Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 10:25
For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
For yet a very little while – This is designed to console them with the hope of deliverance. The threatened invasion was brief and was soon ended by the pestilence that swept off the greater part of the army of the Assyrian.
The indignation shall cease – The anger of God against his offending people shall come to an end; his purposes of chastisement shall be completed; and the land shall be delivered.
In their destruction – al–tabelytam from balah, to wear out; to consume; to be annihilated. It means here, that his anger would terminate in the entire annihilation of their power to injure them. Such was the complete overthrow of Sennacherib by the pestilence; 2Ki 19:35. The word used here, occurs in this form in no other place in the Hebrew Bible, though the verb is used, and other forms of the noun. The verb, Deu 7:4; Deu 29:5; Jos 9:13; Neh 9:21, …Nouns, Eze 23:43; Isa 38:17; Jer 38:11-12; Isa 17:14, et al.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 25. The indignation – “Mine indignation.”] Indignatio mea, Vulg. , Sept. , MS. Pachom. , MS. I. D. II. So that zaami, or hazzaam, as one MS. has it, seems to be the true reading.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The indignation; mine anger, as it is explained in the next clause; either,
1. Towards my people; which shall weaken the Assyrian, whose great strength lay there; of which see above, Isa 10:5. Or,
2. Towards the Assyrian, with whom God was very angry, Isa 10:12, &c., yea, so angry, as not to be satisfied without their destruction, as it follows.
Shall cease; as anger commonly doth, when vengeance is fully executed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. ForBe not afraid (Isa10:24), for, c.
indignation . . . ceaseThepunishments of God against Israel shall be consummated and ended(Isa 26:20 Dan 11:36).”Till the indignation be accomplished,” &c.
mine angershall turnto their (the Assyrians’) destruction.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For yet a very little while,…. Within a few days; for in a very short time after Sennacherib was come up against Jerusalem his army was destroyed by an angel:
and the indignation shall cease; the indignation of the Lord against his people Israel, shown by bringing the Assyrian monarch against them, of which he was the staff or instrument, Isa 10:5:
and mine anger in their destruction; not in the destruction of the Jews, but the Assyrians: the sense is, that the anger of God towards the people of the Jews for the present should be discontinued, when the Assyrian army was destroyed. The Targum is,
“for yet a very little while, and the curses shall cease from you of the house of Jacob; and mine anger shall be upon the people that work iniquity, to destroy them;”
that is, the Assyrians.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
A still further reason is given for the elevating words, with a resumption of the grounds of consolation upon which they were founded. “For yet a very little the indignation is past, and my wrath turns to destroy them: and Jehovah of hosts moves the whip over it, as He smote Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff stretches out over the sea, and He lifts it up in the manner of Egypt.” The expression “a very little” (as in Isa 16:14; Isa 29:17) does not date from the actual present, when the Assyrian oppressions had not yet begun, but from the ideal present, when they were threatening Israel with destruction. The indignation of Jehovah would then suddenly come to an end ( c alah zaam , borrowed in Dan 11:36, and to be interpreted in accordance with Isa 26:20); and the wrath of Jehovah would be, or go, al – tabiltham . Luzzatto recommends the following emendation of the text, , “and my wrath against the world will cease,” tebel being used, as in Isa 14:17, with reference to the oikoumenon as enslaved by the imperial power. But the received text gives a better train of thought, if we connect it with Isa 10:26. We must not be led astray, however, by the preposition al , and take the words as meaning, My wrath (burneth) over the destruction inflicted by Asshur upon the people of God, or the destruction endured by the latter. It is to the destruction of the Assyrians that the wrath of Jehovah is now directed; al being used, as it frequently is, to indicate the object upon which the eye is fixed, or to which the intention points (Psa 32:8; Psa 18:42). With this explanation Isa 10:25 leads on to Isa 10:26. The destruction of Asshur is predicted there in two figures drawn from occurrences in the olden time. The almighty Judge would swing the whip over Asshur ( orer , agitare , as in 2Sa 23:18), and smite it, as Midian was once smitten. The rock of Oreb is the place where the Ephraimites slew the Midianitish king ‘Oreb (Jdg 7:25). His staff would then be over the sea, i.e., would be stretched out, like the wonder-working staff of Moses, over the sea of affliction, into which the Assyrians had driven Israel ( yam , the sea, an emblem borrowed from the type; see Kohler on Zec 10:11, cf., Psa 66:6); and He would lift it up, commanding the waves of the sea, so that they would swallow Asshur. “In the manner of Egypt:” b’derek Mitzraim (according to Luzzatto in both instances, “on the way to Egypt,” which restricts the Assyrian bondage in a most unhistorical manner to the time of the Egyptian campaign) signifies in Isa 10:24, as the Egyptians lifted it up; but here, as it was lifted up above the Egyptians. The expression is intentionally conformed to that in Isa 10:24: because Asshur had lifted up the rod over Israel in the Egyptian manner, Jehovah would lift it up over Asshur in the Egyptian manner also.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
25. But yet a little while. He means not only the siege of Jerusalem, when Sennacherib surrounded it with a numerous army, (2Kg 18:17,) but likewise the rest of the calamities, when Jerusalem was overthrown, (2Kg 25:4,) the Temple razed, and the inhabitants taken prisoners; for against those dreadful calamities it was necessary that the godly should be fortified by these promises. This ought to be carefully observed; for if we neglect it, as other commentators do, we shall not be able to see how the statements agree. Accordingly, the captivity of the people might be called a consumption; for Babylon was like a grave, and banishment was like death. But when the danger was immediate and urgent, and Sennacherib attacked them with his army, and various straits were felt by them in that siege, this consolation was needful; for Judea seemed to be utterly ruined, and to outward appearance no hope of safety was left.
My fury and indignation shall be spent. (172) The consolation corresponds to this state of things. “The Lord will spare thee. For a time, indeed, he will delay, and will keep his assistance as it were concealed; but he will at length rescue thee, and will revenge thy enemies whom he has determined utterly to destroy.” If it be thought better to interpret כלה ( chalah) as meaning to consume or spend, then he says that he spends his anger, in the same way that we speak of spending years and our whole life; that is, “I will cherish my anger until I completely destroy the Assyrians.” But the word finish brings out the meaning more fully; as if he had said, “until I have discharged all my anger.” This is the destruction which he also threatens elsewhere (Isa 52:1) to the uncircumcised; for when the hope of mercy has been taken away, he executes his judgment against the ungodly.
(172) The indignation shall cease, and mine anger. — Eng. Ver.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(25) The indignation shall cease . . .The indignation is the wrath of Jehovah poured out upon His people. That wrath is to cease, and His anger shall be for the destruction of their enemies.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Yet a very little while Time not definite, as in Isa 16:14, nor does it date from the present but it is very soon.
The indignation shall cease Whose indignation? the Assyrian’s or God’s? To be parallel with the next clause, it is God’s executed, however, by the Assyrian. Hence the indefinite expression. After due chastisement of Israel and Judah by the hand of the Assyrian, indignation is at an end. Then the anger, of which he was the executioner on others, shall tend, or turn, to the Assyrian’s destruction.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 10:25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
Ver. 25. For yet a very little while. ] Heb., A little little, or a little of a little. Yet a little modicum, and wrath shall be at an end. Oecolampadius rendereth it, Adhuc paululum, minus quam paululum. Hold out therefore faith and patience.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
anger = anger [shall cease].
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
For yet: Isa 10:33, Isa 10:34, Isa 12:1, Isa 12:2, Isa 14:24, Isa 14:25, Isa 17:12-14, Isa 30:30-33, Isa 31:4-9, Isa 37:36-38, Isa 54:7, 2Ki 19:35, Psa 37:10, Dan 11:36, Heb 10:37
Reciprocal: 2Ki 19:32 – He shall not come 2Ch 32:22 – Lord Psa 9:6 – destructions Psa 57:1 – until Psa 85:4 – cause Ecc 7:8 – Better Isa 10:12 – I will Isa 24:21 – the Lord Isa 37:6 – Be not Amo 7:5 – cease Hag 2:6 – it is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 10:25-26. For yet a very little while, &c. Here the prophet proceeds to assign the reasons why the Lord would not have his people to fear the Assyrians, because, in a short time, he would take vengeance upon them, and that in a very singular and extraordinary manner, as he did upon the Midianites and Egyptians: the consequence of which would be the removal of the yoke now imposed, or to be imposed upon them. The indignation My displeasure at my people, which is the rod and staff in their hand, Isa 10:5; shall cease And, when it ceaseth, they will be disarmed, and disabled from doing any farther mischief. And mine anger in their destruction Hebrew, , upon, or, with their destruction, as Dr. Waterland properly renders the words, namely, the destruction of the Assyrians. The enemy that threatens and afflicts Gods people, shall himself be reckoned with and punished. The rod wherewith God corrected them shall not only be laid aside, but put into the fire, and it shall appear by its destruction that his anger is turned away from them. The reader will recollect that, upon the destruction of the Assyrian army, the calamities wherewith God had chastised his people in a great measure ceased, at least for a time. The Lord of hosts Who is well able; shall stir up a scourge for him He lifted up his staff against Zion; and God will now lift up a scourge for him: he was a terror to Gods people, and God will be a terror to him. The destroying angel shall be his scourge, which he can neither flee from nor contend with. According to the slaughter of Midian Whom God slew suddenly and unexpectedly in the night. At the rock of Oreb Upon which one of their chief princes was slain, and nigh unto which the Midianites were destroyed. And as his rod was upon the sea To divide it, and make way for thy deliverance, and for the destruction of the Egyptians. So shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt As he did in Egypt, to bring his plagues upon that land and people. Thus the prophet, for the encouragement of Gods people, quotes precedents, and puts them in mind of what God had done formerly against the enemies of his church, who were very strong and formidable, but were brought to ruin. Respecting the last clause of this verse, I think, says Bishop Lowth, there is a designed ambiguity in these words. Sennacherib, soon after his return from his Egyptian expedition, which, I imagine, took him up three years, invested Jerusalem. He is represented by the prophet as lifting up his rod, in his march from Egypt, and threatening the people of God, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians had done, when they pursued them to the Red sea. But God, in his turn, will lift up his rod, as he did at that time over the sea, in the way, or, after the manner of Egypt: and as Sennacherib had imitated the Egyptians in his threats, and came full of rage against them from the same quarter; so God will act over again the same part that he had taken formerly in Egypt, and overthrow their enemies in as signal a manner.