Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Isaiah 30:27-33
The Destruction of Assyria (Isaiah 30:27).
However, although there will be no help for them in Egypt, they will be delivered, for God Himself will act to deliver them. For the remnant who come through the fire, those who have sought refuge on God's mountain, the true believers, there will be mercy, because God will act for them and sweep away the enemy.
This passage opens with ‘the name of Yahweh' being revealed in judgment and fire, and closes with ‘the breath of Yahweh' expressing itself in judgment, as the enemy are offered up like a sacrifice to a heathen god. His name represents His greatness and glory, His breath His powerful judgment. It describes the dreadfulness of Yahweh's judgment on Assyria.
Analysis.
a Behold the name of Yahweh comes from far, burning with his anger and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue is as a devouring fire, and his breath is as an overflowing stream, that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of worthlessness, and a bridle that causes to err will be in the jaws of the peoples (Isaiah 30:27).
b You will have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes with a pipe to come to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel (Isaiah 30:29).
c And Yahweh will cause His glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descending blow of His arm in the indignation of His anger, and the flame of a devouring fire with the crashing of a storm, and tempest and hailstones (Isaiah 30:30).
c For through the voice of Yahweh will the Assyrian be broken in pieces, who smote with a rod (or ‘whom he smote with a rod') (Isaiah 30:31).
b And every stroke of the appointed staff that Yahweh will lay on him will be with tambourines and harps, and He will fight with them in battles of shaking (Isaiah 30:32).
a For a Topheth is prepared of old, yes, it is made ready for the king. He has made it deep and large. Its pile is fire and much wood. The breath of Yahweh like a stream of brimstone kindles it (Isaiah 30:33).
In ‘a' Yahweh will come burning with anger in thick smoke, His breath like an everflowing stream which reaches to the neck, to sift the nations, and in the parallel He has prepared for a sacrifice on piles of fire, and His breath is like a stream of brimstone which kindles it. In ‘b' they will have a song and gladness of heart as they rest on the Rock of Israel, and in the parallel they will have tambourines and harp as the enemy are defeated by Yahweh. In ‘c' Yahweh will reveal His effective power, and in the parallel will break the Assyrian in pieces.
‘Behold the name of Yahweh comes from far,
Burning with his anger and in thick rising smoke.
His lips are full of indignation,
And his tongue is as a devouring fire,
And his breath is as an overflowing stream,
That reaches even to the neck,
To sift the nations with the sieve of worthlessness,
And a bridle that causes to err will be in the jaws of the peoples.'
The approach of the name of Yahweh demonstrates that He has come for vindication, to establish His name and reputation. Assyria, His rod, has thwarted His will and gone beyond its remit (Isaiah 10:6; Isaiah 10:12). Now Yahweh comes to make matters right. For anger combined with thick rising smoke compare Genesis 19:28 of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (compare Isaiah 13:19 of the judgment on Babylon). Also see Exodus 19:18. For devouring fire compare Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 33:14; Exodus 24:17. The thick rising smoke emphasises the burning nature of His anger. It is all consuming. Whenever people saw thick rising smoke in the distance they knew that it was always ominous, and that destruction accompanied it.
Thus we have here the God of Sinai, the God of the covenant, the Great Deliverer, appearing to exercise His wrath. He ‘comes from far' for He has been standing back, out of this world, allowing events to go forward, but now He can stand by no longer. He burns with anger, His lips flow with indignation, His tongue is like a devouring fire, His breath (or wind) like a devastating flood that reaches even to the neck (compare Isaiah 8:8; Isaiah 11:4), because of the treatment meted out to His people. (Isaiah's purpose is to bring out Yahweh's depth of feeling for His people). He has come to sieve their oppressors in ‘the sieve of worthlessness' which will analyse and reveal what they are, revealing their worthlessness and futility, and to lead them into disaster with a bridle that causes to err, to go astray. They are still under His control, no longer as the rod of His anger, but now as the butt of His anger. They have overstepped the mark. And He will work His will on them.
The idea of the flood to the neck, which is recompensing Assyria's earlier behaviour (see Isaiah 8:8), while stressing its depth, may be to give an assurance that it will not be like the flood in the time of Noah, all consuming. While it will be severe judgment, it will not be final.
‘You will have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes with a pipe to come to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel.'
Israel/Judah on the other hand will rejoice because their enemy are being dealt with. As they watch over the walls in amazement they will see large numbers of dead men being carried from their tents and piled up, and will recognise that it can only mean the cessation of the siege. The previous day the camp had been vibrant with hostility and purpose. Now it was a graveyard. Yahweh has visited their enemies. Assyria and its allies have suffered a cruel blow from which they cannot recover.
The watchers will thus sing as they would by night at a holy feast, possibly especially at Passover, the feast of deliverance, which was specifically celebrated at night, with spontaneous delight and a sense of release. But the emphasis here is on the fact that it will be spontaneous worship, not the result of a specific feast but of a unique event that has brought them special joy, just as the original Passover did. They will be as they would when they play their pipes and ascend the mountain of Yahweh, the Rock of Israel, full of gladness and rejoicing in Him. The name ‘Rock of Israel' confirms the solidity of their foundations (compare Isaiah 26:4). They have found Him to be so and have cause to rejoice.
‘And Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descending blow of his arm in the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire with the crashing of a storm, and tempest and hailstones. For through the voice of Yahweh will the Assyrian be broken in pieces, who smote with a rod (or ‘whom he smote with a rod').'
For Yahweh will have spoken with a majestic and glorious voice by His act of power in destroying the Assyrian army. His mighty arm will have descended revealing His fierce anger against their sin, His devouring fire will have done its work like thunderbolts and forked lightning in a mighty storm. This need not signify a literal storm. It is a picture of the invisible power of Yahweh at work, bringing about the havoc that such a storm causes. For Yahweh will have decimated the Assyrians with one mighty blow.
‘Who smote with a rod (or ‘whom he smote with a rod').' This refers to the fact that what Assyria had initially done to the cities of Judah was as Yahweh's rod (compare Isaiah 10:5). But now the rod itself will be punished and destroyed because it went far beyond Yahweh's remit. For Assyria had not knowingly acted as Yahweh's rod, they had acted as they did because they were greedy, rapacious and bloodthirsty, and even while ‘controlled' they had been uncontrolled. Alternately it could refer to the smiting with a rod by Yahweh of the Assyrian army. Either way it is a reminder that Assyria is receiving what it sowed.
‘And every stroke of the appointed staff that Yahweh will lay on him will be with tambourines and harps, and he will fight with them in battles of shaking. For a Topheth is prepared of old, yes, it is made ready for the king. He has made it deep and large. Its pile is fire and much wood. The breath of Yahweh like a stream of brimstone kindles it.'
Yahweh in turn has appointed a staff with which to smite His people's enemies, and every stroke it makes results in music of rejoicing from the besieged. Note how the music here parallels Isaiah 30:29. Only those who have been under siege in a walled city with a cruel enemy surrounding, awaiting what seems to be the inevitable cruel end for themselves, their wives and their children, can appreciate the exaltation when the siege is unexpectedly lifted by the defeat of the enemy, and the wild expression of release in the playing of every instrument to hand and the singing of songs of deliverance.
In divine contrast with the tambourines and harps is Yahweh fighting for them in ‘battles of shaking.' Compare Isaiah 19:16. ‘Battles' is probably a plural of intensity. It is the mother of all battles. The reference would appear to be to the hand of Yahweh shaking (or ‘waving') with expressed power over them in battle, which will cause their enemies also to shake, but with fear. It may even also be a deliberate comparison with the people's shaking of their tambourines. As they shake their tambourines He will be shaking the enemy. Also included may be a reference to the shaking that resulted from the fever with which Yahweh possibly smote the Assyrian army. The phrase may signify ‘an intensive battle (plural of intensity) which results in shaking'.
But all the while from the battlements of Jerusalem will be heard the tambourines and the harps as they give glory for their deliverance. We have here a wonderful illustration of what it means to ‘stand still and see the salvation of God' (Exodus 14:13), when God does it all and His people watch in rejoicing.
‘For a Topheth is prepared of old.' Topheth probably means ‘abominable fireplace'. The root tpt relates to the Aramaic and Arabic for fireplace, with the vowels of bosheth (‘shame') applied to it. It was the name given to a high place in the Valley of Hinnom where children were passed through the fire to Melech (‘King' - from which comes Molech - using the vowels of bosheth to denote shame). It is thus a place of burning which is shameful, and thus suitable for this idolatrous king and his arrogant pride. God has made it deep and large, sufficient for its purpose. He has piled it high with burning wood, and His breath kindles it like a stream of brimstone, a stream of burning sulphur. Destructive fire is often spoken of in terms of brimstone.
The whole picture is demonstrating the awful end of the king and his armies at the hand of Yahweh, as though they were being burned in a fire as a heathen sacrifice to the gods. All are doomed.
Such passages remind us of the holiness of God. They remind us that He is not to be treated lightly. That He is the Holy One. That His fury at sin results in judgment. But they also indicate that He will protect His own when they look to Him. Then we will have cause for singing when we enjoy His deliverance.