Isaiah 10:5-34 The Judgment of the World-Power. An Oracle against Assyria This great prophecy is the clearest and probably the earliest exposition of that conception of the divine government of the world which was the guiding principle of the latest period of Isaiah's ministry. The leading idea of... [ Continue Reading ]
_that decree unrighteous decrees, &c._ Better perhaps, THAT DRAW UP MISCHIEVOUS ORDINANCES AND ARE CONTINUALLY WRITING OPPRESSION. The magnates are addressed not as judges but as legislators; their offence is that they embody injustice in arbitrary written enactments, which enable them to perpetrate... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 9:8 to Isaiah 10:4 (+ Isaiah 5:25-30) Jehovah's hand stretched out in wrath over His people. An oracle against North Israel The key-note of the prophecy is given in the recurrent refrain Isaiah 9:12; Isaiah 9:17; Isaiah 9:21; Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 5:25. (On the reasons for including ch.... [ Continue Reading ]
Fourth strophe. Most critics consider that at this point the scene changes from Samaria to Jerusalem; (1) because the internal condition of Ephraim has already been depicted in the last stages of dissolution and (2) because the abuses here denounced are a constant feature of Isaiah's prophecies agai... [ Continue Reading ]
The effect and real purpose of this legislative activity. _To turn aside the needy from judgment_ See on ch. Isaiah 1:23. _my people_ as Isaiah 3:12; Isaiah 3:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
The unjust lawgivers are reminded that there is a day of revision, when they must answer to the Supreme Judge. _And what will ye do?_ cf. Hosea 9:5. _day of visitation_ cf. Hosea 9:7; Micah 7:4; Jeremiah 11:23; Jeremiah 23:12, &c. _desolation_ or, STORM; the word is only employed here by Isaiah. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Without me … slain_ This clause is very difficult. The easiest explanation perhaps is to take it as the answer to the questions of Isaiah 10:3: ( THEY CAN DO NOTHING) EXCEPT CROUCH UNDER THE CAPTIVES AND FALL UNDER THE SLAIN. Another is "Except one (here and there) crouch among captives, they must... [ Continue Reading ]
_O Assyrian_ HO ASSHUR, the name both of the people and its national god. The god being little more than the personified genius of the nation, we might almost venture to suppose that he is here directly addressed and is the speaker in Isaiah 10:8 ff. But the word is never used of the god in the O.T.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah's plan contrasted with Assyria's purpose.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will send him_, &c. Rather: I SEND HIM AGAINST A PROFANE NATION (R.V.). See ch. Isaiah 9:17. In a general description of the mission of Assyria it is not advisable to limit the reference to Judah or Israel. The meaning is that Jehovah sends the Assyrian against any nation that deserves punishment... [ Continue Reading ]
_Howbeit he meaneth not so_ The charge is not so much that Asshur exceeds his commission (as in Zechariah 1:15), as that he recognises no commission at all; his policy is entirely oblivious of moral interests.... [ Continue Reading ]
Are _not my_ OFFICERS _altogether kings?_ Many of them really were subjugated kings (2 Kings 25:28), and any one of them excelled in dignity the petty sovereigns of the independent states (see ch. Isaiah 36:9). The title "King of Kings" (Ezekiel 26:7) was already assumed by Assyrian monarchs.... [ Continue Reading ]
The first speech of the Assyrian.... [ Continue Reading ]
The six cities are enumerated in geographical order from north to south, the first of each pair being, however, nearer to Jerusalem than the second. (1) The site of Carchemish (Ass. _Gargamîsh_) was identified by Mr G. Smith with the ruins of _Jerabîs_on the right bank of the Euphrates. As a great c... [ Continue Reading ]
_the kingdoms of the idols_ The expression "nonentities" (see on ch. Isaiah 2:8) is surprising in the mouth of the Assyrian; but not inappropriate, since even from his point of view the overthrow of so many kingdoms might seem a demonstration of the non-entity of their gods as compared with the soli... [ Continue Reading ]
But Samaria has fallen, her idols have not saved her; how then can Jerusalem escape, who trusts in the same deity? _Samaria and her idols_( NONENTITIES) … _Jerusalem and her idols_( IMAGES).... [ Continue Reading ]
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 th... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am prudent_ Better, I HAVE INSIGHT. _I have removed the bounds of the people_ ( PEOPLES as R.V.). It was the policy of the later Assyrian Empire to obliterate national distinctions, partly by welding the separate states under a single administration and partly by wholesale deportation of conquer... [ Continue Reading ]
The second imaginary speech of the king of Assyria. He ascribes his successes (and how easy have they been! Isaiah 10:14) solely to his own power and wisdom. Comp. the self-glorification of the prince of Tyre in Ezekiel 28.... [ Continue Reading ]
The magnificent simile represents the ease with which the Assyrians had rifled the countries of their treasures, and the panic terror which their approach everywhere produced. _or peeped_ R.V. CHIRPED; the same word as in Isaiah 8:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
To a believer in the divine government of the world the self-exaltation of Assyria is as ludicrous as if a tool were to vaunt itself against the man who uses it. The two last clauses are exclamations. against _them that lift it up_ A plural of majesty, indicating that Jehovah is meant. Some Hebrew... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Lord, the Lord of hosts_ as in ch. Isaiah 1:24. The ordinary printed editions have the unparalleled expression _Adônâi Tsěbâôth_, for which Baer rightly restores _Yahveh Tsěbâôth_. _send among his fat ones_ Better, "send into his fat limbs," the image being that of a human body. For the metaph... [ Continue Reading ]
The destruction of the Assyrian army is described under the two figures of sickness and a conflagration. There is a certain amount of confusion in the metaphors, and undoubtedly the style deteriorates at this point.... [ Continue Reading ]
_such as are escaped_ cf. ch. Isaiah 4:2. _shall no more again stay_(themselves) _upon him that smote them_ an allusion to the Assyrian alliance contracted by Ahaz (2 Kings 16:7 ff.), a policy, however, whose evil consequences were not fully realised till the reign of Hezekiah. From the false situa... [ Continue Reading ]
The conversion of the survivors of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The remnant, &c._ A REMNANT SHALL TURN. Thus shall be fulfilled the prophecy embodied in the name of Isaiah's son, _Shear-jashub_(ch. Isaiah 7:3). _the mighty God_ THE HERO-GOD in ch. Isaiah 9:6 a title of the Messiah, but here apparently of Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
"For though thy population, O Israel, should be as the sand of the sea, (only) a remnant in it shall turn (and be saved)." (Cf. Hosea 1:10; Genesis 22:17.) _the consumption decreed … righteousness_ Render: EXTERMINATION IS DECREED OVERFLOWING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. The "extermination" is the judgment whi... [ Continue Reading ]
_O my people that dwellest in Zion_ Cf. ch. Isaiah 14:32; Isaiah 30:19. Dwelling in Zion is the emblem of security, since it is there that Jehovah will beat back and destroy the Assyrian (Isaiah 10:32). _he shall smite thee … and shall lift up_ These are relative clauses attached to "the Assyrian.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHRIEK LOUDLY, O DAUGHTER OF GALLIM; LISTEN, O LAISHAH. Neither of these places can be identified. _O poor Anathoth_ Translate, with a slight change of pointing, ANSWER HER, O ANATHOTH. Anathoth (_-Anâta_) is about three miles N.N.E. from Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Madmenah_(Dung-hill) and _Gebim_(Cisterns) are both unknown. For _gather themselves to flee_render: HASTILY SECURE ( THEIR BELONGINGS), Exodus 9:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
Render with Cheyne: THIS VERY DAY HE WILL HALT IN NOB, SWINGING HIS HAND, &c. Nob (1 Samuel 22; 1 Samuel 22; Nehemiah 11:32) must be sought in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem, but its site has not yet been ascertained. The most probable conjecture is that it was on the height of Scopus overlooki... [ Continue Reading ]
Just when the Assyrian is in sight of his goal, Jehovah smites him down. The description naturally passes into figurative and somewhat vague language. The image is that of a stately forest laid low by the axe-man. Isaiah 10:33 . THE LORD JEHOVAH OF HOSTS, as in Isaiah 10:16. The "high ones of stat... [ Continue Reading ]