ISAIAH CHAPTER 10 The woe of unjust oppressors, ISAIAH 10:1: of Assyria for their pride and ambition: his folly in it, ISAIAH 10:5. A remnant of Israel shall be saved, and that speedily, ISAIAH 10:20. Sennacherib marching toward Jerusalem, ISAIAH 10:28. His judgment, ISAIAH 10:32. WOE UNTO THEM THAT... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM JUDGMENT; or, _from their right_, as it is in the next clause; or, from obtaining a just sentence, because they either denied or delayed to hear their causes, or gave a wrong sentence. FROM THE POOR, whom I have in a special manner committed to your care. OF MY PEOPLE; of Israelites. who profes... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT WILL YE DO TO SAVE YOURSELVES? In the day of visitation: when I shall come to visit you in wrath, as the next words limit it, and as this phrase is oft used; although sometimes it signifies a visitation in mercy, as LUKE 19:14, and elsewhere. FROM FAR; from the Assyrians. This he adds, because... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT ME THEY SHALL BOW DOWN: the words thus translated seem to contain an answer to the foregoing questions: In vain do you seek for a refuge and help from others; for without me, without my favour and help which you have forfeited, and do not seek to recover, and which I shall withdraw from you,... [ Continue Reading ]
O ASSYRIAN: so it is God's call or invitation to him to take the charge, and set upon the work. Or, _Woe to the Assyrian_ ! because though he do my work, yet he doth it in a wicked manner, and for wicked ends, as we shall see. THE ROD OF MINE ANGER; the instrument of mine anger. wherewith I shall ch... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SEND HIM, not by express commission, but by the secret yet powerful conduct of my providence, giving him both occasion and inclination to this expedition. Hypocritical: SEE POOLE ON "ISAIAH 9:17". THE PEOPLE OF MY WRATH; the objects of my just wrath, devoted to destruction. GIVE HIM A CHARGE,... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MEANETH NOT SO; he doth not at all design the execution of my will. and the glory of my justice, in punishing mine enemies; but only to enlarge his own empire, and satisfy his own lusts; which is seasonably added, to justify God in his judgments threatened to the Assyrian, notwithstanding this se... [ Continue Reading ]
Equal for power, and wealth, and glory to the kings of other nations, though my subjects and servants.... [ Continue Reading ]
IS NOT CALNO AS CARCHEMISH? have not I conquered one place as well as another, the stronger as well as the weaker? Have I not from time to time added new conquests to the old? _Calno_ seems to be the same with _Calneh_, GENESIS 10:10 AMOS 6:2, a great and strong city. _Carchemish_ was a city upon Eu... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH FOUND, i.e. hath taken, as this word is used, PROVERBS 1:13, and oft elsewhere, the antecedent being put for the consequent, because what men find they commonly take to themselves. THE KINGDOMS OF THE IDOLS; which worshipped their own proper idols, and vainly imagined that they could protect th... [ Continue Reading ]
I shall certainly do it, and neither God nor man can hinder me.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 ISAIAH 10:3. THE GLORY OF HIS HIGH LOOKS; his insolent words and carriages, proceedin... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SAITH, not only within himself, but before his courtiers and others. BY THE STRENGTH OF MY HAND I HAVE DONE IT, AND BY MY WISDOM; I owe all my successes to my own power, and valour, and wise conduct, and to no other god or man. I HAVE REMOVED THE BOUNDS; I have invaded their lands, and added them... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH FOUND AS A NEST; as one findeth young birds in a nest, the nest being put for the birds in it, as DEUTERONOMY 32:11. No less easily do I both find and take them. EGGS THAT ARE LEFT; which the dam hath left in her nest. This is more easy than the former; for the young birds might possibly make s... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THE AXE BOAST ITSELF AGAINST HIM THAT HEWETH THEREWITH? How absurd and unreasonable a thing is it for thee, who art but an instrument in God's hand, and canst do nothing without his leave and help, to blaspheme thy Lord and Master, who hath as great a power over thee, to manage thee as he plea... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD OF HOSTS; the sovereign Lord and General of thine and all other armies. SEND AMONG HIS FAT ONES LEANNESS; strip him, and all his great princes and commanders, of all their wealth, and might, and glory. He shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire; he will destroy his numerous and vi... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LIGHT OF ISRAEL, that God who is and will be a comfortable light to his people, SHALL BE FOR A FIRE to the Assyrians who shall have heat without light, as it is in hell. HIS THORNS AND BRIERS; his vast army, which is no more able to resist God, than dry thorns and briers are to oppose the fire w... [ Continue Reading ]
OF HIS FORREST; of his great army, which may not unfitly be compared to a forest, either for the multitude of their spears, which, when lifted up together, resemble the trees of a wood or forest; or for the numbers of men, which stood as thick as trees do in a forest. _Of his fruitful field_; of his... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REST OF THE TREES OF HIS FOREST; the remainders of that mighty host. THAT A CHILD MAY WRITE THEM; that they may be easily numbered by the meanest accountant. A child may be their muster-master.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL, AND SUCH AS ARE ESCAPED OF THE HOUSE OF JACOB; such Jews as shall be preserved from that sweeping Assyrian scourge, by which great numbers both of Israel and Judah were destroyed, and from their succeeding calamities. For that this place looks beyond the deliverance from the A... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REMNANT; or, _a remnant_; or, but _a remnant_; or, a remnant only; which particles are oft understood, as hath been formerly and frequently observed, and may be here supplied from the following verses. UNTO THE MIGHTY GOD; unto the Messiah, expressly called the mighty God, ISAIAH 9:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
ISRAEL; or, _O Israel_; to whom by an apostrophe he directeth his speech. A REMNANT; or, _a remnant_ only, as before; for that this is a threatening in respect of some, as well as a promise in respect of others, is evident from the rest of this and from the following verse. THE CONSUMPTION DECREED S... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL MAKE A CONSUMPTION, EVEN DETERMINED; the same thing is repeated in other words, with some addition; God will execute his own decree concerning the destruction of Israel, which he is well able to do, because he is the Lord of hosts. IN THE MIDST OF ALL THE LAND; in all the parts of the land, no... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE: this is an inference, not from the words immediately foregoing, but from the whole prophecy. Seeing the Assyrian shall be destroyed, and a remnant of my people preserved and restored. IN ZION; in Jerusalem, which is frequently called _Zion_, as PSALMS 48:12, PSALMS 87:2 ISAIAH 1:8,27 ISAI... [ Continue Reading ]
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, ISAIAH 10:5. Or, 2. Towards the Assyrian, with whom God was very angry, ISAIAH 10:12, &c., yea, so angry, as not to... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL STIR UP A SCOURGE; shall send a destroying angel, ISAIAH 37:36. ACCORDING TO THE SLAUGHTER OF MIDIAN; whom God slew suddenly, and unexpectedly, and in the night, as he did the Assyrians. AT THE ROCK OF OREB; upon which one of their chief princes was slain, and nigh unto which the Midianites we... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BURDEN; the burden of the Assyrian: for so it was actively, because imposed by him; though passively it was Israel's burden, as being laid upon him. _Because of the anointing_; out of the respect which I bear to that holy unction which I have established amongst you. And so this may relate eithe... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS COME TO AIATH: here the prophet returns to his former discourse concerning the Assyrian invasion into Judah; which he describes, after the manner of the prophets, as a thing present, and sets down the several stages by which he marched towards Jerusalem. The places here named are most of them... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PASSAGE; some considerable passage then well known, possibly that 1 SAMUEL 14:4. The people fled to Jerusalem for fear of the Assyrian.... [ Continue Reading ]
O DAUGHTER OF GALLIM: Jerusalem was the mother city, and lesser towns are commonly called _her daughters_, as hath been oft noted.... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL SHAKE HIS HAND, by way of commination. But withal he intimates that he should be able to do no more against it, and that there his proud waves should be stayed, as it is declared in the following verses, and in the history.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BOUGH; the top bough, Sennacherib; or, THE BOUGHS, his valiant soldiers or commanders of his army, which he compareth to a forest, ISAIAH 10:18,34. WITH TERROR; with a most terrible and amazing stroke by an angel.... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH IRON; or, _as with iron_, as the trees of the forest are cut down by instruments of iron. AND LEBANON; or, his _Lebanon_, the pronoun being oft understood in the Hebrew text; the Assyrian army, which being before compared to a forest or wood, and being called his _Carmel_ in the Hebrew text, IS... [ Continue Reading ]