Isaiah 10:24-27

And While Zion Will Also Come Under Assyria's Rod They Too Will Be Finally Delivered (Isaiah 10:24).

Zion too will come under Assyria's rod. But they are not to be dismayed. For eventually God will remove the yoke from off their necks.

Analysis.

a Therefore thus says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria” (Isaiah 10:24 a).

b “Though he smite you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you after the manner of Egypt” (Isaiah 10:24 b).

c “For yet a very little while and the indignation will be accomplished, and My anger in their destruction” (Isaiah 10:25).

c And Yahweh of hosts will stir up against him a scourge, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb (Isaiah 10:26 a).

b And His rod will be over the sea, and He will lift it up after the manner of Egypt (Isaiah 10:26 b)

a And it will come about in that day, that his burden will go from your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of oil (Isaiah 10:27).

In ‘a' the people of the Lord, Yahweh of hosts do not need to be afraid of Assyria, and in the parallel this is because Assyria's yoke will be broken from their necks because they are the anointed of Yahweh. In ‘b' Assyria might smite them with a rod and lift up their staff against them as the Egyptians did, but in the parallel Yahweh will use His rod against them as He did at the Reed sea, and will lift it up as He did against the Egyptians. In ‘c' Yahweh's anger will be vented on Assyria while in the parallel it can be compared to how He stirred up a scourge to slaughter Midian.

Isaiah 10:24

‘Therefore thus says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts,

“O my people who dwell in Zion,

Do not be afraid of Assyria.

Though he smite you with the rod,

And lift up his staff against you after the manner of Egypt,

For yet a very little while and the indignation will be accomplished,

And my anger in their destruction,

And Yahweh of hosts will stir up against him a scourge,

As in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb,

And his rod will be over the sea,

And he will lift it up after the manner of Egypt.'

Here Isaiah under inspiration compares Judah and Jerusalem's present state to that of their bondage under the Egyptians (Exodus 1:13; Exodus 2:23) and their miserable state under the Midianites in the time of Gideon (Judges 6:1), from both of which they were finally delivered after much suffering. And their sufferings under Assyria were indeed a distressing time. For although it is true that Jerusalem was (or would be, depending on when the prophecy was given) finally delivered, the nation as a whole would have been crushed and its cities destroyed, and the boot of Assyria would lay heavily on them. So in their extremity and their groaning he lifts their eyes to God.

They must first remember that He is the Sovereign Lord, Yahweh, over the hosts of heaven and earth. Then they must remember again that they are His people within the covenant, and dwell in Zion, the city of both David and the Davidic promises, in which is mount Zion where from an earthly point of view Yahweh dwells. Thus they need not finally be afraid of Assyria. Although they are being chastened they are not forgotten by God. (Indeed as he had said earlier, had they trusted in Yahweh from the beginning none of this need have happened).

Like Egypt (and Midian) Assyria has been permitted to smite them with the rod, and raise his staff against them (the rod and staff of God's indignation - Isaiah 10:5), but in a short while God's anger against His people will be assuaged and that anger revealed in His destruction of Assyria. God will Himself be another Gideon and another Moses. God will lift up a scourge and scourge Assyria as Egypt had scourged Israel, and He will slaughter them as He slaughtered Midian at Oreb (as symbolised by their slain prince - Judges 7:25), He will raise His rod over the sea (whatever instrument He chooses to destroy Assyria) and the hosts of Assyria will be destroyed, as had happened to the Egyptians long before.

Note the contrasts. Assyria came with a rod and a staff, so God will deal with them with a scourge and a rod. The slaughter of the first of the princes of the Midianites at Oreb is seen as depicting the defeat of the whole, and what followed (Judges 7:25). In the same way the assassination of Sennacherib by his sons is seen as symbolising the total defeat of Assyria by Yahweh at Jerusalem, and what followed - Isaiah 37:38.

Isaiah 10:27

‘And it will come about in that day,

That his burden will go from your shoulder,

And his yoke from off your neck,

And the yoke will be destroyed because of oil.'

Finally Isaiah assures Judah and Jerusalem that their burden will be removed and the yoke will be taken off them. Assyria will no more burden them, neither by demanding tribute or other services, nor by controlling and driving them at their will.

‘The yoke will be destroyed because of oil.' Oil refers in Isaiah 5:1 to fertility, as ‘a son of oil'. It often represents joy and gladness and it can represent fatness. But none of these really fit here. (Although some have suggested that God's goodness so fattens them that the yoke breaks).

There are various other ways in which we can see this reference to oil.

1) Oil can signify anointing of either king or priest to a holy purpose, compare ‘the sons of oil' in Zechariah 4:14. The thought would then be that Assyria would be destroyed because they were ill treating those under God's protection, once, of course, those people had rededicated themselves to Yahweh..

2) In Hosea 12:1, in parallel with making a covenant with Assyria, ‘oil was carried into Egypt'. There it would seem to represent the sealing of a treaty or covenant, (or to be tribute or a gift offered for that purpose, but even then it is connected with a covenant). Olive oil was produced in Palestine in abundance and was sought after by the nations. The thought might be that oil would buy friends. But it is not likely that Isaiah would look favourably on that idea. He was constantly declaring against it.

3) Oil was also used as an offering where it was poured out on a pillar which symbolised the presence of God, probably also with a dedicatory purpose (Genesis 28:18; Genesis 35:14), and it was often used as a part of offerings. Thus the thought might be that when Israel rededicated themselves to God, He would deliver them from Assyria. Indeed the demise of Assyria did begin during the life of the good king Josiah.

4) Furthermore oil was used in the lamp that burned perpetually in the Tabernacle (Exodus 27:20; Leviticus 24:1). Perhaps God was saying that He could see the light of Israel in His temple and would not allow it finally to die.

Thus we may see ‘because of oil' either as indicating an offering of dedicatory worship, or as a ‘sanctifying' act, setting apart for a holy purpose (Leviticus 8:10; Leviticus 8:12; Leviticus 8:30), or as symbolisng the sealing of a covenant with God, or as looking to the anointing of the son of David to the purposes of God (Isaiah 11:1; Psalms 45:7; Psalms 89:20), or as an offering of oil to God in prayer for deliverance, or as representing the light of Israel which burned perpetually before God, or even possibly as an indication that Judah owes its deliverance to the fact that it was itself seen as anointed by Yahweh through the anointing of the high priest who represented the people before God.

In some way or other therefore the oil symbolises a dedicatory act of the people, and/or a symbol of their position before God, which brings about the activity and deliverance of God and destroys the yoke in response to His people's approach to Him. It probably also signifies the fact that they were therefore seen as sanctified to Him and that their light burned continually before Him. These were reasons why He delivered them.

The bare usage here does not fit with any usage in this way found elsewhere. It is in that sense unique. But Isaiah knew that his hearers would read into it all that oil symbolised to the Israelites mentioned above. Oil represented God's ways of blessing His people.