done. For what he boastfully promised to do (Isa 10:8-11) he actually accomplished. But when he has done, then comes his hour. For then will the Lord bring about that fall that is wont to attend a haughty spirit. It is to be noted that what Assyria is to execute on Zion is called the work of Jehovah. But as only that work of which Assyria is the instrument is meant, all his work cannot be intended in an absolute sense, as comprehending the work of salvation.The fruit of haughtiness of heart is not so much the boasting and blasphemy, but the works that haughtiness has done. Comp. Dan 4:27 (30), Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom? etc. The destruction of city and kingdom is the destruction of the fruit of the haughtiness of the ruler.
The massing of the nouns admirably paints the spouting, puffed-up nature of haughtiness (comp. Isa 28:1; Isa 21:17). The loftiness of the eyes, i.e., self-complacency, reflected in the eyes, lends a certain refulgence () to the manner of a man. But even this illusive gleam will the Lord strip off.
2. For he saithpeeped.
Isa 10:13-14. The Prophet cannot reproduce to his hearers and readers the actual fruits and that proud gleam of haughtiness. But he can let that haughtiness express itself in words by which it may be estimated. These words state that Assyria now maintains that, as he purposed, so he had also actually accomplished all by his own might. He boasts his strength and his prudence. The power of this world is wise. According to Dan 7:8; Dan 7:20; Dan 8:25 the horn of the fourth beast has eyes like the eyes of a man, the symbol of prudence (Comp. Auberlen,Der Prophet Daniel , 2 Aufl. p. 50). The children of this world are wiser in their way than the children of light (Luk 16:8). The borders of the nations he abolished by incorporating all in his kingdom; he robbed their treasures. Isa 10:14 portrays the facility with which Assyria does his work. The unskilful and inexperienced find a birds nest at best by chance. The knowing and experienced, however, find them as easily as surely. But the Assyrian compares his conquests not to the easy work of seeking nests, but to the much easier one of gathering eggs from forsaken nests. He has so gathered everything that came under his hand as he went through the land (Hab 2:5). In a nest not forsaken, the little owner makes a defence; he strikes with his wings, he opens his beak and hisses at his assailant. But his enemies had not dared even to make a birds defence.
3. Shall the axeno wood.
Isa 10:15. To this senseless boasting the Lord replies in words that set the matter in a just light. The answer presents two pairs of parallels that represent a gradation. Without men axe and saw can do nothing. Yet they are indispensable to men, and that may give their self-praise some apparent justification. But that rod or staff should lift those that have hold of them presents the extreme of absurd presumption. Yet this is the extent of Assyrias blind presumption, that he not only conceives that he executed judgment on the nations without the Lord, but that divinity was constrained to serve him. There lies thus in the second pair of comparisons a climax, and before does not compare this second pair with the first, but with the higher degree of stupid blindness intimated in Isa 10:14. The staff can lift nothing, neither wood nor not-wood. Of not-wood it cannot even lift what is not man, e.g. a stone. If Isaiah, as the context shows, by not-wood means men, it is on the supposition that the reader of himself will recognize the true contrast (not-wood but much greater) and the (even phonetic) allusion to .
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 Lords 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 Lords 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 Lords 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 Gods 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 Gods 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 Immanuels 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-dayssuch 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 devils 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. 911. On Isa 9:1 sqq. (2). Postrema pars, etc. The latter part of chap. 8 was (legal and threatening) so, on the other hand, the first and best part of chap. 9 is , (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 Prophets 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 ? 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. : 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. ber 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). Gods 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 Christs 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 Gods 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. 1226. 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:
[14]Heb. visit upon the fruit of the, greatness of the heart.
[15]Have felled those enthroned as a bull.
[16]Or, like many people.
[17]Or, As if a rod should shake them that lift it up.
[18]Or, that which is not wood.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 874
PRIDE AND DOWNFALL OF THE ASSYRIAN MONARCH
Isa 10:12-17. It shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks: for he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have rubbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? 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. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning, like the turning of a fire: and the light of Israel 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 doctrine of an all-disposing Providence is most consolatory to the mind of man. If every thing were left to chance, or were at the disposal of mortal men, we should have nothing to cheer us in adversity, or to moderate our overweening conceit in prosperity. But the thought, that all things are directed by an all-wise Being, who does according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and whose counsel, whatever the designs of men may be, shall surely stand, preserves our minds composed and equable, in every situation, and in every condition. The situation of Jerusalem at the time when the prophet wrote this was very afflictive: but by Gods command he addressed them thus, in a few verses following our text: O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt (at the Red Sea): for yet a very little while, and (as in the case of Pharaoh and his host) the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction [Note: ver. 24, 25.]. To the same effect does he speak also in the text itself; which we shall consider,
I.
As fulfilled in Sennacherib
Sennacherib was a proud and haughty monarch
[The Assyrian empire was the most powerful at that time existing in the world: and Sennacherib was dignified with the title of, the Great King [Note: 2Ki 18:19; 2Ki 18:28.]. He himself too conceived that he was omnipotent, a rival of Jehovah, or rather, his superior [Note: 2Ki 18:33-35. with Isa 14:13-14.].
Strange it is that mortal man should entertain such wild conceits: but such is frequently the effect of power: it altogether intoxicates us worms of the earth, and makes us forget that we are men [Note: Eze 28:2 and 2Th 2:3-4.].]
But God brought him down in a most awful manner
[In one single night was his power broken by the sword of a destroying angel, who slew 185,000 of his troops: and, not very long after, was he himself assassinated by two of his sons, whilst worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god [Note: 2Ki 19:35-37.]. And thus it is that God has often humbled his proud blaspheming creatures [Note: Eze 28:3-10.]: yea, and more such instances of vengeance yet remain to be accomplished [Note: 2Th 2:8.].]
This subject, so interesting of itself, is yet far more interesting,
II.
As illustrated at this time [Note: Thanksgiving-day, Jan. 13, 1814.]
The resemblance between Sennacherib, and that powerful enemy with whom we have been contending now so many years, is very striking. We will point it out in a few particulars:
1.
His unconscious agency
[The great object of Sennacheribs ambition was, to subdue as many nations as he could, and bring them under subjection to himself. This was his object in warring against Judah. But God had another object in view. God raised him up to punish his offending people the Jews, and thereby to bring them to repentance. No such thought as this entered into the mind of Sennacherib. He went on with a view to his own aggrandizement; but God made use of him as the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation [Note: ver. 57.].
Thus it has been with him who has for so long a period desolated every part of Europe [Note: Bonaparte, Jan. 13, 1814.]. He has been instigated only by his own ambition, and a desire after universal empire: but God has been using him to punish the nations, who, though naming the name of Christ, had scarcely any thing of Christianity except the name! As Gods instrument he has effected a very great change in Europe: he has given a death-blow to Popery, and has liberated the minds of men from those shackles with which they were held in a worse than Egyptian bondage. He has also, though quite unintentionally on his part, rooted out those principles of infidelity towards God, and of insubordination towards man, which were the means of placing him on his high eminence, and which he himself laboured as much as any one to disseminate. Nay more, by the very miseries which he has inflicted on the human race, he has occasioned a spirit of humiliation and of piety, which, unless at the Reformation and in the apostolic age, never before obtained in Europe to the extent it now does. True it is, he never meant these things, nor did they ever enter into his mind; but still he has been an instrument in Gods hand of effecting them.]
2.
His great success
[Nothing could stand before Sennacherib [Note: ver. 911.]: and till lately, nothing has been able to withstand this proud oppressor, whom we are comparing with him. Nation after nation has he subjugated; so that what Sennacherib said may be justly said by him also, Are not my princes altogether kings [Note: ver. 8.]? Whilst he raised his generals to the rank of kings, he made the old established kings his vassals. And truly one part of Sennacheribs commission he executed to perfection: if he had believed himself charged by God, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread men down like mire in the streets [Note: ver. 6.], he could not have fulfilled his mission with more fidelity or with less remorse. He truly regarded the wealth of all the countries which he invaded, as eggs found in a nest; and he transported to his own capital every thing that was valuable, that the seat of his empire might become the centre of all that was great and glorious in the world. Yea, not content with acting thus towards the nations that opposed him, he exercised the same rapacity towards neutral and unoffending states [Note: The Hanse Towns especially.]; and, whilst he was gathering all the earth, there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped [Note: ver. 14.], or dared even to remonstrate with him, and much less to oppose by force, his tyrannical proceedings. In a word, he removed the bounds of nations, apportioning them according to his own pleasure, and robbed their treasures [Note: ver. 13.], compelling all of them to augment and support his armies; and, with the exception of our favoured land, he exercised in every country a most despotic sway; and, if he could but have placed any bounds to his tyranny, and been content with consolidating instead of extending his dominions, he would have been the uncontrolled governor of Europe at this hour.]
3.
His atheistic pride
[The Assyrian monarch took to himself all the glory of his conquests: By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent [Note: ver. 13.]. And how astonishingly striking is the resemblance between our great enemy and him in this particular! His official reports have been one continued boast from beginning to end. Never once has God been acknowledged by him an the disposer of the different events. We wonder not that a heathen should vaunt himself in this manner: but that a man professing himself a Christian should do it, and that too in the face of the whole Christian world, only shews to what a height his pride and impiety have risen. Well is the folly, as well as the impiety of such conduct exposed in our text: it is, in fact, the axe boasting itself against him that heweth with it; and the saw magnifying itself against him that shaketh it: it is the rod shaking itself against him that lifts it up, and the staff lifting itself up against its Master [Note: ver. 15.]. Presumptuous man! Know that the Lord is greater than all gods; and that whereinsoever they deal proudly, he is, and will be, above them [Note: Exo 18:11.].]
His sudden fall
[In one single night was Sennacherib overthrown. So completely was that prediction verified, The Light of Israel 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. And taking the day for a prophetic day, it has been almost as literally accomplished in our great adversary. It was very little more than a year, between the time when he was in the plenitude of his power, and the time when he was reduced to his present state of weakness and degradation. There is a remarkable correspondence too in the very terms in which the destruction of the Assyrian monarch was foretold, and the means by which the destruction of the modern Sennacherib was effected. God himself was for a fire and a flame, to burn him out of that city, where he had hoped to rest his army during the winter season. God put it into the heart of the people themselves to reduce their own houses to ashes, rather than to let them prove an asylum to their barbarous invader. This it was that necessitated him to measure back his steps by the way he had come [Note: 2Ki 18:28; 2Ki 18:33.]; and this retreat was attended with the loss of all his army. Another desperate effort has he made to retrieve his fortunes; but that also was defeated in one single battle; which has left him more naked and destitute than Sennacherib himself; his own more immediate territory, which he had proudly deemed inviolable, being now invaded on every side, and his regal power being probably near the close of its existence. We pretend not ourselves to prophesy: but the time is probably very near at hand, when Ezekiels description of the character and end of the Tyrian monarch will be accomplished in him in all its parts: Will he then say before him that slayeth him, I am God? No: he will be a man, and not God, in the hand of him that slayeth him [Note: Eze 28:3-10.].]
Our text is yet further worthy of attention,
III.
As speaking to men in all ages
Divested of all those particular circumstances which give it more than ordinary interest at this time, it suggests many lessons of great, and general, and perpetual utility. It teaches us,
1.
To receive afflictions as from the hand of God
[The Jews probably ascribed their troubles to the insatiable ambition of the Assyrian monarch: as we also have traced ours to the ruler of France. But God has told us, that, in the triumphs of Sennacherib, he himself was performing a gracious work upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem: and we know that Nebuchadnezzar also, and Cyrus, in their victories, were nothing more than Gods sword and battle-axe [Note: Jer 25:9. Isa 41:25; Isa 45:1. with Jer 51:20.]. In this light then we should view all our public calamities. By whomsoever they may be occasioned, they come from God himself, and are sent by him for our good. As the Jews were sent by him into captivity in Babylon for their good [Note: Jer 24:5.], so are our severest losses and defeats intended to humble us, and to bring us to the footstool of our God. The same may be said also of our personal afflictions. When the Chaldeans and Sabeans plundered all the property of Job, and the elements conspired to augment and complete his misery, Job saw in every part of his trials the hand of God: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord [Note: Job 1:13-21.]. And afterwards he prayed, Shew me wherefore thou contended with me [Note: Job 10:2.]. This is precisely what the text teaches us also to do in every affliction. We should receive it as from God; and, having done so, we should hear the rod, and him that appointed it. Were we but attentive to Gods voice in afflictive dispensations, we should say to the instruments of our trouble, as Joseph did to his brethren, It was not you that sent me hither, but God: and, instead of quarrelling with second causes, we should kiss the hand that smote us, and say, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.]
2.
To acknowledge God in our successes
[Certainly the interposition of God in the destruction of Sennacherib could admit of no doubt: it was as clear as that of Pharaoh, who was brought into the Red Sea for that very purpose [Note: ver. 24. with Exo 14:17.]. And scarcely less visible was his agency in the destruction of our great adversary. God allured him into the heart of the Russian empire, and inclined him to continue there, till his retreat was become impracticable: and to a still further infatuation did he give him up; for, instead of retreating with his forces entire to the confines of his own kingdom, where he might, humanly speaking, have defied all the efforts of the allies, he madly retained an untenable position, till he was reduced to the necessity of risking all upon a single battle. In these errors of his we see him given up to judicial blindness in order to his destruction, precisely as the enemies of Zion were in the days of old: Many nations, says the prophet Micah, are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion [Note: Mic 4:11-13.]! Indeed, notwithstanding the backwardness of men to consider the operation of Gods hands, there is scarcely a thoughtful person to be found, who does not see it, and acknowledge in the present instance, that he gathered them together in both those places as sheaves into the floor.
But we must not think that God interposes only in great concerns, such as the fate of empires: he equally interests himself in all the events that are daily and hourly occurring: and from him does our success flow, even in the most trivial matters. Have we succeeded in business? It is he that has given us power to get wealth [Note: Deu 8:17-18.]. Have our agricultural labours been followed with an abundant increase? Not the abundance only, but the skill we exercised, was altogether from God, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working [Note: Isa 28:23-29.]. Have we prospered in our spiritual course, and gained the victory over our spiritual adversaries? We must say with Paul, He that hath wrought us to the self-same thing is God [Note: 2Co 5:5.]: Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ [Note: 1Co 15:57 and 2Co 2:14.]! Whatever evil we escape, or whatever good we enjoy, God must be regarded as the true, the only source of all. In him are all our fresh springs [Note: Psa 87:7.]; and of him is our fruit found [Note: Hos 14:8.]: and all the glory must be his alone [Note: Isa 45:5-7.].]
3.
To look to the final issue of every thing
[Who that saw the issue of Sennacheribs invasion, would not prefer the salutary trials of Jerusalem before the short-lived triumphs of the proud Assyrian? and who that considers aright, does not now congratulate the yet bleeding countries of Europe, especially those who have derived spiritual benefit from their afflictions, and look with pity on the fallen oppressor, laden as he must be with an intolerable load of conscious guilt, and the curses and execrations of half the human race? We may have been stumbled for awhile, just as David was, at the sight of prosperous wickedness; but, if with him we enter into the sanctuary, and contemplate the end of these men, or if we look at their end as exemplified in our fallen adversary, we shall know how to judge of such mysterious dispensations [Note: Psa 73:3-14; Psa 73:16-20.]. In like manner we may learn how to judge of every thing, whether prosperous or adverse, in our own affairs. Let us look to the final issue. What will prosperity benefit us, if it draws us from God, and leads us, like the rich fool, to fix our happiness on things below? On the other hand, what reason can we have to complain of afflictions, if they be sanctified to our spiritual and eternal good? Has the stone reason to complain that it receives many strokes, when it is thereby fitted for a conspicuous place in the Temple of the Lord? or the vine, even granting it to be fruitful, that it is pruned, when it is made thereby to bring forth more fruit? or the vessel, that it is put into the furnace, when it is thereby rendered meet for the Masters use? Be not then so much concerned to get rid of present trials, as to have them made subservient to the good of your souls. Only beg of God, that his whole work may be performed upon you; and leave the means of accomplishing that work to Him, who ordereth every thing with unerring wisdom and unbounded love. You will then see, ere long, that he hath abounded towards you with all wisdom and prudence; and in all future trials you will say, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 10:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, [that] when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
Ver. 12. Wherefore. ] Heb., And. A close connection: where pride is in the saddle, there destruction is on the crupper; a when the scum is at highest, it falls in the fire.
When the Lord hath performed.
Upon Mount Zion.
I will punish the fruit of the stout heart.
a A leathern strap buckled to the back of the saddle and passing under the horse’s tail, to prevent the saddle from slipping forwards.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 10:12-14
12So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness.
13For he has said,
By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,
For I have understanding;
And I removed the boundaries of the peoples
And plundered their treasures,
And like a mighty man I brought down their inhabitants,
14And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a nest,
And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing or opened its beak or chirped.
Isa 10:12-14 YHWH asserts His control of Assyria and her victories. He will judge the king of Assyria (Isa 10:12) for his
1. arrogant heart
2. haughtiness of his eyes
The Assyrian king’s pride is shown in a series of self praises (Isa 10:12-14), which sound very much like Assyrian documents of the period (see The IVP Bible Background Commentary OT, p. 599)
1. by the power of my hand
2. by my wisdom
He robbed the nations on the west banks of the Euphrates as one robs a bird’s nest!
Isa 10:13
NASBlike a mighty man
NKJVlike a valiant man
NRSV, TEV,
REBlike a bull
NJBlike a hero
The ADJECTIVE’S (BDB 7) basic meaning, strong, can refer to
1. mighty/violent man, Job 24:22; Job 34:20; Jer 46:15; Lam 1:15
2. stubborn minded, Isa 46:12
3. angels, Psa 78:25
4. animals
a. bulls, Isa 10:13 may refer to a bull because a winged bull was the symbol of Assyria (i.e., on the sides of the Ishtar gates, cf. Psa 22:13; Psa 68:30; Isa 34:7)
b. horses, Jdg 5:22; Jer 8:16; Jer 47:3; Jer 50:11
Isa 10:14 The Bible often uses bird metaphors to describe God’s protection and care (cf. Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11; Rth 2:12; Isa 31:5; Mat 23:37; Luk 13:34), but here the metaphor is reversed! God has removed His protection!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Wherefore = And.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 10:12-19
Isa 10:12-14
“Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord has performed his whole work upon mount Zion, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and like a valiant man I have brought down them that sit on thrones: and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped.”
The interesting change of persons in Isa 10:12, from the second (the Lord) to the first (I will) is not at all unusual in the Old Testament.
No, God had not accepted the wickedness of a kingdom like Assyria. The rod of divine punishment was already laid up against that evil nation; and the reason was stated here. This arrogant and boastful power had bragged that they knew all of the answers. They thought they had the ability to destroy any nation on earth as handily as one could rob a bird nest and with no more opposition than a helpless little bird would be able to provide against such a catastrophe. There was not even the flutter of a wing, or the chirping of a bird. The rapacious cruelty and blood-lust of Assyria reached a pinnacle of such behavior in ancient history.
Isa 10:15-19
“Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? shall the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? as if a rod should wield him that lifteth it up, or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood. Therefore will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory there shall be kindled a burning like the burning of fire. And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and destroy his thorns and his briers in one day. And he will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and it shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may write them.”
The rebuke here is against Assyria. How ignorant and how stupid they were not to see that God was merely using them, that all of their exploits would have been impossible without his permission; and that all the while they were hastening to the day when they also would be severely punished by the Lord. The words here have the force of saying, “How can Assyria, being but an instrument of God, exalt himself against Jehovah?
“Like the burning of fire …” This is thought by scholars to refer to a terrible sickness such as a very high fever. Peake called it a wasting disease; and Kidner identified the two metaphors here as, “fever, and a forest fire. The big point in the prophecy, however, is not what will cause the disaster, whether a disease or a forest fire, but the suddenness with which it will fall. “In one day … Isaiah anticipates a sudden catastrophe for the Assyrians.” Without a doubt, this is a prophecy of the destruction of Sennacherib army to terminate his siege of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 36). The mysterious death of so many of his army seems to have resulted from some sudden and fatal illness.
Isa 10:12-15 BRAGGING BULLY: The King of Assyria, like so many ruling tyrants before and after him, refused to acknowledge Divine Providence in his military success. He would not even avail himself of logic and reason to consider that there might be a Divine Ruler of the cosmos and mans affairs by whose permission he conquered and prevailed against other nations. He magnified himself as a god like so many other rulers have done. Recall rulers like Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4:28 ff) and Belshazzar (Dan 5:1 ff).
God rules in the affairs of earthly governments to carry out His divine purposes of redeeming all men who are willing to be redeemed. He permits nations and rulers to govern the earth as a terror to the evil doer and a rewarder of those who do good (Cf. Rom 13:1-7). God permits even evil rulers to exercise their tyranny-but only so far! There is always a point, in the wisdom of God, beyond which He will not permit evil to govern (Cf. Jer 27:1-15). When evil reaches that point the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe intervenes!
When Sennacheribs army had overpowered most of the northern kingdom, Israel, and had besieged Jerusalem, God spoke through Isaiah the prophet (2Ki 19:20 ff), and promised to defend the city (2Ki 19:34; Isa 37:35). The angel of the Lord went forth and smote the Assyrian army, leaving one hundred eighty-five thousand dead corpses (2Ki 19:35; Isa 37:36). Sennacherib returned to Nineveh without capturing the city of Jerusalem (2Ki 19:36).
To the rationalist and unbeliever, this story of the angels smiting an army and causing a great king to return to his native land without capturing a city seems beyond the realm of historical possibility. However, confirmation of the fact that Sennacherib did not take Jerusalem was found in an inscription on a prism called the Taylor Cylinder, discovered at Kouyunjik, the site of ancient Nineveh, in 1830 by J. E. Taylor. An almost identical inscription is found on the Oriental Institute Cylinder in the University of Chicago. In the inscription Sennacherib tells that he made other Palestinian cities yield, but when he comes to describe his campaigning against Jerusalem he fails to tell of the capture of that city and its king Hezekiah. Rather the text of the inscription tells of King Hezekiah in these words, As for himself, like a bird in a cage in his royal city Jerusalem, I shut (him) up. Since Sennacherib did not capture Jerusalem (as indicated in the Bible), he made as good a story out of the siege as possible, and reported that he had shut up poor Hezekiah like a bird in a cage. Actually, Hezekiah was reposing quite safely in his cage.
Isa 10:16-19 BROKEN BRAGGART: There is no evidence in the archaeological records that Sennacherib ever returned to the region of Palestine. The Bible gives us an adequate reason-the loss of his army before the walls of Jerusalem. The slaughter of 185,000 soldiers in one night, even with our modern death-dealing weapons would be considerable defeat to any army!
The Bible tells us that Sennacherib finally met his death at the hands of his own sons (2Ki 19:37; Isa 37:38). Esarhaddon (681-668 B.C.), Sennacheribs son and successor, tells of this very event in the following inscription: In the month Nisanu, on a favorable day, complying with their exalted command, I made my joyful entrance into the royal palace, the awesome place, wherein abides the fate of kings. A firm determination fell upon my brothers. They forsook the gods and turned to their deeds of violence, plotting evil . . . To gain the kingship they slew Sennacherib, their father.
In 625 B.C. the Assyrians were driven out of the Mespotomian-Babylonian area by the Chaldean prince Nabopolassar, founder of the Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean empire and father of Nebuchadnezzar. He had joined forces with the Medes in 614 B.C. and attacked the city of Ashur. Two years later in 612 B.C. they again joined forces to bring about the destruction of Nineveh, captial city of Assyria. With the fall of Nineveh (see Nahum for a graphic prediction of the fall of Nineveh), the Assyrians were reduced to chaos and retreated westward to set up a government at Haran under Ashur-uballit II (612-609 B.C.). Assyria awaited help from Egypt-her one time enemy-against the new danger from Babylon, but help did not come. Josiah of Judah marched his armies to Megiddo to prevent Necho II of Egypt from passing through the valley of Esdraelon en route to Haran. Josiah was killed at Megiddo (2Ki 23:29-30), but he probably succeeded in delaying Necho long enough to permit Nabopolassar to strike the death blow to the Assyrian Empire. And so about all that was left of Assyria, that great forest were a few scattered trees-so few that a child may write them.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that when
A permanent method in the divine government of the earth. Israel is always the centre of the divine counsels earthward Deu 32:8. The Gentile nations are permitted to afflict Israel in chastisement for her national sins, but invariably and inevitably retribution falls upon them. See; Gen 15:13; Gen 15:14; Deu 30:5-7; Isa 14:1; Isa 14:2; Joe 3:1-8; Mic 5:7-9; Mat 25:31-40.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
when the Lord: Isa 10:5, Isa 10:6, Isa 14:24-27, Isa 27:9, Isa 46:10, Isa 46:11, Psa 76:10, 1Pe 4:17
I will: Isa 10:16-19, Isa 10:25-34, Isa 17:12-14, Isa 29:7, Isa 29:8, Isa 30:30-33, Isa 31:5-9, Isa 37:36-38, Isa 50:11, Jer 50:18
punish the fruit of the stout heart: Heb. visit upon the fruit of the greatness of the heart, Isa 9:9, Job 40:11, Job 40:12, Psa 21:10, Mat 12:33, Mat 15:19
the glory: Isa 2:11, Isa 5:15, Psa 18:27, Pro 30:13, Eze 31:10, Eze 31:14, Dan 4:37
Reciprocal: Deu 30:7 – General 1Ki 20:32 – Thy servant 2Ki 17:3 – king of Assyria 2Ch 32:14 – among Job 15:25 – strengtheneth Psa 10:2 – The wicked Psa 35:3 – stop Psa 94:2 – render Psa 94:10 – chastiseth Psa 119:21 – rebuked Psa 129:5 – be confounded Ecc 3:14 – nothing Ecc 5:8 – matter Isa 27:8 – his rough Isa 33:1 – when thou shalt cease Isa 48:3 – and I Jer 9:23 – wise Jer 21:14 – punish Jer 25:34 – the days of your Jer 50:32 – the most proud Hos 12:2 – punish Zep 1:8 – punish Zep 2:10 – and magnified Zep 2:13 – he will Zep 2:15 – the rejoicing Zec 10:3 – punished Luk 1:51 – he hath scattered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 10:12. Wherefore Because of this impudent blasphemy; when the Lord hath performed his whole work Of chastising his people as long as he sees fit. I will punish the fruit of the stout heart, &c. Here it is foretold, says Bishop Newton, that when the Assyrians shall have served the purposes of Divine Providence, they shall be severely punished for their pride and ambition, their tyranny and cruelty to their neighbours. Now there was no prospect of such an event when Isaiah uttered this prediction, namely, while the Assyrians were in the midst of their successes and triumphs; but still the word of the prophet prevailed; and it was not long after these calamities brought upon the Jews, that the Assyrian empire, properly so called, was overthrown, and Nineveh destroyed.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, [that] when the Lord hath performed {h} his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart {i} of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
(h) When he has sufficiently chastised his people (for he begins at his own house) then will he burn the rods.
(i) Meaning of Sennacherib.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The object of destruction 10:12-19
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
When God finished using Assyria as His rod to punish Mt. Zion and Jerusalem, He would punish Assyria, too, for her arrogance and haughtiness. The prose form of this verse, which serves as a climax in a long section of poetry, makes this major point stand out all the more clearly.
"God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are always in perfect balance in the Word of God. Even though we are not able to reconcile these paradoxical facts, we can believe both because the Bible teaches both. God is sovereign in His universe; and at the same time man is fully accountable to God for all his acts." [Note: A. Martin, Isaiah . . ., p. 43.]